Hacker Read

gwern · 2022-04-27 19:04:13

One would think he'd use the hotel time to fix Pinboard: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31183419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30628375 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30365253

bockris | karma 1432 | avg karma 3.96 · | 2011-11-29 19:53:55+00:00

He is traveling and on holiday so he can't fix it right now.

rjbwork | karma 5217 | avg karma 3.63 · | 2023-03-20 07:40:41

Fixing that would require working when he's not getting paid, and that would make him a goofball.

_Microft | karma 35603 | avg karma 6.98 · | 2024-04-27 07:50:54

Make sure to scroll down to 2024-03-29 at which time he discovers an unconnected pad under a BGA part and needs to rework it - which involves milling right through a ten layer board.

ck2 | karma 28312 | avg karma 4.0 · | 2015-09-16 22:12:37+00:00

Did he solder the board for that or did he just take apart a nightstand clock and put it into another case?

This is what happens when people in charge have no clue anymore what is inside electronics. Computers and smartphones are just "magic".

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zerostar07 | karma 2593 | avg karma 1.52 · | 2017-11-28 20:52:29+00:00

People are already fixing their machines because he tweeted. this is too much of a huge blunder to wait for the official channels.

arielm | karma 977 | avg karma 2.62 · | 2015-01-06 00:44:36+00:00

I'm guessing he didn't think the company wouldn't fix such a huge issue...

jpablo | karma 1245 | avg karma 4.68 · | 2016-12-21 18:35:39+00:00

As I read it, he was offered money to fix it. But he said he didn't had the time.

texasbigdata | karma 1088 | avg karma 1.56 · | 2021-05-20 11:50:57

If he breaks something just go fix it. Would be a funny story.

DanielHB | karma 747 | avg karma 1.77 · | 2023-07-28 08:52:54

It took him months to be able to finish it even with taking a vacation. If it weren't so expensive to hire someone to do it he definitely would have

Grazester | karma 2402 | avg karma 2.15 · | 2017-10-30 22:04:55+00:00

Certainly he wasn't going to stop and troubleshoot the problem when a 3 minute install would work as a temporary solution but it is funny.

sroussey | karma 4009 | avg karma 2.01 · | 2021-07-14 04:10:16

Geez, does he not know long it takes just to fab a chip? Find a mistake, fix, retype, and start over.

IshKebab | karma 13023 | avg karma 1.29 · | 2018-10-28 17:11:58+00:00

Sounds like he could have saved a whole lot of hassle just by removing some slack bots and using threads.

r3bl | karma 5648 | avg karma 4.03 · | 2018-05-10 17:30:18+00:00

Oh, now he's fixing it, not salvaging it?

May last year in NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/technology/evan-williams-...

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shrimpx | karma 2668 | avg karma 2.45 · | 2022-06-02 17:43:59

Probably fiddly and impatient board.

kra34 | karma 185 | avg karma 2.2 · | 2015-05-14 19:37:09+00:00

"...he rebuilt Yo's backend. He's baller."

I wonder what he did with the other 23.5 hours that day...

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pwim | karma 3164 | avg karma 6.55 · | 2009-12-27 01:12:09

From my look at his article, he's doing everything clientside, which is causing him the extra headaches about restoring stuff.

thesis | karma 586 | avg karma 2.39 · | 2015-08-31 04:49:03

Oh poor him. There's a rather easy fix for this if he chooses.

londons_explore | karma 35497 | avg karma 2.72 · | 2024-01-02 04:36:40

I do wonder if the repairman had the ability to reset/twiddle with that counter...

JonnieCache | karma 17245 | avg karma 4.71 · | 2013-01-17 00:12:18+00:00

He earned a 6 month holiday considering the workrate he put in on those early builds, and the amount of cash he must have made in the intervening time.

It's not like the thing is riddled with outstanding issues.

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