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GabrielF00 commented on Another Study Blames Uber and Lyft for Public Transit’s Decline   citylab.com/transportatio... · Posted by u/pseudolus
GlickWick · 7 years ago
I know it's only an anecdote, but myself (and many other colleagues) in Boston switched to periodically using rideshares to commute due to the decline in public transit quality. The tech boom in the area completely overloaded the system, and when you combine it with the rampant corruption behind the MBTA, this was inevitable.

Uber and Lyft have not been the best actors, but someone was going to step in and profit off of public transit's incompetence here.

Even prior to the prevalence of rideshares, Boston was dealing with absurd corruption in attempting to expand on the public transit systems. See: Green Line Extension project

GabrielF00 · 7 years ago
I only use Uber/Lyft in Boston for routes where the T would be inconvenient or if the weather is really bad and I don't want to walk home from the T station.

I just hate Uber Pool and Lyft Line - the routes they take are often side streets with lots of congestion and turns, there's a lot of frustration when you're almost to your destination or to a major road and then the driver turns around to pick up another passenger. Drivers often play music I find annoying.

GabrielF00 commented on Blind since birth, writing code at Amazon since 2013   blog.aboutamazon.com/work... · Posted by u/dominotw
mindfulplay · 7 years ago
I would take this article with a huge grain of salt. Amazon doesn't give two shits about blind or deaf or gay programmers. This is a nice fluff piece. The programmers there are under absolute stress and high-stakes programming. I doubt that this one story about one nice programmer can be generalized to Amazon. I would bet if you are a blind programmer you would have a much harder time even getting past the interview loop given how biased the whole company is with their Ayn Rand-ish tactics that would obviously not give two shits about diversity or disability.
GabrielF00 · 7 years ago
I worked with one person at Amazon who had a significant physical disability. I can't speak for him, but he is highly valued by the organization because of the quality of his work.
GabrielF00 commented on How Amazon Rebuilt Itself Around Artificial Intelligence   wired.com/story/amazon-ar... · Posted by u/jonbaer
vadimberman · 8 years ago
An insightful comment that had to be made - I wonder why people downvoted it.

Indeed, Amazon is probably the best and the worst about the modern tech: an ambitious leader, who manages to create paradigm shifts in areas where he is not a subject matter expert; and a sweatshop-like environment where the low ranking employees are treated like oompah loompahs.

GabrielF00 · 8 years ago
As an Amazon employee, I tend to think Amazon's reputation is overstated. Some teams definitely have very high operational loads, but in general my hours have been comparable to friends in similar tech companies and certainly less than friends in industries like medicine, management consulting, etc.

It's very strange to describe Amazon (at least engineering roles) as a sweatshop considering how well compensated employees are.

GabrielF00 commented on Google Is Pulling YouTube Off the Fire TV and Echo Show   theverge.com/2017/12/5/16... · Posted by u/artsandsci
tootie · 8 years ago
I don't it's blocking the site. They're discontinuing the app. FireTV doesn't directly support web browsing at all.
GabrielF00 · 8 years ago
Echo Show switched to showing YouTube through the web after Google blocked it the first time. Now it looks like Google is blocking the website. https://9to5google.com/2017/11/21/youtube-back-on-amazon-ech...
GabrielF00 commented on Google Is Pulling YouTube Off the Fire TV and Echo Show   theverge.com/2017/12/5/16... · Posted by u/artsandsci
spydum · 8 years ago
like how you can't view amazon prime videos from android tablets (or at least, certain versions iirc.. amazon yanked it's apk from play store. i dont recall why, but some people simply side-loaded from amazon store).
GabrielF00 · 8 years ago
That's an app. Apps are inherently* limited to a particular OS. I'm asking if a company has restricted a website for competitive reasons.

*Not counting something like phone gap.

GabrielF00 commented on Google Is Pulling YouTube Off the Fire TV and Echo Show   theverge.com/2017/12/5/16... · Posted by u/artsandsci
GabrielF00 · 8 years ago
Is there precedent for a company restricting access to its website by a competitor's device for competitive reasons?
GabrielF00 commented on Underestimating the power of Jeff Bezos   linkedin.com/pulse/i-sign... · Posted by u/nocoder
lordfoom · 8 years ago
So never reveal abusive practises ever if it's by someone who employs you?
GabrielF00 · 8 years ago
Amazon didn't employ him.

u/GabrielF00

KarmaCake day3373October 4, 2012View Original