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

101–110 of 200 posts

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

#101

Post by melling »

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…

I don't think the technology can be that futuristic if companies are already raising money and have products.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2013/11/26/growing-...

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/26/3d-robotics-raises-30-milli...

Granted the ability to deliver directly to homes may face years of legal issues, like self-driving cars. However, there are plenty of problems that can be solved today by current technology, or products that are 12-24 months out, where you don't need FAA approval, like in agriculture.

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

#102

Post by steveklabnik »

ansible wrote: post #95
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…

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…

All of the technology for Duke Nukem Forever was available. People are just as much of a problem with vaporware products. With the drones, Amazon will have to deal with the tech in various forms, the people problem (shooting them down, capturing them, stealing packages, etc), and the regulatory problem.

Five years is an _eternity_ in Internet Time.

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

#104

Post by TrevorJ »

ljd wrote: post #6

It seems obvious to me that Bezos took this one public so early to garner public support so that the FAA can't just sit on it forever. All of Amazon's other initiatives didn't need some federal regulator to OK it before they could start selling it. I think this is an effective solution to getting a notoriously slow agency to move on an item. No one wants to be seen as stopping innovation, not even the FAA.

This is a big part of it. Also, AMZ knows full well that they are a 900 pound gorilla. Going public with this increases the chances that the problem will be worked on by other companies as well. I see it as a similar move to what James Cameron did for 3D production in the years before he made Avatar. He was very smart about getting the industry to move in that direction so that when the time came, the tech was tested and solid.

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

#105

Post by froo »

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…

  > so small as "free" 2-day shipping
The speed is not something that can be underestimated. I recently ordered from an online store here in Australia and it's been over a week since I made the order. They haven't even processed the order yet (not the first time this has happened to me).

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

#106

Post by Brakenshire »

adestefan wrote: post #103

What the fuck is with all the hit pieces today? Who the hell cares what comes about it. It was an interesting little side show. Guess this is the story that's going to rack up page views for at least the beginning of the week.

They're not hit pieces, they're educated responses to a marketing announcement.

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

#107

Post by dragonwriter »

Crito wrote: post #91
haukilup wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tow…

> In the US, Walmarts do not seem to exist inside of cities

Walmarts don't exist in places where property values are high, as a means of keeping costs low.

> If Walmarts were common in cities, then urban food deserts would not be a thing in the US

Well, no; even if they had no effect on other existing businesses, regular Walmarts would have no effect on food deserts, as they don't carry fresh food. Super Walmarts do, but those are even bigger stores, and even less likely anywhere with significant real estate costs.

But, even if we consider big box food store could well -- through competitive pressure on already marginal smaller stores -- increase the average distance/time for urban residents to reach affordable, healthy food.

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

#108

Post by Crito »

dragonwriter wrote: post #107
Crito wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tow…

> In the US, Walmarts do not seem to exist inside of cities Walmarts don't exist in places where property values are high, as a means of keeping costs low. > If Walmarts were common in cities, then urban food deserts would not be a thing in the US Well, no; even if they had no effect on other existing businesses, regular Walmarts would have no effect on food deserts, as they don't carry fresh food. Super Walmarts do,…

Super Walmarts could certainly be justified for the population a Walmart in a city would have. Honestly I forgot non-Super Walmarts were still a thing, I haven't seen on in ages.

Property value is definitely why Walmart (particularly Super Walmarts) doesn't move into cities. Their deal is large sprawling buildings with even larger sprawling parking lots, that isn't the sort of thing that you stick into a city. They don't seem keen on trying the "multilevel, compact, with a parking garage" or "underground complex" sort of form factor that other stores successfully employ inside of cities. I suspect this is because their margins are too tight for even that (and that form factor probably discourages buying in the sort of volume that their preferred store design encourages).

One way or the other, the Walmart:people ratio seems to be far lower in cities than in towns and suburbs. If Seattle had the same Walmart density as York PA, it would have over 30 Walmarts. Walmarts are practically the Starbucks of small-town America. (Briefly sampling a few towns in PA, it seems like for ever Walmart you can expect about two Starbucks. That's actually way fewer Starbucks than I expected, I suspect Google Maps isn't being honest here...)

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

#110

Post by darkarmani »

wavefunction wrote: post #26
owenjones wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Jeff Bezos is the CEO of Amazon, not walmart.

Post reply on HN