No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches.
Smartwatches, Phones, (most) Cars, TVs, ... all of these are mass produced, and as such completely obsolete in a few years, even if they are sold as "premium" products for a month's salary.
Unique, manufactured Design pieces are... timeless. It's a piece of art. And I say this without any inclination to ever join that market.
> No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches.
Just like a Casio F-91W, or the $50 mechanical Swatch.
> It's a piece of art
Yes, that's the only argument really, it's a good looking wearable piece of art. It won't last longer than a waterproof gshock, it isn't more precise than a $5 quartz watch, &c.
> No, because the achievement, the mastery behind it is not obliterated in the next few years, by the upcoming iterations of newer smartwatches.
That's just another way of saying that there is no real innovation in end user benefits in mechanical watches. The marketing is all about how difficult they were to make.
Look at the functionality that the watch described in the article has to offer:
* It can show the date (with squiggly hands, for some unfathomable reason). It probably can even account for different lengths of months, and leap years (I was flabbergasted when I learned that there are watches being sold today for hundreds or thousands who require a manual adjustment at the end of every month that doesn't have 31 days).
* It can show the phase of the moon. Awesome if you're a werewolf running a hedge fund, I guess. It has a ton of other astrological indicators (Zodiac signs, etc.)
* It can chime every hour (presumably to remind the people around you that you exist and wear an overpriced watch).
* It works as a chronograph.
That's it, as far as I can tell. Nothing a $10 watch on Aliexpress could not do. It does not even seem to have an alarm, apparently. You get three actually useful functions (time — inaccurately, date, chrono) in a package that is 15mm thick.
No payment functionality, step counter, agenda, calculator.
But yes, you have a $100K or whatever watch that you can leave to your great-grandchildren so they can be assured that prior generations overpaid for gimmicky crap as well.
The end user benefits are none of the things you mentioned. Mechanical watches are jewelry. They look nice, and hopefully they remind you of something. For many people it's a connection to something cool. Omega sells a lot of moon watches, and it's not because anyone buying them is going to use the chronograph to time a fuel burn with life or death stakes. You're probably not wearing your Daytona at the race track or using your Longines watch for anything Amelia Earhart or Howard Hughes did. But it's fun to think about how you have a tool with a historical connection - whether that is to history everyone knows, or something more personal to you.
A $2 print of a picture from the internet serves the same purpose, and provides the same functionality, as a $1,000 piece of art, or a $1,000,000 piece of art. The value isn't in the raw functionality it provides.
I was flabbergasted when I learned that there are watches being sold today for hundreds or thousands who require a manual adjustment at the end of every month that doesn't have 31 days
Watchmakers deserve more appreciation for how hard it is to track months/years mechanically in a package small enough to fit on your wrist! It's a lot of expectation for watch in the hundreds of dollars.
My sense was OKRs came later for both Intel and Google. Do you know around what year/size they started?
I worked with some ex-Google person who tried to get us to use OKRs. That totally didn't work. Larger company.
Like many things I don't think they're necessarily a bad idea it's just that good ideas always lose to culture. With the right culture/leadership it's not the process that matters. I.e. OKRs aren't going to fix an organization that isn't aligned and conversely there are infinite other ways to align an organization with the right culture and leadership. So in practice, like other things, it just ends up making things worse because it's never a real fix.
Google started using okrs at under 50 people because one of the board members was intel veteran. Not sure about the early years since i wasn’t there for that regrettably but in 2011 when i joined my impression of okr process was that it’s complete and utter bs and giant waste of everyone’s time. iirc google+ hit their okrs swimmingly…
I can totally relate to the premise of the blog post. Thinking (for most people) benefits from some sort of free form scribbling and drawing to make sense of it, and realize what you're missing. At least for me it makes a huge difference.
I remember reading a tip more than a decade ago from a senior developer, that you should always have pen and paper next to your keyboard, to take notes, visualize problems, keep notes of where you are. Most of the thinking happens there.
When I'm working on bigger things alone, it helps me keep track or the bigger picture, how to keep separation of concern und understand where my abstractions started leaking.
Moving that pen and paper to digital unfortunately was never low-barrier for me. I thought about acquiring a reMarkable for that purpose, but it isn't perfect either.
I used excalidraw in the past, but it also does not integrate too well with my environment.
Now, with everyone being remote I would really love to have something that not only replaces my own scribbling and conceptualizing, but also serves as "whiteboard" for collaboration. I clearly clearly miss the whiteboard when discussing abstract things/ideas/problems with peers.
The app mentioned in the post seems a little abandoned unfortunately. Does someone out there use something similar?
I’ve used OmniGraffle for years on Mac. Notes Plus is good on an iPad.
Recently, Apple has made playgrounds more useful on iPads, so I can now save something that I’m working on, and play with it on the road.
My default issue tracking system is a sticky note pad on the desk. I write a brief description of the problem/feature, and stick it on the desk, to the left of the keyboard. When I am working on it, I move it above the keyboard. When I fix/implement it, I move it to the right. When I’m done testing, it goes in the trash. I use code and checkin comments for posterity. I’ll also use GitHub Issues. They allow me to enter bug reports from my phone or pad, and associate checkins with issues.
I've just started using a legal pad and erasable pen (frixion pens are amazing) to help get my life processes better organized, and it's a great place to start and figure out what you want from these kinds of tools. For me this was better than trying the tools to see what works, I even tried Excalidraw but it's still in that category of "go back and learn how to use if I have time".
I'm still heavily leaning on the legal pad, but I've got a project in Claude to streamline this whole thing over time. It's recommended Microsoft OneNote which I completely wrote off because it seems like there must be a price for such a robust tool being free, but it is really amazing these days. Seems very smooth for mixing digital media with handwritten notes and diagrams, I'm really impressed with it. It's probably going to be where I move to from my legal pad system, since it's so similar but offers features that will help organize the notes and make them searchable, etc.
I always look at the new tools and services for these kind of things when they pop up so please share other personal systems as well!
(I'm still not sure what the price is for OneNote, but if anyone knows and it's bad, please say something)
Be careful what you do with your notes, if you care about longevity. Leave a notebook in the sun and you may find it blank. Throwing it in the freezer may bring back some text, but it will bring back stuff you erased, too.
It doesn't matter for throwaway stuff, but I've lost notes on older projects due to this.
Didn't mean to sound snarky with my comment, sorry about that! I would seriously recommend archival-quality in that case too, Micron pens are pretty affordable! You could of course go wild and create a wonderful setup that's a bit pricier, but it's very easy to do with simple pens too. Micron and legal pad should get the job done for personal notes, and beyond that probably look at scanning/digital options.
no one asked, but frixion pens on a legal pad and taking photos with a quick iOS shortcut makes it very simple to win all around.
I have an ipad pro from 2015, an apple pencil 1, and a screen protector that gives it a bit more friction. It's pretty good for the most part, but since it's my only apple product, it doesn't integrate well with anything else I use. OneNote seems to work on multiple platforms but I never got into it. I mostly use goodnotes, and they seem to have released apps for web and non-apple stuff (finally). When I used it the most, the only export I had was as PDFs to Dropbox, which was fine enough but removed any possibility of editing outside of the ipad.
I thought HDMI and DVI use the same signalling (at least the 'digital part' of DVI, was it DVI-D?), just over a different connector?
In my memory only the connectors competed for adoption, and Home Entertainment industry opted for HDMI and the PC-industry opted for DVI, while the signalling was not contested (besides DVI also being able to carry analog signalling with full spin-out, and HDMI carrying audio instead).
My memory might not serve me well here though.
I never thought HDMI would win :( but it makes sense I guess - Computers/their use changed :(
A quick search showed that it is illegal in Spain, but not Germany, France, or the UK, and nothing really showing up either way about any other European country. Though I didn't dig down enough to find legal advice I would actually trust.
For private drivers it is not illegal per se. But if you have an accident, they (police, prosecution, insurance) will quickly blame it on unfit shoewear.
There is (legally accepted) consensus in Germany and Austria that a regular, closed shoe without heels gives you best control.
Barefoot is IMHO treated unfairly, if you're used to drive barefoot. And living in a country where people wear shoes most of the time, they will assume you're not used to it.
There is plenty of words written on what the difference is between leading and managing.
True leaders are role models, not higher-ups, the ones where authority comes from competence, not position, showing the way, not just telling what to do, facilitating self-organization, giving direction, prioritizing, giving vision and perspective, not orders, fostering intrinsic motivation.
Smartwatches, Phones, (most) Cars, TVs, ... all of these are mass produced, and as such completely obsolete in a few years, even if they are sold as "premium" products for a month's salary.
Unique, manufactured Design pieces are... timeless. It's a piece of art. And I say this without any inclination to ever join that market.