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It's called that because they made it specifically for their grandmother. Do we really need to state that it's going to depend on the particular person and thei

It's called that because they made it specifically for their grandmother. Do we really need to state that it's going to depend on the particular person and their needs? Also, that grandmother is _96_. That is not even remotely close to someone in their ~70s. It is also dependent on the person: one of my grandmothers (around 70) doesn't like ipads, and can operate phones a little bit. My other grandma, similar age, loves her ipad. You're being downvoted because you're treating this like a generalized business pitch, when it's a specialized hardware project someone did for their own grandmother, and gave it a cute name based on their language. If I made something specifically for my grandmother, I might include "bunica" in the name. Seeing as that's what my whole family calls her, and its a way to say grandmother in Romanian, which is a gendered language. Also, I fail to see how the gender of the word for grandmother here is relevant for the discussion. Grammatical genders (also called noun classes) are not necessarily related to human sexes, but I digress.

dang 5y ago
Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. If you're answering a comment that you think is incorrect, do so in a netural and/or friendly way. Otherwise you just make the thread worse, no matter how right you are or feel you are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- andrewzah 5y ago
  My apologies, will edit.
- nanna 5y ago
  Thanks for all your work, dang.
nanna 5y ago
> you're treating this like a generalized business pitch, when it's a specialized hardware project someone did for their own grandmother, and gave it a cute name based on their language. Ok, fair enough, I accept your argument.
atleta 5y ago
Actually, I wanted to say something very similar. And when you said it was for his very specific _96_ year old grandma, I went back and checked if I missed the obvious. But a quick 2nd scan (and a search on the string 96) didn't bring it up. I'm not saying you're wrong, indeed I'm pretty sure you're right, but it's very-very far from obvious. Also, the initial tweet itself talks about the issue in pretty generic terms: "a machine that helps our beloved elders to keep communicating with their grandchildren ." My parents are around 80, and granted my father was an engineer and my mother a programmer they did have exposure to computers from their 40's and 50's. (Actually, my mother started around the age of 30, but my father only when he was 50.) Sure, another 15-20 years make a lot of difference. However, plugging cables is more 1900's technology (reminds me of the manual switchboards). I doubt too many people alive today remember having to make a call like that as opposed to dialling. They did use radios that had push buttons and most of them for sure used ones with digital tuning. So while it looks very retro, a simple turning knob would have been a lot more sane. (Unless grandma used to be a switchboard operator :) and still has good hand coordination.) The other thing I don't get is the thermal printer. I mean it's nice as a (very short term) archival device but an LCD screen (or even and e-ink display) would make a lot more sense. Of course, then you have to add scrolling (that could be a tuning wheel-like thing or just up/down buttons). Or well, maybe they would like to hear their grandchildren :). But I digress: the point is that it was phrased pretty generally and I also think it's very patronizing. (My parents use skype, viber, email, fb chat as they did use SMS and their mobiles.) While sure, there is value in completely tailoring it to the needs of specific person. Just don't think it's in general a good approach.
- Zanni 5y ago
  As an aside, manual switchboards survived longer than you may think. My summer job in the 1980s was as a telephone operator on a manual switchboard. This was in California. I don't think they completed the switch to digital until the 90s. And I did get the distinct impression that grandma had been a #cablegirl.

dang 5y ago

Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. If you're answering a comment that you think is incorrect, do so in a netural and/or friendly way. Otherwise you just make the thread worse, no matter how right you are or feel you are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

andrewzah 5y ago
My apologies, will edit.
nanna 5y ago
Thanks for all your work, dang.

nanna 5y ago

> you're treating this like a generalized business pitch, when it's a specialized hardware project someone did for their own grandmother, and gave it a cute name based on their language. Ok, fair enough, I accept your argument.

atleta 5y ago

Actually, I wanted to say something very similar. And when you said it was for his very specific _96_ year old grandma, I went back and checked if I missed the obvious. But a quick 2nd scan (and a search on the string 96) didn't bring it up. I'm not saying you're wrong, indeed I'm pretty sure you're right, but it's very-very far from obvious. Also, the initial tweet itself talks about the issue in pretty generic terms: "a machine that helps our beloved elders to keep communicating with their grandchildren ." My parents are around 80, and granted my father was an engineer and my mother a programmer they did have exposure to computers from their 40's and 50's. (Actually, my mother started around the age of 30, but my father only when he was 50.) Sure, another 15-20 years make a lot of difference. However, plugging cables is more 1900's technology (reminds me of the manual switchboards). I doubt too many people alive today remember having to make a call like that as opposed to dialling. They did use radios that had push buttons and most of them for sure used ones with digital tuning. So while it looks very retro, a simple turning knob would have been a lot more sane. (Unless grandma used to be a switchboard operator :) and still has good hand coordination.) The other thing I don't get is the thermal printer. I mean it's nice as a (very short term) archival device but an LCD screen (or even and e-ink display) would make a lot more sense. Of course, then you have to add scrolling (that could be a tuning wheel-like thing or just up/down buttons). Or well, maybe they would like to hear their grandchildren :). But I digress: the point is that it was phrased pretty generally and I also think it's very patronizing. (My parents use skype, viber, email, fb chat as they did use SMS and their mobiles.) While sure, there is value in completely tailoring it to the needs of specific person. Just don't think it's in general a good approach.

Zanni 5y ago
As an aside, manual switchboards survived longer than you may think. My summer job in the 1980s was as a telephone operator on a manual switchboard. This was in California. I don't think they completed the switch to digital until the 90s. And I did get the distinct impression that grandma had been a #cablegirl.