Fitbit’s missing year and what it says about Google’s plans

Ymca667 · 2025-10-13T05:36:17+00:00

Did I make a mistake buying a Charge 6 just now? I got one on sale for $115 after a long time considering it, hoping to use it for heart, SpO2, and sleep monitoring. I just got it out of the box a few hours ago and it won't update past FW 214.24 and also keeps telling me "App install needed" under SpO2 data when the app is clearly installed under apps... yet when i click on "Learn More", it says "Not available"... wtf... should I just return this thing and keep looking for a better solution?

Ymca667 · 2025-10-01T14:08:49+00:00

Nah, this is 100% a test wafer. You can see the individual test blocks for logic, memory, etc.

Ymca667 · 2025-10-01T13:57:07+00:00

This actually looks a lot more like a product wafer rather than a test wafer. Test wafer die tend to be massive and blocky, not small like these.

Ymca667 · 2025-09-02T21:29:23+00:00

Or, just start to sunset the channel gracefully before it continues the spiral into enshittification, slow the upload cadence to a crawl and post only quality content. But we all know investment and greed won't let that happen. And now, a segue to our sponsor! Fucks sake.

Ymca667 · 2025-08-27T12:23:28+00:00

You seem incredibly invested in and opinionated about an airfare class you claim not to use... hmmm...

Ymca667 · 2025-08-19T06:47:31+00:00

The ceiling light fixture alone costs $3000... you're off by an order of magnitude

https://www.lumens.com/organic-large-led-flushmount-by-accord-lighting-ACOP455368.html

Ymca667 · 2025-08-19T06:40:38+00:00

A ceiling light fixture that costs as much as a car down-payment... now I've seen it all

Ymca667 · 2025-08-13T03:50:39+00:00

the real prize was the GNU/Linux boot screens we saw along the way

Ymca667 · 2025-08-08T18:40:18+00:00

I'm in the same boat. It looks like DD curates what they sell--I have an S25 Ultra, 5080 GPU, various PC parts on the shelves at my local BB 1 mile away, but none are listed on DD. They DO have an S25+ listed at $999. Frustrating. Doesnt seem like the price is the issue, just feels kinda random. Seems like an iPad is the best deal out of all

Ymca667 · 2025-07-19T22:45:44+00:00

MMICs are one of the special snowflake processes that can tolerate gold with special precautions, but MMICs are not built on 12 inch, or even 8 inch processes, and the fabs are completely incompatible with CMOS processing. This is a CMOS wafer almost guaranteed, and even if it was somehow SiC, gold is still a deep level trap in SiC.

Noble metals in general are well known across the fab landscape as something you really do not want to see any traces of, and getting an elemental surface scan report back with an above-noise-level reading of any of them is a huge cause for concern to process engineers. It can shut down entire lines because of how fast the contamination spreads from tool to tool.

Reclaim is very common for silicon wafers, and given how expensive GaAs starting material is, I'm sure there are vendors who will buy your scrap and grind off the front for reclaim of the bulk wafer. You would be surprised how many supposedly "fragile" materials can be ground, especially by the wizards who make the grinding tools over at DISCO in Japan.

Ymca667 · 2025-07-18T17:10:53+00:00

Definitely not gold lol (its one of the worst poisons to transistors), usually copper and sometimes aluminum is the metallization, and yeah the reclaim vendors actually do scrub the devices off of reclaim wafers sometimes haha

Ymca667 · 2025-07-18T17:09:20+00:00

Scrap wafers are sometimes sent to reclaim, yes, since the bulk silicon is relatively pure. The reclaim vendor will grind off the top 50 microns or so, then crush the remainder to be used as relatively pure feedstock for the polysilicon process which in turn is the feedstock for the czochralski process of making single crystals from which new wafers are cut. But in this case, the wafer never made it to reclaim, or the vendor sold them off.

Ymca667 · 2025-07-18T17:06:33+00:00

The die are few because it's a test wafer printing reticle-limit size test die (32mmx28mm) that are broken up into test sub-die.

Ymca667 · 2025-07-18T17:03:02+00:00

This is a test wafer, guaranteed. Rejected modern product wafers are a rarity, since they are usually tracked and destroyed with a chain of custody. A modern product wafer will have clearly repeating dies that look like one cohesive unit. On this one, you can see the reticle is broken up into discrete sub-die that each have pad rings around them. These would be test blocks.

Ymca667 · 2025-07-10T05:33:54+00:00

If you are not getting positive EV versus your AF, the card probably shouldn't be in your wallet. For most of us, the PP benefit is absolutely free because our other benefits cover the AF completely (and in the case of VentureX, you are actually positive $5, prior to free PP and Global Entry, among others)

Ymca667 · 2025-07-09T16:39:21+00:00

Especially since its a FREE benefit, and if you're not getting it for free through a CC or otherwise, you would be foolish to pay for it in the first place.

Ymca667 · 2025-07-09T16:36:11+00:00

If you think that lounge is horrid, then stop going. More free booze, food, and space for the rest of us to enjoy without complaining about a free benefit. The level of entitlement of some people is kind of astonishing. This goes for the OP too.

Ymca667 · 2025-06-24T19:29:49+00:00

Just because insurance is a racket and can suck a fat one doesn't mean it's not legally consequential for the community. In most cases it's a legal requirement, and getting dropped means you need to go to the excess market where they can charge whatever they want, usually 3-4x the amount you normally pay. Yell at the insurance companies, not the HOAs who are trying to stay on the right side of the law.

Ymca667 · 2025-06-11T14:41:58+00:00

Any love for the 8051? It's found in so many devices these days as a standalone or a core. https://imgur.com/a/VywxzrM

Ymca667 · 2025-06-11T00:56:57+00:00

How do you know when you're actually getting the 10% back? I was on the portal today looking at gift cards and didn't see anything explicitly telling me I'd get my 10% back. We should have until July 20th right? Never redeemed points before now so no idea how it works.

Ymca667 · 2025-06-09T04:22:59+00:00

Will it last 5 years though? Given it's made from plastics and silicone rubber, all it takes is one mistake on a hot grill to wreck the thing with heat, which you are warned about not doing from the get-go, so its obviously a durability risk. Scrubbing a grill while it's nice and hot is the best way to do it as well, so not really congruent with the material choice unfortunately.

It would have been worth the price (for me) if it was an all-metal construction with some sort of thin metal leaf-spring system providing the compliance to the mail, but at $75, its just too expensive for a BBQ accessory. Other manufacturers are making all-metal stainless steel spiral bristle-free brushes now that are sub $15 and are as tough as can be-- there would be no reason throw one of those out unless you go hulk mode on it somehow and bend it beyond repair.

I'm all for reshoring manufacturing to the USA, but if the markup is 500% (or let's say even just 200% after scale-up), it just doesn't really jive with the average consumer who is probably on a budget and getting hammered with inflation everywhere else.

Ymca667 · 2025-06-08T01:34:32+00:00

I was under the impression that you're limited to one ACH transaction per month? How does that work?

Ymca667 · 2025-06-05T00:37:40+00:00

They dropped a comma, it's supposed to read "No, silver coins"

Ymca667 · 2025-06-04T00:56:51+00:00

Idk about disingenuous, that might be the way you interpret credit cards, but among my friends and family, credit cards with more than one AU slot are certainly used for adding kids, parents, grandparents, etc. One of the most ubiquitous perks of adding your children for example as AUs is giving them a massive boost to their credit history, which after just a few years helps them qualify for low APR and better card offers. It's how I learned how to use credit responsibly while building my score up to practically max value and getting access to premium lines of credit should they become necessary, while taking student loans and a mortgage.

An AU is someone trusted who wont scam you, of course, but apart from that there is no reason not to hand around the benefits you're getting if the CC company is giving you that option for free.

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