Muxtape Relaunching, and Muxtape's story - <AUTHOR> http://muxtape.com/?r=t

<comment><USER2> The meat and potatoes of this article: "Muxtape is relaunching as a service exclusively for bands, offering an extremely powerful platform with unheard-of simplicity for artists to thrive on the internet."

So, in essence, it is no longer really Muxtape, but an entirely different idea that is just a nod towards what it started out as. This may not be all bad for Muxtape, but it definitely goes to show two things:

1\. The major labels/RIAA are far too stiff and don't seem to understand how to work with websites for their own profit. If they had worked out a fair deal, this could have undoubtedly be incredibly profitable for both Muxtape and the labels.

2\. Attempting to do something like this will take either a bigger backer (more money), or for the RIAA to suddenly gain an understanding of the internet's true potential.

Regardless, it is a bit disappointing that Muxtape is no longer Muxtape -- however, there are imitators out there working to provide a similar concept, and one of those might just succeed. This has just been a jumping-off point for a lot of people...even if this one doesn't succeed, it's made its mark.

<comment><USER3> The odds of Muxtape being profitable is pretty darn slim. Subscription or advertising fees would not recoup the costs, licensing, and development of the site.

The RIAA acted in its best interest when presented with a chance for new opportunities; it would rather ensure its existing sales channels is well protected instead of risking on unknowns.

<comment><USER4> I agree. The RIAA's interest is to keep the old business model alive. Their experience is that if their copyright cannot be contained within a physical object, the lose control of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This quote says it all:

 _"I always told myself I'd remove any artist or label that contacted me and objected, no questions asked. Not a single one ever did. On the contrary, every artist I heard from was a fan of the site and excited about its possibilities."_

So the talent loved it and the suits complained. I see.

</comment><comment><USER6> Well, I'm going to burn some karma by bucking the conventional wisdom here, being needlessly snarky, and repeating a comment I've made here many times already:

Selling stuff you don't actually own: not a great business plan.

<comment><USER7> itunes might disagree. But I agree with the principle.

"Make something people want" is a good creed - but making something illegal (or of questionable legitimency) is perhaps not a good move.

<comment><USER8> No iTunes wouldn't disagree; they don't sell the music to the users, they sell the users to the music. iTunes has a ridiculous amount of users as it's freeware, but anyone with an iPod has it installed on their computer thus it was easier for iTunes to sell music as they had users before they had the music and their dealing with the record companies would have been along the lines of "yeah we have like 200 million users, what do you want them for?"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> "Around the same time I got a call from the VP of anti-piracy at one of the majors. After I picked up the phone his first words were, "Justin, I just have one question for you: where do I send the summons and complaint?""

This sort of tactic should be outlawed. Bar none; preemptively filing a summons (within reasonable circumstances) before mutual compromises can be made and using that preemptive strategy to intimidate anyone is just horrible.

<comment><USER6> That sounds great on a message board, but in the real world, it would be a debacle. What are the "mutual compromises" that should preempt someone's legitimate commercial rights? On the other hand, big companies would _love_ it, because they've already had your idea, and just gave it a different name: "mandatory binding arbitration."

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Cheers to Justin & Muxtape. Fuck the RIAA.

I'm going to enjoy every minute watching the RIAA & the big record labels burn to the ground; it's already happening. And when one of those unaccountable suits apply for a job at a Company I'm working at...well, good luck.

I wish he had a donation link on his website, because I, and many others, would be more than happy to help.

</comment><comment><USER10> You hate to hear this sort of story, but it just reiterates what has been common knowledge since well-before Muxtape even existed: if you're a successful site that makes major label music available to people who don't own it, you basically either need to be prepared to fight it out with big money in the boardroom/court room or prepared to eventually dismantle the site.

</comment><comment><USER11> "Muxtape Relaunching"

Not really. Lame. In fact, the new service sounds a lot like bandcamp.mu (which I'm equally uninterested in). Not that it's Justin's fault.

</comment><comment><USER12> I predict this story will evolve into one of (lasting) success, and be inspirational to other entrepreneurs.

Strangely enough, I'm already inspired, even though Muxtape hasn't yet gotten off the downs and back into the ups.

</comment><comment><USER13> "The industry will catch up some day, it pretty much has to."

Best quote of the whole thing. This is a setback for now, but Muxtape's death led to Opentape's creation. Soon enough, things will get too huge for music companies and something will change. Perhaps not soon (though I'd hope it does), but it will happen.

</comment><comment><USER14> MixWit.com is the new Muxtape. Same thing, just a bit different UI. and it's a YC company, i believe.

</comment><comment><USER15> It's a real shame that they killed Muxtape. It was such a great site and a fantastic way to discover new music.

:'(

I really wish that there could be a way for sharing good music with others without all the hype and commercial crap that normally surrounds it.</comment>


Does anyone have experience with Joyent Accelerators & the Sun Startup Essentials Program? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><AUTHOR> The hosting issue still seems to be the big risk with using Rails for a startup -- hosting a Rails app seems to require a lot more sysadmin-like knowhow than some of the most established environments that have essentially become standard and one-size-fits-all features on most hosts.

Joyent seems to be one of the leaders in the game.. do any of you use them and have comments to share?

</comment><comment><USER2> I'm using TextDrive/Joyent, and I'd like to believe Accelerators will solve some scaling issues. I haven't launched to really know yet though. The support has been excellent, and the resources available online are good.</comment>


Compiling to CPS Javascript (part 2): stepping debuggers, no callback hell, etc - <AUTHOR> http://jlongster.com/2012/05/18/cps-results.html

<comment><USER2> Very interesting. Seems like you're having heckova time, cheers! :-)</comment>


Aircraft bomb finds may spell end for in-flight Wi-Fi - <AUTHOR> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19665-aircraft-bomb-finds-may-spell-end-for-inflight-wifi.html

<comment><USER2> From the end of the article:

"There are many ways of coordinating an attack without using a mobile phone," says Aurélie Branchereau-Giles of OnAir, a company based in Geneva, Switzerland, that Airbus is backing as a maker of in-flight cellphone and Wi- Fi systems. "The position of our security experts is that the use of mobile phones on planes does not constitute any additional security threat."

I tend to agree. A timer is as effective, though perhaps slightly less precise, than a phone call. Even as it stands, one could probably set up an ad-hoc network with the explosives (laptop in luggage? Not sure about signal strength.) and use pretty much any electronic device to connect to it.

</comment><comment><USER3> The article makes some reasonable points, except registration by the inflight device is necessary. Unless someone is in the hold clicking the EULA that cellphone is useless.

Am I missing something?

<comment><USER4> FEAR-MONGERING IS AWESOOOOOME!!!

The objections make no sense whatsoever. If a Tango has a Wifi enabled bomb set up, then it's not going to matter if the Cabin SSID is broadcasting. They'll just use a peered connection.

<comment><USER5> Tango?

<comment><USER6> Tango

(US) NATO phonetic alphabet for the letter "T" and for "Target" (or enemy). Example: "We have two Tango's at 3 o'clock - I'll take the right one."

<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Military_slang>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm _pretty sure_ cargo planes don't have wi-fi for the 'passengers'.</comment>


Ask HN: I am running AdWords to promote my iPhone App. How do I... - <AUTHOR>

I am now running an AdWords campaign that links to www.gaiagps.com. Once they get to the site, I want to track how many people click the "Buy Now" button that brings up iTunes.
Normally, I could just put a tracker on the page I wanted to measure, but since I'm popping them off to iTunes, I need to track clicks on the link, not page landings.
My solution for now is this: I put a javascript Google Analytics trigger in the <a onclick> to track clicks of that link, and then I can cross-reference that against paid traffic.
However, does AdWords have a way to track these conversions directly? They have a "Conversion Tracking" system, but it seems to only work if they land on a page, not if they click a link, because you insert an Javascript snippet in the page to track conversions.
Am I missing something about AdWords Conversion Tracking, or is the GA the right tool to use here? I suppose I could also redirect them to a page with tracking code before I redirect them to iTunes, but this seems like kind of a hack. <comment><USER2> Hi I am am one of the founders at <http://appsto.re> and we have a way for you to track google ad word campaigns from our analytics dashboard. The service is 100% free and we would love for you to give it a try.

Give me a call if you have any questions, 917 nine seven four 6317

<comment><AUTHOR> Ooops, I can't seem to verify my website, even though I put the tracking string at www.gaiagps.com.

Where it says "Your website" on the verify page, it looks like there is a bug too.

<comment><USER2> Hi Andrew,

My apologize. Are you still having a problem? Email me direct and we will figure out the problem. firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The first question I'd ask is whether people ever use Google to search for iPhone apps? My take is, Not really.

Perhaps it's different in the GPS world.

<comment><AUTHOR> People do... we get organic search traffic for people looking for "iphone offline maps" "iphone topo maps" "best iphone gps app" and stuff like that.

I chose my keywords for adwords based on our organic traffic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> appsto.re</comment>


The Long-Shot Bid to Put Crispr in the Hands of the People - <AUTHOR> https://www.wired.com/2017/02/long-shot-bid-put-crispr-hands-people/ <comment><USER2> For better or worse, it now appears the Crispr system is an entire generic 'immune system' with many variants found across many species. It is not a singular exotic find. Though the most used variant of Cas9 was first found in the bacteria that causes strep throat, we've since found similarly effective proteins in all sorts of other organisms. Just a couple of weeks ago a few more variants of the system were published after being found in archaea through a large bioinformatics search.[1]

Some of the new CasX, and CasY proteins [2] in these alternative crispr systems are actually even smaller than the original Cas9 proteins. I'm not sure how related it is, but the land grab associated with a broad patent has come with a large exploration effort to find alternatively systems that still provide similar utility.

As these kind of synthetic biology tools come online there definitely needs to be some reanalysis of how the tools should comport with the patent system, it being ultimately for the public good. As what's being built today in synthetic biology is very much the nascent infrastructure, the comparison to the rollout of the internet is not an unfair comparison.

[1] [http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7640/full/nature2...](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7640/full/nature21059.html)

[2] [https://serotiny.bio/api/parts/10465](https://serotiny.bio/api/parts/10465)

<comment><USER3> > it being ultimately for the public good

I think what pisses people off is the preponderance of insiders. People who buy Editas before the court results go public, but have enough inside information to deduce Broad would win the ruling. If you think it's impossible for insiders to figure out how a court ruling will go based on private proceedings, you're forgetting that they discovered CRISPR in the first place and are way savvier overall.

It doesn't matter if Broad loses an appeal. It doesn't matter if there is even a single therapy ever developed with Cas9. The stock jumped 29%. Every insider made huge money off information that wasn't public.

You can't go and investigate every trade, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that's what pisses people off. It's not the public good part. Believe me, no one cares about the million other patents the MIT licensing office owns that won't make any money. Nobody even cares about your new invention that will take decades to develop.

They just care about the preposterous get-rich-quick scheme that is the stock market reacting to court cases.

<comment><USER4> I cleared several hundred percent off of call options on EDIT. I did so based on closely tracking the USPTO case, its filings, studying both sides of the argument, etc. The oral arguments made it overwhelmingly clear who was going to win.

You didn't need to be an insider to see the obvious outcome.

If you did nothing else but follow Jacob Sherkow's posts on Twitter, a novice investor could have taken his information lead, done some further due diligence, and come to the same conclusion.

Or here, read document 891 in the case:

[https://acts.uspto.gov/ifiling/PublicView.jsp?identifier=106...](https://acts.uspto.gov/ifiling/PublicView.jsp?identifier=106048&identifier2=null&tabSel=4&action=filecontent&replyTo=PublicView.jsp)

That's Berkeley desperately attempting to respond to having been smoked at the oral arguments. Look at how the panel chose to respond to Berkeley trying to submit new evidence. The panel had already made up its mind by that point in my opinion. There were numerous things the panel could have pursued further after the first (and only) oral arguments, that they chose not to tipped their hand again.

Still don't like the odds involved in buying call options on EDIT? Ok, easy, hedge: NTLA also had call options available. To make matters even better, both CRSP and NTLA had sold down heavily leading up to the verdict (CRSP crashed by ~40% in a month). NTLA was available for $12 or $13 per share for the whole month prior to the verdict (it's IPO price was $22 or so). When an outcome is so dramatic for a stock as this verdict, if you hedge call options, the huge spike will trivially compensate for the downside on the other stocks.

<comment><USER5> A (perhaps stupid) question, are USPTO judgment dates public ahead-of-the- fact? In other words, how do you prevent being too early and your options expiring worthless?

<comment><USER4> No. That was certainly part of the risk calculation.

I sat on most of my calls for two to four months prior to the verdict, with most of them having a May expiration. So a few points:

1) I made some guesses on how long the verdict was likely to take based on history and based on how the case was going. For example, did they follow the oral arguments up with a round of interviews involving some of the prominent people involved. Sherkow I'll note nailed the verdict date almost exactly and provided his own reasoning for why he thought it would be in February.

2) At the time I purchased a lot of my calls, May was the furthest out date available. There was almost no liquidity (I purchased some of the first calls ever available on EDIT). Once I bought, I knew I'd need to commit or take a beating trying to unload them near-term. However, over the months, August calls became readily available (so one could have taken an opportunity to roll them; eg sell some calls on an upswing, which EDIT was prone to due to its very low float, wait for a drop, if one occurs then load the August calls at potentially cheaper than what you sold the May calls for).

3) I specifically began buying after EDIT's stock was, in my opinion, bottoming out. It went into the $40s almost right after the IPO, due to a hyper low float and lock-up (plus fuzzy understanding + hype about CRISPR at that point in time). It dropped for about five straight months from those highs. By October 1st it looked to be near a floor, so I began stalking it, it proceeded to double then triple bottom right before the election.

If you had timed it freakishly well, you could have gotten May 2017, $17.50 calls for around ~$1.75 ($175 per contract) right before the election. They peaked recently at $11.x.

4) By timing the stock itself moderately well on bottoming - that is, by paying what I considered to be a cheap price on a well sold down stock - I was able to buy the calls very inexpensively. Why did that matter? Part of the bet was that it wouldn't just stay on the floor for the coming months leading up to the patent verdict and hearing (NTLA for example rallied significantly at one point before crashing back down). By the time it was ~$18 / share, my calls had already appreciated considerably, giving me a convenient exit if I wanted it, or I could just pull my principle. I didn't need to hold through the verdict, I could just take a 100% return or so and walk. That angle helped to offset (if I wanted to sell some) the risk of being forced to wait it all out and watching my position potentially expire worthless.

I also did one other thing that ended up being extremely profitable. I sold some of my calls for a nice gain in the $18s before the verdict came out. Keeping in mind I had no idea it would 100% be in February. So let's say I sold some $17.50s for May 2017 at that point for a good profit. I took some of those gains (not the principle), and acquired even more calls than I had sold, but for the $17.50s calls for March, on a very heavy discount. I paid $1.25 or something for those in the weeks before the verdict. When EDIT spiked in the days following the verdict, those were worth six to eight times what I paid for them and they were purchased solely with prior profit (if I ended up being wrong and the verdict didn't come out in time for the March expiration, I only put my gain at risk on the May calls I sold to do that).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > The law's original intent was to patent mature discoveries, things like a > genetically modified crop, or biofuel-farting yeast. Over the years, > however, universities started filing patents further upstream—on everything > from protein structures to bits of DNA. This frenzy of molecule-grabbing can > actually work counter to Bayh-Doyle, locking up promising discoveries that > don't need help getting commercialized. "Crispr totally epitomizes that," > says Michael Eisen, a Berkeley biophysicist and long-time advocate of open > science. "Everybody in the universe is chomping at the bit to use it. But > patents are an obstacle to that happening right now."

I recently read "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell and each chapter highlighting an economic concept included examples of government policy relevant to the subject. Such as rent control, price controls in agriculture, zoning, industry licensing, etc. Almost all of them had similar unintended side effects as seen here (ie, rent controls intended to reduce rent prices resulted in a _shortage_ of affordable housing for poor people in NYC, Toronto, etc). They almost always create an imbalance where the negative side effects largely outweigh the intended benefits.

I'm not sure leaving such highly technical debates, such as whether or not you can patent a low level protein, should be left for random courts to decide.

How do we solve such a prevalent problem? Should the legislation then become more specific to make sure it has it's intended purpose? Or would that ultimately lead to endless complexity in law? Creating loopholes and increased difficulty/cost to implement?

The easy answer that some people take is that government should largely not be involved in this type of stuff but I'm always interested in exploring alternatives. But otherwise this stuff is largely ignored outside of the usual generic complaints about regulations coming from business groups each year, yet it continues to persist as a black/white issue in politics.

CRISPR is such a critical and important technology, it'd be a shame if it was held back by unintentional interpretations of law.

<comment><USER7> I feel like the original supreme court decision that allowed the patenting of DNA needs to be overturned. The suit was brought by General Electric for an organism they didn't even use. Now the entire farming industry is radically different with companies like DuPont, Monsanto and BASF controlling the seed supplies for many major crops.

<comment><USER8> > Monsanto

The corporation everyone loves to hate.

On the flip-side, I haven't heard any compelling way for Monsanto to recuperate the costs of R&D on their engineered crops. I'm sure a lot of people would be happy to see GM crops go away altogether, but I don't think that's a compelling solution.

<comment><USER7> I listed the two others too, yet you focused on the one. Why did we need them in the first place?

Prior to seed companies, seed stock was bread by farmers, universities and done in a way that was more open an accessible.

We have been in overproduction of corn, grain and rice for over a decade. They haven't saved the world from hunger. Hunger still exists and has always been a distribution problem. In 2008, the food crisis was caused because investment companies started trading in grain futures and wouldn't let go (where as a food producer invests in a grain future because they plan on buying it in x months in order to make cereal or pizza crust or whatever). There was plenty of food though. The food shortage was literally manufactured.

> any compelling way for Monsanto to recuperate the costs of R&D on their > engineered crops

It wasn't a problem that needed to be solved. On the flip side, now we have all this corn and grain that needs to be sold. Sure some of that can be turned into fuel, but a lot of it is pushed out in starchier food. We're consuming so much starch and sugar that we're now in an obesity epidemic. The food industry keeps pushing out advertising so people consume more of it. It's a cycle that's not been beneficial for many people.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The Broad hands out licenses like candy if you're doing research.

If you're a commercial entity, it's 100M.

<comment><USER10> Take from the rich, give to the poor.

<comment><USER11> Not all commercial entities are rich. If you were a scientist who found a novel application of CRISPR and wanted to develop a product and bring it to market, you'd be effectively screwed.

<comment><USER9> Well, you'd develop a proof of concept and angle to be acquihired by Editas. I don't know that that counts as "screwed".

<comment><USER11> Acquihired implies you being acquired for your talent, but then what happens to your idea? Editas could just scrap it.

<comment><USER4> Editas and Broad only control the US market. It's extremely unlikely Broad will acquire such a strong position in Europe or Asia (in fact it's practically guaranteed they will not).

If you had such a stellar therapy, and you couldn't get it past Editas, you'd go to Europe and partner with any number of a dozen other entities there that would be guaranteed to be interested (such as Novartis, which owns part of NTLA).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Where's the line between benefiting the creator of a tool and putting a wall up around a tool that can benefit all of humanity?

<comment><USER11> I don't know much about patent law, but why not just allow for open use? If a person wants to use that tool in a for profit company, then they just pay royalties. Else, just let it. S.

<comment><USER13> Imho, patents should work like this:

Company or private person submits a patent.

The government determines what they would pay to make the technology open (i.e., benefits to society). This is similar to the process of determining the subsidy to develop new technology.

Government makes an offer. Submitter can accept or reject.

If rejected, the patent remains secret, but other companies have the right to independently invent the same technology.

If accepted, the patent is published. If other companies want to use the technology, they will need to buy a license from the government. Submitter has no control over who may or may not use the technology.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Is there some kind of letter to your congress person type thing that can be done for this? I would gladly sign a petition or write an email as part of a campaign to demonstrate public support for making access to crispr as open as possible.

<comment><USER7> Your opinions and letters to congress do not affect public policy at all; not unless you're in the top 10% of income earners:

[http://fightthefuture.org/videos/does-voting-make-a- differen...](http://fightthefuture.org/videos/does-voting-make-a-difference/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > like Wi-Fi or the internet, and license it on a "fair, reasonable and non- > discriminatory" basis. No favorites.

Wi-Fi patents are held by the Australian government and feed back into their University system.</comment>


Ask HN: Best place to get someone to do a Wordpress theme? - <AUTHOR>

Where is the best place to get someone to create a Wordpress theme for me? 99Designs looks like they do design and not really theme coding.<p>Basically I just want a my wordpress theme to be the same as my main page. <comment><USER2> Lots of crowdsourcing sites as you rightly noted.

Here in Cambridge (UK), we have quite a few mailing lists and meetups of hackers/designers/coders and so it's quite easy to just tap those. I bet you can find similar things locally near you.

Also, if you are near a university or college, then you have access to lots of talent willing to work for relatively little money. Students are interested in cash, yes, but also interested in building their portfolio.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your answer. The thing is though that these skills are pretty specific. I already have a design and logo, I just need it "Ported" over to Wordpress.

<comment><USER2> Yep, that shouldn't be a problem. There are people that specialize in Drupal, WP, Joomla, etc, so just ask.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Design work for bootstrapped side project? - <AUTHOR>

I have a side project I'm working to launch in the next month or so. I'm a developer, code is my thing. And if you ask my daughter she will tell you, I can't even draw a stick figure... So my question is, what is the best solution to the lack of design skill and getting a nice yet cheap design for a side project? <comment><USER2> There are a few possibilities

1\. Consider exchanging services with a designer. Costs some development time, but might be worth it for good design work.

2\. Ask a designer friend for a favor. You don't want to impose too much, but you might be able to get a discount off the normal design rate.

3\. Depending on the type of project, you may be able to find prebuilt templates/themes that you could adapt. Themeforest is a good place to look.

4\. Consider using a grid-based CSS framework like Blueprint. It already has all the basic building blocks in place. It won't be beautiful, but should be at least reasonably usable.

</comment><comment><USER3> Well it depends on the type of project.

If it's something small with benefits to social causes, I know many designers (myself included) would be willing to do it for free or at least, take a loss on it.

Otherwise, you can look on Craigslist/elance or post on designer sites like QBN.</comment>


Parable of the Polygons – a playable post on the shape of society (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://ncase.me/polygons/ <comment><AUTHOR> Previous discussion on HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716538](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8716538)</comment>


Ask HN: Is your information on genealogy sites? How do you remove it? - <AUTHOR> I did a google search of myself today and found my name listed on a site called onegreatfamily.com on the first page of my results. It has information about my parents and sister listed.
I would like to request them to remove my name from their database or at least from their searchable index, but since they require a lot of personal information just to submit a contact form it seems like I would be then voluntarily submitting my information to them according to their privacy policy[1]. Their site is really low rate and shady and they don't have a very good privacy policy. It's very generic and doesn't cover much.
What is the best approach to having information removed from these genealogy sites?
[1] http://www.onegreatfamily.com/Help/Privacy.aspx <comment><USER2> You could do a whois on the domain name and find some contact info there.

ex:

        Registry Registrant ID:
        Registrant Name: Z-Corp
        Registrant Organization: Z-Corp
        Registrant Street: 1371 West 1250 South
        Registrant City: Orem
        Registrant State/Province: UT
        Registrant Postal Code: 84058
        Registrant Country: US
        Registrant Phone: +1.8014910335

<comment><AUTHOR> I did and found the CEO and his email address and an article written about him on mormonentrepreneur.net and an old home address and some more information. Z-Corp is just a shell that owns a handful of genealogy websites.

I suppose emailing him directly is one option now, but what do people do that don't know how to sleuth on the internet take care of this?

<comment><USER3> The LDS Church takes a very dim view of publishing genealogical information about living people. It is forbidden by church policy on any church-related site, many potential customers of a genealogy site are Mormon, and most of them know this policy, support it, and would take a VERY dim view of a website that intentionally violated it. I once consulted on an online genealogy system for the LDS Church, and being able to prevent this sort of privacy invasion was explicitly part of the spec as part of longtime, standing policy. As I very vaguely recall, the spec required a death date in the data for anything other than `(Living Person)` to be displayed (even the name was blocked), and in the absence of a death date, the data would not be displayed unless the birth date was more than a century earlier (which I think was later extended to more than a century, but I'm not sure.)

Unfortunately, the site you mention has no connection to the church, but if the CEO was interviewed on a site called "mormonentrepreneur.net", he might in fact be very receptive to an email that simply claimed that someone had posted personal genealogical information about living people, you and your family, on his site, that you are "sure his policies (like other legitimate genealogy websites) would not allow this", and you would like it removed.

You should at least start that way for the reasons I mentioned and for the fact that, like Reddit, these businesses mostly host huge piles of data contributed by non-staff members, and it is often too much data for their few staff members to have any hope of proactively moderating. You might need to be a squeaky wheel just because of the logistics.

I hope that just pointing out that these are indisputably living people will be enough, but it's possible they will require some proof of your identity, because these sites are the targets of lots of data disputes between family members who try to modify each other's data as well as plain ol' vandalism.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you very much for the response. I will look up some more info on the LDS thing so I can bring that up in the email and hopefully use that to persuade my information be taken down.

I was not aware of these rules the LDS had for genealogy sites.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> For a person in the US, there is a good chance that the information was gleaned from public records such as vital statistics. If that is the case then it is available to someone else to publish even if one site takes it down. In addition, sites are under no obligation to take down information contained in public records.

Good luck.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. I did notice on ancestry.com they mention that some information is pulled from public records. I wouldn't be surprised if that is also abused by these sites as excuses to keep information up, but I will still attempt to get it taken down at least.

<comment><USER4> Publishing public records isn't abuse. If a website takes such information down at an individual's request, it's a courtesy not an obligation.</comment></comment></comment>


CloudSpring | Parse StackMob and Kinvey at WAR - <AUTHOR> http://cloudspring.com/parse-stackmob-and-kinvey-at-war/ <comment><USER2> War. What is it good for?

</comment><comment><USER3> Are they really at War?

<comment><USER4> No, they are at WAR!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How do I change my bar colour? And what is 'noprocrast' mean? - w-ll

and happy new decade! -_- <comment><AUTHOR> You don't have enough karma for changing the menu bar color yet. Have patience, and make quality contributions.

Noprocrast is a utility to force you to stop procrastinating by reading HN and get back to work.

<comment><USER2> To elaborate: essentially when noprocast is set to yes, the site blocks you for the number of minutes entered in minaway, and after minaway minutes have passed, allows you to read the site for maxvisit minutes.</comment></comment>


China confirms coronavirus is airborne - <AUTHOR> https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/china-confirms-coronavirus-is-airborne/ar-BBZQMEb?li=BBr8Cnr <comment><USER2> I'm in China and it's astonishing how different out lives changed with less than 10 days. Quarantine and lockdown came so quick a lot of people still haven't got used to it.

I've made a video about it and you can see it for yourself: [https://youtu.be/uxW7k5462Ms](https://youtu.be/uxW7k5462Ms)

This is something I've never experienced before.

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the video, it is quite disturbing. I live in Madrid, Spain (here the subject of the day is Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and rumors of cancelling the whole show) and over here there is some kind of uncertainty too, as you mentioned.

Let's hope this gets solved soon. Stay safe as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Doesn't sound good.

<comment><USER5> Understatement of the year award</comment></comment>


Darpa Wants Insect-Scale Robots for a Micro-Olympics - <AUTHOR> https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/darpa-wants-your-insect-scale-robots-for-a-micro-olympics <comment><USER2> Just happen to watch rubber band-powered planes video. Penny planes are 3.5 grams and Peanut planes are 8 grams: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y22mV2smkA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y22mV2smkA)

<comment><USER3> A world I never knew existed. That rubberband talk was crazy.

<comment><USER2> Here's another one - gliders that can reach 835 kmh:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv7-YM4wno8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv7-YM4wno8)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Small scaled robots are so much more amazing and powerful (and dangerous) than large ones. Small robots can go anywhere. They can also cluster and swarm and be more difficult to take down. Frankly, I'm always surprised that the military spends so much time making robots that look like humans or dogs or the like, when both individual and swarms on nano robots seem so much more powerful.

<comment><USER5> I immediately thought of the "Hated in the Nation" episode of Black Mirror.

<comment><USER6> Prey by Michael Chrichton is a nice predecessor of this as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> >Yesterday, DARPA announced a new program called SHRIMP: SHort-Range Independent Microrobotic Platforms.

When did DARPA turn into a company from the Fallout universe?

<comment><USER8> DARPA as the cause of the fallout universe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Related: Rolls-Royce's "cockroach" inspection robots. [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-19/cockroach...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-19/cockroach- bots-roam-air-show)

</comment><comment><USER10> The possibility to do great harm with robot swarms is real; load them with a nerve agent or explosive and you have instant mayhem that is almost unstoppable.

I hope we will come up with some way to control/disable these things, or we may end up with a few psychopaths terrorizing entire cities.

<comment><USER11> Yes, I came here to say that before anyone gets excited about this, understand that the technology _will_ be weaponized. So if you were unhappy about your company providing administrative software to ICE or the Border Patrol, think twice before lending your talents to this sort of thing.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> @dang - Why the title change here? The "Olympic-themed competitions" were the most interesting thing here to me, given DARPA's success with previous competitions and spurring innovations.

</comment><comment><USER12> Someone suggested this to me as a possibility. Imagine a swarm of bugs with nothing more than a small amount of poison as a payload and an injector of kinds. Kind of scary to think about.

<comment><USER13> Or 3g of shaped explosives.

[https://youtu.be/HipTO_7mUOw?t=67](https://youtu.be/HipTO_7mUOw?t=67)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This will eventually become utility fog. Billions of billions of nanobots that can cooperate and assemble autonomously. It will fundamentally be magic. Rajaniemi's "Flower Prince" novels include lots of utility fog. Also, I think, Morgan's "Land Fit for Heroes" novels, but way far in the future, after the technology's been forgotten, so people see it as magic.

<comment><USER15> Then civilization will destroy itself and when it starts to rekindle, there will be rumors and tales of forgotten magic and there will be those that denounce such magic and reinvent science all over again, only to recreate said magic hundreds of years later.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I hope the program manager is invited to the Voices from DARPA podcast.

[https://www.darpa.mil/about-us/podcast](https://www.darpa.mil/about- us/podcast)

Always worth a listen. (Though I always feel like a not-so-smart underachiever after listening.)

</comment><comment><USER17> That's really neat. I don't know anything about the field —- how accessible is this type of contest to small teams of advanced hobbyists? Are we going to see mostly companies with advanced equipment competing? I'm curious about the competitive landscape.

<comment><USER18> Seems like if your bot can or could meet the expectations of the challenge(s) the contest is open to you.

I'd be wary of signing anything to compete though.

<comment><USER17> Well my bots are all software and they're very bad at piling rocks. I'm just curious what the hobbyists who are in this space think of the competition, and whether they can be competitive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Does anyone know why these events are focused on physical performance? It seems like gathering data (the "search" portion previously discussed) would be more focused on data collection rather than moving objects, jumping, etc. Before seeing the events I was imagining something like move 50 meters while transmitting video, or transmit temperature data while flying for 5 meters.

</comment><comment><USER20> I always imagined that those robots would be ideal for spying on people.

At least it would make targeted spying better, and might reduce the need for the NSA to capture internet traffic.

</comment><comment><USER21> I feel like I've seen 3 or 4 big interesting DARPA initiatives announced in the last week or so. Is something going on or is it just a coincidence?

<comment><USER22> Possibly related to Russia's recent claims about advancements in military tech [http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22270/russia- releases-v...](http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22270/russia-releases- videos-offering-an-unprecedented-look-at-its-six-new-super-weapons)

<comment><USER23> Most of those were just old weapons systems retrofitted for air launch.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Technology is often considered neutral. It represents progress through equal benefits to all.

However, internet tech, has shown asymmetric benefits. Those with access to information individuals don't have, such as Cambridge Analytica, and therefore foreign governments, have benefited more than individuals.

Before yielding to the dopaminergic amazement of this insect-robot technology, how about your thoughts on how this will affect and benefit those with evil intentions, such as foreign governments, vs. everyday people, such as facebook users?

<comment><USER25> Espionage is, to me, the most obvious use.

<comment><USER26> That and assassinations.

<comment><USER27> Why would someone who controlled this technology practice only notable killings?

<comment><USER26> Fair point, a poor choice of words on my part there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Are there any research papers pertaining to this program? Thanks :)

<comment><USER29> Probably all secret

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> What's their policy on doping?

<comment><USER31> For those confused, title was changed from something about "tiny robot Olympics."</comment></comment>


Tutorial: Cross Platform Mobile Sync App - <AUTHOR> http://code.google.com/p/openmobster/wiki/TitaniumGetStarted

<comment><AUTHOR> This tutorial covers how to develop a cross platform mobile app that is fully synchronized with the Cloud. The technology used for cross platform development is Titanium, and the Cloud is provided by OpenMobster.</comment>


For job-seeking developers, skills outweigh resume - <AUTHOR> https://sdtimes.com/devexec/job-seeking-developers-skills-outweigh-resume/ <comment><USER2> it's funny in machine learning we train machines until they are proficient at a task.

for people we assume you either got it or you don't

<comment><USER3> For the first the burden of responsibility is with "us," but for the second it's with "them."</comment></comment>


How to create a profitable Freemium startup (spreadsheet model included) - <AUTHOR> http://andrewchenblog.com/2009/01/19/how-to-create-a-profitable-freemium-startup-spreadsheet-model-included/ <comment><USER2> As someone who's been building financial models for a living up until recently, I have to say that this model isn't very useful as it doesn't answer the most important questions.

The OP focuses entirely on the time period where the revenue line finally catches up with the cost line, i.e. profitability has been reached. But guess what? See all the time periods before that, where the business is running at a loss? Where is the money coming from to fund those losses? That's the up-front investment required - VC, loans or digging into your own pocket.

So that's the first important yet unanswered question: what is the up-front investment before the business can sustain itself?

The second is to calculate the ROI for the above investment, but with a twist: calculate the average ROI at every time period, taking into account all periods before the period being calculated for, but ignoring all future periods. This will provide you with a very important result: you will see that the average ROI remains negative long after your business becomes profitable. You will also see in which time period your ROI reaches an acceptable level - a very important factor when risk is considered.

Yes, it's just a model driven by assumptions. But with the above metrics, you can play with the assumptions (worst, best case etc.) and get meaningful results for decision making.

Disclaimer: The above explanation has been simplified quite a bit. Liberties have been taken with definitions. All your base are belong to us.

<comment><USER3> I am the author of this blog post - good points on this from a financial perspective. I can tell you were building financial models for a living, because you think ROI is the most important question for entrepreneurs ;-)

For startups, the most important things are good products and good markets. Successful angels and VCs know that, and will invest based on product and growth, NOT financial metrics. Thus, in very few VC pitches will you ever see stats on ROI or payback rate, that's more something you'd seen in the accounting or I-banking world. (I know this from personal experience, having spent the last year at a silicon valley based VC and seeing dozens of pitches)

So if entrepreneurs are primarily focused in the world of products, features, etc., then the key thing is to figure out the metrics that measure how these products tie to external market value. So things like conversion rates in funnels or cost per acquisition become super important, because the features are the steering wheel to your revenue engine. As a result, the spreadsheet model is mostly focused on things that are granular enough to relate to product and functionality, rather than things like valuation multiples or ROI or other overly-broad financial metrics.

<comment><USER2> If financial metrics are not important for entrepreneurs, and if the most important things are good products and good markets, then why did you write a whole article on creating a PROFITABLE freemium startup? Do you think profit is not a financial metric?

Of course it is, just not as useful in this situation. Hence my suggestion to use metrics that are more meaningful. The metrics that are useful should show you what the risk / reward is for pursuing the business.

It is very important for any entrepreneur to estimate how much investment is required to cover initial operating losses and capital expenditure. It is just as important for them to determine whether this investment is worth the expected future profits.

Just to drive the point home: you can spend 1 billion dollars in year 1 on advertising, if you had the money. And year 2 will be profitable. But you have a terrible business if the profit curve over the next years isn't steep enough to offset the original investment. Simply making profits is not enough.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> That revenue model in the graph is quite Madoff-esque.

<comment><USER5> I was hoping the included spreadsheet model would be enough to secure funding.

<comment><USER4> First you have to overlay an exponential curve of user growth, and then you're set.

<comment><USER6> It was enough 6 months ago.

Today, the only extra thing you need to add to secure funding is that instead of your data coming from Excel, it must come Google Analytics.

Replace projections with reality. That's all it takes.

<http://fairsoftware.net> \- geeks and businesses combined

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> so, this guy who founded an ad network is telling you to spend 35k on ads when you first start your business.

who voted this up? do you people even know what Y Combinator does?

<comment><USER3> I'm not suggesting that.

You should run small experiments (<$50) per day until you figure out that you get can profitable. Only then do you scale up. The point is understanding what the microeconomics look like, so that you know how to grow the business over time profitably.

If you can go viral, that's even better obviously. I've written extensively on that also - and it's my preferred approach. But it's just true that for most subscription products, it's easier to buy the users than to acquire them virally.

<comment><USER8> His post is very valuable for those apps where value is not derived from how many friends you have using the service with you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> a lot of "social" startups are services where advertising online does not generate _users_.

<comment><USER10> I'm not sure what you mean by that.

I run a small social network, and advertising has 'generated users' at a much higher rate than any other method.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> If you must spend 80k to make 120k you are in a bad business. EDIT: Really Bad.

<comment><USER12> really?

a 50% ROI seems pretty good compared to traditional businesses

<comment><USER11> Lets note that 95% of small businesses make less than 250k.

If a business spends $800 and makes $1200 that is great. The risk is small. If the same business spends 8k to make 12k that is great. The risk is bigger but relatively small. If the new hired gun, self-proclaimed-marketing-guru, decides to jack up ad spending to 80k to make 120k, someone is betting too high now.

Asking if this model is scalable is bringing emotion into this scenario which will guarantee you failure sooner or later.

At one point you will reach the amount at which spending more on ads will not increase your revenue. I guess that is when justifying "branding" comes.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Facing scaling issues with news feeds on Redis.  Any advice? - <AUTHOR> We just released a social section to our iOS app several days ago and we are already facing scaling issues with the users' news feeds.
We're basically using a Fan-out-on-write (push) model for the users' news feeds (posts of people and topics they follow) and we're using Redis for this (backend is Rails on Heroku).  However, our current 60,000 news feeds is ballooning our Redis store to almost 1GB in a just a few days (it's growing way too fast for our budget).  Currently we're storing the entire news feed for the user (post id, post text, author, icon url, etc) and we cap the entries to 300 per feed.
I'm wondering if we need to just store the post IDs of each user feed in Redis.  And then store the rest of the post information somewhere else.  Would love some feedback here.  In this case, our iOS app would make an api call to our Rails app to retrieve a user's news feed.  Rails app would retrieve news feed list (just post IDs) from Redis, and then Rails app would need to query to get the rest of the info for each post.  Should we query our Postgres DB directly?  But that will be a lot of calls to our DB.  Should we create another Redis store (so at least it's in memory) where we store all of the posts from our DB and we query this to get the post information?  Or should we forget Redis and go with MongoDB or Cassandra so we can have higher storage limits?
Thanks for your help in advance. <comment><USER2> First of all, I'm glad you have chosen Fan-out-on-write over Fan-out-on-Read because, reading how your newsfeed works it appears to be operating similar to Twitters & I believe I have a nice solution for you :)

I'd use BigTable as the data is distributed among a cluster by rowkey & then individual records are stored as columns which are then sorted by column name. As BigTable stores are designed to deal with relatively unbounded numbers of columns and considering that each timeline is given a unique rowkey e.g. username & a column is inserted to represent each event - the column name also has a time sortable unique ID (this becomes important in a second) & the column value would contain the event's data.

As a result, this type of schema would see a timeline which potentially could contain hundreds of events (even though you're currently capping it at 300) and can be read from a single node with a few disk I/Os & the time-sorted ordering (as I mentioned above becomes important here) allows it to be efficiently paginated by using a range slice operation. The result is an append only commit log meaning that insertions are pretty cheap (because afterall this is what is important!) and you usually can do tens of thousands per second per node!

I believe that BigTable would be best suited for this which means that you're really looking at using Cassandra as it can stay fully available for writes and it reads during a network partition. I did consider MongoDB to be used but it only has a limited document size limit so I ruled it out. Anyway back to Cassandra... as things are going on in your timeline for the users, additions/subtractions are commutative so you can easily exploit the likes of Amazon DynamoDB [1] so you can fully exploit the weakest consistency guarantees of Cassandra.

Its important to note the system would require queues & workers to perform the fan-out operation, event deletions & updates to the list of feeds for each users timeline but you could make this part of the background system. Similarly, as the workers won't immediately get around to permanently mutating the timelines of your users I would recommend that you also cache the mutations in memcached so you can temporarily perform the data scrubbing at read time before the workers perform the task which will considerably improve consistency.

[1] <http://aws.amazon.com/dynamodb/></comment>


Google translator rap - <AUTHOR>

Put this in google translator:<p>pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bschk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk pv zk bschk pv zk pv bschk zk bschk pv bschk bschk pv kkkkkkkkkk bschk bschk bsch <comment><USER2> More accurately known as beatboxing. This trick has been around a while.

[http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=goo...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=google+beatbox&start=0)</comment>


Apple Increases Prices of Macs in U.K. By 20 Percent - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-28/apple-increases-prices-of-macs-in-u-k-by-20-percent <comment><USER2> I'm not one to complain about paying for quality, but their pricing across the board is just getting ridiculous. There's no major innovation here to justify such price hikes. 16GB RAM limits on a $3200 laptop is bewildering to me. If the strategy here is to kill off the Mac brand, while focusing only on the iPhone, then I think they are well on their way.

If it wasn't for the Mac OS, I wouldn't even bother considering their lineup anymore.

Edit: Additional thoughts. That OLED touch bar is going to be the equivalent of force touch on the iPhone. Neat idea, that will be forgotten. Also, whose idea was it to make that track pad ENORMOUS? When has anyone ever wished they had a track pad that took up 2/3 of the palm area? I hope their palm sensing is 100% perfect.

<comment><USER3> > If it wasn't for the Mac OS, I wouldn't even bother considering their lineup > anymore.

macOS does have costs to develop, too, though--and they only recoup that investment when people buy Macs. There's also these things:

* Unibody case

* Thinness, lightness, aesthetics

* Better keyboard

* Dramatically better trackpad

* Hardware / software integration

* Internet Recovery / Target Disk Mode / Time Machine

* Environmental friendliness

* Resale value

* Lasting 5+ years for even normal consumers

* Apple's Support vs. Dell's or Microsoft's

I'm OK with it. It's fairly common industry knowledge that companies like Dell and Acer barely turn a profit on consumer PCs. It's unreasonable to expect Apple to make such a better computer at the same price.

<comment><USER4> > It's fairly common industry knowledge that companies like Dell and Acer > barely turn a profit on consumer PCs. It's unreasonable to expect Apple to > make such a better computer at the same price.

The razor-thin margins in PC space force PC manufacturers into making bizarre compromises. I've been looking for a rMBP 15" replacement for about a year now and every alternative seems to have some sort of deal breaker driven by cost cutting. Coil whine on the XPS 15, low-contrast IPS displays on much of HP's lineup, PWM backlights on the T560, 50-60 watt-hour batteries on laptops that aren't any smaller than the rMBP, which packs 100 watt-hours (or used to, grr).

I think the new rMBP 15" is a less good machine than the 2013-2015 model. But there still may be nothing comparable at any price-point.

<comment><USER5> > I think the new rMBP 15" is a less good machine than the 2013-2015 model.

Could you elaborate on that? I'm debating getting a 2015 refurb, but is there a reason I should get an even older one?

<comment><USER4> The 2013-2015 models are basically the same machine, except the 2015 has the Force Trackpad. I think the 2016 model is a regression from the previous one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Using the top range 15" MBP at default specs:

IE - EUR 3,299.00 = 3602.39 USD

DK - DKK 24.599,00 = 3593.48

PL - PLN 13,899.0 = 3501.63 USD

DE - EUR 3.199,00 = 3493.20 USD

FR - EUR 3.199,00 = 3493.20 USD

SE - SEK 31495 = 3488.44 USD

NZ - NZD 4,699.00 = 3352.01 USD

GB - GBP 2,699.00 = 3270.46 USD

AU - AUD 4,249.00 = 3217.66 USD

CH - CHF 3,149.00 = 3167.53 USD

CN - RMB 21,488 = 3167.59 USD

JP - JPY 278800 = 2646.14 USD

CA - CAD 3,499.00 = 2613.99 USD

US Price - 2,799.00 USD.

Interesting:

\- Best price is in Canada

\- Ireland has the most expensive in the single market

\- Cheapest in the EU still is in the UK (don't complain guys)

\- Cheapest in the single market in Switzerland.

<comment><USER7> VAT is already factored into EU prices. Germany and France charge 19% and 20%, respectively -- Ireland charges 23%, which explains a difference of roughly $100.

Switzerland has a lower VAT rate of 8%, so the lower price compared to EU countries is understandable.

<comment><USER8> Yet the difference is still higher that VAT: 2800 * 1,23 = 3444, which still makes some 158 USD difference.

Not that it would be something new: during times when 1 EUR was more than 1,3 USD, the European prices were higher than or at least equal numerically to USD prices.

And before someone mentions 2 year mandatory warranty in EU: 1) you won't get it as a business, only as an end user, yet you will pay the same and 2) only some EU countries get Apple Stores and Apple support. In all the other countries you get your service through contract service centers that have to wait for everything for Apple, which means that the usual service time is ~30 days.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Since beginning of the year, the British Pound has fallen from $1.55 to $1.25. Let's see, what is 1.25/1.55 ?

       0.806452

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/1...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/12/twelve_month.stm)

I think I know where that 20% came from. #Brexit.

<comment><USER10> Errrr, UK prices for the Macbook Pro are the cheapest in Europe, even after the worldwide rise of 25%.

So you are incorrect

<comment><USER9> (a) What worldwide rise?

(b) Since the increase is due to the exchange rate, yes, the relative price compared to other countries doesn't/didn't change. That's kind of how exchange rates work...

<comment><USER10> The price of the Macbook Pro has risen in every country. This is an Apple price rise, not a UK exchange rate rise.

I'm not sure what else there is to say? You are completely ignoring facts in front of you, and choosing single numbers that fit your pre-defined Brexit narrative. Reasoned debate with you is not possible. Sorry.

<comment><USER11> The prices in Britain for existing products are around 20% more than they were last week. Mac Pro is now £2,999, up from £2,499. The Mac mini is £479, up from £399. The Macbook Pro is a new model, so comparing the price for that is meaningless. And yes, if you convert all the prices into USD then the UK is cheap. People in the UK aren't paid in USD though, and it's the GBP price that has increased.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm confused. The chart says that local sales taxes are included. In the UK, VAT is 20%, so what's so strange about the price being 20% higher than in the US?

<comment><USER13> Yes, I just checked their example for the MacBook Pro, $1299 in the US, £1249 in the UK which is $1500, the extra is accounted for by 20% VAT which vendors must include in their prices in the UK.

However if I compare prices to the beginning of the year they are about 25% higher, an obvious affect of the currency movements.

<comment><USER10> Except it's not because it rose 25% in all countries. Sorry.

<comment><USER14> What rose 25% in all countries since the beginning of the year?

The entry level macbook pro (ignoring "legacy" models) is 15% more expensive than the previous model in the US, 20% more expensive in Switzerland, 45% more expensive in the UK.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> And so do Microsoft and others as the article states. As others have pointed out[1], if you add the UK sales tax and account for the exchange rate, Brits are paying virtually the same as north Americans.

The real news is that the result of the Brexit and the GBPs 31-year low are now felt.

[1] [https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/791713383422697472](https://twitter.com/alexhern/status/791713383422697472)

</comment><comment><USER16> When your currency goes down, expect import prices to rise. It's really that simple

<comment><USER17> When prices for imported electronic goods go up by 20% across the board, I'll agree that this is due purely to the currency shift. I don't see that happening.

<comment><USER18> That may depend when suppliers' contracts on currency hedges come to an end.

The fact is the currency is down about 20% +/\- so it's only a matter of time before that starts to filter through to prices on the high street. Apple are the first to move in this sector but I don't think they'll be the last.

This is why all the talk of the economy "booming" (here I quote The Daily Express's headline from, I think, this morning) infuriates me. We haven't seen that much in the way of price rises yet but, when we do, consumer spending may well take a hit, and at that point the growth may begin to look less healthy (1).

(And if that happens the same goldfish-memoried newspapers will bleat about how the economy's taking a beating, as if the signs aren't already there.)

 _(1) Or perhaps it will balance out as exports remain strong due to the weak pound. Economics is hard._

<comment><USER19> >This is why all the talk of the economy "booming" (here I quote The Daily Express's headline from, I think, this morning) infuriates me.

All the talk of a cataclysmic economic disaster and paternalistic sarcasm about not listening to economic "experts" (those same people blindsided by _every_ crisis) before the vote was just as infuriating. Especially since a lot of it was in response to a panic over the potential of rising wages.

Plus, those people don't seem to realize that there's basically a two tier economy in the UK. The macbook buying, riviera-holidaying, large-retirment portfolio economy in the South and then the North of the M25 economy where people have jobs and make things for export and vacation in the UK.

The former has been booming for years and is suddenly infuriated. The latter has been in recession and ignored for years and will likely be seeing the majority of the upside from Brexit.

<comment><USER20> Not when the cost of food, petrol, and heating goes up they wont.

<comment><USER19> Wages and employment going up will cushion that blow, as will (to a certain extent), import substitution.

There are no local sources for Macbook Pros that you can shift your consumption towards but there are local sources of groceries, and a more competitive export sector will mean more jobs and higher paid jobs.

<comment><USER20> Lol you know wages have been flat since 2008

<comment><USER19> We've had a huge trade deficit too. Things are gonna change.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Don't I know it. The prices for the specs are stupid and this is coming from someone with a 13" MBA for a personal machine and a 15" MBP for a work one.

I can see myself ending up with a Dell XPS 13 or similar to replace the MBA and maybe a Lenovo P50 for a work machine. Win 10 isn't a bad OS especially with a native Bash terminal now!

<comment><USER22> I like the native Linux support on the XPS 13 but it too tops out at 16GB of RAM with a 512GB SSD (Order Code cax15w10ph1603m). With all the VMs you can spin up playing with Docker, Kubernetes, etc the more RAM the better, man.

If I configure nearly equal systems - i7 with 16 GB of memory and 512GB SSD, the premium for an Apple system stands at $700 ($1,799 versus $2,499 prior to a Dell 10% discount offered on their website.) I say "nearly equal" because the processor on Dell is quoted as "up to 3.5 GHz" and Apple's is 3.3GHz. The 16GB limitation is disappointing because according to Intel's ARK for the quoted Dell part (i7550u), max memory is 32 GB. [http://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel- Core-i7-7500U-Proc...](http://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel- Core-i7-7500U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz-)

Edit: According to wikipedia the top-end 13" MBP sports a i5-6567U but the apple configurator will let you select a 3.3 GHz i7 part. No idea which actual part it is. Anyone know?

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Flagged, article has a misleading headline that is largely debunked in the comments (e.g. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12815204](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12815204)) showing that by and large the difference in price tracks extremely closely with the difference in sales tax in differing regions, despite the additional regulatory costs involved in doing business in those regions.

<comment><USER24> How is it misleading that some Macs in the UK have increased since this time yesterday, despite not getting any updates?

<comment><USER10> It's misleading because the Mac pricing has risen in EVERY country.

HackerNews tends towards fact-based information, not politically biased stuff. The article was laughably trying to shoehorn in a Brexit narrative. And I'm already seeing the article being shared on Facebook. When it comes to Brexit, facts become irrelevant it seems.

<comment><USER24> Just checked the Wayback Machine for other few random countries (US, France) and the prices for the Mac Mini did not change yesterday evening, whilst in the UK the 3 Mac Mini options rose by between 15-16%.

How do you explain this?

<comment><USER25> Neither the title of this thread nor the article linked touch on this subject.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> If only companies were as quick to cut prices when a currency equally gains. They do not.

<comment><USER27> It's a phenomenon I've noticed with gas prices. When the price of oil goes up, gas provides immediately follow. When the price of oil goes down, the price reduction seems to lag a bit.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but that's the gist I got in the mid-2000s.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> UK people stop complaining. I can still fly from Berlin to London, buy the Mac there, fly back and still get kinda wasted on the amount I saved.

<comment><USER29> hmm maybe fly to Basel? I think Swiss Apple store prices are not much above the US.

<comment><USER28> But then I'd have to avoid customs or pay an additional 15%.

<comment><USER30> I've often wondered. How effective is customs at actually collecting on things like that? I mean, if you come in with 3 or 4 laptops in the boxes, sure. But, using my girlfriend's situation as an example: She lives in Buenos Aires, iPhones and iPads are more expensive than in the US. If she travels here, picks up an iPhone and starts using it, how are they to know when she gets to customs that she bought it here and wasn't already traveling with it? They don't have a database of everything you left with. And she's already traveling with two phones (work and personal) most of the time anyways.

<comment><USER31> Based on the serial number they can see the manufacturing date. And because each market has a different model number (due to things such as power plug, wifi frequency restrictions, keyboard layout and such) it's easy to spot a "USA" model versus a "South American" model.

<comment><USER30> Ok, that's reasonable. That still leaves the possibility that you declared it before which would imply needing to keep a record of the original customs declaration every time you travel?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> MacBook prices went up in all of Europe, just like the iPhones went up in price. I feel a lot less bad about getting an "old" MacBook 2015 last year for the old prices.

I think a lot of people would like to see the UK crash and burn because of their audacity to get out of the EU, but I don't think there will be much of a negative impact.

If you see the kind of treaties the EU likes to sign with Canada or the US they absolute have no problems to follow the money eventually. It goes above all principles really. They will figure something out, the real problem is the EU doesn't want to make getting out of the EU look like an appealing idea so in the short run you will hear a lot of these negative stories.

</comment><comment><USER33> I had my credit card ready before the presentation to buy a MBPr13 to replace my slow Macbook Air 11.

The new prices are laughable. Let's have a look at the Macbook compared to the Dell XPS 13 (9350-4891).

Both have fast 512GB SSDs, 16GB RAM, backlit keyboards, all-day battery life

      Macbook Pro 13"              Dell XPS 13 9350-4891
      i5 2.9Ghz                    i7-6500U 2.5Ghz
      Iris Graphics 550            Iris Graphics 520
      2560x1600 13.3"              3200x1800 13.3" slim bezel
      1.37kg                       1.29kg
      4x TB 3                      1x TB 3, 2x USB 3.0, SD
      Bluetooth 4.2                Bluetooth 4.1
      AirPlay                      MiraCast
      54Wh battery                 56Wh battery
      Touchbar
      2439€                        1428€

The price difference is more than 1000€! Also the Dell can be ordered with Linux instead of Windows 10 which means it will have good driver support there as well. It can even be used as a Hackintosh!

Finally, the XPS 13 is also available with 7th generation i7 CPUs (with HD 620 gfx).

<comment><USER34> A common mistake when determining the value of a depreciating asset is to value the asset on the sale price instead of the depreciation. For example, if the following are true:

* Resale price of the MBP after 1 year: 2000€

* Resale price of the XPS after 1 year: 700€

Then the MBP is a better value, because you've spent ~400€ for a 1-year use of it, vs. ~700€ for a 1-year use of the XPS.

<comment><USER35> Why would he want to sell it after only 1 year? Both machines will depreciate rapidly. The Mac probably having the shortest lifespan in terms of how long Apple will support it with OS and security updates.

<comment><USER34> There's never been a laptop younger than 7 years that Apple stopped supporting with a new OS release.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> This headline is misleading/disingenuous.

They are taking the difference between the base price in the US excluding taxes and the UK price including VAT to calculate the difference, rather than the difference between the NY price - which includes local sales taxes and is therefore a more accurate comparison.

In which case the price increase is 'only' about 10% - which is still quite a bit but not what the headline would have you believe.

<comment><USER24> Actually, the prices have been increased here in the UK.

Example, the iMac model went up some £300 for no reason. The Mac Mini increased all models within the range by around 16%.

<comment><USER36> Yes, but the prices in the US have increased too. But in the table in the article, they are showing a 22% difference in price between US and UK for the Macbook Pro, which is not true.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> The pound has devalued against the dollar due to the Brexit.

Apple records revenue in dollars so you need more pounds to buy the same kit so they can convert those pounds into their base currency.

The good news is, if you're planning a trip to London from abroad then for a while consumer electronics are pretty cheap. i.e. Sony cameras etc.

</comment><comment><USER38> Nothing to do with the 20% drop in the pound vs the dollar. Why won't Apple subsidize Brexit?

<comment><USER10> UK pricing for new Macbook Pro is cheapest in Europe. Sorry, what were you saying?

<comment><USER38> I'm sorry, I don't understand.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Lads, the Pound has dropped about 20% against the Dollar since the Brexit result in June. Cool it.

</comment><comment><USER40> Looks like I will switch to Linux for webdev and to Win for everything Adobe. Sad times.

<comment><USER41> Man, Adobe _still_ has no Linux products? This is 2016.. I thought we were "getting there"..

<comment><USER42> Creative Cloud on Ubuntu would be awesome, would suffice a lot of reasons I have to buy a Mac

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> They need fund for more R&D. It's good move to survive in near future. If they could bring anything new this time, it's okay. Tomorrow they may and some else may not. Competition is important.

<comment><USER33> They have plenty of funds for R&D!

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> A small price to pay for no longer having to label our strawberries.

<comment><USER45> We won't have to label our strawberries because they will rot in the fields for lack of fruit pickers :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> Breaking news: price of British pound drops by 20%

</comment><comment><USER47> My first PowerBook was £1749 I think in 2001 but I'd hoped we'd said goodbye to that kind of pricing at entry level.

</comment><comment><USER48> Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, UK.

Y'all check out some Chromebooks now, and maybe even consider some odroid products. I have a cardboard phone box with a little crappy USB fan ziptied onto it, a small keyboard and standalone 8" hdmi display. Fits into my lunchbox, can stream 1080p,do whatever I want, and for the price of the new MBP I can build ten more.

Play stupid games...

<comment><USER24> What's the connection between the 'stupid game' and Chromebooks?

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> In France (Euro zone ?) prices are about 200€ more expensive than in dollar...

<comment><USER14> Again? [1]

Ex-VAT the difference is just 3% (40 eur) for the entry model.

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12808053](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12808053)

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> A maxxed out mbp costs €5000, this must be some kind of world record.

</comment><comment><USER51> 16gb limit is bullshit

</comment><comment><USER52> They're clearly trying to get out of the computing business altogether. Phones, tablets, and other trinkets are where the money is.

<comment><USER53> TIL a phone is a trinket and not a small computer.</comment></comment>


New on Demand Job App - <AUTHOR> https://adamhelps.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Whether you need your pet walked, lawn mowed, dry cleaning taken care of, etc. The AdamHelps app will help you find someone to do it for much less than a commercial price.

I think the gig economy and on demand jobs like Uber and AdamHelps are the future for upcoming generations. What do you all think?</comment>


Ask HN: Should I stay at my job with lots of freedom or leave for a promotion? - <AUTHOR>

I currently work for a very large company in the midwest.  I'm the development lead on a mobile development team.  I started as a senior iOS developer and after a year or so was promoted to be a team lead.  My team develops one app for both iOS and Android.  I've been the team lead for about 1.5 years.
Another company in my same city (still a large company, but has about 1/5 the revenue of my current company) has expressed a lot of interest in me becoming their "Mobile Architect".
My current salary is $127k.  The offer for the new position is for ~$139k.
Pros for the new position: * Promoted to have more responsibility / higher title * More money * I personally know their IT director, someone whom I have previously worked with at my current company and I respect them.
Cons for the new position: * I love working with my current team members. * Going from 3 weeks of vacation, to 2 weeks at the new company * Commute goes from 15 min to ~30min * Lose my liberal WFH policy.  I can now only WFH for things like weather or workers coming over. * Most of the mobile developers on my team are in another city.
I am, however, bored at my current position.  I feel like I have had myself promoted into a position that I enjoy much less than I did senior developer. Most of my time now is wrapped up in resolving blockers for others, grooming backlogs, running sprint planning, etc.  It could be a couple years before the possibility of promotion for me.
Should I: a) Continue with my current position and enjoy the incredible work life balance I have, and hope for an architect position in a couple years?
b) Accept the new offer and lose some freedom, but perhaps find some more work satisfaction and attain a higher position?
Also, as a follow up question, should I push back on the new company and attempt to at least get them to match my current 3 weeks of vacation?  Is an 8% raise enough to jump ship? <comment><USER2> Always a tough choice. And only one you can make.

Here's my thoughts:

1) People/teammates make all the difference in the world. You love working with your current team; you've enjoyed working with the Other Company's (OC) IT Director before. But will you like the OC's team you'll be working with? Will you be seen by them as capable, or as a buddy being brought in to shove "architecture" down their throats?

2) Vacation. This is a negotiation. Tell them you have three weeks now (and have proof) and tell them you want the match. That shouldn't be too difficult, but I've actually seen companies balk and walk away over this (Even as far as telling senior people with X weeks vacation they'll be treated like entry- level and start with none for the first six months, etc). Sure sign of bureaucracy, and being tied to processes.

3) WFH. Kind of unclear. I'm assuming you can WFH pretty regularly now, and with OC you'll lose a lot of that. Again, negotiate. If most of OC team is in another city, what difference does it make if you're in the office, or at home on the corporate VPN--like they are.

4) Commute. WFH could make a lot of difference here too. But adding 15 minutes each way is 30 minutes a day, 2.5 hours a week, 10 hours a month, 120 a year. What could you do with that spare time if you didn't have the commute? Not to mention costs in gas, mileage on tires and car, etc.

5) Boredom. You're bored in your current job, which is never a good thing. But are you relevant? Meaning, are you doing useful things, listened to, etc? If you jump over to OC, will you still be relevant? Or will remote team ignore you and do their own things? Irrelevance and boredom are never good apart, and torture together.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback!

1) While I can't be sure, I believe that I would be able to be seen as capable. I consider myself a strong mobile developer, and I have many years of shipping some very popular apps. It is my understanding that the remote mobile team is somewhat more on the junior side. If I made changes to the team (introduce formal code review, spin up build servers and nightly/CI builds, etc) it would be done gradually and with their input.

2) This is basically what I was thinking. If they don't budge on vacation, or are unwilling to even consider it, it isn't a good sign.

3) Their rationale has been that while yes, the mobile team is in another city, part of my role in this position is somewhat of a liaison between the mobile team and the rest of the IT in my current city. As new features are requested of the app that have service dependencies, it would require me to interface with the team in my city. Still though, IMO, this doesn't require 5 days a week face to face. I've never had problems doing this in my current role. I honestly just think this comes down to the company here not being used to people regularly WFH. When I first joined my current company, it wasn't an option at all, but it was added a year after I joined.

4) Commute does worry me some. Although, I know many people with MUCH longer commutes. I think that ~40 minute commute is on the max of what I would consider bearable. This commute falls under that. Although, another consideration is that this job is further away from my child's daycare. So, on certain days, my effective commute may be longer still.

5) I feel like I'm listened to and that I am relevant. At most places I have worked, I feel like I have the respect of my peers and management. I work very hard. But in the past 2 years, I have spun up 2 completely new, relatively large apps for my current company. Once they are released, the development cycle seems to slow a lot. The number of new features that need to be developed go way down. I'm in one of those maintenance modes now and can lead to me being bored.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> It seems like you have a pretty good gig now! Don't let boredom get the best of you, you can always request more / different work, take on new challenges, etc. It could be exactly the same 6 months down the road on your new job.

Also, it seems like the offering just really isn't good enough to jump ship, otherwise you wouldn't be here asking.

Instead, simply ask yourself what WOULD motivate you to take the new job?

A 50% salary increase? More time off? Leading a better team?

Decide on what actually would motivate you, and then go back to the hiring manager at the new company and let them know.

If they meet your wishes, awesome! Then you are excited and motivated to start a new job.

</comment><comment><USER4> Were you dissatisfied enough that you were actively looking, or did the new company contact you? Would you be thinking of leaving if the new offer hadn't materialized?

> I am, however, bored at my current position. I feel like I have had myself > promoted into a position that I enjoy much less than I did senior developer. > Most of my time now is wrapped up in resolving blockers for others, grooming > backlogs, running sprint planning, etc. It could be a couple years before > the possibility of promotion for me.

And would you enjoy the position that you'd eventually be promoted to more, or less, than your currently boring position?

<comment><AUTHOR> I was not actively looking. I almost always ignore any messages from recruiters on my LinkedIn account. However, one thing made me pay attention to this message from the companies internal recruiter: a high profile person, whom I respect, recently departed my company for this other company. It is what made me actually take any interest in the message.

If they hadn't contacted me, I probably wouldn't be actively looking. Life is relatively good, even if a bit boring right now because we are effectively in a maintenance mode. I have some concerns this may not change in the near term.

I believe I would enjoy the position I would eventually be promoted to. It would free me from many of those team responsibilities and meetings and let me shift my focus back toward more technical things.

Part of my consideration of this new position is how it improves my overall marketability down the line.

I don't plan on working at my current company forever. My wife and I have talked about moving from the midwest in a few years. Thinking about that, I wonder if having the higher title/pay will serve be better when it comes time for me to find/negotiate a new position in a new city.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> unless you have a family to take care of, don't think about money. at your level, 12k becomes marginal after taxes. Focus on what you want for your career.

Promotions (while on the same company) are usually due to:

\- merit: if your goals align with the company, stay. You will have to shift from player to coach a bit, but it is not a bad thing.

\- fear of you leaving: golden cuffs. I suggest you leave. Getting stressed/bored and leaving 2 months later looks worse.

take some time to learn about 'yourself': why are you bored? what makes you happy? what do you need to feel pumped about waking up everyday and going to work?

Liking your current team members: This is a fact.

Liking your new team members: A bet.

</comment><comment><USER6> Go find a third, and even better offer.</comment>


Can drones be the future of police security? - <AUTHOR>

After what happened at Charlie Hebdo(Paris)I was wondering if AI drones' radars can detect weapons in cars and stop this kind of terror by attacking the terrorist? In Europe wearing a weapon in the street is illegal.<p>WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS IDEA? intoo.im <comment><USER2> Robert Sheckley, " _Watchbird_ ", 1953.

<comment><AUTHOR> the guy saw the invention of drones in 1953, and most people didn't hear about him yet! interesting</comment></comment>


What can a non-academic mathematician do that makes the world a better place? - <AUTHOR> http://mathbabe.org/2015/09/08/what-can-a-non-academic-mathematician-do-that-makes-the-world-a-better-place/ <comment><USER2> [http://aeon.co/magazine/society/why-we-need-data-on-what- the...](http://aeon.co/magazine/society/why-we-need-data-on-what-the-poorest- think/)

[http://www.themix.org/node/1810](http://www.themix.org/node/1810)

[http://impactalpha.com/global-ethical-finance-forum-what- can...](http://impactalpha.com/global-ethical-finance-forum-what-can-islamic- finance-teach-impact-investors/)</comment>


Bryan Ferry on how Roxy Music invented art pop: 'We were game for anything' - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/01/bryan-ferry-roxy-music-invented-new-pop-game-for-anything <comment><USER2> Roxy Music were smooth, they sounded a bit more upscale than other bands, even bands they were supposed to have drawn influence from. Bryan Ferry knew what he was doing. Avalon was a brilliant album, and I discovered it at 13. I went on to acquire most of their catalogue.

I live in America now and most Americans have never heard of Roxy Music. Granted, I grew up on bands like The Jam, New Model Army, Style Council, The Clash, etc. With the exception of modern EDM artists like Shingo Nakamura and Roger Shah, I still gravitate to Roxy Music and the aforementioned artists.

<comment><USER3> I picked up Brian Ferry with _Bête Noire_ \- definitely more of an art-house sound than anything else going on at the time.

Shingo Nakamura is quite good. There are a couple of 2 hour tracks on Youtube by him under the Silk Music label.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Whaaat? Invented? More like creativity following acts like the Velvet Underground or Plastic Ono Band.

Roxy Music music is actually pretty slick, but I point out that there have been others before them in the business of art pop / avant garde.

Actually, if you examine their influences, it is more like evolution of a theme in arts and music.

<comment><USER5> Well. Aren't Velvet Underground basically a Genghis Khan of 20th century western music, as in 95% of people who attended their shows started a band, and roughly 37% of contemporary bands carry their DNA? :)

That said, baity title but the subtitle is better in terms of Roxy not really sounding like anyone before (or since). Also grateful that the universe allowed Bryan Ferry and Brian Eno to occupy the same space long enough to make choice music without collapsing into a singularity.

<comment><USER6> Not, ever, to be confused with Dschinghis Khan.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> There aren't many occasions where we can retrospectively "feel", on a visceral level, the impact of the introduction of technologies and ideas that have now become mainstream. We can intellectually appreciate how cool it would have been to be at "the mother of all demos", or to see a Monet landscape in the midst of the Realist movement, but it is much harder to feel it emotionally. After all, we use hyperlinks and video chat everyday, and you can see high quality images of so much famous art on google that it all seems banal

But every once in a while i see some piece of historical innovation that just blows my mind and makes me realize that some people just have a unique genius. I am filled with wonder and shake my head thinking how the hell did this person come up with that. These moments for me usually happen when I am learning something for the first time in a setting that provides the context of the times and with an instructor who loves their subject. The most memorable instances for me of this phenomenon are:

1\. Listenting to a lecture on the political and social messages the Medici wanted to deliver in commissioning the art and architecture in the new sacristy in San Lorenzo in Florence, while in the new sacristy in San Lorenzo in florence

2\. Learning about the concepts of structs and linked lists in C for the first time after having done some basic C exercises as part of David malans CS50 class -- hobbyist programmer here :)

3\. Watching a live performance on YouTube of "editions of you" by roxy music, specifically Brian enos synth solo, after creating some songs on Logic Pro and learning about ambient music, minimalism and the beginnings of electronic music in an undergrad course on electronic music taught by john supko. Electronic music these days is just pop music, but Brian eno used new technology to create strange, energetic yet catchy sounds that simply didn't exist before: they walked a fine line between surreal and relatable. His solo in editions of you sits between a great sax solo and a great guitar solo, and he uses a basic analog synth to twist, chop and stretch sax samples to sound like something Jimi Hendrix would play if he were in an acid rock rendition of phantom of the opera. And you can tell that the music is such a raw, natural and forceful expression of "him". He was so far ahead of his time

</comment><comment><USER8> If you've never heard of Roxy Music or Bryan Ferry, I suggest starting with Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure and Bryan Ferry's Boys and Girls. Timeless records.

<comment><USER9> "Viva!", their first live album, is one of my all-time favourites - and also includes John Wetton (of King Crimson and Asia fame) on bass guitar.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Avalon is awesome. I can live without the rest of the catalogue.

</comment><comment><USER11> "Like a Warhol, you mean? "Exactly, yeah.""

</comment><comment><USER12> Super random to see this pop up like 30 seconds after I was listening to this Todd Terje song featuring him (a cover actually but this version is great):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Din_eWjJWe0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Din_eWjJWe0)

Great slow synth pop type track if you're into that.</comment>


Optalysys and Optical Computing - <AUTHOR> http://scottlocklin.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/optalysys-and-optical-computing/

<comment><USER2> Incidentally, this notion of optical computing has some interesting roots in the radar community.

From the Wikipedia page on synthetic aperture radar: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_aperture_radar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_aperture_radar)

 _Before rapid digital computers were available, the data processing was done using an optical holography technique. The analog radar data were recorded as a holographic interference pattern on photographic film at a scale permitting the film to preserve the signal bandwidths (for example, 1:1,000,000 for a radar using a 0.6-meter wavelength). Then light using, for example, 0.6-micrometer waves (as from a helium–neon laser) passing through the hologram could project a terrain image at a scale recordable on another film at reasonable processor focal distances of around a meter. This worked because both SAR and phased arrays are fundamentally similar to optical holography, but using microwaves instead of light waves. The "optical data-processors" developed for this radar purpose [2][3][4] were the first effective analog optical computer systems, and were, in fact, devised before the holographic technique was fully adapted to optical imaging. Because of the different sources of range and across-range signal structures in the radar signals, optical data-processors for SAR included not only both spherical and cylindrical lenses, but sometimes conical ones._</comment>


Tell HN: New layout defect with Firefox ESR 45.2 - <AUTHOR> https://ibin.co/2lGGDJ3AtNn0.png <comment><USER2> > _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 email@example.com._

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Done. Thank you.</comment></comment>