It improvements in the next generation of VR (e.g., expression and iris tracking) could open up big improvements here, but the inherent latency of long-distance communication feels like a fundamental challenge comparing anything to in-person.
Yeah, they're providing a path-of-least-resistance for getting stuff done in your existing data environment.
A common challenge in a lot of organizations is IT as a roadblock to deployment of internal tools coming from data teams. Snowflake is answering this with Streamlit. You get an easy platform for data people to use and deploy on and it can all be done within the business firewall under data governance within Snowflake.
The parent comment is a bit hyperbolic and under-informed, so let me try to provide some color on the Unicomp brand.
I own a half-dozen Unicomp keyboards, have used original IBM Model Ms, Model Fs, and has a pair of the Model F Labs F77s, so I have some familiarity with buckling spring boards.
Unicomp's manufacturing equipment came by way of Lexmark and the quality suffered as the tooling aged. They replaced their tooling in 2020 when the shipped the New Model M. Fit and finish is much improved since then.
From Wikipedia:
"Unicomp continued to use the original IBM machinery to produce Model Ms, leading to a gradual decline in quality as the tooling became worn. This, and various problems with their USB controllers helped keep a market for vintage Model Ms thriving. In 2020 Unicomp replaced its tooling and shipped a "New Model M" with noticeably improved build quality that more closely resembles the classic 1391401 (though with a 104- or 103-key layout and USB); many older variants are no longer sold on Unicomp's website and some still on sale have been deprecated."
There are a few issues with the Unicomp boards:
1. Thinner plastic cases and a lighter backplate. The case was improved with the new tooling, but the backplate still changed the feel compared to the originals.
2. Plastic rivets breaking. The board itself is sandwiched and held together with plastic rivets. These rivets will eventually start failing, which leads to key detection issues or complete board failure. They have to be bolt modded to fix this.
3. Non-customizable USB controller. Programmability has become expected with mechanical keyboards and other than Unicomp themselves flashing a layout at the factory there's nothing here.
Customer service from the company has always been excellent, in my experience, but it's definitely a firm that gives the impression of trying to keep the lights on for 30 years and just barely making the margins pencil out (thus paying for return shipping).
Some people really love buckling springs. Unicomp makes a decent board that gets you that for a price less than $500, but if buckling spring isn't your terminal value in a keyboard, consider one of the dozens of excellent mechanical keyboards out there with modular key switches.
There's truth in your point. People do feel the difference even when they don't notice it, but it doesn't seem like that's always (or even often?) reflected in the bottom line. Nissan sells an awful lot of cars with their crappy CVT transmissions and crossovers continue to be hugely popular in the US.
Counterpoint: I've been using Hue bulbs for over 10 years, currently have around 120 lights operating and have had maybe a 5% failure rate (mostly 2nd and 3rd generation A19 bulbs). Flicker due to PSU failure, some completely dead bulbs, some which have lost specific colors in the array (maybe FET failure) so they turn weird colors (like green or purple) at certain white temperature settings.
I suspect the cause is mostly heat-related. As newer bulbs run much cooler I expect reliability will be better, but the product line is definitely not bullet-proof.
Indeed, though the author is T1 and referring to a T1 cure. From the article:
> During that time, I've heard various things about a cure for type 1 diabetes. Funnily enough, it's always 5-10 years away. I won't get my hopes up, but what I do know is that over the last couple of decades, despite there not being a cure, the technology available to treat and manage the disease has improved dramatically.
The merchant pays at least double the rate compared to a normal credit card transaction fees. Merchant pays more for the payment processing and gets better conversion.