wdn (u/wdn) - Readit News

wdn commented on Diablo Immortal brought $100M to developers in less than two months gagadget.com/en/games/151... · Posted by u/olalonde

PeterStuer · 4 years ago

How many people would pay 70$ for a mobile game? I'm thinking way less than those you can get hooked on microtransactions.

wdn · 4 years ago

A lot. They wouldn’t spend $70 for 1 item. They will buy a few packs here and there and that’s $100 spent and they didn’t even know.

My kids did that. I gave them a debit card with some allowance and next thing I know, $50 was spent on a micro transaction. $5, $7 and then a few more clicks, $50.

Google policy is they only refund the last transaction 1 time for an app.

wdn commented on Elon Musk makes $43B unsolicited bid to take Twitter private bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/zegl

snowwrestler · 4 years ago

As a Twitter shareholder I would vote against this. Musk says there is tremendous financial potential in Twitter but then offers $54 a share, which is not even 2x the IPO price. That’s not a “tremendous potential” premium.

There is a lot of evidence that platforms which de-prioritize moderation have trouble attracting revenue and experience significant compliance costs. See: the sad story of Moot, who ran one of the most popular social websites in the world and ended up with absolutely nothing to show for it.

This looks more like a hobby to me than a business decision. Hobbies are fine as long as they don’t distract from the job, like Bezos buying Washington Post (he is a hands-off owner who spends very little time on it). But Musk is in two high-risk positions with Tesla and SpaceX. He worked over last Thanksgiving and sent a rather dramatic email about it. So I would be concerned about his ability to multi-task. He has already tried to run three businesses at once and he had to use Tesla to bail himself out of Solar City’s troubles.

wdn · 4 years ago

If you are a TWTR shareholder, then you should vote for this deal.

Just open a chart and see what a disaster TWTR stock is since transitioned into the Biden administration. The market (institution shareholders) is not stupid. The lower price is how the free market punish TWTR for their actions. They have lost a lot of their users due to many of their limited free speech and work with government actions.

wdn commented on Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes bloomberg.com/news/articl... · Posted by u/thazework

boplicity · 4 years ago

> During last year’s election campaign, Trudeau’s party also proposed a ban on “blind bidding” for houses -- the prevailing system by which offers are kept secret when someone is auctioning a home.

This is such a huge deal. Anyone who has had to go through the process of buying a home through a bidding war knows how unfair and one-sided this process is. It take a high-pressure emotional situation, and gives all of the information to one side (the sellers), while leaving the buyer stuck guessing at what the real price for the house is supposed to be. An absolutely horrible process that should be banned. Banning this is such a simple reform. I sincerely hope it happens, though I doubt it it will.

wdn · 4 years ago

It is supply and demand. If the buyers don't think it worth the price, they wouldn't place the bids.

If you want open bid/ask, there is always the stock/futures/options markets.

wdn commented on NYU is top-ranked in loans that alumni and parents struggle to repay wsj.com/articles/nyu-coll... · Posted by u/alex504

julienchastang · 4 years ago

> end federally backed student loans

Unfortunately, higher education will be completely opposed to this plan, because they get paid upfront, take on zero risk, and can charge whatever they want. (Yet another example of moral hazard. When the loan cannot be repaid the taxpayers foot the bill. Remember, “gains are privatized and losses are nationalized.”) Also as incredibly flawed as the present system is, I wonder if it provides an avenue to higher education to students that would otherwise have no such path. I propose that the universities should be financially responsible (instead of the federal government) when the student cannot repay the loan. That would provide a strong incentive for universities to have A. the student graduate B. have a manageable amount of debt with respect to future income.

wdn · 4 years ago

This would be a great idea. However, in those wokism world, it would not work.

School are dropping standardize test in the name of fairness (of the skin color).

wdn commented on Apple and Disney among companies backing groups against US climate bill theguardian.com/us-news/2... · Posted by u/ciconia

Broken_Hippo · 4 years ago

I disagree: It might be part of the solution, but simply taxing carbon means that rich folks or companies can pollute. We need green methods put into law to force folks to cut their emissions and pollutants - and punish those who run afoul of the laws, including steep fines, possible business shutdowns, and personal liability/criminal charges for CEOS and other folks running the company, especially if they cover up their polluting.

I'd much rather just deny good that do not meet standards. Again, tariffs just make it so moneyed folks can just pay to avoid stuff.

wdn · 4 years ago

Exactly this.

We are seeing Bill Gates telling us HOW to save the planet for being the biggest person polluter but he CAN buy carbon credit to offset his carbon footprint. Hypocrite!

wdn commented on New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill ifixit.com/News/50722/vic... · Posted by u/tk75x

znpy · 5 years ago

> Given the cost of medical care in this country

although in this specific case in example, if the country you're talking about are the US, having access to the $500 motor only means wider profit margins for the hostpital, not necessarily lower bills for hospitalized people.

wdn · 5 years ago

You do understand the reason why US has such high health care cost is because the only player getting screw is the payer, also known as the patient.

wdn commented on Amazon Sidewalk amazon.com/Amazon-Sidewal... · Posted by u/encryptluks2

FroshKiller · 5 years ago

I'd rather be protected by regulation than pay more for what I shouldn't have to pay for in the first place.

wdn · 5 years ago

When was the last time regulation protects anything?

The Security Act of 1934 created the SEC and look at the past 20 or so years and see how many scandals has happened under their watch. All big players. Look at Madoff. Whisper blower after whisper blower to the SEC and what did SEC do? They looked the other way.

wdn commented on Union's evidence in Amazon vote 'could be grounds for overturning election' reuters.com/technology/us... · Posted by u/throwawaysea

sammorrowdrums · 5 years ago

I would be willing to listen to that line of argument, but having seen the Amazon manager training videos, the doitwithoutdues.com site, the countless other articles, evidence and anecdotes about Amazon's particularly aggressive forms of trying to prevent unionisation, the twitter ambassadors tweeting the official talking points etc.

I don't think we can rule out the possibility we don't actually know what the employees truly think because they're in the middle of an all out propaganda war.

And I certainly don't think Amazon would put so much effort into fighting this if their employee treatment, benefits and compensation and general employer track record made employees genuinely not even consider the Union option.

As an outsider, it just feels like watching media reporting a war. I don't trust it due to propaganda and clearly opposing biases at play between the interested parties.

wdn · 5 years ago

One of my neighbor works fir Amazon warehouse here in NJ, he is quite happy, never heard him complain about it.

Yeap, I agreed with you. The media is untrustworthy and is a propaganda machine. Good thing is they are digging their own grave now.

wdn commented on Apple sued for terminating account with $25k worth of apps and videos arstechnica.com/tech-poli... · Posted by u/imgabe

realusername · 5 years ago

> Apple countered by arguing that “no reasonable consumer would believe” that content purchased through iTunes would be available on the platform indefinitely

Remember this sentence to change your mind for the next time you see some movie to buy online.

wdn · 5 years ago

They are a monopoly. I hope the Judge on Epic class call this Apple’s Motion to Dismiss.

Hopefully there will be platform independent store where you can buy once and available on all devices.

wdn commented on Google and Apple attacked on app store 'monopoly' bbc.com/news/technology-5... · Posted by u/quaesitor

threeseed · 5 years ago

You need to be careful as words matter.

Apple and Google are not a cartel by any definition and they do not in anyway coordinate with each other. Either of these are criminal.

Google reducing their margins to better compete with Apple is no different to how every market works.

wdn · 5 years ago

Apple and Google’s action is no more than a cartel than Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile in the late 90s and early 2000s. They just don’t compete against each other.