How does aggregated data sharing allow tech companies to cross-link and identify individual user accounts/devices? (I ask as I have no idea if that's what happens)
I see language like:
"We do not sell your personal information in a way that most people would think of as a sale. However, we do participate in online targeted advertising and use analytics which allows tech companies, in exchange for our use of their services, to use user information collected from our App to improve their own products and to improve the services they provide to others."
and wonder what in the world that actually means?
Are they gathering data like
30% of our users are iPhone 12+ users?
I don't work in advertising so I can't say for certain what people do and don't do. But yes, that seems like one useful data point.
But perhaps more interesting is the ability to determine that User X is trying to clear their data for Wayfair, Amazon, and Home Depot, but not Target and not Lowe's. I could imagine some interesting analysis with that data, even if only in aggregate.
There's also no prohibition that I can see in the Privacy Policy against things like fingerprinting your device, building a shadow profile on you, and exposing that data via some API with an "anonymized" identifier. I suspect that the ability to determine something like "owner of mobile device 123455321 is privacy-conscious" might in and of itself be a useful feature for targeting ads.
> Data that advertising networks and social media companies already have about you, so they can identify you on their platform, such as your email address or user ID
I think this falls under the 'usual e-stalking techniques' that GP mentions. Very surprised to see CU doing this.
It's too bad as a society we can't embrace psychedelics (yet). Yes, it's super fun and there is potential for abuse.
But we are *missing* out on so much learning... of ourselves, how to improve things in society, on how to heal, and be better humans to each other. Anyone who has experience with psychs knows what I'm trying to say.
I think people become more kind and caring after these kinds of experiences.
It'd be nice to see western culture adapt it's own version "shaman" culture that emphasizes deep exploration of ones self. We're getting closer to this very slowly (more people doing therapy, more interest in wellness, early glimpses of in-person psychedelic "healthcare").
Most office buildings are not architecturally feasible to convert to residential. In fact, because of zoning laws, many/most can't even be converted.
Would you live in an apartment 15 feet wide and 50 feet deep? No. That's why most office buildings dont work
You have to redo all the mechanical, plumbing, electric, and then entirely refinish the building. Its literally cheaper to build new than deal with the nightmare that is to convert an office.
I work in CRE - every single office to multi deal i have seen the developer has war stories. And the units are 40-100% more expensive in cost than other apartments.
Office buildings are like an infectious disease. You could let them die. But if you have an urban infill city environment and more and more office properties become ghost buildings, then that disease will spread. All of the restaurants and other businesses nearby that rely on the foot traffic from office folk, they will die. You will see more riff raff. More homeless. More crime.
Many office assets need to go to 0 in asset value before the private market is willing to take the risk of those conversions.
Remember, loans are close to 10% for construction. And equity returns are higher.
> Would you live in an apartment 15 feet wide and 50 feet deep?
Yes, if that's the alternative to being enslaved for life. How can people still not understand that there is a massive part of the population who need to be able to purchase their living space to not have to rent for life or take on life-long debt that they can't afford. How can people not understand this? Yes, it's better for a young worker to be able to purchase a shit apartment that is a converted office building and start building his or her future, than pay rent for years and years and have nothing to show for it.
This is a true "let them eat cake" situation. Imagine if we didn't allow people to eat because we didn't think the food was good enough. That's what's happening with housing.
I definitely agree about this ownership vs rental dynamic and my first property was a long and narrow townhouse with 1 wall of windows and a couple of tiny ones on the other side (probably closer to more 25 x 75). My concern with these conversion proposals is that they will only be for rent and not ownership and that they will be priced the same as everything else…too damn high.
It’s probably cheaper just to allow new construction. Boston has plenty of underdeveloped land that could be converted to multistory residential, but the city’s zoning laws forbid most new residential construction.
>Would you live in an apartment 15 feet wide and 50 feet deep?
For laughs, I just measured the width of my home's hallways and rooms. I don't see why 15x50 feet apartment isn't doable especially for a bachelor/new couple starting out. Assume an apartment with a 3 foot wide, 50 foot length hallway, subtract another 2 feet width for walls/piping/whatever, and then you can hang 5 rooms that are 10x10 feet from the hallway. Enough for a living room/common area/kitchen/2 bedrooms. Might get a bit cramped but very usable.
I assume I'm missing something here since this doesn't seem to be too bad.
All of your windows are on one of the 15 ft walls. You would need to have the lights on all day in many of the rooms, no opening a window for fresh air, limited escape options in case of emergency. Perhaps some of these concerns should be weighed against the reality of housing shortage and homelessness, but ample windows throughout is the standard for residential today. That’s why modern office tower conversion involves cutting the center out for a light shaft.
CRE is WAY higher in the top tier areas of SF, for the obvious reason that historically high startup capital outpaces all other residential price pressures.
> Couple that with the fact that office rents are higher per square foot than residential rents are, and you see why developers aren’t champing at the bit to get new projects underway. Van Nieuwerburgh gave me an example from San Francisco, where Juul’s old headquarters—down the block from Twitter’s improvised dormitory—is for sale for $150 million. That’s a lot less than the $397 million the embattled nicotine vape company paid for it in 2019. But at $400 a square foot to buy and another $400 a square foot to renovate, he said, the conversion would still produce a building with rents too high even for San Francisco. In other words, offices may be down, but they’ll have to fall a lot further before adaptive reuse becomes a bargain.
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
>Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive.
>When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
I don't sense any combative tone - the statement was describing the state of things in a truthful manner.
I find your tone ("they need to calm down", "take a break from social media") much more condescending and passive-aggressive. Maybe you are projecting your own feelings onto others? Therefore, maybe the advice you're giving to them is actually advice you want to give to yourself?
Note that this is merely an observation - I have no way of knowing as I don't have access to your mind, and I don't care either way, so feel free to label my comment as combative, too, if you wish.
You might still be upset from our previous exchange in another thread about Hanlon's razor, so you found another comment of mine to try and pile on ("Oh no, that's not true, I just decided to participate in this 4-day-old conversation!")
I don't recall any of our previous conversations, and 4 days is not a very long time on HN front page.
Please try to see communication as sharing more than a battle. It doesn't matter who's right, what matters is to share knowledge and help each other converge to something resembling the truth. Life is much more beautiful from that perspective. Have a good day, too, but sincerely, not in a snarky way.
Well I expected you to deny it, but it's quite obvious, especially with how combative and upset you were in our previous exchange.
But trying to carry on vendettas in other threads isn't healthy or productive, so I suggest you don't seek out other comments of mine to pick fights ;)
I'm sorry you feel that way, especially considering how much effort I put into writing a neutral and non-combative reply. It seems to me that you see hostility even when there isn't any.
I appreciate that you've softened your tone from your earlier hostile remarks.
But getting upset at a previous discussion and then looking up threads of mine to pretend to scold me isn't neutral, it's unhealthy.
This will be my last reply; I'd appreciate it if you don't stalk my comments to try and carry on a grudge. If you would like to get the last word, and try to carefully craft a response to make it appear that isn't what you were doing, you are more than welcome.
You seem to be convinced that I'm stalking you for some reason, and you have crafted a reply that is supposed to make any and all of my words moot.
Regardless, I do not speak to make anything seem to anyone or to have the last word - I speak because I want to communicate. And I'd like to communicate to you that I am most certainly not stalking you. I don't appreciate being accused of it with only evidence being the fact that we had a conversation before, but I understand paranoia and the distrust of everyone it causes in the soul, which is the reason I'm spending my time typing this out in the first place.
Again, I hope you find your peace, or ask for help from appropriate people if you can't. Nothing more than that.
My first guess was 19 miles away and I totally thought they were in 5 different locations. I had lived in Pittsburgh for a short time and knew exactly those iron bridges were probably WV/Pittsburgh area.
I used to ride a motorcycle. Once in Palomar mountain i was riding with a group and saw this guy who brought race tires. He was at the bottom of the mountain and I saw him getting ready with his group at the bottom of the mountain.
We turn around, head back up and head back down the mountain again... A group of bikes raced past us going way too fast. I had just exited a corner (they were about to enter). All of a sudden after they passed, I hear all hell on earth break lose of a crash.
We turn around and one of the guys was pinned in between the guardrail and his bike, sandwiched and totally stuck in the middle. On the other side was a typical Palomar dropoff... I don't know how big but you ain't surviving if you go over the edge. You're going to turn in a slinky.
We eventually pull the guy out and he's totally concussed with broken shoulder/arm. Otherwise he was fine.
Turns out, he didn't warm up his tires enough (race tires need to be warm) and had a low slide crash as soon as he hit his brakes.
The other crazy part what was when we got his helmet off, he was one of the mechanics that I brought my bike to! And I had just brought my bike in a few weeks before so I immediately recognized him.
fun times.
I almost had a high side accident after i locked both my brakes at midnight coming home from my girlfriends place. There was a notorious intersection with cameras in it that you came downhill to. And it was one of the intersections that has a shorter yellow lights than any other light, you know, just so they can get more tickets.
It was cold af outside and my visor was fogging, so I will not forget that moment speeding down at 60mph, hitting the yellow and realizing I wasn't going to make it, hitting the brakes, and seemingly locked up so bad I was doing 45 degree turns in both directions for a second or two before gaining control.
I see language like:
"We do not sell your personal information in a way that most people would think of as a sale. However, we do participate in online targeted advertising and use analytics which allows tech companies, in exchange for our use of their services, to use user information collected from our App to improve their own products and to improve the services they provide to others."
and wonder what in the world that actually means?
Are they gathering data like 30% of our users are iPhone 12+ users?
Or something else?