rwl4

These kinds of products are drop dead gorgeous to me. Any time I see a device that has an Amiga 500 form factor or similar, I feel a compulsive urge to click buy. But after many, many of such purchases, I've learned my lesson.

I buy it, I play with it a little bit, but the reality is my phone, iPad, or my laptop can do every single thing better.

Maybe not with the same swagger. But ultimately, as I get older I realize I'm trying to produce with the least friction possible, and usually these devices have either highly constrained touch interfaces, shrunken keyboards, or both.

I've always said that if somebody would create a new HP 200LX device with the same chicklet keyboard that I'd buy it in an instant. But now I realize that "ideal" device for me just reaches back to my contextual memory of state of the art devices of the time. A time when we couldn't type on a 6" screen, or use a detachable keyboard. So a chiclet keyboard you could thumb type at 40wpm was a revelation. But we have come a long way.

In the end, alas, these devices really are just a novelty, at least for me.

This was a great read! I'm not a paid subscriber, so I'll post my thoughts here.

One angle I think that might be missing is that when only men worked outside the home, women would be stuck at home all day with housework and childcare which I would guess was quite isolating. So I would guess these gatherings were a lifeline.

When women entered the workforce, they gained the same quasi-social environment men had enjoyed all along. Work friendships might not be as deep as neighborhood ones, but they're "good enough" to take the edge off loneliness. Not only that, but now both partners would come home fatigued from a full day of work. So neither would have a strong drive to now setup these gatherings. Before, you had one exhausted partner who could be coaxed into socializing by a partner who genuinely needed it. Now you have mutual exhaustion. Even worse, planning a party starts to feel like another work project rather than something restorative.

There's a multi-generational aspect to this too. Their kids learned the lesson that home is for family and screens, not for social gatherings. Computers and smartphones arrived and provided social interaction that required minimal energy. No cleaning the house, no planning food, no getting dressed. Perfect for an already exhausted population that had been socially declining for years.

Somewhat related: Anyone recognize the keyboard in the header image? Looks extremely similar to an HP 95LX series but isn't one I recognize.

Not sure about the quality of the model's output. But I really appreciate this little mini-paper they produced. It gives a nice concise description of their goals, benchmarks, dataset preparation, model sizes, challenges and conclusion. And the whole thing is about a 5-10 minute read.

Interesting idea!

You can somewhat recreate the essence of this using a system prompt with any sufficiently sized model. Here's the prompt I tried for anybody who's interested:

  You are an AI assistant designed to provide detailed, step-by-step responses. Your outputs should follow this structure:

  1. Begin with a <thinking> section. Everything in this section is invisible to the user.
  2. Inside the thinking section:
     a. Briefly analyze the question and outline your approach.
     b. Present a clear plan of steps to solve the problem.
     c. Use a "Chain of Thought" reasoning process if necessary, breaking down your thought process into numbered steps.
  3. Include a <reflection> section for each idea where you:
     a. Review your reasoning.
     b. Check for potential errors or oversights.
     c. Confirm or adjust your conclusion if necessary.
  4. Be sure to close all reflection sections.
  5. Close the thinking section with </thinking>.
  6. Provide your final answer in an <output> section.
  
  Always use these tags in your responses. Be thorough in your explanations, showing each step of your reasoning process. Aim to be precise and logical in your approach, and don't hesitate to break down complex problems into simpler components. Your tone should be analytical and slightly formal, focusing on clear communication of your thought process.
  
  Remember: Both <thinking> and <reflection> MUST be tags and must be closed at their conclusion
  
  Make sure all <tags> are on separate lines with no other text. Do not include other text on a line containing a tag.

Look, I get it. Startups are hard. Desperation can lead to poor choices. But spamming isn't the answer and will burn bridges faster than you can build them.

If you are genuinely sorry and want to (possibly) turn this around, here are some ideas:

1. Consolidate your work into one solid well documented Github repo, including a small toy model that people can actually use and play with.

2. Write a blog post or tutorial about your tech. That'll show your expertise without making people feel like they are being duped.

3. Engage in relevant communities genuinely. Build relationships, not just a user base.

4. Use proper channels for promotion... Show HN exists for a reason.

Remember, reputation is currency in this industry. It's hard to earn and easy to lose. Take the long view, build something good, be transparent, and let organic interest do its thing...

If your product is actually solid, there are ways to get it out there. It might be slower, but it's at least sustainable. Good luck.

Well, thanks for putting this up! It's really a treasure for those of us who used it as our daily driver so many years ago.

That screen protector in the headline picture...

I've been an extremely happy user of Rocket Money for a couple years now.