yabatopia

At realistic valuations? Sure. At the current overvaluations? Yes. Are these valuations sustainable? No.

Without pricing information, it’s hard to the question "who is this for?".

Below $500? Same as the cheap Chromebooks market.

Around $700? (Or $600 educational) Direct competitor to Macbook Neo, educational market and the middle of the road laptop market.

Above $900? No idea, maybe for Google Platform die-hards.

Instagram and WhatsApp were far from bets. Both were growing exponentially. Both were serious threats to Facebook's money machine.

Facebook used their lucky cash cow money to eliminate the threat, by offering way more than any reasonable market value. Absolutely crazy money. An offer they couldn't resist, especially the investors.

No bet, just an ice cold rational calculation. Anyone wealthy and crazy enough could have done the same. No skills needed, no risks involved. It's like betting tomorrow will be another day.

To keep it more in line with other brands:

- Netflix Max: basic subscription with ads, no 4K

- Netflix Max Ultra: basic subscription with ads, but with 4K

- Netflix Pro Max: standard subscription without ads, no 4K

- Netflix Pro Max Ultra: standard subscription without ads, with 4K

You can add a Mobile VIP package for one extra viewer outside your house, but only for Pro plans.

With zero market share for Google.

Living in AImaginationland must be nice. C’mon kids, let’s all sing the AImagination song: AImagination, AImagination, AIiiimagination, …

During an ongoing investigation into illegal Russian influence operations on X, Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) researchers discovered what seems to be a coordinated inauthentic behaviour (CIB) network distributing “Child Sexual Assault Materials” (CSAM). The network can be observed hijacking hashtags, publishing explicit CSAM videos, and redirecting users to a wide range of other platforms. Due to the operation flooding hashtags, researchers chose to name it “Operation X-ploitation.”

I have no intention to pay just for Firefox, the browser. A browser is not that special anymore and there are plenty of alternatives.

However, I do want to pay for additional features and services, like a solid ad-blocker, integrated VPN-networking, privacy features like email relays or anti-fingerprinting, a safe and reliable cryptocurrency wallet, a smart cross-platform password manager, a privacy focused gmail alternative, integrated detection of fake reviews, bot messages and sloppy AI content, AI summaries, …

Add value to Firefox, in a coherent, meaningful and effective way to make using the internet secure, enjoyable and interesting again. Do that and take my money.

"It was probably used in hunting, though it might have had cultural or artistic value, perhaps being used in some kind of ritual."

Ah, the good, old ritual explanation. Surprised that it’s still being used, instead of just saying "we don’t know".

In a lot of use cases you only need to change the host name. https://dns0.eu/ or dns0.eu is not that difficult to remember.

The ip addresses are indeed not memorable, but users who change the settings of their routers won’t have too much trouble copy and pasting an IP address once or twice. Save it in a password manager and you’re done.

Bureaucracy has nothing to do with it, it’s a matter of resources.

OpenAI could buy TikTok, together with Oracle. $40B of Nvidia chips would be very useful for that purpose. And it would level the playing field for the next tech wars between OpenAI/ChatGPT/TikTok, Google/Gemini/YouTube+Gmail, xAI/Grok/xTwitter, Apple/AI/? (integration?), Microsoft/CoPilot/Office+Bing, Meta/Llama/Facebook+Instagram+Threads+WhatsApp.

Seeing it like that, Apple clearly needs to step it up a notch. It’s time for Apple to scoop up Anthropic/Claude.

You forgot the total lack of enforcing even basic environmental regulations, the massive government subsidies (diect and indirect), Uyghur forced labor, etc.

And China is anything but a free market. In a truly free market, most Chinese carmakers wouldn't even exist. They mostly exist because Western carmakers were forced to form China dominated joint-ventures, share technology and ownership in order to enter the Chinese market.

Not a big deal. Coffee is not a necessity. The coffee monoculture is devastating for the environment. Most small coffee farmers and plantation workers don't earn a livable income. Only 10% of the retail price of coffee goes to farmers. The whole industry is exploitative.

Don’t drink coffee. It’s that easy.

That was 65 years ago. There are way more sophisticated ways now to influence things.

Fair enough, but I still prefer the banana. Just a little bit tastier than a raw potato.

That’s how I remember Nokia in the first half of the 2000’s: peak arrogance. Even if Steve Jobs himself would have given them the iPhone for free, they would have rejected it.

Unsplash is part of Getty Images.

From 2021: Unsplash is being acquired by Getty Images (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26634113)

And it still doesn't work on on Firefox Mobile. Disappointing.

AI generated podcast. I think it’s quite funny, but on the other hand: "My God, what have we done?"

Anyway, as the podcasters say, to end 2024: "Embrace your inner shart and fart." Reply: "Words to live by."

Socializing is a skill and requires exercise, but everyone has its own unique limitations and skill levels. Not everyone throughout history has led an exceptionally social life filled with constant conversation. There are plenty of references to quiet and seclusive people in the bible, for instance. In the Middle Ages, you could join a monastery or convent, which provided a community more suited for introverts. Right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if many introverts feel there is no escape from the extrovert modern life.

It's window dressing for their planned IPO. Klarna wants to go public during the first half of 2025, so it's all hands on deck to prop up the numbers. And saying the "right things" to investors, especially AI.

If that’s the case, that’s really disappointing to hear. I recommend you for doing the right thing.

Oh boy, here we go again. It's like the pre-2008 financial crisis all over again.

Growth is nice, but one look at the debt charts (public debt, credit card debt, car debt, mortgages, student loans, ...) and the trends in defaults and you know what's coming. Add the upcoming tariff plans and the gutting of financial regulations and consumer protection in the mix and you start asking yourself: in 10 years time, will we talk about the financial crisis of 2025 or 2026?

Keeping the equivalent of one week of regular purchases in cash at home, as suggested by the government, is not that practical. It’s just there, completely useless laying in a drawer or under the mattress.

And for a lot of people it’s just not attainable. According to 2023 survey by Alektum, one in three people in the Nordic countries have no or very little money saved for unforeseen expenses.

"After 16 years of development, Postbox Inc. is winding down its operations" is the link title they use on the eM Client website, linking to the "acquisition" announcement on the Postbox website.

Not the exact same title as on the announcement on the Postbox website, but far more accurate - and relatable. Maybe they used different drafts of the announcement text?

I think the difference in wording is telling. You would expect "After 16 years of development, Postbox Inc. is winding down its operations" on the Postbox Blog and "Postbox has been acquired by eM Client" on the eM Client website. But it’s vice versa.

Here are some pictures of a previous championship: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gallery/2015/oct/12/5... .

This doesn't make any sense. How does paying for some erratic billionaire's pet project equals to supporting free speech? There are way better alternatives to support free speech. Don't waste your money on X.

Very strange chart. The US has more relaxed regulations on food additives, pesticides, hormones used in livestock farming, and environmental pollution compared to the European Union. But that still does not explain the differences with, for example, Australia or Asia. Obesity may play a role, but obesity has also been on the rise in the EU for a few decades.

Seeing that more users are getting their news from TikTok, I doubt that the average quality has increased. Considering that TikTok is under control of the authoritarian Chinese government, the Canadian Facebook ban may have opened the door for a far more concerning situation.

It’s what happens when you erode the rule of law - even as a democracy - and push a simplistic narrative of good guys and bad guys. Us versus them, the left versus the right - and of course we are the good ones.

As a democracy we must hold ourselves to the highest standards, anything else is a slippery slope. Look at the assassination of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in 2020, ordered by president Trump. Or the numerous innocent victims of long distance drone strikes in Afghanistan during Obama’s presidency. Or the current strikes on refugees in Gaza. I really don’t like the Taliban or Hamas; Soleimani was a horrible person, an oppressor and war criminal.

However, as a democracy, we just can’t just go and kill people we don’t like. Taking "collateral" victims for granted. We can’t ignore international law and human rights. We didn’t really care because, meh, bad guys in foreign countries.

But at some point, this mindset comes home and erodes our moral thinking: "It’s okay to eliminate someone I consider to be a bad guy. It’s okay to insult, harass and attack someone who doesn’t share my righteous values and beliefs. Who needs (international) laws, a juridical system and human rights when you can do it yourself?" It’s poisonous and it’s getting worse. I wish I could see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I really don’t see one at the moment.

A fingerprint is unique. A snowflake is unique. But for some reason we find it difficult to face the possibility that intelligent life - on planet earth - is in a similar way unique.