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My assumption is that he's working on some sort of project where he's buying many cables on Google's dime to test them, then reporting his results on Amazon. M

by ryan-c 11y ago

My assumption is that he's working on some sort of project where he's buying many cables on Google's dime to test them, then reporting his results on Amazon. My worry would be the cables that get good reviews being switched out for crappy cables down the line. I've had problems with this for cables and adapters before - I'll re-order from Amazon and get a slightly different product that is not 100% compatible with the old one.

gaius 11y ago
It's tech support for Nexus customers.
oneeyedpigeon 11y ago
Isn't there some kind of SKU/ISBN-like identifier that you could use to prevent that? Enforcing consistency would be tricky, but there should be certain quantifiable properties, especially when proper specifications are involved, to rate against.
- duskwuff 11y ago
  Unfortunately, there is not. Amazon will often group similar unbranded products together under the same ASIN. (This was a particularly serious issue for Arduino a few years ago, when Amazon started listing genuine Arduino products under the same ASIN as third-party clones: https://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/ https://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/)
- ryan-c 11y ago
  Even large, US-based companies sometimes change stuff without updating the SKU. This was a huge problem back in the day with getting WiFi adapters that worked in Linux - I've seen chipsets changed out without updating the SKU, even as far as chipset brand. If you were lucky, there'd be a hardware revision listed on the product near the serial number, but sometimes not even that. I think this has happened with a lot of the RTL-SDR adapters as well.
- czinck 11y ago
  As a more dramatic example of companies changing the product without changing the SKU/whatever, the faulty GM ignition switches were changed mid-production (from the bad design) without an update to the product serial number. Confused some of the engineers investigating it at first.
esaym 11y ago
Or pretty much anything on amazon has that happen. Most recently a "good ol' American made" can opener turned out to be a cheap China counterfeit: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MJPDPNRM9HXR https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MJPDPNRM9HXR
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago
  I'd be pretty surprised if you couldn't return it.

by ryan-c 11y ago

gaius 11y ago

It's tech support for Nexus customers.

oneeyedpigeon 11y ago

Isn't there some kind of SKU/ISBN-like identifier that you could use to prevent that? Enforcing consistency would be tricky, but there should be certain quantifiable properties, especially when proper specifications are involved, to rate against.

duskwuff 11y ago
Unfortunately, there is not. Amazon will often group similar unbranded products together under the same ASIN. (This was a particularly serious issue for Arduino a few years ago, when Amazon started listing genuine Arduino products under the same ASIN as third-party clones: https://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/ https://blog.arduino.cc/2013/07/10/send-in-the-clones/)
ryan-c 11y ago
Even large, US-based companies sometimes change stuff without updating the SKU. This was a huge problem back in the day with getting WiFi adapters that worked in Linux - I've seen chipsets changed out without updating the SKU, even as far as chipset brand. If you were lucky, there'd be a hardware revision listed on the product near the serial number, but sometimes not even that. I think this has happened with a lot of the RTL-SDR adapters as well.
czinck 11y ago
As a more dramatic example of companies changing the product without changing the SKU/whatever, the faulty GM ignition switches were changed mid-production (from the bad design) without an update to the product serial number. Confused some of the engineers investigating it at first.

esaym 11y ago

Or pretty much anything on amazon has that happen. Most recently a "good ol' American made" can opener turned out to be a cheap China counterfeit: https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MJPDPNRM9HXR https://www.amazon.com/review/R3MJPDPNRM9HXR

Obi_Juan_Kenobi 11y ago
I'd be pretty surprised if you couldn't return it.