Hacker News: wapz

New comment by wapz in "Masahiro Kikuno, Japanese Independent Watchmaker"

wapz — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 09:29:10 +0000

Do you really think that someone passionate about work is indistinguishable from someone "faking it" after 40 years? I can't imagine doing what I would consider a mundane task for even 5 years straight at regular work hours. 20+ years and I think you would be able to distinguish someone who's doing it for the money and someone who's passionate about the task.

New comment by wapz in "Bill Gurley Is Leaving Uber’s Board"

wapz — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 02:17:54 +0000

> one of the most insanely hostile work environments in living memory

> encouraged at all levels of the company

Do you have any sources for this? There have been a few blog posts and some independent investigations to my knowledge but nothing to suggest it is/was "one of the most insanely hostile work environments"--especially worldwide.

New comment by wapz in "Infosys accused of racism"

wapz — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 10:00:28 +0000

I really don't like how racism comes up so often in these situations when I think the closer term is probably familiarity or customs. A lot of bosses like to work with people that have a similar mindset and work ethic that they do. It makes sense that if you've been born and raised in country X and worked there for 15 years and become a boss you will probably prefer people with work ethics similar to your own. In Japan, as a foreigner working for a Japanese company, I can see how Japanese would much prefer to hire a Japanese over me (they don't outwardly complain about long, unpaid overtime, they do mundane tasks that aren't productive, they don't talk back when erroneously attacked). And I can see an American boss much preferring an American who's more likely to bring up points that they think are wrong. I apologize for the stereotyping but meant it as an example.

New comment by wapz in "Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time"

wapz — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 09:50:15 +0000

Yeah, even if you buy a prepaid sim and it doesn't work on your device the store probably won't refund you (unless it's "cracked" or something when you open it).

New comment by wapz in "Uber rolls out in-app tipping"

wapz — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 08:29:10 +0000

It's really unfortunate how that is the case in the US particularly. I moved to Japan and was shocked at how the service is in Japan compared to the states (particularly restaurants). All the employees work hard to please customers because that's what they're paid to do (and often less than the SF bay area where I'm from). Going back to the US I can feel waiters/waitresses trying to please me to get higher tips or just essentially pretend I don't exist if they think I won't tip well. This arose once when I was playing poker in a casino and only one of the 3 people who ordered drinks tipped. The lady never came back (45 minutes) after that and when the player asked in an agitated voice he was kicked out of the game.

New comment by wapz in "Twitch nabs exclusive streaming deal with Blizzard for e-sports events"

wapz — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 01:04:40 +0000

> they haven't figured out how to do well in moderating live chats with thousands of people

This is surely the case. Blizzard has tried various moderation techniques as you have mentioned and they don't seem to work. If I watch streams on twitch I don't look at chat ever (mobile/tablet).

New comment by wapz in "Media Companies Are Getting Sick of Facebook"

wapz — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:40:49 +0000

Yeah I've made it a habit to never share or click any facebook stories anymore (anything that links to another site). If something interests me, I open up firefox with noscript and search for the site on google to find it. Not sure it's any better but I don't want FB to start spamming me with even more 'related' articles/sites.

New comment by wapz in "Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time"

wapz — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 04:48:16 +0000

At either of the airports you can buy a sim card to use in your phone for internet (and use google voice for outgoing calls). They are sold at convenient stores (only the tourist ones like at the airport) and the electronic shops (the temporary sim cards are only sold at the tourist ones). Haneda airport has a bic camera mini.

New comment by wapz in "Launch HN: Solve (YC S17) – We Save International Travelers Hours of Time"

wapz — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 04:40:15 +0000

In Japan you can buy it at the convenient stores and the "mini" electronic store (haneda) at the airports. Switching sims, setting up the APNs, and the NO REFUND AFTER OPENED on the sticker make people buy it and jump on the bus or train to downtown tokyo (where you have 45mins ~ 1.5 hours to burn anyways).

New comment by wapz in "Fuze Code Studio will let kids use the Switch to code their own Switch games"

wapz — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 01:36:12 +0000

I didn't read anything that implies the games could be shared or uploaded online so a profanity filter wouldn't be needed would it?

I also imagine there to be a touch-screen interface for placing objects on the screen (like unity or playcanvas) so naughty kids will be able to "draw" whatever their heart desires anyways.

New comment by wapz in "Winners and losers in Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods"

wapz — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 09:19:28 +0000

Why are you tying customer service to quality of goods? If you don't like their quality of goods that is a fine reason to not buy from them, but I don't see anything in your argument disputing their customer service (the only part you quoted). If you receive a counterfeit item from Amazon (in my experience), they will 100% refund you the money instantly with almost no questions asked. They have also been refunding nexus 5x phones that die out of warranty (bootloop problem).

> Their one and only goal for the last 23 years has been to increase revenue, no matter the cost.

How can that be remotely true? Amazon has spent millions on R&D for the future, not for the current.

New comment by wapz in "Winners and losers in Amazon’s $13.7B purchase of Whole Foods"

wapz — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 07:56:45 +0000

> you'll have normal merchandise commingled on shelves side-by-side with third party supplied garbage

I don't think this is fair or even reasonable to say. It's going to be in a B&M store. You can inspect the item. The FDA/whatever organization will be inspecting food on the shelves. As for reputation, Amazon has the best customer service (tied with companies like REI) in my opinion.

I mostly agree that I don't see any positives for the customers at this point, but I don't think it's going the way of 3rd party counterfeit goods.

New comment by wapz in "Facebook’s Safety Check is a stress-inducing flip of social norms"

wapz — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:59:54 +0000

I'm guessing most family members are most likely not going to ask the question on facebook instead of just call their loved ones or send a text or email. My personal line of thinking is (maybe check facebook if they're super active to see if they said they're ok). Send a text or email if I'm a little worried. Call if I'm very worried. After a text or call I wouldn't go back and push the ask button on FB.

New comment by wapz in "The Konami exodus"

wapz — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:33:16 +0000

Do you have examples of key guys getting poached in the Japanese market? From my experience here most people tend to stay a long time or move on their own will (not as often as US IMO though)

New comment by wapz in "The Konami exodus"

wapz — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:03:07 +0000

I work for a Japanese company. Even if something is illegal in Japan it still happens. One particular thing is unpaid overtime. Most employees are hourly and they can be "forced" to work overtime for 50+ hours/week (all the time) without overtime pay. If they bring it up they will get "relocated" or just get harassed the entire time they're there until they quit. If they bring it to the government work agency (hello work) the company will deny the hours and say it was all voluntary. I have been told this personally by hello work. Also, I only have experience in one Japanese company so surely this does not occur at all companies.

New comment by wapz in "The Konami exodus"

wapz — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 08:00:33 +0000

Wow, I was a manager at a swimming pool and the "HR" told us when we get calls from prospective employers we can only tell them the dates of employments and the job position. We couldn't rave about how good the employees were but we were allowed to write letters of recommendation. I always thought it was in law (california) which is why they told us that.

New comment by wapz in "The 2017 iPad Pros"

wapz — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 08:33:14 +0000

The SurfaceBook should be thought of as a laptop and not a tablet imo. I have the surface pro and it a terrible tablet. Well, it's good if you are an artist and doing sketches/artwork but not for the casual programmer. I've used tablet mode under 10 times (I have a nexus 7 which is much better as a tablet) and was unimpressed every time.

New comment by wapz in "Hackers Are Hijacking Phone Numbers and Breaking into Email, Bank Accounts"

wapz — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 02:33:16 +0000

Your story reminds me of when I ordered a $200 video card from Staples ship to store. I went to the cashier and told them they should have a video card I ordered. They asked for my name and gave it to me (inside the shipping box so they didn't even know the contents). It's not as bad as getting your phone number stolen but it opened my eyes how easy it would be to "steal" a package.

New comment by wapz in "The Day I Played Bill Gates and Satya at Ping-Pong"

wapz — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 01:23:05 +0000

I used to use penhold because I thought it was cool and my serves were good. Then I learned from a competitive player (~1600 rating in whatever US rating system they had iirc; not too high), switched to shakehand and never looked back!

New comment by wapz in "The Benefits of Talking to Yourself"

wapz — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:57:30 +0000

I'm a unity developer (50% games, 50% 3d desktop programs)