buddapalm | 8 years ago | on: Amazon won't sell you a Chromecast, but they will sell a counterfeit
buddapalm's comments
buddapalm | 8 years ago | on: Who Will Rein in Facebook? Challengers Are Lining Up
That said, I worry about the Myanmar thread: there, The Internet is synonymous with Facebook, and people trust it as an authority. The masses who are unequipped to think critically aren't going to be persuaded to choose something else as long as the platform keeps serving up paid "news" ads and click bait that reinforces their beliefs.
The powerful ability for a platform to target specific humans or allow any one to represent a trustworthy new organisation is problematic. These are interesting places to start too.
buddapalm | 8 years ago | on: Microsoft gives up on Windows 10 Mobile
buddapalm | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: What books have made the biggest impact on your mental models?
buddapalm | 8 years ago | on: Former GE CEO Jeff Immelt Close to Becoming Uber’s CEO
The other interpretation is this decision is entirely about managing short term to get to an IPO, so investors who have lost faith can cash out. The candidate they are considering fits that bill more closely.
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Inside Uber’s Aggressive, Unrestrained Workplace Culture
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Welcome, ACLU
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Zombie Moore's Law shows hardware is eating software
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Ask HN: Why is inter-device file sharing still a hassle?
1). Agree with many that Bluetooth (or another open protocol) is really the way to solve, but the incentives are low to implement universally as the common operating systems in our devices have shifted dramatically in the last 10 years.
2) remember the brief peer-to-peer revolution? Bit torrent, kazaa and emule were (are) pretty effective but have a bad reputation from being used for file piracy.
3). Because of #2, it's been safer for businesses to conform to the SaaS models / garden walls. (Monetizing them is also better understood)
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: FreeSense: Indoor Human Identification with WiFi Signals
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Kenny Baker, actor behind R2-D2, dies
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Who’s the First Person in History Whose Name We Know? (2015)
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: The Security of Our Election Systems
buddapalm | 9 years ago | on: Now I Fear Exploratory Interviewing While Employed
buddapalm | 10 years ago | on: Critical Software Update for Kindle E-Readers
buddapalm | 10 years ago | on: Too many people have peed in the pool
IMHO you've identified the root problem. it's simply very easy to optimize a feed around quick interaction signals as a way of surfacing what's important, and still get the quality wrong.
> we are effectively trying to automate an editorial process for deciding what is currently the most important thing in the world, in the meantime separating what is poor content from what is merely controversial, and ranking an image macro against a 10,000 word essay. This is a herculean task, and the methods we are using are manifestly not up to the job.
what's needed IMO are user satisfaction signals. I wonder if social networks could invite users to report content that makes them mad or they find useless. not for abuse, simply to identify what different users like and start understanding what groups of people prefer