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Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

simonberens.com

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Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#101

Post by landryraccoon »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #90
ihaveajob wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Athens, an "idiotes" was a citizen who focused only on private matters rather than participating in the polis (city-state). Because civic participation was considered a duty, this term carried a negative connotation of being socially irresponsible or uninvolved. This term evolved into the modern "idiot" which we are familiar with.

Well wasnt that a good thing? After the extermination of Melos they could credibly say they were less responsible for the actions of the polis. And had a higher chance of deflecting the inevitable revenge on to the non idiotes Athenians.

If one civilization is taking revenge on another I don’t think they would show that much nuance.

For one thing, wouldn’t everyone claim they were against their old polis? How would the invaders have any idea who was an idiote?

I just don’t believe it’s at all easy to avoid the fate of your nation , and I especially doubt that the politically ignorant have a better chance of avoiding that fate than the well informed.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#102

Post by ohyoutravel »

seizethecheese wrote: post #93
cwal37 wrote: post #52

> As someone who generally stays out of politics, I didn’t know much about the incoming administration’s stance towards tariffs, though I don’t think anyone could have predicted such drastic hikes. I have an appreciation for very bright lamps, and the project is neat, but that stuck out to me. I'm always fascinated by people who both feel comfortable ignoring maybe the single most impactful society-determining appara…

Classic hindsight bias. In fact, you could be paying a lot of attention to politics and still think tariffs were not going to go so high. Here's [1] a betting market that regularly was below 5% chance of tariffs above 40% on Chinese imports in first 100 days of Trump's second term. https://polymarket.com/event/trump-imposes-40-blanket-tariff...

Polymarket isn’t a source for this, lol. Maybe google trends, since there’s no reason to manipulate it. There were also reasons to anticipate the amount of the tariffs, and the absolute stupidity of the tariffs (still reeling from the Heard and McDonald islands tariffs lmao).

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#103

Post by [deleted] »

cwal37 wrote: post #52

> As someone who generally stays out of politics, I didn’t know much about the incoming administration’s stance towards tariffs, though I don’t think anyone could have predicted such drastic hikes. I have an appreciation for very bright lamps, and the project is neat, but that stuck out to me. I'm always fascinated by people who both feel comfortable ignoring maybe the single most impactful society-determining appara…

[deleted]

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#104

Post by otikik »

mmh0000 wrote: post #64
skybrian wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm doubtful that knowing how much politics matters, but only in a vague way, would have been enough to help them. Could someone who was obsessed with following the Trump administration's every move have predicted the tariffs in advance? I don't think financial markets priced them in?

He literally said he was gonna: "Trump vows massive new tariffs if elected, risking global economic war" https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/08/22/trump-tra... ( https://archive.is/20231125045858/https://www.washingtonpost... ) EDIT - Found this after my post, a MUCH better "he said it": https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-president-tru...

Well yeah, but the man is also a pathological liar. I would not blame anyone for not believing he was going to do anything that he said he would do.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#105

Post by chillfox »

cwal37 wrote: post #52

> As someone who generally stays out of politics, I didn’t know much about the incoming administration’s stance towards tariffs, though I don’t think anyone could have predicted such drastic hikes. I have an appreciation for very bright lamps, and the project is neat, but that stuck out to me. I'm always fascinated by people who both feel comfortable ignoring maybe the single most impactful society-determining appara…

I find the "no one could have seen it coming" crowd extremely tiring, they usually always say that about something anyone who paid a tiny bit of attention could see coming.

It's genuinely baffling to me why business owners pay so little attention to the politics that will directly impact their business.

The entire tariffs thing was incredible obvious to me (I am Australian) and I only check in on US politics for 10 min a couple of times a month, any less and it would be zero.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#106

Post by sberens »

huydotnet wrote: post #53

> Due to a miscommunication with the factory, the injection pins were moved inside the heatsink fins, causing the cylindrical extrusions below. What happened after this? the factory have to replace the casting mold at their own expense or you have to pay for it?

We had to remake half the mold, and I split it 50/50 with the factory.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#107

Post by Rychard »

eek2121 wrote: post #81
mmh0000 wrote: post #58

This is super interesting, and I'd actually be quite interested in buying a 60K-Lumen lamp... but not at $1200. Years ago, there was an HN article "You Need More Lumens"[1], which in turn led me down a rabbit hole. I ended up purchasing: 4 standard table lamps from Target, 28 2000-lumen Cree LEDs bulbs[2] and, 4 7-way splitters[3]. The end result is somewhere around 56,000 lumens. And I LOVE it. Makes me much happier…

Just a fun random fact from me: We do need more lumens. Not for normal (non-production) indoor lighting in most situations, however, I always want a bright light for my outside lights, and I find that most 100w-equivalent (1500 lumens) are just not quite enough. 2,000 lumens is almost there, however, 2,500 lumens would be beneficial. Both 2,000 and 2,500 lumen bulbs either don't last in temperature extremes, or are s…

I have a pair of PAR38 LED bulbs from Cree Lighting (2100 lumens) that are rated for 25,000 hours. They're in a flood-light mounted under the eaves of my house.

I never got around to putting them on a dusk-to-dawn timer, so they've been burning 24/7 since I purchased them at the end of 2020 (except for the occasional power outage, of course). I paid $20/each for them.

Sample size of 1 (technically 2), but there are definitely products on the market that meet your criteria.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#108

Post by ungreased0675 »

EarlKing wrote: post #87
cwal37 wrote: post #52

> As someone who generally stays out of politics, I didn’t know much about the incoming administration’s stance towards tariffs, though I don’t think anyone could have predicted such drastic hikes. I have an appreciation for very bright lamps, and the project is neat, but that stuck out to me. I'm always fascinated by people who both feel comfortable ignoring maybe the single most impactful society-determining appara…

What I find particularly galling is that he failed to learn perhaps the most important lesson: Maybe he wouldn't have these kind of problems if he hadn't outsourced his manufacturing to China but kept in on-shore instead.

I did wonder how many less issues would have popped up if the lamp wasn’t manufactured in China. Was a little surprised it wasn’t addressed.

Re: Lessons learned shipping 500 units of my first hardware product

#110

Post by janderson215 »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #90
ihaveajob wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Athens, an "idiotes" was a citizen who focused only on private matters rather than participating in the polis (city-state). Because civic participation was considered a duty, this term carried a negative connotation of being socially irresponsible or uninvolved. This term evolved into the modern "idiot" which we are familiar with.

Well wasnt that a good thing? After the extermination of Melos they could credibly say they were less responsible for the actions of the polis. And had a higher chance of deflecting the inevitable revenge on to the non idiotes Athenians.

Funny seeing people pushing for other people becoming more active in politics with the assumption that “being more involved” means with their political fights, then get worried when the other side grows or intensifies.
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