bald's comments

On: Laptop Ports: Is USB-C only fine, or should I get HDMI,USB,Audio if I need them?

[bald]

There's now AMD laptops certified for Thunderbolt 4 coming to the market, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 [1], so it's no longer this clear cut.

[1] https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/coming-soon/lenovo-thinkpad-t...

On: Amazon reveals first color Kindle, new Kindle Scribe, and more

[bald]

If you tap on the minutes left text in the lower left corner of your screen, it will cycle through pages, minutes left in chapter, section and blank

[mmahemoff → bald]

I do use that, but what I want is some idea of progress or pages remaining within the chapter.

On: America's new millionaire class: Plumbers and HVAC entrepreneurs

[bald]

Mars is one of the biggest manufacturers of pet food in the world

On: Pooled number of deaths by age group in EU

[bald]

Cyprus is also included while it's on the Asian continental plate

On: Raspberry Pi CEO: Supply should be “unconstrained” in second half of 2023

[bald]

I recently needed to buy a raspberry for my hobby project and find one close to retail price via [1] which tracks availability across different online stores.

[1] https://rpilocator.com/

On: Gigafactories are recycling old EV batteries into new ones

[bald]

Not sure why you're being downvoted, but this is the right answer

[mrelectric → bald]

You can't predict the markets.

[bryanlarsen → mrelectric]

It's easy to predict the markets, just as it's easy to predict the weather.

I predict it will rain sometime in the next month at my address. I also predict that it will freeze hard in the same time period.

This is a useful prediction, given that I will be winterizing my yard today.

Making a prediction better than an expert's is hard. Useful predictions are often easy.

If my father in law decides to plant 1000 acres in wheat next year, he is making a prediction about the markets. Given the situation in Ukraine and with global climate, wheat prices are one of the most difficult to predict precisely. But he is a low cost producer compared to many, so he knows he is likely to make a profit whether the price is high or low. A precise prediction would be nice, but producers everywhere operate with imprecise but useful predictions all the time.

[drran → bryanlarsen]

«Situation» in Ukraine is at mid-WWII level (1942), so plant the wheat. It will be tough to produce and export wheat in Ukraine for next two years at least.

[bryanlarsen → drran]

If the war in Ukraine continues, oilseeds are the most profitable planting choice.

[hamilyon2 → mrelectric]

It is difficult to predict markets fast, reliable and precisely enough to reliably beat them. It is certainly possible to predict markets and be good at it, people do it all the time

[HPsquared → mrelectric]

They have a lot of variability. It's the difference between predicting the weather and predicting the average weather (that is, the climate).

On: Apple expands Self Service Repair to Mac notebooks

[bald]

I'm living in Cyprus; had a Lenovo technician come here from Nicosia (~150 miles return) to fix my left-side USB ports of my ThinkPad T590 about six weeks ago.

In the past, I've had come Lenovo to remote parts of Switzerland and Germany, as well.

[jupp0r → bald]

> remote parts of Switzerland and Germany

There is no such thing. These are some of the most densely populated countries in the middle of the most densely populated regions of the world.

On: Ask HN: Affordable places in the world with 10G unmetered fiber home Internet?

[bald]

also mobile plans are cheap in Switzerland. You can get a plan including unlimited calls throughout most of Europe+Canada+US (incl. roaming) plus unlimited 5G in Switzerland plus 40GB of data roaming throughout Europe (not only EU)+Canada+US for 35-45 CHF/month. These are sales that happen 3-4 times a year, e.g. via qoqa.ch or on wingo.ch. I have two of those from two different providers.

Regular prices for such plans are CHF 100-130, which I also do not find overly expensive compared to US.

On: Watch Windows 95 crash live as it exceeds 49.7 days uptime [video]

[bald]

> 5 user

I think he's referring to CAL

[floatingatoll → bald]

Huh?

[stan_rogers → floatingatoll]

It's a 5-user Client Access License (CAL) package for Windows NT Server.

[Someone → stan_rogers]

If so, that’s not a Windows NT license, but an add-on that allows five users (¿at a time?) to connect to a Windows NT system that requires its own license to run, isn’t it?

[brian_herman → Someone]

exactly

[floatingatoll → stan_rogers]

Ah! Thank you.

On: Nokia 9000 Communicator was launched 25 years ago

[bald]

yes!! big time Casio Business Navigator BN-40A fan when I was 12 years old. had it for like 2 weeks before selling it to my best friend because my excitement had dropped off. But so cool to have something that looked like a super small laptop and such a wide screen.