Earlier quoted context omitted.
The quote I always seem to remember from that movie is: "New guy puking his guts out".
For me it's "fat man in a little coat." Sad to think that he's been gone eighteen years now.
Wasn't it fat "guy" in a little coat?
Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
291–300 of 400 posts
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
These are very high-speed cables, so there's a lot that can go wrong from a signal integrity standpoint.
I can't even remember the last time I used a USB cable on my phone for data, the only time I ever plug it in is for charging, so I don't care too much about signal integrity as long as it will charge my phone without damaging it. When I do care about signal integrity (i.e. connecting a USB hard drive to my computer, I use name-brand cables)
Without root, you need USB to start a connection with adb for debugging on the phone, even if you switch to wifi later.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#293So uh, maybe they can explain why the DisplayPort USB-C adapter for the Chromebook Pixel only works in one orientation? Yes, that's right. You heard me. You have to flip it over 50% of the time to get the screen to come on. (This might be Linux specific, I don't have ChromeOS to check)
I don't have one of these adapters but that seems sub-optimal. Perhaps it's an issue fixed by a newer firmware (which CrOS will load to the dongle automatically, but probably not a stock Linux distribution)?
Detailed design for the adapter is here: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/dingdong
If you feel like it, please file a bug.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#294It would physically pain me to work at a company that sells defective equipment. I'd like to see amazon just develop in-house testing for certain types of stock. Cables, power supplies...
really? How about working at a company that only sells products detrimental to your health? (read: McDonalds, Yum! Brands, Starbucks, Nestle, Kraft, etc... not to mention the entire tobacco industry, and plenty of other industries)
When there's a Latté ISO spec for Starbucks to comply with, or a Big Mac catches fire, then these will be directly comparable.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#295The best engineers in the world work at Google.
[looks at his Android phone] hmmm...
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#296The average consumer has no idea if one of these cables will actually do what they proclaim. The only way to really know is when other customers review the product, which we know is barely useful most of the time due to fraudulent reviews. Great job on the part of this Google engineer for writing such clear and technical reviews of the products. Now that an expert has called some of these cables out as not adhering t…
And in a nutshell, that's why people buy stuff from apple. imo, their brand is "here's a good thing, and we promise it will work". Amazon's is "you're on your own, but it's really fucking cheap!" That's not to say amazon doesn't have good customer service, but the whole thing is still shit. I just wanted a [cable|dongle|hdmi adapter|battery|plant spray|charger] that was what it claimed to be and worked correctly the…
Between 2008 and 2013 when I had an iPhone, their USB cables would regularly break down on me. The problem was the white casing around the wire would break down and start to thread. So I think the rule of Apple promising high quality is true a lot of the time, it baffles me that they sold that low quality cable for so long. Ever since I switched to decives that support Micro-USB, cheap cables have yet once to break.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> The average consumer has no idea if one of these cables will actually do what they proclaim. Isn't that what standards compliance is supposed to be for? Shouldn't the product have to be tested against the standard in order to get labeled USB X.Y ?? Or doesn't USB have such a requirement?
To quote Tommy Boy: "Hell, I can take a crap in a box and slap a guarantee on it for you"
And to put in terms of real-life - in Shenzhen, China I've seen people selling whole spools of "QC PASS" stickers, as well as any logo or guarantee label you want.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually this post explains why he's doing that: https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/LH4PPgVrKVN It kind of makes sense: he worked on products that use USB-C (Pixel laptops), but if the market is littered with bad cables USB-C will have a bad image which will be bad for the products he worked on. So what he's doing is in the interest in his employer, and for the benefit of the products he worked on. He's not d…
If only there were some way for google to get high quality usb-c cables to customers! Like not charging $13 plus shipping for a 1m cable (a ridiculous profit margin), and keeping them in stock. Or hell, throwing 5 of them in with everything they sell that uses usb-c. I mean, that would have to cost dollars. Whole dollars , on a $500 phone! https://store.google.com/product/usb_type_c_to_usb_standard_...
The ones on Amazon are all $15-$20 and even monoprice is $10
Since Google isn't the manufacturer they are not making a ridiculous profit margin.
Whole dollars on a $500 phone is more likely to be Google's entire profit margin, though. The profit margins on phones is razor thin unless you're Apple.
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#299The average consumer has no idea if one of these cables will actually do what they proclaim. The only way to really know is when other customers review the product, which we know is barely useful most of the time due to fraudulent reviews. Great job on the part of this Google engineer for writing such clear and technical reviews of the products. Now that an expert has called some of these cables out as not adhering t…
And in a nutshell, that's why people buy stuff from apple. imo, their brand is "here's a good thing, and we promise it will work". Amazon's is "you're on your own, but it's really fucking cheap!" That's not to say amazon doesn't have good customer service, but the whole thing is still shit. I just wanted a [cable|dongle|hdmi adapter|battery|plant spray|charger] that was what it claimed to be and worked correctly the…
Re: Google engineer writing Amazon reviews on USB-C cables that don't work
#300The current rhetoric when it comes to the failings of online reviews is to point at fraudulent reviews. I posit that, rather, it's the lack of weighting reviews by the expertise of the reviewers. Clearly the reviews of a hardware engineer at Google should have more weight to them than an average consumer (on products like this), because as bkmartin points out, the average consumer has no idea as to the true quality o…
> Clearly the reviews of a hardware engineer at Google
Not sure if this is an oversight, but Benson identifies himself as a software engineer.
I feel divided on this. On the one hand, I'd like to give more weight to his reviews; on the other, why? Being at Google, a software engineer, or working on the Chromebook don't actually make it more likely that his reviews should be better than anyone else's.
I feel like most people would take his word because he claims to work at Google -- wouldn't Google be upset with that? It's not like they as a company endorse the product, but his call-out to them makes it sound like he's endorsing them as a Google representative.
It just makes me uncomfortable.