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DuckConference commented on Valve is about to win the console generation   xeiaso.net/blog/2025/valv... · Posted by u/moonleay
somenameforme · a month ago
> Most consoles are sold at a loss

You're thinking of 'back in the day.' The original XBox's video card was worth more than they sold the entire system for, and the PS3 was a complete beast of computation (even if not entirely inappropriate for games...)! But in modern times (PS4 gen onward) consoles have become relatively vanilla midrange computers designed with the intent of turning profit on the hardware as quickly as possible.

The hardware cost of the PS4 was less than it's retail price from day 0 [1], and they began making a profit per unit shortly thereafter. Similarly the PS5 also reached profit per unit in less than a year. [2] XBox models from the PS4 gen onward are conspicuously similar as well.

[1] - https://tech.yahoo.com/general/article/2013-11-19-ps4-costs-...

[2] - https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/4/22609150/sony-playstation-...

DuckConference · a month ago
Tariffs/inflation/everything has raised the unit cost to the point that they're probably close to running a loss again sometimes on the latest gen consoles.
DuckConference commented on GLP-1 therapeutics: Their emerging role in alcohol and substance use disorders   academic.oup.com/jes/arti... · Posted by u/PaulHoule
elric · 2 months ago
So how does this work? Does it somehow boost "willpower" so we can rationally decide which substances we want to consume? Does it somehow smooth out the negative moods that lead us to snack/drink/sleep around/inhale/..? Does it mess with "desire" in general?
DuckConference · 2 months ago
On possibility I've seen raised is that slower GI movement -> slower alcohol uptake -> not getting as much of a "hit" from drinking as the effects come on more slowly.
DuckConference commented on Amazon Says It Will Cut 14,000 Corporate Roles to Remove Layers   aboutamazon.com/news/comp... · Posted by u/jmsflknr
DuckConference · 2 months ago
They're saying a net 14,000 reduction after hiring, so it's possible that's consistent with the 30k total from the earlier rumours.
DuckConference commented on SourceFS: A 2h+ Android build becomes a 15m task with a virtual filesystem   source.dev/journal/source... · Posted by u/cdesai
DuckConference · 2 months ago
Their performance claims are quite a bit ahead of the distributed android build systems that I've used, I'm curious what the secret sauce is.
DuckConference commented on iPad Pro with M5 chip   apple.com/newsroom/2025/1... · Posted by u/chasingbrains
bobbylarrybobby · 2 months ago
There's also the issue of iOS virtual memory limitations. Whereas macOS lets apps use swap space (duh), on iOS apps will be killed if their memory use is too high and they move into the background. (And possibly if it's too high while they're in the foreground, idk.) Which means you can't leave apps open in the background — they might be killed at any moment. And this makes true productivity basically impossible.
DuckConference · 2 months ago
As of a few ipadOS versions ago, the higher performance models can use swap space now.
DuckConference commented on Vancouver Stock Exchange: Scam capital of the world (1989) [pdf]   scamcouver.wordpress.com/... · Posted by u/thomassmith65
DuckConference · 2 months ago
One of the famous small canadian mining companies that went under was named something like Bre-X, somehow a lot of members of the general public had shares of it so it was a big scandal on the news when it went under. Also as it was unraveling a whistleblower at the company "fell" from a helicopter in indonesia, I don't recall if anyone was ever charged or convicted for that.

EDIT: Oh damn it was far sketchier than I recalled and he wasn't a whistleblower. From wikipedia:

The fraud began to unravel rapidly beginning on March 19, 1997, when Bre-X geologist Michael de Guzman reportedly died of suicide by jumping from a helicopter in Indonesia.[11][12] A body was found four days later in the jungle, missing the hands and feet, "surgically removed".[13] In addition, the body was reportedly mostly eaten by animals.[14] According to journalist John McBeth, a body had gone missing from the morgue of the town from which the helicopter flew. The remains of "de Guzman" were found only 400 metres from a logging road. No one saw the body except another Filipino geologist who claimed it was de Guzman. One of the five women who considered themselves to be his wife was receiving monetary payments from somebody long after the supposed death of de Guzman.[13]

DuckConference commented on Health care costs are soaring. Blame insurers, drug companies and your employer   npr.org/2025/09/12/nx-s1-... · Posted by u/manveerc
DuckConference · 3 months ago
Pretty sure Baumol has like 80% of the blame here.
DuckConference commented on Pontevedra, Spain declares its entire urban area a "reduced traffic zone"   greeneuropeanjournal.eu/m... · Posted by u/robtherobber
Gud · 3 months ago
Writing this on a tram in Zürich. At this hour(peak hours) they depart ever 2-3 minutes or so. Walking distance is 50 meters.

It feels great.

Now let me hear your objections to why public transport could never work at your location

DuckConference · 3 months ago
Switzerland's extreme wealth makes them a bit of an outlier though, other european countries are probably a fairer comparisons for most places.
DuckConference commented on Coalition for Metabolic Health Launches with $50M   coalitionformetabolicheal... · Posted by u/brandonb
DuckConference · 4 months ago
Great, I always wanted to founder of roblox to tell me to go keto /s
DuckConference commented on Ask HN: Why hasn't x86 caught up with Apple M series?    · Posted by u/stephenheron
DuckConference · 4 months ago
They're big, expensive chips with a focus on power efficiency. AMD and Intel's chips that are on the big and expensive side tend toward being optimized for higher power ranges, so they don't compete well on efficiency, while their more power efficient chips tend toward being optimized for size/cost.

If you're willing to spend a bunch of die area (which directly translates into cost) you can get good numbers on the other two legs of the Power-Performance-Area triangle. The issue is that the market position of Apple's competitors is such that it doesn't make as much sense for them to make such big and expensive chips (particularly CPU cores) in a mobile-friendly power envelope.

u/DuckConference

KarmaCake day180April 23, 2017View Original