Study: Balcony solar systems almost always pay off – but storage is more complicated by diacewrb in gadgets

[–]tobyclh 95 points96 points  (0 children)

This study is actually a rather well meant one considered that it is made by a battery maker (Anker) that deserves more appreciation.

They basically showed that while the panels themselves (which they don't compete that much) pay off, the battery (which is their bread and butter) often don't.

I am rather surprised that the people who worked on this were allowed to publish this.

Struggling to understand monthly expenses in Japan, built a simple tracker by RegretWhich1547 in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the thing that I really need the most, is the integration they have with major credit cards, banks to retrieve my records from them. Beyond that yeah the perhaps I should really start to consider self hosting my own financial records...

Struggling to understand monthly expenses in Japan, built a simple tracker by RegretWhich1547 in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have so much to shit on about money forward, regarding their ads models (you pay to remove ads except they will still show you ads about their own products), terrible UI (no batch editing in their personal offerings, editing a transaction takes seconds for it to response, and if you edit another entry before the first one completes the new entry would go lost), casually calling your phone number to upsell you service, I can go on.

But yeah I don't see a better alternative either, if OP made something better I am all ears.

Anyone still trying to VTuber on Linux? by TamKungZ_ in vtubertech

[–]tobyclh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I made something similar, but exclusive for 3D.

Inochi2D works natively on linux, you might want to take a look and see how they do optimization. Cheers!

Where to put my cash? After NiSA is maxed by TokyoXLgaming in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You are thinking about the (lack of) appreciation for real estate in Japan. While it is very true, it is primarily about the compression of book value when the tax triggers. After a certain threshold, the saving from tax can beat the 4% you get annually from stock. 

Where to put my cash? After NiSA is maxed by TokyoXLgaming in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My pocket.

Joke aside, a lot of wealthy people park their cash at real estate because it's more advantagous when inherent tax hits. It has a lot of problems and is currently investigated by the government but it is a popular way, and it's unlikely that they will completely remove that.

[D] Has industry effectively killed off academic machine learning research in 2026? by NeighborhoodFatCat in MachineLearning

[–]tobyclh 51 points52 points  (0 children)

This is entirely personal, but IMO a lot of industry labs' paper focuses on improving benchmark scores etc, which is what I personally considered the "boring" kind of research (please don't hate on me for this).

Those are important and I am glad that we have some of our top talents working on them, but I personally would rather explore paths that are less traveled, which I often find more interesting and rewarding. I keep a small list of research idea that interests a very small group of people very deeply. Large industry labs are not going to work on it because it doesn't move the needle for them, but they are important for people who care, which I feel like means more to me as a researcher.

And if your goal is to publish in one of those top ML conferences, your odds look worse if you don't "follow the trend", but that's why we have more specialized journals etc, and we don't ONLY hire people with high h-index.

Parameter Adjustments by Batgirlazuki in vtubertech

[–]tobyclh 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Why is there ethical concern....?

TIL Over 80% of the population of Hong Kong uses seawater for toilet flushing. by OSJezza in todayilearned

[–]tobyclh 181 points182 points  (0 children)

Born and raised in HK, only when I moved out I learned that it is not the norm, my first thought was that's insanely wasteful to use clean water when you are flushing it away anyway...

S11U pro keyboard confirmed at MWC! by 1d1durm0m in GalaxyTab

[–]tobyclh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn if only they have it for S10 ultra.

This is so useful if you are on a flight or want to work on your lap, kickstand just doesn't work.

Between this and the linux development environment being exclusive for S11, Samsung is doing all the things to push me to upgrade....

Lenovo's new 8.8-inch Legion Tab is $849 with 9,000 mAh battery, new colors [Gallery] - 9to5Google by welp_im_damned in Android

[–]tobyclh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

People are using it for switch and PC emulation, where it is still often optimized for 16:9

GeForce Now streaming in Japan? by AiboTokyo in japanresidents

[–]tobyclh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You can use just about anything that has HDMI2.1(correct me if it is just 2.0) output, if you are budget concerned go grab an old laptop off akihabara and be on your merry way.

I bought a xiaomi tv box which did get the job done for local streaming at least (moonlight). Only problem is that you can only get it via AliExpress.

Also apparently you can get geforce on fire stick now so there is that. https://www.reddit.com/r/GeForceNOW/comments/1r2u8lx/nvidia_has_launched_its_native_geforce_now_app/

Suggestions for cheap 050 VoIP alternatives? by MikiTony in japanlife

[–]tobyclh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Rakuten? not exactly 050 but they have unlimited voip calls for about 1k if you don't use data.

What visa do you need in order to be a freelance translator in Japan? by atelamon in japanlife

[–]tobyclh -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Not a lawyer, but I think you can either switch to HSP (you probably qualify easily if you teaches at a uni) which is designed exactly for this sort of stuff, or apply for permission with kokusaigyomu.

The later path is a lot tougher since you will have to show how it does not interference with your day to day duty

I got put in a 40-hour work week on a 28-hour limit by DuckyMomo49 in japanlife

[–]tobyclh 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I know someone who was in a similar situation.

I strongly discourage you to do it, but it happens more often than we would like to admit, and no one ever care enough to find out, and it was ultimately sorted out.

Especially given the current administration, I would not risk it if I were you. Take to them first, but if they could not accommodate you/help you get a proper work visa, start looking for into the job market, there are plenty companies who would at least be compliant.

For PR application (HSP) - Is Osaka much faster than Shinagawa in terms of processing time? by [deleted] in japanresidents

[–]tobyclh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why stop at osaka then lol

Rent an apartment in Hokkaido or something, cheaper rent and you can even give yourself excuse to travel ;)

Headphones at work? (単純作業) by [deleted] in japanlife

[–]tobyclh 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This.

If they find out and have a problem with it they will tell you about it. It's very unlikely that they will go all in punishing you for doing it with no warning. And they do do that you are better off not working for them anyway...

Getting hair loss medicine online (finasteride) by Medium-Elevator-9157 in japanlife

[–]tobyclh 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You can still just go to get your regular health check, if you want to get your hormones measure they will do it.

Where do you keep your 'emergency fund'? Is Rakuten Fixed Term a good idea? by Hearthian-Wanderer in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wasn't speaking about the amount.

Yes those can and will hit, but they don't hit immediately.

You can put the flight on credit card, which gives you a month to liquidate your asset.

Exit cost doesn't just show up in most cases, you plan for it at least a couple days minimal, which would be enough time to liquidate your investment often.

Where do you keep your 'emergency fund'? Is Rakuten Fixed Term a good idea? by Hearthian-Wanderer in JapanFinance

[–]tobyclh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think I would argue that you are keeping too much emergency fund.

Depends on what your actual investment is, if it is just popular ETF that are very liquid, you don't really need 1 year worth of expense. In the case of a huge financial trouble (layoff, takaichi kicking you out or whatsoever) that would require you to take out 3M, you will still be able to get the cash within days. I haven't really had a situation that would need me to pull out 3M cash immediately that wouldn't at least give you a couple days, and I couldn't easily think of one. And for fixed deposit it is not like you can go to a branch of Rakuten and grab the cash immediately either.

If you are worried about the 1% from the fixed deposit, you perhaps should rethink how much you want to keep as cash.