Life Lessons from a Lifestyle Business: Interview with founder of Metafilter - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/strong-words/a-lifestyle-business-can-kill-you-2e45add4107f#.y9m3egtzf <comment><USER2> The stories he describes with the Google algorithm impacting his traffic (and subsequently, bottom line) is pretty scary.

A rephrased quote from Matt Cutts on an algorithm change cutting MetaFilter's traffic:

"Oh yeah, it never reversed. It should have. You were accidentally put in the bad pile."

<comment><USER3> I used to work for a company that sold furniture online. We were good but the majority of our business came from the beloved serps. It hurt us dramatically when our boilerplate product copy, sent to all online retailers, counted against us as though we were spam. It was beyond my capabilities to develop a method to automatically reword the copy. Surprise, surprise. We started to pay people to write unique descriptions for the products that everyone on the net was carrying. Then affiliates would pick it up and screw us again. That's it. No happy ending. Company was bought by our most underhanded competitor. Now I do my own thing.

I should note we rode the Google gravy train for about 8 years before that happened. After "panda" the company couldnt afford to buy every bit of its traffic. I doubt that's what Google was shooting for with that update but it really changed some lives.

<comment><USER2> That's really an incredible story, and I doubt that it exists in a vacuum. I'd really like to see a piece about companies like yours and others that were impacted heavily by algorithm changes.

The part that probably bothers me the most is that if the MetaFilter founder didn't have a direct connection to Matt Cutts, it probably would've just been the end of his site at the scale he was at.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Not to be harsh, but this isn't a lifestyle business. It sounds like this guy just wasn't the best choice to run the company.

Too much was spent on salaries and benefits. Only a month or two worth of cash was kept in the company to handle expenses. Free cash flow was pulled out of the company while it was still a viable growth opportunity. All the warning signs were ignored despite a vast majority of their revenue coming from a single source. Most egregiously, even though their traffic cratered after Google's Panda update in November 2012, they didn't reach out to the head of the web spam team at Google because... they didn't want to bother him.

Still, it's hard to admit mistakes. I have enormous respect for anyone willing to share their experience like this.

<comment><USER5> As et-al says he admits this himself.

But well, MeFi is more of a community than a company and as far as being a community goes it's done about as well as anything on the web.

Matt has been great at keeping a community going.

Kuro5hin, Slashdot and many others have come and gone but MeFi keeps on going.

<comment><USER6> "Kuro5hin, Slashdot and many others have come and gone but MeFi keeps on going."

Although I no longer use it, it does appear that slashdot is alive and well ...

<comment><USER7> Alive, anyway.

<comment><USER8> It seems that some sites disappear into a black hole (such as Kuro5hin) and some become dwarf stars (like Slashdot) - they're still burning, just not giving off much heat or light.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Two main takeaways here:

1\. Community doesn't scale well.

Reddit is a thimbleful of awesome floating in a bucket of shit. As I grow older, the best communities and sources online are small. I love watching youtube videos with less than a thousand views. My favorite sites and communities online I share selectively. They are so easily ruined. The magic is lost so easily (and by people who genuinely enthusiastic about things but, aren't in the same mindset as the people already there).

2\. The smart thing financially would have been to let the community die but, he didn't and paid the price

Maybe it's just the internet changing but, he arguably should have just let it die (or rather change into what Reddit eventually became). Metafilter, SomethingAweful, 4Chan and Reddit all suffer from the reality of very few people creating and the vast majority consuming.

<comment><USER10> > 2\. The smart thing financially would have been to let the community die > but, he didn't and paid the price

So, I'm a skosh biased, as the person currently running MetaFilter, with a moderation staff that's managed to grow back to close to the pre-crisis status quo, but I don't think that's really the best take on it.

With the benefit of hindsight, mostly what should have happened differently and for the better was to take the downslide more seriously more quickly in terms of changing our spending and saving and model for what the next year or three years looked like, and to have gotten the community involved in that discussion sooner. We'd likely be in more or less the same place we are today, which is smaller but pretty steady and the community doing well, but with fewer lurches and less pain and fumbling along the way.

I appreciate Matt's public frankness in this piece about some of the winging- it nature of the site's business history and the missteps along the way, because I know he's always tended to want to be more private or cautious about that sort of thing. And I think the nature of MetaFilter as a tiny business and a relatively close-knit community informs some of that dynamic; it's hard enough for a business to break bad news to customers, but to folks who are genuinely members of a community there's a whole other emotional commitment involved.

<comment><USER11> Do you run your own advertisements or do use only use Deck (or other third- parties)?

<comment><USER10> It's a mix of things; Deck, AdSense (for all the trouble they're still a major and these days fairly steady source of revenue), mostly-passive Amazon affiliate, and direct support from the MetaFilter community.

We've looked at other ad rubrics and been disappointed with the specific performance we've seen in a couple test cases, but the volatility of the ad economy means that it's certainly something we'll be reexamining continuously as time goes by.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> In the late 1990's when they started, around the same time as Metafilter, maybe Google was honestly trying to rank websites based on href's, as some perceived indicator of website popularity.

But over time how much has Google itself influenced the product of its own "Pagerank" algorithm?

If Google places a website as a first search result for some frequently searched term(s), even if by accident, then that website is going to become very popular, very quickly.

Opinion: Google determines the popularity of a website.

In the early days we believed they were presenting results based on the relative popularity of websites. At some stage Google itself became the determinant for the popularity of websites.

Stories like this one support this idea.

One could argue Google is running what amounts to an online version of the Yellow Pages where the ads can be changed or rearranged hourly, daily, weekly, etc. Instead of calling a telephone number to place an ad in the Yellow Pages, one has to enter an opaque Adwords auction for words instead of ads.

But for the small business, especially those who do not bid on words, it gets worse. A business listing in the search results will likely never been seen if it is not in the top 10, i.e., on page 1.

Imagine if this were true for the Yellow Pages, which is organized alphabetically. Businesses with names beginning with numbers or the letter "A" would receive a grossly disproportionate share of calls, because no one would ever get past the first page of listings.

As crazy as it sounds, I think there's an argument Google and not the user is effectively doing the choosing. Whether it's intentional or not is irrelevant. The way the system is implemented and used, this is the effect. And this only benefits Google.

<comment><USER13> But don't Google also analyze how long you spent at a site when you click results. So you click into a site, it's not what you wanted so you back out and click another result. Google records that and sees that site wasn't useful to you at that time for that search word. So it drops in popularity.

<comment><USER14> I've always wondered if/how that works on power users that opens multiple results on multiple tabs right after searching.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> A little over a decade ago I founded a community driven website, after some growth I started work on the site full time but discovered I wasn't the right person to lead a business, induced by stress I sold the website on condition I would remain in position. True to their word I remain in position to this day, yet in the years since I've found that business interests and community interests diverge and the community I am passionate about has suffered for profit. I'm burned out, the community is my life, everything is connected, skills, contacts, how do I move on? Matt found his future in writing, where do I find my future?

<comment><USER16> Quit and do things you like instead. You can always build new contacts, skills, and connections. Once you burn out you are just dragging along, it's painful and it's pointless.

I've been in three completely different fields for 3, 6, and 10 years respectively. Once you find something you like, it's very easy to dig in and build a new network and learn. Don't be afraid, be excited. The worst is when you are doing something you feel dread for or don't want to get out of bed in the morning for. Happy to talk/answer any questions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Some remarks on Mefi itself:

[http://metatalk.metafilter.com/24089/You-were- accidentally-p...](http://metatalk.metafilter.com/24089/You-were-accidentally- put-in-the-bad-pile)

</comment><comment><USER18> > it would have all the problems Reddit has: terrible people controlling the > conversation.

I take serious offense to this. I am a moderator on reddit and the communities I help out in are amazing. He paints all of reddit with the same brush but reddit is too large for that -- it's now the 9th largest website in the U.S according to Alexa. Sure, there are some horrible & trash communities. Perhaps there's a lot of them, but there's also a lot of amazing subreddits run by fantastic mods. Reddit is what you make of it - if you subscribe to those shitty subreddits, then your experience will be shitty. If you subscribe to great subreddits, then your experience will be equally great. Reddit is like a snapshot of the internet as a whole; there's the bad, there's some meh, and there's also some amazing content out there. You just have to look for it and tailor your experience for those things.

If reddit is terrible, it's because you're not using reddit correctly. My reddit experience is great.

<comment><USER19> > If reddit is terrible, it's because you're not using reddit correctly. My > reddit experience is great.

I think Matt's comment was more about the up vote/down vote and how it can be controlled by a group of people.

As for your comment this is the common defense people turn to when defending Reddit. While it's true, Reddit itself doesn't do a good job of showing you how to use it. Logged out users see /r/all which more often than not is filled with advice animals, pics, gifs and (right now) the_donald subs. It comes across really poor. Even if you convert that user there is still not a ton of guidance to finding relevant subs to your interest. There's so many splintered subs (/r/game vs /r/games vs /r/truegaming) that it can be hard to find the one meeting your needs. You can sub to them all, but then you have this massive feed of subs. Some of which you may never see because your front page is being overwhelmed by some of the more popular subs.

<comment><USER20> Yeah, /r/all needs to die. The problem is finding and showing great stuff while not flooding niche communities with new members. If you send tons of people to /r/gaming, /r/gaming will stop being good, people will migrate to /r/games, and the cycle will repeat. Any replacement for /r/all will have to address this issue somehow.

<comment><USER21> The system should be designed such that a flood of users _doesn 't_ degrade the community's usefulness. It should be obvious that it's difficult to obtain mass adoption if quality and readership are inversely correlated.

<comment><USER20> It's not absolute readership that's the issue: it's a sudden growth in readership. It takes time for people to learn community norms.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I read this article and followed the funding crisis when it happens because I participate on Metafilter. I think the only serious mistake that Matt made (as laid out in this article) that should have been obvious and avoidable was not following up with Matt Cutts a whole lot sooner. In other words, he should have given it like 6 to 12 weeks tops, then said "Hey, um, I am not seeing the improvement you promised. When can I expect that by?" or something along those lines.

Beyond that, all businesses that actually work at all are basically defying long odds. A lot of things have to go right and it can be nigh impossible to figure out what piece of it can be tweaked to improve performance and what piece of it is a case of "Oh, my god, no, do not touch that! The entire thing will crash if you change that one thing!" This is part of why franchises are so popular.

</comment><comment><USER6> I've been lurking on metafilter here and there for years.

I usually glance over it once daily after reading HN. I keep meaning to pay the token fee and get a real username, etc.

But today, I saw a headline pre-pended with this:

"(WARNING: Contains strong language)"

... and that's the last straw.

I have come to expect the gratuitous (and common) "possibly NSFW links somewhere in this page" or "warning: trigger alert: hurt feelings" on mefi, but this was too much.

I'm sure I'll keep glancing over mefi from time to time, but I am not going to invest in, or take part in, a community that is so infantile it needs markers like "contains strong language".

<comment><USER10> The warning was quoted from the source, so your beef is with The Guardian.

MetaFilter has no shortage of strong language and it's not against any kind of community guideline if it's not being used in an intentionally shitty way; as a moderation staff we've pretty clearly set those expectations straight on the rare occasions that someone has complained about sensibility-offending surfeit of fucks and shits and damns in this or that conversation. I mostly just expect it to be done with a degree of skill and thought.

The exception there is slurs and the like; there's strong language and then there's racist/misogynist/homophobic/etc epithets, and the latter subclass is a different beast entirely that in specific discussions of language can bear mention rather than use when the distinction is clear. But that sort of thing otherwise can, indeed, fuck right off.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I remember that it was a long time before RWT's forums could be indexed by Google.</comment>


Are new entrepreneurial ideas keeping you from getting things done?  - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2012/11/10/are-new-entrepreneurial-ideas-keeping-you-from-getting-things-done-in-the-present

<comment><AUTHOR> Great article, made me reflect on how as an entrepreneur it's great and totally valuable to continuously be generating new ideas and also at the at the same time to recognize the need to, at times, just shut out every idea you are having and just focus on doing that one thing that needs to be worked on.</comment>


Gorgonia ML Library Like Theano or TensorFlow but in Go - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/chewxy/gorgonia <comment><USER2> Are you the author? What type of performance does this have?</comment>


Interesting Lifehacks: Use a Wooden Spoon to Block Part of Your Screen - <AUTHOR> http://blog.valbonne-consulting.com/2016/06/23/interesting-lifehacks-use-a-wooden-spoon-to-block-part-of-your-screen/ <comment><USER2> Ingenuous. Will undoubtedly save millions of lives.</comment>


Amazon Employees Join the Rush to Buy Long Island City Condos - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-employees-join-the-rush-to-buy-long-island-city-condos-1542709801 <comment><USER2> "The two employees decided to the buy units just before the first press reports surfaced [...] several real estate lawyers said they were aware of no such prohibition for real-estate transactions."

Amazing.</comment>


Floating Fire Ant Nests - <AUTHOR> https://www.houstoniamag.com/articles/2017/8/27/yes-floating-fire-ant-nests-are-a-real-thing <comment><USER2> Research into these rafts:

[http://antlab.gatech.edu/antlab/The_Ant_Raft.html](http://antlab.gatech.edu/antlab/The_Ant_Raft.html)</comment>


Writing Performance Sensitive OCaml Code - <AUTHOR> http://janestreet.github.io/ocaml-perf-notes.html <comment><USER2> Wow, the first 5 comments on this were about should they use LLVM:)

The author is currently writing a book about OCaml that is now available in alpha format from here:

<http://www.realworldocaml.org/>

I've finished the first part and looked at the compiler section, and I love this book, no affiliation in any way.

<comment><USER3> > The author is currently writing a book about OCaml that is now available in > alpha format from here: <http://www.realworldocaml.org/>

For anyone else trying to take a peek, authorizing github doesn't necessarily grant you access as there is some sort of whitelisting of allowed github handles. They should make it obvious in the copywriting that not all github accounts can take a peek.

"To login and view the book, you will need a free Github account to authenticate with."

This sounds like you just authenticate with github and be on your merry way.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, yes. There is a whitelist. Even though the book website is 'public' it hasn't really been advertised (apart from the initial "Hey, we're writing a book!" announcement [1]). There were already lots of reviewers for the alpha stages so not much need to attract more.

The beta stage might be different as the early 'bugs' will have been squashed so that phase of writing might take a different approach.

[1] <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3641355>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is a good collection of performance tips, although I'd use Unix.gettimeofday instead of RDTSC (RDTSC needs additional care on multicore).

Also it is interesting that OCaml's tutorial has a section on performance (that is not something common in other language tutorials): <http://ocaml.org/tutorials/performance_and_profiling.html>

</comment><comment><USER5> This is a good overview of performance 'idiosyncrasies'. For profiling, I tend to use valgrind's callgrind which is easier than instrumenting the code by hand.

</comment><comment><USER6> I'm surprised the compiler goes straight to assembly, rather than targeting LLVM (most native programming languages) or C- (what GHC does/did)

<comment><USER7> > I'm surprised the compiler goes straight to assembly, rather than targeting > LLVM (most native programming languages)

Most native programming languages historically don't, and OCaml predates LLVM by a good 7 years.

> or C- (what GHC does/did)

Cmm is an intermediate language specific to GHC before the backend[1], GHC's default backend is a native generator.

[1] or more precisely "an other" intermediate language, since there's also Core.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Uplark: helping you motivate to get up early, and get stuff done - <AUTHOR> http://uplark.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi!

We are a team of 4 people participating in Startup Weekend Stavanger.

This is an MVP made in 16 hours so we'd love to get some tester feedback to improve our product.

Our product, Uplark:

Do you ever sleep in? Or maybe you want to wake up earlier every day?

The peaceful morning hours free from disturbances are ideal if you want to get things done, free from distractions and interruptions. Those few extra productive hours can really make a big difference in your life.

If you've been thinking about building the habit of waking up early, but struggled with it, you should definitely check out Uplark!

Uplark lets you to create a challenge where you and your friends make a daily bet that each one of you is going to wake up on time. The way it works is that you bet a certain amount every day and if you fail to wake up on time, your bet will be divided to your friends or donated to a charity.

And to be completely transparent, we don't move any money, we hope your friends will enforce you to pay up if you fail to wake up on time.

The goal is to help you build good habits, faster.

Hoping for some great feedback, whether you sign up or not.

What is good? What is bad?

What made you sign up? What didn't?

Thank you!

The Uplark Team</comment>


Show HN: HaxlSharp – Concurrent data fetching and request deduplication in C# - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/joashc/HaxlSharp <comment><USER2> > Writing asynchronous code is error-prone; Asynchronous code obscures the > meaning of what we're trying to achieve; Programmers are bad at reasoning > about asynchronous code

This is simply incorrect. There is a lot of FUD about this, but it doesn't make a smallest difference for a code with essential complexity of a typical CRUD app. But once you need to deal even with slightly more essential complexity, like managing a pool of connections, cancelling them, reconnecting, asynchronous code comes to the rescue, with all the callbacks and higher-order functions. Synchronous looking code cannot help with asynchronous problems, no matter how hard you try. It can only introduce additional accidental complexity. It's better to have and get used to a solid asynchronous foundation to begin with.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not sure that "the areas of the complexity spectrum where the problems are too simple for async/await" overlaps with "the areas of the complexity spectrum that async/await can't handle", but I agree that there's an issue there. Async/ await is definitely an incomplete solution, and Haxl attempts to address one area where the abstraction fails. Of course, there are always places where you can do better dealing with the asynchronous/ concurrent primitives, but just like there's a place for both manual memory management and garbage collection, I think there are use cases where these abstractions can provide real value.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This style of programming reminds me of SQL where you specify intent and let a query optimiser work out the execution plan. I like it. Not sure this is production ready but it'd be fun to try at work.

</comment><comment><USER4> When reading, I thought: do I really need a framework for this? I've written simular batching before in c# but for the more elaborate cases, it makes sense and the de-duplication and only retrieving once to ensure all instances are the same looks nice; well done!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, it's certainly preferable to use Task.WhenAll or Promise.all in simple cases.

For more complex cases, I like to make the analogy with asynchronous code. There's a few problems with complex async code that only uses a minimal abstraction, like callbacks:

* Writing asynchronous code is error-prone

* Asynchronous code obscures our intent

* Programmers are bad at reasoning about asynchronous code

So we developed abstractions like async/await and promises, allowing us to write async code in a sequential-looking way. Unfortunately, introducing concurrency into the mix breaks this sequential abstraction, which means certain familiar problems emerge:

* Writing _concurrent_ code is error-prone

* _Concurrent_ code obscures our intent

* Programmers are bad at reasoning about _concurrent_ code

Haxl attempts to reclaim this sequential abstraction, allowing us to write code that _looks_ sequential, but is actually concurrent "behind the scenes".</comment></comment>


Interview with Noam Chomsky on Pakistan elections - <AUTHOR> http://dawn.com/2013/05/07/exclusive-interview-with-noam-chomsky/

<comment><USER2> Dear Dawn.com: Chomsky has been pretty widely regarded, for the past thirty years or so, as a crank. You do your credibility no favors by publishing an interview with him, and certainly not by your hagiographic introduction.</comment>


[course] Introduction to Functional Programming in OCaml - <AUTHOR> https://www.france-universite-numerique-mooc.fr/courses/parisdiderot/56002/session01/about <comment><USER2> I'm taking the Ocaml course and abandoned the one of F# from Edx/Microsoft that started a couple weeks ago. The Ocaml course is of much better quality in my opinion.

</comment><comment><USER3> The MOOC is starting today. Here's the course outline if you are interested:

\- week 0 Introduction and overview

\- week 1 Basic types, definitions and functions

\- week 2 Basic data structures

\- week 3 More advanced data structures

\- week 4 Higher order functions

\- week 5 Exceptions, input/output and imperative constructs

\- week 6 Modules and data abstraction</comment>


Show HN: Translate text through random languages, 35 times - <AUTHOR> http://dfkoz.com/lost-in-translation/

<comment><USER2> "Coke Adds Life" yields "'Coca-Cola', and a large part of his life and death."

I thought of Coke Adds Life because a marketing campaign in China led the locals to take it as "Coke brings your ancestors back from the dead".

</comment><comment><USER3> I got a strange result: [http://dfkoz.com/lost-in- translation/?seed=The%20cat%20is%20...](http://dfkoz.com/lost-in- translation/?seed=The%20cat%20is%20under%20the%20chair).

Repeating this a few times, it falls in something like "Rapporten أنا stjal的。" or "Katten根据etole的。" and the further translations don't change.

My guess is that in these expressions the language is not autodetected, so the text in not translated to the new language.

</comment><comment><USER4> The translator bots have dirty minds. Give them the golden rule: "Do to others only what you would have them do to you." and you get "I did it with other people, and you want to try."

<comment><USER5> I've just tried "Do to others only what you would have them do to you." and got "I just want to do it."

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Might be an interesting way to find errors in translation software.

<comment><USER7> This could be an interesting way to see the software, and there is an error in the translation.</comment></comment>


WAT Driven Development - <AUTHOR> http://jrom.net/wat-driven-development

<comment><USER2> The ESC key in vi is _idempotent_. It's not doing it wrong to hit it thousands of times. It's doing it wrong to have to model the state of your editor in your head.

I have a similar habit of typing "git " in my terminal, and then getting distracted while I think through what I'm trying to do, and then just typing "git " again. Rather than punish myself, I just wrote a script called git-git. <https://github.com/jes5199/git-git> so I can type "git git git push" and it works.

<comment><USER3> " It's doing it wrong to have to model the state of your editor in your head "

WAT? By that logic you don't know if you are in insert mode half the time, and start typing random characters all over the place.

<comment><USER2> Never stay in insert mode unless you are typing! Insert mode is a brief experience. _i_ type type type _< esc>_

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This just perpetuates the mispronunciation of 'WAT'.

It is properly pronounced deadpan, to rhyme with 'but' (with no h-sound wutsoever).

<comment><USER5> My reference pronunciation has always been like the word "watt", deadpan, with a blank face while staring into space.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Back when I used Visual Studio (1999), I did something similar using Robby the Robot (Warning), Daleks (for errors), the "You have the power" (Compilation successful) chick from RevCo's Gila Copter/Silence of the Lambs, and a Skinny Puppy rift (hitting a breakpoint)...good times!

<comment><USER7> I bet your co-workers _loved_ you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> All of these wats are wrong.

Here is mine, to you, from me: <http://soundcloud.com/ironballs/wat>

<comment><USER9> private track?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Does anyone know how to set bell sound in iTerm 2 on OS X?

<comment><AUTHOR> alpb I use iTerm2, it just uses the system sound as I explained. Make sure you didn't enable "Silence bell" under iTerm2 prefs, Profiles, Terminal (the tab), Notifications.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> This is great! I just downloaded the mp3, converted it to WAV and now use it as the sound played when CCTray (for CC.NET) reports a broken build.

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha, awesome! We're hooking it up with our CI to have a WAT when a build fails.</comment></comment>


A Customer Review: Finnish Education System - <AUTHOR> http://www.lennu.net/2015/01/14/finnish-education-system/

<comment><USER2> A few typos (maybe you should run the text through a spell checker):

      Vocotional -> Vocational
      didn't knew -> didn't know
      univerity -> university

<comment><AUTHOR> thanks, fixed

<comment><USER2> There's still a vocotional on one of the titles.</comment></comment></comment>


UniFi from Ubiquiti Networking is the ultimate prosumer home networking solution - <AUTHOR> https://www.hanselman.com/blog/ReviewUniFiFromUbiquitiNetworkingIsTheUltimateProsumerHomeNetworkingSolution.aspx <comment><USER2> I looked at it briefly, but the pricing is just so crazy.

Opted to buy a bunch of DIY gear and learn something in the process</comment>


Bringing Data Mining Into the Mainstream - <AUTHOR> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/bringing-data-mining-into-the-mainstream/

<comment><USER2> I suspect that a problem inherent in many organization's data is that the semantics are often the thorniest part of the integration process. So the "translation layer" that is described by Mr. Fayyad in the article is no small undertaking. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that in many cases, data is collected for a primary purpose, and once you start digging, you realize that it's not as useful for secondary purposes without a _lot_ of work.

The best example of this I can give from my experience is medical data. Lots of people want to do studies based on the wealth of data stored in electronic health records. Indeed there is massive potential for scientific discovery just sitting there. The problem is that health records are optimized for their primary purpose: recording information about a patient so their doctor(s) can make informed decisions based on that individual's history. Once you start looking at aggregate data from them, all sorts of nuances start to creep in and bite you. In order to do a high quality analysis, you usually have to clean and normalize that data heavily. That process requires expert knowledge of medicine, and some parts of it are just not automatable.

You could argue that the data collection process should be modified to allow for better future use of the data (many people do make this argument). The tricky part is doing that while not compromising the primary goal of data collection or adding a drag in terms of cost or time on the organization. These factors are possible to overcome, but are by no means trivial.

</comment><comment><USER3> Here is how to bring Data Mining to the mainstream:

1\. Put big data (static or streaming) on the cloud (AWS, Google Base, ...)

2\. Create beautiful/simple exploration and query interface

3\. Fix query semantic ("cluster these objects", "find most similar picture", "continue sequence"), while working on better and better algorithms at the backend

Examples of this approach: <http://wolframalpha.com>, <http://viewer.opencalais.com>, <http://labs.google.com/sets>

<comment><USER4> As some one who actively works in this area. the problem with queries is that most of the algorithms that work require deep learning and not simple sql like syntax. I would love the data in simple csv format hosted on a cloud such as Amazon EC2 [for safety] rather than some beautiful interface by a latte sipping ruby hippy.</comment></comment>


Welcome to Mining 3.0 - <AUTHOR> https://packethopper.com/2018/09/21/welcome-to-mining-3-0/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hey all. We've been building a new solution for blockchain miners, see [https://www.packethopper.com/](https://www.packethopper.com/). We make it possible to use commodity networking ASICs to execute a new class of proof of work called Baran. The ASICs we are building on are already used to power the high performance routers used in enterprise datacenters and networks, and so you can now rely on world class manufacturers like Broadcom without worrying that they are selling you obsolete devices having pre-mined all the value out of them! Modern programmable packet forwarding ASICs offer an unprecedented level of computational flexibility, and we're taking full advantage of it. Happy to answer any questions!

<comment><USER2> Just post the whitepaper or don't. The whole "request access" thing doesn't work on HN.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey wmf. The post and home page cover a lot of the general details, while the whitepaper has some additional stuff about sample implementations of the protocol. We're not creating a token, our emphasis at this point is build the infrastructure around re-using network ASICs for proofs of work, and enabling other teams to build their blockchains on top of this. We're more OpenCL than Ethereum, for lack of a better analogy.

I appreciate your comment though, and we'll have the whitepaper content directly on the website (instead of as a download) in the next few days.</comment></comment></comment>


Why American Marriages Are Set Up For Failure - <AUTHOR> http://www.gweezycapital.com/why-american-marriages-are-set-up-for-failure

<comment><USER2> short anecdote, when my wife and I had our first child I was meticulous about understanding the whole 'kid' thing, I analyzed, I tested, I reasoned, and I generally felt by the time my daughter was 2 that I pretty much had the whole kid thing figured out. If they cry under these conditions it means this, if this condition that other thing, etc. I generously shared my hard won expertise on how one goes about dealing with and raising a child. Then my second one was born, and she was different _right out of the womb._ And not a little different, a _lot_ different. All these things I "knew" weren't right at all, I in fact didn't know anything about "raising kids" I only knew about "raising this particular kid" and sadly that wasn't transferable between even my own kids! From that point on I kept my kid raising advice to a minimum. I realized how different everyone is.

Much is the same in marriages. People bring different things to the marriage, expectations, previous history, needs for affinity, needs for control, desires to control, what ever. And because their are two people involved, and those people change over time, they require constant communication and realignment. I have friends who are still married as I am, and friends who are divorced, and friends who aren't married but should be, and are married but probably should not be. No single thing causes it to fail, its a combination of things. One thing seems to keep them going though and that is communication. Learn to talk about anything with your spouse, and I mean _anything._ That isn't a guarantee of success of course, but there is ample evidence that "problems" occur when one part of the relationship thinks there is a problem and the other person either doesn't think its a problem or doesn't even know about it.

</comment><comment><USER3> > But after that year, they decided to get back together and get married > almost immediately without seeing what it would be like to live with one > another.

Keep in mind that at the time your parents would have tied the knot, pre- marital cohabitation was statistically a predictor of increased likelihood of divorce. [1]

[1] [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/movein-before- marri...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/movein-before-marriage- no_n_1372687.html)

<comment><USER4> Interesting. I wonder about people cohabitate to see they can live with each other, rather than having the patience to wait until they can't live without each other.

I theorize that the latter would make for a stronger relationship. One in which the partners are not looking for the deal breaker, but always searching for the solution to the kind of problems that couples have.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'd like to see a citation on the claim about 1 in 5 divorces being due to Facebook.

<comment><AUTHOR> [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-blamed- for-1-in-...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-blamed- for-1-in-5-divorces-in-the-us/359)

<comment><USER6> Thanks for the link, however I'll go ahead and bet that most of those Facebook divorces actually go down to a more important underlying problem than the use of the social network. I'd really like to know how many cases has Facebook been blame for where one spouse just happened to find out via Facebook the other was cheating.

This, the article does not explain clearly. Getting a divorce because you got back in touch with a high-school sweetheart then blaming Facebook for it is like blaming the bar where you hooked up with a drunk chick for ruining your relationship.

People are to blame for divorces.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The writer's resume includes "Twitter" under the Relevant Skills section.

Which is not to say one should be skeptical about the post. For that you need only look to the lack of citation for everything in it.

<comment><USER6> Your argument would have had so much more weight if you had omitted the almost undisguised ad hominem attack.

<comment><USER7> My life would be twice as tedious if I took that advice. And if mine is the harshest criticism that young writer comes across today, them he should consider himself a fortunate soul.

Here is the remark sans ad hominem: Twitter is not a skill. Remove it from your resume because it undermines any authority you might have as a writer.

Additionally, the piece is rhetoric. It is perfectly acceptable to question the character of the speaker when that is a mode being appealed to.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> >> Commitment has made a difference. In interviews with some women who have been married 20 years or more after living with their spouse first, firm belief in a future together was a common theme.

Personal opinion: I think this is the common thread. If living together is seen as a "trial period", it could ingrain the idea that "he/she is not committed to me, and will stay only as long as I please him/her" into the relationship. That could lead to long-term mistrust.

In my own marriage, my wife and I continually express our determination to stay married until death. This makes being vulnerable much easier, because I don't fear rejection. Indeed, I'd say that's the biggest difference for me between marriage and dating.

</comment><comment><USER9> The absolute best resource I have read on why monogamy does not work in modern times in (mainly) developed countries is here: [http://www.blackdragonsystem.com/uploads/3/9/7/2/3972480/why...](http://www.blackdragonsystem.com/uploads/3/9/7/2/3972480/why_long_term_monogamy_doesnt_work.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER10> As my parents said when my brother made a similar arguement- "So who are you shacking up with?"</comment>


Microsoft MakeCode - <AUTHOR> https://makecode.com/ <comment><USER2> Wow, cool - the 'block editor' looks a lot like Scratch. _Is_ it Scratch? I'm having trouble finding many details about the technical side of it.

I think 'visual programming' has a lot of promise for education, but...jeez, after looking into it for awhile I'm sort of losing hope that it isn't a gimmick or fad.

Has anyone actually made a complex project with these initiatives, and had it spark an interest in computing/electronics that didn't already exist? Have they managed to make the jump from visual interfaces to lines-of-code? Is there any evidence that these programs REALLY help when it comes to engaging a wider group of people?

I'm starting to worry that it's just more cynical grant-grabbing as the projects pile up and the results don't seem to. I _hope_ it isn't, I just worry that this is all starting to sound a little 'magic solution'-y.

The Arduino came out about 15 years ago, for perspective.

<comment><USER3> Only a single data point, but Scratch has definitely sparked an interest in programming in my 12 year-old daughter.

Though still early days, she has taken her first steps into learning Python. The concepts of loops, variables, counters, and even objects has definitely carried over from Scratch.

She still spends most of her time in Scratch though, sometimes creating her own games or drawing programs, sometimes playing others' creations, sometimes looking behind the curtain to see how her favorite games work and doing light remixing.

Will this turn her into a career programmer? Probably not, but she has told me that she now really appreciates what makes programs work, and every time she sees a new app she can't help but think about how it might be structured.

Overall, I think that's a pretty good argument for early exposure to visual editors.

<comment><USER4> Exactly my view =)

I have a 7yo daughter and she has just tried some block based programming challenges and she loved tinkering and predicting what the program would do, and then fixing the bugs. Gave her a real sense of accomplishment.

I also don't think it will automatically send her on to a career as a programmer. But I think it is important for everyone nowadays to have at least an notion of how software works, given that there is software is almost everything we use these days...

<comment><USER3> > I think it is important for everyone nowadays to have at least an notion of > how software works, given that there is software is almost everything we use > these days...

I couldn't agree more. Education isn't just learning facts, it's providing tools so kids can contextualize the world around them.

When the world is powered by software, even a passing familiarity with the basics of programming will be as important as learning history, literature, or basic science.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I really don't understand why Minecraft Education Edition (the only way to use MakeCode with Minecraft AFAIK) is only available to schools. I'm willing to pay for it but I'm not allowed to.

Not MakeCode's fault, this is great software. But clearly this is Microsoft's fault.

<comment><USER6> MakeCode works with Minecraft Windows 10 as well. Please see the setup instructions here: [https://minecraft.makecode.com/setup](https://minecraft.makecode.com/setup)

<comment><USER5> I stand corrected, i don't think that was the case sometime last year when I first checked out MakeCode, glad to see that has changed

Edit: I may also be misremembering, I primarily use Mac OS, and Education Edition has a Mac OS version. Plus Education Edition has some unique features that I would like to be able to use.

<comment><USER7> Looks like it was added around October: [https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Seth- Juarez/Announcing-Micro...](https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Seth- Juarez/Announcing-Microsoft-MakeCode-for-Minecraft-Windows-10)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The transition between block-based code and JavaScript is implemented better than I expected. If I write something in JS, and switch back to blocks, the equivalent blocks actually appear! Going back to JS shows rewritten code but still readable.

</comment><comment><USER9> I'm really excited about this project! It seems like it's Google Blockly with a lot more bells and whistles. I'll have to dig into the code more to tell.

At BlockSchool, my online coding school for kids 6-13, we've had a pretty good experience using Blockly. We've managed to hook it up to our own Minecraft- esque world.

If you're interested in what we're doing with kids you can learn more here: [https://block.school](https://block.school)

<comment><USER10> It uses Google Blockly internally: [https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt/tree/master/pxtblocks](https://github.com/Microsoft/pxt/tree/master/pxtblocks)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Off topic but this is one of the best UIs I have seen in a while. It clearly illustrates what it is about with examples, tutorials etc. I didnt have to go to any sub pages to understand what it actually does

</comment><comment><USER12> I ran a code club at my local primary school last year using the micro:bits. They're awesome little devices, super simple to get some pretty effective results with. I had 15 kids aged 7 - 11, some of whom were there only because they went along to every after school club it's cheaper for working parents than a childminder, and all of them absolutely loved it. We did some great little projects - making 'musical instruments' with speakers and the gyroscope, making those buzzy 'steady hand' games, sending messages to one another via bluetooth, etc...

</comment><comment><USER13> Microsoft have tried this kind of thing more than once in the past, usually ultimately cancelling the projects. There was Microsoft Popfly (retired), Project Spark (retired), Microsoft Kodu (still going), now MakeCode. I suspect there are even more if you go further back.

Our startup has been doing the visual programming thing successfully for around 6 years now, and our latest tool is at www.construct.net. Maybe they should give us a call since it looks like they're struggling to get this right ;)

<comment><USER14> Thanks for the link to [https://www.construct.net/au](https://www.construct.net/au). Others are [https://studio.code.org/s/express](https://studio.code.org/s/express), [https://blockly-games.appspot.com/?lang=en](https://blockly- games.appspot.com/?lang=en) & [http://microbit.org/code/](http://microbit.org/code/).

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'm just sitting here in awe over the Minecraft integration.

And that's just one bullet point in the feature set.

</comment><comment><USER16> I was just about to start an every other day programming course for my 9 and 11yo kids. Could anyone help me compare this curriculum with code.org (which they've used through school)?

</comment><comment><USER17> Cool! It just reminded me that yesterday I have stumbled upon a 'visual programming' environment built on Haskell: [http://www.luna- lang.org/](http://www.luna-lang.org/)

Haven't had time to play with it yet.

</comment><comment><USER18> I didn't take a deep look, but it reminds me to Bret Victor's proposal on "Inventing on Principle" from 2012:

[https://vimeo.com/36579366](https://vimeo.com/36579366)

</comment><comment><USER19> It also supports compiling to ARM Thumb.

[https://makecode.com/language](https://makecode.com/language)

</comment><comment><USER20> This is great to introduce programming to my daughter. Switching between blocks and actual code helps.

<comment><USER21> What age are you starting this with?

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> It works and it is usable in the mobile phone! That is great.

</comment><comment><USER23> Where can I get one of these for Terraform?

</comment><comment><USER24> Looks very attractive.

</comment><comment><USER25> It's sad that these "get everyone and their dog into 'coding'" initiatives by large companies are just attempts to provide cheap workers for themselves in the future. There's so many of them, and yet there's no evidence that they help anyone other than the company's PR team in generating exposure and promoting their products.

<comment><USER26> This isn't the only reason.

It's obvious that coding is becoming a skill on par with math for its utility in the modern world.

If more people understand the fundamentals of coding, it will completely change the user interfaces and sophistication of applications in the future. People will be able to code up simple features and behaviours they need, for example.

<comment><USER25> Most people don't have the analytical approach engineering-minded people have. They understand most of their surrounding reality in terms of blackboxes. Pull a trigger and a bullet comes out. Press a button and receive a parking card. Touch the screen and the facebook app launches. They're not interested in the internal mechanisms. And if you're not already interested in that, then no amount of coding bootcamps are going to spark that interest.

<comment><USER27> Sure, but a lot of people don't have the mindset required for cooking or construction or sports, yet these are still things we teach in school and try to make accessible for more people.

<comment><USER28> Or any of the liberal arts.

The "well rounded" argument works both ways!</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Two Billion Pixel Photo of Mount Everest (can you find the climbers?) - <AUTHOR> https://s3.amazonaws.com/Gigapans/EBC_Pumori_050112_8bit_FLAT/EBC_Pumori_050112_8bit_FLAT.html <comment><USER3> Looks like there's a few on the icefall. Follow the line of garbage, then up and across the fall. The only hard part is dealing with the inverted mouse movement on the interface. Why would they do that???

<comment><USER4> For those looking:

1\. Of the 3 mountains, look at the peak of the center one (Lhotse).

2\. Below that, the right half is big chunky snow, and the left half is smooth, icey looking snow.

3\. Look at the line where the smooth left half meets the chunky right half. - Halfway up that you can find CAMP 3. [You'll see little ant people marching up that centerline - follow them to their tents.]

 __Also once you see CAMP 3, you actually see tracks in the snow. There's a manmade line going diagonally up/left across the center mountain, up the rock face, and then continues up/left to the little snow valley where Everest hits Lhotse along the horizon line. I suppose somewhere around there is CAMP 4. __

<comment><USER5> For anyone who is still looking: <http://f.cl.ly/items/3w2j2h0a1a3h0M1K0i3l/ppl.jpg>

(you can only see the people at max zoom-level, they are really tiny)

<comment><USER6> I've found this lonely guy <http://cl.ly/image/221I0N1x1c1Y>

<comment><USER7> I don't know but I think that might be two people. That, or he's hugging a small bear. [https://www.evernote.com/shard/s3/sh/1d7328b2-960d-4728-b9af...](https://www.evernote.com/shard/s3/sh/1d7328b2-960d-4728-b9af-5ec4ff1d90b1/1fe799ee8ba3d6b29dc1d859eb8c08b0)

<comment><USER8> I saw it as him looking back at another guy by the pole. Dressed in a very camouflaging outfit.

<http://imgur.com/rGTc9>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This photo really makes me appreciate the fractal geometry and self-similarity of natural formations. When looking at part of the image w/o any objects of known size for reference I lost all sense of proportion. Tiny "pebbles" were actually boulders, etc.

<comment><USER10> Same here, couldn't make sense of the proportions in the foreground, I though the valley was a 1m wide track at first

<comment><USER11> Same thing here! Fractals geometry is very interesting!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> So this is a little off-topic, but I read an article the other week that i haven't been able to shake about the number of people that have died on Everest and whose bodies have never been retrieved (warning, morbid and slightly graphic):

[http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead- bo...](http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bodies-on- mount-everest/)

Just a reminder that those little dots are people who are taking a very real risk by attempting to reach the summit. I'm not sure if I'm envious of their drive, or if I think they are absolutely crazy.

<comment><USER13> There are far deadlier mountains out there than Everest. I think the current death rate is around 5%. Annapurna has killed about 35% of the climbers that attempted.

It has gotten to the point where there are basically proven (about as much as you can for something so dangerous) methods of getting to the top.

"Into Thin Air" is a great book on the journey (the very bad , and the good) to the top.

<comment><USER14> I always thought about doing Everest if I could ever afford it. You know, one those idle "I'll do that someday thoughts" we all have.

Once I hit the "I could afford this" point I started researching Everest...read Into Thin Air, Dark Summit, No Shortcuts to the Top, etc., watched every documentary I could get my hands on, even talked with one of the climbers featured on the Discovery series that featured Russel Brice's company.

I've concluded that I'm not interested. I'm not interested in standing in line at the Second Step for hours while my body consumes itself and I burn through the scant amount of oxygen I have. I'm not interested in the very real risk that I may arrive back at Camp IV after a summit attempt to find my O2 and supplies stolen. I'm not interested in seeing the corpses, oxygen bottles, tents, and other detritus cluttering up the mountain.

I'm not condemning those who chose to go or those who help them get there, but I'm out: human behavior has made the idea of summiting Everest unappealing.

<comment><USER15> Mountaineering is a great time, but I agree with you about Everest. If you want to do something fun, challenging, and not quite so dangerous or commercialized check out climbing 14ers. Climbing all the ones in the state is a common past time in Colorado. They all have varying degrees of difficulty and depending the peak and time of year you may have a beautiful day climb completely alone.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Colorado_fourteeners>

The couple years I lived in CO I managed to get a few done and really enjoyed the experience.

<comment><USER16> My favorite moment while at the top of a 14er in CO: heard a helicopter, looked around for it, then realized it was _below_ us.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Here is a Gizmodo article on the photo for those wanting the back story: [http://gizmodo.com/5969706/a-stunning-two-billion-pixel- phot...](http://gizmodo.com/5969706/a-stunning-two-billion-pixel-photo-is-the- safest-way-to-explore-mount-everest)

</comment><comment><USER17> Wow, I was thinking to myself: "Jeez, look at all that trash those climbers have left on the mountain!"

Then I zoomed in some more, and realized the "trash" was actually tents.

<comment><USER18> Actually, a TON of trash gets left there. Oxygen tanks especially. Also- if you die there, expect to stay put.

<comment><USER19> Oxygen bottles are not nearly the problem they used to be due to programs in the late 90s and on where companies paid Sherpas (and other climbers) for bringing empties back off the mountain. There's also been a concerted effort to pick up trash starting ~1990 (see: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day_20_International_Peac...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day_20_International_Peace_Climb))

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> When you follow [http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jp...](http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jpg) this picture you can see the route. I had a hard time seeing any of the climbers until I knew where to look.

Point C3 is the last place you can actually see humans (& tents), C4 is already more of a guess.

<comment><USER14> Forbidden link. :(

<comment><USER21> Go to the main website: <http://www.alanarnette.com/> then copy url for image in: [http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jp...](http://www.alanarnette.com/downloads/everestsouthroutemap.jpg)

Simple hot linking restrictions.

<comment><USER14> Well now I feel dumb(er). :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Very cool, but the inverted acceleration panning is incredibly difficult and frustrating to use. I gave up after a few attempts to zoom and pan.

<comment><USER23> If you think "I'm moving the camera on this tripod" it suddenly becomes very natural. It worked for me anyway.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I was able to follow the line of people / tents about halfway up using this as a guide:

[http://www.abc-of-mountaineering.com/images/content- images/a...](http://www.abc-of-mountaineering.com/images/content- images/article-327.gif)

Then lost them. Amazing photo!

<comment><USER24> I was able to follow them from base camp to the upper camps. It's easy, just zoom in and take five minutes of scrolling around!

I identified people by their shadows.

<comment><USER25> Yeah we did this too. Couldn't find anyone for camp 4 though. I have a decent guess where it as though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I saw the /gigapans/ in the URL and googled for it, thinking it must be a super intelligent panoramic "image sticher"+"image viewer" written in flash - but found this: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigapan>

</comment><comment><USER27> The founder of the company I work for (Lot18) actually climbed Everest - <USER2> after sending him the link to this, he dropped by and explained everything we were looking at - and outlining the paths and various dangers associated with the climb. It's quite an amazing story - and I found some slides related to his climb from 2009: [http://www.slideshare.net/snooth/everest-2003-north- face-res...](http://www.slideshare.net/snooth/everest-2003-north-face-rescue)

</comment><comment><USER28> This is the work of David Bresears

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Breashears>

 _The result of a project by David Breashears, who has already climbed the highest mountain in the world five times. He used old images of Everest and its glaciers and combined them with new ones.

The photo is part of a broader project called GlacierWorks by the mountaineer Breashears, who made the much-acclaimed IMAX documentary "Everest."_

</comment><comment><USER25> Just spent like 25 minutes looking it over with my colleague at work. There is so much going on here, it's awesome. I was also very blown away by how big the camp at the bottom of the valley was. Most of those must be semi-permanent structures that the guides maintain. I couldn't imagine that is transient traffic. I think I remember seeing something on departures (or something) about a big festival that happens in this valley. Maybe that has some context here as well, but I have no idea. Great link!

</comment><comment><USER29> Wow this is captivating, but panning with the mouse on a desktop is so frustrating, the image movement is opposite what I expect! (browsing on a desktop, Windows/Chrome)

<comment><USER30> Yeah, panning with the mouse was awful, but with the keyboard it became a real joy, and I started finding the climbers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> There might be a couple of climbers on the left ridge of Everest, which I just read is the easier climb. If you look near the base of the ridge on the left, there is a strip of snow that starts going up the mountain. Follow the ridge up you will come across a little cloud puff rising up on the other side. Just beyond that point, you will see two super-tiny parallel specks that sort of look like they are leaning into the mountain.

</comment><comment><USER32> I only found the climbers after looking at this Everest route map:

<http://www.greatoutdoors.com/everest-2010/routes-maps>

Look for camp 3. You have to zoom all the way in, and look at where the rough snow meets the smooth snow. You'll see some super tiny yellow dots, those are the tents. The tiny black specks just to the left are climbers.

The sense of scale in the Himalayas is almost unfathomable.....

</comment><comment><USER33> I'm amazed not by the mountain - but by the size of the camp in the valley. I knew a lot of people climbed Mt Everest, but that't practically a small city.

<comment><AUTHOR> I felt the same way. There must be so much garbage on that mountain.

<comment><USER34> Everest is littered with dead, exposed bodies:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1978295>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Nice photograph and interface. How was the photograph actually composed?

Found them... Spoiler: <http://imgur.com/zpyOg>

<comment><USER36> A GigaPan type device.. <http://www.gigapan.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> The GlacierWorks team (in cooperation with URC Ventures) also made a photo- realistic 3D model of the Himalayas using images that were captured using a helicopter.

The preview video looks promising: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEs3euTgj8s>

Background info: <http://urcventures.com/whats-new/>

</comment><comment><USER38> In case anyone`s wondering, this is where the riders are: <http://i.imgur.com/dTUJA.jpg>

<comment><USER30> The lowest I could find (outside of basecamp) were here: <http://i.imgur.com/U6GaL.jpg>

Did anyone find climbers lower in the icefall?

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Great picture! We are also a company based in Nepal where this picture is taken from. Our company name is after another peak - Manaslu, which is a 8th highest peak in the world. We do Ruby on Rails web development. <http://www.manaslutech.com>

</comment><comment><USER14> Others will be able to fill in more detail as I'm just going off memory here, but I _think_ this is taken from the Nepalese side.

The ice field just above Base Camp (which, wow, look at all those tents) is the Khumbu Icefall, which climbers must scale to en route to the South Col.

<comment><USER40> I think it was taken from the Kala Patthar summit or somewhere close to there. (So, yes, the Nepalese side.)

<comment><USER41> The view from Kala Patthar summit is pretty different angle, this picture must be taken from somewhere north of KP. I would guess it is from Pumori Advanced Base Camp.

<comment><USER42> URL suggests you're right: EBC_Pumori

EBC is presumably "Everest Base Camp."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Is this done with Autopano (<http://www.kolor.com/> <http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/brown/autostitch/autostitch.html>)?

</comment><comment><USER44> This is simply breathtaking. I'm sure the app behind this is assembling tiles together, but does there exist a full-resolution image of this in a single piece?

I've tried to use my network inspector to figure out how to access the individual tiles, but no luck.

</comment><comment><USER45> I really like the user experience and I am impressed by how fluid it runs on my computer. Much more fluid than Google maps. You should add a collaborative tagging interface, where users can choose to point out certain parts.

</comment><comment><USER46> Amazing. I was fortunate to travel out to Alaska a couple of years ago and do some glacier climbing and hiking. It was amazing, but pales in comparison to the vast, immense power of this photo. Awesome.

</comment><comment><USER47> What kind of equipment was used to take this photo? It's pretty amazing!

</comment><comment><USER48> Didn't find any climbers but found lots of bits of dust on my screen.

</comment><comment><USER49> For more photos of the mountain and others, the photographers' site: <http://www.glacierworks.org/the-glaciers/>

<comment><USER37> There are also some interesting "behind the scenes" photos on flickr: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/glacierworks/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> Some guys? <http://postimage.org/image/xwf2yb46t/> from another view of tour.

<comment><USER50> <http://postimage.org/image/b584kmjod/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> How do you take a billion pixel photos? All the cameras I've ever heard of is mega pixels... I've never heard of a billa pixel camera before.

<comment><USER52> You merge hundreds thousands mega pixel pictures!

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> When I saw the picture and it was totally zoom out , I thought it was a small road between some small hills. That's totally a fractal!

</comment><comment><USER53> At first look the mountain looked so small. Then i found some humans, the size of ants, and it was all put into perspective. Wow.

</comment><comment><USER54> Is this a climber or just a shadow? <http://cl.ly/image/3m3K3x0n3k1U>

</comment><comment><USER55> From this point it doesn't look so high. But when you start zooming, some parts seems like they're few miles and other, endless.

</comment><comment><USER56> Amazing. It's things like this that put the world in perspective. How much we can achieve, the beauty of the world, etc.

</comment><comment><USER57> Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no. And no, I couldn't find the climbers.

</comment><comment><USER58> I wish that this was retina-ready because it sounds like two billion pixels is what this machine was made for.

</comment><comment><USER59> What is it ? <http://i50.tinypic.com/90nds3.png>

</comment><comment><USER60> If you don't look at the pointers, this is the most difficult Where's Waldo ever.

</comment><comment><USER61> Can you find the dead climber? That's the real question. I found one already.

<comment><USER62> Shouldn't be that hard, there are loads of the poor buggers. Just look around the climbing routes, they don't (can't) move most of the bodies AFAIK.

Bit morbid though.

<comment><USER61> I read Into Thin Air, about the 1996 account by a reporter who was with the crew that lost 4 members. After poking around I saw someone saying the Sherpas will kick bodies in the crevasses and they wash out in the Spring. Sad, but with a rate of 1:4 before 1996, then 1:7 after on death ratios its gotten much better. However, it takes money/balls/stupidity to climb that thing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> Could not find the climbers. But this 2B pixel photo is just awesome. :)

</comment><comment><USER64> Could you remove the XML reference to mobile/tablet images in krpano?

</comment><comment><USER65> Does anyone know how this picture was taken or who took the picture?

</comment><comment><USER66> Beautiful and terrifying. I could examine this for hours.

</comment><comment><USER67> This is the nicest picture I have seen in a while.

</comment><comment><USER68> Would be nice if they offered a web version too.

</comment><comment><USER55> Nice, it works neat on my retina display, :D

</comment><comment><USER69> This would be awesome for Where's Waldo

</comment><comment><USER70> Yes, I did - but by pure luck :p

<comment><USER71> If you start at Base Camp and follow the route up you can see quite a few - I've spotted around 30.

Difficult to believe how big Base Camp is!

</comment></comment><comment><USER72> This is absolutely gorgeous.

</comment><comment><USER73> Need banana for scale.

</comment><comment><USER74> Huge mountain is Huge.

</comment><comment><USER75> unbelievable...

</comment><comment><USER76> What is the point? are you load testing S3 or something?

<comment><USER77> The point is that the creation of that high-resolution image of Everest is a noteworthy technological achievement, and most people have never seen such a high quality photograph of our planet's highest mountain before.</comment></comment>


ASA Adjudication on EA Dungeon Keeper - <AUTHOR> http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2014/7/Electronic-Arts-Ltd/SHP_ADJ_258907.aspx#.U7cpMnu9LTo <comment><USER2> Nice to see sanity once in a while.

When did gaming become a chore? I know it has been asked to death, but I cannot for the life of me figure this disgusting logic out: People play a game that is _not_ enjoyable, and then pay extra to skip the unenjoyable parts and basically win the game, henceforth skipping the enjoyable parts of the game along with it!

It's disgusting. A money grab, pure and simple. You shoot people who don't know better, then sell them the bandaids at premium prices. In this process, you add zero value. You trap people who are likely to be trapped (most often parents of the healthy non-helicopter kind) and squeeze them. This money at the end of the chain most often comes off our various governments as these people end up running into debt.

There is nothing that describes this better as the words "predatory behaviour".

<comment><USER3> You're dangerously close to making the leap I made a while ago which is horrifically un-PC. I'm going to say this and hope HN can appreciate the point of view even if they don't agree.

A fundamental problem with wealth redistribution as practised by governments (and credit card companies) is it makes the easiest route to riches taking advantage of people of . . . not necessarily the greatest ability to manage their finances responsibly. This means an enormous proportion of the smartest people in the western world are engaged in attempting to extract cash from people they are essentially exploiting, which ends up costing society as a whole since those people should be actively employed doing things which are more valuable.

You can't regulate taking advantage of stupidity out of the market, so the only answer is to come up with a redistribution mechanism that doesn't create such giant holes.

<comment><USER2> > You can't regulate taking advantage of stupidity out of the market, so the > only answer is to come up with a redistribution mechanism that doesn't > create such giant holes.

But what do you propose for that? Because in the world we live in, all attempts at some form of "wealth equality" led to either disaster or technological crippling.

Maybe there's an ideal solution. It's probably something you could even prove mathematically. But even then, it is not a solution that will happen in at least several generations; and in the mean time, behaviour like EA's is doing nothing but steal opportunities (when you indebt someone, you can ruin or severely cripple their entire life and sometimes their families') in order to pay for the CEOs' jacuzzis.

<comment><USER3> Well, indeed. I'm far from convinced there are easy solutions to the problem, and in my more conservative moments I can entertain the idea of abolishing even pretences at welfare aimed redistribution on this basis, but ultimately it's very hard to stomach. Credit should probably be harder to obtain, regardless of the position I'm feeling in at the time!

Ironically the better approach may be fairly close to what's in the games, and that is to expand the scope of food stamps (or similar) to create a sort of two tiered currency setup, where one currency is only legally usable for basic needs. Unfortunately that's likely to have exactly the same consequences as exists in the games.

<comment><USER4> Give it a year or so, and credit will be much harder to obtain. Problem will solve itself, with massive consequences for the rest of us.

Problem is that we simply don't have economically useful things for people to do. This problem is hitting China. Unemployment is hitting people who are willing to tolerate this quality of life :

[http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/wp- content/uploads/2011/05/...](http://mastersofmedia.hum.uva.nl/wp- content/uploads/2011/05/51.jpg)

It's being caused partially by the energy crunch (even with the US shale boom, net oil available to the world to use has been declining since 2005) and the lack of solutions (note that solar panels need ... a lot of oil to get produced, wind turbines need massive amounts of oil for their production, so so far the whole "renewable" energy thing has increased, not decreased, our reliance on oil. Hopefully that'll reverse in a decade or so, question is will it still matter by then ? Also global warming policies have basically moved a lot of factories which were in the west (where they were powered by mostly oil, some nuclear, little bit of gas), to China (where they are powered by coal). Coal is about 10x worse for the environment than coal).

But fixing the oil problem (e.g. there are massive methane deposits along continental edges that could replace natural gas. They're big enough that they put the total amount of oil available in 1950 to shame. We don't currently know how to extract them, but loads (as in dozens) of research programs are in progress to fix that) would not bring a permanent solution.

What we need is something useful for unskilled workers to do that is reasonably well-paid, can use any amount of unskilled workers, is spread about the country, and ideally cheaper than bailing out banks. Maybe we ought to take a page out of the Roman empire's book and start building cathedrals in every city in America ? Worked for Europe for several hundred years ...

<comment><USER5> Why do you think that people should have to do 'economically useful' things?

Surely it is one of the goals of technology and progress that we free people from the need to work. As such, any step towards this 'leisure economy' should be celebrated, rather than thinking up pointless labour for people to do.

<comment><USER6> I suspect that, without some sort of direction, many people would go mad. It would be nice if people used their leisure time to create art or pursue research of some sort and so on, but people generally don't. You see it all the time, lottery winners who are miserable, some of them even going back to their ordinary jobs, because they miss them. For every JK Rowling who spent a period of unemployment writing a book, there are a million who won't even _read_ a book. There's no easy way around this, it needs a fairly basic shift in human nature.

<comment><USER7> I'd be just fine. The natural state of man isn't a 40-hour workweek, and it wasn't even common until the industrial revolution. Hunter-gatherers worked less than we do.

If people still feel too idle and can't come up with something to do on their own, they can share a 40hr job with 4 or 5 other people. I am fully confident, though, that everyone will find something they like to do to occupy their time.

<comment><USER8> I can't reply to gaius for some reason but:

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_affluent_society) Quote: studies show that hunter-gatherers need only work about fifteen to twenty hours a week in order to survive and may devote the rest of their time to leisure

[http://condensedscience.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/life- expect...](http://condensedscience.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/life-expectancy- in-hunter-gatherers-and-other-groups/)

Quote:life expectancy at age 15 is 48 years for Aborigines, 52 and 51 for settled Ache and !Kung, yet 31 and 36 for peas- ant and transitional Agta. Survival to age 45 varies between 19 and 54 percent, and those aged 45 live an average of 12–24 additional years The modal age of mortality in hunter- gatherers can range from 68 in the Hiwi to 78 in the Tsimane.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> The Advertising Standards Agency is the English regulator for advertising.

This case is about EA advertising Dungeon Keeper as free to play without being clear about IAP.

> _The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Electronic Arts > Ltd to ensure that future ads made clear the limitations of free gameplay > and role of in-app purchasing with regard to speeding up gameplay._

<comment><USER9> The ASA is an industry body -- it's not a government regulator. Which gives it much greater freedom to rule on this. (It's harder to sue, as it's a body that the industry signs up to in order to protect the reputation of the advertising industry in the UK.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry for the late reply.

> The ASA is an industry body -- it's not a government regulator.

I was surprised by this. I thought they were a stronger regulator. But a simple bit of reading of their website shows that while they have some teeth for broadcast adverts (because they cooperate with OFCOM and various Trading Standards organisations) they lack teeth for anything else, even though they claim to cover online ads. Thus, they have a list of non-compliant websites who continue to make misleading claims.

Thank you for pointing that out!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Free room in Hotel California. In the morning the normal exit is closed but you can leave free of charge through the complementary layrinth. At some dead ends there are credit card terminals where you can pay to have a door open.

</comment><comment><USER11> I'm interested in EA's claim that data for mid and late game players showed "non-spenders did not reach these points substantially slower than spenders" given that the entire judgement seems to suggest it'd be impossible to progress remotely quickly. How could they have that data, assuming it's not possible to just make up data and have the ASA ignore that, and how come it was never discussed in the upholding?

<comment><USER12> My kid is a non-spender. He has, maybe, 20-30 games on his iPad that are all pay-to-accelerate, so he plays them in turns and ends up playing all the time. So he makes a steady progress even with some most greedy of the games, of which DK is indeed the crown jewel.

<comment><USER13> P2A - Pay-to-accelerate - I love it!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> With millions of games released, we've essentially been conducting a wide experiment into what methods (free, IAP, free/pro) is effective (at getting in the top categories for revenue & downloads).

Now, we see that the top charts are dominated by games like this. Free, with IAP to accelerate. That's what the market evolution bore.

If we don't like it, we can try to ban practices, but unless Apple (as a gatekeeper) bans these things, they will persist, as that's what millions of apps across billions of downloads/players have evolved to, & will evolve back to.

To change the dominant business model, we'd need some new mechanic to supplant it, not just trying to tilt at windmills & complain.

<comment><USER15> Yep. Liberal helpings of "if you don't like it don't p(l)ay it" should be applied here. No body is forcing anybody to p(l)ay. There will be a few very vocal people complain about the model, and then there will the be balance sheet. Which speaks louder?

To change the dominant business model, you need to come up with a new model that generates _more_ profit. That is exactly what has happened here.

A thing is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. I'm less concerned about expensive IAP than I am about the people who pay for them. But then I think: So what? People will pay too much for all sorts of things. Who am I to judge.

<comment><USER16> <rant>

I'm willing to pay for a good games that don't annoy me asking for more money, but see almost nothing to pay for. (I'm only talking about mobile here, desktop games market is totally different.)

That is, when I got bored I had browsed Play Market for a while and I'd say - subjectively - options where you buy a game and that's it - you enjoy the whole thing, as advertised, right to a solid logical ending, without anyone persistently asking you to take your wallet out again (to remove ads, to buy some in-game advantage or to access further gameplay) are astonishingly rare.

Crap, even Baldur's Gate is now with in-app purchases and DLCs. (But, again, not on desktop!) Guess, that _must_ be something related to stereotypes and cliches, not real business models.

</rant>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Time for EA to put a fast talking voiceover and some tiny text at the end of the ad.

In my opinion, rulings like this will only lead to minimum required compliance. A lack of paying customers will lead to real behavior changes.

</comment><comment><USER18> Wonder how much money EA is making off of Dungeon Keeper now.

They could do worse than to NOT change the ads, but update the game so that it's actually free to play. "Sorry people, we screwed up. Here, have a game. We won't do that again."

But EA, being EA, would never do that.

<comment><USER19> Games with in-app purchases are the single mobile app category making the most money. Why would you think Dungeon Keeper is doing badly? If it is, it's probably because it's to complex to play on the bus or something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This wouldn't be such a travesty if the original Dungeon Keeper wasn't so much fun. There are plenty of play to win games out now, but rarely do they disgrace the legacy of a game like this.

<comment><USER21> Except EA is really notorious for desecrating whatever franchises they have. They fund a game/chore like Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances, yet Warhammer: Age of Heroes shuts down in a very short time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> The business model is not bad. Its the greed of those companies and CEOs that are hurting the business. I think they watched to much Gordon Gekko movies when they were young and they still believe in his strategy like its a fast track to fame and glory.

</comment><comment><USER23> what's next? they will tell me I won't get a girl if I buy a bmw?

I'm pretty sure the ad told me that.

<comment><USER23> lol. 4 people that now have buyers remorse on their bmw down voted me.</comment></comment>


A year with the Apple Watch: What works, what doesn't, and what lies ahead? - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/04/a-year-with-the-apple-watch-what-works-what-doesnt-and-what-lies-ahead/ <comment><USER2> I'm surprised there are no comments on this, but I'll contribute...

I'm a smartwatch fanatic. I believe the people that deny smartwatches are the same kinds of people that initially denied the utility of mobile phones / smart phones / etc. I had the OG Pebble, the first Moto 360, the Pebble Time Steel and then the Apple Watch. (I am by no means an expert) I also owned a fitbit charge HR and a Basis HR watch (the original model...)

I currently only own the Apple Watch (sold the others to friends). I think the Pebble products are king in the smart watch space at the moment due to their price, ease of use, and cross-platform compatibility

I love my apple watch, but it's not as easy to (for example) change songs without looking at the watch (on the pebble, this would be pushing the up/down buttons)... on the apple watch the display needs to be turned on and you have to hit a "soft" button.

I also love the apple watch for its heart rate sensor and other capabilities (that a lot of android watches have)... google fit and apple health are similar and underutilized though. (Pebble is now trying to get in this space, but lacks the heart rate).

As an aside I'm surprised at the lack of health/fitness apps... I imagine that other devs (like me) are interested in these kinds of apps and have great ideas... but are busy with other projects (also my problem). (If anyone wants to casually collaborate on something like that... let me know)

(that was kind of rambly, but I'm at brunch, and I realize this isn't reddit... so my apologies)</comment>


Why NDAs are mostly a joke - <AUTHOR> http://blog.nektoon.net/archive/2009/02/12/nda-nix-decent-agreement.html

<comment><USER2> We have a simple business policy - we do not sign NDAs.

I am not aware of any situation where that has lost us work - you can usually point to sufficient flaws in any given NDA to show that it is invalid in practice or that you as (say) director (is that vice president in the USA?) of a business you would be in breach of trust to your own company should you sign it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Quoting from:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=462448>

 _I did an MBO 6 years ago and it was striking. All the people who were genuinely helpful did business on a handshake. All those who were ultimately a waste of time, space and occasionally oxygen, insisted on having everything in writing. It was a 100% correlation, and a real eye-opener._

</comment><comment><USER4> I've often viewed NDA's much like patents, they don't offer you any real protection. They only offer mild discouragement to someone attempting to capitalize on something you created or invented. An NDA (much like a patent) basically just gives you a strong edge should you choose to pursue something legally, YOU have to determine still if that battle is worth your time and money.

The above being said, it is still a good idea, IMO, to use NDA's (they're basically free) and patents when/where appropriate.

</comment><comment><USER5> The 90's comic strip "The VC" on NDA's: <http://www.thevc.com/strips/strip05.html></comment>


CoffeeScript 1.6.0 is out, with Source Map support - <AUTHOR> http://coffeescript.org/#changelog?1.6.0

<comment><USER2> I find it interesting that Jason Walton was credited with bringing source maps to CoffeeScript. What happened to Michael Ficarra's CoffeeScript Redux?

<comment><AUTHOR> Redux is still on ongoing effort, but Redux is about more than just source maps. It is also about redesigning the compiler to be more flexible and extensible.

If you're interested, I suggest subscribing to the Github notifications. They're often quite informative. <https://github.com/michaelficarra/CoffeeScriptRedux/issues></comment></comment>


A web browser reference implementation using Mozilla Android Components - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/reference-browser <comment><AUTHOR> This browser uses the same GeckoView engine as the recently updated Firefox Focus (for Android), which runs much faster than the Gecko engine that's currently being used in Firefox for Android.

[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox- focus](https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/geckoview-firefox-focus)

</comment><comment><USER2> As an Android engineer, what would I use this for in my app?

Is it something I would embed to use in lieu of Chrome Custom Tabs if I wanted an in-app browser experience (similar to CCT) but that I could customize more or if I wanted more control over the "web browser engine" for some reason?

<comment><AUTHOR> Mozilla's Android components repo describes the project as "A collection of Android libraries to build browsers or browser-like applications." Since this includes an entire browser engine and browser features such as autocomplete and history/bookmark syncing, I don't think this is meant to be a substitute for Chrome Custom Tabs. If you intend to develop a complete browser (e.g. Brave) or an app that uses multiple browser features (e.g. a shopping app with a built-in browser), then Mozilla's Android components might be right for you.

[https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android- components](https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/android-components)

The Mozilla Reference Browser appears to be targeted to end users as a way to showcase performance improvements in an upcoming version of Firefox. Right now, Mozilla isn't able to include GeckoView into Firefox Nightly because it doesn't support all of the existing browser features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Is there a similar component for the Firefox JS engine? I'd be interested to know if it could be used standalone and how big it would be. (Mozilla also has the Rhino JS engine that works on Android, but this is something different)

<comment><AUTHOR> Originally, there was XULRunner, which was used in applications including ChatZilla, Google AdWords Editor, Komodo Edit, Pencil, Songbird, and Zotero. XULRunner has been discontinued.

[https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XUL...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Archive/Mozilla/XULRunner)

Mozilla briefly developed Positron, which was an Electron-compatible app shell that used Gecko instead of Chromium/Node.js/V8. Positron has also been discontinued.

[https://github.com/mozilla/positron](https://github.com/mozilla/positron)

The developer who was working on Positron went on to develop qbrt, which is a CLI interface to a Gecko app runtime. The project is unstable, and the last commit date is Jun 30, 2018.

[https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt](https://github.com/mozilla/qbrt)

Another Mozilla developer has a project called servoshell, which is an embeddable version of Servo. It's described as work-in-progress, and the last commit date is Jan 7, 2018.

[https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell](https://github.com/paulrouget/servoshell)

I'm afraid this is it for now, since embedding Gecko is no longer unsupported by Mozilla.

[https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embed...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Mozilla/Gecko/Embedding_Mozilla/FAQ/Embedding_Gecko)

Hopefully, Mozilla will continue working on embeddable versions of desktop Gecko after they release the necessary improvements in Firefox.</comment></comment>


MIT's Freaky Non-Stick Coating Keeps Ketchup Flowing - <AUTHOR> http://www.liqui-glide.com/

<comment><USER2> This one's been making the rounds a lot recently.. that said, I am curious about two things:

Firstly, the edibility of this stuff. I know they said they only used food grade things, but really that won't go anywhere until it goes through the insanely expensive FDA approvals process.

Secondly, if it'll catch on. I can see marketers running wild with this, but on the other hand I can see companies have a vested interest in you not using all of the product you buy.

</comment><comment><USER3> I never had an issue with this, because I shake the bottle vigorously for 2 seconds before taking the top off, and the ketchup flows much more smoothly.

</comment><comment><USER4> 1) Is it toxic? 2) Does it affect the flavor in any way? 3) Have we forgotten about the existence of plastic squeezable bottles?

</comment><comment><USER5> Another disruptive technology, the ketchup industry better take note!

I wonder how it works with a full bottle?

</comment><comment><USER6> Screw ketchup. what does it do in pumps?

<comment><USER7> Agreed. It just reduces friction right? Seems like it would be useful for a lot of things (like engine oil? exterior of a spacecraft?, etc.).</comment></comment>


Crazy easy dialogs for iOS devs: QuickDialog - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/escoz/QuickDialog

<comment><USER2> Interesting idea. But, I don't necessarily like it.

You're moving the display logic for a view controller to be outside of the view controller. You now have to know where a view was created and presented from in order to change any of the view's content around at a later date. With tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:, you don't have to worry about where it came from, because the view controller is responsible for managing its own content.

Also: as an aside, you should be caching all of your NS*Formatter objects at a per-thread level, rather than recreating every time you need them -- formatters are very expensive to create and set up.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not really moving out of the tableview delegate. There's still a QuickDialogTableViewDelegate class that does the cellForRowAtIndexPath work you mentioned, and you can still override that if you would like. In my view, having the view controller being responsible for creating the cells, like most people implement it, is a pretty bad behavior per se. It works great for little problems, but at a point it simply doesn't scale: you end up with a viewcontroller with dozens of methods and thousands of lines of code about displaying views inside your viewcontroller, which is just not a good place for it: different responsabilities should go to different objects. Besides, if you have to display cells of 5-10 different types, your viewcontroller will become ridiculously large pretty quickly.

QuickDialog solves that responsability problem by delegating the creation of cells to separate classes, that know exactly what they're supposed to do. In my view, this is just good OO design, honestly.

THanks a lot of the NSFormatter bit, I'll keep that in mind!

<comment><USER2> I'm not objecting to UITableViewCell subclasses to manage each type of view -- thats a nice, reusable design. getCellForTableView:controller: to return an instance of a given cell is essentially what I do (although I keep it as a class method on UITableViewCell instead).

My objection is to RootElement and QuickDialogController. What happens if you have to present a screen from multiple places? Or if you need to modify it at a later date, to, say, add another field?

For example: Say you have a login screen. And now you want to add a field to ask the user for another bit of information. With your design, you have to know everywhere that you can possibly log in from. Or, you have to add a method somewhere to set up the login view and then push it. And at that point, you might as well just make a separate controller to control everything. Which brings us back to tableView:cellForRowAtIndexPath:.

<comment><AUTHOR> Right now, all you have to do is modify your root element as you wish, and then call the reloadData on the tableView. That will show the new table automatically, although it won't show a nice animation that somebody would expect. Adding this functionality is in my todo list, and should be fairly simple to do.

What you're saying though is not really related to adding/removing cells. I'm not saying you shouldn't create UIViewControllers for specific things, actually its quite the oposite, I think you should have as many controllers as possible, so that they're really small. Funny your example is a login screen, bcse that's the example in my samples on the project. Take a look at the code: it's very simple, and it mostly has to do with the actions that will happen as a result of the form, instead of cell creation: [https://github.com/escoz/QuickDialog/blob/master/sample/Logi...](https://github.com/escoz/QuickDialog/blob/master/sample/LoginController.m)

I see this as a much cleaner approach to do exactly the same thing, with the benefit that a lot of the code can be reusable. As a developer, you can spend a lot less time implementing plumbing code to get the cells and fields displayed, and instead focus on how they're used.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Looks fantastic! Great work. Until i read "the library depends on ARC for memory management" - unfortunately that'll rule out its use for me :( Having said that, i look forward to one-day-when i get to use this in an ARC app :)

<comment><USER4> The length of time the ARC compiler is in beta is a blink of an eye relative to how long all the production apps based on QuickDialog are going to be in production.

Good on him for writing a maintainable library, instead of one that will need a major refactor in 30 days.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Drew,

I would love to have people using the library for months or years to come. I'm sure I'll still be using it. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Thanks for the notification. I plan on pulling the code and trying it out!

(On another note, ARC is a very welcome addition to the language.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Just to update, I committed this afternoon the license, everything is Apache 2.0. Thanks for reminding me of it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Looks handy. Did I miss it, or is no licence specified?

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right, my bad. I'll figure this out soon. Should be free like most projects out there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Looks cool but if possible remove the dependence on ARC.

<comment><USER8> Unless you need to support iOS 3.x, you'll get ARC for free for your iOS 5.x _and_ iOS 4.x projects in September with Xcode 4.2 (currently in beta). ARC and non-ARC libraries can also co-exists in the same project.

So it seems quite logical for developers to rely on most modern technologies, esp. since supporting older technologies comes with a cost.

<comment><USER7> Understood, but technically we're not supposed to submit to the App Store using beta versions of Xcode. Whether Apple would notice is a different story but a rejection would set us back so I'm not willing to risk it.

<comment><USER2> This isn't a technicality. Apple _will_ reject your app if you compile with Xcode 4.2.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not for long though, 4.2 is just around the corner. I can't see them doing too many extra betas before releasing it. By the time you develop your app with this library 4.2 is probably going to be released anyway.

<comment><USER2> We're _assuming_ 4.2 is going to be released soon. No one actually knows. It might be tomorrow, it might be October.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right.. but from previous experience, apple doesn't usually do a lot more than 5 or so beta builds.

Still, its not like I'm doing more work anyway, going with ARC saved time on development. If Apple ends up never releasing 4.2, I would just had to "finish" the job.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Which games do you most want a VR version of? - <AUTHOR> F.e. I would like to play Metal Gear Solid series in Virtual Reality <comment> d-crane Alien: Isolation (for which I believe a short, non-publicly-available VR was made) would be an amazing and colossally scary VR experience. The immersion is already incredible just playing on the TV; I can't imagine the tension of trying to hide from the xenomorph only to have that barbed tail shoot through your chest unexpectedly.</comment>


Smart Hoodie Responds to Gestures, Sends Text Messages - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2014/06/09/smart-hoodie/

<comment><USER2> Thanks for posting :)</comment>


Optimal brain damage - <AUTHOR> http://yann.lecun.com/exdb/publis/pdf/lecun-90b.pdf

<comment><USER2> Oh the memories :-) That article is from about 1990. At that time it was widely referenced in neural network research. I also used it as a reference in my masters thesis in 1993.

Edit: Changed year..

</comment><comment><USER3> It happens in human brains too. Neuron pruning has positive effects on intelligence. [http://develintel.blogspot.com/2006/03/overgrowth-pruning- an...](http://develintel.blogspot.com/2006/03/overgrowth-pruning-and- infantile.html)

<comment><USER4> This, plus the common wisdom (I hear it repeated all the time) that alcohol kills neurons, leads to interesting conclusions :).

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> That's interesting. I wonder how easy (or necessary) it would be to apply this to a self-training (self-motivated) network.

</comment><comment><USER6> only yann can do it !</comment>