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Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

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Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#761

Post by calebsurfs »

rsync wrote: post #71

Altavista. I miss it every single day. Searching for technical (unix, programming, etc.) content is so much easier when you can use nested parens and proper boolean language. This is in contrast to google where searches return things that don't even contain your keywords. This is in contrast to google where the modifiers like allinsite: and '+' and "quotes" are not respected or change their behavior over time. Man I…

Try selecting "Verbatim" in the tools menu - it can really improve your google search on technical topics.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#762

Post by luxpsycho »

Not the product itself, but there were only two features of Spotify around ~2010 that I used, which have both been removed:

* Set as Current Playlist: would allow me, with one action, to set the next playlist, but not interrupt the current song. Song would finish playing, then only song from selected playlist would follow (until I'd set a new 'Current Playlist' again).

* Empty Playlist: I used to have a plsylist called NULL with no songs in it. Combined with the Set as Current Playlist feature, this would allow me to, with one action and without waiting, let the current song finish, and then not have another one start (e.g. to go to bed, play a game, or to focus more intensely). Nowadays you cannot have an empty playlist anymore.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#764

Post by cdoxsey »

neotek wrote: post #598
aerovistae wrote: post #83

Ensemble Studios, makers of Age of Empires, Age of Empires 2, and Age of Mythology, some of the best RTSs ever made. There are other great RTSs, but they're all great in different ways from the Age series, which nothing else resembles. Microsoft bought them, and shut them down not long after for insufficient profits. Sigh. Age of Empires IV is being made now since they noticed there's demand, but the studio they chos…

In the same vein, I really miss Bullfrog, and the company that was formed after Bullfrog was shuttered, Mucky Foot. They made some of the best casual RTS games I've ever played, particularly Dungeon Keeper and Startopia. I still play them to this day despite having spent thousands and thousands of hours on both, to the extent that I know them inside out, and yet they've never stopped being fun.

Check out Two Point Hospital: https://store.steampowered.com/app/535930/Two_Point_Hospital...

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#765

Post by vernie »

latchkey wrote: post #589
function_seven wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has ditched so many cool things in the MacBook line. 1) MagSafe. I know they really want to go all in on USB-C, but the original MagSafe connector was awesome. Even the weaker 2.0 version was nice. There were two instances where that connector saved my laptop. 2) The laser-drilled power indicator. That was so cool. It looked like the light magically appeared through the aluminum. Now there's no indication whats…

There are hacks for the magsafe desire... https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/7/12/15960594/m... I just switched to a new 2018 macbook pro. The missing esc key isn't so bad. Thought I would hate it, but like everything else, including new FB redesigns, you get used to it and move on.

If I wanted to bother with hacks I wouldn't have Apple products.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#766

Post by thepratt »

wishinghand wrote: post #202

The Macbook Pro chassis before the OLED touchstrip. I'm a web developer and learned on MBPs. The touchpad was the right size, the keys had the right amount of travel, the form factor and weight were perfect. Right now I'm considering moving to developing on a Galaga Pro and using Windows/WSL. I've got most things setup on my desktop how I like using HyperTerm (I had too much trouble with Cmder), VS Code, and ZSH. I c…

I would suggest using a docker image with a mounted volume for development - there are alternatives, vagrant being one of them. As your production server will _most likely_ be a flavour of linux, this can help weed out "works on my machine" issues.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#767

Post by jes5199 »

owenwil wrote: post #433
ramses0 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WSL is terrible. It's basically a tech demo (look up what happens if you `cp` a file from `C:\...` to `/home/user` versus `copy` or going the other direction. It's alright to boot up a linux "VM" using docker, but then you have to pay extra for windows pro or whatever so you can unlock hypervisor privileges. I recently bought an extra SSD to put into the windows desktop I bought and am happily running linux, don't mi…

I use it daily with zero issues. I don't know why people keep perpetuating this, but it works great, as if it were native.

huh. I tried to run our rails app in WSL, and it was so slow that it was unusable

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#768

Post by androidgirl »

wlesieutre wrote: post #748

Not tech related, but I could go for some Altoids Sours. On the tech side, I switched from a Pebble Time to an Apple Watch. I like all the fitness stuff, but I think I would've liked a Pebble Time 2 with fitness stuff better.

Glad I'm not the only one who though of Altoids Sours

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#769

Post by yantrams »

function_seven wrote: post #296
wishinghand wrote: post #202

The Macbook Pro chassis before the OLED touchstrip. I'm a web developer and learned on MBPs. The touchpad was the right size, the keys had the right amount of travel, the form factor and weight were perfect. Right now I'm considering moving to developing on a Galaga Pro and using Windows/WSL. I've got most things setup on my desktop how I like using HyperTerm (I had too much trouble with Cmder), VS Code, and ZSH. I c…

Apple has ditched so many cool things in the MacBook line. 1) MagSafe. I know they really want to go all in on USB-C, but the original MagSafe connector was awesome. Even the weaker 2.0 version was nice. There were two instances where that connector saved my laptop. 2) The laser-drilled power indicator. That was so cool. It looked like the light magically appeared through the aluminum. Now there's no indication whats…

> 2007 MacBook had the best laptop keyboard I'd ever used.

You mean 2007 Macbook Pro right ? One of the best tactile responses I'd ever experienced on a keyboard. Thinkpad T520 was another I really enjoyed typing on.

Re: Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

#770

Post by jrruethe »

jaggederest wrote: post #3

Bump, actually. The other day was trying to transfer files and contact info and it's still an annoyance.

I came here to say this. Nowadays I use magic-wormhole and nitroshare, but when it comes to transferring Android to Android, Bump was the easiest.

I'm pretty sure Google bought them, and I was hoping they would actually do something with the technology, but nothing ever came of it.

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