Passenger Privacy in the NYC Taxicab Dataset - <AUTHOR> http://research.neustar.biz/2014/09/15/riding-with-the-stars-passenger-privacy-in-the-nyc-taxicab-dataset/

<comment><USER2> Amazing. If you said to someone "Hey, I wanted to know where you went after the cab picked you up last year, so I called up the cab company and asked them where they dropped you off and they told me", they would be outraged at (your behavior and) the breach of privacy shown by the cab company. But the city released a dataset that allows exactly this query. What were they thinking?

Something else that could be mentioned in the linked article: if someone you were with got in a cab in 2013, and they told you where they were going, and you remember the approximate time and location, you can tell whether it was their true destination _regardless of how many other people were being picked up at the time_ , because you don't have to find the exact ride they took, you only have to see whether any rides went to the place they told you.

This search is even extremely resistant to the differential privacy suggested by the post's authors. I'd be much happier simply stating that location data is not de-identifiable, and no-one should use a cab in a city that logs location data if they aren't happy with an adversary knowing where they went.

</comment><comment><USER3> What I wondered about that data set is, if two people living/working at two locations, consistently take taxis to meet at various other locations at the same times, could that pattern be identified in the data?

That is, are there locations A and B such that there are matching trips to locations M1,M2,... at times T1,T2,... i.e. (A,M1,T1),(B,M1,T1),(A,M2,T2),(B,M2,T2) and perhaps reverse trips (M1,A,T1+x) etc?

Further classification of M* -- hotels, for example -- could classify the nature of the meetings. You might be able to identify the addresses of people having affairs, or other deliberately secret rendezvous.

<comment><USER4> This would be relatively difficult for Manhattan, some parts of the outer boroughs though are a different matter.

I was concerned when this first hit HN because I have a friend that lives in a fairly sparsely part of town and his (now ex) girl friend has a possessive ex- husband that doesn't like her seeing other men. He isn't going to be able to make sense of the data himself, but if someone weaponizes it the way you are talking about it could be a real problem for people with stalkers/psycho-exes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Interesting read. The frequent visitors to gentlemen's clubs are probably dancers rather than patrons.

<comment><USER6> I'd be very surprised if dancers were taking cabs to work

<comment><USER7> My good friend owns one of those places, his girls all either book a taxi or get picked up by their partners.

As an attractive girl, you do not want to be walking / taking public transport in certain areas of town at 6am, it's a sad reality.

<comment><USER8> Even more terrifying is that it is going to be trivial to determine the pickup location just by reversing the trip.

Please show this as an example to people that say "Why should I care? I have nothing to hide".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> In fairness to the celebrities accused of being cheapskates, I thought it was the case that the trip record in the dataset didn't include a tip amount if it was paid in cash.

<comment><USER10> Number of trips by tip percentage where payment_type='CSH': [http://i.imgur.com/EJh1B2d.png](http://i.imgur.com/EJh1B2d.png)

~85M rides with 0% tip is "interesting".

<comment><USER11> I don't know how the data is obtained, but it's probably more likely that the driver is tipped but the actual tip amount is unreported than the actual tip amount being zero.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> As a general fan of open data like this, I've been a little worried these analyses would lead to the data not being released in the future. Hopefully if they change anything in the future, it will still be useful and interesting.

</comment><comment><USER13> This is an excellent (if troubling!) piece which deserves a wide audience. As we say in Sauf Effrica: bleddy lekker stuff!

</comment><comment><USER14> Anyone know of an existing online front-end connected to Google Maps for this data?

<comment><USER15> It's pretty big (>5gb). It is here to download though: [https://archive.org/details/nycTaxiTripData2013](https://archive.org/details/nycTaxiTripData2013)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Outstanding ground breaking article</comment>


GitHub Help Wanted - <AUTHOR> http://github-help-wanted.com/ <comment><USER2> Is the language filter working? I've entered a few languages and the list of projects refreshes, but I see the same repos and a few don't seem to have open issues for the language I provided.

Tried first 'python' then 'ruby' and got the same projects, firefox latest. Might just be something with my many browser plugins, but figured I'd offer the feedback</comment>


Finish Weekend ATL - <AUTHOR> http://highgroove.com/articles/2012/04/30/finish-weekend-atl.html

<comment><USER2> Perfect timing right after Start Atlanta a week ago.

<comment><USER3> Wow, I just googled this and I'm really bummed that I missed it. Looks like it never got submitted to Hacker News for some reason, that's a shame.

<comment><USER4> It was great. I went and we managed to get a minimum viable product out of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> At first thought this was something about weekend project using Active Template Library, and how that would be weird...

</comment><comment><USER3> If anyone here has been to a past Finish Weekend, or a similar event, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I'm thinking about going, and would like to know what other peoples' experiences were like.

<comment><USER6> I went to the first one in Holland, MI, and it was a great experience. I met a lot of cool people. Everyone was there to help you finish projects that you had started. There were hackers, designers, and even some lawyers that specialize in incorporating startups. It was just a good way to get advice, and actual help with code if you were unable to figure something out yourself. You don't have to finish something, but the weekend offers you the resources to make it happen if you want.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Awesome to see more of these types of things coming to our great city :)</comment>


Why Slack is no longer using a cross-platform C++ library - <AUTHOR> https://slack.engineering/client-consistency-at-slack-beyond-libslack-c9cfbe778fb7 <comment><USER2> "We were spurred to write an update when Dropbox published this post about why they also decided to stop using a C++ library in their mobile apps."

I was about to ask why this was being re-published... and also makes me wonder about if there are use cases where C++ for cross-platform makes sense and has been a huge success. To make a callback to AirBNB when they ditched React Native, they made it clear that they weren't saying that mixing React Native and vendor-native code wouldn't work for everyone, it just didn't work for them.

</comment><comment><USER3> > Objects from DataProviders are returned as immutable models. On iOS, where > the app uses a CoreData cache, this means the rest of the app no longer > needs to access mutable CoreData objects directly, which reduces the need to > worry about concurrency issues and avoids the crashes due to accessing data > on the wrong thread that are common with CoreData.

Is this the common way of dealing with core data? I am actually doing exactly that at work right now, and was wondering if it was the right decision.</comment>


Ask HN: What are some good examples/templates of business plans? - <AUTHOR>

I'm specifically working on a SaaS company, and while I can draw from other business plans I've written, it's been many years since I've drafted one. Are there any examples or templates that provide a good outline for plans that are common to today's Web based or software based businesses? I'm not looking for silver bullets here, just a foundation to work from. <comment><USER2> I think you'll find the culture here to follow the idea that business plans are bullshit and you should spend your time on your product/service and customer service instead.

Just as agile software development has killed the big-design-up-front method of building software, starting businesses has thankfully followed suit.

If you're really successful, you get to write a book about how you did it, and then you can write what looks like your business plan, with the hindsight advantage ;)

</comment><comment><USER3> Your question seems a bit silly to me.

Just answer to these questions in your business plan: -When can the VC expect profit? -What makes your team/product so special?

If you're going to make a business plan based on a template... Well... How are you going to stand out from all of the other templates?

<comment><AUTHOR> Are you saying business plans are decided upon based on how different they are in structure? What I thought would make it stand out was the substance, and I am looking for an outline on what to include, the order in which to cover it, etc.</comment></comment>


Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/health/research/28cancer.html

<comment><USER2> A great deal of government research funding is of the "full employment act for scientists" variety. Inevitable when accountability for actual real-world results - as opposed to accountability for completing the project you said you were going to complete - goes out the window.

For more in that vein:

[http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2007/10/a-few-thoughts- on...](http://www.fightaging.org/archives/2007/10/a-few-thoughts-on-the- funding-of-aging-research.php)

"This might as well be language lifted from a mythical government release on the Full Employment Act for Gerontologists. It's all so grey and tired - rescue the scientists, pay the scientists, help the scientists. Note the utter absence of any sort of discussion of goals or results. What are these scientists actually doing? What is the value of it? Where are they going? When will they get there? What does it mean to me?

"This sort of thing is exactly why there is little public support for or understanding of mainstream aging research. I've long said that basic research is no different from any other human endeavor. It isn't magic, immune to planning - you can set goals, plans and schedules. You can invest in research in exactly the same way as commercial companies invest in research day in and day out. Those who claim that you can't set goals, timelines, explain matters to the public, create excitement and make real fireworks fly in an area of fundamental research are generally much more interested in the steady flow of dollars or their own particular hobby than in actually getting something meaningful accomplished."

<comment><USER3> I'm not sure whether you are in agreement with the article or just commenting on the issue of government research. The article seems to say that a lot of grants are rejected because the projects aren't safe bets. In a way, they're rejected because they can't guarantee real-world results. So, according to your comment, isn't the system working?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It seems to me that the main problem is CYA. A scientist shouldn't have to worry about maintaining their positions when trying something new or unorthodox.

It seems to mirror what hackers experience when working for large or traditionally-minded companies. The hacker wants to do things unorthodoxically (use a non-Java programming language, a non-Windows OS, a non-Oracle database, less enterprisey software, etc.), but the company resists due to the managers' concerns that approving such "risky" things could harm their employment or advancement.

In the end, both scientists and hackers have to seek alternative methods to pursue what we want. And even though that often can result in what looks like failure, both groups know that's where they trully learn new things and break new ground. And that usually means that the next time around, we're more likely to succeed in ways that advance technology and scientific knowledge.

</comment><comment><USER5> Seems like there needs to be a DARPA with a cancer focus, funding only high- risk, high-payoff projects with people routinely replaced on a 5-year or so basis to mitigate bureaucracy formation.

<comment><USER6> _with people routinely replaced on a 5-year or so basis to mitigate bureaucracy formation_

Is that how DARPA works?

<comment><USER5> From the wikipedia entry on DARPA:

 _Although individual projects typically last three to five years, major technological challenges may be addressed over longer time periods, ensuring patient investment on a series of focused steps and keeping teams together for ongoing collaboration. Continued funding for DARPA projects is based on passing specific milestones, sometimes called "go/no-go's._

From the DARPA website:

 _To maintain an entrepreneurial atmosphere and the flow of new ideas, DARPA hires Program Managers for only four to six years because the best way to foster new ideas is to bring in new people with fresh outlooks. New people also ensure that DARPA has very few institutional interests beyond innovation, because new Program Managers are willing to redirect the work of their predecessors – and even undo it, if necessary._

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> "These grants are not silly, but they are only likely to produce incremental progress"

"but" -> "therefore"</comment>


No One Tweets Like the Japanese, and That Was a Problem for Twitter - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/2014/09/how-twitter-handles-traffic-from-the-japanese-who-tweet-like-no-one-else/ <comment><USER3> "built a new system—known as a software "framework," in engineering speak"

Hearing the words "engineering speak" bothers me. Wired knows a significant portion of its readers are engineers, right?

Saying just software framework would have probably been fine. Humans are pretty good at inferring the meaning of words from context...

<comment><USER4> > Wired knows a significant portion of its readers are engineers, right?

I seem to recall that Wired was widely regarded poorly in the technical community as early as the turn of the millenium and that it has long been viewed as something read by non-technical folks who want to feel "plugged in" to technology.

So, I'd kind of be surprised if it was really the case that a "significant portion" of Wired's readers were engineers.

<comment><USER5> That's my impression of Wired as well, but this still seems a bit egregious even for a layman's tech news site.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I had the same problem with Japanese folks. We had our system working all over the World except Japan, where it would crash every morning. Turns out the folks in Japan come in to work and at exactly 8:00AM they shout "HAI" hit login button. All of them. At the same time. A login buffer size of 4 was not enough to handle that ;-)

<comment><USER7> > they shout "HAI" hit login button.

what?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Twitter's engineering blog posted about this phenomenon last year.[1] It's not as in-depth as I'd like, but it does contain some technical/architectural details about how they scaled to deal with such high traffic.

1\. [https://blog.twitter.com/2013/new-tweets-per-second- record-a...](https://blog.twitter.com/2013/new-tweets-per-second-record-and- how)

<comment><USER9> That's a far better description of what happened and the result than the original linked article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Didn't read the article, but I did grep it for unicode and utf-8 and found no matches, so this might also be related.

Twitter lets you tweet 140 characters regardless of the bit width of those characters in. For Japanese, I think almost all characters take two bytes in utf-8. As such, given the same number of tweets, the bandwidth usage is approx 2X.

Twitter also seems much more useful in ideogram languages as 140 characters = 140 words = an article. In English, 140 characters = a short/medium sized sentence.

<comment><USER11> Japanese is often encoded in Shift_JIS, which is much better than UTF-8 (for japanese text). Most browsers default to that encoding on japanese OSes, so there probably isn't a real bandwidth issue, depending on the ratio of browser to dedicated client usage.

As for ideograms, your statement is not correct. Kanjis allow for better content/character ratios, certainly, but one kanji is very often not one word - the word foreigner, for example, uses 3 ideograms.

On top of that, Japanese is not written solely with kanjis (as opposed to Chinese, for example). It also uses katakanas and hiraganas, which stand for phonems. This is more often the case on social networks where a lot of western words are used - western words are almost systematically written with katakanas.

Kanas are still more "efficient" than alphabets, but to reuse my previous example, foreigner is written using 5 kanas instead of 3 kanjis.

<comment><USER12> I know it's such a tiny point, and very much off topic, but please don't "pluralize" words such as Kanji, Katakana, etc. As someone who has spent a lot of time learning Japanese, and who knows that Japanese words don't change between singular/plural (with certain exceptions, such as attaching "-tachi" to a word), seeing you write "Kanjis" or "Katakanas" so many times in a row really bothers me.

I'll go back to my corner and leave you alone now.

<comment><USER13> Well, he's speaking English, not Japanese. Do you refer to multiple pizzas as pizze?

<comment><USER14> It's more like the plural of 'deer' being 'deer'. I don't think I've ever heard anyone attach an 's' to 'kanji' for pluralization when speaking English. Like how it might be odd to say 'sushis' or 'wasabis'. Whenever I need to stress plurality i would say 'kanji characters' or something like that. Oxford English Dictionary lists 'sushi', 'kanji', 'shinkansen', 'katakana' all as being mass nouns or having the plural form the same as the singular. The exception in the words I looked up was 'tsunami' which may be pluralized as 'tsunami' or 'tsunamis'.

<comment><USER15> Most of those _are_ the sorts of nouns that wouldn't normally be pluralized in English. "Sushi" is like "rice" — specifies what the roll is made of rather than the roll itself. We don't pluralize the name of a rail system like Shinkansen because there is only one of it (similarly, "the L" but not "the Ls"). But there are many Japanese loanwords that are commonly pluralized differently in English. For example, futons, tycoons, typhoons, tatamis, ninjas and kimonos.

It's ambiguous whether "kanji" is a mass noun referring to the character set as a whole or a singular noun referring to a character in the set. I think it's both. So it seems hard to blame someone for being unclear on the matter.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The 'no downtime' thing really rings true with me .. during my personal time working in Japan I found I'd become accustomed to the fact that it was just 'normal' to be going into the office after a few beers and working another shift .. to the point where, when I returned to California, it was really bizaare to me that, after 6pm, pretty much everyone went home and - except for a few hardcore hackers - life just seeped out of the office space(s) we called a workplace. I guess the different physical characteristics of the two locations has a lot to do with it, not to mention culture - back home (at the time) in California it was not at all weird to be spending up to two hours on the commute, just sitting on the freeways in ones car, completely alone tuned into whatever bland offerings the radio waves proferred, while in Japan I don't think I had a car-ride longer than 30 minutes the whole time I was there (airport lift) .. and there is something to be said for the vital 'energy' that imbues a place like Tokyo at 9pm in the evening on a Tuesday, where most of the world is still at work. Albeit drunk, at least in a good mood, but nevertheless: still working. I got used to heading out at 10pm on any workday and feeling really _alive_ out there in the walking streets, like there wasn't a "shutdown" period before 12am.

The takeaway of this article to me is that, to be truly successful in the International markets of the new electronic economies, one really does have to disavow oneself of cultural baggage. I think I get better at that as the years go by - but I can't, nevertheless, help to feel very sorry for my old California associates who I know, even now today twenty years later, still spend a really inordinate amount of time on the freeway. Oh, how impersonal that life was ..

<comment><USER17> > I can't, nevertheless, help to feel very sorry for my old California > associates who I know, even now today twenty years later, still spend a > really inordinate amount of time on the freeway.

You should feel more sorry for your Japanese associates, who spend 12-14 hours at the office every day and never see their families, even though they probably could've gotten their work done in half that time.

<comment><USER16> > You should feel more sorry for your Japanese associates, who spend 12-14 > hours at the office every day and never see their families, even though they > probably could've gotten their work done in half that time.

I don't know about that .. they spent more time doing things that mattered to them - like, work, or associating with work colleagues/blowing off steam - <USER2> less time doing things that were highly destructive to their health on an immediate basis, like .. sitting in traffic for hours, being very un-social, breathing in smog.

EDIT: Is it a 'cultural downvote', or something else I said? Because my Japanese friends still don't 'get' why Americans think its so vital to have so much private time being spent 'on the road'. This is very definitely a cultural artifact, people ..

<comment><USER18> Maybe a daily walk in a park and/or 30 minutes of meditation could be better for their health than spending 12 hours in the office with a break of having a few beers each day. Seems like you're posing a false dilemma between spending the full day in the office and having a two hour commute each day - it's possible to choose neither of those. Are you sure your colleagues are so happy about their situation?

<comment><USER16> Oh, I missed that part out - certainly, my Japanese associates at the time got a _lot_ more walk in the parks than you might think. For many of them it was a vital part of the way home.

I just don't think the city planners of America in the 20th Century were as sensitive to these issues as they _should_ have been. We cannot deny that the automobile-economy made America _very_ unhealthy, and it wasn't until the era of the gym that this became lesser of a health issue. Even still today, though, by direct personal (thus: anecdotal) evidence, I can say without a doubt that my American friends are far, far less healthy than the Japanese side. Alas, its just a fact - even if we factor in the binge-work and alcoholism. Not a popular perspective, but I think Americans need to get some humility about this factor and stop building such monstrous cities with such dependencies.. okay, this is now outside the scope of the original article, which was fundamentally about the differences between cultures and how it affects technical deployment decisions, but - after all - this is fundamentally an Architectural problem as much as it is a cultural one (and the two cannot be dissociated, really..) In the end, could the Twitter difference really boil down to just how well the space of the two countries is utilized? I think it does, ultimately, play a role in this discussion.

<comment><USER18> I absolutely agree that long commutes are bad, but I still don't think that excuses Japan's overwork (Karoshi) culture. According to surveys Japanese employee satisfaction ranks relatively low compared to other countries: [http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/summary/200906/0...](http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/english/reports/summary/200906/02.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is fun localization issue. Kind of like water usage during World Cup games.

<comment><USER20> And power - [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_pickup)

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> As a Scala enthusiast, it's neat to see one of my pet languages get press, but...a "software engineering technology called Scala"? Did you mean "programming language"?

</comment><comment><USER22> I wonder whether concurrent write operations in a single data center or the load of achieving consistency between data centers caused more issues.</comment>


How we built a customer support dream team for our startup - <AUTHOR> https://betterthansure.com/how-to-assemble-a-customer-service-dream-team-452ba1f08cf3#.mbm9haayi <comment><USER2> "Our own customer service team is composed of CEOs, co-founders, CTOs, developers, and of course, customer experience gurus."

Good for you! But your typical company doesn't have that depth and breadth of human resources available for customer service.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you manage your passwords across devices? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I use Dashlane. I used 1Password for along time, but Dashlane is much easier and better in my opinion. I bought the 5 year plan, in fact. It's not perfect, though. I will say that I've had trouble with the Chrome extension, which could be another plugin or something unrelated, but that is my biggest complaint about them if I have one. It runs fine in Firefox and other browsers. It just crashes in Chrome every few days which I'm working with them on now, actually.

</comment><comment><USER3> I use LastPass, the free version allows password syncing across all your devices seamlessly. Chrome extension is very good, the iOS app could be better but it does the job.

</comment><comment><USER4> 1Password synced using iCloud.

<comment><USER5> Same here, but with Dropbox.</comment></comment>


Vantablack, one of the darkest substances known - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vantablack <comment><USER2> One of the most common uses [1] for Vantablack is coating satellites so they don't reflect light in to celestial navigation [2] sensors. Of course spy satellites are also covered in the stuff (there is even a variant that is highly effective on visible and infrared light).

1\. [https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-01-13/vantablack- wh...](https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-01-13/vantablack-where-is-it- being-used/8175042)

2\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_navigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_navigation)

<comment><USER3> But its MOST common use is for furthering the hilarious feud between Stuart Semple and Anish Kapoor.

<comment><USER4> Semple also sells a competing product, although I'm not sure how it compares to Vantablack.

[http://stuartsemple.com/project/black-v1-0-beta-worlds- matte...](http://stuartsemple.com/project/black-v1-0-beta-worlds-mattest- flattest-black-art-material/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It seems like _someone_ listened to the latest 99pi episode. [https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-secret-lives- of-c...](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-secret-lives-of-color/)</comment>


Ask HN: Can I sell my early stage startup? - <AUTHOR>

I have an early stage start up. It's a subscription model business. All the software/website is fully operational and customer ready.
A sudden change in my health has made it necessary for me to either sell or shut down. I've spent the last year of my life building this company. Money is not much of an issue, I simply want to hand over the business to someone excited and capable. If I can recoup some of what it cost me to build this company, that's merely a bonus.
Is there a market for this? I would have been thrilled if someone dumped a primed and ready startup into my lap, but perhaps I am alone with that thought.
A fair amount of knowledge in our business domain is necessary, but any intelligent hacker can pick up the basics within a few months.
What are my options? <comment><USER2> options:

1) shut it down.

2) sell it. yes, you can sell it, although it will be difficult and/or won't sell for nearly as much as it would if it were fully established with paying customers.

3) find a partner and offer them a majority stake to take it over completely. you retain some reasonable stake in the company and act in an advisory role as much as you're capable of. or not, but realize that if you're totally hands off, you shouldn't expect to keep a big chunk of it.

4) keep working on it when you have the opportunity.

i mean, completely dependent upon what it is, i'd be interested in #2 or #3.

</comment><comment><USER3> Firstly, sorry to hear about your health.

I'd approach similar, established companies that would be interested in acquiring your tech, or could use it in some form. As a last resort you could also consider splitting it up and selling it off in parts, assuming it's modular enough to do so.

You should go some way to getting a good amount of your investment back.

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER4> Can you send me more info? davidsmit at google's email service. I might be interested.

</comment><comment><USER5> You can try listing it for sale on Flippa. Although if its not making money, I'm not sure you'll get much for it.

If the business is promising I'm sure it'll get picked up.

<comment><AUTHOR> in YC parlance we are ramen profitable, but i don't think flippa is really what i am looking for.

<comment><USER5> I think we need more info about the site, care to post the URL?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I am interested. And would like more information. My email is in my profile.

</comment><comment><USER7> What's the business domain ?

</comment><comment><USER8> Sell it here on HN</comment>


Ask HN: What agreements and legal structures should you have in place for a startup? - <AUTHOR>

I've just got involved in a new startup and been offered a founder's stake. There are only 2 of us, she is based in the US, I'm in the UK.
Just wondering whether to form a company straight away, or wait until some point before launch. I guess the 2 most important things are to protect ip, and ensure I get my stake in the future.
Any advice on this? <comment><USER2> The main things you have to do are incorporate the company, appoint a board (presumably you two), issue stock, and each sign agreements with the company saying that your work becomes the company's IP.

You should probably vest some or all of the founders' stock (the usual time is 4 years) as a way of deciding in advance what happens if you split. It is a huge distraction to negotiate that later.

Don't incorporate as an LLC unless you don't plan to either take investment or sell the company.

You should postpone incorporating only if (a) you're still not 100% sure you want to start the company, (b) you're not sure yet what the stock allocation should be, or (c) you want to get funding soon from YC or some other investor who would prefer to start with a clean slate.

Use a lawyer. And if this is a startup, get one who works with startups, because the issues with startups are different from ordinary businesses.

<comment><USER3> I don't really understand why people shouldn't incorporate or even take investments before YC. Can't you just take the stock as advisory shares and buy convertible debt (if they even want cash)? Neither really affect or are affected by the valuation or current amount of investment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> From the Ycombinator FAQ:

"Don't incorporate, though, if you can avoid it. Especially as an LLC. It's much more complicated for us to deal with existing paperwork than to start from scratch."

And as a personal note, I've found the same logistically - tinker together with friends on a project, see how you gel together, then worry about forming a company later.

There's also a contract that might help if one of you originally came up with the idea and recruited the other - you can create one that says basically that all the ideas and work belong to one person, the idea originator, but that they all transfer to whatever company you guys form if you actually get around to forming one.

I have zero legal experience, so take it for what it's worth, this isn't advice either way.

<comment><USER5> That FAQ is for people who want to apply to YC! I don't see that in the guy's message, above.

<comment><USER4> I was giving YC of an example of how to approach pre-seed funding startups - if you don't have revenue or funding, and angels or incubators offer to deal with the paperwork in forming your company as a condition of receiving their money, then all that matters in the beginning is rapid iterations to test out both the idea and team chemistry. Anything else is a distraction.

<comment><USER6> It's good advice for 3 people with an idea and an application to YC. It definitely makes it easier for YC to set you up; we're in the process of converting from an LLC, and it is a huge pain in the ass.

It is one of the poorer pieces of advice on this site for someone who actually wants to run a company, and I wish YC would clarify it. To actually run a business, you need a incorporate for tax reasons, so you can invoice and be invoiced, so you can make binding, valid equity grants, and so your vendors, partners, and customers can't sue you for your house.

It will take you 2-3 hours, spread over 2 weeks, to set yourself up with an LLC and an EIN. It's not one of the Great Distractions you face starting up.

<comment><USER5> > converting from an LLC, and it is a huge pain in the ass.

Yeah, how so?

<comment><USER7> It's just a fundamentally different structure - LLCs were invented in the 80s, so the conversion is a huge PITA. If you want the benefits of incorporation, you should strongly consider incorporating as an S-corp (if you qualify: must be US citizens, no more than 75 shareholders, all of whom must be natural persons).

To change from an S-corp to a C-corp is just one piece of paper. You're already a corporation, not an LLC, and you get the flow-through benefits and limited liability.

<comment><USER8> I've heard this from other people too, but as an owner of both LLC's and Corps in the past, why is it so difficult? Just sell one company's assets to a new company.

If everyone is on board for the 'new' structure, then this should be trivial. If you have investors, you grant them new shares equivalent to their old LLC member %.

LLC"s have huge advantages too, if you dont plan to raise money, or only do it from a few people. The fact that you can allocate losses and gains regardless of ownership % means that you can allocate tax losses to an investor who may only own 20%. Them taking a tax loss is effective to them not paying more taxes, so it is a form of benefit for them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> If you have no presence in the US, you'll need to fill in W8BEN forms (available online) to avoid being taxed by both UK & US. There are other considerations too, as you mention, but I'm not familiar enough with them to advise. Hope that helps.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for that, I'll check it out.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's probably best to talk to a lawyer. There will be paperwork at some point, but at least consult with one now so that you know exactly what you'll need to do and when. It could also be complicated because of your different countries. Only a lawyer will know all of the important details.</comment>


Ask HN: Suggestions for PadMapper, Apartment Rental Search - <AUTHOR>

Hi everyone, I got some great suggestions when PadMapper (http://www.padmapper.com) was posted in the comments section of a thread, so I was hoping to get some more.
PadMapper is like HousingMaps on steroids. Basically, I built the core when I was looking for a place, and I've been improving it since.
My ability to test on a wide range of platforms is somewhat limited, so if it looks or runs terribly on some browser/machine config, that'd be especially helpful.
Thanks! <comment><AUTHOR> Link: <http://www.padmapper.com></comment>


Why doesn't Linux apt use HTTPS? - <AUTHOR> https://whydoesaptnotusehttps.com/index.html <comment><USER2> Previous post: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18958679](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18958679)

</comment><comment><USER3> > Furthermore, even over an encrypted connection it is not difficult to figure > out which files you are downloading based on the size of the transfer2. > HTTPS would therefore only be useful for downloading from a server that also > offers other packages of similar or identical size.

This nonsensical argument again.

Eavesdropping on HTTP: _inspect the request body and see wich package and version is requested_. That's it.

Eavesdropping on HTTPS: 1) build up a database of package sizes for versions. 2) Reassemble HTTPS traffic to figure out what HTTPS requests are. 3) Account for randomized padding lengths and packages of similar sizes (what if a minor security fix results in the same package size? ) 4) perform a lookup of the package version in your sophisticated database.

It's not even the same ballpark of complexity. Sure, dedicated targeted semi sophisticated attackers can still eavesdrop your HTTPS connections, but HTTPS sure as heck protects against casual snoopers. _Which_ do you really think is more relevant in the real world? And furthermore what kind of attacker achieves the level of sophistication for such a lookup mechanism, and doesn't have the sophistication to screw you over in some other way? There is zero understanding of economics or real-world attacker motivations in this argument.

It boggles my mind that there are people so stubborn - or think they're so clever - that they rather set up a dedicated website with a "well, actually" argument only based in pure technology. They do this instead of thinking critically about this and work towards giving people sane defaults.

</comment><comment><USER4> Let's ignore the issue of integrity and look at confidentiality:

• Browsers will reuse the same TCP connection when downloading multiple resources. Does apt not do this? This seems like it would make inferring package versions and names difficult.

• Is it impractical to standardize on a fixed block size that works for most packages, and just add noise as required to 'top up' the size of the payload to match the same size as all the others?

I found these articles interesting:

• [https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pironti-tls-length- hiding-...](https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pironti-tls-length-hiding-01)

• [https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00732449/document](https://hal.inria.fr/hal-00732449/document)

Also, is there an actual PoC for any of these size-related side channel attacks? I'd take it all a lot more seriously if there was one.

</comment><comment> crooked-v Yet again, the perfect gets treated as the enemy of the good.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm not sure when this site was last updated, but I'm guessing this is being posted here due to the edits added to the top of the post this year, most notably the link to CVE-2019-3462[0] which was reported in January.

The last time I read whydoesaptnotusehttps.com the tone of the article seemed disappointingly in favour of the status quo. The intro to the article now seems much more open to change.

(this site isn't on the Wayback Machine, so I'm going on memory—not sure how significantly the article has actually changed)

[0] [https://lists.debian.org/debian-security- announce/2019/msg00...](https://lists.debian.org/debian-security- announce/2019/msg00010.html)

</comment><comment><USER6> No one serious uses https as the authentication for raw packages - google, Apple, and Microsoft all sign updates/software/whatever with separate keys.

They also aggressively pin those connections.

However because they're serving over https a mitm can only DoS the update system: they can't change the update or dependency lists, they can't insert malicious content into those responses, they can't add cookies to the requests and responses.

Privacy can also be fixed if you simply pull multiple resources over the same connection (which is also faster)

Just use https.

</comment><comment><USER7> In my corporate environment, we are prohibited from using HTTP but we do not require our certificates to be up to date. Since the proxy does not allow Internet access except to a whitelist of hosts, we have to do something like this in order to take an ubuntu iso from a vendor, and convert it into an os template that my company can use:

echo "Acquire::http::Proxy \"[http://personal-cntlm- proxy:3128\";"](http://personal-cntlm-proxy:3128\\";") > /etc/apt/apt.conf

apt-get install -y apt-transport-https

echo "deb [trusted=yes] [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic main universe multiverse" > /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "deb [trusted=yes] [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic-updates main universe multiverse" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "deb [trusted=yes] [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic-security main universe multiverse" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "Acquire::https::Verify-Peer \"false\";" > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80ssl- exceptions

echo "Acquire::https::Verify-Host \"false\";" >> /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80ssl- exceptions

apt-get -y install ca-certificates # and now the server is trusted finally

echo "deb [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic main universe multiverse" > /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "deb [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic- updates main universe multiverse" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

echo "deb [https://someserver/somedir](https://someserver/somedir) bionic- security main universe multiverse" >> /etc/apt/sources.list

rm /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/80ssl-exceptions

probably not even anywhere near the prescribed way to do this, but everything in corporate america has a few extra dance steps.

<comment><USER8> Not to pound on you digitalsushi, I don't imagine you have a say in the policy, but .. "we are prohibited from using HTTP but we do not require our certificates to be up to date"

WHAT'S THE F%@#ING POINT if you do not require proper certificate ?!?! I've been saying for many years that the HTTPS everywhere is not a good idea and would end up in false sens of security. It's like green-washing; everybody pretend doing it except not really ....

Luckly, in the case of Apt it does not matter much but there are other cases of blind-https-all-the-thing-stupidly where it does.

<comment><USER7> No offense taken, there's a large city's worth of people at this company. I definitely have nothing to do with the TLS governance board's policies.

There are so many competing, parallel efforts to solve problems, that generally everything is a bit mediocre in terms of what is available.

It requires a bit of a forced-optimist persona to remain creative and upbeat. On the other hand, when I go back to a small company, the sense of technical freedom should feel remarkable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> In my previous work I could not install through apt package libelf1 because "f1" was banned on company firewall.

</comment><comment><USER10> because packages are signed, which gives the same level of trust as a https certificate against tampering (or even better, think how weak a guarantee is a let's encrypt certificate) but allows to delegate hosting to infinite untrusted mirrors.

</comment><comment><USER11> Haven't we been through this a few times before?

<comment><USER11> In fact I'd go further... there is too much emphasis that https == trusted && safe It doesn't

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> whydoesthisurlexist.com

<comment><USER13> doesntanyurlyoucomeupwithexist.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> The only way to be 99% sure your packages aren't tampered with is to use a source-based package management tool. Even then there's no guarantee, as you are placing your trust into the package maintainers and contributors of that particular package.

<comment><USER15> You might consider reading up on reproducible builds. The majority of Debian packages can now be bit-for-bit rebuilt to verify the maintainer actually ships what they say they are.</comment></comment>


Fukushima Officials: "worst possible result … the technology doesn't exist" - <AUTHOR> http://enenews.com/times-worst-possible-result-revealed-fukushima-plant-chief-centuries-pass-before-humans-invent-deal-molten-fuel-videos

<comment><USER2> no comments, story buried. sounds about right.</comment>


Unrevoked team offers full flash access on HTC Incredible and EVO - <AUTHOR> http://unrevoked.com/rootwiki/doku.php/public/forever

<comment><USER2> I'm one of the guys that worked on this. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away here. I hope the HN community finds it useful!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for all your hard work!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> That would be the firmware flash memory, not Adobe Flash, by the way.</comment>


Large Computer Systems are Organic - <AUTHOR> http://blog.vivekhaldar.com/post/6972614229/large-computer-systems-are-organic

<comment><USER2> Comparing something we understand pretty well (computer systems) with something we only half understand (organic life) is not very illuminating. There are also many ways, I am sure, in which large computer systems are like the Universe.

</comment><comment><USER3> "Organic"... Nice word for "Rube Goldberg"-ish...</comment>


Tesla cars use 'runit' for Linux init system (as opposed to systemd, etc.) - <AUTHOR> https://old.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/arfwvm/some_sw_internals_of_tesla_autopilot_node_hw2/ <comment><USER2> It is a custom version of runit, moreover. Vanilla svlogd does not have -L and -M options.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'm always interested in learning about things like this. For example, it was really neat to learn that the Intel SME ran the Minix microkernel. Or it was neat to learn that the Apple secure enclave was running the L4 microkernel.</comment>


Show HN: CloudSwag.com - prepaid Amazon EC2 Gift Certificates - <AUTHOR> http://www.cloudswag.com/

<comment><USER2> I know that at prices this low a huge markup may still not be a huge price to pay to save time, but the markup really is pretty big.

      1 day = 940% markup ($4.52 more)
      1 week = 197% markup ($6.64 more)
      1 month = 73% ($10.60 more)

But... as said, while the % looks big, if it saved me hassle then who cares about a few bucks. I guess my issue is that the page doesn't sell me on that being the case, so it seems like just getting EC2 service (possibly with less access) and for a higher price.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're neglecting to factor in bandwidth and EBS-usage (because, keep in mind, EC2 micro instances MUST be EBS backed). 10GB of outbound data transfer is another $1.10, plus another $.50-$1.00 in EBS costs per instance.e

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> You could try also marketing it to Freelancers who need to develop an EC2 app for a client. This way the client can easily provide the freelancer with a development box for a week or a month.

</comment><comment><USER4> can someone give a standard amazon gift card instead?

<comment><AUTHOR> I believe standard amazon gift cards can be used to pay for AWS charges, but it would be after-the-fact, not prepaid.

<comment><USER5> Except that you can just add an Amazon gift card to your account and they'll apply it to future charges until it runs out, which is basically the same thing as being prepaid.</comment></comment></comment>


Suggestionbox: Personalization and recommendation machine learning for Docker - <AUTHOR> https://blog.machinebox.io/introducing-suggestionbox-personalization-and-recommendation-machine-learning-in-a-docker-b9d69f937716 <comment><USER2> i love how machinebox provides excellent developer experience, other companies should learn from these guys</comment>


Amazon Prime Video arrives on Apple TV in over 100 countries - <AUTHOR> https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2017/12/amazon-prime-video-arrives-on-apple-tv-in-over-100-countries/ <comment><USER2> Glad it's here, so I no longer have to Airplay from an iOS device. But can we talk about the UI? It seems Amazon's dumped an entire web renderer into the app ([https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/93857361817446400...](https://twitter.com/stroughtonsmith/status/938573618174464002)), and loading their "smart" TV UI.

It ignores the tvOS human interface guidelines ([https://developer.apple.com/tvos/human-interface- guidelines/...](https://developer.apple.com/tvos/human-interface- guidelines/app-architecture/accessibility/)), discarding all the accessibility features and the focus model.

I get that, to Amazon, the Prime Video app on Apple TV is probably not worth spending any time and effort on. But it's unfortunate for those of us that are paying the strategy tax and getting a "smart" tv app designed for low-powered CPUs.

</comment><comment><USER3> I have been waiting a lifetime for this! Ok that's an exaggeration but I'm happy Amazon Prime is finally available on the Apple TV.

</comment><comment><USER4> _Terrible_ app. Worse than the Netflix client bundled into my old HDTV. What an embarrassment for Amazon.</comment>


Top 10 Programming Fonts (2009) - <AUTHOR> http://hivelogic.com/articles/top-10-programming-fonts/ <comment><USER2> Wot no FiraCode?

This is 9 years old; pointless?</comment>


The Moral and Ethical Rot at Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's Facebook - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/11/15/the-moral-and-ethical-rot-at-mark-zuckerberg-and-sheryl-sandbergs-facebook/ <comment><USER2> The tone of this article seems like the writer really has an axe to grind. And several of her points are not clearly morally correct.

I personally believe that the Holocaust happened, but if some clown wants to claim it is on Facebook or somewhere else, I'm in favor of supporting his right to do so. I care about free speech much more than I care about people being offended.</comment>


Cloud Firewalls: Secure Droplets by Default in DigitalOcean - <AUTHOR> https://blog.digitalocean.com/cloud-firewalls-secure-droplets-by-default/ <comment><USER2> Hmmm, looks like not many people on HN care about DigitalOcean nowadays. I guess most people use AWS EC2 (or Lightsail), Linode or Vultr instead.

I've been a long time DO user, 4.5 years. So far so good, especially happy about the uptime (not like AWS they force you to reboot or start if it is scheduled for retire). DO has a track record of keeping VM uptime (in my uprecords I have the following top 5: 555 days, 401 days, 226 days, 170 days), all reboots were manual due to kernel upgrade (with Ksplice one still needs to reboot at some stage).

DO keeps delivering new features (load balancer, block storage, monitoring, firewall etc), although the pace is a bit slow. The competition has never been so tough, in fact for $5/m DO has the least memory but I am not going to migrate the existing droplets at this stage.

Back to business: this cloud firewalls - it's an extra layer in front of the VM's OS level firewall (iptables, pf/ipfw or Windows Firewall?) (similar to AWS VPC security group) offloads the packet filtering to DO's network infrastructure, it comes in handy in terms of protecting the VM from DDoS. Thumb up for it.

<comment><USER3> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497784](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497784) Yesterday's thread where the majority of the conversation was</comment></comment>


In Your Personal Experience? The 2 keys to create a constructive tech discussion - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@fagnerbrack/personal-experience-doesnt-matter-cb060b42f99a <comment><AUTHOR> This was borne out of the frustration of participating in discussions that doesn't focus in the argument, but rather in the credibility or authority of somebody else.</comment>


Show HN: Hacker news front page links since last 8hrs - <AUTHOR> https://www.8hrs.xyz/ <comment><USER2> Can you expand on what "since last 8hrs" means? How does this differ from the HN front page? Is it the top posts for the last 8 hours?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, it will show the top posts for last 8hrs. In 8hrs time any article that made it to front page of hn will be available.

When I want to catch up on the hn activity while I was asleep I will come to this.

<comment><USER3> Some way to screen the submissions that have been seen already might be helpful too.

Maybe a client-side javascript button, 'update now', or 'latest'?

<comment><AUTHOR> a button like that will be good to program. i looked to see how it can be done. usually the links a page will be shown differently if they were visited. we cant get the visited links info from js ([https://stackoverflow.com/a/7291538](https://stackoverflow.com/a/7291538)).

the list is updated and sometimes it will have less than 30 or more than 70 links. 30 links can be shown in a single page. when there are more than 70, a btn like above will be useful. Will definitely add this btn if the site gets regular visits.

Thanks for the suggestion.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> cool. seems the HN top page doesn't sort by votes but yours seems to.

Are you going to make a click-able button for 4hrs and 12 hrs etc? or maybe banned/flagged posts?

<comment><AUTHOR> I think this is simple enough to be useful. Banned/Flagged posts will be striked out. 8hrs seem reasonable time frame. It is only for people who read HN mostly and contribute to HN rarely.</comment></comment>


What startups are solving for Anxiety/Depression on a biochemical level? - <AUTHOR> I'm looking for companies that are trying innovative ways to deal with human depression and/or anxiety using more scientific/biochemical methods (rather than meditation / happy thoughts etc) <comment><USER2> You can take a look at some startups that sell nootropics. But after going through many natural supplements and prescribed medications, I realized that everyone is different and respond differently. I personally get high blood pressure within days of taking certain nootropics. Certain other ones causing me to be more explosive and agitated. Some natural herbs caused shortness of breath within hour, etc. All these things are very individual so I would not bet on any startup with magic pill to cure everyone. Took me a while to find something that works for me. Maybe there should be startup that guides you through these experiments to find what works for you individually.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm looking for something more directed, less trial and error. Form of sensing and cohesive testable theories (less statistical)

<comment><USER2> But that's sort of is my point, it's all statistical, that's why they have medical trials for years before FDA approves new drugs. We sort of know what is happening in the brain, it's lacking one neurotransmitter or the other and all the drugs/supplements basically either provide it or pretend to be one. Another approach I've seen is to stimulate certain hormones, but again it's individual because some people might have excess of one hormone and lack of the other. Relaxation and meditation is basically natural way to balance certain hormones (reduce cortisol in particular). Or sun exposure gives you vitamin D (which is technically a hormone) and it's been studied to help with depression, but some people need more of it than others etc. I recommend you to pick up a book on nutrition before jumping into this space, one of the easy to read books is Ultramind Solution by Dr Hyman. Hope this helps.</comment></comment></comment>


How to develop your customers like you develop your product - <AUTHOR> http://venturehacks.com/articles/customer-development <comment><USER2> Perhaps someone could share the idea. Video files don't work for a lot of (text-oriented) surfers, and it would be useful not to have to read the book to know if it is any good..

<comment><USER3> Because its about marketing, its hard to capture the ideas without sounding trite and simplistic. Basically keep your burn rate low while "developing" your market. And that "developing" your market is an iterative process of basically trying things, getting customer feedback, trying more things informed by that feedback, repeat until you find a viable market. In other words, just as you would iterate your product development (always with the possibility of going back to the start) you should do the same with your market development. Don't be afraid to fail.

Some of the nicer points from the video (in my opinion):

* 90% of startups fail not because of technological barriers but because they fail to find and develop their market.

* Too many startups try to imitate the corporate structure of larger companies - acting like the company they want to grow up to be - rather than having a corporate structure that suits their stage of growth.

* He recommends having a "market development" group rather than the typical VP/Sales, VP/Marketing structure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> His talk at Stanford was excellent. Business school always teaches you to be customer-focused but its so easy to lose sight of what that actually means.

</comment><comment><USER3> I guessed from the title that it was going to be associated with that book. Its a really good read, and the best thing that's come from Marc Andreesen's blog. Highly recommended.</comment>


How to Survive When AWS, Azure, or GCP Becomes the Competition - <AUTHOR> https://www.gkogan.co/blog/big-cloud/ <comment><AUTHOR> Even if you run 24x7x365 "direct connect," your data is still hostage to an egress tax of $20/TB.

Just say No.

We need new Nancy Reagan —Nancy Cloud. To teach the millennials how to actually build things before it's too late</comment>


Education NGO Faces Backlash from Academics After Retracting Essay - <AUTHOR> http://quillette.com/2017/10/31/education-ngo-faces-backlash-academics-retracting-essay-citing-intelligence-research/ <comment><USER2> pfft...people these days spend more time reacting+reacting to reactions than on solutions.</comment>


What type of startup are you most sick of? - <AUTHOR>

I'll go first: Daily deals and restaurant loyalty programs. <comment><USER2> I second the daily deals vote and add some of the latest fashion apps like Snapette and the others that keep an inventory of the fashion items people own.

</comment><comment><USER3> "check-in" apps

<comment><AUTHOR> Very much agree with both comments. 'Checking in' is the lamest function since 'poking'</comment></comment>


Subway Systems at the Same Scale - <AUTHOR> http://fakeisthenewreal.org/subway/ <comment><USER2> Too bad they don't have subway of Omsk city (Russia): it has 1 (one) station.

Originally, plan was to build more, of course. But due to widespread corruption and management failures there's only one station finished, and the rest of construction is basically stalled.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_Metro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omsk_Metro)</comment>


VS Code for Windows on ARM is now available for the stable release - <AUTHOR> https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_47#_stable-windows-arm-builds <comment><USER2> I am surprised this wasn't available earlier, I guess I just took it for granted. The way Microsoft had reorganized itself has obviously made the whole corp much more agile but at the same time I feel like they've lost their vertically integrated product vision internally with all these disjoint teams.

Having their flagship code editor available for their OS regardless of platform from day one seems like a no brainer, but yet here we are.</comment>


Secret Source Codes Threaten Modern Science - <AUTHOR> http://news.yahoo.com/secret-source-codes-threaten-modern-science-185204425.html

<comment><AUTHOR> The original article (if you're able to get through the paywall; I can't) is at <http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6078/159.full>

There is certainly an irony in an article about opening research to the public being behind a paywall.</comment>


Why Libraries Matter (2014) [video] - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/371084/why-libraries-matter/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> Spend just an hour at a local library in a struggling section of the largest city near you, and you'll see that this is where the poor come to interact with modern society. 1000's of people come here to access the Internet, get help with things like GMail, or online signups for unemployment insurance. They get tax help, legal help from lawyers who come give free consultations, and libraries offer some of the best child care events available: baby bounces, story time, big picnics, etc.

Libraries are some of the most important public spaces out there. Oakland even has a tool lending library with weed wackers, hammers, drills...

Libraries are the only public institutions dedicated to freely increasing the education level of adults.

<comment><USER3> We have plenty of homeless here in Toronto, and having spent many days of my youth at the public libraries (at least five whole days, from open to close, in at least six locations) I can say I have never even once seen a homeless person inside for any other purpose than to use the washroom. Is your experience universal in the U.S?

<comment><USER4> It's definitely true in San Francisco, where much of the library literally reeks from all the homeless people. Many of them do seem to be using it, though I'm sure plenty come in just to use the bathrooms, rest, or sleep.

<comment><USER2> SF Main is an example of a library gone wrong: it's literally a homeless camp, and smells horrible because of it. Oakland has better control: they have a bit of standards, and don't allow homeless people to impede the use by regular citizens, without restricting access for homelsss users. It's a tight rope, but if homeless people make the library unusable by other people, that's blocking access, just like it would be if homeless people aren't allowed in. It's a tricky balance to pull off, but Oakland does it well, SF has given up and let the homeless people win.

I literally left SF Main once because some guy with a pantload of feces was monopolizing the graphic novels section. Couldn't get within 10 feet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I attended a talk this year where the speaker made two points that have stuck with me:

1\. Because of legal precedent surrounding protection of patron records, librarians are in a similar category as priests and lawyers.

2\. Libraries are a great leveler for society. Paraphrasing: you don't have to dress a certain way; you don't have to look a certain way, and you don't even need to smell good to use a library.

Depending on your outlook, the second point could seem like an in-joke at the expense of homeless, but I find it profoundly poignant.

A side note about the value and impact that libraries have on people's lives. I grew up in Montana where I was routinely asked by older adults if I was any relation to the woman who read / told them stories every day after school. I would reply that she was my grandmother, and they would launch into stories about how they and their friends didn't have any place to go after school, and how much they loved the nice lady at the library.

</comment><comment><USER6> I love libraries, I can't sing their accolades enough. If you ever get the chance to read Benjamin Franklin's autobiography it's a must read. Here's a link to a PDf [http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/b...](http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/benjamin_franklin_- _autobiography_of_benjamin_franklin.pdf)

The future of libraries relies on successful and continued rhetoric for their existence.

</comment><comment><USER4> Also see this fantastic interview with Ray Bradbury:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3uZf4G3Lo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF3uZf4G3Lo)

</comment><comment><USER7> I am wondering what conservatives think about public libraries. Conservative ideology supports making government minimal, which would seem to imply they would oppose public libraries, but perhaps that is not they actually think.

<comment><USER8> Close the libraries down, same as public baths. I don't want my taxes being wasted on those people.

<comment><USER9> Would you rather share streets with people who bathe, or not? Would you rather share the streets with people who read books, or not?</comment></comment></comment>


Share Your Amazon Prime Benefits - <AUTHOR> http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?t=jpin&tag=jpin&ascsubtag=URGL1IVbEeK9QKYqsUvgHA0_CKFT3_0_0_0&nodeId=200444180 <comment><USER2> Why is this being upvoted? There is nothing new about being able to share Amazon Prime benefits.

And here I was hoping it was an annoucement that you would henceforth be able to share your Kindle lending library benefits. That's my biggest annoyance, since I'm not the one in the household who has a Kindle.

<comment><USER3> It used to be only in the same household. It now reads "or up to four coworkers." Which means you can share it with anyone you know.

Me and the wife weren't even sharing her Prime because we live at different addresses and didn't want her account to get frozen... Now we can!

<comment><USER4> Amazon wouldn't have frozen her account. Speaking from personal experience, they don't seem to care even if the family member moves 3000 miles away from the Prime subscriber.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> They've had this since the beginning of Prime in 2005. 4 members of your household _or_ 4 coworkers basically means anyone you want, regardless of if they have the same address as you.

</comment><comment><USER6> Seems like it doesn't work if you signed up for a paid Prime subscription through Amazon Student. :(

<comment><USER7> It says right there:

> Note: Amazon Mom and Amazon Student members with Amazon Prime shipping > benefits and customers receiving a free 30 days of Amazon Prime benefits > with Kindle Fire won't be able to share their benefits.

<comment><USER6> Yeah but I'm a paying customer now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Once I actually got to the form for sharing Prime benefits, I noticed that it doesn't actually include co-workers. The options for "relationship to primary member" only include family relationships like "spouse", "unmarried partner", "parent", "child", etc.

</comment><comment><USER9> i only see the option to add family members.

</comment><comment><USER10> does this share history on the account too? i buy these people gifts!</comment>


PostgreSQL 10 Beta 2 Released - <AUTHOR> https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/1763/ <comment><USER2> I love postgres to death, and they do amazing work. It's certainly the best database I've ever used, and that's before thinking about postGIS and pg- routing. Their documentation is top notch and if you sit in their IRC channel you'll see a lot of people helping each other, including core devs answering basic questions to really involved ones. It's really an amazing project in almost every regard.

I recommend it to anyone who needs a database in almost every situation as your first one. If you outgrow pg's capabilities, including full-text search, then you're probably also having capacity planning and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed too when moving to more specialized software.

However, it drives me bonkers that they don't use a bug tracker because their current mailing-list system "works." I think it makes it hard

* to find the status or history of an issue ("just use the mailing list search!" and then try to piece together and separate multiple threads

* to allow younger developers (which they want to have talk to all the other devs before doing anything at all)

* to look for open issues (which they claim don't really exist because things are fixed quickly, but that's not always the case)

* to make sure issues don't get lost (which they do),

I've also heard it said that bug trackers attract low quality issues, which, even if true, I don't see why that's such a veto issue.

They actually have a quasi-bug-tracker for things like their hacker fest projects where you can find an issue and offer suggestions on it.

<comment><USER3> It also drives me nuts that you have to be aware of it at all before even realizing that it's their bug tracker. When googling for postgres issues initially, I would just immediately back out of those search results assuming I had stumbled upon some archived exchange.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here's what's "new in 10":

[https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/New_in_postgres_10](https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/New_in_postgres_10)

The beta announcement doesn't mention any of these specifics, just links to the wiki above.

<comment><USER5> There's also [https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/release-10.html](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/release-10.html) with more details.

<comment><USER4> Thanks! :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've really gotta get on testing this with my product. It has a bunch of features i'm really looking forward to (gist index support for enums and uuids are the main ones for me).

This is a huge release. Been following the development for years on the mailing list, it's always interesting seeing how it plays out and the features come to life. It's one of the best collaborations i've seen.

<comment><USER5> > I've really gotta get on testing this with my product.

Please do! It's a lot easier for us to react to issues as long as there's no full expectation of compatibility...

<comment><USER6> Yup, i've tested every prior release since 9.4 as well, time is just short for me this month to get into it because of projects we're trying to wrap up. I know the sooner they get feedback the better though, hopefully I can make time soon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The full text search on JSONB columns is going to be really nice. I currently use Algolia for this, but for small stuff that doesn't have to be blazing fast, I'd rather do it in postgres.</comment>


Spotify: Labels Thought We Were No Better Than The Pirate Bay - <AUTHOR> http://torrentfreak.com/spotify-labels-thought-we-were-no-better-than-the-pirate-bay-131007/

<comment><USER2> A musician friend of mine attests to this. From the musician's perspective you are unpaid for your work; but unlike piracy your new listeners can only share their experience with other Spotify subscribers, further decreasing the likelihood they'll be paid.</comment>


What happened to Hackstor? - <AUTHOR>

www.hackstor.biz has not been updated in a while, and looks like it just just become frozen in time.<p>Does anybody know what happened? <comment><USER2> _Twilight theme song_ Do do do do do do do do

It looks like it was updated 2 weeks ago to me. I don't frequent that site, so I don't know if that counts as "frozen."</comment>


Inequality will kill us before the robots do - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@hajak/inequality-will-kill-us-before-the-robots-do-1f969646e348 <comment><USER2> Let's hope that the rich and powerful don't win. They could choose euthanasia for the unproductive.</comment>


Show HN: Place to hang out with your friends while staring your computer screen - <AUTHOR> http://spend-a-day.at

<comment><USER2> Warning: xss

[http://spend-a-day.at/scriptalertxssscript](http://spend-a- day.at/scriptalertxssscript)

You might wanna sanitize the room name and username fields.

<comment><USER3> Will do. I was sure yhere were so.e of those left. Thanks for the hint.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> "Creator" here. :)

Happy to answer any questions if some.

<comment><USER4> I was interested by the title but since there's no information in the actual website, I'm weary of giving my email address- What is this actually about?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, it does not ask for any information at all. Just decide what you want your place to be called.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Pretty cool, good job</comment>


Alibaba IPO could raise $18B-$25B on $110B valuation - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/16/alibaba-ipo-could-raise-18-25b-on-110b-valuation-companys-growth-meteoric/

<comment><USER2> Wow. That is one hell of a valuation. If Yahoo! were to capitalise on Alibaba IPO'ing and if it's a massive success, then it would provide a nice little buffer of cash for the next few years for Yahoo! to re-establish itself in the web space once more like it currently has been.

An interesting thing about Alibaba is that you never really hear of it in Australia, nor anywhere else, but this silent company is absolutely nailing it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Exactly! Alibaba is killing it and Yahoo! needs cash. This would definitely go a long way in reestablishing Yahoo!, especially with all those recent acquisitions.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are the chances the NSA backdoored the Java/jvm platform? - <AUTHOR> The Java/jvm platform being widely deployed all over the world, from company servers to personal computers, and with recent revelations about the NSA approaching Linus to backdoor the linux kernel, I kept thinking the jvm is a natural target for the NSA.<p>What are the chances of this "backdooring operation" being successful? <comment><USER2> If you take Java bytecode to be the attack surface, it is probably less likely than that a complex, microcode-based CPU instruction set contains a back door because it is hard to smuggle a multi-instruction side effect into an open source bytecode interpreter. Other attacks like an undocumented jni call are also difficult to conceal. That leaves things like network libraries, and most of those are an interface to protocols, leaving not much room for shenanigans, IF the source is available and build-able.

</comment><comment><USER3> Adding a backdoor to open source software is no easy task...

</comment><comment><USER4> Depends on whether you're talking about an OpenJDK you compiled yourself, or an official binary distribution.

The latter would be much easier for someone to backdoor.</comment>


Ways to think about machine learning - <AUTHOR> https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2018/06/22/ways-to-think-about-machine-learning-8nefy <comment><USER2> Benedict Evans has the ability to say the least amount of valuable content in the most amount of words.</comment>


The World's Newest Major Religion: No Religion - <AUTHOR> http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160422-atheism-agnostic-secular-nones-rising-religion/ <comment><USER2> About time.

Because religion often enjoys legal protection, in my eyes proclaiming to be religious does not differ much from stating: "I am legally delusional!"

In the same vein, one can hope that eventually nations also realise that churches do not deserve tax exemptions. They are businesses, and to be more precise, they are in the _protection racket business_.[0] The logical difference to mafia is miniscule.[1]

0: "Say, that's a nice soul. Would be awful if something happened to it..."

1: "Say, a nice shop you have here. Would be awful if something happened to it..."

<comment><USER3> That's a rather naive, if popular, view of religion.

Probably made even more popular by the fact that in the US any kind of fringe BS can pass as a religion, from Scientology to what have you.

And by fringe I don't mean less true in the "god exists" way (well, he doesn't exist, at least not in any religious guise), but less historically established and having served an important societal role.

Because religions were an early cultural framework for formulation of a code of ethics, building ideas about society, life, etc. That we today deem some of those ideas bad doesn't mean they were bad when they formed (or even now), or that they didn't play an important (positive I mean) role in society's development.

(The inverse idea is usually based on two naive beliefs: religious people were just dupes manipulated by priests, and religion is useless since its myths don't correspond to objective truth).

Heck, there are even evolutionary studies on the benefit of religion to human development...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> For those curious, they're using a Dymaxion map, also known as the Fuller projection[1]. It's named for Buckminster Fuller, and the goal is to reduce skew of shape and size. Notice, for example, the sizes of Greenland and Africa as compared to their heavily-skewed sizes on the Mercator projection.

1: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymaxion_map)

<comment><USER5> I assume they think this is a good choice, but I disagree. It's just confusing. Why add such friction to data display?

<comment><USER4> It took me a moment or two as well, but you won't get change without making change. The Mercator was historically good for navigation, but is a poor representation of the globe. You need only look at their last figure, with the more granular data, to see the level and ease of detail would be lost in Africa and Eurasia.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is, arguably, good news.

Though I lament the rise of the people who centre their identity around their lack of religion and go on the offensive against believers. They're not much better than the religious. Religion is not the source of all evil.

<comment><USER7> Its a little hypocritical to hate religion when you yourself are part of many religious cults. religion of family, cult of love, religion of shopping, cult of money and success, religion of beauty and youth.

<comment><USER6> These are strange choices of 'religion' but I think I agree with your comment in spirit. It's saddening to see people who claim to be skeptics, but whose skepticism apparently only extends to organised religion, and not to other harmful widely-held beliefs about the world.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Anecdotally, these stats are probably understated. For example, when asked I answer Catholic. In reality I am a "none" but we would skew the numbers for Catholic in this study because I want my child to grow up knowing her grandparents and they would disown me if I came out as Atheist. I imagine a lot of people are in the same boat as me.

</comment><comment><USER9> That is an atheist coordinate reference system!

</comment><comment><USER10> Cheers to that..</comment>


Show HN: Atomik [] of Doom – Four cold-war themed pixelart games - <AUTHOR> https://itch.io/c/379794/atomik-bazar <comment><AUTHOR> These four games were made for the exhibition "Atomik Bazar" organised by François Burland in Fribourg at the Espace Jean Tinguely-Niki de Saint Phalle. The graphic line of the four games, all named "Atomik [...] of Doom" in honor of the exhibition, is heavily inspired by the work of François Burland, especially his well known war ship,submarine and airplaines.

Atomik Chaotik Bombing, Blind Threat, Inaccurate Laserfights and Unpredictable Meteors Field of Doom are all inspired by the main theme of the exhibition: The Cold War. Each game, in its unique way, challenges the player through a new aspect of this period: nuclear and space domination, invisible threat and arms-race.

Let us know what you think!</comment>


Scale the shit out of this - <AUTHOR> https://open.dgraph.io/post/scaling-dgraph/ <comment><AUTHOR> Over the last couple of months, we've been working solely on Dgraph scalability and performance. Here's our journey!</comment>


How do you decide what to work on? - <AUTHOR> http://jvns.ca/blog/2016/08/16/how-do-you-work-on-something-important/ <comment><USER2> Well, a large part of it is what I can get paid for. But if I have my druthers, the important question is: what shouldn't be impossible, but seems to be for mysterious reasons?</comment>


Volvo's Polestar is now its own company focused on performance EVs - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/21/volvos-polestar-is-now-its-own-company-focused-on-performance-evs <comment><USER2> That article is terribly written (excluding the spelling mistakes).

A somewhat ballistic approach to the comma as well.</comment>


Salmon on Psychotropics - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/pharmaceutical-pollution/586006/ <comment><USER2> Another part of the Sixth Extinction.

Part of approving new drugs to treat chronic illnesses needs to include identifying a way to deactivate them in wastewater, or before they get to wastewater. AND we need to come up with ways for the existing drugs.

Maybe people on these drugs need to be taught to collect their piss and not flush it.</comment>


Subscription Friction - <AUTHOR> https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2019/11/03/Subscription-Commons <comment><AUTHOR> There have been many many attempts at micropayments. But it probably needs one of the big guys to get it to the right level of scale. And is it in their interest? Or if they take a micro % of a micropayment, is that enough for them?

Countdown to the first comment that starts with "all you need is a blockchain". 3-2-1.......</comment>


Startup Employees Are Getting Screwed By VCs And CEOs, Says Industry Veteran - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/this-22-year-veteran-of-startups-says-employees-are-getting-screwed-by-vcs-and-ceos-2014-3?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

<comment><USER2> "95%+ of non-founding employees don't know s---- about equity,"

Pretty much sums up the entire situation in 1 sentence.

I am curious about what securities laws are being violated for failing to disclose material information.

<comment><USER3> That is an interesting way to go about it... Could legitimize the situation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I hope all startup employees or potential employees read this. Shame on people who take advantage of young people's ignorance. I was lucky to have been educated well by my colleagues and leaders early in my career. This completely undermines the spirit of silicon valley and will lead to our own destruction if we're not careful.</comment>


Wildly Popular Japanese Manga Storms U.S., with Wine in Tow - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-30/drops-of-god-manga-gets-amazon-english-translation-wine-club <comment><USER2> The story behind this manga single-handedly catapulting sales of French Burgundy in Asia never ceases to fascinate me ;)</comment>