How Anker is beating Apple and Samsung at their own accessory game - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/22/15673712/anker-battery-charger-amazon-empire-steven-yang-interview <comment><USER2> Anker's customer service is amazing. I bought a two-port charging block from them on Amazon, and while it works great, I was disappointed to find that it's a little too easy to knock it out if the wall.

I wrote a 4-star review in which I mentioned this issue, and within an hour or two, I received an email from an agent asking if my address was still the same so they can send me an updated unit. A couple of days later, I had a replacement that didn't suffer the same issue.

I never was pressured to update my review, never asked to return the original unit, never solicited to buy more stuff. They seemed to have a genuine desire to make sure their customers are being served well, and that is the kind of thing that will make me a customer for life.

<comment><USER3> I used to feel the same way, but had an opposite experience: bought a buggy cable and, since I could find no other way to contact customer service, left a negative (not insulting) review. Cust svc contacted me and sent me a replacement...which was a much more expensive cable which wasn't even yet advertised on their site. They then asked me to change my review. So I amended my review saying the new product which they'd sent me for free was OK but I had no idea if the old one worked.

Also their Type C chargers didn't work with a MacBook + accessory adaptor, which was only described in the reviews.

It's not like one bad experience has soured me on the whole company, but now I try to spread my purchases between them and Aukey (who has also had some Type C duds -- check Benson Leung's reviews before purchasing!)

<comment><USER4> I cannot help but think that sounds like they are doing A/B testing on which strategy is more effective at making users change their reviews. Nothing wrong with that, btw.

<comment><USER5> Why would you think they are doing A/B testing from those two examples? One was a 1 star review (very detrimental to their overall score) and one was a 4 star review (very little overall effect). If they were both 2 star reviews or something I would agree with your idea.

<comment><USER6> In Amazon terms a 4,5 is positive, a 3 is neutral and a 1,2 is negative. Anything other than positive is bad so essentially it means 4,5 and good and 1,2,3 are bad.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I've had a ton of issues with USB power supplies and cables not allowing devices to charge properly (Improper wiring, termination, fake specs, etc) and so I started testing everything I got using a USB power meter and test load. Anker is the only brand on Amazon that Ive found to reliably meet spec. Their newer USB battery packs in particular are very interesting because they will ignore the line termination and do a TCP-like ramp on amperage until they get a voltage sag, then pull back slightly and sit there. This is especially entertaining because they'll melt really poorly designed USB supplies :)

<comment><USER8> Can you recommend a portable USB charger of there's? I sold my wife on getting one when she needed to replace her's because of their solid reputation, only to have it break three months later.

<comment><USER9> Did you contact Anker? Among the many products I've bought from them, I've had a couple of problematic ones, but have found that in these cases their support has been very helpful and sent me a replacement, even a year or so after the original purchase.

<comment><USER8> No, but I should have. It broke during a trip out of the country and we needed to replace it then and there. Thankfully, we were in Japan, so we had no shortage of options. I'll keep that in mind if I buy from them again.

<comment><USER5> You can buy any of theirs that was manufactured in the last 1.5-2 years and you shouldn't have a problem. I wouldn't buy one that was originally made 3-4 years ago just because the cells might have lost a lot of capacity. Like the others said, if you contact them they have great customer support and will _often_ (very anecdotal) send you a free one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Anker may make great products, but their marketing is shit. They have way too many products and no good way to differentiate. Check out this site which tries to explain the differences:

[http://www.powerbankguide.com/anker-powercore-vs-astro- the-d...](http://www.powerbankguide.com/anker-powercore-vs-astro-the- difference/)

 _Let us simplify the situation for you –

#1 An Anker PowerCore+ powerbank is BETTER and NEWER than Astro Gen 1 or Gen 2 of same capacity.

#2 An Anker PowerCore (without the +) powerbank is BETTER and NEWER than Astro Gen 1 or Gen 2 of same capacity.

#3 Anker PowerCore+ and Anker PowerCore powerbanks exist side by side with PowerCore+ usually having some extra features while PowerCore offers excellent value for money._

<comment><USER11> The guide tries to make things seem really complex but the reality isn't so bad.. Anker fully replaced their single-tier Astro line with their two-tier PowerCore line.. that's _way_ simpler than the branding situations with the vast majority of consumer electronics companies. The only real cause of confusion here is retailers continuing to sell their older Astro products as if they were the latest models, which is hardly Anker's fault.

<comment><USER10> > _Anker fully replaced their single-tier Astro line with their two-tier > PowerCore line._

Where do you see that?

First I want to know the feature difference between Astro, PowerCore, PowerCore II, and PowerCore+. (WTF are PowerIQ, VoltageBoost, QuickCharge, etc.) Next I want to see something that compares product dimensions, weight, and mAh between all of their products. Recharge times would be ideal as well, but I understand those can vary based on ambient temperature and other factors.

It seems like that should be Step 1 for any decent marketing department, but either their website doesn't have this information or it's hidden very well: [https://www.anker.com/products/taxons/107/Batteries](https://www.anker.com/products/taxons/107/Batteries)

<comment><USER12> > Where do you see that?

In your post. The bit about "BETTER and NEWER".

I've never had an issue finding out any metrics about their products from the Amazon page. That includes what all of their trademarked features mean. Having a chart that compares all of them doesn't really make sense when each one has the relevant info.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'm still waiting for a time when UPS or Fedex will come up with a Prime option where I pay $99 a year for 2-day shipping through them, and all these companies like Anker would ship through major carriers directly. Buying third- party stuff from Amazon is always a hit and miss experience..

<comment><USER14> That's basically what [https://www.shoprunner.com/](https://www.shoprunner.com/) is trying to be, I think?

It's not as integrated as it could be, but it accomplishes the same thing.

<comment><USER15> I use Shoprunner where it's supported, because I get it for free with Amex. My experience is that it's not as good as Prime. Prime is supposed to give you free delivery in 2 days. Shoprunner is supposed to give you free 2-day shipping. These are very different things. Yes, the Shoprunner package is shipped via a 2-day shipping method, but the merchant often takes several days before they ship it. I've had Shoprunner orders take a week or more to arrive. Every once in a while Prime misses its promise date, but it's pretty rare, and usually only by a day. I don't think I've EVER had a Shoprunner order arrive in 2 days. Unless the merchants are all prepared to start passing orders off to the carriers more quickly, a carrier program will have a hard time matching the Prime experience.

<comment><USER16> This is pretty typical for most not-amazon (or amazon-competitor) stores, I've found. It's why I am so reluctant to use third party sites, even though I know it's for the better if I do.

Newegg I've found to fulfill the Shoprunner "two day" shipping promise pretty reliably. I actually get a lot of stuff the next day due to being relatively close to their Indiana drop-ship partner/warehouse/whatever.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Apologies for going off topic but, this trend of hiding the content until you scroll down is getting ridiculous. I stared at that stupid animation for 15 seconds thinking the content was to appear at some point, before realizing I was supposed to scroll down.

<comment><USER18> It's the Verge, they're one of the one worst offenders of content-hiding web gimmickry. If you haven't seen it already, check out their Apple Watch review for a thorough list of everything not to do with a web page.

<comment><USER19> I'd say they're one of the worst offenders of tech reporting.

Apparently on their Google IO podcast they complained quite a bit how one of them installed the new developer preview of Android and "none of the new features worked".

Because of course it's as though they expect the new APIs already being used out of the box in a build meant for developers to use. It's not called a "customer preview"...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> At the risk of sounding like a glorified Amazon reviewer…

Checking my Amazon order history, I can see purchases for wall socket chargers (mains to 2x USB), a 3-port PCI-E to USB 3 card, and a mains powered SATA to USB 3 adaptor. All used frequently, never had a problem with them. The wall charger is the best one I own: fast charging, reliable, gets the job done. As a computer tech person, their stuff works for me.

[No affiliation to Anker, customer since 2015; all products Fulfilled By Amazon.]

<comment><USER21> I got some usb cables some time ago. fancy models. both got broken wires in less than a year. their lifetime warranty was taking forever until I updated my 4 star review to a one. got and email instantly saying they shipped new ones to me and if I could change my review to 5 stars. this was via amazon, they even used the same Shipping address as the purchase. never heard from the warranty email.

they did send new ones of an upgraded design that even had a pouch. but why not do that when I contacted via the regular way? that lowered my respect for them.

<comment><USER22> I had a different experience. I had a charger that stopped working. When I emailed them they immediately sent a new charger (through Amazon) and didn't even ask me to return the non-functional device. Very fast and excellent service.

<comment><USER23> I've had the same happen. One of the chargers I bought from them was defective. Got a new one in couple days, no questions or return asked.

Edit: they may have asked trying different cables first, now that I think about it

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Apple's own USB-C to external monitor options are horrid. They have an USB-C to HDMI/USB/USBC dongle that is notoriously buggy locking up the new MBP. We ended up with a 3rd party cables to connect to external monitors.

Some balls definitely dropped over at apple's product teams.

<comment><USER25> Apple doesn't even have an option for connecting to DisplayPort screens. I need it because the UP2414Q runs 4K@60Hz over DP with multistream transport. It will only run at 30 Hz over HDMI.

Apple sells a USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter that _looks identical_ to the mini-displayport connector on my previous laptop but _is only thunderbolt_ , no video modes supported. A lot of unhappy reviews on that one.

They dropped just about every ball possible with monitor hookups. I actually haven't bought a USB to DP cable yet because last time I looked they weren't well reviewed, had gone out of stock, or cost like $40. I'm debating whether I should get one or hold off for the TB3 docks to show up.

<comment><USER26> _Apple sells a USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adapter that looks identical to the mini-displayport connector on my previous laptop but is only thunderbolt, no video modes supported. A lot of unhappy reviews on that one._

I made that same mistake, but it's also broken the other way around.. turns out you can't use a 2015 iMac as a display using DisplayPort, it _has_ to be a Thunderbolt :-D So now I have two connectors with the same socket but two totally different uses.

<comment><USER27> That's not broken. The iMac is not a general-purpose display. It's a computer.

If you plug a Dell laptop into a Mac, would you expect to automatically get to use the Dell's monitor as a secondary Mac display?

<comment><USER25> iMacs did support this, called Target Display Mode. Similar to how macs can be mounted as external hard drives in Target Disk Mode.

2009 and 2010 models supported vanilla DisplayPort, 2011 to 2014 cut that for Thunderbolt only.

[https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592](https://support.apple.com/en- us/HT204592)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> They make a dirt cheap (~$20) vertical mouse that helped me correct wrist problems from bad posture overnight. I don't use anything else for long periods of time, they singlehandedly (pun not intended) helped me fix my wrist problems. And I use it for gaming just as well.

Anker is dope.

<comment><USER29> Yeah they have the only quality, reasonably priced vertical mouse. I have a bunch of them, wireless and wired.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Accessories are either $1 for random brand, or $30 for Apple/Samsung. Providing them for $10 while spending a bit more time on QC is a sweet spot, of course they're beating Apple and Samsung.

<comment><USER31> There is no guarantee that that is a successful strategy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> Anker has some serious quality issues now, or at least it feels like that with fakes on Amazon. It's hard to tell what's geniune Anker anymore, but I've had really bad luck w/ low quality build of some stuff I've bought there. It's not expensive enough to bother sending back, but I used to automatically buy Anker and now I look for other newer brands that aren't potential counterfeits yet due to the copying of the name.

<comment><USER33> That's really Amazon's fault. To get around Amazon's issues, I just buy everything off of Anker's store[0].

[0] [https://www.anker.com/products](https://www.anker.com/products)

<comment><USER34> I bought an Anker speaker for my office (which I really like BTW - [https://www.anker.com/products/A3143011](https://www.anker.com/products/A3143011)), and was comparing to different model on their site. To purchase, there was only an Amazon button: [https://www.anker.com/products/A3142011](https://www.anker.com/products/A3142011)

Some of their products are offered direct. Others are Amazon only.

<comment><USER35> I purchased a different bluetooth speaker from them - [https://www.anker.com/products/A3102011](https://www.anker.com/products/A3102011) and I really like it too. I use this speaker at home in the kitchen and it's amazing how well it sounds for a 35$ gizmo.

<comment><USER36> The battery life on the SoundCore is superb as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> It was interesting to see this headline because I don't even use the official charger on my MacBook Pro. Anker does a combination USB/USB-C high power charger block that's 1/3rd the price and works perfectly well. I never found any good/reliable third party chargers for Apple equipment before.

Further, when I did once have a dud Anker battery pack, they just sent me another one next day delivery, didn't even ask for the broken one back.

</comment><comment><USER37> A counterpoint -- For the price of one Anker lightning cable, I can have a dozen lightning cables shipped to me from China still in their original Foxconn bags. They will last just as long as the Apple cords, and are much, much cheaper. For a little more, or a few less cords, I can have the same cords delivered to me by a US based box shifter.

The same thing goes with chargers -- I can get high quality, OEM level stuff for pennies, directly from China, or, for a small surcharge, from the US.

I understand Anker is trying to be "better" than OEM, but realistically, they're not 10x better -- maybe 10 or 20% tops, yet they charge significantly more. I personally do not see the appeal, other than maybe convenience.

<comment><USER27> No, you emphatically cannot get "OEM level" chargers for "pennies". This is not close to being true and has been well documented. Cheap, knockoff chargers are substandard and dangerous.

[http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers- pr...](http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html)

[http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown- surpr...](http://www.righto.com/2015/11/macbook-charger-teardown- surprising.html)

[http://www.righto.com/2016/03/counterfeit-macbook-charger- te...](http://www.righto.com/2016/03/counterfeit-macbook-charger- teardown.html?m=1)

<comment><USER37> Ken does some pretty cool teardowns. However, you can, assuming you know where to look. If you're buying gas station knockoffs, of course they're a fire hazard.

The problem is counterfeits are all labeled as one homogeneous group, when they most definitely are not. Some are very, very good, some are not.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> One thing the author doesn't mention are the legions of loyal Ingress players that have contributed to the rise of Anker ( years before Pokemon Go launched). Many hours are spent walking around from portal to portal and socializing with other players.

</comment><comment><USER39> They've done a great job with tough competition, which isn't discussed. Apple is pretty easy to undercut, but there are a lot of competitors like Belkin, especially AmazonBasics. It's hard to stay on top of a commodity space for a long time. (especially when your distributor is a potential competitor with its own massive supply chain, a great brand, and real-time data from you and all your competitors)

</comment><comment><USER40> One thing that makes Anker stand out to me is that they pay attention to the unboxing experience, which I haven't seen from any other company in a non- premium market like cables and car docks.

<comment><USER41> My unboxing experience with Anker cables is always "oh they've sent me another pointless faux-suede pouch, I wonder how many tonnes of these have gone on landfill this year".

Good products though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> I <3 Anker products, own quite a few of them. You can tell the R&D has been done... Every single product I've bought from them continues to function flawlessly. They're a breath of fresh air: a startup with a focus on quality/price, not flash.

</comment><comment><USER43> I'd argue that Ingress (the game before Pokemon Go) is part of the reason why Anker became so popular during the last few years. If you asked any random Ingress player which battery pack to buy then 9 out of 10 would recommend Anker above everything else.

<comment><USER44> Any reason why?

<comment><USER45> Because they're really high quality and gained traction within that community.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Anker, Aukey, Choetech, Ravpower, the 4 heavy hitters. Save for some of their weird stuff like dash cams and vacuums you can't go wrong. Those brands make up just about every cable, charger, or battery in my apartment.

<comment><USER47> Yeah, i'm the same. Couple of observations:

1\. Anker - started buying them for their HTC Sensation batteries, which were superb. Bought a load of multi USB ports for the home, last couple of years they've been flaky with ports dying. Customer service used to be superb, now not as mich.

2\. Aukey - only bought a car multi USB charger, thing broke apart in a week. Like everything else, may just be Amazon comingling.

3\. Ravpower - only bought one of their big battery packs, 28000mah or whatever. The thing is bulletproof, well made, and works. I need to test the capacity at some point, but it's not given me any surprises.

They're all examples of Chinese companies going direct and emulating the Western companies who used to rebrand their stuff. As long as they do it properly, I do not have a problem with this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> This article claims our phones don't last any longer because of some fundamental science with Li-ion batteries. But that's horse crap. The 24KWh battery pack in my Leaf is Li-ion. My laptop has a bigger battery than my phone, also Li-ion.

The real reason our phones don't get much more battery life than 5 years ago is packaging; every step forward on efficiency or battery capacity is consumed by making the phones thinner. Because the manufacturers have decided lasting one day is fine. They don't recognize any consumer demand for longer lasting phones as significant.

</comment><comment><USER49> If I am not mistaken, this is one of the rare Chinese (Designed in China, made in China and owned by a Chinese company) consumer electronics brands that is also a famous household brands in the U.S.

<comment><USER50> Lenovo fits that bill.

I would guess the reason is that a Chinese company has plenty of market in China already and if they expand they would expand to other Asian countries first for language and cultural similarity reasons. Same reason US companies expand into Canada and Europe first.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> For those that hate Anker's relationship with Amazon, please note: _many_ items Anker makes is also sold first party through Walmart.com now _and is even in some Walmarts_.

Anker has finally arrived.

</comment><comment><USER52> I use a cheap, no-brand 7x 18650 cell USB battery with a seemingly gimmicky solar panel that actually works from Amazon. It both charges and discharges slowly, but it works good enough for now and it's TSA-compliant to pack in carry-on. It's really poorly designed in that all sides are symmetric and the manual power button lacks an affordance... it does have automatic power-on based on USB draw.

As a similar potential business model, Monoprice seems like a great business for the customer, as cables are/were the highest margin items in electronics store, but I wonder if they're making enough money to be viable: anyone can knock-off cables and compete to the bottom worse than DRAM ($.75 USB cable, where's the profit in that?)

I'm wondering if Anker is potentially investable or if it will at least earn a comfortable living for workers, suppliers and owner/s. Differentiating a-la Zappos but beware of an inherent lack of long-term defensibility and brand- crowded marketplace.

I'll give em a try when I need that next thing that normally would be an Amazon/Newegg/Fry's purchase.

</comment><comment><USER53> I purchase almost exclusively Anker. When my cheap Bluetooth headphones had a hard time connecting to my phone they just sent me a more expensive pair. I have their cords, wall charger, battery pack, headphones, outdoor speaker, and indoor speaker. All work well and when they stopped or seemed to function inadequately they just sent a new or updated version.

I can't recommend them enough.

<comment><USER54> +1 for their ~$20 bluetooth headphones. I'm not sure why wired headphones still exist unless you're an audiophile.

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> I must be living in another dimension, because my experience with Anker's products and customer support has been horrible. I purchased a Lightning cable from them in August that lasted a month before dying. From there on, it was a sh#tstorm to have it replace.

Step 1. Contact Anker (okay so far)

Step 2. Wait

Step 3. Wait some more...

Step 4. Three days later they finally reply, but want me to provide a serial number from the cable? WTH? A serial number 4pt type.

Step 5. Wait some more. When I didn't get a reply that day, I contacted them again and received an email with this lame excuse:

"In our continual effort to provide the best and outstanding service to our customers, we will be conducting an important training program from Sept 30th (Wednesday) through Oct 9th (Friday). While we are making our best efforts to respond to all messages in a timely fashion, we will be slower than usual for the upcoming days mentioned."

Step 6. Wait some more until they shipped the cable, which lasted another three months before failing.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...

<comment><USER56> Waiting, having to provide a serial number, and then waiting a little longer doesn't seem that traumatic, especially so if this case is an outlier.

<comment><USER57> Yes - I agree.

If this were a TV ad there'd have to be the word 'Dramatization' in soft white lettering at the bottom of the screen because this is definitely going overboard.

I've gone through this process and it's pretty damn easy - contact anker, send the the serial number (the rep even tells you it's so they can do proper QA) and get a new one in the mail.

The alternative would be for them to make you send the old one back which would be significantly more annoying. I think asking for the serial is reasonable on their part. Helps them verify you have the cable, prevents people from filing multiple times on the same cable, and allows them to control quality better.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER58> I've been using their ergonomic mice for a while. I think they might just be labeled versions of a generic Chinese product, but the ergonomics relative to price make them a pretty attractive product.

One thing I've noticed is that they do launch bad/mediocre products from time to time, but they kill them pretty quickly if the Amazon reviews come back weak.

</comment><comment><USER59> Bought a Lightning Powerline+ cable 4 months ago. While Apple's Lightning can feel a little premium, Anker's kick their ass. It has a nice thingy to carry it and I know it won't break in the foreseeable future, different from the 5+ Apple cables I already broke in some 3 years. Also, their power banks are really good as well.

</comment><comment><USER60> I remember this debacle:

[https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/TkAnhK84TT7](https://plus.google.com/+BensonLeung/posts/TkAnhK84TT7)

The cable has long since been recalled, but it is worth mentioning that Benson Leung is a Google employee and Anker was formed by former Google employees.

</comment><comment><USER61> I have purchased one of those multiple length USB cable packs by Anker months ago and all problems due to poor quality cables were gone. I usually don't have high current demands, but I was short on good quality cables and some RPi and similar boards I was playing with required more current than the usual cellphone so I had to get something better. So far the only Anker cable that failed to supply one board (can't remember if the RPi3 or a different one but wasn't a low power board) was the longest one at almost 2 meters (6 ft) but I can live with that: it works 100% with everything else and all other cables do their job with all boards.

</comment><comment><USER62> I see this recurring theme of "I bought some Anker product and it wasn't good, but their customer service replaced it with a better one and now I really like them!"

I guess it's working for them, but it sure seems like an odd strategy.

(For the record, I'm in about the same boat, I have probably half a dozen Anker products, and they replace for free the one battery that failed. My wife really likes their super-duper iPhone cables because she _destroys_ regular Apple cables, and the Anker ones seem to hold up much better.)

I'll also give them props for consistently having not-annoying packaging. Basically just cardboard boxes that are easy to open.

<comment><USER63> There is an inevitable failure rate but if they proactively manage the customer's moods the failure rate can instead turn to their advantage as it will produce these sorts of stories which will be read by other prospective customers and create the perception of good customer service.

</comment></comment><comment><USER64> I have never heard about Anker. I don't even think their brand exists over here...

<comment><USER65> I have also never heard of Anker. My first thought was that the article was written by them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> I have an early Anker battery, from a few years back. It sees use constantly, and still kicks ass. Their backstory is interesting, thanks for posting.

</comment><comment><USER67> I recently picked up a USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapter from them - was pretty impressed that a little $5 USB dongle could match a $30 Thunderbolt.

</comment><comment><USER68> I was looking to find a lightning cable replacement for my mother. I think first to look at Anker since I have two older battery packs from them and they've been working great for years. But I did find some reviews to shy me away from them so I naturally stuck with the Apple original. If this was a case for micro-USB, I likely would have gotten an Anker cable instead.

</comment><comment><USER69> I'm surprised how much love there is for Anker. The only product I have from them is a vertical mouse, which I'll admit looks nice and has a solid feel, but within a week the scroll wheel became nearly useless due to some hardware/software issue. The only reason I still have it is because I was too lazy to go to a USP store to mail the Amazon return.

</comment><comment><USER70> I've purchased 4-5 anker battery packs and usb chargers, very happy with quality of product, however recently switched to ravpower because of lower price for, as of now, comparable quality, so far I purchased battery pack and USB charger (6 outputs) for 30% cheaper than anker.

I have no connection to either company, this is my personal experience, and both make great products.

</comment><comment><USER71> They are in a risky business at this point. Finally after the users begged for years, new phones start to be a little more thick but with whole day battery life even with non trivial screen on time usage patterns. This will not make aux battery packs go away, but will reduce the use case from "almost everybody" to "people with special needs".

<comment><USER72> _Expanding into more product categories is a logical evolution for Anker, but it's also a response to a looming existential threat: Yang says he foresees a future where portable chargers won't be necessary due to advancements in both fast charging and wireless charging. "I think we all agree that the portable charger isn't forever," Yang says. But consumers will always need wall plugs and cables, and Anker sees its goal now as keeping pace with changing standards, like the introduction of USB-C. In the meantime, Yang says it's diversifying with a future expansion into audio, smart home, and automotive product lines._

It looks like something they are already taking into consideration

</comment></comment><comment><USER73> Most Anker products are not actually manufactured by them. They - like many others - buy from chinese OEMs and put their name on it.

<comment><USER74> Do you have any evidence of this?

<comment><USER75> [http://lygte- info.dk/pic/USB%20PS/27%20Anker%2040W%205-port%...](http://lygte- info.dk/pic/USB%20PS/27%20Anker%2040W%205-port%2071AN7105/DSC_0379a.jpg)

[http://lygte- info.dk/pic/USB%20PS/28%20BlitzWolf%2040W%205%2...](http://lygte- info.dk/pic/USB%20PS/28%20BlitzWolf%2040W%205%20port%20usb%20charger/DSC_0421a.jpg)

One of those is the Anker, another is Banggood's household brand, Blitzwolf.

<comment><USER74> How is such a similarity conclusive, though? How do you know Blitzwolf didn't copy Anker? Even if Anker released their product later, how do you know it wasn't an improvement on the Blitzwolf product?

<comment><USER75> Because that's not how things work in China. An off-brand copy would be a literal copy of the PCB with cheaper and /or missing components (especially EMC-related ones). An "improvement" from a different OEM would have obvious differences in parts like the heatsinks (they are literally the same part, with extremely similar cutting marks) and various other generic interchangeable parts (e.g. the input MOV, the IEC connector, the optical feedback package on the top etc).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> I own their low profile USB charger for use inside the car and recommend it.

Also purchased their led desk lamp, has good qualities but they unfortunately used bright blue leds on the indicators, which made it practically unusable in my room. They have a good rep for listening to customers, so I made a request to change to orange leds, let's see if it happens.

</comment><comment> semi-extrinsic My trouble with Anker cables is I'm not able to buy them in a reasonable way. If I go on Amazon, most of their products "do not ship to your location (Europe)". For the few that do, Amazon wants to charge me $16 in "import tax deposit" (when the item cost is way below the threshold for import tax) plus $15 for the cheapest shipping. That's on a cable costing $4.99.

This is a major beef I have with Amazon in general, and the reason I almost never buy stuff there. Most stuff I want doesn't ship to my location, there's no way to filter out unavailable items from search, and shipping is usually horribly expensive. When AliExpress offers a better experience, your ecommerce store has some serious issues...

Now, I can go on eBay and get an Anker cable more reasonably priced, but then it's 85% likely I'm getting a Chinese knockoff. Then I might as well buy 10 straight-outta-Guangzhou $0.99 cables and get 1 that works well for a year. Which is what I do now.

Does anyone know a quality yet reasonably priced micro usb cable brand available in Europe/Scandinavia?

<comment> pi-rat I often bought Anker chargers and cables while traveling in the US and brought it back home to Norway - even had them replace or refund broken stuff for me a couple of times (excellent customer service!)

Wanted to buy a new car charger recently, and got really annoyed at how difficult it was to find someone who would ship to Norway without breaking the bank on shipping or risking a fake item.

Then I discovered their official AliExpress store - [https://anker.aliexpress.com/store/1710553](https://anker.aliexpress.com/store/1710553)

They won't ship batteries to Scandinavia - but chargers and cables are fair game, and decently priced. All original stuff.

<comment> semi-extrinsic Thanks for the tip! Just ordered a cable to try them out, $6.99 and free shipping is more like it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER77> I like to think of Anker, RAVPower, Aukey, etc as high quality generic goods. They aren't dirt cheap like AliExpress goods but not expensive either compared to well known brands. They certainly seem to have decent quality control is helping build their brand/reputation.

</comment><comment><USER78> Well, they don't do much that's original, but the respond to market demand and make things of reasonable quality. They're one of the only third-party brands of random lithium-ion battery-containing accessories that I trust not to randomly burn my house down.

</comment><comment><USER79> Not to mention google. My nexus 6p charger broke, I wanted to buy a new one. Turns out google doesn't sell usb-c chargers in my country anymore (they used to). Anker was pretty much the only decent other option for a usb-c fast charger that was up to spec.

</comment><comment><USER80> This completely failed to work. It charged up OK, but when connected to a cellphone or touchpad, it charged them for no more than a minute before switching off. Repeated attempts failed. I had an Anker charger before and that worked OK.

</comment><comment><USER81> Anker's battery charging docks are why I'm still using a Note 3.

I know it seems silly, but it is amazing to be able to just swap batteries whenever I get low. I never have to leave my phone somewhere plugged in and charging.

</comment><comment><USER82> "From there, Anker ventured into smartphone batteries…"

"Yang says he and Anker's small team "definitely saw the explosion of smart devices"…"

This quote made me smile in light of recent issues with exploding batteries.

</comment><comment><USER83> I tried to order an Anker power bank through Amazon but they don't ship to Sweden. When I found a local e-shop the prices was almost twice as high. I assume they don't want the Swedish market.

<comment><USER84> I order my Anker stuff straight from China. On second thought, IIRC the Anker charger I bought from AliExpress was delivered from a warehouse in Estonia, so there wasn't even the typical wait involved.

</comment></comment><comment><USER85> Why do I but Anker over alternative? Reliability and predictability. I could save some money on a knockoff, but why suffer uncertainty for little in the way of price reward? Just not worth it, to me.

</comment><comment><USER86> The customer service on Anker products is why I keep buying Anker products. These are smart people who realise that spending money on creating trust pays off. They also happen to make solid products.

</comment><comment><USER87> After getting maybe a dozen cables and a few battery packs from Anker, I bought a bluetooth speaker. It looks like the Soundlink Mini from Bose, but it was a fraction of the cost. However, when playing base heavy songs at very low volume (which I had to late at night due to house sharing), it would sound distorted. I didn't mind too much, but in the end I emailed them about the problem.

Two or three days later, I had a replacement unit in the mail. When asked how I was supposed to return the faulty unit... I was told to keep it. So now I have two units, both work perfectly fine in most situations and I'm one happy customer. Like below - I was never told to update a review or buy more stuff.

Highly recommend Anker.

</comment><comment><USER88> Not sure that Apple really competes in the low-end accessory "game" \- I don't think they see it as worth their time/brand value to offer cheap dongles at low margins.

</comment><comment><USER89> They mention their portable batteries at airports. Is that allowed? I thought I heard spare lithium ion batteries were banned from planes, both checked and carryon.

<comment><USER90> I think that only applies to cells with exposed contacts. You could say that "Power banks" aren't technically batteries - they're phone chargers that have built-in batteries, so they're more akin to a phone or tablet with a built-in battery from a safety point of view, with all the same physical and electrical protections against short-circuits.

</comment></comment><comment><USER91> I bought an Anker laptop battery four years ago. It still works great. I don't remember any other non OEM laptop battery lasting that long.

</comment><comment><USER92> I just ordered another item from Anker last night! I have tablet/phone stands and several usb connector types. I love them.

</comment><comment><USER93> Very true. I prefer anker over oem parts. Part of that is because of fakes from those brands and anker can actually be contacted.

</comment><comment><USER94> The Anker USB-ethernet adapter worked when the Apple one didn't work on both an Apple and a Windows computer...

</comment><comment><USER95> I bought a battery pack that could jump my car let alone charge my phone. I didn't expect much but was impressed with it from the start. Everything was quality made. (My truck doesn't start easily in cold temperatures) Right after I got it I happened by someone on the street in -30 temperatures that ran down their battery. Anker's battery jumped it in less then 10 seconds and the battery was at half charge.

</comment><comment><USER96> I've had apple chargers due. I've yet to have Anker chargers die. Anecdotal, for sure, but... ;-)

</comment><comment><USER97> All of our chargers and cables at the office are Anker, so far pretty happy with them.

</comment><comment><USER98> Anker products are of great quality and the great service is their competitive edge

</comment><comment><USER99> This looks useful. I'll have to keep an eye on this.

</comment><comment><USER100> How much did Anker have to pay to have this full page ad on The Verge?

<comment><USER101> Where's the balance? I mean, TheVerge is a _tech blog_. When does writing about tech cross the line into advertising the tech?

<comment><USER100> What bothers me is that there's no way to know whether it's a paid advertisement, or a legitimate piece. This thing reads like astroturfing to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER102> Too bad I've never heard of them.

</comment><comment><USER103> I'm a security conscious buyer. I haven't bought Anker so far because they do not have GS, TÜV, CCC or UL certificates.

</comment><comment><USER104> I've got nothing but praise for their battery packs.

EDIT: Previously linked to AUKEY cables that were defective, not ANKER. Sorry about that. Benson has only reviewed two ANKER USB-C cables, and both followed the spec, as far as I can tell:

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R26RCODZS6VUEF?ref_=glimp_1...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R26RCODZS6VUEF?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl)

[https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3DGG0QBAYCT1N?ref_=glimp_1...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3DGG0QBAYCT1N?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl)

<comment><USER105> Do you have a source for Anker and Aukey being the same company?

<comment><USER51> They aren't, but Anker seems to be the OEM for some Aukey and Ravpower products.

And yes, I mean Anker as the OEM, not sharing Anker's OEMs (because they build stuff like how Apple uses Foxconn (and like literally every single electronics manufacturer does)).

Aukey and Ravpower always seem to be a generation behind, but keep up with Anker quality. So either I'm correct, or what is actually happening is still very similar.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER106> You know Samsung made it when it's mentioned with Apple in the same sentence as a part of a click bait. Still, Apple is mentioned like 12 times while Samsung only twice...

I do own more than a few Anker products and am happy with them.

<comment><USER107> _> You know Samsung made it when it's mentioned with Apple in the same sentence as a part of a click bait_

That scrappy, eighty-year-old company has certainly made it.

<comment><USER51> I think they made it when members of the Samsung family got pooched when the whole Presidential cult thing came to light.

You know you're somebody when you're basically the mafia running a country.

<comment><USER108> Apple will finally have makde it when they get mentioned alongside Samsung in an article about Samsung washers, or apparel, or semiconductors, or cargo ships, or telecom equipment.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Offer HN: free usability report for your iOS app - <AUTHOR>

Hi, I'm Zain, founder of Watchsend (YC S13). We make software that helps iOS developers learn how their users interact with their apps by recording user videos.
I'll meet with you (in person if you're in the Bay Area, online otherwise), get you set up with Watchsend, watch hours of user videos for you, and help you improve your app's usability based on what I find.
You just need to email me at email@example.com to get started. <comment><USER2> Awesome offer! Thanks for helping the community! I will be reaching out to you!

</comment><comment><USER3> This looks awesome. I will definitely take you up on that offer!

How is the video actually recorded? Do you then compress it and send it to the web service?</comment>


A way to poke Facebook off its uncontested perch - <AUTHOR> http://timharford.com/2017/12/a-way-to-poke-facebook-of-its-uncontested-perch/ <comment><USER2> I was a crowdfunding supporter of the open-source, distributed, federated social network _Diaspora_ ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(social_network)?wpro...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_\(social_network\)?wprov=sfti1)) but it never really got off the ground. In a chillingly tone-deaf tongue-in- cheek fashion, Zuckerberg also contributed some funds to that campaign... that was almost a decade ago, before he invested any effort in managing his public image (or maybe he genuinely meant well, I don't know).</comment>


Spam unsubscribe links no longer considered harmful - <AUTHOR> http://essays.dayah.com/spam-unsubscribe-not-harmful <comment><USER2> I just read the first 100 messages in my Gmail spam box. Five had unsubscribe links that were highly suspicious -- misleading .ru domains and GET parameters that could not possibly identify me. Four had links that were paired with US addresses and worked. Three had seemingly legitimate links that led to broken forms. The other 88 had no unsubscribe link in the body of the email.

I think the author's claim is correct. For emails that aren't patently absurd and contain a mailing address, clicking unsubscribe links seems like a good idea. Unfortunately for me, I'm stuck with the other 96%.

<comment><USER3>
      Unfortunately for me, I'm stuck with the other 96%.

I would say "Fortunately for me, Google is stuck with the rest."

About once a year, spammers find a way around Google's spam filters for 3-4 weeks, which means I might see a non-flagged spam message show up in my mailbox every couple of days. Beyond that, I don't even think about spam anymore (including worrying about false positives, which I haven't seen in years [if at all]).

Above and beyond everything else positive or negative about Google, this one thing will cause me to always have a warm place in my heart for Google.

<comment><USER3> Ironically, I looked in my spam folder today just to see what percentage were the ".ru" type and...found a message from Twitter that got delivered yesterday saying how they are going to switch to OAuth on 8/31 (Really, twitter, a month late? [and it wasn't Google, since I got the message for two accounts for two email addresses yesterday]).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> (Half-baked thinking, so may or may not work.)

Anyone else wonder if unsubscribe links couldn't be shifted to the mail client somehow? That way, they could be positioned in a uniform place and handled in a simple way so that you didn't have to scrounge through an email footer looking for the 5px unsub link, and then go through that horrible 'You need a password to unsubscribe' process half the time.

I'm imagining an 'unsubscribe' button up near the top of the email, maybe based on mail headers or something else, that just worked. You clicked it and you were off the list. (Might need ways to verify the identity of the subscriber, but I'd hope this could be handled better than it is now.)

<comment><USER5> Gmail already does this - if you have the List-Unsubscribe header set up, when someone clicks on the "Spam" button, it asks them whether they want to unsubscribe as well. If they say "yes", an email gets sent to the unsubscribe address with "Unsubscribe" as the subject.

<comment><USER4> I think I've seen that once (not a big Gmail user yet).

Would love to see it in all mail clients, and useful for all subscriptions. A 1998 RFC and a basic attempt from one webmail provider is a bit depressing in 2010 when most of us get hammered by these sorts of messages.

<comment><USER6> The people who would comply with that header are the sort of people who probably already had a very easy to find unsubscribe link.

<comment><USER4> I take your point, but that link is still down the bottom of a long newsletter (that I already don't want to read), in small, faint type. And then half the time, the unsubscribe process will involve a password, verification of the email sent to (which often could be one of a few), or waiting for an 'are you sure' link to be emailed.

I don't think I'm alone in refusing to believe that the processes here (and all around email) couldn't be improved!

<comment><USER6> Yup, that's fair. I think best practice in email design is to put the unsubscribe at the top and bottom.

And I would point out that requiring a password or a verification email is almost certainly a violation of CAN-SPAM.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I would like to see a longer term test before I start doing this.

If the spam picks back up, it might not be worth the time.

<comment><USER8> Right, because any anti-spam measures need to be measured over a longer time frame to see if they have significantly reduced the spam.

That said, for me, spam is hardly a problem with the SpamBayes plugin for Outlook. It does get a few false positives, but none that badly. A check every few days catches anything. It also flags a lot of subscribed-for spam, which is OK by me as I don't see why I need a monthly update on my frequent flyer miles, something I can always go looking for.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> For all the many faults with CAN-SPAM, up to $16,000 per-message penalties for failure to comply with an opt-out isn't such a terrible idea.

<comment><USER9> Problem is, you can send mail to the US from outside of the US.

(Spam isn't about being relevant, it's about volume. Even if you can't actually buy the product being advertised, you still have to delete the mail. So while this is a little helpful, it's doesn't really make much difference in spam volume.)

<comment> mike-cardwell And you can send mail from the US to outside the US. CAN-SPAM is irrelevant to most of the World. I actually have a score in my spam filter for email bodys matching /\bCAN-SPAM\b/i as emails claiming to be "CAN-SPAM compliant" are almost always junk.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Unfortunately, since the messages sent by spammers that "came into the light" (good spammers?) and by those who did not are so similar, even legitimate unsubscribe links are effectively too risky.

Just like with the failure micropayments (see <http://openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/12/19/micropayments.html>), it just requires too much mental analysis to make an educated guess about whether an unsubscribe link is legit, versus confirming my address as "working" and increasing its use by other spammers (e.g., inclusion in sold lists of "verified working email accounts").

Due to the confusion, I have to fall back on the KISS rule: When in doubt, do not provide my email address, or the fact that my email address is a working one, to someone I don't know (or who just spammed me, no matter how much "in the light" they may seem to be).

</comment><comment><USER11> Since forcing me to sign up and give my credit card info to download _free_ apps, Apple has been regularly sending me spam. The opt-out link is a 404.

</comment><comment><USER12> So little spam makes it through to my inbox that it seems like this approach would take more time than it is going to save. Interesting observation though.

</comment><comment><USER13> They never were, it was a myth.

</comment><comment><USER14> Edit: Site's back up.

<comment><USER15> Works fine for me.

<comment><USER14> Yup, works now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> groupon has become spammy to me</comment>


Imagine Our Mind Without Bounds - <AUTHOR> http://www.victusspiritus.com/2009/05/28/imagine-our-mind-without-bounds/

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, realize I went way way way too far on this what if scenario but it was infectious. Couldn't stop dreaming up potential paths for extension of our minds beyond our noggins.</comment>


Is Seattle Silicon Valley's Next Favorite Stop? - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/25/is-seattle-silicon-valleys-next-favorite-stop/?ncid=rss#.z62ovk:2HEu

<comment><USER2> Find a Computer Job in Seattle: [http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/united- states/washingt...](http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/united- states/washington/king/seattle/)</comment>


The big short, the housing bubble and the financial crisis - <AUTHOR> http://cepr.net/blogs/beat-the-press/the-big-short-the-housing-bubble-and-the-financial-crisis <comment><USER2> Working cached link: [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?sourceid=chrome- psyapi2&ion=1&ie=UTF-8&q=cache%3Acepr.net%2Fblogs%2Fbeat-the-press%2Fthe-big- short-the-housing-bubble-and-the-financial- crisis&oq=cache%3Acepr.net%2Fblogs%2Fbeat-the-press%2Fthe-big-short-the- housing-bubble-and-the-financial- crisis&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.1535j0j4&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&biw=1063&bih=555&dpr=1.75&ech=1&psi=gJGSVp2xNqG6ygOtl6DgDQ.1452446082218.3&ei=gJGSVp2xNqG6ygOtl6DgDQ&emsg=NCSR&noj=1)

</comment><comment><USER3> On this topic, I always like to point to this illustration from The New York Times:

[http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/business/arm3...](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/06/15/business/arm3.gif)

Notice the date: 2005. That was around the time I started asking around, "How can I short the housing market?"

I felt relieved reading The Big Short because it revealed that there wasn't any way to do so at the time, especially for a little schmuck like me. And even the guy who eventually figured out how to do it, Michael Burry, ended up fantastically wealthy and, according to Michael Lewis, deeply embittered.

On this article, I agree that trying to treat the Housing Bubble and Financial Crisis as independent events seems disingenuous. (Are there really serious people trying to do this?)

Nevertheless, I question this claim:

 _We are supposed to feel good about this because it saved us from a Second Great Depression. But there was nothing about the collapse of these banks which would have condemned us to a decade of double-digit unemployment._

I abhor Wall St. and the industrial-finance complex it has created almost as much as any Teapartier or Wall-Street-Occupier. But I don't understand the scenario where those firms collapse and civilization as I know isn't put in, if not serious peril, then unnecessary peril.

<comment><USER4> If those giants were allowed to fall, there would be a vacuum that will be filled faster than we would even notice. The only real problem is if the collapse causes enough uncertainty that people stop spending money, but really, are you more confident now that the giants are being propped up than you would be if they were replaced?

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> "8 trillion (@ 60 percent of GDP) in ephemeral housing equity"

"loss of 8 trillion in housing wealth"

Is this true?

How do you create 8 trillion in wealth?

If it was "lost" then who has the 8 trillion now?

<comment><USER6> [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ephemeral](http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/ephemeral)

<comment><USER5> [https://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Monetary_circuit_theory](https://en.wikipedia.com/wiki/Monetary_circuit_theory)</comment></comment></comment>


Are carriers keeping the unlocking commitments they made to the FCC? - <AUTHOR> https://www.repeaterstore.com/pages/fcc-unlocking-commitments

<comment><USER2> AT&T is allowing it, but only through a semi-convoluted series of email notifications about notifications, followed by verification links that unlock verification links.

<comment><USER3> I had to deal with this recently for a trip abroad and can echo the article's findings that AT&T basically did what they are supposed to. I was able to get my older out of contract iPhone unlocked in about an hour without too much insanity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Reforming the DMCA is critical

should be "Repealing"</comment>


Richard Feynman on the climate conference in Durban - <AUTHOR> http://motls.blogspot.com/2011/12/richard-feynman-on-climate-conference.html

<comment><USER2> The quote from "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" is good, but the poster doesn't really make it clear how it's related to Durban beyond the fact that Durban is an interdisciplinary conference. The poster is a bit incoherent actually, and likes to rant. Also, he's definitely no Feynman.

</comment><comment><USER3> Motl's blog post makes more sense when you understand this is not a standalone blog post, but part of an argument made by many climate skeptics about the nature of the solutions proposed by climate change proponents.

And that is that the proposed solutions will be catastrophic to our economy, changing it immensely, and in ways that the people have a right to be informed of, and able to discuss and vote on it.

However, the various climate change proponents ranging from scientists, lobbyists, activists, politicians, journalists, seem to want to deny the enormity of the change required, even as many of these conferences and these speakers explicitly state that so-called first world ecoomies must sacrifice now and in large amounts to help subsidize poorer, still developing countries.

To the degree that no one wants to talk about it, it seems to those who do want to talk about it, that there is a hidden, "socialist", "communist" wealth transfer scheme underlying this.

More surprisingly perhaps, this argument is seemingly endorsed or at least respected by Naomi Klein (Al Gore advisor) and discussed in the Times by Andrew Revkin, the Dot Earth blogger here:

[http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/naomi-kleins- in...](http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/naomi-kleins-inconvenient- climate-conclusions/)

And so Motls is blogging about Feynman's take on conference that discussed similar problems (problems among unequal populations) and had similar conclusions (transfer of wealth), at an "ethics of equality" conference, and he clearly feels that what Feynman felt in that context is directly transferable to Durban. And I think it might be.

Here is Andrew Revkin on Klein:

 _Naomi Klein, the author of a string of provocative and popular books including "The Shock Doctrine," recently took on global warming policy and campaigns in "Capitalism vs. the Climate," a much-discussed cover story for The Nation that has been mentioned by readers here more than once in the last few weeks.

The piece begins with Klein's conclusion, reached after she spent time at a conclave on climate sponsored by the libertarian Heartland Institute, that passionate corporate and conservative foes of curbs on greenhouse gases are right in asserting that a meaningful response to global warming would be a fatal blow to free markets and capitalism.

She challenges the environmental left to embrace this reality instead of implying that modest changes in lifestyle and shopping habits and the like can decarbonize human endeavors on a crowding planet.

Please dive in. The piece is particularly relevant this week given the continued standoffs and disconnect between stated goals and behavior at the climate treaty talks in Durban, South Africa. Whether you embrace or dispute her conclusions, the article is a worthy and substantive provocation. I disagree with her in pretty profound ways, yet some of her points echo my assertion awhile back that greenhouse-driven climate change is "not the story of our time" but a symptom of much deeper issues_

So indeed Motls' piece ties in with Revkin's as part of an ongoing web-wide conversation on the ramifications of the proposed solutions to global climate change.

<comment><USER4> It seems like there is a quasi-religious fervor around "climate change" and many are using it as a reason to remake the world in their desired fashion. People can both recognize the validity of climate science -- the planet is getting warmer -- and oppose the political "remedies" being cooked up.

Never waste a crisis, I suppose.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> this is kinda...incoherent?

<comment><USER6> Incoherent enough that I glanced around for signs of being fed through Google Translate or a woodchipper.</comment></comment>


Why HTTP? - <AUTHOR> http://timothyfitz.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/why-http/

<comment><USER2> OTOH, there are several things HTTP does ridiculously badly. It all depends on what you're building. Evaluate the case, and sure, if you need a more specific protocol, design one yourself. It's simple to layer on encryption, compression if you need those.

Also the argument slightly reeks of the same "Everything knows how to deal with it!" that caused some people to use XML for _everything_ regardless of how well it fit the job.

<comment><USER3> HTTP isn't perfect, and there are plenty of times when a custom protocol makes sense. However, I think the author is arguing against the "everything needs its own custom protocol" mindset which is all to prevalent in the corporate world. In my work for USPS, I've encountered numerous custom protocols, most of which are far inferior to vanilla HTTP and which cause endless headaches due to poor documentation, debuggability, extensibility, bugginess, etc.

So I agree with the author and my own approach to protocols is to start off with the assumption that I'm using HTTP and only use something else if there's a good reason why HTTP isn't appropriate (performance being the most common dealbreaker).

<comment><USER2> You make it sound, as the author does, like HTTP is applicable to anything. It's not.

It's a very specific request/response protocol, which suits some specific purposes.

>> "start off with the assumption that I'm using HTTP"

That's ridiculous. So if you're writing a multiplayer real-time game, you'd assume you're going to use HTTP?

<comment><USER4> Read the rest of his post - he mentions specifically that performance issues would probably be the number 1 reason to not use HTTP. Bear in mind also that most applications are low-bandwidth, latency-insensitive, and do not need to make optimal use of available resources. This makes HTTP very quick to implement, nearly universal in compatibility, and fairly foolproof.

I think he was complaining more along the lines of "why are we running a custom protocol when we're just passing along a bunch of strings?"

<comment><USER5> Why are we using HTTP (and bundling in a web server) when all we're doing is just passing along a bunch of strings?

<comment><USER4> Because the tools are there to support this. Let's just say I want to be able to query the current weather at a longitude/latitude, and I want to make sure this service is accessible not only to _my_ client application, but also any other apps that want to integrate this feature.

I can:

\- Write my own protocol with very low overhead, just a simple TCP handshake, the client sends me a little string with its location, and I send back the weather. Simple, really fast, has low network and processing overhead. But then you find that this is almost impossible for someone to integrate into their webapp, or even a native app, without opening sockets and doing a stupid amount of work just to set up that connection. I can also write my server code in C++, which gets me some hellishly fast performance.

or

\- I can implement it in PHP, and accessible via a URL like [http://www.mysite.com/weather.php?lat=X&long=Y](http://www.mysite.com/weather.php?lat=X&long=Y) and be done with it. Total coding time? Almost zero. There is no need to set up or tear down connections, and no worry about things like encodings, endianness, or anything of that sort that you'd have to worry about with a raw TCP connection. These tools are also proven, and relatively bug free, which one can't confidently say about anything they re-implement themselves at a low level. Hell, a simple shell script can curl my URL and get the weather back, just like that.

There are gains to be had for doing everything yourself, but for the majority of webapps the tradeoff in reliability and ease of use/development simply isn't worth it. The existence of talent, tools, and community knowledge is often worth the lower performance and sometimes unnecessary overhead.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> rsync uses it's own protocol (when run as a daemon), so does ssh and a whole slew of others the common element is that http can not provide these applications with the functionality that they seek.

I think that the golden rule should be something like:

If you can't do it on http you're free to roll your own but if you can do it over http then you really should.

<comment><USER7> > if you can do it over http then you really should

There seems to be some wisdom here that I am not extracting successfully. It seems HTTP "can" in most cases. But where it can, do you really want to use it? Technically you could also write a db engine that reads over HTTP, but this must be a terrible idea; what would be the argument here that counters the rule of thumb?

<comment><USER6> can:

\- without getting really tortuous, but a little bit rethinking your problem should be fine \- without sacrificing a large amount of speed or functionality \- without compromising your design goals

<comment><USER7> Safe to say then, that it's a case by case and so, not so much a rule of thumb?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> OK, so I'm a noob about protocols. Can someone help me read between the lines? Does TF's defense/advocacy for HTTP reflect a "threat" to its universality? In any case, what protocols _are_ developing as alternatives (besides the obvious: FTP, XMPP) - and for what purposes that HTTP cannot serve well?

<comment><USER9> Well, it seems the author drank a bit too much of the webservices kool-aid. HTTP is just one protocol amongst many. It was never meant to be "universal". The only reason why it's being abused for even the most unsuitable tasks nowadays is because when all you have is a hammer then everything starts to look like a thumb...

There are many purposes where HTTP is not suitable at all. Realtime audio/video comes to mind - UDP is commonly used here because even the TCP latency is too much. Anything where you need a persistent, bi-directional connection is not a good match either. Anything where you need to push from server to client. In short: Anything that doesn't fit into the request/response paradigm.

In fact, many consider HTTP in its current incarnation to not even be suitable for the interactivity that we expect of modern webapps.

But ofcourse that doesn't stop the truly enlightened. Hence we got abominations like "Comet", a persistent stream-socket emulated on top of an inherently request/response-based protocol. Or RSS, which is nothing more than Usenet done really, really wrong - all lessons unlearned.

Sorry, got a bit carried away. But you get the idea I guess.

<comment><USER10> UDP and TCP aren't comparable to HTTP. HTTP is an application layer protocol, which rides on top of UDP and TCP, which are transport layer protocols.

Be careful when you get carried away.

<comment><USER11> <http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec1.html#sec1.4> "HTTP only presumes a reliable transport; any protocol that provides such guarantees can be used"

UDP does not guarantee packet delivery, thus HTTP cannot ride on top of UDP.

<comment><USER12> Actually it can, and does: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPU>

<comment><USER11> HTTPU is not HTTP. That's why it has a different name...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I recently implemented an event logging server, intended to process a massive, concurrent number of event messages from a large clusters of systems.

We choose to implement a CPU efficient binary protocol, automatic client-side queuing of outbound messages if a server failed, and automatic -client-side- fail-over to the next available server.

The initial implementation, with no time spent on profiling/optimization, was able to receive and process 25,000 event messages per second from a single client, and scale up clients/cores relatively linearly.

I can't even begin to fathom solving this problem with HTTP, or why the 'features' of HTTP listed (proxies, load balancers, web browsers, 'extensive hardware', etc) would be an improvement over the relatively simple and highly scalable single-tier implementation we created.

Clearly, HTTP works well for some things, but "just use HTTP, your life will be simpler" is a naive axiom.

</comment><comment><USER14> Just do everything over 9p</comment>


Temperatures and Prime Numbers - <AUTHOR> http://wareagleengineer.blogspot.com/2014/03/temperatures-and-prime-numbers.html

<comment><USER2> Or if you thought for a minute before rushing to write code, you would reflect that any temperature that is a prime number in both Celsius and Fahrenheit must be an integer in both Celsius and Fahrenheit, and therefore must be a multiple of 5 in Celsius.

Unless you count -5 as prime (and you don't, or you would have noted that -5C = 23F is prime on both sides), there is only one prime number that is a multiple of 5...</comment>


Ask HN: Best 4K IPS monitor for an array of three displays? - <AUTHOR>

Lately 4x1920x1080 hasn't been cutting it. With four HD displays, it feels crowded and fragmented. So I've started changing over to 4K displays on a GeForce GTX 960 with 3 displayport interfaces.
The 4K world is still expensive, but the on-screen real estate and seamless environment is worth it to me. And after trying my luck with TN displays, I'm ready to pay the extra money for IPS to have a viewing angle that isn't so confined and high-glare.
I want to have three 4K IPS displays in portrait orientation side-by-side. I've been seeing more and more of that setup, and it seems to work best for what I do.
I'm looking for an affordable IPS ( In-Plane Switching ) display with an optimal resolution of 3840x2160@60hz.
Does anyone have any pointers on brands, models, and vendors for this sort of thing? <comment><USER2> I use 2 Benq BL3201PT for a few months now (side by side), I like them. Pixel pitch is still usable without HiDPI mode, and there is a lot of real estate.

The screen itself has very nice reviews, and I understand why; it's well made, has a nice external control panel with presets etc..

I do have a couple of 'nags' tho; it /requires/ a very good quality DP cable to work. The miniDP won't cut it, it's quite hard to get a 'lock' with the miniDP. Of course with DVI and HDMI you don't get 60p so it's not really a choice.

Also, there are occasional tiny glitches where a half of one screen will 'blink' for a fraction of a second (like, a frame) -- it's very very rare, like once every 3 or 4 days for both my screens, but it's noticeable. I suspect borderline clocking.

But overall, zero bad pixels, very nice colors, external control panel, excellent connectivity and it was the cheapest of the 'big' 4K's I could find, so I'm not complaining :-)

<comment><USER3> Second the Benq. I'm using one with my macbook pro via miniDP. Great experience.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Here's the best I've come up with so far, not focusing on pricing, but capabilities:

[http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE...](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=B276HK&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C24-009-659%5E24-009-659-TS%2C24-009-726%5E24-009-726-TS&percm=24-009-726%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24)

I'm considering moving from an Acer B286HK to a B276HK. Very curious if anyone has recommendations of different displays. Any suggestions are very much appreciated. I'm thinking in terms of which display I can buy three of and not regret it.

<comment><USER4> with two dp ports on the monitor can you daisy chain them together or do they require a separate line per monitor ?

<comment><AUTHOR> With the Acer displays, it takes one DP port per monitor. So I got a multi- headed graphics card... 3xDP, 1xDVI, 1xHDMI2 ... expecting to use the DP ports for 4K displays, and the HDMI for a TV... all without daisy chaining.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have two Dell P2715Qs and love them. The killer feature for me was one mDP and one regular DP input so I can just change inputs to switch from work (MBP) to play (desktop). Most other similar displays only have one DP input.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm happy to hear this. This is the display I've actually been considering if I don't stay with Acer. The coating on the screen and general sense of quality is attractive. Any drawbacks you've seen?

<comment><USER5> The only drawback I've encountered is one that seems quite common to DP displays: when I turn a monitor off or switch inputs, both my OSX and Win8 machine behave as if I just physically disconnected and reconnected the cable. Haven't found a way around this yet, but it's a pretty minor inconvenience.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's what that is! Thanks for mentioning this. With Linux also, when I turn my monitor off, it does seem to treat it as though the display was removed. That's interesting. Glad to know it's not an OS thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Two comments:

1\. There is large variation in TN displays. I'm very happy with the Acer TN panels I have at home. I find _good_ TN gives me less eye strain than a lot of the IPS panels. IPS is the way to go for photo editing and similar tasks which require color calibration, but for coding, I actually prefer a _good_ TN panel. Again, the trick is to find the right one. Try them at a store, for example.

2\. Consider getting one 4k, and keeping the 1080p monitors. I have a 5 display setup like that. It works pretty well, actually. The 4k is great as a main display, and all the auxiliary stuff lives on the 1080p panels.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your thoughts...

Right now I have an Acer 4K TN as my primary screen and it's extremely difficult to work with. And keeping the three HD displays I have around it is also problematic... the resolution difference always destroys the illusion of working on one seamless desktop... and the viewing angle has me need to turn the HD displays around and rotate their output so I'm "viewing them from above" ..

What's a "good TN" in your experience?

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Related question, but has anyone succesfully used a 55 inch 4k screen for development purposes?

</comment><comment><USER8> My ASUS PB287Q is PLS and not IPS, but I just love it.

Not a single glitch in the last 8 month.</comment>


How Does Life for Working Parents in Finland Compare to Those in the U.S.? - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcompany.com/3051689/second-shift/how-does-life-for-working-parents-in-finland-really-compare-to-the-us <comment><AUTHOR> I'd like to understand why most Americans WOULDN'T vote for this sort of change to our society. Who WOULDN'T want this? Aren't we supposed to be "best at everything" in the world?

<comment><USER2> Do you really not understand, or are you just very angry that some people don't agree with your politics?

<comment><AUTHOR> What Daniel said. Unless you're living under a frickin rock, or are just totally uninformed -- or worse, MISinformed -- then surely you realize that the capitalism that America so proudly championed died a sad death over the last several decades. Plain and simple, a family making a combined salary of nearly $200K in a decent neighborhood shouldn't be struggling to pay for daycare, nor should mom and dad be unable to spend more time with their children. Nor should students be burned with grad school debt for the rest of their professional lives. Nor should people have to suffer -- either physically or financially, or usually, both -- because of medical expenses. It is not politics, it is rational common sense: just as taxes are used to pay for our fire and police protection, they should be used to pay for health and education too, including and especially providing a support network to enable the most critically important aspect of society, caring for one's family. Because after all, wtf is the point of everything else, if we can't produce a society where everyone is living comfortably, well-educated, healthy, and able to comfortably support their children? This isn't socialism. It's capitalism done right, the way it was done prior to about the 1970s. Geezus. As proud Americans it's our founding fathers' mandated DUTY that we speak out and say when our beloved country is slipping. Well, we're slipping. So let's do something about it already.</comment></comment></comment>


Startup Button - <AUTHOR> http://www.startupbutton.com <comment><USER2> @ryanheybourn This is a better way to get people! I wasn't interested in the bookmark but an ext maybe!

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting extension. Giving it a try now.</comment>


An Electric Semi Definitely Won't Work–But Seven in a Row Might - <AUTHOR> https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609152/an-electric-semi-definitely-wont-workbut-seven-in-a-row-might/?utm_campaign=Owned+Social&utm_source=Owned+Social&utm_medium=Twitter <comment><USER2> There are some range extending techniques and methodologies that are in the R&D stage which can help not just with EV Semis but cars as well. Since they are not backed by the elitist PayPal mafia, they don't want to look at it and completely ignore it.

Would love to beat them to the punch and just give the R&D plans and concepts to Chinese EV manufacturers. That should settle it.</comment>


Lessons I learned on the road as a Digital Nomad - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@noeltock/the-nomad-way-of-work-f638a11a02ff

<comment><USER2> What do people usually do for income for this kind of lifestyle? How much income is typical?

Excuse me if this is obvious, but I've been doing the whole 9-5 corporate thing for a while and I really have no idea.

<comment><USER3> I've been a (U.S. based) nomad for the last 2 years. I do web development for a company (I'm not freelance) and work a standard 8-4 day. They don't care where I am online from just that I am online and available.

I make less than I would if i lived in a bigger American city, but not less than a normal remote dev.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Off topic, but I found those photos to be very nice. Is it just an app and an iPhone? I would love to be able to take photos like those. Are there any blogs or anything which have guides on this sort of photography?

<comment><USER5> From the manly beach and the airbus shot, it could be an iphone or similar, yes. The low light and mixed exposure shots give it away. I agree though, it looks lovely, especially the night market and the London shot - very nice light.

How to take photos like this? Well, I'm no expert, but I would say the key to all good photography is framing, lighting, and throwing away 99.9% of the hundreds of photos you take.

<comment><USER6> I do take hundreds of shots, spot on! Everything except my portrait shot is iPhone.

<comment><USER5> Beautiful work! I love the colour and contrast. The London, Phuket (both) and Byron shots are just great. Oh and I liked the article too, except I'd replace samsonite with rimowa :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I just ended reading Tim Ferriss' 4HWW, and now your amazing experience. MUST try. Wonderful photos too.</comment>


First Stab at Learning Clojure - <AUTHOR> http://justin.harmonize.fm/index.php/2009/03/first-stab-at-learning-clojure/

<comment><USER2> This is a pretty neat project, and similar to something I saw done recently at Yahoo Hack Week at Georgia Tech (IIRC), but done as a webapp instead of a desktop app.</comment>


Be – directory and environment management for collaborative creative projects - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/mottosso/be

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a project I've been developing for the past few days based on a few months of research in visual effects pipeline development, and would be interested in hearing of your impression of it before development goes too far (in a possibly wrong direction).

And I'll stick around to happily answer any questions. :)</comment>


Sony Pictures to Bring Premium 4k Movies to PCs Using Intel 7th Gen Processors - <AUTHOR> http://www.wirelessinsider.co/topics/sony-pictures-to-bring-premium-4k-movies-to-pcs-using-intel-7th-gen-processors/ <comment><USER2> In other words, they only trust Kaby Lake's DRM?</comment>


Ed is the standard text editor (1991) - <AUTHOR> https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/alt.religion.emacs/ed$20is$20the$20standard/alt.religion.emacs/nNdf_DRqKIU/0wqbaqvdlI0J

<comment><USER2> For as long as I can remember, on mobile Safari, links to Google Groups pages redirect to Google Groups' main page. "request desktop site" doesn't work. So frustrating. Can't read this article--my apologies that I'm meta-commenting instead of commenting.

Even on desktop browser, Google Groups aggravates me. (I'm struggling now not to curse). At least 1/3 of my screen real estate is taken by empty space, top bars and side bars. Disabling JavaScript breaks the site. Why should it? Am I not merely _viewing text_ , something we've done well since fucking Usenet?? Oops I swore. Does the back button work nowadays?

I _hate_ Google Groups. Are there alternate viewers?

<comment><AUTHOR> Given that my failed attempt to front page this oldie but goodie Internet joke, meta comments seem fine :)

First, here is a link to this old post. [http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed- msg.txt](http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.txt)

The USENET post (the Google link) just has all the response which are pretty cool historically.

Also Google seems to be going in that very low information density direction. The new Inbox Gmail interface is terrible about that. The other day I was tempted to take a screenshot and send it to Google. It only showed me 4 mail message headers on my laptop because each subject was so big, space around them so empty, and all needed to show thumbnail of signature attachments (not even real attachments, just signatures). It's completely unusable like that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I recently started the effort to learning Ed. I kind of like it but I found myself wishing that it had been compiled against Readline (I like Bash's command line editing and the ability to CRTL-L to clear the screen).</comment>


Show HN: Add Analytics to Anything - <AUTHOR> https://datawaves.io/ <comment><USER2> The pricing page could use an example. I immediately had to use a calculator to get a sense of the pricing, missing a zero on the calculator is easy. Maybe "if you do 10.000 writes per day, so 300.000 a month, it's $45". Or a slider tool like [https://sendgrid.com/pricing/](https://sendgrid.com/pricing/)

I think a minimum price could make sense. Chasing payments, e.g. expired credit cards, on accounts making $2/month won't be profitable.

Ages ago [https://keen.io/](https://keen.io/) started like this. You can still see the 'stream', 'store', 'query', 'present' steps in their offer.

<comment><USER3> Why use Keen or any other tool like this vs a structured log monitoring tool? Can't you do all of this via Kibana?

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hello, My name is Marwan, and I am a co-founder of Datawaves. We try to make it easy to add analytics to your projects. There are some players in this field right now, but we believe we can offer better performance and price.

Happy to answer your questions.

</comment><comment><USER4> I signed up, created a project but not sure where to go from there.

<comment><AUTHOR> The main product is the API, you send events data (clicks, orders, signups, etc...) to use, then retrieve it in a form that is ready to be displayed on a chart. Maybe we should work more on onboarding.</comment></comment>