Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

blog.hubspot.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 200 posts

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#91

Post by Crito »

haukilup wrote: post #84
001sky wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country Have you ever shopped there? Or do you just repeat what you read all the time? Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas, and I doubt a drive-by HN commenter has any sense of proportion on the real issues at play. Wall-mart migh mean more competition for mom & pop stores, but they also bring reliable and affordable access to otherwise unaffor…

You say "Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas", is this true? Here in Canada, Walmart is pretty much in every city, regardless of income. The only place Walmarts don't exist is in areas where the population is too sparse, or rent is too high (e.g. downtown Toronto). I find it hard to believe Walmart is only "in rural poor areas", unless their position is radically different in the States.

In the US, Walmarts do not seem to exist inside of cities (other large stores, like K-Marts or whatever seem to more often. This seems to be because Walmart is more conservative with form factor than other large store.) If you find a Walmart in a city, it will typically be in the outskirts or in the suburbs. That might seem like a lot, but contrast this coverage with with the sort of coverage they give small poor towns (seemingly every town over a handful of thousands people has one). A Walmart way out in the suburbs may as well be on the Moon for most city dwellers, particularly when you go down the income scale.

Living in Seattle, it is a half-hour drive to the nearest Walmart (there isn't one in Seattle, you have to go to Renton to find one.) Living in Philadelphia it was about the same. Back at my parents home, deep in central PA (aka, "Pennsyltuckey"), there were three Walmarts within 15 minutes. Medium/large sized rural towns like York PA can get two or more Walmarts. However even when a town starts to get as large as Harrisburg, access to Walmarts starts dropping.

If Walmarts were common in cities, then urban food deserts would not be a thing in the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#92

Post by dkrich »

Amazon somehow got CBS and 60 Minutes to create a 14-minute free ad spot for Amazon on the eve of this huge shopping day.

This is a fairly one-sided assessment of the situation. CBS and 60 Minutes benefit as much from the piece airing on the eve of Black Monday as Amazon, arguably more so, since Amazon needs little advertisement for its services.

I watched the piece and frankly found it to be somewhat of a puff-piece as well (Amazon was given too much credit in my opinion for being customer-centric). However, 60 Minutes caters to a broader audience than most of us, so they aren't going to get into pricing theory or the merits of Amazon S3. They describe the company to people as if it is the first time they've ever gotten a glimpse inside the website, because many people know little about it or its history.

60 Minutes almost always times its pieces to coincide with related events, and I think it makes the stories more interesting because of it.

Edit: If the goal of the piece was in fact to conjure up free positive publicity for Amazon I have to believe it worked. Last night my FB news feed was a flurry with people posting their love of Amazon and how they were now going to be loyal customers because "Amazon puts the customer first."

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#93

Post by bandushrew »

cynwoody wrote: post #85
bandushrew wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Whatever else this is, it cannot be mere vaporware. " I am unclear on why not, exactly? 4-5 years before it appears, with the obvious possibility that it never does for regulatory reasons, technology reasons.... At this point I wouldn't call it vaporware, its not that far along. It is still a fantasy. A nice fantasy. I loved the idea. but, for now, just a fantasy. Check back in 4-5 years (or 5-10 years?) when someth…

A startup in Australia, Flirtey,† has partnered with a university textbook seller to deliver books via hexacopter on/near campus. They are hoping to begin operation next March. When the drone arrives, the customer presses a button on their smartphone app, and the package is lowered down to them. † http://www.damngeeky.com/2013/10/16/14713/parcel-drone-will-... Video: http://vimeo.com/76606906

Yeah, that makes sense to me.

Organising something like this in a controlled area like a campus must be a few orders of magnitude simpler than organising something like this across the US.

it is a fantastic use of technology, I genuinely hope amazon manages to deliver.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#94

Post by jmelloy »

001sky wrote: post #65
wavefunction wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about "ruthless tyrant?" I'm making a point to shop locally now. I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country.

I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country Have you ever shopped there? Or do you just repeat what you read all the time? Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas, and I doubt a drive-by HN commenter has any sense of proportion on the real issues at play. Wall-mart migh mean more competition for mom & pop stores, but they also bring reliable and affordable access to otherwise unaffor…

There are two Walmarts in Bellevue, WA, which has one of the highest incomes per capita in the country.

They import and sell cheap shit designed to break and be replaced and disguise it as value by citing low prices.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#95

Post by ansible »

bandushrew wrote: post #75
grellas wrote: post #69

I am not a technology expert and I am not a marketing expert but, as a consumer, I have moved gradually over the years from using Amazon primarily for online book-buying to using it extensively for all kinds of retail buying needs. The Prime service has been central to that experience because human psychology appears to be perverse and something so small as "free" 2-day shipping, though not really free, seems to have…

"Whatever else this is, it cannot be mere vaporware. " I am unclear on why not, exactly? 4-5 years before it appears, with the obvious possibility that it never does for regulatory reasons, technology reasons.... At this point I wouldn't call it vaporware, its not that far along. It is still a fantasy. A nice fantasy. I loved the idea. but, for now, just a fantasy. Check back in 4-5 years (or 5-10 years?) when someth…

At this point I wouldn't call it vaporware, its not that far along.

Most of the technology to do this is in place now. I won't try to argue that the current generation technology is actually cost-effective for drone delivery, but flight control, navigation, collision avoidance, etc., all exist in some form now. A hexacopter has some robustness (it can be designed to still fly with a single motor failure).

Most of the hurdles now are regulatory and economic. I don't know if those can be effectively surmounted, but if anyone can do it, I'm sure Amazon can.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#96

Post by aestra »

swalsh wrote: post #35

People say that there's usually about a 10 year lag before tech from the military enters civilian use. Since drones showed up roughly 2003, it stands to reason that 2013 is when we should first starting seeing the tech become civilian viable. In fact that seems to be true, there's a whole lot of DIY material out there, and that's from people who don't have real world experience. I wouldn't be surprised if as military…

2003?

First of all, I have no idea why people insist on calling UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) drones. It's a stupid term. Secondly, UAVs are much much much older than 2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle

The United States was flying UAVs in the friggin 60's

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Model_147

http://gizmodo.com/the-ryan-firebee-grandfather-to-the-moder...

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#97

Post by twoodfin »

wavefunction wrote: post #88
001sky wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country Have you ever shopped there? Or do you just repeat what you read all the time? Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas, and I doubt a drive-by HN commenter has any sense of proportion on the real issues at play. Wall-mart migh mean more competition for mom & pop stores, but they also bring reliable and affordable access to otherwise unaffor…

I have shopped there. My father currently works at a Walmart in his vicinity. I also grew up in a "rural poor area." I shop at my local discount grocer rather than Whole Foods. Is it ok for me to criticise now?

You can criticize all you want, but on hn it helps if your criticism is accompanied by an argument.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#98

Post by twoodfin »

ye wrote: post #39
swalsh wrote: post #35

People say that there's usually about a 10 year lag before tech from the military enters civilian use. Since drones showed up roughly 2003, it stands to reason that 2013 is when we should first starting seeing the tech become civilian viable. In fact that seems to be true, there's a whole lot of DIY material out there, and that's from people who don't have real world experience. I wouldn't be surprised if as military…

You're confusing huge ridiculously expensive military drones, which are essentially small planes, with what Amazon is showing us, which are essentially small helicopters. There's no way in the world these tiny drones can fly 10 miles each way, carry 5lbs of payload, deliver the package perfectly on the driveway/doorstep, and cost low enough to not be a financial nightmare. That's not even accounting for dealing with…

I may not have sufficiently thought this through, but what about having them take off from and return to mobile flatbed trucks? Use them for last-mile delivery rather than all the way from the warehouse.

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#99

Post by xixi77 »

owenjones wrote: post #12
tptacek wrote: post #8

It seems disingenuous for this blog to suggest that MacKenzie Bezos's negative review of the Bezos book was part of the same orchestrated spin campaign as the drone story. That review didn't simply object to the tone or the message of the book, but also pointed out specific factual errors the book made, errors that were later tacitly acknowledged by the author.

Also even if the book '... portrays Bezos as a ruthless tyrant and a "penny-pinching ballbuster,"' would that dissuade anyone who was already planning on it from shopping at Amazon? To me, regardless of the truth, being "penny-pinching" given Amazon's razor thin margins seems like a good trait for the CEO.

Yes, particularly since the primary examples of penny-pinching seem to be buying furniture that is not fancy enough, and charging employees $40/month for parking garage (I'd love to have that! too bad I have to pay a good deal more for an open-air employer-owned lot. Well at least we get to exercise when we walk from there to office, and when we scrape the snow off in winter...)

Re: First Victim of Amazon Drones: The Credibility of CBS and 60 Minutes

#100

Post by TheCoelacanth »

haukilup wrote: post #84
001sky wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've already seen what supporting Walmart has done to our country Have you ever shopped there? Or do you just repeat what you read all the time? Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas, and I doubt a drive-by HN commenter has any sense of proportion on the real issues at play. Wall-mart migh mean more competition for mom & pop stores, but they also bring reliable and affordable access to otherwise unaffor…

You say "Wall mart typically only exists in rural poor areas", is this true? Here in Canada, Walmart is pretty much in every city, regardless of income. The only place Walmarts don't exist is in areas where the population is too sparse, or rent is too high (e.g. downtown Toronto). I find it hard to believe Walmart is only "in rural poor areas", unless their position is radically different in the States.

It's definitely not true. Walmart just opened a store in Tyson's Corner, which is a suburb of DC and is surrounded by some of the richest areas in the country and, though not as urban as downtown DC, it's far from rural.
Post reply on HN