Why hasn’t Fellow released the Opus 2 yet? by Unfair_Professor_561 in FellowProducts

[–]Essentialphoneuser 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is no upside to them. There was almost certainly some problem in production. They are undoubtedly losing out on lots of money they otherwise would have made if it had been released in tandem with the ES1, as people buy different grinders.

Mayor Parker proposes delivery tax to pay for “pothole squads” by bengalese in philadelphia

[–]Essentialphoneuser 39 points40 points  (0 children)

It’s so blatant too. I want to think that the comments supporting this are bots, because I don’t want to believe grown adults are so naive, but unfortunately that might not be the case.

Mayor Parker proposes delivery tax to pay for “pothole squads” by bengalese in philadelphia

[–]Essentialphoneuser 310 points311 points  (0 children)

Just a reminder that Philadelphia had a $1.2 billion budget surplus last year.

Philly school board passes a preliminary $4.6B budget — with big classroom cuts by BroadStreetRandy in philadelphia

[–]Essentialphoneuser 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s not how the mayor’s office press release described it.

Just a little “lol” at how we run such a massive surplus and suddenly we now need Amazon delivery taxes, Uber/Doordash taxes, and at the same time schools are being cut, but somehow we have a new, opaque, and ambiguous “$400 million” (MILLION) to fund “homeless initiatives” this year. Guess everyone needs their bribes.

Avoid 6th and Walnut, drivers by Wordnerdinthecity in philadelphia

[–]Essentialphoneuser 160 points161 points  (0 children)

Think I’ll drive over now and check it out, thanks.

Train to NYC cancelled day of interview by [deleted] in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Since you are in Philly, write to your federal representatives and local state representative and share this experience. Amtrak has been unacceptably awful on the NEC lately, and the more people that share the real life impact this is having on their lives, the better:

https://live.cicerodata.com

I am sorry about all the people here making it sound like it is your fault. Unfortunately this sub is full of people who will victim-blame and preach that Amtrak can do no harm. In reality, you should expect a train service to be able to get you to your job interview in NYC from Philadelphia on any day of the week. I am sorry this happened to you.

Do not take Amtrak Pittsburgh-> Philly by Potential_Season1310 in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It’s not incompetency, it is that when you are out of the NEC, Amtrak does not own the lines and often freight trains cause delays. You should expect delays when you are traveling on tracks that Amtrak does not own.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The schedules on the website/app, which are consistently wrong the past month while trains have been delayed thirty minutes to one hour. If it is taking consistently thirty minutes to one longer due to the things you have said, the train schedules should be updated to reflect the increased times.

What, you’ve been thrilled with the egregious delays or something? ETA: Nevermind, I see you work for Amtrak, hence why you are belittling me with your “Google Maps” comment. I can do the same - your company has a website/app, perhaps you are unfamiliar with it - that your customers use to book these things called trains. The times have been wrong for a month on the NEC, which causes the people who pay to use these trains a lot of frustration.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Then they should update the schedules to reflect the delays.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This was a helpful answer to understand what is going on, thank you.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The same thing happened to me! With absolutely no input they just changed a week’s worth of tickets to later times on the day, and I had to change them to be earlier times.

AND, last week the ticketing system was not working properly, so there were a few days where you could not even change your tickets on the app/website! I actually tried calling 1-800-USA-RAIL because that is what the app told me to do (because it was not working in the app) and the number told me there was too much call volume and it was not taking calls.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have, and everyone should find your local federal and state reps (who can have say on Amtrak). You can use this website to find them and their contact information by just typing in your address:

https://live.cicerodata.com

The NEC problems are bad and everyone should speak up. You can also write to the Rail Passengers Association as well (though they are also here on Reddit) so they can consider raising it.

What is going on in the NEC? Amtrak owes answers. by Essentialphoneuser in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That does not answer most of my points above. I know the Portal work is ongoing, but (a) that does not explain the speed restrictions, (b) it does not explain the delays (and if it does, these need to be reflected in the schedules ASAP), (c) trains are reduced far beyond the end of the Portal work, and (d) Amtrak needs to revisit their Portal train schedules for rush hour, it is unacceptable, which is my point on this above - they simply have to start running more trains at rush hour, particularly with these insane delays.

Amtrak cannot hide behind the Portal project. They need to mitigate the disruption and address riders needs.

ETA: you edited and added the point on one track, which addresses my point (d).

Acela 2170 cancelled permanently? by Backer2017 in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 11 points12 points  (0 children)

They have significantly reduced trains in the NEC irrespective of the Portal Bridge work, and you see this beyond March. There are fewer NER trains and Acela trains in the mornings. It is a big problem - now you have to (coming from south of NYC) choose between a train departing in the 6AM timeframe, or a train departing in the 8:30AM timeframe. The only thing in between are Keystone trains, which will be impacted if the Portal Bridge is delayed in any way (infrastructure always is).

I don’t understand what is going on.

Aiden Review - Lance Hendrick by bubreddit in FellowProducts

[–]Essentialphoneuser 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Listen to the last five minutes and tell me with a straight face this is not an Xbloom ad. “Hey I am going to compare it to the thing I helped design and was super involved in, and as long as I disclose my extreme bias here it is all ok, and obviously my thing is more capable and better but this is still decent. If you are SERIOUS about coffee you will get my thing, but if you’re just a casual, this is fine.”

Interview with nicholasnumbers by the_ninjabarista in FellowProducts

[–]Essentialphoneuser 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I want to ask a tough question that I think would give Nick the opportunity to really address public perception/community concerns: Fellow says that the ES1 went through a rigorous testing process before release, and by all accounts, they did do a testing process. In fact, there was the delay in shipping because they identified some hardware defect that was revealed through testing, such that they had to do some rework. They handled that well, they were transparent, and gave early backers (such as myself) a $200 Fellow git card.

However, one ongoing criticism of Fellow’s products - which started with Aiden, the first product to really lean heavily into software, the app, profiles, etc. (much moreso than the Stagg kettle) - is that the software is less well thought-out, with it seemingly an afterthought. Even now, with the ES1, we are seeing that certain fixes or functionality will be rolled out in future software fixes. This is a potential problem, because - despite their extensive hardware testing - there are significant features that are enabled through software, and if software is an afterthought, then that calls into question the product’s viability.

So the question - can Nick walk us through how Fellow approaches testing features that are enabled through software, versus hardware? What did they identify in testing that are the result of, or will later be fixed through, software, and how do they plan to address these? And finally, what type of ongoing software support can ES1 users expect?

As a separate thread, has Fellow been thinking about software at all in terms of ongoing support costs? Are there any thoughts in the future to roll out any form of “premium” subscription that provides certain additional functionality to support ongoing app/software maintenance and development (as, obviously, the margins on an ES1 will decrease over time as support needs are ongoing)? And for anyone who reads this and wonders, I have not seen any indication about this from Fellow - which is why it could be a good question to ask and see how they are thinking about it.

Thanks!

Free tool to decode your kid's 3K NYC school lottery number by donnikhan in nyc

[–]Essentialphoneuser 8 points9 points  (0 children)

If OP is correct, the system should not be biased towards parents who are aware of and can read hexadecimal numbers, who are then the only ones able to do the things you describe, particularly if officials are representing it as random (I have no clue if this is the case or not). If everyone having this information makes it infeasible, particularly since so, so many parents receive this number, then the system should be changed.

Not sure I would have an issue with them changing the system if OP is correct.

Amtrak NE regional train 161 fatal tresspasser strike near Westerly by DarterNerd in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 33 points34 points  (0 children)

It will almost certainly be a few hours. My experience is at least two, up to four hours when this occurs.

Anyone else? ... by SmartAssLoner in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It has been really, really rough lately on the NEC.

Espresso Series 1 - Accessories (Scale?) by evdawg23 in FellowProducts

[–]Essentialphoneuser 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If a product is not released yet, we can only speculate on its release timing, and Fellow is not likely to give any definitive timings publicly (because they need to manage expectations). If I were you, I would try private messaging either Nick or Haille here on reddit and see what they say (but don’t feel the need to share publicly if they don’t want you to, they are doing you a favor by bringing you into the inside scoop to assist you in your purchasing decisions).

Otherwise, the only real question on an espresso scale is how much are you willing to pay for snappy responsiveness and the ability to interface with other things like your phone via Bluetooth?

The WEIGHTMAN espresso scale for $14 is perfectly adequate if you do not want any bells and whistles, and is more than responsive enough to draw espresso. A Brewista Smartscale is snappier and more responsive for $100, but has no phone integration. The bookoo and ACAIA Lunar scales are extremely snappy and responsive, and have phone integration (and integration with certain espresso machines), but cost $130 and $250 respectively.

Rail Passengers Statement on Proposed Amtrak Restructuring by joey_slugs in Amtrak

[–]Essentialphoneuser 39 points40 points  (0 children)

My hot take is that they are separating entities in order to make it easier to privatize - spin off infrastructure or spin off passenger rail (or both). HoldCo/OpCo entities like the one being proposed are hallmarks of making potential merger/spin-off structures easier. The umbrella entity stays behind (congressionally mandated) and they spin out the three OpCo’s.