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finstell's comments

finstell | 5 years ago | on: Google Meet premium video conferencing is now free for everyone

- Google Hangouts

- Google Hangouts Meet

- Google Hangouts Chat

- Hangouts Chat

- Google Chat

- Google Talk

- Google Allo

- Google Due

- Google Voice

- Google Meet

- Android Messages

- Youtube Messages

Product management at its best. Half of the time I don't know which app I am using.

finstell | 9 years ago | on: My Next Mac Mini

Nowadays, I kind of enjoy seeing posts about people abandoning Apple ecosystem. Although it's painful, I myself have been yet another avid fan of pretty much Apple offered, it feels like this is not going to last forever.

When they do the math, iPhone might seem the most lucrative (they seem not to care about anything else) but since they are killing the ecosystem with no Mac Pro, no Mac Mini and with so called pro MacBooks, developers will abandon Apple eventually. Even if iPhone becomes/remains the most technologically advanced smart phone on the market, it would be like a distant paradise island with no airports. Airplanes (developers and subsequently the end users) will be landing on alternative airports on emerging islands, letting them prosper. Consequently, Apple island will be deserted.

finstell | 9 years ago | on: Google has reportedly stopped developing its own self-driving car

Everybody is rushing to develop their own self-driving car, then they change their minds in various ways, then team members change who they work for, some of them quit and start their own company, some fail, some got acquihired. They give deadlines and cannot meet them. Everyone is dying to be first in the market or something like it. Feels there is so much greed. I don't get it, what's the big fuss, why must everyone hurry? Can't they be just calm and progress in a sensible manner. I don't expect this thing to turn out to be winner takes it all. Automative industry is much like a close knit society where they depend on similar resources. It's not exactly the same as posh start up culture.

finstell | 9 years ago | on: MacBook Pro

I guess, that's the end of it. Hereby, my love relation will die when my early 2015 Macbook Pro dies. There is absolutely no reason I'd update. Nil. What kind of "pro" would care about a touch bar? It's merely a toy. More often than not, these machines are attached to larger screens. It's not even going to be used much even if you wanted to. It's stuck with a 16GB RAM. If I buy it now, then I will be stuck with a 16GB RAM laptop for several years. The only thing I can appreciate is it's lighter now, but then I need to carry all the adaptors for HDMI, SD cards, USB devices. I wonder if it would feel lighter or a headache to travel with the new MacBook pro. To sum up it up, I would not consider to replace my 2015 Macbook Pro to a new one even it's for free. What was needed a lighter, more powerful "pro" computer with more battery juice maybe. What we get instead? How am I supposed to benefit from this? Will being able to select emojis from the touch bar increase my productivity?

finstell | 9 years ago | on: How Norway spends its $882B global fund

> 20-30-40% per annum, for over 20 years

It is impossible, at least continuously. Nobody has ever managed to do that. You'd be lucky if you could beat the market by a few points on average over a 20 years time period. Compensation well for good performance does not make sense when you aren't penalized for losses.

finstell | 9 years ago | on: Can you short Uber?

I like Uber. I use it from time to time. I use it less frequently nowadays because the government here blocked UberPop. I enjoy using it as much as I hate using taxis. I particularly enjoy it because I can rely on Uber when I travel abroad when I am most vulnerable to taxi scams.

Having said that, I am one of those who does not get this type of ultra high valuations. That's another topic of course, I am not going to claim anything as I am not an expert.

The thing is if yet another company pops up, maybe a local one, with similar offerings as Uber, I might as well start using their service. It's so easy to switch or use them both, I don't have a emotional connection to Uber, why should I? I'd always use whatever works for me. So, I see Uber is not something irreplaceable. The most valuable thing is the idea itself, car sharing etc. It's not like building up a search engine, with secretive ranking algorithms that works better among competitors. Of course, what Uber had been doing is phenomenal, they probably do a lot of things behind the scenes. Uber had more capital and did more. The others will catch up. Which is a good thing, I'd rather have multiple service offerings, it's good for consumers.

To me, Uber is a ice breaker ship. Started exploring in the frozen seas. Opening up new paths. That's expensive. They have to do a lot of things right. It's difficult. They are ambitious. I am excited that new paths appear in the frozen seas that I can benefit eventually. On the other hand, what I see is, once the paths are open, others can follow easily. They don't need tank-like ships to overcome the icebergs, they don't need the best captains and crews, they don't need the most of the crucial stuff Uber needed. They will just sail along the paths Uber opened.

finstell | 10 years ago | on: Biggest patent troll of 2014 gives up, drops appeal

I am just so sick of it. Just make them pay the toll for once, for god sake. How is this damn different than any other criminal offence. We just need a good example of crashing a patent troll. Somebody should crush them, crush them so hard. Then, maybe we can have a chance to end this maddness.

finstell | 10 years ago | on: Reports Coming in of Big IBM Layoffs Underway in the U.S.

Economic downturn happens every now and again. That's expected. You cannot change it. What a software engineer should have done was to be prepared for it. I don't see any valid reasons for him to end up in a supermarket job. 2000s crisis lasted a couple of years at the most. He should have had the means to survive comfortably the temporary time period when he was without an income.

The lesson is: Be prepared as if you are going to be out of job anytime. That's a typical mistake of US based people. US is not a social country, you are on your own when shit happens, you should better be ready for the worst case scenario at all times.

Your monthly income is not for you to spend monthly. It's for today and future.

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