Hacker News: Schnitz

New comment by Schnitz in "FCC updates covered list to include foreign-made consumer routers"

Schnitz — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 23:21:41 +0000

So router prices in the US will go up a lot, great!

New comment by Schnitz in "Wired headphone sales are exploding"

Schnitz — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 07:01:24 +0000

Except on the go, I don’t see the point for Bluetooth headphones. Due to the built in batteries that are uneconomical to replace they are essentially consumables, even high end ones like AirPods Max. Pairing and (re) connecting is a never ending pain. For less than $200 you can get a set of wired open back headphones that sound so good that unless you are in the audiophile niche they are your forever headphones. Models like Beyer Dynamic DT990 are built to last and very repairable, it just makes sense.

New comment by Schnitz in "AI is a business model stress test"

Schnitz — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 02:27:06 +0000

The root of the issue is that Tailwind was selling something that people can now recreate a bespoke version of in mere minutes using a coding agent. The other day I vibe coded a bespoke dependabot/renovate replacement in an hour. That was way easier than learning any of these tools and fighting their idiosyncrasies that don’t work for me. We no longer need Framer because you can prompt a corporate website faster than you can learn Framer. It is, fortunately or unfortunately, what it is and we all have to adapt.

I want to be clear, it sucks for Tailwind for sure and the LLM providers essentially found a new loophole (training) where you can smash and grab public goods and capture the value without giving anything back. A lot of capitalists would say it’s a genius move.

New comment by Schnitz in "AWS raises GPU prices 15% on a Saturday, hopes you weren't paying attention"

Schnitz — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:57:07 +0000

Assuming you are a capitalist that is in it to maximize shareholder value then yes, that is the direction you will push the world in. Why sell me a car once if you can charge me a rent forever?

New comment by Schnitz in "iOS allows alternative browser engines in Japan"

Schnitz — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 23:09:20 +0000

I wonder what technical detail makes this so hard to enable for other locales.

New comment by Schnitz in "iOS 26.3 brings AirPods-like pairing to third-party devices in EU under DMA"

Schnitz — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 00:27:10 +0000

I really wonder what the technical detail is that makes it so much harder for this feature to work when your phone is outside the EU, does anyone know?

New comment by Schnitz in "Pricing Changes for GitHub Actions"

Schnitz — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 02:31:51 +0000

GitHub isn’t even good, it’s just the mediocre default everybody uses. PRs were fantastic and the best thing ever - 15 years ago!

New comment by Schnitz in "A $20 drug in Europe requires a prescription and $800 in the U.S."

Schnitz — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 22:29:18 +0000

It’s very simple. In the US your pharmacy has a contract with the drug supplier that prevents the pharmacist from telling you that you could buy the drug without insurance for $10 while he charges you the $20 copay. As long as this is legal and your pharmacist’s duty isn’t to you the patient, don’t waste time worrying about the details.

New comment by Schnitz in "Anthropic acquires Bun"

Schnitz — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:01:46 +0000

Anywhere where the correct Java version is installed correctly, important caveat

New comment by Schnitz in "Delete FROM users WHERE location = 'Iran';"

Schnitz — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 06:05:07 +0000

Sanctions work, but not in the way that is the common public perception. The expectation isn’t that Russia or whoever falls apart a few weeks after we lock them out of Visa payment rails or whatever. The reality is that the sanctions stifle economic growth and that effect is compounding. Even if sanctions only reduce growth by 1 percentage point, after ~19 years your economy is already 20% smaller than it would be without sanctions and that is measurable. From a national security perspective, it makes Russia a lot less concerning if their industrial output is 20% less. Now imagine trying to start a software business in Iran, the stifling effect is way higher than a measly percentage point. Note that I’m not making a moral judgement, I’m simply sharing my understanding of sanctions.

New comment by Schnitz in "Teardown of Apple 40W dynamic power adapter with 60W max"

Schnitz — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 23:41:07 +0000

Yes but if after 1 year I’m at 100% battery health then isn’t it reasonable to assume that what I’m doing isn’t significantly harming my battery and I can continue like this for several more years? On previous iPhones where I didn’t use the 80% charge limit battery health dropped mostly linearly over the 3-5 years that I had the phone.

New comment by Schnitz in "They Thought They Were Free (1955)"

Schnitz — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 13:57:55 +0000

The US constitution is outdated and vulnerable. Modern constitutions like Germany’s basic law are a lot more resilient. We are watching the US constitution fail right now, it didn’t even take smart men to start dismantling it. I hope I’ll be proven wrong, but what indications do you see right now that the US constitution is performing as intended?

New comment by Schnitz in "Teardown of Apple 40W dynamic power adapter with 60W max"

Schnitz — Sun, 21 Sep 2025 01:35:58 +0000

What is the logic or science behind that claim? I’ve fast charged my iPhone 16 pro (heavy user) daily if not more often for a year using Apple chargers with the charge limit set to 80%. Remaining battery capacity is still 100%, which is something I’ve never had after a whole year. Fast charge doesn’t seem to hurt.

New comment by Schnitz in "Trump to impose $100k fee for H-1B worker visas, White House says"

Schnitz — Sat, 20 Sep 2025 08:48:05 +0000

The issue that needs fixing with the H1 program isn’t FAANG, it’s Infosys etc.

New comment by Schnitz in "Slack has raised our charges by $195k per year"

Schnitz — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 05:37:08 +0000

The API changes are scummy, I agree. It’ll generate some ARR short term but ultimately people will be looking elsewhere, new companies will start on alternatives and others switch when the opportunity arises. It’s also not like Slack is a beloved product.

New comment by Schnitz in "Slack has raised our charges by $195k per year"

Schnitz — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 05:26:27 +0000

They have AI features in Slack but they just aren’t that useful. The RAG search is the most useful one, but it falls short of solutions like Dust or Glean because it only covers a single silo (Slack). AI search is way more useful when it searches across Notion, Linear, Slack, etc so you’ll buy that instead of the Slack AI addon.

New comment by Schnitz in "Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office"

Schnitz — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 05:12:16 +0000

Just how software engineers are in the hacker news thought bubble you have the VC and CEO thought bubble. It roughly goes like this: Someone has some productivity or whatever problem and RTOs. That costs money, they lose people, so they can’t later admit it was a wash or a net negative. So they go on Twitter or LinkedIn and trumpet how great their hardcore 996 RTO is going. Now others see this and fomo kicks in. They start their own RTO which they are then again highly incentivized to report as successful. Rinse and repeat.

New comment by Schnitz in "iPhone Air"

Schnitz — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 03:53:47 +0000

It doesn’t always have to be status. Apple is very good at withholding features from low end models to ensure everyone has that one thing they want that makes them go for the pro variant.

New comment by Schnitz in "She puts the Lord in 'vanlord.' Palo Alto wants to ban her business"

Schnitz — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 03:48:46 +0000

Yes, they are. People are living in them. Street parking RVs is illegal in San Mateo, they should increase enforcement.

New comment by Schnitz in "She puts the Lord in 'vanlord.' Palo Alto wants to ban her business"

Schnitz — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 03:47:43 +0000

That’s some third world stuff right there. This of course should be illegal. She’s taking a public resource (street parking), privatizing it by occupying it with her RV and then charging rent for it. Godspeed if you live on the street where she does this.