> It was never going to be mainstream profitable to buy a normal apartment and rent it out on AirBnB.

It was never meant to be. It definitely has been though. Lots of people making much more money renting out AirBnBs rather than using their property for long term leasing. Which has obviously compounded the housing issues most cities are currently experiencing.

Cities ossified to unimaginably bad levels, which clamped down demand for large-scale construction, which significantly contributed to the productivity of said industry stagnating since "forever".

Compared to these structural problems short term tourist rentals are a complete red herring.

Definitely feels like the kind of obsequious nonsense the current generation of LLMs produce. Also a brand new account.

I feel like someone is running an experiment on HN.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/05/reddi...

I admit I did get help from an AI in writing my response. When I read your post, I truly admired your courage. If I were in your position, I do not think I would have the strength to walk away from a job after seven years, take time to rest, and then step into something new. That takes a kind of clarity and bravery I deeply respect.

So I turned to AI to help me shape my thoughts more clearly and offer something meaningful to you. I am sorry if that was not the right way to go about it. I will be more mindful moving forward.

Are these companies actually laying people off to cut costs in anticipation of a possible recession or depression, but publicly framing it to the stock market as "strategic headcount reduction thanks to AI advancements" to boost their stock prices rather than devalue them?

How anyone can think that the best way to teach children not to hit is to hit them is wild.

I always love checking the comments on articles about Bevy to see how the metaverse client guy is going.

This is pretty awesome. Although disheartening that you ended up spending much more than just buying a Yoto player or Toniebox. But I'm sure the learning and accomplishment have been worth the expense.

Just factoring in the BOM cost including 3D printer materials this comes out quite below a retail Tonie Box. The same is true for the cartridges vs. Tonie figurines.

The tools are definitely a big expense, but are in constant use for other projects, so ammortize.

What's not factored in is the time spent working on this. I don't feel too bad about it, as working on this essentially replaced watching shows or movie at night when everyone is asleep.

He might be good at sales and scamming, but is he good at maintaining authentic relationships with people long enough to deliver good product?

My guess is definitely not.

Interesting how the buck always ends up getting passed to those with the least amount of power.

Interesting how helpless voters (and those who could vote but don't) are portrayed, especially in the age of instant access to information in everyone's pocket.

Especially considering elections in recent years.

What makes you think that capital will free up in a years time? I only ask because this feels like the start of a winter to me. Not one that's approaching an end.

Donald Trump has been complaining about the Fed's interest rate being too high going all the way back to his first term (perhaps even earlier). It's no secret that he wants Powell to drop rates to zero or near-zero.

The "glass half-full" among us will tell you this tariff stuff is all part of Trump's 3D-chess plan to refinance U.S. debt to a lower rate. Personally I doubt it. Everything he does is for himself, and it's only coincidence that sabotaging the economy to get rates to zero could benefit the National Debt.

Anyway, the tech hiring spree we saw in 2020-2021 was fed by rates being at or near zero. If money is free or nearly-free to borrow, why not hire everyone you can and try to grow your company as quickly as possible?

So in theory, bringing rates back down will ease companies' recession fears - not necessarily because they would think a recession isn't coming - no, I'm sure we will all still be expecting a recession "any day" - but with money very cheap or free to borrow, there's no risk to hiring people, starting new projects - because when shit hits the fan, there's negligible additional financial burden from that hiring/starting of new projects. Maybe 2% interest on the debt taken out to pay those people and start those projects. That might as well be 0% to a company, especially one that is FAANG-sized.

I've been saying for years now that the Fed dropping rates to 0% would solve the tech job market woes, and I still believe that. BUT- I make no guarantees against terrible side effects of dropping the interest rate back to zero. I think it will revive the tech job market... and cause many other, bad side-effects (including heightened inflation).

Everyone is hot to trot for AI, but these companies (even FAANG) are working at partial-capacity for developing AI-driven products because they're afraid to hire right before a recession. If they could hire and otherwise expand "for free" I think we would see another 2020-2021 from a tech hiring perspective. Things would be stupid again. You'd have more of the "I work at Google and do absolutely nothing", more instances of senior engineers pulling $250k base salaries... It would be a great time for SWEs, but probably at the detriment to everyone else via things like inflation.

As a parent, I can assure you that the market for Toys 'R' Us still exists. The problem is that to become a TRU requires a lot of capital. More than anyone is likely to risk in 2025.

It's sad. I would love to take my kids to a 90s TRU.

Worthwhile high capital business models are pursued all the time. The problem is that the business model is no longer competitive. If it was competitive it would be competing.