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

The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

priceonomics.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 166 posts

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#71

Post by jrockway »

Alupis wrote: post #32
tmuir wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gold plated cables actually serve a purpose, although the average consumer does not have a need for them. In a studio environment, where cables are frequently plugged and unplugged, the gold plating protects the contacting surfaces, extending their lives.

Are you sure? Gold is one of the most soft/malleable metals used to plate connectors? (I know it's one the best best conductors). And we all know, there's no difference between the $150 hdmi cable and the $5 hdmi cable except cosmetics and perhaps some better shielding. They're all digital connections, so the signal/bits are either there or are not.

> They're all digital connections, so the signal/bits are either there or are not.

Absolutely not true. There is quite a lot of engineering behind making an HDMI or Ethernet cable work:

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

And, there are plenty of ways to mess it up and make a cable that only sort of works.

TMDS, the signaling mechanism that HDMI uses, does not have error correction codes. It does do some error detection by using 10 bits to transmit each 8 bit message and declaring some of the binary representations "invalid", but if the cable does not work well, you will get visual artifacts. (I was surprised when I saw this; little specks of green among blacks while I was running an HDMI cable very close to its maximum bandwidth. One video card I tested refused to output anything, but another was happy to send a signal that was corrupted by the cable.)

Further reading:

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

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

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#73

Post by taternuts »

jrockway wrote: post #62
dbrian wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding a bit of water brings out flavors you don't experience neat. It's a personal preference. http://youtu.be/ajqd62fE73E?t=6m23s

I've heard this, but I don't really buy it. The whisky is already diluted at bottling time, unless it's "cask strength".

Try it! The first whiskey I've tried it with was Glenfiddich 12, and I was amazed at how it sweetened/changed the flavor profile with just a tiny splash.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#74

Post by arnarbi »

jrockway wrote: post #62
dbrian wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adding a bit of water brings out flavors you don't experience neat. It's a personal preference. http://youtu.be/ajqd62fE73E?t=6m23s

I've heard this, but I don't really buy it. The whisky is already diluted at bottling time, unless it's "cask strength".

I suggest doing a blind test. I did several times, and definitely noticed a difference from adding a few drops of water in most high-end whiskys.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#75

Post by spindritf »

danohuiginn wrote: post #15

This is, of course, ridiculous. Still, there's logic to it: find some mass-market component that is used in a luxury service, and provide a high-end alternative. The kind of idio^H^H^H^Hcustomers who want luxury certainly don't want it contaminiated by something from Walmart, regardless of the actual quality. It's the same reason as for those gold-plated cables for audiophiles.

This is, of course, brilliant: find some mass-market component that is used in a luxury service, and provide a high-end alternative.

Many of those things should be considered entertainment, they're conversation pieces. People with a few bucks to burn buy them to have something (very neutral) to talk about for fifteen minutes.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#76

Post by AVTizzle »

coldcode wrote: post #19

So now we have aisles full of water in bottles, you can buy air in cans in China, and gourmet ice. I'm waiting for bottles of vacuum, but I am sure they will suck.

As a resident of Saigon, and having visited China, I can actually attest to the idea that having air cans in some of these smoggy cities is become less of a luxury and more of a necessity every day.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#77

Post by Groxx »

coldcode wrote: post #19

So now we have aisles full of water in bottles, you can buy air in cans in China, and gourmet ice. I'm waiting for bottles of vacuum, but I am sure they will suck.

Here ya go: http://www.thermos.com/products/vacuum-insulated-14-oz-stain...

The price per ounce of vacuum makes cocaine look like water.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#78

Post by soperj »

_Adam wrote: post #48

As stupid as this sounds, there is actually a difference between these ice cubes and the standard variety. And that's the appearance. Just look: http://www.glaceice.net/uploads/3/9/6/9/3969825/3969289_orig... Because there's no air bubbles, the ice is perfectly clear. That's not a trivial fact. Humans innately like clear stuff! Just think how unappealing cloudy water is in comparison to clear water. The only exceptio…

I'm pretty sure you can get clear ice cubes by just freezing hot water. Bonus: they actually freeze faster than cold water.

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#79

Post by bambax »

This is the über demonstråtion that marketing is everything and product is... maybe not nothing, but in any case vastly overrated.

Marketing rules because the only thing that matters is perception. While we mere mortals find this story ridiculous, if we had all the money in the world and some guy convinced us that he had made the perfect ice cube, why would we settle for less?

It's arguably irrationnal to buy an inferior product if you can afford a better one.

That said, Tovolo trays are great :-)

Re: The Rise of the $8 Ice Cube

#80

Post by DanBC »

lightblade wrote: post #58

I don't think this is ridiculous. I remember watching this one scene in Star Trek Into Darkness where Kirk was sitting in a bar enjoying a drink. The drink that he was enjoying had this perfect spherical ice in it. I remember talking to myself at that moment that this is a very nice business idea. Retail price aside, I do believe premium ice is a viable business.

You can buy presses to turn ice into a sphere.

Is this an affiliate link? How do I turn it back into a regular link?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A1TMFSU?pc_redir=1401253883...

Post reply on HN