瑞士最大的線上購物平台 Digitec Galaxus 公開維修相關資訊

前幾天的 Hacker News 上看到的消息:「Refreshingly honest – Digitec Galaxus now displays warranty score and return rate」,瑞士最大的線上購物平台 Digitec Galaxus 決定公開維修相關的資訊,討論在「Digitec Galaxus now displays warranty score and return rate (galaxus.ch)」這邊可以看到。

從文章裡面可以看到說明的圖片,主要是公開了一些數字,第一個是 return rate (退貨率):

再來是故障的資訊:

然後是維修時間:

這邊隨便抓了「ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Edition」這個看,可以看到這三個資訊:

另外在 Hacker News 討論裡面看到一些有趣的資訊,像是歐盟強制降價需要提供至少三十天價錢的歷史記錄 (但要注意瑞士不是歐盟成員國):

This is now a law enforced in European Union to display such history (at least the lowest price in last 30 or more days so customer knows if the price was not fake rised just before lowering it and calling it a sale). WooCommerce has a plugin for that now.

搜尋後可以找到應該是出自「EUR-Lex - 52021XC1229(06) - EN - EUR-Lex」這邊的 Article 6a:

1. Any announcement of a price reduction shall indicate the prior price applied by the trader for a determined period of time prior to the application of the price reduction.

2. The prior price means the lowest price applied by the trader during a period of time not shorter than 30 days prior to the application of the price reduction.

3. Member States may provide for different rules for goods which are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly.

4. Where the product has been on the market for less than 30 days, Member States may also provide for a shorter period of time than the period specified in paragraph 2.

5. Member States may provide that, when the price reduction is progressively increased, the prior price is the price without the price reduction before the first application of the price reduction;

台灣的話因為沒有法令強制,目前需要透過第三方服務去追,像是 twbuyer.info 之類的服務,但就只有大平台才有提供了。

在南極洲收銀行 OTP 簡訊的方式

看到「SMS Multifactor Authentication in Antarctica」這篇,講在南極洲收銀行 OTP 簡訊的方式 (one-time password,常見的形式是六碼或是七碼數字)。

很明顯的,南極洲沒有什麼電信商可以讓你漫遊 XD

一開始是試著用 Verizon Messages Plus,這個服務可以在電信商直接把簡訊改成 e-mail 寄出來,但作者發現所有的簡訊都會轉送,就是銀行的不會轉送 XDDD

接著是試著用 Google Voice 的號碼,但銀行會判定為 VoIP 電話而不送。

另外的方式是「Wifi Calling」,看起來應該是 VoWiFi 這個台灣更常見的詞,透過 internet 連到電信商的網路掛進去,而不需要透過電信商的基地台。

McMurdo 的網路目前還是有很多不一樣的限制與問題:

At McMurdo, phones have access to a wifi network only for wifi calling and texting, not for general Internet access. It’s just a prototype at this time. It doesn’t work in all cases or in all areas, and for one reason or another it doesn’t work for some people, even if they’ve followed all the steps for enabling wifi calling.

看起來作者遇到的問題是 latency 過高以及頻寬不穩定的問題:

Also, the protocol assumes terrestrial broadband with reasonable latency and bandwidth. At McMurdo, as of this writing, latency to terrestrial locations is in excess of 700 milliseconds. Usable bandwidth for any given end user can vary widely, down to a few dozen kilobits per second.

然後也很難 troubleshooting:

The protocol also doesn’t expose any useful diagnostic info to the end user in order to troubleshoot. You just have to cross your fingers that the magic “wifi calling” icon lights up.

接下來作者嘗試的是 Voice MFA,但不存在這樣的電話號碼可以轉接之類的:

Direct inward dialing to US Antarctic stations isn’t generally available, so you probably can’t configure your cell phone number to forward to a number you can directly answer on-station. (I’m aware of some exceptions to this.)

作者最後提了兩個方法,第一個是想辦法找一個銀行不會擋的虛擬號碼註冊,但這個方法基本上是個貓抓老鼠的遊戲。第二個是作者實做的方法,自己搞 relay,透過 IFTTT 或是其他類似的工具來轉:

轉出來像是這樣:

也許等基礎建設好一點之後,VoWiFi 應該就有機會通?

Perforce 買下 Puppet

Hacker News 首頁上看到的消息,Puppet 宣佈被 Perforce 買下,只是標題有點怪:「An Open Letter from the CEO of Puppet: Puppet and Perforce (puppet.com)」,原文連結在「An Open Letter from the CEO of Puppet: Puppet + Perforce」。

另外一邊 Perforce 的新聞稿標題比較正常,就是講 Perforce 買下 Puppet:「Perforce to Acquire DevOps Pioneer Puppet」。

在討論裡面也有人提到用「Open Letter」當公告很奇怪:

Not sure why this announcement was called an Open Letter?

Anyway,整體對 Puppet 算是好事... 吧?然後也有人提到這類工具看起來都是被併購:

話說現在用 Ansible 比較多,不過還是可以感覺到他的侷限性 (順便丟出來問看看好了),像是新機器上要裝 Let's Encrypt 的憑證,會遇到這樣的步驟:

  • 先設定 nginx/.well-known/ 指到對的路徑下。
  • 要 nginx reload。
  • dehydrated 或是 certbot 之類的軟體申請 test.example.com 的憑證。
  • test.example.com 的設定放到 /etc/nginx/sites-available/,然後加上 symbolic link 到 /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/ 裡。
  • 再 nginx reload 一次。

問題就在 nginx reload 要兩次這件事情,在 Ansible 裡面好像不太好做?看看有沒有什麼想法可以提供... (TwitterFacebook 或是 Plurk 上留言都可以)

Akamai 併購 Linode

目前在 Hacker News 首頁第一名,Akamai 併購 Linode:「Akamai To Acquire Linode to Provide Businesses with a Developer-friendly and Massively-distributed Platform to Build, Run and Secure Applications」,Linode 的新聞稿則是在「Linode and Akamai」,Hacker News 上的討論在「Akamai to Acquire Linode (akamai.com)」這邊。

併購金額與預期的時間表:

Under terms of the agreement, Akamai has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding equity of Linode Limited Liability Company for approximately $900 million, after customary purchase price adjustments. As a result of structuring the transaction as an asset purchase, Akamai expects to achieve cash income tax savings over the next 15 years that have an estimated net present value of approximately $120 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

好像會有記者會... 應該會有更多說明。

MariaDB Corporation Ab 透過 SPAC 上市

MariaDB Corporation Ab 透過 SPAC 上市:「MariaDB Corporation Ab to Become a Publicly Traded Company via Combination with Angel Pond Holdings Corporation」。

Upon closing of the transaction, the combined company will be named MariaDB plc and led by MariaDB’s CEO Michael Howard.

Hacker News 上有一些對 MariaDB 的討論可以看一下 (是對軟體討論,不是對公司討論):「MariaDB to go public at $672M valuation (mariadb.com)」。

大多數用 MariaDB 的人其實都只是在用 MySQL 的功能,不常用到 MariaDB 的特殊功能,像是 Aria (MyISAM 的 crash-safe 版本) 還是沒有 transaction,而 InnoDB 的效能其實相當好,就找不太到理由去用 Aria...

另外從 Google Trends 的 volume 也可以看出來趨勢是往下降而非向上爬升,這時候趕快脫手 (而且還是透過 SPAC) 看起來是最好的時機?

Google 在南韓開放 app 裡面使用其他付款機制了

先前在「南韓對 Apple 與 Google 的 In-App 付款機制的提案」這邊提到南韓的法案將會強迫 AppleGoogle 開放 IAP 的通路,前幾天 Google 正式發出公告會支援其他通路了:「Enabling alternative billing systems for users in South Korea」。

不免俗的,還是會放話說一些 FUD

Alternative billing systems may not offer the same protections or payment options and features of Google Play's billing system—such as parental controls, family payment methods, subscription management, Google Play gift cards, and Play Points.

然後拖一下時間,說正在開發這些功能中:

In the coming weeks and months, we will share implementation details for developers, including instructions for submitting security and customer service verifications and a set of user experience guidelines so users can make an informed choice.

但這應該是第一個強制開放的市場?來等後續 payment gateway 給的數字...

Imgur 被 MediaLab 併購

Hacker News 首頁上看到 ImgurMediaLab 併購的消息:「Imgur Acquired by Medialab (imgur.com)」,Imgur 的 PR 稿是在「Celebrating Imgur's Next Chapter」。

看了一下官方的聲明,沒有提到會維持免費或是要收費的事情,另外也沒有提到不會改變之類的事情,我猜應該是會改變商業模式... 之後有遇到再把本來在 blog 上的連結改成 self-hosting。

Stack Overflow 被 Prosus 併購

Hacker News 首頁上看到的消息,Stack OverflowProsus 併購,直接站上第一名:「Stack Overflow Sold to Tech Giant Prosus for $1.8 Billion」,Prosus 的官方新聞稿也已經出來了:「Prosus to acquire Stack Overflow for US$1.8 billion」,Hacker News 上的討論:「Stack Overflow sold to Prosus for $1.8B (wsj.com)」也很熱鬧。

算是大消息沒錯,不過不知道後續會有什麼樣的影響... Prosus 算是投資集團,不知道會對 Stack Overflow 有什麼想法,怎麼介入或是整合手上的資源。

Twitter 推出打賞功能

Twitter 推出了 Tip Jar,也就是打賞功能:「Introducing Tip Jar」。

支援多種支付方式,包括 BandcampPatreon 這種創作者平台,另外也支援 Cash AppPayPalVenmo 這些一般性的金流平台。也因為實際上的金流不通過 Twitter 本身,所以就只有金流平台會收取的手續費:

The services* you can add today include Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal and Venmo. Twitter takes no cut.

看起來像是帶去其他 app 而已,所以不會有 iOSAndroid 的 30% 或是 15% 的問題。

英國五十英鎊鈔票圖案 (Alan Turing) 釋出

Twitter 上看到圖案釋出了:

官網上有放出背面圖案:

2021/06/23 上,可以考慮收一張起來...