I was really hoping for Astra to be less expensive then Opus...

It is (uses way less tokens)

they said opus, not sol, it's cheaper than opus by almost half at max.

astra high is also 3x cheaper than opus max at basically the same intelligence.

astra high is also about as expensive as sol max while being more intelligent.

astra medium is cheaper than sol max while also being cheaper and roughly same intelligence.

im going to replace my sol usage with astra high/medium i think

caveat: benchmarks are really fuzzy with llms

Astra is obviously better than sol. Look at the benchmarks, astra medium costs the same as sol X high whilst costing the same per task

https://artificialanalysis.ai/models/releases/gpt-6-astra

This is the second comment I see where you write "no it isn't", without providing a source for your statement. Then you follow it by asking for a source. So is there a source you can provide to back up your statement?

It’s supposed to work the other way, if you make a positive claim that it is cheaper, where is your proof?

Why do you always write shit posts but never respond when called out?

I really want to leave the Google and Apple Ecosystems, but I still need "these" Banking Apps. Some Banks don't even offer a Web based experience anymore.

Get a new bank, make sure your old one knows why you left. Try a local credit union.

Although I’m 100% in favor of credit unions over megabanks, I would not count on most having remotely decent web or app experiences.

I tried repeatedly with several credit unions, with poor results. The final straw was the patelco hack that made the entire bank unavailable for over a week. In the aftermath they implanted crazy security measures where talking to a rep required 6 layers of increasingly invasive authentication. But... The hack was of the bank infrastructure. It had nothing to do with individualized fraud, all accounts were affected --it was just security theater. I went back to a major bank after that.

FWIW I use USAA, it’s a quasi-credit-union, and they’ve been great. But they’re also an outlier.

While Sparkasse and Volksbank in Germany aren't the most ideal banks cost- and interest-wise, they do still offer transaction authentication via debit card, without the need for any smartphone.

But do you need "these" banking apps with you 24/7?

An old smartphone or tablet can do that job and stay in a drawer at home 99% of the time.

How did we do it before phones? Instant online payment is nice but rarely a requirement. Most times we split a bill with friends in a restaurant we agree on paying someone but although we technically could we don't all grab our phone at the exact moment, preferring enjoying the real social conversations we have. We tend to pay them later, and that later is more often than not at home and when I do a swift transfer to someone I'd rather have my complete laptop screen anyway to verify the banking data.

As for Uber and messaging, you are moving the goalpost.

uber still worked from the webpage last time I checked.

There are messaging apps available on linux.

Why doesn't the EU force these banks to support all platforms including web?

I mean, if they can force Microsoft to support other browsers than IE6, then why can't they force banks?

I expect everyone who can conceive of something other than Android or iOS* on a phone is on HN, and not a bureaucrat in Brussels.

*(or BB, webOS, Windows Phone 7 Phone OS Phone Microsoft, Symbian, etc. if old enough)

Why not have US Federal Government enforce this instead? It's way more impactful for most HN users.

Why wait for Brussels beaurocrats we all have this much and not have the most important tech country in the world make this law?

..sure? I don't personally care what either enforces, since I'm in neither jurisdiction. I wouldn't have thought the US is any more (or even as) likely to personally, but sure. I said Brussels because comment I replied to said EU.

PalmOS and webOS were the best.

EU botched even API requirements on banks. We could have had open API to every EU bank, but nope, it must have been some bullshit for big companies to slurp data en-masse, instead of API for end users to use their data privately and comfortably from whatever app they wanted, incl. their own.

Open/individually accessible APIs would have to have be a movement, like the one with open formats for interacting with eGov.

We even had open APIs for every bank in Germany, in the form of HBCI and FinTS. With fancy things like optional RSA smartcard auth. The EU killed it all in the name of "omg, security!" (a total bullshit argument if you've ever looked at the specs), now with the new PSD2 the only ones getting proper API access are lots of shady payment providers, credit databases, data brokers and the like...

If you're an EU citizen, contact your MEP and ask for it.

Not sure why this is getting downvoted (or why IE6 is being brought up in 2026). But yes, banks are super-highly regulated and for good reason. They’re subject to all sorts of accessibility laws, there’s loads of precedent here.

So everyone needs to carry a tracking device.