Cafe theft suspect nabbed after video goes viral - <AUTHOR> http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2014/04/08/cafe-theft-suspect-nabbed-after-video-goes-viral/ <comment><USER7> I'm really glad she was arrested and I think she deserves a long sentence as a repeat offender. However, I do hope that she won't become an easy target for prison abuse, as it's often the case for transgender people.

<comment><USER8> I fear she will. I know this is harsh, but based on the mugshot she could possibly revert back to being a man while in prison.

<comment><USER9> > I know this is harsh...

I wouldn't call your comment harsh, exactly, more along the lines of some combination of:

      - <USER2>
      - <USER3>
      - <USER4>
      - <USER5>
      - <USER6>

<comment><USER8> Possibly the first two, but I don't think ignorant. I would not wish on anyone what happens to transsexuals in prison.

<comment><USER9> Ignorant in the sense of characterizing attempting to pass for survival as "reverting to a man"

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Relevant HN post: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7538972](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7538972)

</comment><comment><USER11> that's great! the victim was lucky they found her.I hope she'll get her laptop back.It's likely the thief is used to that kind of actions in coffee-shops. Seems she has a consistent modus operandi.

<comment><USER12> Yeah I fear she already fenced it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Sorry for the offhand question, but does anyone else think it's a little strange to leave a laptop and mobile phone unattended in a public space, even for 5 mins? These things are expensive dammit! Pack em up and go to the toilet with em.

<comment><USER14> With the number of cameras, device tracking and that everything is in cloud nowadays...no. In fact, it's kind of nice that we might be resembling more quainter times.

<comment><USER15> lol, good one!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I knew I was on sfgate.com when my browser stopped responding.

</comment><comment><USER17> I need to keep a "help my X device was stolen and I have evidence!" web template stored somewhere...

</comment><comment><USER18> /4chan mode off/

</comment><comment><USER19> Good job guys! :p</comment>


OpenTok on WebRTC - <AUTHOR> http://www.tokbox.com/blog/mantis-next-generation-cloud-technology-for-webrtc/

<comment><USER2> I don't understand one thing. Say there is 10 people in the session. Do I get all other 9 people's streams as only one pear? Anyway it's seems very interesting.</comment>


Show HN: LuaGB – A Gameboy emulator written in pure Lua - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/zeta0134/LuaGB <comment><AUTHOR> One day when I was really bored in modded Minecraft, I thought it would be a neat idea to see how far I could get writing a Gameboy emulator in ComputerCraft. That idea fell apart shortly after I had a somewhat working z80 chip and realized that the graphics display wasn't possible, but I kept working on the emulator over the course of a year, and this is the result.

It's not the fastest thing in the world, but my own machine manages to play many games full speed, and it supports almost the full feature set of the platform. I'm sure there are bugs, but I'm pretty happy with it overall. Critique and especially bug reports are quite welcome! My own growing Gameboy library is still quite small and I won't test games I don't own for legal reasons.

<comment><USER2> how "pure" is this. Can this be integrated somehow as a world of warcraft extension, interface modules there are written in lua as well.

<comment><USER3> I seems to depend on the Löve Framework for actually drawing the emulation

<comment><USER4> This release does, yes. The actual emulation of the system is straight Lua and does not require Löve at all. You could run the emulator completely headless (as I was pestering zeta to do during development for testing), but there's not yet a headless driver. This also means that you just have to provide the hooks for drawing/sound/input/file IO to give it a different front end. Löve is what was used because it's what we're familiar with.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've been following the development of this for quite a while, and one feature that is not erm, featured, is that the actual emulator itself is composed of isolated modules. This means that it's possible to swap out say, the graphics implementation to do a high definition drawer, or substitute the processor with a plain Lua script - essentially, it turns the Gameboy itself into a library! This could be used to make higher-level ROM hacks and patches without needing to know the nitty-gritty of the whole system.

</comment><comment><USER5> This is really neat to see in Lua. The first(?) issue on the project highlights this nicely: [https://github.com/zeta0134/LuaGB/issues/1](https://github.com/zeta0134/LuaGB/issues/1)

I constantly underestimate the reach a project like this can have; in this case, the possibility to reuse this base for other easily-portable emulators.

I've been following this project since it began, good luck once you start tackling speed!

</comment><comment><USER6> what will be your strategy for maintaining this library?

</comment><comment><USER7> Speaking of, what's the status of LuaJIT?</comment>


Ask HN: What do I need to do to be able to 'flag' posts - <AUTHOR>

I lost that ability a few months ago, and still waiting to get it back.  I don't think I ever abused the power. <comment><USER2> You may have been mis-identified as belonging to a voting ring, or otherwise fallen foul of the filters and automatic systems.

From [http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) :

        Please don't post on HN to ask or tell us something
        (e.g. to ask us questions about Y Combinator, or to
        ask or complain about moderation). If you want to say
        something to us, please send it to firstname.lastname@example.com.

</comment><comment><USER3> This happened to me back when the Snowden thing first blew up. I often browsed "new" and would flag dupes/spam. When the Snowden thing first broke, I flagged a lot of dupes and subsequently lost flagging privileges. I happened to complain about it once in a comment explaining how I no longer visit "new" since I can't flag and boom - my flag privileges showed back up the next day. No word as to why but it seemed to me that a mod read my comment and changed the account.</comment>


Vend: Web and iPad POS - <AUTHOR> http://www.vendhq.com/ <comment><USER2> Very well done.

What's the sales strategy for a POS system like this?/ How do small businesses find out about Vend?

Cool stuff James.</comment>


U.S. Explodes Atomic Bombs Near Beers To See If They Are Safe To Drink - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/09/18/161338723/u-s-explodes-atomic-bombs-near-beers-to-see-if-they-are-safe-to-drink <comment><USER2> Nice!. This could actually turn out to be useful information ,who knows. I wonder if they did the same for canned food items. Also, what about other type of non-conventional weapons ? would canned goods and packaged beverages be usable after a chemical or biological attack ?

<comment><USER3> I would be concerned about the differences in canning materials used then vs. now (for beverages, specifically), since I don't believe aluminum cans were common at the time of the study.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Hosted wiki for developer documentation? - <AUTHOR>

Started a new job. Charged with starting to document development and work flow. What are some options? Any dedicated tools better than a vanilla mediaWiki install? <comment><USER2> Hackpad</comment>


Obama's Interview: Most Important Quotes On Healthcare.gov And NSA - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/07/obamas-interview-most-important-quotes-on-healthcare-gov-and-nsa/ <comment><USER2> "" _I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me._ " Obama was referring to the hundreds of thousands of people who are receiving health insurance cancellations from plans that do not conform to rules under the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a "Obamacare")."

Lose: it's well established to be "hundreds of thousands" in many individual states, e.g. 300K last time I checked for Florida. It's several million at last count, and estimated to be somewhere near 16 million out of a total of 19 million, and _all_ of the people who got Obamacare high risk pool insurance. The latter had damn well better be taken care of, or a lot of them are going to die fairly quickly after they lose their insurance Jan 1.

" _"When it comes to my campaign, I'm not constrained to a bunch of federal procurement rules,_ " on how federal contracting rules makes the government far less efficient than his tech-savvy campaign. Notably he says he wants to review federal procurement for all of the federal government."

Given that the project was run by political and bureaucratic government people in the White House down to HHS's CMS, which was the integrator (!) until being replaced by contractor QSSI, politics infamously drove the process ([http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/challenges-have- dogge...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/challenges-have-dogged- obamas-health-plan- since-2010/2013/11/02/453fba42-426b-11e3-a624-41d661b0bb78_print.html)), and his people choices per that link:

 _"They were running the biggest start-up in the world, and they didn't have anyone who had run a start-up, or even run a business," said David Cutler, a Harvard professor and health adviser to Obama's 2008 campaign, who was not the individual who provided the memo to The Washington Post but confirmed he was the author. "It's very hard to think of a situation where the people best at getting legislation passed are best at implementing it. They are a different set of skills."_

Yeah, the woman he chose to both get the legislation passed and to implement it went to Harvard Law like he did, after getting a Harvard history degree....</comment>


Ask HN: Is anyone else having problems with AppFog? - <AUTHOR>

Hi - I've been playing with AppFog for a couple of weeks now - with Wordpress and a Python app - but I keep having some problems regarding the availability of the service!
Every 15-20 minutes the their systems seems to restart or something - because in all this time my  apps are not availaible - a "Page not found" error is showed in my browser.
I wanted to ask you if you encountered this type of problems with AppFog?
Thanks! <comment><USER2> Always feel free to use AppFog's live chat or send an e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.com and submit a support ticket. We're always more than happy to help!</comment>


Montizing your social influence using marketting via sharing facebook posts. - <AUTHOR> http://somethingawesome.in/ <comment><USER2> Amway?

Can you "empower" your most loyal and socially wealthy followers by signing them up to the platform?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not like Amway. The platform would be different for different people. It is like one get to select from a set of posts to share on his timeline. Signing up to the platform ]would totally depend on the post provider.</comment></comment>


IBM fires small-town workers - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/02/ibm-fires-small-town-workers-for-wall-street-numbers <comment><USER2> I was previously an IBMer (not US based) until I left a couple of years ago, and I know someone very close to me who has just been offered redundancy from IBM (also not US based).

I appreciate the company's responsibilities are to the shareholders, but their approach seems to be short-sighted.

The culture in IBM seems to be if you are a sales person or a project manager you are the well-treated elite, and anyone else (i.e. the researchers, the developers, designers, consultants - basically anyone who actually _makes_ anything that IBM sells) can go fuck themselves and are treated as dispensable/replaceable assets.

They're painting themselves into a corner - there are only a limited number of times you can get rid of the people on the ground actually doing anything before it really starts to hurt.

I think they've realised this and that is why they are now just buying companies rather than creating their own offerings.

Is it too late? Probably - they are only just getting their act together with cloud offerings whilst a __bookshop __has become a market leader. I dont think they can catch up.

<comment><USER3> > The culture in IBM seems to be if you are a sales person or a project > manager you are the well-treated elite, and anyone else (i.e. the > researchers, the developers, designers, consultants - basically anyone who > actually makes anything that IBM sells) can go fuck themselves and are > treated as dispensable/replaceable assets.

That's a somewhat-sensible philosophy for a services company/consultancy (whose brand-name is its biggest asset) to take, though, isn't it? The only people IBM has to _keep_ , to keep the lights on, are the salespeople (who introduce new customers) and project managers (who liase with current customers.) Everyone else is a black box that customers won't notice the replacement of. They could outsource everything but those people to subcontracting firms, and "IBM the services company" would persist.

<comment><USER4> If the company does not care about the quality of those services then I guess they can do that. How long will the brand stay after that is a another question. I would not bet for long.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> When your compensation consists of $500,000 fixed salary with bonus of $2 mil - $5 million, naturally you're going obsess over Wall Street numbers.

I think executives should be penalized for layoffs, because with proper resource management, layoffs can be greatly minimized.

In fact, EPS increase through asset sales, layoffs, stock buyback should all count against their bonus figures.

<comment><USER6> > with proper resource management, layoffs can be greatly minimized.

This is a pretty bold assertion. We're not talking about a few jobs at the margin, eg. one report speaks of 25% of the hardware business.

<comment><USER7> No company hires just because. They have a plan and need people to execute it. If those people do their jobs well and still the company fails, then logically, you would keep the workers and replace the management. But it never seems to work like that.

<comment><USER3> Say that IBM had a plan that involved hiring 5000 pastry chefs. They did their jobs excellently, but it turned out that nobody wanted servers that baked doughnuts. Fire the management who came up with that stinker, or not, either way--but what good will come in keeping the 5000 pastry chefs?

<comment><USER7> When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> To me, IBM is a dead company, no matter how cool Watson is. My perception of IBM is a consultant company. While IBM research still makes tons of awesome progress in AI and security, IBM looks like GE and Bell Lab to me. I don't know who is the legacy now... I wonder how IBM employees feel about their job.

<comment><USER9> IBM's Q4 revenue was $27.7 billion. The consulting branch, Global Technology Services brought in $9.9B of that revenue. The software group, SWG, brought in $8.1B in revenue. (IBM is only making ~33M per year on Watson right now)

IBM is a bit more than a consulting company. They are in the midst of trying to reinvent themselves as more of a software company because the margins are so much greater than hardware.

IBM is screwing it's hardware employees, but the writing has been on the wall for a very long time. IBM employees got used to the idea that they could work at IBM for life, and retire with the company. They've either missed the signals or felt like layoffs couldn't happen to them. Many of the groups affected by the layoffs in IBM had a furlough last August. I don't know about you, but the moment a company says don't come to work for a week with reduced pay is the moment I start looking for a new job. (I do realize that many people at IBM stay loyal because they are on a pension program and they lose significant income if they voluntarily leave).

<comment><USER10> These numbers definitely don't tell the whole story. In my experience, the consulting branch is IBM's number one software sales force. Without it pushing products like DB2 and the Websphere line, the software group would have a tough time staying competitive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Typical scenario: \- layoffs for short term EPS \- current pipeline continues momentum for a bit \- CEO gets credited with great success... and moves on to the next company \- then the "oh shit" moment, when the lack of personnel becomes apparent

Some CEOs are like locusts. Moving from company to company for a short term frenzy, then moving on to the next.

I hope this is not happening here.

Personally I do not quite follow the current mentality of only thinking about the "shareholder value". If a company is just break even, it still pays earning the livelihoods of its employees. That should count for something - but of course is doesn't because investors can make more money elsewhere.

<comment><USER12> The current CEO has been at IBM for 33 years while the previous one had been there for 39 years... So no, these CEO don't move on to the next company.

<comment><USER13> That's not quite the same thing.

You could replace the IBM CEO every week for many years to come with someone who has been at the company for 30+ years.

<comment><USER12> I understand. But IBM CEOs are just not the "rotating CEO" type. For most (if not all) it was their last position before retiring.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Rather like when the GMG (guardians parent) let those staff go in some of the local press they own when the margins went down for local newspapers?

</comment><comment><USER15> Killing itself for $20 EPS.

</comment><comment><USER16> I can't have been the only one to view the $1000 (or whatever it was) in stock options as a blatant bribe. It was pretty clear that the 2015 roadmap was going to sacrifice staff (or bonuses, or conditions, etc) in order to meet its targets and I honestly never understood what the motivation behind it was.

(I left IBM 1.5 years ago)

</comment><comment><USER17> It's sad to see IBM gut its workforce in the very place it was founded, just to increase its EPS.

I go to a college that is right next to the village Endicott. The population of the nearby city of Binghamton, a member of the Rust Belt, saw its population decline from a peak of 85,000 to its current total of about 47,000 when the manufacturing jobs left. The decline has taken it's toll on the city. Binghamton is now one of the fattest, most depressed cities in America.

[http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/america_fatte...](http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/03/america_fattest_cities_us_binghamton_obesity_rates.html)

[http://www.businessinsider.com/most-depressing-cities-in- ame...](http://www.businessinsider.com/most-depressing-cities-in- america-2011-3#binghamton-ny-5)

</comment><comment><USER6> This sucks for the people concerned. But IBM's core responsibility can't be to maintain comfortable jobs that aren't sufficiently profitable. The world has changed dramatically and IBM hasn't changed with it. The longer you go without shedding the dead weight, the more painful it gets, but you still have to do it.

The article suggests that shedding jobs equals not investing in the future, while also mentioning several paragraphs later that IBM is investing billions in new business areas. Increasing EPS means freeing up more cash to invest.

<comment><USER18> Without knowing the breakdown of which units are being laid off, how do you or the shareholders have the information to know if management is indeed "shedding the dead weight" or is instead tweaking the numbers to meet Wall Street expectations?

You don't. Increased opacity makes it harder to make any judgements. For example, IBM is quoted as saying they have "more than 3,000 job openings", but those could be pro forma openings which aren't expected to be filled, and exist mostly to promote the idea that IBM is hiring. The real test would be the number of people hired, but IBM does not publish that information.

The article does not say, as you believe, that IBM is "investing billions in new business areas". It says IBM "committed $1bn to its new Watson unit and $2.2bn to expand its cloud offerings". Those appear to be an expansion of existing business areas, and not an investment in new ones.

It also says IBM has "investments in areas such as nanotechnology which will bring hundreds of new jobs to New York State." IBM has been in nanotechnology for over 20 years, so you can't conclude from this article that this is a new business area.

<comment><USER9> The job cuts were largely in STG and GTS and these are the divisions with the most dead weight, so while it's possible IBM cut non-dead weight jobs these cuts do not seem to be random across the board cuts.

<comment><USER18> Could you define "dead weight" in this context?

Is it that STG and GTS were a net loss to the company, or is it that those groups weren't profitable enough to make the alleged $20/share goal?

If IBM has decided to leave the hardware business as a long term goal, then is it fair to call the hardware people a "dead weight" if that part of the organization is still profitable? The term seems to imply that the people themselves are at fault.

<comment><USER9> I'm not sure what's alleged about the $20/share goal.

I do not know the income, off the top of my head, for STG and GTS, it's they made a profit, but revenue growth was negative. When you're trying to allocate capital for a business would you rather put your capital towards products with a 5% margin (hardware) or a 85% one (software)?

IBM has been pretty clear that they want to jettison the lower margin businesses in favor of higher margin ones. Maybe dead weight isn't the right term for these employees, but from a business perspective these low margin products are more or less dead weight.

<comment><USER18> I know only what I read in the linked-to article. I don't how important the $20 earnings per share is to IBM, that they might let off profitable groups solely to make that goal. Hence "alleged."

But "insufficiently profitable" and "dead weight" are not synonymous, just like "maximizing profit" and "greedy bastard" are not synonymous. The first of each pair are economics terms, the second are social terms.

To turn your question around, would you rather put your capital towards products with 85% margin or 75%? Does your choice of one make the other by definition a dead weight?

<comment><USER19> The margin question is a good one, and you have to ask it in context of IBM. Nobody wakes up and says "Hey, let's go buy SVC for storage virtualization!". You go to buy IBM storage (lower margin) and layer on SVC and the other management software.

Think of a fast food scenario. The marginal cost of cheese on a hamburger is like 95% profit for a restaurant. That doesn't mean that you stop selling hamburgers for $1 and only sell slices of cheese for $0.25.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> "Employees in the US, and in those small towns, also say they're unhappy that IBM is shrinking in America while outsourcing to countries like India."

Aren't they laying off in India now too?

<comment><USER21> You are probably thinking of Lenovo laying off the employees in the server division they bought from IBM.

<comment><USER9> IBM had a large layoff in india. IBM's india problems have been quite interesting. See: [http://qz.com/173601/ibms-india- problem/](http://qz.com/173601/ibms-india-problem/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> As opposed to doing what? Keeping these workers on board as an act of charity? IBM operates for the benefit of its shareholders, not its employees; also, water is wet.

<comment><USER5> Layoff is a blunt instrument that swings in one direction, and cannot be undone. It's easy, but it results in too much unnecessary casualties.

When you've been with a company for 10, 15 years, you accumulate wealth of business knowledge that can always be re-deployed in other areas through careful planning.

That takes more skill than just swinging hammer. But with the absurd money we're paying the executives, shouldn't we expect a little more than just a hammer in their toolbox?</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Moving from Individual Contributor to Executive - <AUTHOR> I've been an individual contributor software engineer for the past 10 years. I'm now realizing that I love making things come to fruition, I'm not as enamored with software development as I once was.
I started my own business a year and a half and I'm finding that I really enjoy helping build something from the ground up.
Does hacker news have any recommendations on how to make the jump from an individual contributor to an executive team? <comment><USER2> I would suggest studying two domain - leadership and finance.

 _Getting to Yes_ , _The Coaching Habit_ , and _Exactly What to Say_ can be helpful on the leadership/relationship management side.

I would say maybe look at the CFA Investment Foundations course or a similar course. Maybe you could find the subject matter from an MBA program for free too.

Just my suggestions. I'm not an executive, just an IC at a financial company.</comment>


How can I get a meeting with Alexis Ohanian, a Y Combinator Ambassador? - <AUTHOR> http://www.quora.com/Y-Combinator/How-can-I-get-a-meeting-with-Alexis-Ohanian-a-YCombinator-Ambassador

<comment><USER2> I second what both those people said. I had a nice email exchange with him about my startup. It didn't turn into a meeting like it did for the second person, but he did help me. Also, you can find him on Reddit as well. I have never met him in person, but from our interactions, email and Reddit, he seems like a really nice guy.</comment>


Inferno-rpi 0.4 released – boot time is now about 1 second - <AUTHOR> http://lynxline.com/inferno-rpi-0-4-release/ <comment><USER2> The labs on porting Inferno OS to the Raspberry Pi: [http://lynxline.com/projects/labs-portintg-inferno-os-to- ras...](http://lynxline.com/projects/labs-portintg-inferno-os-to-raspberry- pi/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Site having db woes for me at the moment. Here's a copy and paste from google cache just on the off chance it helps anyone else out:

Inferno-rpi-0.4 release By ADMIN | Published: DECEMBER 7, 2015 Releasing Inferno-rpi-0.4

Changes:

* Significant performance improvement due to fixed error in process scheduling/idle

* Boot time is about ONE second :)

Download:

* [https://bitbucket.org/infpi/inferno-rpi/downloads/inferno-rp...](https://bitbucket.org/infpi/inferno-rpi/downloads/inferno-rpi-0.4.zip)

Installation:

1\. Download latest zip package from [https://bitbucket.org/infpi/inferno- rpi/downloads](https://bitbucket.org/infpi/inferno-rpi/downloads)

2\. Pepare SD card with first DOS partition with size less than 250 MB (vfat32 support is not complete)

3\. Unzip all files to SD (boot.scr, kernel.bin, … – should in root of SD)

4\. Boot Raspberry Pi

5\. By default it starts "`styxlisten -A tcp!*!564 export /"`, so you can mount it on other host by "`mount -A tcp!10.0.56.101!564 /n/remote/rpi"` (-A means no auth, IP is for example, see what it got by DHCP)

6\. If you do not want GUI (wm/wm) to be started just edit config.txt and replace kernel.bin to kernel-nogui.bin

<comment><USER3> And a link to an explanation of what Inferno OS is all about: [http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/](http://www.vitanuova.com/inferno/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Magnificent work!</comment>


NSA 'In Bed Together with the Germans' - <AUTHOR> http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/edward-snowden-accuses-germany-of-aiding-nsa-in-spying-efforts-a-909847.html

<comment><USER2> I'm starting to get the feeling that the Bilderberg conspiracy theorists haven't been so far off, after all.

</comment><comment><USER3> > At the same time, a new US Army base being built in Germany that is also to > be used by the NSA has been approved by German authorities. Currently, a new > Consolidated Intelligence center is being built in Wiesbaden.

US seems keen on recreating Stasi Germany. Didn't Obama just say something against that like a week ago in Germany? It seems there are 2 Obamas. One that says feel-good stuff in public, that he knows the public wants to hear, and the _real_ Obama, who does the _opposite_.

<comment><AUTHOR> It seems that he's simply lying.</comment></comment>


Hover Camera is a drone designed for flying indoors - <AUTHOR> https://www.techinasia.com/carbon-fiber-hover-camera-indoor-drone-launch <comment><USER2> $600? that seems like a lot for a flying selfie cam. teenager girls don't have that much money to spend.</comment>


Ask HN: What would you build at SalaryMuncher.com? - <AUTHOR> http://salarymuncher.com/build.html <comment><USER2> I don't want to be rude but this seems really backwards. Starting with a name and working your way back to the business plan via crowdsourcing?

The questions in the survey seem ludicrous. "What can we do to improve our offering?" \-- "Compared to the competition, what would you say makes SalaryMuncher.com distinctive and unique?" \-- it's unique in that it offers no value and distinct in that it consists only of a survey.

If I'm being paranoid it seems like a subtle way to market "typeform" or a clever way to solicit email addresses.

<comment><USER3> I do not really understand the idea as well... Someone wants me to build a business for you? Backwards for sure.

And, you're being a bit paranoid, I do work at Typeform and I can ensure you that we have no "hidden ways" like this, where the purpose is to spread Typeform :) It's simply someone using Typeform to build the form itself.

<comment><AUTHOR> that's right. btw, great job.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Shooting the shit with a mate over a few beers when Salary Muncher kept coming back at us, sounded like a sticky name. Since the domain wasn't taken we thought in good HN fashion, to throw back at you. So if you owned salarymuncher.com, what would you build?</comment>


Tesla Q3 Investor Update Letter - <AUTHOR> http://ir.teslamotors.com/static-files/725970e6-eda5-47ab-96e1-422d4045f799 <comment><USER2> My understanding is that the conditions inside of Tesla's manufacturing are brutal. I have friends who work on the production side and they effectively tell me corporate culture is driven by fear. I am definitely cheering Tesla on for global warming reasons but I worry that Musk is running a Faustian bargain that may bite him in the backside long term.

These numbers though are encouraging.

<comment><USER3> Well, at least until now there actually was something to fear considering the threat of default on Teslas upcoming loan fulfillment. Hopefully with long term profitability in the horizon the working conditions will ease.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Wow. That is a pretty stellar report. If they continue gaining cash reserves at 800+M$ / quarter they deserve to win.</comment>


How to recruit the best technical talent as a business founder? - <AUTHOR>

How a lot of good/bad/ugly stories begin...I recently left a pretty secure job in banking (in London) to work with startups just a few months ago. Having chosen a role with an accelerator to accelerate my own networking and understanding of the London tech scene, I now find myself with my own daily drip of good/bad/ugly ideas.
There is a nice mix of potentially world-changing, bank-rolling and utterly significant ideas in there.
However, to get to a point where I can really distinguish which is which, these things need building. As the title suggests, this won't and can't really be done by me. I'm a business guy. Full of ideas but not technically capable of executing them to the level where they can really gain meaningful traction. I need to hire a developer but want to know if they look upon a business founder with great ideas as fresh meat to pounce on or someone to harness their ability with a commercial edge.
The long and short of it is this, how does a developer need incentivising to really want to grow a potentially world-changing business with a guy that has a non-technical background.
Appreciate the help :) <comment><USER2> You need to find someone that believes in the vision, who will earn sweat equity with you and thinks you're the guy from a commercial point of view that can make that happen.

Tech companies without developers obviously don't work but nor to teams of developers only.

Show that you can articulate what needs to be done from a tech point of view and have a basic understanding of how it can be done!

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER3> Paying a market rate sure helps. I have no end of my own speculative ideas that I can work on for sweat equity and people that want me to work for free are a dime a dozen.</comment>


Liveblogging the Commercial Users of Functional Programming Workshop 2013 - <AUTHOR> http://www.syslog.cl.cam.ac.uk/2013/09/22/liveblogging-cufp-2013/

<comment><USER2> This is great stuff. Is anyone taking videos of the talks as well?

<comment><USER3> usually they record everything... Here are the links to previous years: [http://cufp.org/videos](http://cufp.org/videos)

<comment><USER4> yes, they were recorded, and will be posted.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> >The real problem is: comprehensions, folds, monads — WTF? Yet to see anyone from the monad community give a talk to understand monads. It's typically "you dont need monads" and then the word is used multiple times in the talk. If it's not important, why mention it so often? Quite often, the FP experience makes normal programmers feel stupid because they don't break through this terminology barrier. We as a community need to help people break through the barrier of not being formally trained in mathematics for whatever reason ("category theory for breakfast?") and _be productive_ in FPs.

That seems very inaccurate. Yet to see anyone give a talk on understanding monads? There's dozens of videos of such talks. I don't think anyone in the "monad community" is telling people they don't need monads. It is important, that is why it is mentioned so often. There _is_ a huge focus on helping people learn topics like monads, this isn't an area people are ignoring.</comment>


New RESTful middleware connects databases to web and mobile apps - <AUTHOR>

SlashDB is a new kind of middleware, which connects databases to web and mobile applications.
http://www.slashdb.com
Internet companies use it instantly APIfy websites built on traditional LAMP stack. Mobile enterprise application leverage its RESTful facade to create engaging business applications, which require data from legacy systems.
How would you use it? <comment><USER2> We use a RESTful API here, we just launched today too! Let us know what you think. <http://prope.rs></comment>


Reasons Not to Be a Manager - <AUTHOR> https://charity.wtf/2019/09/08/reasons-not-to-be-a-manager/ <comment><USER2> (2019)</comment>


A 7-Step Process to Achieving Your Goals - Alexandra Samuel - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_7-step_process_to_achieving_your_goals.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29 <comment><AUTHOR> I particularly like #3: Freak Out!</comment>


Ask HN: What are the best resources to learn modern web development and design? - <AUTHOR>

Are there are any particular resources anyone would recommend for one to gain a comprehensive understanding of front-end web design and development (or even just stay abreast with modern trends)? In my current position I'm relegated to older technologies and practices and I can't seem to broach this new world of design/trends/technology without unveiling giant gaps in my understanding. <comment><USER2> RESOURCES:

[http://www.skilledup.com/learn-web-design- guide/](http://www.skilledup.com/learn-web-design-guide/)

[http://javascriptissexy.com/](http://javascriptissexy.com/)

[http://www.webdesignerhub.com/best-online-resources- learning...](http://www.webdesignerhub.com/best-online-resources-learning-web- design-development/)

[http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-best-way-to- lear...](http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-best-way-to-learn-css-- webdesign-11906)

BOOKS:

[http://www.amazon.com/Modern-JavaScript-Develop-Larry- Ullman...](http://www.amazon.com/Modern-JavaScript-Develop-Larry- Ullman/dp/0321812522)

[http://www.sitepoint.com/store/jump-start-responsive-web- des...](http://www.sitepoint.com/store/jump-start-responsive-web-design/)

[http://www.sitepoint.com/store/the-web-designers- roadmap/](http://www.sitepoint.com/store/the-web-designers-roadmap/)

[http://www.sitepoint.com/store/sexy-web- design/](http://www.sitepoint.com/store/sexy-web-design/)

</comment><comment><USER3> This archived course on Coursera: Startup Engineering:

[https://www.coursera.org/course/startup](https://www.coursera.org/course/startup)

You can still sign up and access the PDFs, which are a goldmine of information.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you so much, this is a fantastic resource -- the syllabus outlines everything I was looking for.

<comment><USER3> Happy to hear it!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is one of my favorites sites to catch up on design trends and the code behind it. Take a look read some, code some, I'm sure you'll get used to how things are working in a couple of days. [http://tympanus.net/codrops/](http://tympanus.net/codrops/)

<comment><AUTHOR> I love this, thank you. I've picked up a few things in the past hour just by trying to replicate the demos.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Thoughtbot's Upcase provides some excellent material for both development and design. I would highly recommend it.</comment>


Chicago's Alt Weekly Puts Foot Down over Huffington Post's "straight stealing" - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.chicagoreader.com/chicagoland/tag/Huffington%20Post/

<comment><AUTHOR> My questions:

1\. Youtube positions itself as a service provider and therefore hides behind the DMCA when it runs illegal stuff. The Huffington Post's employees are actively stealing content from other people. Do they have the same protection? They seem to think so: <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terms.html>

2\. Why haven't they been sued yet?

<comment><USER2> HuffPo has that safe harbor for "user content" as specified in their ToS. The most obvious thing is the comments on their articles. If I cut/paste a NYTimes article into a comment on their page, they can't be sued for it.

For content that an agent of their's posts, they enjoy no such safe harbor. EDIT: Back when the MPAA was looking for YouTube's records with IP Addresses, people speculated that they'd pour over them to see if Google employees were either uploading or viewing this content since if you have knowledge of infringing content, you are liable.

As for why they haven't been sued, I don't know.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Really bad timing on HuffPo's part; Creative Loafing, which not long ago bought The Reader, is in the midst of a painful bankruptcy.

<comment><AUTHOR> My thoughts exactly.

Steal from the Times? The WSJ? Ok. They might give you a pass for a while if you send them readers. They don't know what's going on.

Steal from an alt. weekly that's broke as a joke and hustling to stay alive? Poor form.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Wired Picks up the Story, interviews HuffPo Co-Founder who called it "an editorial mistake and says this: "Generally publishers are psyched to have a link."

<http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/12/huffpo-slammed.html>

Gawker's Take: [http://gawker.com/5113964/arianna-huffingtons-scuzzy- copying...](http://gawker.com/5113964/arianna-huffingtons-scuzzy-copying- pisses-off-chicagoans)</comment>


Slack built their dark mode - <AUTHOR> https://slack.engineering/building-dark-mode-on-desktop-811508b5d15f <comment><USER2> besides for the needed UX work and a little development effort I don't get the latest buzz about dark mode.

Dark mode is not necessarily better than non-dark mode, and it should be a basic feature for every software anyway.</comment>


Omega2: the $5 Linux Server with WiFi - <AUTHOR> https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/onion/omega2-5-iot-computer-with-wi-fi-powered-by-linux <comment><USER2> It looks cool, but the title is misleading. Seems you need a lot of other stuff in order to make the $5 work for you.

</comment><comment><USER3> Very exciting, however you still need some additional stuff to make it work, other than the Omega2 itself, as others have said. Tho I don't think you'll be running anything modern on 64 MB of RAM... ? Maybe can be used as a Arduino replacement which runs Linux, but it's more looking like a module that you plug into something, than a computer that other things plug into.

</comment><comment><USER4> What chip do they use for that? I really doubt that they can cram a linux CPU good enough to make video and a wifi controller in such a small cost.

<comment><USER5> This source [1] says it's a Qualcomm Atheros AR9331 (ie, MIPS).

[1] [http://hackerboards.com/5-dollar-linux-equipped- omega2-iot-m...](http://hackerboards.com/5-dollar-linux-equipped-omega2-iot- module-launches-on-kickstarter/)

<comment><USER4> Thanks! Indeed this chip sells for little more than 1$ in big volumes but it does not have video output, something I thought was shown in the kickstarter video but they actually demonstrate an access to the board via a browser.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is more like a plugable system-on-chip than a computer. Can you even use it without one of the expansion dock ?

<comment><USER7> As long as you can power it with 3.3V you can run it without the docks.</comment></comment>


Transcending the Human, DIY Style - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/transcending-the-human-diy-style/ <comment><USER2> Part of me is fascinated that someone would actually do something like that, part of me is horrified. For now the horror seems to win out. The price seems pretty excessive and in the end the only thing that changes here is the interface that you use to get the information. Want to know where magnetic North is ? Get a compass and _look_ at it. That will tell you. A flux meter will tell you all you will ever need to know about the magnetic fields around you.

Our eyes and ears are high bandwidth and using custom made sensors that output images and sounds that we can interpret we can enter a very large amount of information about our environment without so much as a drop of blood.

To literally have a 6th or 7th sense is very interesting but it really is just another low bandwidth channel that can easily be simulated using some tech and our existing sensors.

<comment><USER3> What fascinates me in this article (and in other similar efforts), is the ambient nature of these new senses. While it is true that you can look at a compass in order to find the magnetic north, I'd imagine it is very different to "just know" where it happens to be at any given moment.

That being said, there is interesting stuff to be done without DIY surgeries. For example, Christina Kubisch used to auralize electromagnetic fields using some portable gear, and wander around urban areas listening sounds made by security systems, WLAN hotspots, and the like (see interview here: <http://www.christinakubisch.de/pdf/Kubisch_Interview.pdf> ).

<comment><USER4> Wearable see-through displays can also give this ambient sense. they're quite expensive(but getting cheaper) , starting at $2000.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Very interesting. A while ago I read about a belt that enabled the wearer to know true north and was very interested in trying to develop something similar (maybe the size of a watch).

This implanting sounds kind of cool (in a cyber punk sort of way). Guess deep down there's a trans-human in me wanting to get out ;)

Not sure about the pain, loss of digits, infections, etc...

<comment><USER6> Having an unflappable sense of direction/true north is not transhuman though. You just have to have been raised speaking any languages that uses geographic coordinates instead of the typical egocentric ones. Such as: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language#Gramma...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guugu_Yimithirr_language#Grammar). to form the required mental processes. If you dig deeper you find that although they also do also use relative coordinates, they are performing what sounds like crazy affine transformations when doing so.

 _"The apparently effortless conceptual operations required to employ these short and ubiquitous cardinal direction terms are complex, requiring not only a highly developed "sense of direction" (and memory for terrain, routes, landmarks, etc.), but a simultaneous merging or juggling of what appear to be separate frames of reference (in Levinson's sense) embedded in even single lexical forms, which maintain the "absolute" orientation which is in principle independent of particular terrain or of any given reference point or orientation, with the "relative" calculation of origos and focus points, with the "intrinsic" geometries of natural landmarks and their orientations in space."_

[http://www.anthro.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Di...](http://www.anthro.ucsd.edu/~jhaviland/Publications/ETHOSw.Diags.pdf)

<comment><USER2> Now that is truly fascinating, how would such a thing develop?

<comment><USER6> I'm neither a linguist nor a psychologist so I'm just going to chalk it up to how amazingly flexible the human brain is. I found out about that language from reading <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/magazine/29language-t.html>.

But I've had a long interest in how language can have a measurable effect on what your default thought processes are, even if it doesn't limit what you can express. This also folds back some interesting perspectives into computer language debates and if the one you use actually makes a difference..

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If you want to transcend the human, just start acting more rationally than the average human. If you want to take it really far, get to the point where you are acting rationally almost all of the time.

As Cesar Millan says, where the mind goes, the body will follow.

</comment><comment><USER8> They didn't link to Lepht's blog: <http://sapiensanonym.blogspot.com/>

It's uhh... interesting, I guess. (Lots of stuff about opiate withdrawal and complications from self-surgeries.)

</comment><comment><USER9> I have taken a similar path of transcending the human element. However, my path is much less glamorous than attaching neodymium/gold underneath my fingers and such.

I'm studying the paths of eastern occultism, which direct control of the body using methods passed down from teacher to student. I am also a Reiki master, which has surprised quite a few people on what I have discerned.

I can manipulate my heart rate from 50 bpm to 130 bpm, just by concentrating on a specific pattern. I also can adjust my core body temperature up to about 105F and hold it. I can, with touch, feel injuries on peoples bodies, even if they have long since healed.

I know about my body.

I can tell if I am getting sick and attempt to prevent it. We know of placebo, and how strong its effects are. I just forcefully tell my body that I will not get sick. And I have not since I started practising.

Perhaps, it may be called the occult, but I believe we just do not have appropriate methods to measure it. It works for me, and I keep the workings to a very scientific mindset.

I'm sure I'll get mod-bombed for this, as people here seem very antagonistic to anything of spiritual or esoteric origin... But I remain hopeful.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm curious whether you've read "The Silva (Mind Control) Method". It's similar to what you described.

<https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Silva_Method>

<comment><USER9> I've read some of that. Much of his works are on basic applications (and I do mean basic) of projection and mantras.

Projection is few different things: the key is that you have to believe, even if it doesn't appear to work at first.

An art, called Tumo, is a way to generate large amounts of heat in the body, so that you do not get cold. There is a complicated way of teaching the full technique (which is known and proved in the annals of science). But try this: go somewhere cold and then project that you are inside a fireball. And you start feeling warmer.

Mantras are another interesting thing. Mantra repeating can force certain brain states that are usually only obtainable in sleep. It's also a way to investigate how sleep works, but from the inside out. Other interesting abilities may pop out. I know of one person, while meditating, could see infra-red. I found this out with a Wiimote IR pen for my whiteboard.

There is definitely something there... But we lack the scientific method and grammar to explain it.

<comment><USER10> > An art, called Tumo, is a way to generate large amounts of heat in the body, > so that you do not get cold. There is a complicated way of teaching the full > technique (which is known and proved in the annals of science)

Any pointers to the studies?

<comment><USER11> You might start here:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tummo#Scientific_investigation>

If you're interested in how to perform the actual meditation, this is a great book: [http://www.amazon.com/Bliss-Inner-Fire-Practice- Naropa/dp/08...](http://www.amazon.com/Bliss-Inner-Fire-Practice- Naropa/dp/086171136X)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Cd Is Wasting Your Time - <AUTHOR> https://olivierlacan.com/posts/cd-is-wasting-your-time/ <comment><USER2> I use code based on [http://jeroenjanssens.com/2013/08/16/quickly-navigate- your-f...](http://jeroenjanssens.com/2013/08/16/quickly-navigate-your- filesystem-from-the-command-line.html) and the discussion thread [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6229001](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6229001) \- no need for Python or something extra to install, similar semantics, just put this in .bash_profile:

        export MARKPATH=$HOME/.marks
        function j {
            cd -P "$MARKPATH/$1" 2>/dev/null || echo "No such mark: $1"
        }
        function mark {
            mkdir -p "$MARKPATH"; ln -s "$(pwd)" "$MARKPATH/$1"
        }
        function unmark {
            rm -i "$MARKPATH/$1"
        }
        function marks {
            \ls -l "$MARKPATH" | tail -n +2 | sed 's/  / /g' | cut -d' ' -f9- | awk -F ' -> ' '{printf "%-10s -> %s\n", $1, $2}'
        }
        function _jump {
          local cur=${COMP_WORDS[COMP_CWORD]}
          local marks=$(find $MARKPATH -type l | awk -F '/' '{print $NF}')
          COMPREPLY=($(compgen -W '${marks[@]}' -- "$cur"))
          return 0
        }
        complete -o default -o nospace -F _jump j

With multiple projects and codebases going on at once, it's an invaluable tool.

</comment><comment><USER3> A bit offtopic, but anyway:

The more I use the command line, the more I type full path on my commands. So (when I recall them from history) I can run them from anywhere.

Next step is to store path in variables, and my command lines contain the variable instead of the path (depending whether I want the history to include the variable or the path, I will Ctrl-Alt-e the commande line before running it).

Next step is to define functions to aggregate several command lines together. And be able to replay them later. (I built a small utility to make it super simple, otherwise it is a complex time-consuming process to define and manage functions in shell).

Next step is to separate those functions into several local accounts, so tasks (and bash history) are cleanly separated.

Next step is to use screen/tmux to have one (or more) shell open for all those local accounts. (i usually have a "master" tmux, with one window per user, and each user can launch its own tmux inside it).

That sounds insanely complex. But I find a kind of calmness now. My tasks are organized by user, histories are very semantic (each command line is a function name, very few "cd" or other non-meaningful commands).

And when I need to type commands, I think whether I will go the usual way (aka the _quick and dirty_ way). Or if I will build a clean workflow so I can replay my commands later.

<comment><USER4> Probably not a direct answer to your comment, but fish autocompletion has two killer features I haven't found in any other shell:

1\. Type part of a command and search the history: I often have to run a mysqldump + mysql load on a couple databases, and the command is quite long. If i just type `db1` and press up arrow, fish will load the command 'mysqldump -uxxx db1 | mysql -uyyy local_db1'. I don't have to create functions to do complex, common shell commands, as long as they have keywords I can use to look them up.

2\. Search the history based on the current path: Suppose I have two directories, `app1` and `app2`, each with a `run-appX` executable. If I enter `app2` and I type `.`, fish will autocomplete it to `./run-app2`, because the history is context dependent, and it knows there's a `run-app2` file I've often referenced while in the `app2` directory.

Haven't found a way to replicate these two behaviours in any other shell as well as fish does, and I don't have to create separate functions for most of my workflow. fish takes care of that.

<comment><USER3> Very interesting tricks!

The first one probably has an equivalent in Bash with Ctrl-R and typing (and Ctrl+R again to cycle through matching lines)

The second one is new to me. Cool!

<comment><USER5> I have a long command I use semi-regularly in Bash. The ctrl-r search tends to turn up the wrong command, so I edited the command and appended a unique comment. Now I just do ctrl-r, unique-comment, enter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> Const-me GUI file browsers support keyboard commands and they are much faster to type, because commands are much shorter.

"cd .. {Enter}" in console is either "{Alt}+{Up arrow}" or "{Home} {Enter}" in GUI, 6 versus 2 key presses. "cd de{tab}" in console is "d e" or "{Alt}+d e" in GUI, 6 versus 2-3 key presses.

GUI tools are able to expose shorter commands because context is richer, i.e. user instantly sees a filter edit box popping up after {Alt}+d, user will see both current location + child items after each navigation or filter operation, etc. That kind of interactivity is what saves user input. The approach is hard to implement in a shell because shells were designed for command-output interaction model. OTOH, rich GUI tools are much harder to develop.

<comment><USER6> For example the Total Commander on Windows has nice shortcuts for going to your most common folders or show the list of recently visited folders.

<comment> Const-me I'm also on Windows, and using both Total Commander and Far. Often at the same time, but they're both very good.

TC has better archives support, and better F3 previews for pictures and multimedia.

Far has slightly better FTP client, includes SCP client, has _much_ better F4 editor, and also has seamless command-line shell integration, i.e. Ctrl+O switches between blue panels and interactive shell, with synchronized current directory and commands to insert file names/paths into the shell prompt.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Possibly related – one of my most used keystroke-saving aliases/functions is:

        mcd () {
            mkdir -p "$*" && cd "$*"
        }

…which, quite obviously, creates a directory and jumps into it.

Note: the name overrides the GNU Mtools' mcd ([https://www.gnu.org/software/mtools/manual/mtools.html#mcd](https://www.gnu.org/software/mtools/manual/mtools.html#mcd)) on some systems – choose another name if you need the tool. The original mcd "changes MSDOS directory" according to it's manpage, and wants to do something with a floppy drive when i run it by mistake.

<comment><USER8> Zsh has a built in like this called `take` that which quite nifty

<comment><USER7> Thanks, didn't know that. I just copied the mcd function from .bashrc to .zshrc when i switched ~5 years ago…

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think fish wins this game without looking archaic, and zsh with fish-style completions wins it and is POSIX-compliant.

Completions are remembered, so if your project has ever had the same setup, cd will predict for you, and be a couple keystrokes away.

<comment><USER10> Also fish stores the current directory along the command in history; so in ~/src/project the completion will show first commands you typed here rather than ~ or some other directory. This is incredibly useful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The title should be "cd is Wasting Your Time", with a lowercase "cd". We're not talking about Coefficient of Drag here, which would be a proper "Cd", we're talking about the shell command "cd".

</comment><comment><USER12> Why not

ls ~/Dev<TAB>/<TAB><TAB>pro<TAB>

I guess cd would waste a lot of my time if I was cding everywhere to just "look around".

</comment><comment><USER13> I make an alias for each dir that I know I'll be working in a lot.

If I need workspaces I save a tmux session.

Is that aight? Is j good for more u predictable patterns? I'll give it a shot

</comment><comment><USER14> I add popular paths to CDPATH to directly jump to the directory I want to. Has it's problems but works quite well.

</comment><comment><USER15> Ranger is pretty good and has vim bindings ootb

</comment><comment><USER16> from the autojump readme:

> Directories must be visited first before they can be jumped to.

Well that's annoying..</comment>


Show HN: Tubenotes.xyz – a site I built to annotate videos - <AUTHOR> https://tubenotes.xyz <comment><AUTHOR> I learn songs for the guitar primarily by watching youtube videos. I built this tool to organize these videos and to let me skip around to the the exact bits that I'm learning and practicing.

I'm sure there are other uses for this. Would love to hear feedback!</comment>


The brutal ageism of tech - <AUTHOR> https://newrepublic.com/article/117088/silicons-valleys-brutal-ageism <comment><USER2> That's getting a ridiculous old meme. There is one data that is critical and has never been showed.

How many people can argue to have X years of experience in tech?

With X being 5, 10, 20, 30, 40...

Bonus: Repeat the question with a limit to the geography. Silicon Valley only, America only, small city in the USA, India, Spain, Specific city of [random EU country].

</comment><comment><USER3> From 2014. Original HN discussion for those who are interested:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7455757](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7455757)

See also the NY Times article on ageism that's currently being discussed:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12427073](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12427073)</comment>


If Microsoft made an offer to buy your startup would you sell? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Microsoft's money is as green as any other money I'm likely to be offered for the software; my decision would depend on other things like the amount they were offering and the terms of the deal.

For instance, "must move to Redmond," "must sign a non-compete contract," and "must be developed in Microsoft proprietary languages and for Microsoft proprietary platforms" would all be deal-killers.

My goal here is not to be rich, necessarily, but to create the kind of company I want to work for and make it profitable enough that I don't need to work for any other company. If any buyer, even Microsoft, offered the sort of environment I wanted to work in, plus enough money that I could walk away and not need to work another corporate IT job again if the environment changed, I'd sell.

And some of this is predicated on the experience of a good friend of mine, whose team mostly bootstrapped a very profitable company, then sold it to their largest corporate customer; suddenly they were getting guaranteed salaries, and they got to watch their project earn tens of millions in revenue, but the working environment was politically toxic and the company (now a wholly-owned subsidiary) was the football in constant turf wars, and (in retrospect, especially after seeing the first two years' income from the project) the price they asked was about 1/10 of what it should have been.

I can't alter the turf wars and political toxicity in certain corporations, but I can make sure I ask a price for my company that means I can stand up and walk away with no financial worries if they develop.

</comment><comment><USER3> Realistically, of course I would!

Theoretically, it would depend on the terms, the price, and competing offers. If in the unlikely event that Google and Microsoft made competing offers, both requiring substantial vesting terms (2+ years), then Microsoft would have to offer maybe 15-30% more for it to make sense.

</comment><comment><USER4> Actually, a better question would be:

Would you rather sell your soul to the devil or to this guy?

<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6843390913661737077>

Seriously, I have a hard time deciding that one ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha. No matter how many times I see that video it kills me. Thanks for the laugh, I needed it.

Hahaha.

<comment><USER4> Thanks ;) Good luck w/ your app!

<comment><AUTHOR> Same to you sir!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I think how you answer this question says a lot. I'm not sure how I would answer this question myself.

Would you refuse to sell on principle? Or because as Paul says, Microsoft is dead?

Or do you just take the money, principles be damned?

<comment><USER5> Just to split hairs here, is there a difference between principles damned at $1, and principles damned at $1e7?

Also, Microsoft might be "dead" but they still provide value to their customers, whatever it is. While Vista might be way overhyped and/or overpriced, it can still do useful things. If your product reaches more customers and results in significant benefits for them, why not leverage MS's position? The principle then, is not about money. It's about your product's purpose. Hotmail for example.

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree - it's just that I've met too many people who live by principle and not by the situation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> lets dream for a minute - All things even, I would prefer Microsoft over Yahoo, but likely go with Google over both. Even better would be a slightly smaller, more focused player like SalesForce.com. It seems that Yahoo has a tendency to sap a startup of all it's mojo, while Google is fairly effective at buying a feature/product and quickly integrating it into their suite.

Microsoft has done well with some, and dropped the ball on others, but the embedded reach and business focus would be a huge value add to our business.

</comment><comment><USER7> If Microsoft would ... there will be many more who would maybe google or yahoo :) So I would not and not because of PG article.

</comment><comment><USER8> Business is Business. I would sell to anyone that made a decent offer and walk away from anyone that does't!</comment>


Are You Really a Strategist? - <AUTHOR> http://chrisrorie.com/post/2878209168/faux-strategists

<comment><USER2> It's a great question to ask, and the point about how strategy is future- focused is a good one. I don't particularly agree with the recommendation: everybody at the company should be strategic, and at a small company there's no room for a full-time strategist. There are plenty of great strategy books out there; Sun Tzu, Crossing the Chasm, Robert Greene's 33 strategies, 'balanced scorecard' and strategy maps ... you want to learn the general principles as well as how to apply them to the kinds of situations a startup is likely to encounter.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, and yes the rec agrees with your point that everyone at the company should act strategically. This is especially true in a startup. Whether you have a full time strategist cultivating this thinking or not is the question, and it'll largely depend on the size of the company.</comment></comment>


FT suspends journalist accused of listening to rival outlets' Zoom calls - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/may/01/ft-reporter-accused-of-listening-to-zoom-calls-of-rival-outlet-resigns <comment><AUTHOR> Zoom-bombing = hacking, I guess.

From the article out-linked in the OP:

 _Log files show an account registered to Di Stefano's FT.com email address joined the private video call_

So not the most brilliant at covering his tracks.</comment>


Do you worry about giving your email address to websites? Worry no more - <AUTHOR> http://33mail.com/4xv97x Traditional disposable email address services give no long term ownership and control over a disposable address i.e. they expire or are available for anyone to use. 33Mail seeks to solve this problem by allowing users to have their own personal disposable email address service. <comment><USER2> This website does not inspire confidence, so no thanks.

<comment><USER3> I signed up, looks good to me.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Build chatbots in minutes - <AUTHOR> https://hasura.io/hub/chatbots <comment><AUTHOR> Hi! Hasura engineer here.

We've put together a bunch of chatbot boilerplates made by our (nascent) community. This will help you save time as a developer because the boilerplate has:

1) Sample code with APIs/callbacks wired up

2) Connected to database APIs to store state

3) Instant git-push to deploy on a free Hasura cluster with an SSL-enabled domain

Do check it out and let us know what other kinds of boilerplates you'd like to see!</comment>


Ask HN: How does your startup manage requirements? - <AUTHOR> Hello all,
we are developing ReqView - simple yet powerful requirements definition and management tool (see www.reqview.com).
We would like to tailor the tool for the special needs of today startups. Can you please help us understand your needs managing business, marketing and product requirements today?
How much details do you put in your requirements spec (stories, usecases, functional requirements).
Do you need to organize requirements as a structured (human readable) document or just in simple shared backlog list?
How do you couple requirements and tests information now?
Would you take advantage of requirements traceability (e.g. between business and functional requirements, functional requirements and tests, ...).
Please share you thoughts.
Thank you in advance. Libor <comment><USER2> I use issue trackers to do this (usually Jira if I get to decide). Jira has specific Story and Epic types built-in.</comment>


Ask HN: How much money is acceptable for a startup to spend Pre-Revenue? - <AUTHOR>

It seems that many founders raise millions by overvaluing their startups without proving that their business model works. Secrect and Fab.com come to mind. They make bank, cash out and close shop.
I just read this post and this startup seems to be spending all the dollars they have left in order to prove the business model. They have less then 4 months left. Is this too crazy?
http://startuplabs.com/blog/why-do-we-spend-so-much-money-pre-revenue/
Mark Suster has a pretty good post about this topic here: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2014/09/28/what-is-the-right-burn-rate-at-a-startup-company/
He says to be very careful about ever dipping below 6 months of cash in the bank.
Question for all of you: How much money is acceptable for a startup to spend Pre-Revenue? <comment><USER2> A better discussion is already going on over at Reddit:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/35yi1c/how_much_mo...](http://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/35yi1c/how_much_money_is_acceptable_for_a_startup_to/)</comment>


Chinese Envoy Challenges Vancouver Home Tax as Fallout Spreads - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-12/chinese-envoy-challenges-vancouver-home-tax-as-fallout-spreads <comment><USER2> "...receiving calls from distressed Chinese students locked in contracts to buy homes but unable to drum up the extra cash to pay the tax."

1) Abusing the terms of a student visa 2) ...to help someone else flout home ownership laws 3) ...to park money where it won't get taxed.

I really feel for them.

<comment><USER3> 1) In what way is purchasing property an abuse of the terms? Student visa holders are not prohibited from owning real estate.

2) What home ownership laws are being flouted?

[edit]

3) Can you explain how that works?

The fact is that there's 10x as many upper middle class people in China than there are people in all of Canada.

If you don't want foreign ownership of property then fine, push for that policy. But this tax is stupid, and screwing people over by suddenly changing the rules is wrong.

<comment><USER4> There are multiple things wrong with what has gone on in Vancouver. 1\. Supply has gone down to where there is a huge undersupply. People can't afford the houses, the short supply causes prices to live there. Regular people are priced out. 2\. People see good numbers of houses that are sold but no one lives in them. This is what should be taxed imho. The reason this is a negative is that using the stock of houses that are there is a public good, that matters when there's a huge undersupply. 3\. Sure, there's some fear of "outsiders", Chinese people being an unending supply of big money coming in and screwing things up. Vancouver will become like SF and Seattle, fewer people will be able to be able to live in the city. Middle class will be priced out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The tax itself is a bad idea. If they were going to go this route the tax should have been based on permanent resident status and not citizenship.

That the province failed to exempt existing contracts that have not yet closed is an absolute disgrace.</comment>


Type "OK Maps" to cache Google Maps - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2014/02/offline-google-maps/

<comment><USER2> I usually despise wired, but publishing a paid advert about some silly google Easteregg? That's a new low.

Hint: press menu, download offline maps.

My 2.3 phone has this feature...

<comment><USER3> I think it's mostly targeted for iOS users, as there's no normal way to store a map locally.

I agree about the paid advert though, hehe!

<comment><USER2> Ah, ios. Makes sense</comment></comment></comment>


Malware alert: JavaScript Errors Notification extension for Chrome (86k users) - <AUTHOR> If you read the fine print at https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/javascript-errors-notifie/jafmfknfnkoekkdocjiaipcnmkklaajd/reviews you're going to see that they collect statistics.
You may think it's okay, not making a big deal of it, as most things like this anonymize data before sending.
Guess what? Not only it does send to a web service the links for images you access, but it goes as far as managing it doesn't appear on your console and sends it over with HTTP.
This should be banned right now from the Chrome web store.
I don't know if the authors are aware how insanely invasive this is, but you have to know it.
I have only noticed when I was using Charles Proxy to verify something and found some requests very odd.
I have reported it to the Chrome web store and hopefully they ban it asap. <comment><USER2> BTW, there is a paragraph in this Chrome extension description:

We are always trying to find a way to continuously improve JavaScript Errors Notifier, thus we've chosen Fairshare and Intenta as our trusted partner, which will collect the usage statistics from your browser. It's anonymous and will not include any of your privacy data. We concern about your data security as you always do. Please learn more about Fairshare privacy policy at [https://fairsharelabs.com/analytics](https://fairsharelabs.com/analytics). Anyway, there is also alternative extension version, that does not collect any statistics: [https://goo.gl/IRbqnY](https://goo.gl/IRbqnY)

<comment><AUTHOR> He said the same thing and closed the ticket on GitHub issues.

My answer to that:

"Your description there says it's anonymous and won't include any privacy data. This is a blatantly lie.

People, just like me, will download and use it in good faith without knowing it is sending all the links they browse to to your analytics web service with a token to uniquely identify.

Of course you know you can retrieve personal identifying information on links such as account ids, usernames, emails, purchase orders, photo links, and more.

It's one thing to add such scripts to your own site. It's another to add a script that inconspicuously sends private data for all sites you browse to the analytics account of someone when you install an extension that has nothing to do with it. And yeah, I know many - if not most - sites use some kind of analytics service but they don't do like it.

non-https links will be even sent entirely unencrypted allowing man-in-the- middle attacks as well (e.g., private network links might end up on the Internet not only for you; and, of course, you always get the private sensitive data you claim you don't).

PS: You certainly have an attitude problem. Trying to play down this by saying you have something on the fine print and implying I am dumb? Really?"

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> More details: data is being sent to the host intenta.io over HTTP.

So I can see that it's an open source project and hopefully the developer isn't aware of how invasive are the tracking mechanisms he's using.

I have reached the developer to ask him to fix it.

[https://github.com/barbushin/javascript-errors- notifier](https://github.com/barbushin/javascript-errors-notifier) [https://github.com/barbushin/javascript-errors- notifier/issu...](https://github.com/barbushin/javascript-errors- notifier/issues/28)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> They got me there. This is the major reason I seldom use extension.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Google has policies for the Chrome Web Store and this extension doesn't abide by it. I have highlighting just a few points below.

People usually are nice to each other and abide by them. This is why we can have nice things.

# [Developer Program Policies]([https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/program_policies](https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/program_policies))

1\. __We don 't allow unauthorized publishing of people's private and confidential information __, such as credit card numbers, government identification numbers, driver 's and other license numbers, __or any other information that is not publicly accessible. Additionally, we don 't allow items that collect, store, or transmit user credentials or other private user data in an unsafe or unauthorized manner. __

2. __Spyware __, malicious scripts, and password phishing scams __are __also __prohibited in the Chrome Web Store __. Where possible, make as much of your code visible in the package as you can. If some of your app 's logic is hidden and it appears to be suspicious, we may remove it. 3\. __Your app must comply with Google 's Webmaster Quality Guidelines. __4. __Don 't misrepresent the functionality of your app or include non-obvious functionality that doesn't serve the primary purpose of the app without clear notification to the user. __5. __Forcing the user to click on ads or submit personal information for advertising purposes in order to fully use an app or extension provides a poor user experience and is prohibited. __

# [Webmaster Guidelines: Quality guidelines]([https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en#3](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en#3)) __Don 't deceive your users. __

# [Unwanted Software Policy]([https://www.google.com/about/company/unwanted- software-polic...](https://www.google.com/about/company/unwanted-software- policy.html)) __We've found that most unwanted software displays one or more of the same basic characteristics: __

* It is deceptive, promising a value proposition that it does not meet. * It tries to trick users into installing it or __it piggybacks on the installation of another program. __* __It doesn't tell the user about all of its __principal and __significant functions. __* __It affects the user's system in unexpected ways. __* It is difficult to remove. * __It collects or transmits private information without the user's knowledge. __* __It is bundled with other software and its presence is not disclosed. __</comment>


Ask HN: To what extent is everything a matter of the amount of funding? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> What is that supposed to mean?</comment>


Possible Biological Explanations for Kids' Escape from Covid-19 - <AUTHOR> https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/possible-biological-explanations-for-kids-escape-from-covid-19-67273 <comment><USER2> ""There is good evidence that children get infected and have a fairly high titre of virus but just don't have serious disease," agrees Ralph Baric, a coronavirus researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He saw a similar phenomenon in his mouse studies with the original SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Although SARS-CoV can replicate fairly well, "younger animals are really resistant to infection in terms of the disease," he says. When Baric tested older animals, he says, the severity of SARS illnesses rose. In one experiment, one-fifth of mice infected with SARS aged 3–4 weeks died, whereas all of the mice 7–8 weeks old died.""</comment>


Ask HN: What celebrities read emails about startups? - <AUTHOR>

What celebrities/successful entrepreneurs read their email when you send them info about your startup?
So far:
1) Mark Cuban
2) <comment><USER2> More than you would think, but focusing on this is something that people who aspire to build companies do to avoid actually building companies. You're almost always better off writing software or talking to users.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm talking about contacting them to help get the word out about your startup.

<comment><USER2> I know, but respectfully, one day spent on contacting people to get the word out is almost always a poorer use of time than figuring out what people want and building it. People, particularly people for whom it is their first rodeo, overestimate the impact of gatekeepers, PR, influencers, etc.

Who's the #1 person you could hope to get the word out in the world? Wave a magic wand and get them, and you'd probably find that this gets you _zero_ additional users at the margin.</comment></comment></comment>


PG: "News organisations can learn from start-up culture" - <AUTHOR> http://www.journalism.co.uk/5/articles/535577.php

<comment><USER2> "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail"

-Maslow

<comment><USER3> Wasn't that Mark Twain?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think politico is the true herald of the digital journalism future. They are hard journalists, they are small and efficient like a startup, and they are profitable. They are also very narrowly focused.

The problem with the majority of currently falling news organizations is the fat profit margins they've been enjoying. And there's no helping them.

Let me put it this way, after the railroads no amount of cleverness and inventiveness was going to save the pony express.

<comment><USER5> One big problem/wrinkle with the "Politico is the future" thesis is that Politico makes all it's money by selling classified ads in a weekly print newspaper it distributes across Washington D.C. according to Vanity Fair:

[http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200...](http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/wolff200908)

From what I recall of the piece: The guy funding Politico originally wanted to publish a weekly Capitol Hill insider paper. The well-known editors and journalists who left the WaPo to start Politico convinced him that going hard on the web, breaking news every hour etc was the way of the future.

Yet, the original, "boring" idea, to offer a weekly Capitol Hill paper, is where they make all their money. The web site is in some ways just a marketing tool for their print product.

So when people tell me "doing a Politico" is how to make news on the web, I'm skeptical. That approach is a great way to build a brand, but you still need a way to convert that brand into $$$. That's where we need innovation.

<comment><USER4> Everything you say is fact, and yet I completely disagree with your interpretation of the facts.

The original "boring" idea would be bankrupt by now if it wasn't for the website. So yes, they are using the web as advertising, that doesn't mean it's not the key to their existence.

And they are making money by selling a physical product, there's a lesson there too. How many free websites are funded by selling shwag? Isn't Joel's free blog selling fogbugz? There's a pattern here.

<comment><USER5> "The original idea would be bankrupt if it wasn't for the website."

Citation needed.

The point of my comment was to point out that all the stuff about being "fast, lean, quick, lo-fi, bloggy" or whatever news buzzwords you hear bandied about as being the solution are not in fact the solution in and of themselves since they have nothing to do with actually making money.

At the end of the day, Politico's a lot like College Humor. It has a content web site it uses to promote a physical product where it actually makes money (T-shirts in CH's case). I don't know that there's much to learn from that example.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Can someone throw more light into this idea YC is working on? I am damn curious, given that <http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html> mentions techcrunch on one side and reddit on the other (News will morph significantly in the more competitive environment of the web. So called "blogs" (because the old media call everything published online a "blog") like PerezHilton and TechCrunch are one sign of the future. News sites like Reddit and Digg are another. But these are just the beginning. ) And essentially, given the fact that HN is far better than any of the two.

<comment><USER7> I don't know that YC specifically is working on a particular idea -- I think they're just interested in someone else who might be.

We're currently looking at making it possible for anyone to easily become either a news aggregator/publisher or a local news reporter, through a mostly decentralized system which is still easy for news consumers to navigate. We've found a wazoo's worth of revenue streams in this.

Just a matter of making deadlines now.</comment></comment>