Not a fan. Seems like an invasion of privacy for companies to put an always-on security camera in your home. Didn't Orwell call them Telescreens?
Yes, someone read 1984 and thought it was a business idea book.
Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
181–190 of 234 posts
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#182Did you do a trademark search yet? T-Mobile US had a Sidekick device not long ago and may not have abandoned their registration.
So basic, how does YC let these companies in.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#183Why is everybody in here being such an asshole to this company? Has the HN culture seriously changed this much? Is the lockdown just pickling everybody's minds?
They're trying something. If you don't like it, give constructive criticism, but this hostility is unhelpful and unwelcome.
>Why is it a Samsung device?
I worked on a startup which was a video chat project similar to this with a different target. We also used an existing hardware device. Why? Because tech support is hard, and tech supporting hundreds of different combinations of people's hardware is a project itself. We bought tablets, loaded our app onto them, and that was our hardware device. Yeah, we wanted to make our own device eventually, but we weren't at the point of sending a team to China to do it yet, and that's what it would have taken.
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Stop this. This is not HN's culture. If you want to offer constructive criticism, then fine. If you want to be a jerk to somebody about their product then go somewhere else. If you are thinking you want to make an alt account to be a jerk to somebody about their product, then go somewhere else even faster.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#184The next step improving home office is not bringing office to home, but rather improving asynchronous communication, which is a whole different way to work.
Open offices are really bad for productivity, I don't really understand why don't people understand that nowadays. This device makes your home office an open office...
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#185Why is everybody in here being such an asshole to this company? Has the HN culture seriously changed this much? Is the lockdown just pickling everybody's minds? They're trying something. If you don't like it, give constructive criticism, but this hostility is unhelpful and unwelcome. >Why is it a Samsung device? I worked on a startup which was a video chat project similar to this with a different target. We also used…
The oversell is the issue for me. It’s essentially an video conferencing Android app, but instead of putting it on the Play store, they are making you lease the hardware. In the features, I don’t see any exceptional features that make it stand out over any other “meet” app.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#186Why is everybody in here being such an asshole to this company? Has the HN culture seriously changed this much? Is the lockdown just pickling everybody's minds? They're trying something. If you don't like it, give constructive criticism, but this hostility is unhelpful and unwelcome. >Why is it a Samsung device? I worked on a startup which was a video chat project similar to this with a different target. We also used…
>We bought tablets, loaded our app onto them, and that was our hardware device. Yeah, we wanted to make our own device eventually, but we weren't at the point of sending a team to China to do it yet, and that's what it would have taken.
Well, then you worked for a software company that transitioned into hardware development.
That's my only personal gripe with this whole spiel, it feels as if it's a way to game the whole SV thing by calling yourself something you aren't.
A company that converts old tablets into more specialized devices using software to accomplish the goal is a service, not a hardware company.
DoorDash isn't a restaurant, even if they dabble in food. It'd be ridiculous for them to say that -- they don't produce food; they arrange for delivery of food.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#187Why is everybody in here being such an asshole to this company? Has the HN culture seriously changed this much? Is the lockdown just pickling everybody's minds? They're trying something. If you don't like it, give constructive criticism, but this hostility is unhelpful and unwelcome. >Why is it a Samsung device? I worked on a startup which was a video chat project similar to this with a different target. We also used…
Agree with you that we should be gentler on people when they are just introducing ideas to the world. I disagree that this is not HN's culture. Example, read the dropbox launch thread, among many others. Usually when I come to HN I expect the top comment to be some pseudo-intellectual takedown of someone else's hard work.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The only feature I'd like to see is a "camera off but still pingable" mode i think that's called a slack message, or maybe email.
I think the difference is that "pingable" means you are happy to have someone ping you. My understanding is that camera on = talk to me at any time. And maybe some users would still like that openness, without worrying if someone is watching them pick their nose. A Slack message would start with "Hey, can we connect at some point..."
depends on how you use slack. if youre using it to its highest potential, people are setting their slack statuses appropriately and you can tell who is in the zone vs not, etc. i really think a lot of this stuff is a process problem. the tools are all there
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#189I don't know about the use-case in work environment. No one I know wants to be that close to each other at work. Small startups, maybe...
However, my wife would totally use this. She does this already, "zooming" with her girlfriends doing arts and crafts.
People who have tendencies to socialize with others will appreciate this.
Re: Launch HN: Sidekick (YC S20) – A hardware device to connect remote teams
#190Why is everybody in here being such an asshole to this company? Has the HN culture seriously changed this much? Is the lockdown just pickling everybody's minds? They're trying something. If you don't like it, give constructive criticism, but this hostility is unhelpful and unwelcome. >Why is it a Samsung device? I worked on a startup which was a video chat project similar to this with a different target. We also used…
Agree with you that we should be gentler on people when they are just introducing ideas to the world. I disagree that this is not HN's culture. Example, read the dropbox launch thread, among many others. Usually when I come to HN I expect the top comment to be some pseudo-intellectual takedown of someone else's hard work.
The dropbox thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863
I don't agree with you that people are being jerks there in the way that they are here.