a16z is heavily long on AI, so this article sounds very biased.
From the article: If you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall.
Probably because the US has been focused on services for years rather than physical goods production. Everything else in US is focused on importing cheap(er) goods or materials.
> On the other hand, I think he wants to push the narrative that AI is seeing enormous productivity gains.
That is my impression as well. I would be thrilled to see this mythical 10x productivity. Even with 2x productivity, I would be highly pleased. This should mean developers (and everyone else) are producing 2x more quality, software (and general services) are 2x better? I see none of that, except 2x more junk. Did AWS, GCP, or anything else become 2x cheaper and 2x more stable? Maybe I'm living under a rock.
Also the initial claim is just false — “if you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall“. I can tell you that this isn’t true in San Diego. Unless they’re using flatscreen tvs that cost less than $300? Or perhaps making extremely difficult-to-patch holes somehow
I live in the UK, and it’s basically £100 to get a tradesperson to show up to my front door regardless of what I want them to do. I can buy a flat screen TV from £100 new from one of the UK high street retailers [1] , or £85 [2] if I go on Amazon
[1] https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7623909?clickPR=plp:6:323
[2] https://amzn.eu/d/bVCBLv3
Its also for free to repair a hole in the hand after trying to knock a hole into the wall ;)
Not free if your time has a value :)
This is true in pretty much every western country sadly.
TV's are really absurdly cheap (and awful) on the low end, we're not talking about your 60" LG OLED with AI TV here, we're talking: a screen with maybe 720p and a viewing angle of: dead centre.
Hiring a handyman is, what, $100/h in most countries, then there's a minimum call-out fee and materials cost- worse "I don't have the part". You're looking at about $300~ easy.
But for $129 you can get this; https://a.co/d/7cdztf8
50" tv for $239 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4P176B8
Huh, i stand corrected, thanks! I think this brings both options to similar prices, so at the very least the spirit of the quote is true. Here’s my math:
- My handyman changes $50/hour, but if you find a new person maybe they charge $75-$100/hour
- materials are cheap, probably like $50 total for mud and drywall, or a repair kit
- with two hours labor, the total should be somewhere from $150-$250.
- if the handyman won’t accept a job less than 4 hours, the range is $250-$450.
> From the article: If you live in the United States today, and you accidentally knock a hole in your wall, it’s probably cheaper to buy a flatscreen TV and stick it in front of the hole, compared to hiring a handyman to fix your drywall.
This also isn't true?
It costs almost nothing to patch drywall. You can also do this yourself. Unless the point they're making is "TVs are so cheap, you can mount a TV inside of the drywall for less money than it would cost to fix," which also isn't true.
If you have the stuff already.
I had to buy the sanding pole, the joint compound, the putty knife, and the paint the other day. A TV would definitely have been cheaper.
More like $20.
In America, all of that other than the paint is available at the dollar tree. You're looking at ~$7 to fix the hole (spackle, mesh tape, trowel, sandpaper, paintbrush) and $12 to buy a pint can of matched paint, as long as the hole is smaller than your fist.
Larger you would need to add in a $20 patch panel of sheetrock, a razor knife or other sheetrock saw (could probably use the bread knife in a pinch) and a hammer and nails, so closer to $50 all in.
> so closer to $50 all in
https://www.amazon.com/toshiba-fire-tv-32-inch-class-v35-ser... is $75 right now. On Prime Day I saw a similar one for $35.
I was curious so I did a quick check.
I can buy a flat screen TV from Walmart for $74. A handyman to come to my house is a minimum of $150.
So the parent comment is true, buying a TV is cheaper than hiring a handyman to fix the drywall.
but you need to put the TV on the wall
VESA mounts and installation are not cheap
it's really an apples and or ciders comparison
that said, now I realized I have a door with two pictures screwed to it, because we punched a hole through it more than a decade ago during a house party, and that specific door is out of production, and it's the door to the storage room so it was (and still is) the perfect solution :)
Walmart has $22 mounts that will work for that $74 TV, and Walmart has TV installation service for $79 (basic mounting of a customer supplied TV with a customer supplied mount).
A TV wall mount can be had for $30, or even little less. They're extremely simple to install. All you need is a basic drill and 20 minutes.
Also, the hole in the wall will make it easier to locate the studs onto which you mount.
Try hiring someone to do the job. You won’t get out for less than a few hundred.
"Some rich guy has been convinced to invest heavily in $NEWTECH, therefore any article voicing skepticism about $NEWTECH must be biased."
This does not follow. Being a wealthy and high-profile investor does not meant that Horowitz understands the technology.
It certainly does not mean that there are no valid criticisms of the technology.