I had that problem pop up with my Sony xm4s after a couple of years of use. Cleaned the lens on the inside of the left ear cup and they work perfectly again. Go to sleep, pause music, etc when I remove them.
When I sign up for Office 365 it is pretty clear that I'm subscribing to a service for a period of time. When I buy a hardware product I expect that it will continue to perform the core function for as long as I own the hardware, unless some other terms are made clear.
I doubt that this topic will rise up to be noticed here on Hacker News, but I'm genuinely curious how other non affiliated parties will view this situation.
The company that built and sold the hardware sounds like they are dealing with a software license expiration. The end users are affected, but they are not the nexus of the issue.
> “the contractor says the problem is the result of an expired software license”
I mean, the article is light on specifics but it seems irresponsible to be throwing around the terms “ransomware” and “malicious code” or letting Orqa co-opt the article into parroting the claims repeatedly with very little in the way of inquiry, specifics, or supporting technical detail. The word is associated with crime.
The article does say:
“But it looks like the bricking wasn't a traditional ransomware attack, but rather due to a corporate dispute.”
The article is also using the term “bricked” incorrectly - if you’re in the boot loader and can still upgrade firmware, especially in a way that fixes the problem, your device is not bricked in the way we typically use that term.
Anyway, this sounds like Orqa should have read their license agreement a little more closely. Maybe they knew there was a fee due but assumed that once the hardware shipped they wouldn’t have to pay. Maybe they’re the bad guys here.
There’re a lot of possible explanations, but it sounds like a contractual dispute, not a case of ransomware.
Honest question. Is a time limited license arrangement normal in other embedded software products? Who would create such a contract and who would sign it?
As a member of the FPV drone racing community I am sad to say that my Orqa goggles have been caught up in a dispute / ransom attack that has rendered my goggles unusable. :(
They aren't phoning home, or at least that is not the issue here. The goggles don't even ship with any kind of wireless capability to phone home, although there is an aftermarket wifi module for video streaming and such.
The issue here is that the bootloader (apparently written by a contractor) was preprogrammed to prevent booting after a certain date. The contractor is claiming this is the result of some kind of license agreement (or maybe disagreement?) with Orqa, the manufacturer.
To me even the very highest end digital pianos still sound digital, but they are close enough and the benefits of digital outweigh what you might sacrifice in sound for most people.
I've noticed there is also fierce debate between digital pianos that are based on sampled sounds versus modeled. I believe most Roland digitals are modeled with Fourier series, while all/most of their competitors are sampled (not sure about Nord). That said Pianoteq is a popular after market VST that will bring a very convincing top tier modeled sound to even a low end digital piano.
For anyone price-sensitive, I highly recommend getting the cheapest 88-key hammer-action keyboard you can find and hooking it up to Pianoteq Stage rather than buying a dedicated digital piano.
Exception if you're going to travel with it. Built-in sounds save you on setup time.
I’m not extremely concerned with sound quality, both because I intend to play around with lots of VSTs and because I‘ll be upgrading from a Roland RD-700SX which has served me incredibly well but which is very outdated when it comes to the sound engine!
Sounds like a good approach to me. Buy for the best action your budget will allow. With VSTs you can tailor the sound to your liking. I don't have a stake in Pianoteq, but if you aren't aware they claim that version 8 is going to be brought to iOS soon.
If you use a decent quality open back headphone, I feel like this is even more true, because the onboard sound becomes irrelevant.
Looked at those exact brands about a month ago. Went with the Yamaha N1x hybrid. (Which means it has a conventional acoustic action with hammers and everything) so far pretty happy with it. I suggest going over to the piano world forums and doing a dive. The threads on these models are long. Also above all go see them in real life if you can.
I learned respect for my table saw early in my software engineer turned part time woodworker career after a near miss kick back incident. I’ve been using MJ splitters ever since on my old school Delta unisaw.
I'll offer another positive perspective. I've worked as a software engineer within the Department of Energy's National Laboratory System for 15 years, and I really enjoy it. Software is a major element of much of the laboratory's work, and in some cases such as mine software is the main product. We enjoy autonomy, lead projects as PIs, and develop mostly open source software. We are also hiring https://nrel.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/NREL/2/refreshFacet/318c8....
Hi FlyingRobot --- I'd be interested in hearing more about your career path (and openings at NREL). What I've personally heard and experienced aligns with the overwhelmingly negative accounts elsewhere in the thread, which (I feel) have also correctly identified the misalignment of incentives that's responsible.
On the other hand, I've never worked in the national lab system. If you're still monitoring this thread, I'd appreciate it if you contacted me at the email in my profile!
I will second this. The national labs are definitely some of the places who know what to do with research software engineers and treat them right for the most part. The Computer Systems Engineers and Software Engineers I had the chance to meet at LBNL had a decent amount of autonomy and were very good.
