This is similar to how Google has convinced Android users to refer to installing apps from stores other than the Play Store as "side-loading". It's a distraction.

Make no mistake -- Flock cameras are mass-surveillance tools with the ancillary use case of automatic license plate reading. I encourage anyone discussing these products not to refer to them as ALPRs, unless specifically discussing their license plate reading functionality.

I hope it survives another 25 years.

Sometimes it's used in the expected way, but (more?) often, "international community" euphemistically refers to whomever is currently one of, or an ally of the above mentioned countries.

It's deliberate obfuscation. First, there's the simple math of converting tokens to dollars. This is easy enough; people are familiar with "credits". Credits can be obfuscation, but at least they're honest. The second and more difficult obfuscation to untangle is how one converts "tokens" to "value".

When the value customers receive from tokens slips, they pay the same price for the service. But generative AI companies are under no obligation to refund anything, because the customer paid for tokens, and they got tokens in return. Customers have to trust that they're being given the highest quality tokens the provider can generate. I don't have that trust.

Additionally, they have to trust that generative AI companies aren't padding results with superfluous tokens to hit revenue targets. We've all seen how much fluff is in default LLM responses.

Pinky promises don't make for healthy business relationships.

This is not me doubting you, but your comment will carry considerably more weight if you provide a reference to Microsoft's statement.

1. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pass-password-store/id12058205...

"Never" may be falsified by "at least once", but affirmed only by "never". So I'm afraid only you could have ever been on the hook for the $1M, and may still be!

Your prof made a good bet.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45097304

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

I think most people would agree that engineers outright refusing to comply with what was asked of them would be a "not good" reason for not onboarding.

But Brian Armstrong is playing Strong CEO for the podcast circuit. So he can't admit that engineers were let go for potentially justifiable reasons. He has to leave room for speculation. Speculation that maybe some engineers were let go for trivial reasons, because Brian is tough, and tough Brian demands complaint employees.

The people who didn't comply because they were on vacation and then had to go to a Saturday meeting to explain themselves think Brian is something -- but I guarantee it's not that he's tough.

We've all seen this playbook before. This is the incredibly dumb, Idiocracy-emulating world in which we now live.

The usual "we take full responsibility" platitudes.

But then you have companies like Parking Revenue Recovery Services (PRRS), who have already had to settle [1] with the AG once before, and yet the AG refuses to take action on additional complaints, for years.

PRRS sent me a sham parking fee two weeks after their settlement with the AG in 2022.

The AG's response to my complaint

> We have investigated your complaint and based on the information we have received to date, we are taking no further action at this time.

This was three years ago. And Coloradans, faced with an AG that won't do anything for them, have taken to PRRS's non-accredited BBB page to file thousands of complaints [2].

I don't think the BBB would have any effect in this situation either, because PRRS doesn't rely on reputation for its business. They simply rely on having conveniently placed parking lots throughout the city with people needing a place to park.

This was three years ago, and here we are in 2025 and Denver is still dealing with this situation [3] and as far as I know, the AG still hasn't done anything about it.

/vent

[1] https://coag.gov/press-releases/attorney-general-phil-weiser... [2] https://www.bbb.org/us/co/englewood/profile/parking-attendan... [3] https://www.9news.com/article/money/consumer/steve-on-your-s...

Google is comparable, but it's too risky for them to have so many magic links hanging around in customer inboxes, because Google identities tend to be tied to far more sensitive 3rd party applications. Which is not to say that there are no sensitive applications with "Login with Facebook", but I'll argue there are fewer.