TadasPaplauskas | 3 years ago | on: The End of Manual Transmission
TadasPaplauskas's comments
TadasPaplauskas | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: Should we own the free stuff we pay for?
In theory, you agreed to all the ways they can screw you over when signing up. In reality of course no one can be reasonably expected to understand the full ramifications of multi-page terms of service.
I'm happy that EU is pushing this ownership argument forward. GDPR seemed unreasonable just a few years ago, now it's the new standard. I also don't think it's the final destination. We're moving towards more regulation, but that's expected in any mature industry.
However, this specific topic to me isn't as much about ownership as it's about redundancy and diversification.
Of course it's not a good idea to build your whole identity on some corporate identifier (@gmail.com, @icloud.com...). Of course your business income shouldn't be based on a single platform (e.g. youtube demonetization, facebook news). These problems could've been forseen even without the benefit of hindsight.
There's no such thing as absolute ownership anyway. Even your money or real estate belongs to you within the framework of modern banks and governments. Doesn't mean this ownership isn't meaningful, just that there are always limits and gotchas.
The most meaningful thing you can do is own as much of your digital surface area as you can. Having everything under your own domains will get the most bang for your buck. I don't bother with self-hosting, but for someone else that would be a must. Your mileage may vary.
TadasPaplauskas | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why the obsession with note taking?
I think you're onto something here. There's definitely some magical thinking involved. We all have a hidden genius that could be unlocked - if only we would find a method to put all that mess in our heads together in the right way. We conveniently forget that if 90% of everything is crap[0], then it should apply to our own thoughts too :)
My take is that notes are overrated. Almost everything I write down becomes outdated in as little as a few months. Anything older than 1 year seems ancient and is only useful for entertainment. I have my digital notes going back to 2014. I never look at them.
What's not overrated is note-taking. The result doesn't matter, the act itself does. It's a thinking tool. A way to offload ideas from your head and let it do some actual thinking.
If that rings true to you, then it makes sense to optimize for writing, not organizing or reading. To me that means a simple paper notebook and a gel pen. I haven't yet found anything that can beat paper in writing experience [1].
Might be an ipad or org-mode for you - literally doesn't matter, as long as you use it with pleasure.
As for evergreen content, my rule is that it should be public. That's what blogs are for.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law
[1] I wrote a blogpost about my primitive paper journaling system https://tadas.blog/posts/paper-journaling-system/
TadasPaplauskas | 4 years ago | on: EU plans to force OEMs to use a common charger for all phones
Since the aim is to reduce e-waste, I suppose going all-in with wireless charging wouldn't be a problem (or even preferable) in the eyes of the law.
TadasPaplauskas | 5 years ago | on: Ask HN: How to take notes?
If you're into apple ecosystem, nothing beats Apple Notes - seamless access right from the spotlight search, you can paste images or files right into notes (surprisingly few apps have that feature - it's a must for me), to-do lists that just work, cloud-sync, so on. And it all comes built-in, for free. I've tried all major alternatives and I always come back.
Paper notebook for daily plans and short-term notes. I don't expect to refer back to those notes in the distant future, so I choose to optimize for writing experience, and nothing I've tried beats paper.
A personal blog for anything worth sharing. In my case it's a bunch of markdown files in a static site generator.
TadasPaplauskas | 6 years ago | on: Into the Personal-Website-Verse (2019)
That's exactly what I'm doing right now :). Email address is not exactly as encouraging to reach out as a simple comment box, but I've had a hunch that the small possible upside is just not worth the hassle, and your experience seems to confirm that. Thanks!
TadasPaplauskas | 6 years ago | on: Into the Personal-Website-Verse (2019)
TadasPaplauskas | 6 years ago | on: Your Money Isn't Yours
TadasPaplauskas | 8 years ago | on: Internet Chemotherapy
TadasPaplauskas | 8 years ago | on: Tesla Roadster
TadasPaplauskas | 8 years ago | on: Don’t Build a Startup, Build a Movement
Also, it seems incredibly desperate and fake when a company tries to forcefully come up with unique culture when there is none to begin with. Some companies are naturally more interesting than others and that's okay. Not everyone can be basecamp and not everyone needs to :)
TadasPaplauskas | 8 years ago | on: The gig economy of the 18th Century
TadasPaplauskas | 8 years ago | on: Pinebook – A $100 14" ARM laptop
$99.99
CPU: 1.2GHz 64-Bit Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53
RAM: 2 GB LPDDR3 RAM Memory
Flash: 16 GB eMMC 5.0 (upgradable up to 64GB)
Wireless: WiFi 802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0
USB 2.0 Port: 2
MicroSD Card Slot: 1
Mini HDMI: 1
Headphone Jack: 1
Microphone: Built-in
Keyboard: Full Size Keyboard
Touch-pad: Large Multi-Touch Touchpad
Power: Input: 100~240V, Output: 5V3A
Battery: Lithium Polymer Battery (10000mAH)
Display: 14″ TN LCD (1366 x 768)
Front Camera: 0.3 Megapixels
Dimension: 329mm x 220mm x 12mm (WxDxH)
Weight: 1.26 kg (2.78 lbs)
Warranty: 30 daysTadasPaplauskas | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: Do you think there is an opportunity for a better alternative to Upwork?
Also, this would serve as the natural quality control - with hourly rate being reasonably high, low-value projects and clients would simply skip the platform. Of course, this could only work for a more niche market than upwork.
If one fixed hourly rate is just too limiting, then there could be 2-3 price tiers. Just keep it simple.
This might be already implemented somewhere. In that case, does it work well?
TadasPaplauskas | 9 years ago | on: Fewer than 3% of cars sold in the U.S. have manual transmissions
Of course driving manual in traffic is pain in the ass, but I would prefer to skip heavy traffic anyways, instead of trying to make it somewhat more bearable.
Had some experience driving automatic in Cyprus, which is very mountainous. It was impossible to keep constant speed, as car was constantly trying to find "optimal" gear for every hill and slope, instead of finding optimal gear for the whole trip. Ended up using sport mode, which just kept the engine working at higher RPMs. Not optimal in any way.
I'm sure there are great automatics, but unfortunately not in my price range. There's a difference between automatic ferarri and automatic hyundai.
TadasPaplauskas | 10 years ago | on: All Male Panelist talks about Gender Equality & Inclusion in the Workplace
Is it not common sense that a panel about gender equality should include both genders, at least to some extent? Are we really discussing this?
But then again, I guess purple-pinkish background if enough of a female touch, right.
TadasPaplauskas | 10 years ago | on: How I turned my resume into a bot. (And how you can too)
At least for now bots are pretty much just a gimmick and "just because we can" thing, but then again, most of the cool stuff we have today began from that. I definitely do not see much value added in receiving information this way, such as getting weather updates or headlines. Bots will have to get a lot smarter and autonomous/proactive to be actually helpful. I do not want to chat with machine, I want it to do stuff for me with minimal interaction. Let me know when I can pay for utilities through messenger :).
Platforms are sexy and everyone wants one, I get it. But the real value will come from getting other businesses/services on board. That's dirty work that does not scale well, so yeah, let's just build a platform instead and hope "they" come :)
That said, I don't think we should be making a virtue out of necessity. There's nothing objectively better about this set of mechanical constraints compared to another set of mechanical constraints.
I remember EV sceptics using similar arguments half a decade ago. No gears, no engine noise, no rumble - what is there to get excited about? Well, guess what, EVs are some of the most exciting cars to drive these days, and having no gears to shift definitely doesn't take away from engagement.
It's just a different experience - not necessarily better or worse.
Update: the safety/attention argument might only apply if you have to think about shifting gears, like in a first year or two. I live in Europe where many cars still have manual transmissions. Trust me, there are plenty of terrible and distracted drivers over here too :)