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

The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 118 posts

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#91

Post by LambdaComplex »

savanaly wrote: post #90
staltz wrote: post #56

Fun experiment to try out on your computer and experience the gradual death of the internet: block all domains and subdomains from Google and Facebook in your `/etc/hosts` file, and see how many other websites fail to function. I've had this enabled for 6 months and I've seen websites stopped working as they should, e.g.: - I couldn't reset my password in Twitch, it required (for some reason) access to both Facebook…

Analyzing how websites work without Google or Facebook given that they were designed with the availability of those in mind is pointless. To truly see what it would be like without Google or Facebook we'd have to test how websites work without Google or Facebook given that they were designed without the availability of those in mind. The saying "if things were different, things would be different" comes to mind.

The point is, they were designed that way. And that's the problem.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#92

Post by yflu »

mattferderer wrote: post #61
pipermerriam wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please provide your recommendations. I've been prying myself off of their services but currently, I've not found a solid replacement for: Facebook: nothing else has the network effect. Google Drive: online documents are really convenient Google Voice: what else has seamless integration with either android or ios. Amazon: Buying household items like toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, etc, saves me a ton of time.

Facebook: Twitter is a decent competitor for network effects. I've moved my photo sharing to Google Photos as it trumps anything Facebook offers. For me, the biggest Facebook benefit is sharing photos with family on Facebook. Everything else on there is pretty much noise or garbage you can find on any other site. The one recent thing that Facebook does better than anyone that I get value out of are "local events". Go…

Suggesting Facebook and Google and Amazon as serious replacements for Facebook and Google and Amazon really drives the point home.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#93

Post by falcolas »

bad_user wrote: post #86
falcolas wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or the number of apple earbuds and airpods. Those white buds are ubiquitous. And where they are lacking, Apple's other property - Beats - steps in.

I can tell you from my experience as somebody that never liked Apple products, those Apple earbuds are popular because they are cheap and good, having an insane quality/price ratio. I have an Android phone right now, but I'm using Apple earbuds, even though the volume controls don't work.

We're strongly in personal preference territory, but Apple earbuds sound terrible. The lows are far too heavy and the mids are far too thin, though the highs at least sound OK. I would rather spend that $30 (retail from Apple) on a pair of Sennheiser, Klipsch or even Sony earbuds.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#94

Post by oh_sigh »

fhood wrote: post #33
johnsmith21006 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually Chromebooks have already passed the Mac in the US and growing at 38% YoY versus the Mac is flat. https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outs... Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US - The Verge Heck we have. http://9to5google.com/2016/06/20/chromebooks-taking-over-mac... At Apple CEO Tim Cook's old high school, they are selling their ...

This is sort of a silly argument though. Mac and Chromebook don't really exist in the same space. One is ultra high-end and one is decidedly budget conscious.

There is some overlap. Many people buy Macs, and use them as essentially internet browser machines.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#95

Post by polishTar »

autokad wrote: post #75
Meegul wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YouTube was also _significantly_ smaller when Google purchased it. Perhaps they weren't able to create a properly competing platform, but they've certainly been wildly successful in growing it.

i think they were successful in making it profitable, but whether they were good at growing it is debatable. the founders of youtube complained that they couldnt get the proper talent because google would veto all their hires and force them to take google insiders. during that time, youtube mostly stagnated in many ways. it failed to develop online streaming and developing original content in the way netflix did even…

Yea, this is nonsense. YouTube was founded in 2005 and acquired by Google in 2006. It was bought because the brand was better than "Google Video" at the time and that's pretty much it. Just about everything else about its success and state today is completely attributable to Google.

> even competitors like vine showed some success and innovation

what? Vine was shutdown precisely because it wasn't successful...

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#96

Post by vmarsy »

mmjaa wrote: post #64
Singletoned wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that was pretty tenuous. And assertion that women buy Apple products to deter "romantic rivals from poaching [their] relationship partner" seems almost ridiculous. I would say that iPhones and MacBooks are almost mass-market these days. Sure, they are more expensive than the alternatives, but they are so ubiquitous that can't really be considered status symbols anymore, can they?

I wonder, did you read the scientific papers linked? Apple are just the new peacocks - there is much historical evidence of sexual signalling in consumption markets, and I urge you to read the papers linked: you may well learn something from them, and either your opinion of MacBooks will change, or it may even become stronger, for the understanding therein..

I wonder as well if you read the papers too? you may learn something from them as well.

"We investigate the idea that women’s flaunting of designer products functions as a signaling system directed at same-sex rivals who pose a threat to a woman’s relationship. We hypothesize that some women use pricey possessions to signal to other women that their romantic partner is especially devoted to them. In turn, flaunting designer handbags and shoes helps women deter romantic rivals from poaching their relationship partner"

Today iPhones and MacBook are mostly mass market for the middle class, as you can see from their presence in universities. Out of all the women owning an iPhone, and there's a lot, I've yet to meet one whose iPhone was bought by their 'devoted romantic partner'. They either bought it themselves, or their parents bought it in the family plan. And usually the phone itself is paid monthly with the plan.

Showing an iPhone does not have the same signalling effect as wearing "luxurious designer handbags", designer shoes, and "expensive jewelry".

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#97

Post by dexterdog »

fasquoika wrote: post #54
johnsmith21006 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually Chromebooks have already passed the Mac in the US and growing at 38% YoY versus the Mac is flat. https://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outs... Chromebooks outsold Macs for the first time in the US - The Verge Heck we have. http://9to5google.com/2016/06/20/chromebooks-taking-over-mac... At Apple CEO Tim Cook's old high school, they are selling their ...

Aren't a large number of those owned by schools?

Isn't that how Apple established a good chunk of its business years ago?

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#98

Post by dexterdog »

solotronics wrote: post #89
staltz wrote: post #56

Fun experiment to try out on your computer and experience the gradual death of the internet: block all domains and subdomains from Google and Facebook in your `/etc/hosts` file, and see how many other websites fail to function. I've had this enabled for 6 months and I've seen websites stopped working as they should, e.g.: - I couldn't reset my password in Twitch, it required (for some reason) access to both Facebook…

I wonder if anyone has tried decentralized peer to peer CDN for things like JS.. code seems a perfect fit for a distributed CDN.

It would help to just cache assets based on the integrity hash. I know there is a potential security hole, but the browser can remember what the sourced URL was and verify/validate. At the very least it gives you a way to handle a downed CDN.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#99

Post by dexterdog »

drewg123 wrote: post #18

What I think is potentially more interesting is the anti-consumer behaviors of Amazon in what I call the Amazon/Google cold war over video: - Amazon not allowing the sale of chromecast - Amazon keeping its instant video app off generic android TV devices for a long time, even though they had an app that worked with the Sony android TV. - Amazon using its instant video app as a trojan horse to get you to install the A…

They can keep playing walled garden games and piracy will just continue to be the better option.

Re: The war between Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple

#100

Post by bhandziuk »

mattferderer wrote: post #61
pipermerriam wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please provide your recommendations. I've been prying myself off of their services but currently, I've not found a solid replacement for: Facebook: nothing else has the network effect. Google Drive: online documents are really convenient Google Voice: what else has seamless integration with either android or ios. Amazon: Buying household items like toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, etc, saves me a ton of time.

Facebook: Twitter is a decent competitor for network effects. I've moved my photo sharing to Google Photos as it trumps anything Facebook offers. For me, the biggest Facebook benefit is sharing photos with family on Facebook. Everything else on there is pretty much noise or garbage you can find on any other site. The one recent thing that Facebook does better than anyone that I get value out of are "local events". Go…

What is the Amazon competitor to Voice? I use Voice for texting from my computer and phone calls (not sure if there are other services it offers)
Post reply on HN