Linked List: October 23, 2017

Monday, 23 October 2017

Pixel 2 XL Review Units Exhibiting Screen Burn-In After Just One Week 

Andrew Martonik and Jerry Hildenbrand, writing for Android Central:

Consternation surrounding the display in the Google Pixel 2 XL is well known at this point, and to be honest most of it has been pretty overblown. But we have something new to talk about now: screen burn-in. It’s something people with OLED screens worry about (to varying degrees) and something people who prefer LCDs like to poke fun about. But one of our Pixel 2 XL review units, in use for about a week, is already seeing some pretty crazy levels of burn-in.

Dieter Bohn is seeing it on his review unit as well. What a disaster this display is. I popped into my local Verizon store over the weekend to see the new Pixels firsthand. The blue tint when looking at the Pixel 2 XL from even a slight angle is a real issue. The display on the regular Pixel 2 — which is an LCD display, not OLED which is an OLED from Samsung, not LG — looks terrific, though.

Singapore to Stop Adding Cars to City From February 2018 

Sebastian Tong, reporting for Bloomberg:

Singapore, among the world’s most expensive places to own a vehicle, will stop increasing the total number of cars on its roads next year.

The government will cut the annual growth rate for cars and motorcycles to zero from 0.25 percent starting in February, the transport regulator said on Monday.

“In view of land constraints and competing needs, there is limited scope for further expansion of the road network,” the Land Transport Authority said in a statement on its website. Roads already account for 12 percent of the city-state’s total land area, it said.

Basically, if you don’t already own a car and want one, you’re shit out of luck. With the rise of ride sharing, though, maybe that’s not a problem.

The Information: Snap Has ‘Hundreds of Thousands’ of Unsold Spectacles Sitting in Warehouses 

Tom Dotan and Reed Albergotti, reporting for The Information (paywall):

Snap badly overestimated demand for its Spectacles and now has hundreds of thousands of unsold units sitting in warehouses, either fully assembled or in parts, according to two people close to the company. The disclosure undercuts Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s recent contention that Spectacles sales of more than 150,000 had topped the company’s expectations.

Jiminy christ almighty, how stupid do you have to be to stockpile hundreds of thousands of these stupid-looking $130 sunglasses?

Also interesting to consider this fiasco when thinking about Nintendo’s oft-criticized conservative approach to inventory — no one wants to get stuck with hundreds of thousands of units of unsold merchandise.