Why Were the Dabaos Late?

3 hours ago

The shipping process for Dabao took much longer than expected, with most backers now having received their units.
Crowd Supply's fulfillment was delayed due to a backed-up Mouser warehouse, causing frustrations for the creator and backers.
The creator criticizes Crowd Supply for high fees, poor service, and slow shipping, taking 46% of funds raised.
The creator expresses disappointment that Crowd Supply's acquisition by Mouser did not improve efficiency, but worsened it.
The creator considers alternative distribution methods, like AliExpress, which may offer faster and cheaper shipping.
The creator takes personal responsibility for choosing Crowd Supply as a vendor and plans to continue using them, but expects slow replenishment.

The author, based in California, usually buys parts from US sellers but purchased NOS/used computer parts from an EU seller due to scarcity.
The order totaled €296 (about $355) plus €48.10 shipping, well under the prior de minimis exemption.
The seller used UPS because the local postal service limited shipments to the US due to tariffs, and correctly classified the items under HTS code 8473.30.

The fear of falling behind by not constantly using AI agents is manufactured to sell AI inference, not a real threat.
Shipping products with AI is easier than marketing them; distribution is more important than production.
Data from NBER shows AI-generated books have lower engagement and lag behind human-authored books, despite increased supply.

<antirez>6 days ago

Maintaining a popular open source project is psychologically taxing due to the overwhelming volume of messages, issues, and pull requests—a phenomenon called the 'flood effect'.
Attempts to manage the flood with 'inbox zero' tactics often fail because they don't allow for the thoughtful processing that community feedback deserves.
The maintainer's role shifts from designing and coding to mostly reviewing contributions, which reduces time for creative work and leads to fewer organic new features.

The author initially believed in 'golden tickets'—rare opportunities like hiring the right person, building a large audience, getting lucky with viral launches, or having the perfect product idea—that would guarantee success.
Hiring a marketing co-founder was seen as a missing piece, but the author realized it's unrealistic to expect someone else to solve direction problems that the product builder cannot articulate.
Building a large audience on social media often fails to convert followers into buyers, as they are there to observe, not to purchase.

User purchased a Kindle book but faced issues due to DRM, leading to frustration.
User considers pirating already purchased books and buying new Kindle books elsewhere, like bookshop.org or Kobo.
The move is seen as a potential loss for Amazon, as users may stop buying Kindle books and switch to alternatives.

The author, based in California, usually buys parts from US sellers but purchased NOS/used computer parts from an EU seller due to scarcity.
The order totaled €296 (about $355) plus €48.10 shipping, well under the prior de minimis exemption.
The seller used UPS because the local postal service limited shipments to the US due to tariffs, and correctly classified the items under HTS code 8473.30.

The fear of falling behind by not constantly using AI agents is manufactured to sell AI inference, not a real threat.
Shipping products with AI is easier than marketing them; distribution is more important than production.
Data from NBER shows AI-generated books have lower engagement and lag behind human-authored books, despite increased supply.

<antirez>6 days ago

Maintaining a popular open source project is psychologically taxing due to the overwhelming volume of messages, issues, and pull requests—a phenomenon called the 'flood effect'.
Attempts to manage the flood with 'inbox zero' tactics often fail because they don't allow for the thoughtful processing that community feedback deserves.
The maintainer's role shifts from designing and coding to mostly reviewing contributions, which reduces time for creative work and leads to fewer organic new features.

The author initially believed in 'golden tickets'—rare opportunities like hiring the right person, building a large audience, getting lucky with viral launches, or having the perfect product idea—that would guarantee success.
Hiring a marketing co-founder was seen as a missing piece, but the author realized it's unrealistic to expect someone else to solve direction problems that the product builder cannot articulate.
Building a large audience on social media often fails to convert followers into buyers, as they are there to observe, not to purchase.

User purchased a Kindle book but faced issues due to DRM, leading to frustration.
User considers pirating already purchased books and buying new Kindle books elsewhere, like bookshop.org or Kobo.
The move is seen as a potential loss for Amazon, as users may stop buying Kindle books and switch to alternatives.

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