rockarage

Yes, I'm just going to quote my previous comment from 7 years ago (about a similar startup)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10707049

"This is a business I know well. Jukedeck is an example of how founders and investors do not conduct appropriate market research. There is a limited market demand for low-cost royalty-free music for videos. One could argue there is an oversupply* of royalty-free music relative to buyers. The quality is not good enough to disrupt the billion dollar Production music industry that is top heavy, a relative small amount of creators at the top get the majority of the money, the rest compete for the little that is left. Jukedeck has raised enough money ($3million #) to be around for a few years if they control their burn rate. But Jukedeck in its current form, is just another music startup destined for the Deadpool."

It can turn a profit, but not the sort of profit the investors and top stake holders want i.e. Microsoft and Google type margins and profit.

Really?

If we are being candid, many software developers helped crowned the Tyrant king.

The majority of developers focused on building for iOS and treated Android as a second class citizen.

Developers set the prices and in a race to the bottom, many developers set the price to $0.99. I remember the apps that had reasonable prices were often criticized by consumers because other developers set their prices so low.

30% take was there from the start of the app store before Apple become the most profitable smartphone maker. Developers should never have agreed to the take in the early days, but short term thinking prevailed.

If the vast majority of developers from the start refused to build for the iPhone until Apple had favorable terms or gave customers the option to allow third-party installs things would be different. Perhaps developers should work together to solve the problem they help create? Are developers want Apple to change would are they willing to coordinate a response? A coordinated response could mean the top 50 developers building mobile web apps & writing a letter to Apple that they are removing their apps from the Apps store and alerting their customers as well.

The idea is not so far fetched, see: https://deadline.com/2019/07/cbs-blackout-directv-u-verse-at...

Will a web app have all the features of the iOS app? of course not, but if Apple wins the legal case, this seems like the only real option to get Apple to change. Because most of Apple costumers are not bothered by Apple developers policy.

What can be mechanically detected is limited to how the data is collected.

You missed this part: "Moreover capturing Black/Dark skin and features require more accurate light metering & lighting because dark skin absorbs more light."

I have to see the images used to train the ML model, to be certain, but based on my experience working in photography and programming, I believe it is more likely than not that they used essentially poor quality images for the training.

Moreover, after the model has been trained, to use the system effectively the facial recognition camera has to be set up to capture both light and dark skin, in the case of dark skin, it typically means not relying on available light alone indoors, an additional camera light must be provided.

The reality is if you want a facial recognition system that accurately detects dark skin it will cost a bit more to do it right.

When you sample from a smaller pool you will make uninformed statements like this. Black/Dark people of the world are not limited to Black people in Atlanta. Bet many people here do not know that there are Black people in this world, some who have naturally blonde hair and some who have blue eyes, google it.

Moreover capturing Black/Dark skin and features requires more accurate light metering & lighting because dark skin absorb more light. There's a lot variance in cheekbones, nose and lips.

Humans' features in general, are more complicated then you realize.

Yes, which is why I said willing & able. Able in this context means: you have the resources and circumstances to do so. Moreover, you will only resign once you have secured the job.

Yes.

This incident shows AWS engineers have significantly more leverage than their coworkers in warehouses. If you are an engineer who works for Amazon and you want to see real changes here's a suggestion:

In an ideal world, you will not have to look for another job, to encourage change, but considering the circumstances, the most impactful way to encourage change is to follow Tim Bray's footsteps.

If a significant amount of critical engineers leave AWS and they make it clear that it was because of the poor treatment of Fulfillment Center teammates, Amazon will change. AWS who want to have a major impact, and are willing & able, should find a new employer. Secure new positions, resign then write to all the journalists covering Tim Bray's story, about why this group decided to leave. Warehouse workers as a group have significantly less leverage because they are easier to replace, especially now when there are so many people who are unemployed that can quickly take their position. AWS engineers as a group have far more leverage because they are harder to replace, even now, during the pandemic.

As for me, this will be the last year I shop for products on Amazon for the foreseeable future, and I may never come back, and I will be encouraging others to do the same. I'm one of those people who love shopping on Amazon, well not anymore.

Yes, food was and is a major focus for Uber, it's part of their pitch for growth: they just don't do taxi/rideshare, they do deliveries one of the reasons they're valuation dwarfs Lyft.

There's significant demand, DoorDash, Instacart, and others are hiring drivers to meet demand.

UberEats was founded in August 2014, easy to Google.

This is a failure in leadership at UberEats. Uber has more than one revenue source and delivery is in high demand, UberEats is severely losing to DoorDash in food delivery, despite Uber having significantly more resources than DoorDash. Uber has billions in the bank, Doordash only has hundreds of millions. At the time of this posting, Doordash is currently number #13 in the App store, UberEats is sitting at #62. Uber has access to capital and reserve in the bank. Reserves are often used for a rainy day, well it is pouring now. They should be using their position to gain market share during this time of peak demand for deliveries, should not be losing to DoorDash.

Another reason not mentioned: An increase in Crime in the City, here's just a few

https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-is-proposing-r...

https://www.ebar.com/news/crime//291784

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/video-man-defecates-...

That lease start fee has gone up about 3x, to about 6k, so obviously it was not enough. And at that rate people are better off getting a new car via a typical lease agreement.

Read the companion website, the authors cherry-picked their findings, good thing they link to another independent study:

https://elifesciences.org/articles/48224

“Surprisingly, we find that frequently observed adaptive substitutions at two sites, 111 and 122, are lethal when homozygous and adult heterozygotes exhibit dominant neural dysfunction. We identify a phylogenetically correlated substitution, A119S, that partially ameliorates the deleterious effects of substitutions at 111 and 122. Despite contributing little to cardiac glycoside-insensitivity in vitro, A119S, like substitutions at 111 and 122, substantially increases adult survivorship upon cardiac glycoside exposure.”

Essentially the study found 2 mutations (substitutions at 111 and 122) give the treatment fruit fly(Drosophila ) an immunity to milkweed poison(cardiac glycosides), the mutation has a lethal side effect: it causes a neural dysfunction that kills the treatment fly(adult heterozygotes). A third mutation(A119S) is immediately needed to correct the side effect. If we are being honest an adaptive walk is essentially impossible for the Monarch. An honest critic refutes the Whiteman Laboratory & NYTimes assertion that an adaptive walk occurred.

Or this: It should come out your R&D budget because it is critical tech, and some marketing funds should be diverted to R&D.

Do you expect more automation in the workplace from Amazon or less? Cause the numbers only work if the jobs are created, however Amazon has about a decade as a cushion. A few years from now, Amazon could conclude that it may not be worthwhile to create all the 25,000 jobs and the better option is to return the government's money in year 10, this will be a loss for the city.

You have to acknowledge the point he is making, he said you don't have to get to $30 to find the right spot, moreover making it a franchise will definitely take away the lore of the place and quality control. Better to raise the price but have a reward system that keeps the price lower for those who have supported the restaurant for years.

Interesting enough, he did not have to make these concessions, Amazon wants to come to NY, regardless.

"This will be New York or it will be DC - Prof. Galloway, Feb 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3baKe4B3eyI

You write well, I can help you find online work to add to your amazon associate income, send an email to idesignradproducts@gmail.com

You're right, perhaps the worst headline ever, the company actually wants to do the opposite:

"Meet the tech company that wants to make you even more addicted to your phone" – TechCrunch at: https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/08/meet-the-tech-company-that...

The Time's editor should be ashamed.

If a pedestrian suddenly rushes out into the street or a cyclist swerves into your path, the deciding factor is often simply the coefficient of friction between your tyres and the road.

This only true for the uninitiated, never let it get to that. I drove for Uber/Lyft/Via in New York city so I can experience and study these situation. These sort of accidents are preventable. The following is the basic:

1.) Drive much slower in areas where a pedestrian and cyclist can suddenly cross your past.

2.) Know the danger zone. Before people "jump into traffic" or a cyclist swerve in front of you, they have to get into position, this position is the danger zone.

3.) Extra diligence in surveying the area/danger zone to predict a potential accident.

4.) Make up for the reduce speed by using highways and parkways as much as possible.

It helps that Manhattan street traffic tends to be very slow to begin with. Ideally I will like use my knowledge to offer a service to help train autonomous vehicles to deal with these situation. It has to be simulated numerous times in a closed circuit for the machine to learn what I've learn intuitively driving professionally in NYC.

Maybe you should try reading the article?

from the article:

"Many stations like this one are not prepared to accommodate a larger volume of passengers, even if a new traffic control system allowed trains to come more frequently."

"Much of the subway’s signal system uses antiquated parts like the electromechanical relays shown above from the West Fourth Street-Washington Square station in Manhattan.

Train traffic for about two-thirds of the subway system is monitored in rooms like the one shown below at West Fourth Street. Little has changed in a century.

The old signal system uses a network of switches and cables along the track to keep trains a safe distance apart. The technology is outdated and expensive to maintain."

Not so astonishing, when you understand the business of venture capital. When you raise too much venture capital and try to grow faster than the market dictates, this sort poor decision making tends to happen.

A good software service company does not need to raise so much money to accelerate their growth. Raising more money won't prevent them from being disrupted by a competing implementation. We can argue their action can invite competition from more nimble operations who can take less money from creators. Look up DistroKid, they compete with companies much larger, with far more funding, yet DistroKid is doing very well as a business.

If they are growing faster than the current cash flow can handle, there is a problem with their business model. Growth for this type of service business should bring profits not losses. This is not exciting news for the creators on Patreon, if anything they should be concerned.

>Had Uber not have done that, the lobbyists for the Taxi industry would have kept the status quo.

Uber has lobbyist now, working to change laws to benefit what they want to do, i.e. no fingerprint background checks for drivers in Austin see: https://www.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15657684/uber-lyft-austin-t...

From the above article "nonprofit Texans for Public Justice says the companies has spent more than $2.3 million on an army of 40 lobbyists."

Is it right for Uber to use lobbyists to push for laws that limit background checks?

>It was Uber, pushing hard, that changed the world, for the better. That's how the world changes, people pushing hard and breaking the rules when they know the rules are wrong.

No, Uber does not care whether rules are right or wrong, does not care about making the world better, it only cares about how things will affect the bottom line, case in point: Uber's behavior in NYC.

We should know by now, that Uber had to make payments for short-changing drivers on pay, companies truly interested in making the world better, don't mistreat their partners see: https://theoutline.com/post/1780/uber-hasnt-changed

In regards to rules, Uber did not pull out of NYC, yet NYC has tougher regulation than Austin. It rarely get’s reported but the only NYC regulation that was changed that helped Uber was allowing drivers to use smartphone apps for ride hailing. The other more expensive regulations remained. Not only do drivers have a relatively expensive background check process, but they also have to pay to register as a driver. All potential drivers are required to take several classes and pass several tests to become professional Taxi drivers. There is literally no legal ride sharing in NYC, all Uber drivers must be professionals. An important part of Uber strategy is winning NYC, NYC does not need Uber. In the end Uber is like most businesses, it is not about making the world better, it is about making lots of money.

It is an advantage but it is not huge, it is not moat-like. They have more money to spend marketing and subsidizing rides. Again you said:

"Fasten had to lower their rates"

It is a price war, it is not truly about innovation in the space. Their software & services are not so innovative/defensive that it is hard to switch.

The argument for Uber's leadership is that they are special because they are building something that other Entrepreneurs/Leaders could not, that is not accurate if it is so easy to switch to a competitor. Not much hassle, loss of service when switching, same drivers / same cars.

Good for Uber, because their leadership was overrated, Uber could be better offer with new leadership

Here's why:

1.) Uber defeated much of their competition by burning cash in monetizing schemes that are shady and unsustainable.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/31/uberpool-sf-buzzfeed-docum...

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/uber-true-cost-uh...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/23/business/economy/uber-dri...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/eriksherman/2017/01/19/ftc-says...

2.)Their other competitive advantage is branding, but that is not a moat-like advantage, if Uber was to disappear tomorrow, there are competitors who will quickly takeover & grow, this happened when Uber left Austin.

3.) They were complacent with sexual harassment & discrimination in the company. A business/startup should never allow harassment to be a thing, this is failure at leadership 101.

"Looming large in this sector are Facebook and Google, each with its own armies of engineers working to compete. Glueck shrugs off these threats: The market is plenty big."

What makes Glueck think Facebook and Google wants to share? They enter big markets then attempt to dominate it, especially Facebook. Currently Facebook gives no quarter. It will copy what you do well and go after your business fiercely.

“Foursquare has signed deals with Snapchat to improve its geo-filtering. More than one million users have agreed to leave location sharing on all the time so Foursquare can track and analyze their movements”

Facebook(Instagram) and Google have significantly more people using their apps on location, the have more location data. Both companies do not have to buy data/service from Snapchat. And what happens if Snapchat and Twitter decides to enter the market?

Smartphone Innovations is far from over it is just harder.

Upcoming innovations:

1.)Superior camera: Incredible Low Light sensitivity, Incredible compensation / correction for camera shake, will be better than any current implementation.

2.)AR support: example: http://www.waverlylabs.com/ This earpiece will work with a smartphone app.