somethoughts (u/somethoughts)

somethoughts commented on Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report 9to5mac.com/2025/11/04/ch... · Posted by u/spurgu

freedomben · a month ago

Offering something like that would be tantamount to admitting that they were wrong (or lying) about their motivation for locking the system down with no user choice, that it's for the protection of the user. I don't see that happening.

somethoughts · a month ago

Interestingly it's popularity or unpopularity would prove out two things - both of which are somewhat of a win win for Apple:

1.) If MacPhone/MacPad is popular then it would prove that there does exist a currently untapped, unaddressed market who wants Apple HW and are willing to pay a premium but do not want the locked down iOS garden which means more money for minimal effort.

2.) If MacPhone/MacPad is unpopular then it would prove that their motivation and hypothesis was correct - people do indeed come to Apple and pay the premium precisely for the walled garden and the convenience it affords.

If its indeed unpopular you could keep it around for a couple of years as an EU regulatory compliance device. Then you can say to any future regulator who wants to tear down the iOS walled garden - we tried that back in 2026 and nobody wanted it.

somethoughts commented on Cheaper MacBook powered by iPhone chip coming in 2026, per new report 9to5mac.com/2025/11/04/ch... · Posted by u/spurgu

somethoughts · a month ago

I think the reverse offering on the Apple device roadmap would be interesting.

A MacPad and a MacPhone. Given its eventually going to be completely the same silicon this would enable them to offer a non App Store experience for people who want to experiment with alternative app stores like Epic.

In that way they could keep the average Apple target iPhone/iPad customer within the walled garden of iOS while being able to point specifically to EU regulators that they are allowing alternative app stores on the MacPhone/MacPad platform.

somethoughts commented on Board: New game console recognizes physical pieces, with an open SDK board.fun/... · Posted by u/nicoles

somethoughts · 2 months ago

Pretty cool!

My hot take is that there are seem to be really two markets here:

1.) Candy crush type board games targeting kids with well-off parents. Basically really focused on immersive and interactive visuals like effects and cutscenes.

2.) Serious board games targeting older teenagers and adults playing heavy games with BoardGameGeek weightings of above 3.5 with money to spend on their own hobby. Think games like 18XX, Brass Birmingham, Dune, Terraforming Mars or Gloomhaven. They would find the digital board game experience useful for accessing expansion maps (i.e. 18xx) or expansion campaigns (Gloomhaven). Additional features of interest might be solo play against automated players, game state/score tracking, game tutorials.

It almost feels like these two groups would have such different profiles that two separate marketing approaches should be attempted.

somethoughts commented on 1X Neo – Home Robot - Pre Order 1x.tech/order... · Posted by u/denysvitali

somethoughts · 2 months ago

I feel like they should target commercial applications first before worrying about trying to get into people's homes.

It would seem like the ideal target for this would be say a hotel operator. A team of these could clean a large number of rooms on an unoccupied floor of a hotel at once. Even if this was tele-operated remotely, this seems like it could be particularly beneficial for hotels in remote locations where its harder to hire people locally.

somethoughts commented on Ask HN: Second generation of intro to software dev for 3rd graders · Posted by u/xrd

somethoughts · 2 months ago

There was/is a pretty interesting board game roughly based on Python Turtles created by a middle schooler a while back.

Instead of a turtle you control a bunny and instead of lines of code with commands you collect up and then use sequences of cards with commands (i.e. left, right, forward, back). Eventually, I think you end up using loop command cards, etc.

I'd imagine you could have teams control each bunny.

CoderBunnyz - https://coderbunnyz.com

Quick overview on how to play CoderBunnyz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOBtdG3ctI

Some provided lesson plans even:

https://coderbunnyz.com/stem-schools/

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Coder-Bunnyz-Comprehensive-Programmin...

somethoughts commented on DoorDash and Waymo launch autonomous delivery service in Phoenix about.doordash.com/en-us/... · Posted by u/ChrisArchitect

tantalor · 2 months ago

That's short sighted. A burrito is a perfect candidate for ballistic trajectory. They can easily absorb the high g-force associated with traditional mortar-style launch system, even up to exotic "space gun" capable of intercontinental delivery.

somethoughts · 2 months ago

The burrito ballistic tech seems like it could probably handle the last 10 yards problem and enable drive by delivery.

Postmates - How we built a Burrito Cannon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_KqzLWunM

Burrito Cannon Demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDdKYmStcIc

somethoughts commented on OpenAI Is Just Another Boring, Desperate AI Startup wheresyoured.at/sora2-ope... · Posted by u/speckx

ElijahLynn · 3 months ago

So so so happy about the "no ads" part and do really hope there is a paid option to keep no ads forever. And hopefully the paid subscriptions keep the ads off the free plans for this who aren't as privileged to pay for it.

somethoughts · 3 months ago

My hot take is that it will probably follow the Netflix model of pricing once the VC money wants to turn on the profit switch.

Originally Netflix was a single tier at $9.99 with no ads. As ZIRP ended and investors told Netflix its VC-like honeymoon period was over - ads were introduced at $6.99 and the basic no ad tier went to $15.99 and the Premium went to 19.99.

Currently Netflix ad supported is $7.99, add free is $17.99 and Premium is $24.99.

Mapping that on to OpenAI pricing - ChatGPT will be ~$17.99 for ad supported, ~$49.99 for ad free and ~$599 for Pro.

somethoughts commented on Unbound Academy hasn’t replaced teachers with AI danmeyer.substack.com/p/t... · Posted by u/simonebrunozzi

somethoughts · 3 months ago

I feel like it'd be perfect if all these school replacements (home-school, charter school, online only schools) went after replacing the dearth of quality after school options.

Really the only options for after school activities after graduating from elementary school are competitive sports, competitive math, competitive music, competitive chess, etc. which are pretty much all zero sum in nature.

I'd love options for kids that let them gradually explore their interests to help them discover future vocational interests in a way that was beneficial to society such that they don't have an existential crisis when they hit senior year in high school and have to pick a college major.

somethoughts commented on After getting Jimmy Kimmel suspended, FCC chair threatens ABC's The View arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/duxup

somethoughts · 3 months ago

It feels a better strategy for all parties involved to have transitioned these shows to ABC's streaming properties (i.e. Hulu) and made them "exclusive" content for these platforms.

This would have put them out of the reach of the FCC (based on the FCC's initial spectrum is for public benefit for all claim) for now.

There is probably significant IP in both of these shows that could still have been monetized given brand familiarity. It would have been less than before but still something is better than nothing.

I don't have any data to back this up but I can't imagine a lot of people still use Over The Air TV. And the intersection of people who rely solely on OTA TV and are clamoring to watch Kimmel/View is probably even lower.

This also would probably have benefitted the administration in that it wouldn't have trigger as many alarm bells from a free speech perspective.

somethoughts commented on Ohio senator introduces 25% tax on companies that outsource jobs overseas foxnews.com/politics/gop-... · Posted by u/TMWNN

somethoughts · 3 months ago

I think there could be a case for a fixed amount of annual tax credit for each US citizen that is employed by a company - since presumably that person is not on the government payroll or on benefits so the US government is saving money.

The big plus is business owners love claiming tax credits. You would not really need that much paperwork or auditing as far as I can tell since you have every US employees tax info already versus trying to monitor/regulate "outsourcing".