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Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

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Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#811

I'm loving my Apple Watch. I wasn't entirely sure yet what to think of the watch as a form factor, given that a phone can do everything it can and more. But there's three interesting aspects that have really added value for me. 1) is health data, in a way a computer or phone just can't do. It tracks things like heartrate that a phone + heartrate strap is too convoluted for, for non-athletes. Plus it's all-day and qui…

I got one for free, handed down to me by my partner after she upgraded, the stakes were pretty low for what I expected out of it.

It’s great! I silence the hell out of my phone (on top of having almost all notifications off) so the watch vibrations are useful to me for not missing messages I care about.

Super easy to read 2FA codes through SMS without digging up the phone. The LastPass Authenticator has a watch integration but it’s never worked for me. I’m sure there are other authenticator apps that work for the watch though.

Logging workouts is easy, it’s fun to compare rings with my partner but we’re not serious about it and don’t really need the watch to get motivated about being active.

Hands down my favorite feature is surprisingly the maps integration. If you just ignore the baseless memes about “Apple Maps bad” (works fine for me these days, but I saw how bad it was at its inception back in the day too) and just use it, you get the watch integration for free too. The vibrations for left/right turn are a very nice feature that don’t require averting attention at all, but you have the option of viewing the watch for a quick preview of the maps route (distance to next event and a visual, i.e. right three lanes to exit right).

Just some feedback from a guy without strong opinions for or against the thing.

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#812

Interesting that people are substituting the hard question (what has been hyped and has lived up to it) with the easier question (what is good and has stood the test of time) and answering that instead, a form of attribute substitution bias [0]. My answers would be Mr Robot, especially after seeing what happened with Game Of Thrones. Having a story that is planned out from start to finish is miles better than improvi…

>>Interesting that people are substituting the hard question (what has been hyped and has lived up to it)

I think it's the way you're reading the answers (and the question). If you look at it as "What was hyped to you and lived up to the hype when you finally experienced it", then the answers make sense and there's no confusion.

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#813

Hype depends on who you interact with, but a few impressions: I was really impressed with Jonathan Blow's The Witness. Exquisitely designed and thought out. The animated series Primal by Genndy Tartakovsky. A pulpy cartoon without dialogue unlike anything else animated from the US. The tv series Doom Patrol. Clever, revels in the absurd but still manages serious drama on what it means to not be completely human any m…

+1 on Primal.

The animation and storytelling are masterful. I really enjoyed the second half of the first season in particular the episodes "Plague of Madness", "Coven of the Damned", and "Slave of the Scorpion".

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#814
The 1989 version of Batman. The hype was huge. You couldn’t move without seeing marketing for it. And it was one of the most successful comic book movies ever made, certainly one of the better DC movies.

> In the months before Batman's release in June 1989, a popular culture phenomenon known as "Batmania" began. Over $750 million worth of merchandise was sold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_(1989_film)

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#815

The Sopranos - even though the end was controversial it was the consistently the best TV ever created. Ken Burns Docs Series - especially Civil War and Vietnam Nassim Taleb's - Incerto - so much interesting and useful info int those books. Really eye-opening stuff. Robert Caro's Biographies - I am not finished with all of them yet but the ones I have read are excellent

If you like the Burns/Novack Vietnam, I highly recommend WGBH's Vietnam: A Television Series

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#816

Interesting that people are substituting the hard question (what has been hyped and has lived up to it) with the easier question (what is good and has stood the test of time) and answering that instead, a form of attribute substitution bias [0]. My answers would be Mr Robot, especially after seeing what happened with Game Of Thrones. Having a story that is planned out from start to finish is miles better than improvi…

>>Interesting that people are substituting the hard question (what has been hyped and has lived up to it) I think it's the way you're reading the answers (and the question). If you look at it as "What was hyped to you and lived up to the hype when you finally experienced it", then the answers make sense and there's no confusion.

Maybe. I'm not sure who's really hyping up ancient texts like the Bible these days, or some of the other answers as well.

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#817
post #366

I'm loving my Apple Watch. I wasn't entirely sure yet what to think of the watch as a form factor, given that a phone can do everything it can and more. But there's three interesting aspects that have really added value for me. 1) is health data, in a way a computer or phone just can't do. It tracks things like heartrate that a phone + heartrate strap is too convoluted for, for non-athletes. Plus it's all-day and qui…

All of my friends told me something similar, so I got one. It just collects dust now. - The health tracking and gamification of exercise was somewhere between meh and useless for me. I don’t have exercise issues. - The freedom from the phone has potential, but the ostensible ease of use just isn’t worth the hassle of wearing a watch. I’m ok just pulling out my phone. - The deep breathing option was probably the app i…

It sounds like you bought this expecting life changing gains, and maybe that is how OP is coming across too?

These things are not life changing, but they have their fun use cases. If you can accept that it’s not going to 10x your productivity and just want something technically neat maybe you’ll find a use for it again.

Or not, and you can just sell it for a quick buck :p

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#818
post #528

Blade Runner: 2049. Considering how highly regarded the original 1984 movie is it didn't seem possible for the sequel to nail it. Not only that but it managed to improve Blade Runner's (original) films story along the way.

Damn good example, I loved 2049!

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#819

Electric toothbrushes. I always saw ads for them but they were expensive and I thought, how much better can they be? Finally listened to my dentist’s recommendation to buy one and my teeth have so much less plaque now to where I barely notice a difference after getting my teeth cleaned and the dentist takes much less time to do it.

That's interesting. My dentist said electric or not didn't matter when I asked.

I went electric because with proper brushing habits electric vs manual matters less.

You're supposed to be making tons of small circular strokes and reaching every surface and taking the right amount of time... but it's easy to mess that up subtly. A lot of people make wide strokes for example or are unable to get the large head of the toothbrush in the corners of their teeth or use too much pressure...

That's why I went with the reciprocating electric toothbrush over the vibrating kind. The reciprocating type has a smaller head that can reach more places, and it's less dependent on correct usage than the vibrating kind.

Mine vibrates to let me know roughly how long to spend in each quadrant of my mouth and lights up red if I'm pushing too hard

Re: Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?

#820
post #520

Stadia, the initial reviews were actually pretty bad, but I'm blown away by how good it is. There's something undeniably cool about playing cyberpunk on a macbook air with full graphical detail, and then switching over to play on my TV exactly where I left off. The latency is virtually imperceptible to me, and I love that I don't need a 50 GB download just to try out a new game. Everytime I use it I'm honestly impres…

You got me interested, What controllers does stadia support?

I use an 8bitdo in xbox emulation mode -- I think as long as the controller emulates an xbox controller (I imagine a lot of them do), it'll work fine.

It just has to be recognized as an HTML5 gamepad (there are various HTML5 tester sites online)

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