Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Devices with notifications are little skinner boxes for our brains. There's perfectly valid reasons for people to want a device where notifications are not even an option, just like there's valid reasons for alcoholics to not want booze in the house. If that's not an issue for you - congratulations, those devices are not designed for you. But please don't deny others them, just because you don't think they should exist - they absolutely should.


Nobody said the Remarkable shouldn't exist. The question was whether the lack of a feature that can be disabled is a feature, which it isn't. You know what else doesn't send notifications and doesn't even need a battery? Paper.


>The question was whether the lack of a feature that can be disabled is a feature, which it isn't.

It is, though, and examples have been provided of VERY successful platforms built upon this negative space.

Consider the lack of a feature as a feature itself; it lowers the amount of cognitive brainpower required to use the system, and that is VERY valuable.


I’m of two minds on this one. Starting without notifications as an option in my devices would help me tremendously in my day to day life. But that’s just me. There are so many different brains out there. How does a company make a product that sells to a sufficiently wide market to make it worthwhile? The only option I see is… options. User-specific customization.


> Starting without notifications as an option in my devices would help me tremendously in my day to day life.

Incredibly good for mental health.

> The only option I see is… options. User-specific customization.

You can SSH into a remarkable tablet and do whatever you want to it.

> How does a company make a product that sells to a sufficiently wide market to make it worthwhile?

It is very expensive. Its only purpose is to be a digital notebook.


I wasn’t referring to this product specifically, but electronics in general.


> You know what else doesn't send notifications and doesn't even need a battery? Paper.

Think of this product as very expensive paper that backs up writing to the internet. Not a sh*ty tablet that can't do a lot of things.




Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: