Why facial recognition has led to false arrests - <AUTHOR> http://nautil.us/issue/89/the-dark-side/the-bias-in-the-machine <comment><USER2> >But the next steps, where investigators first confirm the match, then seek more evidence for an arrest, were poorly done and Williams was brought in. He had to spend 30 hours in jail and post a $1,000 bond before he was freed. //

Seems more like "why lack of rigour in policing has lead to false arrests".

Facial recognition is evidence, not proof. They clearly didn't view the video and compare it to the person's photo if during post-arrest interview they could immediately tell it was the wrong person?

Do they also just arrest people based on other 'witness' reports without any effort towards corroboration?

<comment><USER3> This is what social psychologists call "automation bias," which has been empirically observed in all kinds of situations from all kinds of people: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation_bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automation_bias)

When we are told that a prediction is from an automated system, most people are more likely to believe it and not subject it to the same skepticism and critical thinking that we do to predictions from humans. Even if there is a human-in-the-loop system that requires a human to confirm it, that's often just laundering the machine's prediction through a human. When we are primed by being told this is what The System predicted, we're more likely to override our normal processes. This is especially the case when The System has worked 99% of the time --- which is still a lot of false positives.

Although this can also be the case with priming from predictions or judgments by other humans. The Asch conformity experiments involved planting fake test subjects in a group activity where subjects had to give answers to a very obvious perception question, and the real test subject could hear everyone else's answers. The fake subjects went first and all gave the blatantly wrong answer. The percent of people who conform varies with how you run the experiment, but typically a majority of the subjects end up giving the obvious wrong answer that everyone else did: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments)

<comment><USER2> I can see it happening when checking takes a long time - but they're probably man-days into an arrest at the point they're sitting in an interview room post-arrest. Against, the LEO looking at their tablet screen prior to arresting the guy, seeing he looks different and not arresting him?

Are the LEOs getting bonuses for raw number-of-arrests?

<comment><USER4> It depends on the department, but raw arrest counts are absolutely part of individual officer performance metrics, with low arrest count officers being "pressured to find something" at the end of the month.

[https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nypd-officers- arrest-q...](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nypd-officers-arrest-quota- exclusive-interview-pressure-numbers/748594/)

<comment><USER5> Which is absolutely a big issue with our policing system. Most of the time they just arrest easy targets like sex workers or people who could be charged with 'public misconduct' or something like that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> _" These contain some criminal mugshots, but the bulk of the images comes from non-criminal sources such as passports and state driver's license compilations; that is, the databases mostly expose ordinary, generally innocent citizens to criminal investigation."_

Worth noting that a mugshot does not imply criminality. As the lead off in the article shows, lots of innocent people get arrested and thus, have mugshots on file.

<comment><USER7> Fairly banal crimes can also lead to mugshots. I had to have one taken over a parking violation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I mean, if your algorithm is accurate 99.9% of the time, and you're using it 24/7 in a country with millions of inhabitants, you should expect tens of thousands of false positives _every day_. This is why some wet blankets have been strangely skeptical of delegating all responsability to The Algorithm.

<comment><USER9> I love how you just handwave away the possibility of destroying someone's life with a false positive. This is an area like automated driving where the error rate needs to be 0 if it's going to be relied upon as truth.

<comment><USER8> I'm actually agreeing with you, perhaps the sarcastic tone didn't go through.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Most people are incompetent. The tax lawyer down the street, the pharmacist, the dental assistant. It's just that most people aren't in a position to hurt others because there are checks:

\- the recipient checks the pharmacist's work

\- the dentist checks his assistant's work

\- the state allows the tax lawyer some leeway

16% of Americans have an IQ less than 85. 50% have an IQ less than 100. If you build a tool that requires a person to have average IQ, it will fail with half of all users.

That doesn't mean it's a bad idea: after all, you only need to convince the buyer, not the user.

</comment><comment><USER11> What's the incentive to reduce false arrests? Are the arrestors' jobs at stake? Is their wallet at stake?

Why put in the extra effort if there are no consequences for being wrong?

Most of the time it seems the worst-case scenario for the perpetrator of the false arrest is being relegated to desk-duty or a paid suspension. If there's a settlement it's the tax-payers that foot the bill. Until that changes, there's basically no reason for them to make the effort to reduce false arrests. This isn't a problem that will be solved with recognition algorithms getting a few percentage points more accurate every year. It will require actual reform.

</comment><comment><USER12> This article appears in my HN feed with an article about throwing away React. The React article explains that having code that prevents engineers from doing whatever they want to is essential. If we can't trust engineers coding, why do we trust police arresting? Restraints are needed.

</comment><comment><USER13> The best algorithm that NIST tested had a 0.01% false positive rate and it was uniform across races.

Consider an airport like Heathrow, which uses facial recognition widely. 220,000 people travel through heathrow per day. With a 0.01% false positive rate, you are falsely flagging 22 people per day.

You can not rely on facial recognition to jail people.

</comment><comment><USER14> Facial recognition seems a bit like shoe print id. A valuable clue, but not enough to ruin somebody's life over. That is so obvious that anecdotes about false arrest seem like obvious human incompetence.

<comment><USER15> I don't think it is valuable. Especially with falling crime rates, developing such systems is basically bullshit job in a bullshit industry.

Exaggerated, but I haven't really seen neither need nor success of any facreg system.

Sure, security agencies might be able to supply some cases when it helped to catch a criminal, but the side effects suggest it isn't even slightly worth it.

<comment><USER16> Falling crime rates? For some categories of crime, sure, but e.g. _murder rates_ this year have risen sharply in major US cities.

[https://nyti.ms/3gyoVqd](https://nyti.ms/3gyoVqd) \- "At least 336 people have been murdered in Chicago through July 2, according to the Chicago Police Department; because murders typically increase in the summer, the city is on track to match the 778 deaths in 2016, its deadliest year since the mid-1990s. <...> Chicago is not alone. Before the coronavirus hit, homicides were escalating nationwide in early 2020, and although the lockdown brought a pause, they began rising again as the stay-at-home measures were lifted. A national study showed that homicide rates fell in 39 of 64 major cities during April and began creeping up in May."

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/nyregion/nyc-shootings- co...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/nyregion/nyc-shootings- coronavirus.html) \- "On Sunday, another 19 people were shot in New York City, one fatally. Through the first seven months of this year, shootings were up 72 percent over the same period last year and murders rose 30 percent, even as reports of other violent crimes like rape, assault and robbery fell."

<comment><USER15> I think these problems might have to do with a current conflict within the US society that needs to be talked about and surveillance or the lack of it is neither the reason nor the solution.

<comment><USER16> I don't understand why you think it's not a solution.

Witnesses refusing to talk to cops is a problem. Given the "current conflict", witnesses may be even less willing to talk than usual. And camera surveillance with a _good_ facial recognition system (i.e. one that has been trained and certified to recognize faces of all ages, ethnicities, and phenotypes, not just white college students) would certainly seem like a solution that could help track down murderers.

<comment><USER17> UK has loads of camera surveillance, it didn't really help with the crime rates. Seems better to avoid people getting into crimes. Meaning: reduce the difference between super rich and very poor, ensure people have the ability to have a good life (basically: afford to start a family), etc.

Anyway, that's what helped in NL.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Problem here is for arrest they claim to be using not facial recognition but witness identification. In theory it sounds like good.

But the problem is when you identify some similar face to suspect then show this with some random faces, you are actually giving a multiple choice to witness, which is biased for the match you have found.

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm not trying to be snarky here, but can anybody point to an example of machine learning used in law enforcement that hasn't lead to inequitable outcomes?

<comment><USER20> Equally non snarky, what is something in law enforcement that has led to equitable outcomes?

<comment><USER21> The more I look into the history and tactics of modern policing the more this becomes apparent.

Police are willing to use broken machine learning technology because it "works for them" - they don't necessarily care about accuracy they just want someone locked up.

<comment><USER22> The police are fundamentally a low paid blue collar labor force with union protections. They are not your college professor or the protagonist of a murder mystery, but more like a plumber or construction worker.

The moment you understand that, it's not a mystery that they sort of blindly accept tools that seem to work without deep introspection. They are not equipped to be a data analytics shop, they are equipped to fill out paperwork and sometimes get into tussles.

<comment><USER17> > The police are fundamentally a low paid blue collar labor force with union > protections

Please keep in mind that this is not true worldwide. In various countries you're only admitted after 1.5-2 years of police-specific education. You might still not be a police officer if they seem you unfit.

Also, you don't seem to value plumbers or construction workers. A colleague used to be a construction worker. It's very interesting to hear the knowledge he has on that. Plus pretty damn handy for understanding how to improve your house. Just because he did a lot of work with his hands doesn't mean he isn't damn bright.

<comment><USER22> At no point did I indicate I don't value blue collar workers such as plumbers or construction workers, quite the opposite. At most I said the police were low paid blue collar workers - and in general I do believe most blue collar workers are underpaid. For what it's worth, I do also value our police forces, even with their flaws. But a blue collar profession has a different set of knowledge handling than a white collar one - it's not that one is better or worse, but they are intrinsically different ways of knowing.

> Please keep in mind that this is not true worldwide

You're correct and my comment is US centric. What I find interesting is that some US cities have seemingly moved farther from a more educated police force, removing requirements around having college degrees and reducing trainings.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Every method of finding criminals result in innocent people being arrested from time to time. That's the nature of arrests.

Maybe there is something uniquely bad about facial recognition, but to show that, compare it to other techniques, not to a perfection standard.

<comment><USER24> There are several issues, though.

1\. As discussed in the article, due to training sets or methodology, these systems are poor at distinguishing non-Caucasian faces. Or at least poor relative to a human looking at the image and the person together.

2\. Police (though not just them) have an unfounded trust in the machines.

3\. Police take this unfounded trust and push through _arrests_ before they realistically should (like in the opening story of the article).

4\. People arrested for felonies are fucked in the US. It can take years to get your record expunged. Until then your name shows up in lots of searches, you can lose licenses to conduct some kinds of business (or be unable to obtain them). (Expunging can also be very expensive.)

You may not mind innocent people being caught up in the dragnet, but as a society we probably should care a lot more than we do.

<comment><USER23> Yeah, those issues may be big problems. Or they may not.

My point is that the way to know is to compare this tool with others and weigh pros and cons.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> > Williams' case is a signal to stop the ad hoc adoption of facial recognition > before an injustice occurs that cannot be undone."

Arguably, Williams' case _is that injustice_. It should not have happened in the first place (although anyone in the field could have told you it would be inevitable).

Clearly the machine-human interface is insufficent. A big honking warning is still insufficient to overcome automation bias (see other top level comment).

Perhaps the "lineup" functionality needs to be baked in. The system won't divulge details until a(n) operator(s) selects hits from a pool.

</comment><comment><USER26> I worked in a Law Enforcment office that used Facial Recognition. Every single time we would give officers a potential match, it came with a disclaimer that it was a POTENTIAL match. It was up to the detectives and officers to actually do their job and find other pillars of information.

This isn't a failure of facial recognition, its a failure of the stupidest people I went to high school with thinking its some sort of perfect system.

<comment><USER27> If the software vendor knows the end user will not use their product as intended, at what point is the vendor complicit in the impacts of that misuse?

</comment></comment><comment> GuB-42 The real question is: overall did face recognition lead to a higher proportion of false arrests, and even more importantly false convictions.

Clearly, facial recognition can make mistakes that lead to false arrests. Of course, it is important to minimize that number, that alone doesn't tell us if facial recognition is justified.

The thing is:

\- An arrest is not a conviction, it is important to know (if possible) how much of these facial recognition false arrests led to false convictions. I suspect not a lot, because judges and attorneys are still human.

\- How much false arrests did facial recognition prevent? It can happen if the system correctly identifies the culprit before an innocent is arrested. It can also be used to cross-check false/unreliable testimony.

Note: I am not talking about the privacy implication of facial recognition, only its effect on criminal investigations.

</comment><comment><USER28> Those police should have been required to make sure he was a match. Feel like it was mostly due to racism and thats fckin horrible. Then they blame it on the computer. like yeah but its also their fault for not double checking.

</comment><comment><USER29> The issue highlighted in this article is that it seems that police deemed facial recognition as reliable as DNA so that if the computer says it's that person then they are already guilty.

This is a simple issue that could be easily solved by making sure that facial recognition should be treated as a very good lead but not as a smoking gun, so that the police approaches "suspects" more neutrally before deciding whether to arrest them.

<comment><USER30> So how do you get police to behave that way?

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> As if humans have never misidentified people or arrested the wrong person?

I find these articles very silly.

Maybe the photo on the drivers license was not good enough, so only in the real world could the police see that it was not the same person.

In any case, why not scan the database automatically (the evil, evil facial recognition), and then double check by humans?

Even when humans police, I think it is always just about probabilities. Then they follow up (ideally) and try to drive the probability of being correct higher.

Obviously nobody should be tried automatically without any recourse.

<comment><USER32> > why not scan the database automatically (the evil, evil facial recognition), > and then double check by humans?

Because people tend to think "The computer said this was right, therefore it is unequivocally the correct answer." This is obviously incorrect, but is how many laypeople view it, even if instructed otherwise.

<comment><USER33> In fact that's _exactly_ what happened. The police realized it was the wrong guy and still brought him in, he still lose 30 hours and had to post bail.

I cant even imagine if two morons showed up to my house, saw that I was the wrong person, and then arrested me in front of my family anyway.

<comment><USER31> But then it can't possibly be the "people just believe computers" effect, because the article explicitly states the police realized the computer was wrong.

<comment><USER32> Then in this case it's the same as phishing emails. People know it's wrong, and yet still follow along anyways.

This is not necessarily a forgone conclusion, but occurs to often to dismiss.

<comment><USER31> Nothing indicates that it is specific to algorithmic facial recognition. Actual humans make mistakes identifying suspects all the time. At the very least, the article should address that and compare the reactions, to prove people are more likely to act despite knowing better when the id was made by a computer.

<comment><USER32> A reasonable point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> On hacker news, can we please submit https link instead of http. An S goes a long way in this hostile internet environment now days.</comment>


Ask HN: Does blockchain still show promise, or is it all but dead? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Cyprus have started using blockchain to battle Covid.

[https://cointelegraph.com/news/cyprus-hospital-ready-to- stor...](https://cointelegraph.com/news/cyprus-hospital-ready-to-store- covid-19-test-results-on-blockchain)

</comment><comment><USER3> (I work for a blockchain company.) It is still a useful pattern. It was definitely overhyped. There is still a useful core value proposition there and the market will settle out towards where it makes sense.</comment>


How many people reading Hacker News do not have any programming skills? - <AUTHOR>

This includes being able to make pretty much any sort of computer or internet program or app, basic html not included. I ask because, though I do not code, I find HN great and wonder if others feel the same way. <comment><USER2> Slightly different question: If you don't program, why? Because it doesn't seem relevant, or you've tried and don't like it, or you've tried and can't do it, or other people can do it well, or it seems scary, or your expertise is elsewhere, or...?

I meet lots of people who want to build things that require programming but don't program for whatever reason, and I've always wondered what the root cause there is.

Also, happy new years ;)

<comment><USER3> I don't program because I'm a user experience professional. My expertise requires full-time learning as it is.

I do work closely with programmers, though, and I consider our relationship a symbiotic one.

<comment><USER4> I don't do much UX, but I have a friend who loves it but is a little disillusioned with his education.

I am curious, what kind of schooling / experience do you have?

<comment><USER3> I went to college in the early nineties for art & design, started out by working as a print designer, and launched an independent magazine in 1992.

That led me to the web in '95, where I learned HTML by working right on the server, using vi as my text editor. We had a tiny shop, so everyone did everything. Graphic design, front end coding, content - the only thing I couldn't do was back-end stuff.

Eventually we were bought by Razorfish, and they decided some people would be called "information architects," so in 1997 I took the title of IA, and went from there.

I've studied with various mentors, but my best education has come from Nielsen Norman Group's usability weeks, and constantly pestering people in emails, on message boards, listservs, conferences, you name it. The UX community is pretty tight-knit, and people really help each other out.

In the years that I've done IA and UX, I've worked for IBM, Disney, and several large agencies. I started as a usability freak, but have expanded my horizons to realize that there's a whole spectrum of things that are important to a good experience.

The best wakeup calls I had were when Don Norman published "Emotional Design," and when Peter Morville made his UX honeycomb ( <http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php>)

I'm now executive director for a large NY agency with offices worldwide, and I have a very diverse group of UX people in the different offices.

One thing I look for in a UX practitioner is a diversity of experience and background. Someone who studied IA in college and has only been on one path often has trouble empathizing with real world users.

I have hired people with degrees in library sciences, human computer interaction, design, computer science, psychology, human factors, even theater. It's all about how a person solves problems to me, not the degree they pursued.

I'd encourage your friend to spend more time on listservs like IXDA or SIGIA, going to conferences like Adaptive Path's UX Week and N/Ng's usability week, and making that his new education. It's incredibly rewarding.

<comment><USER4> Great reply. I have sent that along to my friend. I enjoyed it as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've been reading HN for a while now- I discovered Graham's essays in high school, a year or two before he started the y combinator. I was a soon-to-be- aerospace-engineering major, then.

I haven't really programmed since my freshmen year, when I switched to anthropology. Had an interesting year, post graduation, doing archaeology for CRM firms. Then I decided I kinda liked getting paid, and now I'm doing instructional design for a retailer. I am slightly less broke.

I am also going, "Hm, all my engineering co-horts are not broke. And jeez, why do I read HN all the time? Maybe I should start playing around, again..."

But, no, at the moment, no skillz.

</comment><comment><USER6> Not only can I not program, but in addition to that I am a female. In the past I've tried to ask questions from throw away accounts, which were poorly received. So I limit myself to reading and refrain from posting anything. It's better that I don't participate anyway, since I would be wasting a lot of valuable time, which I need to use for my other projects. The amount I've learned in the last year is staggering, and I recommend this site to friends.

<comment><USER7> I resemble some of those remarks: I also can't program and I also happen to be female. And my questions tend to not get much feedback. But I have a long, long history of falling on my face in that regard, starting well before I ever heard of Hacker News, so I don't think it's "them". I'm pretty darn sure it's me. I participate anyway. It's been a growth experience and I like it here.

YMMV, and probably will.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Count me in. Can't say how many ideas I've head for some startups but always fall short because I lack programming skills. For me, time is of the essence - and it hasn't been easy to wrap my head around programming therefore I estimate at least 5 years of learning to accomplish my ideas.

I've been reading about how no tech people will partner with someone just because they have an idea and frankly I'd like to give the middle finger to those authors, however they are most likely right as I cannot seem to find anyone to help me out.

I just wish there was a place to find good programmers with free time who want to take an idea and turn it into reality.

Any tips?

<comment><USER9> Do you ever mention your ideas to programmers at all? Or do you not know any at all?

<comment><USER8> Truth be told I don't know many. The few I know are always busy with something even though it doesn't seem like it ever takes them anywhere. Tried hiring a few and communication always seems to be a huge problem, thus projects going unfinished.

<comment><USER10> I am some what of a jack of all trades. I'm not a programmer, but I know how to program. I can make things work in a hacked sort of manner. Just spending two weeks working through a basic book on python would fix this problem. I've hired developers and designers and just being able to talk to them in their own language even at a basic level helps a ton here.

It's hard to hire a good x, when you can't do x your self. You don't know what to look for.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> 1,273.

If you've recently learned programming but haven't been in front of one of our supported surveillance platforms lately you may still be counted in this number - please feel free to update it!

</comment><comment><USER12> I'd love to learn how to code, but I grew up with BASIC (TRS-80 CoCo variety) and I'm a linear, spaghetti-code thinker.

I've dabbled in VB (back in 1991), used Prolog for a law school AI assignment, made great use of WordBasic (Office 95) to save a company thousands of dollars a year by autogenerating indices...

More recently I played with Android App Inventor and created a basic "English Nanny" (shake the baby) app, which took a couple of hours. C++, C#, Java etc. just seem too difficult to learn.

Any advice would be appreciated, of course :)

<comment><USER13> "C++, C#, Java etc. just seem too difficult to learn."

In a lot of respects, they are -- there's a lot of ceremony and boilerplate around getting started that's there to please the compiler (and programmer job security) rather than the programmer. If you want to learn to code, I'd try something like Python, Ruby, or JavaScript first -- you say you're a "linear, spaghetti-code thinker," but that pretty much describes everyone who's starting out. Something in the Python/Ruby/JS mold would make it easier for you to see relationships between different parts of your code and make the leap from linear thinking to something more organized, without the noise that languages like C#/C++/Java impose on you.

Good luck!

<comment><USER12> Thank you for the tip - I guess I should've been clearer and say, "I'm interested in Android programming and some basic Windows 7 stuff, but Android Java's too hard and App Inventor's too limited." :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I don't program (aside from SAS/R statistical programming and LaTeX). I'm planning on learning how.

I have the feeling that there is a lot of potential good that an epidemiology- oriented hacker could do.

Problem is, I have no direct external pressure to motivate learning, and no direction on what to learn. Reading Hacker News is a way of gaining both motivation and direction.

</comment><comment><USER15> I am a engineer and a unix admin in a previous life so i can code simple scripts, read/understand php/javascript (or copy some code snippet from the interweb and modify to my liking). Also as a electronics engineer i can understand high level comp sci theories...But obviously i am not a real hands- on programmer and it didnt stopped me from making millions from web projects!

<comment><USER16> Which projects made you millions?

<comment><USER15> Sorry, i can't name names!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I can't program enough to bring my ideas to life, and it frustrates the hell out of me. Yes, I'm capable of outsourcing, and I do, but boy do I wish I could do more than I can right now.

I've got 3 or 4 books from the Pragmatic Bookshelf open on my iPad at all times, and I toy with online tutorials, but learning Farsi was much easier :)

</comment><comment><USER18> I don't code because when I was a youngster it didn't exist at all. On the other hand I wonder why a lot of coders can't play music. It seems like the two things are so closely related except with music it's more like writing code with an audience. You don't know if what you wrote works until you get to the end of the piece. Every time.

<comment><USER19> I wouldn't claim the jargon file as an authoritative source, but the entry on music claims that at least one study found a correlation between music skills and programmers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Until very recently I had no meaningful coding experience besides a little Excel macro-ing and modifying WordPress' PHP. My New Year's resolution is to make my web app a reality, but I don't know how to code. I am on week 3 of learning Python through MIT's OCW (and many other resources), and I'll let you know when I'm done with my app!

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm not a developer, but software development is my business, since I run a web development software company. HN is a great way to learn as much as I possibly can about this business and stay ahead. I am learning how to code (python), but I am not (nor ever will be) a software developer.

</comment><comment><USER22> That would describe me as well, though I've taken up self-teaching myself web development since about a week or two ago. Though I come from a (traditional) business and psychology background in my studies, I feel most at home in the strong entrepreneurial culture of the tech space.

<comment><USER8> Are you taking up self teaching because you can't find anyone to help you as well? Have you had any success yet?

<comment><USER22> I'm taking up self-teaching by choice and habit because I often like to learn things on my own at first. (Half of my "education" from middle school to current college studies have all been self-taught in a variety of subjects during my spare time.) And with all the resources available -- books, online tutorials, quora.com, wikipedia, etc -- it's not difficult to pick up the basics on your own.

As for my progress so far in web programming, I'm starting from the front-end basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript first. The past two weeks were spent on relearning HTML and CSS (I picked them up back in middle school but forgot over the years) and will hopefully start on basic javascript in about a week. By my personal metric of success, I'm pretty satisfied with my daily progress and can at least build basic websites that meets established web standards.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I have absolutely no programming skills. I thoroughly enjoy HN and appreciate the coders point of view since I have worked with a bunch throughout the years. For 2011 I resolve to learn Python or Ruby.

</comment><comment><USER24> ...Does working in close proximity to engineers count? I truly believe I'm absorbing their brainwaves.

<comment><USER25> ha ha. Me too. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Im trying to move from the non-technical camp to the technical camp!

</comment><comment><USER27> here's another one, besides HTML and some simple PHP I never programmed... just never had the time to properly learn a programming language

</comment><comment><USER28> me! :)

</comment><comment><USER29> I just started to learn how to code (Python) two weeks ago, but I have been an HN reader for about the last four months. The stories here often inspire me to progress and push myself in other areas of my life. I also like hearing about the leading edges of technology.</comment>


Choosing a school fiu/nyit - <AUTHOR>

I have a conditional admit from FIU in a specialized course for MS/MIS and an admit in MBA/MIS from NYIT.Could anyone suggest what would be a better school and course to get into? <comment><USER2> Congratulations on being admitted to both universities!

This course of study will lead you to an excellent career. I encourage you to please contact the Office of Graduate Admissions at New York Institute of Technology to discuss the M.B.A./MIS program in detail. The program's curriculum is being adapted to meet the current demands of employers, and we'd love to tell you more about it. For more info, please contact 516.686.7520 or email email@example.com.

Best of luck as you make this important decision.</comment>


Vessyl, the smart cup that knows exactly what you're drinking - <AUTHOR> https://www.myvessyl.com/ <comment><USER2> I'm not comfortable buying a $100 cup if I Can't find the "How does it work?" question in the FAQ. I mean, I'm not expecting a full technical detail, but something more than "It's not magic, but close to it…".

It's easier to find out if it will work as you expect it if at least gives some hint of what kind of technology it's using. Or am I missing any text that says so? I would certainly consider doing a pre-order if I had some more info on its inner workings. It looks like a neat product and even one that I would like to try out just for fun, and also to see if this technology actually works.

(I'm not counting the video which I didn't look at because I really prefer not having to sit through several minutes of pretty pictures and logos and such to find out how the product works)

So am I alone in this? is it so rare for people to ask how a device that claims near-magical properties work?

<comment><USER3> No, it seems pretty basic. If you had sat through the video it would still be 'magic'.

But hey, you can get it for $99 right now instead of $199 later!

<comment><USER2> So even the video doesn't explain this? Well that was unexpected. I really really find it odd that people that can engineer something like this don't even want to show a _little bit_ of the magic they created? Sounds like snake- oil to me then.. even if it's not, that's how it looks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What problem is this cup solving? Is it that hard to figure out what you're drinking? (Hint: look at the bottle when you pour, and don't take drinks from strangers.) Is it that hard to keep yourself hydrated? (Just drink when you're thirsty.) And how is a calorie counting cup gonna help me lose weight? (Just DRINK WATER).

I want something that simplifies my life. Not something that needlessly complicates something as simple as drinking without giving me added benefits.

<comment><USER5> Roofies. It solves the problem of roofies.

<comment><USER6> Not really. I don't see discotheques or bars buying it. They generally buy the cheapest plastic glass they can find for the former and the later have drink companies offering them free glasses. As for private parties, where your cup is likely to be lost or broken, people won't bring this expensive cups with them.

To me it's more, "lets surf on the Internet of Things". As already said, I don't see the need. Maybe if one day it become as cheap as normal cups. But not now.

Not I saying roofies are not a problem. Just that is not a solution, IMHO.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm not sure why exactly I would need this (I don't need a cup to tell me what I'm drinking, and I don't find it difficult to keep track of my beverage habits).

This is interesting from a technical perspective, though. How does it know what's in the cup?

<comment><USER8> I'm going to take a guess and say that it contains a small device which uses an absorption spectroscopy technique ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_spectroscopy)) or something similar. Given a large database of known beverages and their constituent parts, it could compare and find a match based on a known set of gaps in the spectrum.

<comment><USER9> Thx for the link. It's interesting that a couple of years ago this technology would have required thousands of dollars of chemistry equipment and now you can build it into a cup.

Very cool.

<comment><USER10> > a couple of years ago this technology would have required thousands of > dollars of chemistry equipment and now you can build it into a cup.

A $200 cup. [http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/vessyl-smart-cup-knows-the- diffe...](http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/vessyl-smart-cup-knows-the-difference- between-coke-and-pepsi/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I hope they are taking a page from the Tesla playbook. The people who _need_ this device are not the ones who are going to pre-order it today or buy it when it comes to retail. But to reach the broader consumer market they need to target high-end, trendy, and rich consumers, so they can eventually produce an affordable (or better yet, ubiquitous) technology. To complete the analogy, I hope this is the "Roadster" with a clear goal of an affordable sedan in the future.

Who do I think needs this technology? People who drink soda and don't know how many calories they are consuming. Not only does it cause a huge percentage of obesity cases ([http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-drinks- fa...](http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sugary-drinks-fact-sheet/)) but the large doses of caffeine and phosphoric acid in Colas can do serious damage to your bones! ([http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/soda- osteoporosis](http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/features/soda-osteoporosis)).

Unfortunately there is a strong correlation between poverty and soda consumption. ([http://www.livescience.com/35127-poverty-soda-pop- consumptio...](http://www.livescience.com/35127-poverty-soda-pop- consumption-101103.html)) So if you want to make a real impact you're going to have to make this cheap and easy enough to be sold in bulk at Walmart. (Please excuse the stereotyping, it is, of course, not this simple.)

<comment><USER12> I think really what the people who "need" this device need is better access to good food, and the money to buy it.

I mean, really, I am pretty sure most poor people know they kinda eat like shit. If they had the money to spend on good food (prepared or raw materials), and the time to sit in a restaurant for a half hour, or to cook stuff, they probably would. A higher minimum wage, maybe even a basic income, would go a lot further than "here is a $5 cup that can make you feel guilty about not being able to afford to drink good things".

<comment><USER11> IMO it's an education problem. I used to work in bone density testing and almost universally people were shocked to learn that cola might hurt their bones. Ironically being heavy means higher estrogen levels and a heavier load to carry (which is exercise for your bones) so the effect was sometimes canceled out. But if you don't know that there is a lot of sugar in some beverages, or you don't do the math to figure out how many servings of the "low cal" beverage you're getting when you drink _multiple 2 liter bottles a day_ then you're screwed!

Just like activity trackers can help improve health by improving awareness (and yes, maybe some guilt) I still think any food/calorie tracking technology could help. And remember here we're talking about nourishment for which there is a nearly free and readily available alternative; water.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I keep bouncing between "this is an excellently executed troll!" and "…does this actually work?!"

<comment><USER14> I'm guessing that it either uses absorption spectrography or a motor, two electrodes, a balance, and a large database of mass/conductivity/viscosity data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Up next: C'mode, the smart toilet that knows what you've been eating, and offers helpful advice intended to prevent indigestion and weight gain, while optimizing your grocery list and restaurant reservations.

<comment><USER16> Hahahah, I feel that would be difficult to market but probably really useful. I'm sure you can learn all types of things about yourself from your stool. I guess when you sat down, it would have some voice recognition to know it was you, like "Hello C'mode!"?

<comment><USER17> Weight and body fat, like the Withings scale.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> It would be nice to know how it works, literally the only question I have is not answered on the FAQ page.

</comment><comment><USER19> $99 for a smart cup that will add to the list of items I have to regularly charge.

Seems like a cool concept, but it's too expensive and the idea of having YET ANOTHER item to charge really pushes me away.

I love that people are doing these kinds of things, though.

</comment><comment><USER20> This sounds absurdly stupid. I thought it was a joke.

<comment><USER21> Exactly my thought, the video seems satirical. Especially when the guy pours beer in the cup and it tells him that it's beer, after which he gives it a "that's right" nod.

<comment><USER22> It's more that it puts the info into your phone automatically. Of course _you_ know it's beer, but writing it down in a food journal is a bit of a hassle, and doing math on it to see how many calories you drank each day this month is tedious enough to be worth automating.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I'm wonder if this means we've hit peak 'smart<x>', or if we're still some distance out.

Although I do like the hydration level stuff, I'm just not certain I think a $200($99 if you get in early) cup is the best solution for it.

</comment><comment><USER24> I'm going to wait until I get more information before I pass judgement on it...

But I wonder if they purposely delay displaying the contents of the liquid. It seemed a bit comical in the video when the guy pours something into the cup and it takes a couple of seconds for the animation to run before it displays, "beer"

I think you'll get a lot of poking at that aspect of it because humans generally know what they are pouring into the cup, so taking so long to identify it makes it seem slow/laggy. It gives the feeling of "why does it need 5 seconds to tell that it's water. I know it's water instantly, why doesn't it as well?"

<comment><USER17> His expression is _fantastic_, though. "I _am_ drinking beer!"

<comment><USER25> What happens if you pour in american light beer? Does it say it is water?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wonder if it can tell when you're drinking Soylent.

</comment><comment><USER26> No information on how it works, what material it's made of, etc. The last thing I want is all my liquid intake to go thru a plastic cup.

<comment><USER27> The FAQ states the inside is made of glass

<comment><USER26> I'm pretty sure it wasn't there when I checked as the TV show joke is below that I read up to it, but anyway. Now they say "specialized glass". Still not clear enough.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Do I have to take this to the pub for my beer too?

</comment><comment><USER29> April fools comes early.

</comment><comment><USER30> This is pretty nifty.

Of course the problem is I need to carry it everywhere and empty my drinks into it for it to really work. If I have to carry it everywhere, I have to make sure it's charged. So now before I go out in the morning I have yet another device that I need to ensure is fully charged for the rest of the day.

</comment><comment><USER31> I have only one question.

Can that web page be any more resource-intensive? It's basically a slideshow as I scroll.

</comment><comment><USER32> This can really sample how much sugar is in a custom smoothie? If so that's amazing.

<comment><USER33> Can you determine the amount of sugar in a liquid using a low-voltage current? Then possibly, yes.

After some quick googling, it appears this may use the same principal that diabetes glucose monitors use.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> That's very damn cool technology-wise. It would probably be useful in some sci-fi setting where you are provided with many unknown substances and you need to detect whether something is drinkable or not.

</comment><comment><USER9> This is very interesting. Automating parts of self-measurement is a good way to get people to do it.

I could use this to cut down on the caffeine... lol... would be cool if the lid locks shut after 400mg of caffeine. No more!

</comment><comment><USER35> The product seems pretty cool, but people _really do_ use the spacebar to scroll.

Headers like the one on this site make doing so very difficult. There's probably a CSS correction that can be applied.

</comment><comment><USER36> The monetization on this seems extremely likely to be selling drinking habit data to specific brands, since it can recognize brands and even varieties within brands.

</comment><comment><USER37> >In most cases, you will see the specific brands and flavors of what you are drinking when you open the app.

It'd be very interesting to know how the heck this thing works.

</comment><comment><USER38> I'm interested to see how it handles minestrone soup...

</comment><comment><USER39> Whoever writes the first beer pong app for this will be an instant billionaire. Or will be invited to a lot of parties. One of those two.

</comment><comment><USER40> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law)

</comment><comment><USER41> I like this. I would also like a toilet that analysed my waste and tell me things.

</comment><comment><USER42> OMG, At least a device to tell me when i'm thirty ! I'm just waiting for another device to tell me when i'm hungry and then, i could replace my brain, stomac and body by stupid pieces of hardware. That's the product i was looking all my life, for sure ! ...

</comment><comment><USER43> For people with no short term memory or taste buds, wave of the future...

</comment><comment><USER44> I thought it was mac pro

</comment><comment><USER45> You've gotta be fucking kidding me.</comment>


Alternative Internet - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/redecentralize/alternative-internet <comment><USER2> I have also been working on an alternative Internet, which is now patented in the United States ([http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week28/OG/html/1416-2...](http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week28/OG/html/1416-2/US09083718-20150714.html)), however; I have decided to not use my patent to monopolize the technology, and open-source the idea instead. I have been working on a fully-encrypted, P2P mesh networking project, which is available on my GitHub. It is still very early in development and not finished yet. Contributions are welcome, and I'm glad to see that there's an interest in decentralized Internet technology! My GIt repositories are: GGSuite: [https://github.com/IDWMaster/GGSuite](https://github.com/IDWMaster/GGSuite) GGRouter: [https://github.com/IDWMaster/GGRouter](https://github.com/IDWMaster/GGRouter)</comment>


The Generalist, the Specialist, and the Leader - <AUTHOR> https://rempel.world/posts/generalist-specialist-leader.html <comment><USER2> The INTP, INTJ, and ENTJ.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting comparison! I didn't actually think to compare this to MBTI results.

According to this random article, the average salaries of those personalities is pretty evenly distributed over those personalty types:

[https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-18425/the-personality- types-...](https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-18425/the-personality-types-that- make-the-highest-and-lowest-salaries.html)

<comment><USER2> Corporations, even if you look at the graph linked in that article, are biased toward Te users (with extroverted Te users being more favored than introverted ones), then the other extroverted judgers, then everyone else. That is, INTPs and others tend to not make as much.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Postmail – Contact forms for static sites - <AUTHOR> https://postmail.invotes.com <comment><USER2> I like the idea; more and more I'm finding myself hosting static sites (maybe with a CMS back-end hosted elsewhere that generates and publishes to S3) and this is a good solution.

However... the website simply doesn't work. I get the feeling from it I should be able to simply enter my email address and copy the generated code, yet when I do so nothing happens, and unless my access token really is `abc123`, something's not right here!

<comment><AUTHOR> Did you follow the link sent to your email address? That may be the missing piece. The front page has an example (maybe it shouldn't be actual text, it makes it seem like you can copy it).

Once you use the link that's sent to your email address, you should be able to copy and paste the examples from your personal log-in page.

EDIT: I see why this is confusing, since the textbox doesn't prompt you to submit. I'm adding submit buttons, they'll be up in a few minutes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Funnel [http://funnelnow.com/](http://funnelnow.com/) does this and more.

Disclosure: it's my company's service which we use daily.

</comment><comment><USER4> I've been using [http://mailthis.to](http://mailthis.to) for a few static sites.

</comment><comment> sid-kap A similar tool is [https://formspree.io/](https://formspree.io/)</comment>


Why 3d movies hurt your eyes and make you nauseous - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/id/2215265/

<comment><USER2> I'm relatively uninformed on this, but couldn't you reduce these unpleasant effects by 'flattening' the 3D image? If the optical effect never (or rarely) appears to come more than say, several feet off of the screen, then you loose the nauseating effects, while keeping a kinder, gentler textured image.

I saw a 3D at the local aquarium recently and it seemed like every image came as far out as possible. I, of course, left with a headache. After all, a distorted guitar is nice, but any effect can be overdone.

<comment><USER3> In current 3D films in theme parks and such the effect is often way overstated. 3D will really start to matter after is used simply to tell the story more vividly, as color is used now.</comment></comment>


Why to normalize Unicode strings - <AUTHOR> https://withblue.ink/2019/03/11/why-you-need-to-normalize-unicode-strings.html <comment><USER2> The official unicode documentation on normalization is good reading, and quite readable. It's actually an even more complicated topic than OP reveals, but the Unicode Standard Annex #15 explains it well.

[http://unicode.org/reports/tr15/](http://unicode.org/reports/tr15/)

OP has a significant error:

> You can choose whatever form you'd like, as long as you're consistent, so > the same input always leads to the same result.

Not so much! Do _not_ use the "Compatibility" (rather than "Canonical") normalization forms unless you know what you are doing! UAX15 will explain why, but they are "lossy". In general, NFC is the one to use as a default.

<comment><USER3> > In general, NFC is the one to use as a default.

Why nfc instead of nfd?

<comment><USER4> Saves space, is just what people expect, easier to work fast and loose with when you want to do that.

<comment><USER5> But needs a third more time than NFD. Apple choose the long form NFD in its old filesystem. NFC needs three steps, NFD only the first two. The size rarely matters that much.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > Thankfully, there's an easy solution, which is normalizing the string into > the "canonical form".

Cool, problem solved!

> There are four standard normalization forms:

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

<comment><USER7> I do understand the need for the difference between NFC and NFKC, but in hindsight NFD and NFKD seem entirely unnecessary.

<comment><USER8> NFD is useful if you want to do a diacritic-insensitive search.

<comment><USER9> The problem is that diacritic-insensitive search is locale-dependent, so it doesn't do the right thing anyway.

Specific example: in English, you'd want a search for 'a' to find 'ä' while this is the entirely wrong thing in Swedish where a and ä are distinct letters.

An English speaker probably wouldn't want a search for 'i' to match 'j' even though the latter just has an extra hook on the bottom.

<comment><USER8> That's a very good point. There's still a use for locale-insensitive diacritic-insensitive searches, but you're absolutely right that in most cases you'd want it to be locale-aware and therefore NFD isn't sufficient (though it may still be easier to do this on NFD than NFC).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> > _Why use both [UTF-8 and UTF-16]? Western languages typically are most > efficiently encoded with UTF-8 (since most characters would be represented > with 1 byte only), while Asian languages can usually produce smaller files > when using UTF-16 as encoding._

The second sentence is technically correct, but it's a strange followup here because it's not _why_ UTF-8 and UTF-16 exist today. I don't know any Asian webpages that use UTF-16 to save bandwidth, e.g., Japanese Wikipedia is still UTF-8.

The major use of UTF-16 in 2019, AFAICT, is for legacy operating system interfaces.

<comment><USER11> Also "legacy" language runtimes. "Legacy" being in scare quotes because JavaScript, the JVM, and the CLR all work this way and are all very much in widespread use today.

<comment><USER12> JDK 9 introduced "compact strings" ([https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8054307](https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8054307)). That stores a string's characters in a byte array, with either the traditional two bytes per 'char' (encoding the entire string as UTF16) or, if possible, one (encoding the entire string as ISO-8859-1/Latin-1). They probably didn't use UTF-8 because it would break the fact that string indexing is O(1).

<comment><USER13> That's just internal representation, though. Semantically, strings are still sequences of chars, and char is still 16-bit, so the API is still UTF-16.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Note that Apple's APFS doesn't normalize Unicode filenames:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13953800](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13953800)

From what I understand, it stores them as-is but can read any (so is normalization insensitive):

[https://medium.com/@yorkxin/apfs-docker- unicode-6e9893c9385d](https://medium.com/@yorkxin/apfs-docker- unicode-6e9893c9385d)

[https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Fi...](https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/FileManagement/Conceptual/APFS_Guide/FAQ/FAQ.html)

This hit me a couple of years ago when I was working on a scraper and storing the title of the page as the filename. It looked fine, but would fail a Javascript string comparison. I can't remember if I was using HFS+ though, which I believe saved filenames as NFD:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus#Criticisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HFS_Plus#Criticisms)

The same script might work today on APFS.

<comment><USER15> HFS+ uses Form D.

I had to remember to create my ZFS volumes with Form D enabled, as it isn't an attribute that can be changed afterwards.

IIRC, ZFS on Mac OS X would set that by default so if you created the volumes from a Mac, then ok. But I was creating my ZFS array on a Linux or OpenSolaris server, where I would need to set Form D Normalization explicitly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> By the way the last letter of Zoë is e with a diaresis, not An umlaut. Like the second o in coöperate — it's just an ordinary o with a marker to tell you to pronounce it rather than form a diphthong.

</comment><comment><USER17> Just tried this in Perl6; looks like string comparisons Do The Right Thing™.

        > "\x65\x301".contains("\xe9")
        True

<comment><USER18>
      > "\c[latin small letter e]\c[combining acute accent]" eq "\c[latin small letter e with acute]"
      True

Edit: And of course

      > "\c[dog face]".chars
      1

and not 2 as in the article.

PS: WTF? HN strips emojis :/ (and does it incorrectly when they are emoji sequences).

<comment><USER19> Swift is another major language that has correctly solved this problem in this way - i.e. not representing/operating on strings as though they were naive arrays of bytes or code points - but rather as though they were arrays of _characters_ , which Unicode thoroughly and intuitively defines in the same way that humans think about characters.

<comment><USER20> > _characters_ , which Unicode thoroughly and intuitively defines in the same > way that humans think about characters

"Character" is a somewhat vague term, and Unicode prefers to use more specific terms like "code unit", "code point", "abstract character", etc.

In this case I think you may be referring to _grapheme clusters_ , which come closer to how "humans think about characters" than Unicode _abstract characters_ , which are building blocks of the technical encoding standard but in some cases don't really match a human concept of a graphical element of a writing system.

See also _"Characters" and Grapheme Clusters_ in section 2.11 of [https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode12.0.0/ch02.pdf](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode12.0.0/ch02.pdf), for example.

<comment><USER19> Oops - you're right. I'm using the term "character" for both the intuitive and documented definition, but the documented term I'm referring to is actually grapheme cluster.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I still don't understand why Unicode allows two different ways to represent the same thing.

Naively, that appears as a major defect in Unicode.

Perhaps someone reading this knows why this was the right thing to do?

<comment><USER22> Unicode was created to unify a number of different pre-existing character sets so they all could be mapped directly to unicode code points. Some of these character-sets had pre-composed characters, e.g. a single code-point to represent 'ö'. Other used combining characters. Unicode therefore had to support both.

<comment><USER23> The Unicode space is massive. It's odd they didn't just spend a bunch of code points for those existing (predominately Latin) character.

Unless you are supposed to be able to put an unlaut on any character. CJK characters with umlauts.

<comment><USER12> Yes, you're supposed to: &̈ *̈ ~̈ ⺃ ⺃̈ ⻑ ⻑̈

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> ...in web apps (i.e. during presentation). Don't do it at the storage layer:

[https://github.com/git/git/commit/76759c7dff53e8c84e975b88cb...](https://github.com/git/git/commit/76759c7dff53e8c84e975b88cb8245587c14c7ba)

Edit: see comments below. My generalization is over broad. Maybe a fairer statement is that some forms of normalization lead to aliasing and sometimes you want that but sometimes not. So be aware of whether you want different strings to be treated the "same" or not.

My thought was that you can always test for sameness after the fact, but once you've normalized into storage, you can't undo it.

<comment><USER2> Eh, in general I think it makes a lot of sense to do it at the storage layer.

That particular commit mentions _filenames_. I agree you should _never_ touch the bytes that are meant to be a filepath. file systems still do idiosyncratic things with non-ascii file paths, and most of us aren't filesystem experts. Leave the bytes of a filepath alone.

Since git is all about filepaths, it makes sense that git would want to generally avoid this.

But in general, "during presentation" is not enough to deal with the sorts of problems the OP talks about. If you're comparing strings somewhere, it's probably before "presentation".

In general, I think it's quite reasonable to normalize your input, on the way in, to NFC. I think it's reasonable enough in most cases that normalizing input to NFC on the way in is a reasonable "default" to get started with, unless you know a reason you shouldn't.

(For searching, you MIGHT want to normalize to NFKC, but that is "lossy" so I would never do that as a rule. I'd normally do it in some other field, and keep the original lossless copy too).

<comment><USER25> Sorry if this sounds a little clueless, but it sounds like the problem is because there's multiple Unicode standards (UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32). So it seems like if you just re-encode everything into one of these before committing to the storage layer, that you'd avoid this problem altogether, and you'd be able to do operations in the storage layer correctly too.

<comment><USER19> A Unicode string is an array of Unicode's building blocks: Code points. Normalization/composition refers to how we use code points to represent characters. Encoding refers to how we use bytes to represent code points. The two concepts exist at two independent levels of abstraction.

<comment><USER26> Accurate but so arrogant. HN purity achieved.

<comment><USER19> Sorry, I didn't intend that. I honestly considered it a reasonable question.

<comment><USER27> No worries, your reply was a concise clarification of the issue and terminology, and a reasonable answer; I didn't perceive it as arrogant in the least.

<comment><USER25> OP here; I didn't perceive it as arrogant either. I think the "arrogant" accuser might have a point about some stuff I see on HN, but this reply to my post just isn't it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> "The first of such conventions, or character encodings, was ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)." The author may know better and is glossing over history, but when I see statements like this that are obviously incorrect, I question everything else in the article.

<comment><USER29> The article is largely correct. I do a lot of search and NLP work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> There shouldn't even be any such thing as normalized strings, i.e. two different Unicode sequences that are supposed to be the same character.

<comment><USER31> Sounds great in theory...but you've just vastly extended the number of "characters". While text parsing is a nightmare, you also get the flexibility of combining different characters together, such as emojis and skin tone modifiers, which outputs a different display character.

On the other hand, I'm not sure its possible to have a font that represents every valid combination of unicode.

<comment><USER30> Unicode can simply not recognize combining characters where a special code point exists, and vice versa, on a case by case basis. For example, the ä can remain its special code point, and a¨ can display as a¨. Then software that processes Unicode will become straightforward.

<comment><USER13> That ship has sailed for backwards compatibility reasons.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> What is with the push to unicode? Why not ascii? It seems to give a lot less trouble, particularly wrt panagrams, normalization, etc.

<comment><USER33> そうですね、僕も分からない(´-`)⁉

<comment><USER34> Speaking of which, how does Han Unification affect Unicode normalization. If I understand correctly, you can compose strokes into characters? Does that work?</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Did you get invited to YC Fellowship interview? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> No. Applied late and I think that's why. (more here: [https://ntucker.true.io/](https://ntucker.true.io/))

Tell me why I'm wrong though. :)

<comment><USER3> [https://twitter.com/ycombinator/status/633842017022271488](https://twitter.com/ycombinator/status/633842017022271488)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's all just a ruse to create excitement for yc and no one was in fact invited to interview.</comment>


Official Debian/Ubuntu packages for Dropbox - <AUTHOR> http://raphaelhertzog.com/2011/06/06/official-debian-ubuntu-packages-for-nautilus-dropbox/

<comment><USER2> Maybe I missed it, but why exactly would you use this over the Dropbox .deb available directly from dropbox.com?

Seems like the "official" one would have longer term support.

<comment><USER3> This, also to me, seems a little fishy. I doubt this repo is official. I'd like to see the dropbox staff to comment on this here.

<comment><USER4> Its an official _Debian_ package of dropbox. Official according to Debian, not necessarily according to Dropbox.

Raphaël Hertzog is fairly well-known in the Debian community, and is a Debian developer. Note that its hosted on people.debian.org, which is an official Debian service for hosting Debian-related material from Debian developers.

See [http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers- reference/resou...](http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers- reference/resources.html#servers-people)

Also, see the new queue (linked in the blog post too) <http://ftp- master.debian.org/new.html> where you can see Raphaël has uploaded it to the official archive. Or the details here: [http://ftp- master.debian.org/new/nautilus-dropbox_0.6.7-1.ht...](http://ftp- master.debian.org/new/nautilus-dropbox_0.6.7-1.html)</comment></comment></comment>


A more efficient matching engine for HTTPS Everywhere - <AUTHOR> https://remusao.github.io/posts/efficient-https-everywhere-engine.html <comment><USER2> > Lastly, I was surprised to observe that the Rust/WebAssembly version of the > engine as currently shipped in HTTPS Everywhere seems to be slower at both > initialization and operating than the previous JavaScript implementation. > This seems to contradict the previous claims when this was first released.

I see this all too often... Some bit of code is slow, so a project is started to rewrite it more efficiently. Along the way, a bit of scope creep happens, and the final result is slower than the original. Since so much effort has been invested into it, it gets deployed anyway.

<comment><USER3> I see that in the Python and JS world sometimes.

The fact is, most scripting languages are written using a compiled one, often C, under the hood.

And those implementations have been optimized for decades.

A lot of hot loops are such because of complex sorting, filtering, and so on, and those are quite hard to do right.

Hence, it's possible to write a way slower implementation using C manually than using the automatic way in Python or JS, not to mention the later has a very good JIT.

If you add the fact some code may use crazy fast libs (like numpy in Python), then you may end up in a situtation where you have to really know what you are doing to implement a faster version.

However, somebody knowing what they are doing would measure and find the bottle neck first before talking of a rewrite, and suggest it only if it's worth it.

Which it can be, of course. Mercurial, Dropbox and Youtube are all good stories about it.

But the junior thats been tasked to improve the UX is probably not the best to advice you on the matter.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> On firefox I just set dom.security.https_only_mode to true. There isn't really a need for an additional extension for me.

The only cases where it becomes somewhat problematic for me is my router page and local jupyter notebooks. Both can be served through other means.

</comment><comment><USER5> I've written a janky Ruby script that automatically tries to convert the HTTPS Everywhere rules into content blockers: [https://github.com/bouk/https- everywhere-host-list/blob/mast...](https://github.com/bouk/https-everywhere- host-list/blob/master/generate.rb)

It's used to create the host list for HTTP4All, my unofficial port of HTTPS Everywhere to iOS [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/https4all/id1305430042?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/https4all/id1305430042?mt=8)

<comment><USER6> Nice project! There is "Automatic HTTPS Upgrade" in the iOS Safari (experimental) settings. Wouldn't that do the same?

<comment><USER7> That just switches to the SSL version of a site if it exists. It does nothing to block an unsecured site.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> HTTPS is already almost everywhere. This addon is pretty much unneeded in 2020 not to mention it did very little anyway.

<comment><USER9> You'd be very surprised how many websites you visit in a day that still don't have HTTPS, if you stopped to check. Little academic sites, old tech blogs, those trackers when you click a link in an email list that you signed up for...

<comment><USER10> If a site doesn't support HTTPS the extension won't do anything.

<comment><USER11> It has an option to block sites that don't do https (with options to permanently/temporarily allow them.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Have your recent FB posts been dropped? - <AUTHOR>

A wall post I made on Sunday has mysteriously disappeared from my wall. Anyone else experiencing similar issues? <comment><USER2> Yes. also I suspect some posts are just made less visible than others.

A month or two back I posted a mention of that Six California States initiative that's going on. I couldn't find it again.

Facebook is more about wanting you to read what they think is "more popular" for you than being up-to-date with your friends. And funny, the popular stuff is a lot of advertising and game notifications.</comment>


Mono for Android - <AUTHOR> http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2011/Jan-04.html

<comment><USER2> I really like C# and I like the Android platform. Funny enough, I was hoping something like this would be available a few days back. And here it is.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> who'd have thought that Mono is going to be such a valuable asset for Novell.

We'll see how fast this is going to be on Android (running a VM on a VM?), but personally, I prefer C# to Java any time.</comment>


Ask HN: GDPR, WordPress.com REST API and Gravatar - <AUTHOR> Hi, I'm building a service based on the wordpress.com REST API (https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/) which gives access to wordpress.com data, and based on the Gravatar (https://gravatar.com) service from which I download images.
So, when my users will use my service, their IP and HTTP header will go to WordPress.com and to the Gravatar service, and they say the use IPs to make geolocalization.
Under the GDPR, is it enough I explain this in my privacy policy or do I have to store the consent?
Thank you. <comment><USER2> For new users, explaining this in the privacy policy and getting their consent is enough. It is wise to store the consent, for a user might complain that he/she never gave their OK, and then it's up to you to prove that they did.

If you already have a user base, you should inform them that you are changing your processing of their data, again they must consent. (you will probably have received those kind of mails or popups on websites during the last year yourself)

Important question: are you offering the service to individuals interacting directly with your service, or are you processing this data on behalf of a business client (the "controller")?</comment>


Felleisen hates Python - <AUTHOR> http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/python.html It Would Almost Be Funny If It Wasn't So Sad! <comment><USER2> Here is a guy who doesnt know what he is talking about. And he proposes to implement a new language that fixes Python's flaws.

Integer division is a slippery concept. Python 2.4 returns the floor of the result.

>>> -(5/3)

-1

>>> -5/3

-2

If a language "rounds" towards zero the results will be different and equal.

>>> from __future__ import division

>>> -(5/3)

-1.6666666666666667

>>> -5/3

-1.6666666666666667

The results are the same, but probably not what he is expecting.

The discussion about .1 reveals a fundamental misunderstanding about floating point;. You cannot represent .1 exactly. FP should not be used for financial applications if you want exact results. Use Decimal instead.

On the other hand, maybe understands all this and is just fishing for a language development project.</comment>


Why your brain loves procrastination - <AUTHOR> http://www.vox.com/2014/12/8/7352833/procrastination-psychology-help-stop <comment><USER2> Love this quote:

So the most important thing you can do is bootstrap a little progress. Get a little progress, and that's going to fuel your well-being and your motivation.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's not procrastination - it's just lazy evaluation.</comment>


Should AI worker-robots pay taxes into social security and medicare for humans? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Yes. If we do, so shall our new overlords. If not how will the masses of unemployed keep getting the dole?</comment>


I Became Financially Stable on Unemployment - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/swlh/i-became-financially-stable-on-unemployment-91428d7ddbf3 <comment><USER2> That is one of the concerns I have with the 600$ per week. It encourages being unemployed to the point of people being angry at not being let go.

I do get that the people let go need some form of support. And while I have no better solution at this time, I hope that one can be found.</comment>


First in-body gene replacement trial - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/15/health/first-in-body-edit-dna/index.html <comment><AUTHOR> I saw this today and had the sense of excitement and dread. Correcting the gene responsible for a given condition is only a small step from changing a gene for better athletic performance.</comment>


Ask HN: What are your favourite 3D engines? - <AUTHOR> I know about Unreal, Unity and Autodesk (Maya and 3ds Max). <comment><USER2> Blender for modeling, animation, etc. And Unreal Engine for game development and real-time visualization.

</comment><comment><USER3> Slightly specialized I know, but I thought Randy Heit did great work on the ZDoom engine. Jaakko Keränen also did some really good things with the Doomsday Engine.

</comment><comment><USER4> Blender. Note: you really need a 3 button mouse. I spent hours trying to figure out how to use this program, before you could find hundreds of videos online, and kept failing. Aside from that, it works really well.

</comment><comment><USER5> Cinema4d

</comment><comment><USER6> vtk.org</comment>


Ask HN: Help me validate my idea - <AUTHOR>

I am avid reader and I enjoy reading quotes. I miss an app (iOS/Android) where I can read quotes from particular tv-series/movies. I haven't read too many novels so I am not much interested in quotes from there.
Could you give some feedback on this? Should I pursue this idea or not?
If yes, what features would you like such an app to have? Any ideas on the app name?
Thanks. <comment><USER2> I see a lot of "don't do this unless..." or "why would you...".

Ignore those. Start by researching books (good, old, paper-based pbooks) that offer exactly this: There are plenty of them out there, usually one or two quotes per page, usually taken from public sources. Some of them are work related, some have a spiritual bent, etc.

Do this research just to satisfy yourself that yes, there are people who buy this sort of thing.

Next, validate the idea: Not with the HN crowd, I can almost guarantee they are not your audience. We tend to be self-starters, independent thinkers, etc. Some of us even mock the whole "motivational quote/poster/speaker" model.

Hell, how many of us would have told the guy who created "bingo card creator" to stick to his day job? Most of us. We are not good judges of the broader market because we all of us live on the fringes.

(Sure, there are one or two or a few people in here who can see into that broader but they are few. If you are lucky, some of the better ones will comment on this.)

Bring up those inspirational quote books with your friends, your family members, and acquaintances from non-tech fields. Do this in small groups and at times when people are more reflective, more willing to consider. Ask what they think of these books. Do they read them? Openly? As guilty pleasures? If they do, say something along the lines of "too bad there is no app for this". Judge their reactions.

As to how to do this, crowdsource the quotes. Create a system where people can submit (and correct) quotes with attributions, where they can upvote them. Whether or not a login is required is up to you, but if you go with a login, make it facebook and/or twitter, maybe pinterest, not google+ or roll your own, etc: My guess is that the people who would use this app will be very comfortable logging in with facebook and/or twitter, sharing their favourite quotes on those platforms, etc.

Make it possible for people to tag quotes, e.g., #spirituality, #productivity, #friendship, #peace, etc.

Have quotes of the day, featured quotes, etc.

There are opportunities for translation into many, many languages. See if you can crowdsource that, too.

Do NOT expect to make money doing this. Not because you won't (hell, I have no idea), but because that will allow you to gauge how much time to spend on it. Unless and until you have a successful kickstarter campaign or VC funding or hit a magical pricing structure that "just works", you will be doing this because you enjoy it, but it will not put food in your mouth or a roof over your bed.

Budget your time accordingly.

<comment><USER3> I always appreciate people who forego the "why" and advise "how." Everyone has something they want to do - and for some it's something that wouldn't necessarily provide value for anyone else - but that doesn't mean it isn't worth doing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is interesting. By "quotes", do you mean quotes that are short (often funny)? Or do you mean longer, monologue-type quotes?

IMDB has a quotes page for many movies[0] and there is a quotes.list file in their text file dumps[1].

I love movie quotes and I've had the idea of a Twitter account that tweets quotes 2x a day and the first person to reply with the correct movie title would win a prize (monetization strategy undetermined).

[0] [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109686/quotes](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109686/quotes) [1] ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/misc/movies/database/

</comment><comment><USER5> I'd use such thing if this won't be just simple list of quotes. Google is good enough for it.

How do I find a quote that I cannot google? (don't remember exact wording) How do I find quote related to X?

</comment><comment><USER6> Wouldn't such a question on imdb or tv.com forums give you more feedback?

Personally, I'd love such app. I love quotes from Mad Men, GoT and White Collar.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I don't use imdb/tv.com forums, so that idea didn't strike me earlier. Thanks for pointing that out. I will also post it there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Not very helpful, but just in case you pitch this to people in the future..

"I am avid reader" and "I haven't read too many novels so I am not much interested in quotes from there." conflict in my mind. Like, you love reading... just not novels? I equate being an avid reader to reading books/novels. Otherwise, you're just literate.

Not trying to be a douche, just giving you a take on those first two lines.

I think an app like that would be pretty cool though. A lot of times when I'm out with friends someone will say a quote and there will be a debate on what it's from. Or, someone will quote a book and they'll get called out on it for misquoting it. Regardless, arguments ensue, and I could definitely see someone pulling up your app to settle the debate.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'd recommend running this as a simple twitter account to test the concept. Reach out to people who follow the shows you are interested in. Tweet at a scheduled interval. If they don't follow it is unlikely the app would get traction. If the followers didn't grow organically once you had a core group of followers I would see that as a bad sign.

One more thought: if there was demonstrated growth and interest, you could use the twitter account to promote the app once it was released.

</comment><comment><USER9> I doubt I would use it personally. It's not something I would use often enough to justify adding another icon on my phone. Especially when I can just look on google for movie quotes. If it added functionality to find quotes by actors or attempt to find quotes from an incomplete quote (I forgot the actual quote but know the gist) and the ability to drill down by quote subject I might use it but I'd likely still prefer it to be a website.

</comment><comment><USER10> > _I enjoy reading quotes._

As someone who is not into reading and quotes I'd like to ask what you find fascinating about it. Can you maybe give an example what kind of quotes you find interesting? Dialogs, aphorisms? Is more about entertainment or worldly wisdom? Or is it more an intellectual fascination, for example thinking through how the author came up with it and considering different interaction possibilities of the actors?

<comment><USER11> I enjoy reading quotes.

I like that I get insight into a (sometimes) brilliant mind and I can do so in a few seconds by reading a few lines.

Some are inspiring, some make me smarter, some are worthless.

Unlike OP, I think that tv series' quotes are likely to be much less worthwhile, for me, than those I'm used to.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The fact that there isn't any app that does the same thing doesn't necessarily means that there's an opportunity, on the opposite, it likely means that there is no market for it. Yours it's a niche interest and the app would thus have a niche market, which means you won't make money out of it. If you're okay with it and money isn't what you're looking for, then by any means create your own app.

<comment><USER13> The fact that it is a niche market doesn't necessarily mean you won't make money out of it. On the contrary if you can work out a good way to monetize it, niche markets can be the most lucrative.

<comment><USER14> If Amazon allows affiliate links to TV shows/movies, the OP could provide a link to the episode/movie where the quote originates.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Not really helpful on validating, but here's a source for quotes...

[http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page) has an API as all the wikimedia projects.

[http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Main_page](http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Main_page)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Indeed a great source to extract info from!

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Your one and only problem in making this will be populating it. How will you fill it with data and/or get others to do so? It's not valuable until there's content.

You should pursue this idea if and only if you have a solid understanding of how you'll accomplish this, and why it will work. Just making this and dumping this on the app store will not work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, that seems to be the biggest challenge for this right now! I have been reading quotes since a long time, so I have a good collection to start with.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'd download it. It would be cool if you were able to upvote the quotes like with quotes from books on GoodReads.

</comment><comment><USER18> I look up quotes from movies on occasion. I wouldn't say I'm avid about it though and tend to look it up on Google when I need. That works good enough for me.

Did you envision a community that frequents the site/app or would it be a collection of quotes that rank well on Google searches?

<comment><AUTHOR> Only a collection/series of quotes for searched Tv series/movie for now! I agree that a community where people can talk about the quotes or like them sounds interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Sometimes I enjoy reading quotes from the quote section of IMDB. Is there a way for all of those to automatically go to an app? Maybe with something like kimonify?

</comment><comment><USER20> Great idea. Perhaps turn this into an xml feed. If it resonates with you, it's worth pursuing just for the learning experience, which is priceless.

</comment><comment><USER21> There is only one way to find out and that is to try it out.

It's not a complex app so shouldn't take you more than a few weekends.

</comment><comment><USER22> little reason for it to be an app, and lots of websites along these lines already exist.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, there are websites doing similar things(I frequently read quotes on imdb and Quora), but I miss an app when I am alone and travelling. I also usually want to filter quotes (e.g. quotes from FRIENDS when I want to read something funny etc.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> fortune has a large db of quotes, using it to render quotes on my wallpaper every minute

[http://fortune4all.sourceforge.net/](http://fortune4all.sourceforge.net/)

</comment><comment><USER24> shazam for quotes..</comment>


Ask HN: "Go-to" employees: what do you go to them for? - <AUTHOR> From a soon-to-be student who is curious by habit:
Which of your specialties or areas of expertise have earned you respect and confidence in the workplace? Conversely, when you've had a "go-to" team member, what have you gone to them for?
I'm not looking for job-title specialties—front-end/back-end, for instance—just examples of well-honed skills that are not often so well-honed in the environments you've worked in, but are appreciated when they are. These will naturally differ from field to field and office to office; common answers would, for that reason, be of slightly more interest to me.
Answers could be directly related to programming and systems maintenance, but might be more general. Examples may include fluency in assembly language, a stronger-than-usual knack for prototyping or refactoring code, clarity in written communication, or all the hallmarks of a good soundboard.
In case I haven't made my purpose clear, please note that I am not intending to use answers here as an excuse to over-specialize at the expense of general study. I'm well aware of arguments against this practice, and I am not in a position to agree or disagree with them. If this question has any actionable purpose, it is this: I can ask myself later, for those things that I'm good at or love to do, are they often in demand in the workplace? Should I indulge myself to "master" them? Should I remember them in interviews?
Thank you. <comment><USER2> In my experience, it's not technical knowledge that makes me view someone as a "go to" engineer: it's reliability. I don't like surprises from anybody when it comes to work, and I really respect engineers who can deliver thoroughly and on time without surprises in code quality.

Getting something done on time can be tricky, but the hallmark of a "go to" engineer is that, if something's going to slip, they speak early about it. Going down a rabbit hole is a bad thing, but going down a rabbit hole without telling people and checking back to see if you still need to be down there is worse.

Getting something done thoroughly means, to me, that you've written code that is tested and is reasonably robust given the nature of what you're doing. Code that lacks null checks (if you're in a language where that's a concern) is not robust. Code that doesn't handle obvious errors is not robust. Code that doesn't have any tests with it is not robust.

Code quality is a matter of taste, but what it boils down to is how well code follows the established patterns in the codebase or, if those patterns need to be changed, how well the new solution solves problems the old pattern exposed. Most development does not take place in a vacuum, and if someone goes off and does a lot of extraneous refactoring, everyone else has to pay the price of merging their work together and acclimating themselves to whatever's changed. Frequently, large refactors aren't worth that cost, and a "go-to" engineer is going to understand that balance and err on the side of getting things done versus getting things perfect.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's crazy how simple this is: be able to say "I'll take care of that" and then follow through.

At every workplace in every industry there are people that can be trusted to actually do things out people that can't; be in the first group and you'll always be valued. People who can do this will ask anyone for help, and provide help when asked, will root into problems that are non-trivial, and won't waste time trying to cover their asses.

You get to be the "go-to" person when everyone realizes that once it goes to you, it doesn't need to be worried about again.

<comment><USER4> Well put.

I would add that this doesn't necessarily mean that you yourself are the one actually completing the task. Part of this is knowing who the right person is for the job and delegating appropriately. The requester (often somebody non- technical who doesn't know who's best-suited for what type of work) usually doesn't care _who_ does the work, as long as it gets done right and on time.

Even if someone comes to you with a task that some might consider "outside of your domain", it's better to try to help solve these problems (e.g. through connecting with the right people or stepping outside of your comfort zone) than to refuse the work because it's not "part of your job". I've often worked with engineers in the latter camp and they _do not_ become go-to's.

I've found that a willingness to take on work, a friendly attitude, both towards superiors and co-workers, and the ability to complete tasks well and on-time (with the help of others) has often resulted in me being a "go-to" engineer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> as a military officer i can tell you that my "go-to" soldiers/sailors/airmen/marines are the men and women who can either understand what i'm saying or smart enough to ask questions when they don't. once they understand the task and the bounds of my authority, they go out and execute to the fullest extent possible, returning only when the task is either finished, or taken as far as they can take it without additional assistance (which is why they're coming back to me).

those who become "go-to" personnel must learn to be confident in their own judgement, and be willing to take calculated risks. as the officer, it is up to me to trust them to execute my vision, and when they make a mistake, know that the blame will be placed on me, and me alone -- since they were following my orders.

i find that failures of execution are as often failures of leadership (mine, most likely). when things go wrong, i often find myself asking subordinates if i have explained myself enough -- and then i circle back with them and try to clear up any misconceptions they had so they can go out and execute my vision.

this tool has proven effective in tech as well. i am developing a product right now, and spent the last 72 hours sitting with our coding team. two days later, they sent me a revised mock-up, and it became clear that they had internalized some, but not all of my guidance. and so i had to go back once again and try to explain in a different way.

an old english teacher of mine once said that good writing was like looking at footprints left in concrete, whereas bad writing was like looking at footprints in the sand. with the former, you can see exactly where the person is coming from, where they went, where they are going. the latter you can only see intermittent prints -- the rest is lost to the aether. hope that helps!

</comment><comment><USER6> It comes naturally when you're confident (and wear glasses.)

</comment><comment><USER7> when it absolutely positively has to be there overnight...:-)</comment>


Protecting Your GNU Linux System from Dropbox  - <AUTHOR> https://grepular.com/Protecting_Your_GNU_Linux_System_from_Dropbox

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not sure if running dropbox traffic through Tor, at this presents as an option about 3/4 of the way through, is "friendly" to the Tor network as it currently stands. If my goal were merely to protect my IP from being disclosed to Dropbox, I'd probably just use a VPN.

<comment> mike-cardwell I think your idea of what traffic is friendly to Tor is too limited. Traffic like this improves the anonymity supplied to users of Tor who need it most. The more traffic runs over the Tor network the better.

Also, on <https://www.torproject.org/about/torusers.html.en> it specifically talks about using Tor for the single purpose of concealing your IP address for privacy reasons.</comment></comment>


Microsoft makes a great ad (seriously) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.reelsurfer.com/microsoft-makes-a-great-ad-viral-videos-of-the-week-january-25/

<comment><USER2> I disagree. I enjoyed the nostalgia, but it did not make me long to use IE again. I ended up blogging about it. Below is the text from my blog, but the version on my website has links to the Draper Carousel speech if you haven't seen it: <http://www.bradlanders.com/2013/01/24/hes-no-don-draper/>

</comment><comment>==

Anyone who has seen Don Draper's iconic Carousel speech knows that nostalgia is a terribly effective agent for emptying consumers' pockets. Apparently, a reader at Daring Fireball saw a correlation between Don's work and a recent advertisement for Internet Explorer.

Take a moment to watch both the Carousel speech and the Internet Explorer ad before you move ahead. I'll wait.

I don't doubt that the agency responsible for the advertisement had this in mind when they scripted this piece. Unfortunately, the ad falls flat for me.

I grew up in the 90s. I saw a lot of things I remember fondly when I watched the ad; if not with a chuckle at the absurdity of the 90s aesthetic. I did feel connected with the images, but why didn't I feel connected to the product?

Don Draper tells us we should be nostalgic, but not because we have a strong sentimental attachment to film slides. We feel what we do because of what the Carousel delivers. We insert our slides, dim the lights, and we are taken back to "a place where we know we are loved".

Sob.

Unfortunately, yeterday's Internet is gone. Internet Explorer cannot bring it back. Therefore, the product fails to deliver on the promise of the ad. That, I think, is the disconnect, and it's the reason the ad falls flat for me.

<comment><AUTHOR> You are not necessarily disagreeing. The ad can still be good regardless of how you feel about the product.

<comment><USER2> Boy, I'm sure disagreeable :) An ad can be _enjoyable_ regardless of how you feel about the product, but it cannot be a good advertisement.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah you're right. Poor choice of words on my part

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> you can spray paint gold on a turd but its still, at best, a gold turd.

</comment><comment><USER4> One of my favorite commercials ever is this one for Zune: <http://youtu.be/IvDFbmb9DwE>

It's not particularly great from any kind of branding sense or at selling the product.. but it's just fucking awesome anyways.

</comment><comment><USER5> I enjoyed watching this ad, as it targets people from my generation (I was born in 1988).

<comment><AUTHOR> could not agree more (born in 86)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Friends don't let friends use internet explorer. microsoft didn't like that and made internet explorer ads depicting us tech-savvy people as weirdos and nutjobs for recommending better browsers to our not-so-technical peers.

This so-called "great ad" is not going to wipe those insults clean.</comment>


Open sourced an abandoned Mac app for mockups - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/mkdynamic/prototype

<comment><AUTHOR> Original HN submission where I asked about doing this: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7243193](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7243193)</comment>