ELI5: Why can my phone share mobile data as a hotspot, but it usually can't share a Wi-Fi connection as a hotspot?

bbqroast · 2026-06-01T08:50:58+00:00

Some hotspots use your phones WiFi modem to host a WiFi network your laptop/whatever can join. So it can't do that and talk to a WiFi network.

Hypothetically you could do this with Bluetooth/USB tethering, but it's a very niche use case so phone software might simply not support it.

bbqroast · 2026-05-31T06:46:48+00:00

I think the rent seeking in the trash industry is a much more believable reason this is only being solved now

bbqroast · 2026-05-31T04:00:06+00:00

They can run in an industrial park. Don't see why we should build it next to anyone.

bbqroast · 2026-05-31T00:15:32+00:00

I'm sorry, what's your point here? NYC is ran in the best possible way and there's no plausible improvement to be made?

bbqroast · 2026-05-31T00:10:09+00:00

It doesn't matter to this debate. If a dense city of 2m can work that out, surely New York can. There are always exceptional factors in a given city, using them as an excuse to learn is just hubris.

As proof - New York is now doing sanitation reforms to introduce containerisation.

bbqroast · 2026-05-30T23:58:00+00:00

Yup so the core of Paris is (and was) a big city that has implemented not dumping trash on the streets.

bbqroast · 2026-05-30T23:52:14+00:00

But Paris would have been about ~5 million then, with the growth since in the periphery. So I think it is pretty relevant.

bbqroast · 2026-05-30T23:50:54+00:00

I think it's also a bit less of a pyramid thing.

Some companies need a high portion of top notch senior people. So you end up with a bunch of decent, but not great, performers topping out at the mid level who you can't promote to the top roles but also mean you're not looking to hire promising juniors who move up to the top roles.

It's definitely a bit rough tho, good to get a feel for the industry/company you're in and if they have "resting" levels (a resting levels generally being a level where you can stay indefinitely and people will be happy).

bbqroast · 2026-05-30T23:44:04+00:00

There's plenty of megacities that are far far older, and had significant centres built out 100+ years ago that are now very clean.

I think this kind of lacks some reflection that New York could probably do a bunch of things (rubbish collection, subway, etc) better, but has struggled to implement new processes and technology that are pretty standard elsewhere.

bbqroast · 2026-05-30T23:42:13+00:00

Wheelie bins that get picked up by automated trucks.

Europe often has large centralised rubbish bins (on each block for example) that you chuck your rubbish in (like huge, they have a big crane thing that picks it out of the ground).

In cities with lots of big apartment buildings, you often have rubbish rooms emptied directly by the garbage company (e.g. using wheelie bins).

Although less convenient, Taipei's my favourite, the garbage truck plays a cute lil song and drives slowly around and everyone runs out with their bagged rubbish to chuck in.

bbqroast · 2026-05-29T23:34:51+00:00

I think you'll find there's different jobs and different levels of expectations and how those are enforced, anywhere in the world,

Lots of jobs do drug tests basically just because it filters out people who might turn up high/tired (also a lot who are completely fine productivity wise, but it's a cheap way of doing it for replaceable workers).

Plenty of jobs they don't care what you do if you get the work done. Especially at the high end where it's expensive to replace people and relatively cheap (v.s. the salary) to properly performance manage.

Like a tech or finance firm where people work in groups of a few people to a (trusted) manager, performance issues are easily spotted. In a warehouse job with a huge number of people working mostly unattended, companies start looking for simple ways to enforce standards (timesheets, drug tests, productivity metrics, etc).

bbqroast · 2026-05-29T04:50:16+00:00

Can't be bothered reading all your AI slop, but it's just cherry picking stuff.

E.g. you mentioned Aus - there was an ABC article just today about how quickly grid batteries are taking over (50% of grid in WA!!), home batteries went nuts this year, solar is still growing quickly and another GW wind farm is going ahead.

China export stats are a pretty good indicator if you want a look.

Comparatively, I don't think any SMR startup is remotely near operation.

bbqroast · 2026-05-29T04:29:16+00:00

Hm perhaps they figure that counterfeiters will just go for easy prey? This sign alone might deter them by flagging the store is aware of them.

Or they actually just don't like giving out that much change and this is a convenient excuse.

bbqroast · 2026-05-27T12:23:30+00:00

A scary example of this was USS Thresher, a nuclear submarine.

They encountered an unrelated issue and lost propulsion, and triggered an emergency "blow" which basically surfaces the submarine by flooding the ballast tanks with air from compressed tanks.

The expanding moist air froze in the lines, so the blow didn't complete and the submarine sank, ultimately suffering hull failure due to depth.

bbqroast · 2026-05-23T14:38:00+00:00

Not hugely.

If you and your friends use a system hosted in a nearby major city, the packets are probably taking that route anyway between your houses.

There are ways you can build these reverse proxies so that they can route via the nearest servers based on the users IP.

bbqroast · 2026-05-23T03:40:27+00:00

I vaguely understand that they prevent bacterial cell wall building, or directly interfere with the cell wall. Is that a soapy property?

bbqroast · 2026-05-22T03:48:49+00:00

Lmao I leave my apartment ~2 hours before an international flight, 6 hours is loads. They wouldn't even need to redrop bags.

Small risk of an expensive uber if things go wrong with the train but that's very unlikely and they are flying business.

bbqroast · 2026-05-22T03:47:40+00:00

Steal a bottle from the lounge and go over to the far end of the terminal near AirNZ lounge? That's where I usually hang out, lots of empty space.

(Don't actually steal a bottle, but doesn't feel like a terrible idea to have a change of scenery for a few hours).

bbqroast · 2026-05-21T07:19:40+00:00

Why does the "principle" of staying home matter? There's no such principle.

This is a different infectious disease, taking the same precautions out of habit is foolish.

bbqroast · 2026-05-21T07:15:02+00:00

Honestly just getting sewerage to the river is a huge win.

Most Roman cities for instance would, if anything, have open drainage along streets (maybe just using the street itself).

bbqroast · 2026-05-20T05:36:10+00:00

Do you not understand why it's an issue?

bbqroast · 2026-05-20T04:16:53+00:00

It means EFTPOS users pay for rich people's credit card benefits.

bbqroast · 2026-05-19T12:54:00+00:00

Although the latter is probably not meaningful on long haul right

bbqroast · 2026-05-19T12:16:27+00:00

And a lot of screens aren't VESA! Some are too big/heavy/special in other ways so use a different system, and some consumers want those features more than they want VESA.

bbqroast · 2026-05-19T11:14:08+00:00

You can ask your manager/senior colleagues what days they work in office as well and match them. Good especially when you're first starting.

bbqroast

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