U.S. government spied on Brazil's Petrobras oil firm - <AUTHOR> http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/08/us-usa-security-snowden-petrobras-idUSBRE9870AD20130908

<comment><USER2> DNI James Clapper has issued an official statement: [http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/60712026846/statement-b...](http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/60712026846/statement- by-director-of-national-intelligence) or [http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press- releases/191-pre...](http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press- releases/191-press-releases-2013/926-statement-by-director-of-national- intelligence-james-r-clapper-on-allegations-of-economic-espionage)

He manages to twist it into a matter of defense against terrorism:

> Our collection of information regarding terrorist financing saves lives. > Since 9/11, the Intelligence Community has found success in disrupting > terror networks by following their money as it moves around the globe. > International criminal organizations, proliferators of weapons of mass > destruction, illicit arms dealers, or nations that attempt to avoid > international sanctions can also be targeted in an effort to aid America's > and our allies' interests.

> As we have said previously, the United States collects foreign intelligence > - just as many other governments do - to enhance the security of our > citizens and protect our interests and those of our allies around the world. > The intelligence Community's efforts to understand economic systems and > policies and monitor anomalous economic activities is critical to providing > policy makers with the information they need to make informed decisions that > are in the best interest of our national security.

<comment><USER3> It boggles my mind that this guy thinks he has more than 0 percent credibility at this point. How is he not in prison, or at least fired yet?

<comment><USER4> And that question is valid for a lot of people in the administration and Congress.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I just watched the TV report. It's interesting. The slides mention as targets: Petrobrás, French diplomacy, SWIFT and Google. Everything pointed towards MITM attacks against VPNs and SSL. There was no reference to what data was stolen.

The NSA actually called the program and said that none of their spying was used to give unfair advantages to American companies but they wouldn't comment further.

There were slides showing that they perform MITM against Google, as well as a slide that listed diplomatic and economic espionage as NSA goals.

<comment><USER6> Here's the report, in English, that aired on Globo tonight. It details most everything you've mentioned.

[http://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2013/09/nsa- documents...](http://g1.globo.com/fantastico/noticia/2013/09/nsa-documents- show-united-states-spied-brazilian-oil-giant.html)

<comment><USER7> Also of note there: claims that NSA does routine MITM attacks on SSL/TLS. The relevant programs are "Hush Puppy" and "Flying Pig", mentioned around the middle of the article; the description is a little garbled (I suspect translation artifacts), but the basics are clear enough.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I like how Reuters shies away from acknowledging Greenwald is a _journalist_. Apparently reporting on the US government makes you an _activist_ these days.

<comment><USER9> They go on to call him "a blogger and civil liberties activist who lives in Rio de Janeiro".

In comparison, Wikipedia lists him as an "American political commentator, lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author":

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Greenwald](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Greenwald)

<comment><USER10> I smell an edit war. I wonder how many times it has been changed.

edit: I checked, looks like none, someone go change it and let's watch the fireworks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Now imagine every IT purchase decision in Brazil from now on, "We need a few million dollars of network or computer systems, should we buy it from Cisco or HP or IBM or Microsoft? Hell no! It'll probably have an NSA bug in it."

Repeat for every other country and you have the beginning of the end for the dominance of the American computer industry.

<comment><USER12> Except that isn't happening in Brazil, let alone every other country. Instead we will have more hot air and stoking of jingoism from politicians. At the end of the day everyone including the US is always buying huge piles of electronics from China, which is also big and scary - and yet their industry does not magically go belly up. Usually meeting requirements at a decent price is a higher priority than whatever elicits extreme angst from Hacker News.

<comment><USER13> Except that, while China is "big and scary", it's not proven to have launched a spy campaign on the same scale.

Sure, they have tried to hack the US on multiple occasions, but that's geopolitics, and very different from selling bugged devices.

<comment><USER12> China has been documented engaging in state-sponsored industrial espionage on a number of occasions. To write off everything they do as "geopolitics" and not to do the same with the US is a non sequitur.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> It amazes me that many people still think the US are somehow the "good guys" or "the leader of the free world". Americans believe themselves to be the chosen few favored by God. Their manifest destiny leaves no place for the rights of other peoples. With such an ideology, it is not surprising that they hold foreigners in contempt and show a severe lack of interest for the fates of others.

Americans are far more dangerous than any bearded fanatic.

<comment><USER15> s/Americans/US Government/

Don't toss us all in the same group.

<comment><USER14> The government is put into place by the Americans. They elect their own masters. Most of what the U.S. government does is the result of the demands and constant pressure stemming from the electorate. The aggressive foreign policy is a direct consequence of the semi-religious jingoism and fundamentalism that affects the majority of citizens.

I'm met both online and offline a ton of Americans with aggrandizing and myopic views. Like you I used to think they were victims of the state that time is past. They share the blame.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Spy agency spies. News at 11.

It is in the NSA's mandate to engage in any espionage that will give the US an advantage. I just don't understand how us spying on a state-controlled Brazilian company is somehow a revelation. It would shock me if we didn't spy on _every_ major foreign company in the world.

<comment><USER17> Obviously complaints about spying are questioning whether the agency's purpose itself is just. Fulfilling one's purpose is still unethical if that purpose is unethical. Nobody excuses murder when the story is "Murderer commits murder. News at 11."

<comment><USER16> The agency's purpose is espionage. Espionage, last I checked, was illegal everywhere. Yet every country has spies. Being just or unethical doesn't factor into it.

We know spying is unfair, but it is also something people have been doing since the dawn of civilization in order to get a leg up on the competition.

<comment><USER18> Technically, the 'S' stands for 'Security,' not 'Spying.'

<comment><USER19> You don't really think that an entire agency's remit can be _specifically_ summed up within three _generic_ words, do you?

Hell, the Navy used to run their personnel management out of the "Bureau of Navigation".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This isn't news. If anything, it's news that the NSA is doing something right: Looking into the large, nearly-state-run enterprises of not-so-friendly foreign powers.

<comment><USER21> That's funny, here I was thinking that the NSA's surveillance resources were supposed to be used to gather intelligence on foreign threats. Where do you see a threat from Brazil's oil enterprise?

Oh, wait, I forgot that the NSA's resources are, in practice, also used to conduct industrial espionage:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Controversy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON#Controversy)

<comment><USER22> _here I was thinking that the NSA 's surveillance resources were supposed to be used to gather intelligence on foreign threats_

I'm noticing a pattern of you being outraged about discovering your own misconceptions to be ill-founded. The NSA just gathers foreign intelligence. Military and terroristic threats are the most important source of foreign intelligence, but we have a vested interest in knowing What's Going On. As does everyone else, of course - it's a two way street.

<comment><USER21> You missed the sarcasm ;)

I know full well that the NSA does more than gather intelligence on foreign threats. The link in my post is about the allegations of industrial espionage that surfaced in the 90s.

This is not just about the US wanting to know what's going on. This is about the US engaging in the sort of behavior that we have rebuked China over -- state-sponsored industrial espionage. It is an abuse of power, regardless of what "everyone else" is doing.

As for my own misconceptions, I assume you are referring to the notion that I and many others had that the NSA would not go as far as to actively sabotage civilian cryptography. I was not alone in believing that. It was common to dismiss such allegations as far-out conspiracy theories until the day the story broke. You can look at the archives of sci.crypt and the cryptography mailing list if you do not believe me. As I said before, _nobody_ expected the NSA to share its cryptanalysis techniques. Nobody expected the NSA to alert us to weaknesses in publicly designed ciphers or cryptosystems. It was widely assumed that the NSA would watch us fumble about and try to find exploitable weaknesses in our systems, not that they would be part of a vast conspiracy to introduce such weaknesses. Plenty of people thought that the NSA was trying to balance its signals intelligence mission with its duty to protect our own communication from foreign interception. There is nothing wrong with being outraged to discover that there is no real attempt to strike such a balance and that the crypto wars are not over by any stretch.

<comment><USER19> > This is not just about the US wanting to know what's going on. This is about > the US engaging in the sort of behavior that we have rebuked China over -- > state-sponsored industrial espionage.

If the NSA were only focused on industrial espionage with these programs then I don't see why they felt the need to target Google (a U.S. corporation in the first place).

Not to put too fine a point on it, but oil is certainly a strategic resource and even if the U.S. never had a single plan to _do_ anything with Brazil's oil, there are both military and national-interest reasons for knowing what Brazil knows about their own oil reserves, refinery capabilities, etc.

Likewise there are embargo-related reasons to know if Brazil has secret agreements to export oil to nations embargoed by the UN.

And the worst part about it all is that whether NSA is around or not, the U.S. does _live_ in a cloak-and-dagger world, just like every other nation does. They can either somehow convince other nations to go about things "fairly" as well (possible with the EU and Brazil perhaps, not so much with Russia and China), or they can immerse themselves in that game as well.

Certainly the U.S. is familiar with the problems of industrial espionage and secret economic agreements (some would say "bribes"), as both have been deployed against the U.S. (yes, even by friends, even by allies).

<comment><USER23> > If the NSA were only focused on industrial espionage with these programs > then I don't see why they felt the need to target Google (a U.S. corporation > in the first place).

Many foreign companies use Google.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> _"The Department of Defense does engage" in computer network exploitation, according to an e-mailed statement from an NSA spokesman, whose agency is part of the Defense Department. "The department does NOT engage in economic espionage in any domain, including cyber."_

[http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-30/world/41620705...](http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-30/world/41620705_1_computer- worm-former-u-s-officials-obama-administration)

<comment><USER25> We take your stuff and won't tell you how, when or why. But don't worry, we wouldn't do that with it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Well, at least we can all understand the "war on terror". It was really about securing US dominance via a secret system of courts, government agencies and secret deals between US corporations.

All this due to the ending of the cold war.

Now, with the Arab Spring, the US has sought to twist events into a new war. Syria being just the beginning...

</comment><comment><USER27> I'm sure they spy on just about everything. Someday the US will pay just about everything. Even mighty Rome got sacked in the end.

<comment><USER28> It's pretty clear at this point that the only thing propping the hollow US economy up is this massive spying apparatus. You can only front-run the market for so long, though, before the whole thing comes crashing down in a heap.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> NSA doing industrial espionage now.

How can the international community accept that?

Also:

> Obama said he would investigate the allegations.

How can he still have the guts to play the surprised and innocent one?

<comment><USER12> How did the international community accept it when it was done by other countries?

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> But ... They have spied on _everyone_. Every politician, every mistresses, every CXO looking to move, every VC talking to a new equity partner. Everyone.

This is not one scandal - this is the same scandal played out over a mlion times, but there are just not a million front pages of newspapers.

Many years ago Schneier said that our data trails were like the pollution of our age - and it seems we have just noticed the NSA are the Dark Satanic Mills. This is a fast turnaround - will we be as fast in creating an EPA or a Clean Air Act?

</comment><comment><USER30> It shows that the espionage isn't just for terrorists.

</comment><comment><USER31> the strange danger generation is all grown up. now they're scared of everyone.

</comment><comment><USER32> In fairness to the US intelligence agencies, this might have been a verification of their claims since they are looking fairly aggressively for oil sources outside of the middle east. The President or higher ups in the DoD would seek this information for a lot of reasons. Unfortunately people are distrustful because our country has taken so much unscrupulous action for energy in the past.

<comment><USER33> In 2012, the US imported 40% of their oil. Of that, 13% is from the middle east. The middle east hasn't had the lions share of US oil consumption for quite some time.

[http://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150444802/where-does- america-g...](http://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150444802/where-does-america-get- oil-you-may-be-surprised)

<comment><USER32> Yes that's actually the reason I mentioned this. When GWB was in office they started looking for other sources outside of the ME and we get most of our imported oil from Africa now AFAIK. Brazil could be part of that push.</comment></comment></comment>


Sun Makes History: First Spotless Month in a Century - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailytech.com/Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century/article12823.htm <comment><USER2> From reading the headline, I imagined something on the lines of a new server... ;-)

</comment><comment><USER3> <http://www.southgatearc.org/propagation/2008/august_29.htm> is also quite useful for context and trends with the current solar cycle. An exciting time to be looking at the sun, no doubt!

</comment><comment><USER4> Is it possible that there are sunspots on the _other_ side of the sun or are they pretty uniformly distributed on the surface?...

<comment><USER5> The sun's surface rotates with a period of 25 to 35 days, depending on latitude, so I would guess not.</comment></comment>


Obama Administration Announces Massive Piracy Crackdown - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailytech.com/Obama+Administration+Announces+Massive+Piracy+Crackdown/article18815.htm

<comment><USER2> _"It's smash and grab, no different than a guy walking down Fifth Avenue and smashing the window at Tiffany's and reaching in and grabbing what's in the window."_

Except that it's not...stealing jewels from a store deprives the original owner of physical property. Downloading torrent of the latest Jay-Z album (that I would never have bought anyway) doesn't take any "ice" off of Jay-Z's wrists. The former is theft, the latter is copyright infringement.

As the article mentions, piracy may actually help the economy. If I download that Jay-Z album and tell 3 friends how great it is, they may actually buy it, or even better, buy some concert tickets to see Jay-Z in concert (where he makes more money from merchandise sales).</comment>


AV software for Windows 10 ... Is it necessary? - <AUTHOR> By Betteridge's law of headlines[0] the answer would have to be "no", but I'm getting conflicting advice.  I personally don't use Windows, and haven't for a very long time, but I'm asked this question by friends, family, and colleagues.
Is there a single, clear, accurate answer?  If someone is using Windows 10, should they also use Anti-Virus software?  And if so, what do people recommend.  Yes, I've gone out and searched around the internet, but I'd rather trust the responses here than "out there."
Thanks
EDIT: As an example, here[1] is an article arguing not to install AV s/w.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines
[1] https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/no-anti-virus-sw.html <comment><USER2> Windows has had free anti-virus software for more than a decade. First as an add-on, but it has shipped "in the box" for about a decade or more.

Third party Windows AV is mostly spyware at the consumer level. I say mostly because it is logically possible that some of it isn't. At the server/enterprise level, there are commercial offerings that exchange value for money.

But for your friends and family, the built in Windows security is the way to go. No third party has the resources of Microsoft and no third party has similarly aligned interests with the security of Windows machines.

What ships in Windows 10 is really fucking good. That's why you don't constantly see threads about rampant problems on the Windows machines of the unwashed masses here on HN. Third party security software has mostly been rootkit backed subscription spyware since the 00's.

</comment><comment><USER3> Yes! Not just AV but exploit guard and other security features. "I am too smart for my browser to open a phishing link" or "windows update will save me from exploit kits" is not a good strategy. At least turn on defender (corporate/server is an entirely different beast).

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable:

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines)

[1] [https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/no-anti-virus- sw.html](https://cheapskatesguide.org/articles/no-anti-virus-sw.html)</comment>


BitTorrent Live available for download – P2P streaming live video - <AUTHOR> https://btlive.tv/ <comment><USER2> There are only 2 channels. :( Seems to stream fine though, but only streaming SD, so not really a big challenge there.</comment>


Best Practices for Scientific Computing - <AUTHOR>

http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.0530 <comment><USER2> Here is the upshot for those who may not want to read the whole thing: 1. Write programs for people, not computers, 2. Automate repetitive tasks, 3. Use the computer to record history, 4. Make incremental changes, 5. Use version control, 6. Don't repeat yourself, 7. Plan for mistakes, 8. Optimize software only after it works correctly, 9. Document design and purpose, not mechanics, 10 Collaborate.</comment>


Instagram's Explore Recommender System - <AUTHOR> https://instagram-engineering.com/powered-by-ai-instagrams-explore-recommender-system-7ca901d2a882 <comment><USER3> It can go pretty wrong - look at a picture of a gun one time and IG will start shoving gun pictures down your throat, it's horribly non-forgiving and can't be tuned by the end user easily. You learn pretty quick to never look even once at something you don't want a whole lot of that same thing force-fed to you - on the other hand, start looking at huskies and you'll get tons of puppers filling your explore. :)

<comment><USER4> There is a "see fewer posts like this" button (as mentioned in the text)

But yeah it can be off-putting.

<comment><USER5> This option is not working for me at all.

I wonder if it's because if I see a thumbnail of something unwanted, I first have to open the post in order to access the menu, so the the app counts it as a view first, _adding_ the unwanted post to things I "engage" with.

<comment><USER6> Try long pressing and then sliding the post up. You'll get the same menu without popping into the full post view. I don't think it counts as strongly, because I've been able to eliminate a lot of things this way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If instagram's product KPIs were more inline with what I wanted as a user, this would be great...but they're not and my explore feed is frequently filled with models, child musical prodigies, and other popcorn-esque content.

Compared that to Spotify, whose goal I presume is to get me to listen to more music and buy tickets and merch through their occasional marketing.

I'm a music snob but damn does Spotify get me great recommendations on new releases, my discover weekly, and more. Not only that, I've bought tickets through their frequent listener promotions probably more than 10 times at this point.

<comment><USER8> I've had terrible luck the past couple years with Spotify's Discover Weekly. Last time I remember it being good was Fall 2016. Now my "Discover" Weekly playlist has me "discovering" the same exact songs over and over.

I've been pigeonholed way beyond what I thought possible. Do other users really engage with the same 10 songs over and over and over that this is the default behavior of their recommendation engine?

I get "Discover" tracks which are from the same album I have downloaded to my phone!

<comment><USER9> Spotify's Discover Weekly has improved a lot since I started following different Artists. At the begginning it was more like what you just said everytime the same music over and over until I started following new Artists.

The same thing applies for New Releases.

<comment><USER8> Good call. I agree with you and I don't feel that requiring that level of user engagement should be necessary to grant them a decent experience.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's so interesting how powerful word embeddings (or in this case account embeddings) are. This reminds me a bit of the 538 article[1] about doing math on subreddits - I'd be interested to see what sort of math you could do on instagram account embeddings. What happens when you subtract two celebrities from each other?

Also, I'm curious about the tradeoffs of revealing this information - <USER2> knowing this make it easier to game the instagram algorithm? From this article I'd think that having a more narrowly targeted account (for example someone putting selfies on one account and landscape photos on another) might make their embedding more similar to others. Another thought is that maybe someone liking a bunch of things unrelated to their content would make them wrongly appear in certain explore pages.

[1] [https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dissecting-trumps- most-...](https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/dissecting-trumps-most-rabid- online-following/)

</comment><comment><USER11> Is this really AI? This seems like simple classification and ranking. Honestly I didn't see anything new in there that hasn't been around for the past 10 years. KNN? NDCG? That's entry level ML. TFA does throw around neural networks a bit, but doesn't go into any detail.

EDIT: Maybe I'm just thrown off by the "Powered by AI" part of the article title. I was expecting more I suppose.

<comment><USER12> Anything moderately related to software and data is called AI now, because that's what gets the upvotes.

<comment><USER13> AFAIK classification, deep learning, ML, etc. all are valid subsets of AI

<comment><USER12> It's more like complex linear regressions. The term "AI" evokes the idea of computers possessing something similar to human intelligence which it very much is not. We don't even properly understand how the human brain works.

<comment><USER14> There's no need for AI to actually work the same way that the human brain works, and that's never been part of the definition of "AI."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've worked at a large e-commerce company before and it's surprising how many of the basic techniques like embedding, seed accounts, round robin diversification are exactly the same. I used to wonder if some of the apparent idiosyncrasies in our system were shared by other companies. It's uncanny how much of it is industry standard.

<comment><USER16> Yeah, i have come to a similar conclusion. It is also very clear that academic papers are unless simple enough to be understood (like word2vec) they rarely make it to production.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> So IG ins't using collaborative filtering? The whole process starts w/ simple NN search in the account embedding space. Those candidates are then passed to the ranking stack.

This makes sense w/ what I see in IG recs: past behavior is strongly reinforced w/ littler diversity. Filter Bubble/Pigeon Hole problem.

So in conclusion, I would argue that the IG explore tab doesn't have ANY explore at all!

</comment><comment><USER16> Interesting, and looks like the present choices have evolved over time.

Seems like they are moving towards a structured RL implementation. There are elements of it, a follow-up post on some components would be interesting.

</comment><comment><USER18> Honestly...it feels pretty standard stuff.</comment>


Show HN: Easy cost sharing app build with Polymer, Go and Riak - <AUTHOR> https://cleareq.com

<comment><USER2> Mind sharing the source code? I am quite curious how the whole thing is wired up. :)</comment>


Daring Fireball scoop: why Opera was rejected from the iPhone App Store - <AUTHOR> http://daringfireball.net/2008/11/opera_app_store

<comment><USER2> Why do people change titles? If you read the article, you'd realise that he's explaining why they _weren't_ rejected, it was the work of dodgy journalism further hyped by the blogosphere.

<comment><USER3> Changing titles is generally frowned upon, but in this case the original title is targeted at people who already know some background on the Opera/iPhone story. I don't think the change is inaccurate; he does explain why the application was rejected (breaking rule 3.3.2).

<comment><USER4> Did we both read the same story? The story I read says they haven't even submitted a browser, much less had one rejected. The original headline is perfectly fine even if you haven't read any speculative discussion about or paraphrasing of paraphrasing of quotes.

<comment><USER3> You're right, I missed some details in the original article. After re-reading the original article, I fully agree with you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is kind of an interesting side effect of a closed software market. Plugins don't really exist, because its difficult to control the distribution of programs that run programs. (And its turtles allll the way down.)</comment>


Scale Cheaply - Sharding - <AUTHOR> http://codebetter.com/blogs/karlseguin/archive/2008/06/30/scale-cheaply-sharding.aspx

<comment><USER2> Sharding is a great way to scale, but it has problems - specifically, you loose easy joins. With the example mentioned, you have a client where all their stuff is on one box - think a hosted CMS. Wonderful!

This doesn't apply as neatly to something like Twitter. There, we have all our users potentially needing to be joined to data on all our other users. Joins don't go across shards. You loose that with such a system. So, for something like Twitter, you can either run lots of batch jobs and deal with the latency that batching implies (not an option for a service that is used for instant, small updates), use a single DB (replicated still applies as single in this case), potentially use something like memcached to store a giant hash table of the relationships and updates for the past 24 hours (and the database only becomes long-term storage).

Sharding is awesome. Sharding has great uses. Sharding isn't something most of us will have to use.

<comment><USER3> Twitter is no harder to partition/shard than Google is. (your search is against the entire web, not just one part of it) Batching has nothing to do with this issue.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> If you are sharding, I recommend "distributed hash table" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_hash_table> with a twist - make sure each physical machine participates in the table many times (1000). This way you can relocate small pieces of data to balance the load without affecting other machines.</comment>


Middle-aged entrepreneurs are more successful than young ones - <AUTHOR> https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/06/why-middle-aged-entrepreneurs-are-better-than-young-ones/ <comment><USER2> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16794228](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16794228).

</comment><comment><USER3> I have very very little doubt that the sum of the total revenue of all companies started by middle-aged entrepreneurs divided by the number of them (the average) is greater than the average revenue from companies started by young people. What I'm curious about is whether or not young people tend to create _revolutionary_ companies with more frequency than older people, especially if you ignore factors that sort of make the game an "unfair" comparison, like older entrepreneurs having better access to capital (e.g. self funded) or all the things a network can help you with.

<comment><USER4> This graphic shows a 3% difference in success (although it is a nearly 4 fold difference). Overall, Only 1-4 % of entrepreneurs succeeed according to this article at any age.

Maybe you can share an example of revolutionary? Many tech revolutions had a previous incarnation.

On age:

One has to decide if it's easier to learn 20 years worth in 5-10 years from someone more experienced, or waste one's own time learning it before innovating. I think mentoring is good and a turbo boost for innovating.

New entrepreneurs and innovators can tend to seek more permission and validation from others than those who are closer to just making value happen for clients.

There seems to be less of a gap between what you are calling middle aged vs someone in their 20's. Today's 40 year olds have grown up on the internet 10-20 years longer than today's digital natives as creators, but also know how to interface with the pre-internet world and powerholders. It's really a valuable 2 way relationship.

Ageism is silly against any age, because it just slows down innovation and the exchange of knowledge and insight.

I started as an entrepreneur when I was 19, and the feelings of people not getting it are normal, so it can be of value to learn to build and level up to meet the future you see. Luckily innovation cycles are shortening.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Are _first-time_ middle-aged entrepreneurs more successful than young ones?

<comment><USER6> If you dig in, a lot of the advantage is niche specific knowledge and experience. So a first time entrepuner who knows his corner of the world exceedingly well is more likely to succeed than a 30 yr old Babson grad who learned about the problem via Mail Chimp.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I hated hearing this when I was 20. It's got some truth to it.

CEO/Startup/Business skills come with time, at 20 I just wanted to build, like a beast.

Transferable business skills though, came from creating and transacting value with others, be it through a career to learn how a business works, freelancing, contracting, consulting, etc.

I tried to spend 10 years leveling up to get 20 years of experience. Experience in remaining learning open-minded, learning to focus on the right things, and being effective does seem to set one up differently to add and create value.

The kool-aid machine, however seems to want to take away a person's 20's for much less. Investors who value genuine founder development as much as the product development are extremely valuable.

</comment><comment><USER7> Experienced business owners are more successful than inexperienced ones.

That's not _too_ surprising.

</comment><comment><USER8> Depends on who you're selling to.

If you're selling to young people, and you're old, it helps if you're in advertising or producing pop culture or otherwise connected to the zeitgeist.

If you're selling to businesses, experience and contacts in the industry vertical are huge.

<comment><USER9> It's basically important to understand the market for your product.

If you want to build a cool social media app you probably want to be a young kid who understands how to build something cool for other kids.

In business you need to solve a problem and have the ear of the people who need that problem solved to build a business.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm curious to see if the number of companies a person starts has any notable impact. Older entrepreneurs in theory have had multiple endeavors, and failed multiple times, so they either get lucky, or learn from their mistakes.

<comment> gm-conspiracy Plus, more likely to inherit additional funds/property from deceased relatives.

<comment><USER11> VC money has been falling off trees for the past 7 years and with capital needs to bootstrap something have never been lower. Startup failure because of lack of access to capital is probably as close to a non-issue as possible. It's about conception/planning and execution.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Obvious headline is obvious.

</comment><comment><USER13> "Entrepreneurs with experience, money and connections are more successful than those who aren't."

</comment><comment><USER14> Experience? :)

<comment><USER15> But that flies in the face of the rampant ageism I've internalized!

<comment><USER16> Ageism absolutely exists when looking for jobs in other companies. Age doesn't really matter when you start your OWN business.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Less time for mess ups - more awareness of what you are getting into.

I would wager far less middle aged people try a business though.

</comment><comment><USER18> Yet another example of people being confused by statistics. This story has been written and posted on HN a hundred times. It's always a failure to distinguish which type of business is being discussed.

The data for innovative technology startups is going to be very different from almost everything else. Comparing the businesses that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg started to consulting companies or restaurants makes absolutely no sense.</comment>


Paul Graham Essay Notes - <AUTHOR> https://www.notion.so/Paul-Graham-Essay-Notes-c7e4b66321434ecfac25d475607f4f83 <comment><USER2> Is it only me or is Notion's UI very confusing? Entries of the table look like links, but when I click they just pop out in a little text field non-editable with a shadow and don't seem to be clickable. I feel quite stupid to be honest...

<comment><USER3> Yes. This exactly god help you if you cannot hover.

<comment><USER4> That's my main beef will all these web-based doc/database tools like Notion, Coda, Airtable, etc—despite their neat features, there is absolutely no focus on accessibility with any of them. They're all div soup. I love text documents because they're accessible and easy to produce, but these tools have failed to follow the spirit of the web (not to mention web standards).

<comment><USER5> you might like Foam

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsCQ3pApTs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrsCQ3pApTs)

[https://github.com/foambubble/foam](https://github.com/foambubble/foam)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> In case you're also trying to save that for later by directly "forking" it to your Notion, instead of saving it to Pocket for instance.

I found that putting the below link into a Notion page of mine suggests to create de linked DB:

[https://www.notion.so/66057ba78cbd4d158349091050bbda55?v=c3a...](https://www.notion.so/66057ba78cbd4d158349091050bbda55?v=c3a5af1b3b584b7b944c27b9b8fa835c)

If you know of a more direct button I'm all ears.

</comment><comment><USER7> This needs an explanation. Are the highlights automatically generated by an AI tool or user contributed like Wikipedia or did one person do it?

<comment><USER8> This appears to be someone's notion notebook with their handmade notes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Is Notion one of YC companies? Thats my first though after seeing this.

<comment><USER10> I don't think they are.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Thanks a lot for this. Stuff like this is really really helpful.</comment>


N1 (Rocket) - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket) <comment><AUTHOR> For the Soviets to compete with Apollo was no mean feat, it must have cost them a huge amount of money to have launched 4 rockets.

So much has been written about the amazing Apollo Guidance Computer, does anyone have any idea how the Russians planned to of done it?

Looking at a stop watch, and pressing a button at the right time isn't going to cut it.</comment>


Now is the time for MacRuby desktop applications - <AUTHOR> http://redwoodapp.posterous.com/macruby-for-the-desktop-six-reasons

<comment><USER2> MacRuby is currently listed as a Private Framework in Lion. If it stays that way through release, submitting MacRuby applications will require you to bundle MacRuby with your application, or else risk being rejected by Apple at the Mac App Store.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's true. Bundling MacRuby with your application is easy though, and doesn't take up us much space as you might think. My MacRuby app, together with the MacRuby framework and a couple of embedded gems, takes just over 10MB GZip'd for download. Obviously that's heavier than it would be without the embedded framework, but I don't think it will be a deal killer.

Even if Apple does switch MacRuby to a public Framework in Lion, my guess is that MacRuby will evolve quickly, and many developers will choose to embed MacRuby anyway to be assured of the latest version.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Regarding point 4, is anyone familiar with Xcode 4 and MacRuby? I'm not finding any information on it, and the nightly build doesn't seem to include any Xcode project templates.

<comment><USER4> The xcode 4 templates are in svn trunk: [http://svn.macosforge.org/repository/ruby/MacRuby/trunk/misc...](http://svn.macosforge.org/repository/ruby/MacRuby/trunk/misc/xcode4-templates/)</comment></comment>


Everything You Think You Know About Housing Is Probably Wrong - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/28/arts/density-housing-skyscraper-museum.html <comment><AUTHOR> _This is a big problem. To address the country's monumental housing crisis and also become less automobile- and carbon-dependent, America needs to densify its job-rich metro areas so that more people can afford to live there and walk, bike and take public transit to get to work and back. According to a much-cited report by the McKinsey Global Institute, California is 3.5 million houses short. Housing shortages exacerbate home prices and homelessness and cause all sorts of other ripple effects on commute times, economic productivity, health and family life.

But opposition to density has only stiffened as the gulf widens between the 1 percent and everyone else. Well-to-do NIMBYs, congenitally opposed to new developments, have lately been joined by anti-displacement tenant activists — advocates for poor and working-class residents who might ordinarily want more housing but have come to fear that nearly all development brings gentrification that prices the most vulnerable out of neighborhoods. In cities like New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston, this new alliance means even initiatives promising some subsidized housing have become lines in the sand._

Interesting bedfellows.

In NYC the anti-gentrification crowd currently has the upper hand and is derailing up-zoning and other initiatives. It sounds like, in California there are the NIMBYs as well as the anti-gentrification crowd.</comment>


Take that, Facebook: Google+ commission on game transactions is 5%, not 30% - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/11/take-that-facebook-google-commission-on-game-transactions-is-5-percent-not-30-percent/ <comment><USER2> Well, the value isn't exactly the same.

Facebook has a much more tight platform where sharing options are a great plus. Increasing reach is easier and as a consequence it is more valuable than Google+.</comment>


Let process be implemented by those who practice it - <AUTHOR> http://algeri-wong.com/yishan/engineering-management-process.html

<comment><USER2> There's a fine line here. Letting the chickens run the farm is not a good idea, but neither is letting the bank.

In the company I work for, The CS Manager often dictates the workflow. If we let the CSRs do it, they'd pick the way that was easiest for them, but would ignore things that were less visible or useful to them. So their direct manager does the deciding. Whenever she outlines how changes to the system work, she always talks about how it'll improve their efficiency and how it'll improve the efficiency of the company as a whole. When work comes from the next rung up the corporate ladder, it's almost always about management's side of things instead.

So you have to balance it all out, and have someone that can see all the angles. And let them decide on the process.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> _As a company scales, it becomes necessary to add or codify process. The key tradeoff under consideration is always whether the drag imposed by the process is worth the gains in efficiency or effectiveness._

I kind of like "process drag" as terminology for the overhead associated with formalized processes. It sounds a little more pejorative than simply "process overhead". It might make a good addition to the lexicon, right next to "technical debt".

</comment><comment><USER3> _(OP link is worth a read btw despite how heavy it is presented, btw)_

This post articulates a bug-bear I've had throughout my career which is the pedantic "RTFM" culture in software - where no one wants to help anyone and instead gives them a pointer to a document (the 'Descriptive Process" as the author describes it).

Proscriptive Process, actually sitting down with someone(s), not only is valuable for the reasons the author suggests (re-examining process, updating, refining, improving) but often new issues and idea and opportunities emerge from going over something together or in a small group.

Sure, you can't do it _all the time_ but there are loads of examples when it is valuable and should be considered part of the cost of development.

I think it's sad when you enter a workplace where everyone just wants to tell you to RTFM all the time and no one has the time to sit down and go over anything. Ultimately, I don't believe its how good product/software is made.

</comment><comment><USER4> You can look at process as "a list of stuff we have to do" or you can look at it like "stuff we need to worry about"

The first way, you are relieved of worrying -- you do the list, and the list thinks for you. The second way is much more difficult.

The problem in big organizations is that different folks are worried about different things. That's why they keep making and giving out lists of stuff for people to do -- they don't want you screwing up. If you have a hundred teams and one of them takes down production for a day, I can guarantee you _somebody_ is going to make a list of how-not-to-do-that-again, like it or not.

We all know where this heads -- mindless trolls doing paperwork and following the list while nothing gets done. But it's important to realize how we get there too. There are no bad guys in this story. It's not just descriptive process that causes the problem, it's letting the "chickens run the farm" as one other commenter put it.

There has to be some give and take. I wish you could throw out some kind of slogan and have an easy answer, but a lot of this is highly dependent on organizational culture, previous history, the people involved, etc.

It depends. :)

<comment><USER5> >The problem in big organizations is that different folks are worried about different things. That's why they keep making and giving out lists of stuff for people to do -- they don't want you screwing up. If you have a hundred teams and one of them takes down production for a day, I can guarantee you somebody is going to make a list of how-not-to-do-that-again, like it or not.

Why is it a problem to make procedures to avoid making the same mistake twice? In terms of "[taking] down production for a day" I'd prefer to make permanent changes to my systems so that I don't have to rely on procedure, but for those things that I can't or won't fix with more code or automation, making and following procedures to avoid e.g. unplanned service outages seems perfectly fine, even advisable?

Of course this ignores the specifics of each individual situation, although I am having trouble imagining any product that I'd want me or my business to depend on that is also known to fail with any great frequency. (Even my home broadband Internet connection, for example, hasn't failed more than once or twice in the past year, and they have a veritable monopoly.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think a way to avoid the negative calcification of descriptive process documents, would be to have those who use the document as a guide to append their own experiences using the document to that document for future implementers.

</comment><comment><USER7> Fighting chaos with well defined goals.</comment>


Extract portion of any audio/video file with Postput - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/postput/postput <comment><AUTHOR> Hello, just to let you know that it's now possible to extract portions of any auydio/video with postput! :)</comment>


Haven't got paid for almost 1 year.  Laptop, passport, months of code got stolen - <AUTHOR> I never thought I would post this on HN, but at this point I thought why not.
I have being a web developer for over 14 years.  I am good at what I do, and I have being working for a startup that hasn't paid me in almost 1 year.
The CEO is wonderful, I think the business is very profitable in the long run, just have no cash right now.  2 weeks ago someone broke into my friend's place and stole my macbook pro, ipad, a lot of euros in cash, and my passport.
The laptop also has a lot of code that I didn't back up.  Those were the code I was going to release for the startup to get paid.  We were going to a credit card process/revenue sharing model going on.
Right now, I am stuck in Denmark, no Passport,  very little money, and no laptop.  The startup definitely has no cash to pay for anything.
I have started teaching donation based Yoga at Art Academy and Lindy Hop classes to get some extra cash.
I am not too bother by the event, but it would be nice to have a working macbook pro 15' to restore my time machine backup and some extra cash flow at the moment.
Any suggestions welcome.
If you are in Aarhus and want to attend some good yoga class.
Every Thursday 19:00 at DJK ( DJK Det Jyske Kunstakademi  ) http://www.djk.nu
Mejlgade 32-34 / DK-8000 Århus C
http://imgur.com/H3HcR4V <comment><USER2> This stinks a little bit.

A web developer for 14 years? And you havent backed up your code in months?

I am not saying the story is false. I'm just saying that if your income depends on your code, back it up frequently.

Also, how do you know the startup is going to be profitable in the long run? Because the CEO who's getting you to work for him for free says so? What have you been doing for cash the past year?

<comment><AUTHOR> savings purely saving. see my comments above about backup.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This really, really sucks.

If you have little to no cash, you've been robbed, and you've not been paid for a year, you have to start thinking about self preservation. If you've lost your work too this project is going to be inevitably and dramatically delayed -- any payday from this start-up is far out into the future now. You don't need me to tell you you're on the verge of a bad situation. (How are you paying rent if you have no money, btw?)

I have no idea how donation-based classes will work out, but you should act pragmatically and cut back your time spent with this start-up so you have time to focus on other things, lest you starve. This is the reasonable course you should take right now.

(On a side note: it bothers me that you've been working unpaid for a year for someone else's literally bankrupt business.)

Freelance, get a McJob, claim some sort of welfare if you're eligible -- do whatever you have to do to keep yourself afloat. Businesses, especially start- ups are risky things, and while this may work out fantastically in the long term there will be no long term if you don't take care of the short term.

Take care of the other issues, like getting a police report now. You'll probably need that to report your passport stolen, so really, do this immediately! I'm going to guess you don't have contents insurance, but if you do, claim also.

Edit: if you're living off savings as you've mentioned elsewhere, why was your money in cash rather than in a bank account?

<comment><USER4> Let's keep in mind that entrepreneurs are dreamers, delusional even. We take incredible risks and are willing to suffer to create something we can be proud of.

To wit: I once worked so obsessively on a project I forgot about making money for rent. That's right, my mind was in a constant deep flow state for weeks on end, and rent (among other things like exercise and socializing) slipped my mind.

I ended up losing my apartment and being forced to sleep in a friend's basement for a month.

<comment><USER3> I completely can understand that. We entrepreneurs have such an irrational and excessive belief in our own future prospects that we tend to discount the present, often to our own detriment. I know I've gone down this path before myself which is why I'm giving the advice I'm giving.

OP must take care of today, as unsexy as it is, for the long-term to be a possibility. It's a case of one career paying for the other until the second is all that's required.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Are you one of these developers who have been developing for 14 years and is turning 17 next week?

I would recommend you cut your loses and run for the hills. Get a nice developer job for a company which can pay bills, offers a free laptop and can pay for source control.

(The question i have to ask is why not back the code up at lease in dropbox or bitbucket which offers free accounts?)

<comment><AUTHOR> yeah, I got lazy for a moment and didn't bother to do it. My time machine may have a more recent backup but not sure til I restore it.

I wasn't aware of the free accounts. And there contain some sensitive data which I didn't want to put in dropbox.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> So, this start-up has been developing code for a year without releasing anything. Has no money. Is relying at least partially on a developer who has been on the edge of disaster with no payment from this project for a year.

Sounds like a recipe for a disaster to me. If you can't get to your code then I assume that sets the start-up even further back.

How do you know the start-up could be successful? There is no way to tell until you start trying to pick up paying users and get something out into the wild. Until then, it's just one person blindly trusting another.

The bottom line here seems to be that you aren't really bothered and the Macbook would give you extra cash. You have already been making cash from other sources. So, what are you asking for? New students for your classes? Someone to lend you a Macbook Pro? This probably isn't the best place to ask.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hey guys, this really happened. I am trying to keep it private because I donät want to tell the name of the company, because I donät think the owner would like others to know.

Donation is appricated, but I would have to setup a bitcoin account. I also have a strip account.

But the most imporant thing is if you are in Aarhus or Denmark have a mac book pro 15 inch, and donät mind me restore my time machine backup on it to get some of my files back that will be great!!

I can come to you with my hard drive and you can watch me as I do my work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed. It is also very interesting to see how I get offend by how people think this is a scam, where for me it is just what just happened.

I am going to fine with or without anyone's help. It is also interesting to see what kind of community it is here.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hey guys,

I wonät be able to tell you the name of the company till I reach some kind of agreement with the CEO.

If you want to donat I just created a bitcoin accountÖ

1GUDbTJv7PuwDJDR4y2pHiY8ggyGnXbEx2

I really appricated it!

I also have a Danish bank account and an American Account, but not sure if I want to post that here.

I can try to open a paypal account, but not sure if I can.

I am happy to give you guys the police report number if you PM me (can you do that on hacker news?)

<comment><AUTHOR> I am also perfectly ok with pay you back the money once I get paid from the company. And I really DONÄT know when that will be.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> _I am good at what I do...The laptop also has a lot of code that I didn 't back up._

I wish you the best of luck but these two sentences aren't really compatible.

Other than advertising your yoga class what are you trying to get by posting here? These types of hard luck posts come up on reddit hundreds of times per day and are often exposed as scams to get donations.

<comment><AUTHOR> you are right, I should have backed it up, but the owner forgot to pay the bill on the backup server. So the only backup is on my time machine. Which means I need a laptop with similar configuration to restore. And right now no one is willing let me erase their mac book pro to restore backup.

I did not intended to be a advertisement, but I thought if you are in Aarhus then why not. It would nice to meet some local programeer. I donät read reddit, facebook or twitter.

<comment><USER3> > forgot to pay the bill on the backup server

I'm not sure I believe the "owner" is telling the truth. If he forget to pay the bill (why isn't it a credit card recurring subscription?), or the credit card failed due to insufficient funds, then he would have received multiple emails warning of service termination.

Why aren't you backing up your code to private repositories, ones that can be had for free from bitbucket.org? Even Dropbox would have been a good alternative, although you might want to encrypt anything sensitive!

If you're telling the truth, I'm certain you need to walk away from this sketchy owner and this bankrupt startup.

<comment><AUTHOR> yeah, I think that is a honest mistake, we both emailed the service provider, they are still invistigaging why she didnät get an email alert

<comment><USER3> Be suspicious of this owner. She sounds like a shambles at the very least, and possibly even dishonest.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I lived up there for a year and half, how are things going in the city? Still no people on the street after 8pm?

If you are a EU citizen, it is easy, just get one of those manual jobs with the temp agency. It's paid 10 EUR/hr, it is enough to live a comfortable life there and you only need to work 2 or 3 days per week.

<comment><USER9> 4 weeks * 2-3 days * 8 h * 10€/h = 640-960€ is enough to live comfortably in Denmark? With rent and everything?

<comment><USER10> As a dane, no 1000 € is nowhere close to being alive "comfortably" ...

It is slightly higher than "kontanthjælpen", a last-ditch governmental grant to keep you alive (where you are also entitled to a lot of rebates (childcare, and stuff)) and special purpose grants to make ends meet

An unskilled worker earns about 2300€/month and that is not even close to comfortably.. Median income (still not comfortable) is 3500€/month

A confortable one is probably bigger than 5000€/month..

Denmark is one of the most expensive countries in the world to live in... (especially in the four major Citites (Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense, Aalborg)

<comment><AUTHOR> I know!! My friends are wonderful here. I have also learn how to dumpster dive. So no food problem at the moment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Hey!

Try to restore your work using your friend's computer. Here I dig up some info about this: [http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/44803/restore- from-...](http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/44803/restore-from-time- machine-without-a-mac). Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> hey, I'll try that, but I got the feeling since my HD is encrypted. I can only do it by restoring. I may try to get a 2.5 1TB HD here in denmark. Anyone know a cheap place where I can get that? I know everything is expensive here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I don't want to sound abrasive, but if you are a developer of 14 years' standing then why not list your skills and experience and ask if anyone has any actual paid work they could send your way before soliciting for donations?

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, my roommate need his computer back. I'll type what I can do once I get to a computer. on my phone now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> However this thread plays out, will be interesting to see how the HN community responds. Suspect most see this thread as spam/fraud, but interesting to see people taking the OP seriously and giving advice to try and help.

</comment><comment><USER14> You might check couchsurfing.org for generally helpful folks in your place. And definitely Denmark is a welfare state, do check out the many helps. Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> hey thanks lauremerlin, I have a place to stay right now thanks for my good danish friends. They even got me a 600 DKK laptop running linux, but it burn out yesterday.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Such a spam story

</comment><comment><USER15> 1) Always source revision your code, free private repos are available at bitbucket.

2) Never work without compensation

3) Preferably make a contract

4) Agree to incremental delivery or milestones

5) Prepare regular invoices

6) Follow up on outstanding invoices

7) be strict about getting paid, on time, or fire the client

You may be good at what you do, but that doesn't help if you screw up the business part of freelancing.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey thanks a lot Pyalot. We do have a contract, and the owner really knows about it. The cash just have to pay for some urgent expenses at the moment.

Yeah, it was my fault for not git push origin after the backup server was restored.

But the shutdown introduced a few problem in the work flow, and I just got lazy and didnät do the system admin stuff and just kept on programming. A lesson well learned.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Do you have a PayPal account people can send money to, like an email address or a link to donate?

<comment><USER3> This story is setting off some alarm bells for me so I'd be wary of forking over anything more than advice right now.

<comment><USER4> Why on _earth_ would you discourage others from helping because _you_ are suspicious. Like I said earlier, I believe this person because similar experiences have happened to me.

Never, _never_ try and stop people from trying to do good. I would rather be scammed than be complacent.

<comment><USER3> Whoa! There are a ton of pity scams online and there are other people in this thread that are suspicious too. It's your prerogative what you do with your money but certain things about the post just make me feel off. I might be right, or I might be wrong.

I'd never knowingly try to stop someone from doing good, but by the same token, warning that this might be a scam is prudent.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Windows 7: The Best Vista Service Pack Ever - <AUTHOR> http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001290.html <comment><USER3> In the comments, Jeff writes:

 _I'm saying you should avoid using the rusted screwdriver which is liable to burst into fragments and cause a crippling hand wound at any time!_

This is why friends don't let friends Comment While Defensive. XP is old technology but this analogy is absurd. It's not as if the code becomes brittle and starts to break down over time.

Incidentally, Vista is what finally decided me to get off my ass and switch to Ubuntu. Now that I've invested a fair bit of energy familiarizing myself with it and customizing my system, there's no chance I'll switch back to Microsoft even if Windows 7 _is_ a huge improvement.

<comment><USER4> I don't think the analogy is that absurd. It's true that code doesn't rust, but as time advances and other code is developed and improved, old code can become relatively less reliable. IE6 is "rusty" compared to modern browsers.

<comment><USER5> You know, when IE6 was new (edit: and _after_ Firefox was released), it still sucked, and we pined for the day everyone would abandon IE for standards- compliant browsers. Now that IE7 and IE8 are more standards-compliant, that exact same complaint has just been indexed to IE6 in particular. It's not a matter of it being out of date at all.

<comment><USER6> What are you talking about? IE5 and IE6 for Windows were _awesome_ when they were released. They were way faster, more reliable, and more standards-based than the browsers of the day when released (like the NN4.7 shitpile). The last release of IE5 for OS X had one of the first usable CSS implementations, and some awesome UI innovations.

The problem with IE is not that it sucked, but that it was abandoned before hundreds of millions of users started banging on it.

<comment><USER5> IE5 maybe, but it was long before IE7 (i.e. during the IE6 era) when IE came under fire for poor standards compliance.

<comment><USER3> Again, that's because in the huge interim between IE6 and IE7, the other browsers caught up to IE and then pulled way ahead.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I have been using Windows 7 as my primary OS for about 8 months now. It is very good and stable. The best improvement is of course the new taskbar which does make the process of managing your applications and open windows a lot more streamlined.

That said, in the article Jeff sounds like Windows 7 is _really_ just a slight improvement over Vista. It is just plain wrong. If you have been following the windows 7 development blog, you can see that they have put a lot of effort in the R&D of this new OS. You have to use the OS for some time to understand this. ( _5 minutes_ is not enough to form an opinion and write a lengthy blog post)

I remember an article by Raymond Chen [1] where he tells the story of how they changed the inner workings of windows calculator and people never noticed it. Then they just changed the skin a little bit and praises came in pouring, about how much better the new calculator is. The original article also feels like committing the same mistake. The fact that they have polished the UI does not mean that that is the only thing they did.

As an aside, I also wanted to try out Ubuntu in the past few years, but did not get time for that. The one thing I understood is that (especially for web workers) the OS you are using to develop applications never really matters. If I switched to Linux (or a mac for that matter), I'd just be wasting a lot of my time to get familiarized with the working of the new OS, with no significant upsides for switching.

[1] [http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/141253....](http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/05/25/141253.aspx)

<comment><USER8> I installed W7 yesterday and get a BSOD on a lot of video sites (hulu, adultswim.com) Any recommendations?

<comment><USER9> Sounds like bad video drivers. Download from manufacturer and reinstall - <USER2> on notebook stop using the vendor's and use NVidia/AMD's instead (as the case may apply).

Video drivers is practically the only reason Windows ever BSODs anymore.

<comment><USER10> I get them from a RAID something-or-other too. But agreed, it's typically Nvidia's fault.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I have a Vista on my laptop, and it isn't horrible but it also isn't an improvement over XP. When I recently purchased a new computer, I built it for XP.

I fully disagree with Atwoods comment: _A world where people regularly use 9 year old operating systems is not a healthy computing ecosystem_

I'm really very fine with that. There's been an over-emphasis on the operating system for far too long. It should just shut up and get out of the way. As long as it continues to be updated and has plenty of drivers, we don't need to be changing operating systems very 3 years. XP has ushered in a period of relative stability to our industry that's been very good thing and, unsurprisingly, people are reluctant to move away from that.

Unfortunately, XP is really at the end of it's life due to the move to 64bit. I'm confident that Windows 7 is an improvement over Vista, but I'm not yet convinced that it's the next 9 year operating system.

</comment><comment><USER12> Does anyone contradict him or herself more often than Jeff Atwood? It's like I'm reading an article written by two people wrestling for the keyboard.

<comment><USER7> He is very good at analogies though. Read this: [http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/07/why-cant-you-have- just...](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/07/why-cant-you-have-just-one- site/)

Even if what he tries to prove is correct, his reasoning for that is almost always wrong. Not wrong, but funny.

I am sad that Hacker News never really loved CodingHorror articles. But I understand why - _Some reasoning != Good Reasoning_

A gentle reminder: There is no point in discussing about Jeff every other week. Jeff Atwood is not writing for the HN crowd. Leave him alone.

<comment><USER13> I first started reading Coding Horror about a year ago, as someone who is new to the development and programming world, he really opened my eyes to a lot of misconceptions I had held, and I can say without a doubt he led me on a path to greatly improving my standards and code.

He also was instrumental in introducing me to not only a slew of great blogs and information, but eventually led me to find hacker news.

I'd say the good he does for new and upcoming developers far outweighs all of the criticism I've read about his articles.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I might get W7 for my PC gaming habbit. I'd never own Windows for anything else though.

Basically, I just really wish they'd finally add mouse and keyboard support to the 360.

</comment><comment><USER15> Windows 7 is still missing a unix terminal, last I checked.

<comment><USER16> They have the powershell. I hear good things about it.

<comment><USER6> Powershell is more like Applescript than it is like a bourne shell.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Should I finish my Computer Science degree? - <AUTHOR> A couple years back, I dropped out of a Computer Science degree to work at a Big 4 tech company. I was there for 2 years and then started my own company.
I'm on the verge of running out of money, and I've been thinking about the following options:
- Going back to a tech job.
- Going back to school. I only have 4 semesters remaining.
The big benefit of finishing my undergrad is that I become eligible for a Masters or PhD program, but that is a separate commitment that I'm not sure I'm ready to make.
I'm already reasonably familiar with most of the topics in CS that I missed out in the second half of the degree, and I'm not sure if my job prospects will get stronger with the degree, given that I already have some name recognition on my resume.
Do you have any thoughts or tips for me to help decide on my own? <comment><USER2> 1) Grad degrees are not always contingent on undergrad degrees.

2) Employers (good ones, anyway) care more about ability than pieces of paper.

3) Hard to say if you're actually "reasonably familiar" with what you would have learned with a formal CS education, so can't comment on that. I'm a little skeptical since real-world work and CS education are pretty different things, but I sure could be wrong on that one.</comment>


Boing Boing Was Hacked - <AUTHOR> https://boingboing.net/2020/01/13/boing-boing-was-hacked.html <comment><USER2> Anyone know what malware was served?</comment>


Pop Culture Pulsar: Origin Story of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures Album Cover - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/sa-visual/2015/02/18/pop-culture-pulsar-origin-story-of-joy-divisions-unknown-pleasures-album-cover-video/ <comment><USER2> I'm a child of the CD era, and on my (CD) copy of this album, the pulsar pattern fills most of the cover. In college, I came across an LP copy, and I was struck by the difference: the pulsar pattern occupies a much smaller space in the center, with much more of the cover consisting of the black background. The Wikipedia page illustrates it well: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_Pleasures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unknown_Pleasures) (You can also see the LP version at the start of the video in the article, around 0:18).

This is a cool example of how the size of the artistic canvas dictates what you can do (designers, is there a term for this?). I like this album cover because it illustrates the sound of the album well: power filtered through haunting, ethereal music. On the LP cover the figure is probably about the same size as on the CD cover, so it's just as distinguishable. But the predominance of the ground makes it feels starker and lonelier. The trouble with a CD cover-sized canvas is that if you shrink the figure proportionately, it just becomes hard to see.

This illustration has been reproduced on shirts and tote bags and other larger-canvas media. I kind of wish those who did so would take advantage and scale it back down.

</comment><comment><USER3> "Successive pulses from the first pulsar discovered, CP 1919, are here superimposed vertically. The pulses occur every 1.337 seconds"

Proving conclusively that Joy Division were 1337.

</comment><comment><USER4> Joy Division always kind of blew my mind. A band essentially defines post- punk, then their frontman commits suicide, and they go on to form New Order. Now, every electronic dance set in the world _has_ to include Blue Monday -- quite a versatile bunch.

</comment><comment><USER5> I remember wondering if the Joy Division album cover was related to one of the computer displays shown in the movie Alien. Here's an image of the two side by side (scroll down a bit):

[http://asiwyfab.de/2013/02/04/random-music- fact-30/](http://asiwyfab.de/2013/02/04/random-music-fact-30/)

<comment><USER6> Interestingly they came out in the same year -- US release of the film was only a month before the album. (Peter Saville probably would have caught the movie in the UK though, which wouldn't have been for another six months.)

<comment><USER7> Although the computer-generated art was done in the UK, at Atlas Labs (now part of Rutherford Appleton). [http://www.chilton- computing.org.uk/acl/applications/animati...](http://www.chilton- computing.org.uk/acl/applications/animation/p014.htm)

(Not that I think there's any realistic chance Saville saw the art before release.)</comment></comment></comment>


What is something unsexy that you should do? - <AUTHOR> So recently I came upon a blog post that pointed at this fact: The web is filled with blog posts on life hacks, tips, techniques tools on all sorts of topics; yet we rarely see the humble craft of touch typing mentioned as a item on listicles.
This seemed astonishing since it's something I and the blog author use every day - but it has few proponents.
What other similar unsexy but useful tools - physical, cognitive exist? <comment><USER2> Allow yourself to be wrong, make mistakes occasionally, and change your position on anything. Being wrong and making mistakes is an inevitable fact of life, and should not be treated as a personal or character flaw. Permission to make mistakes and amend for them ties our identity to our actions in the future, giving us the freedom to grow and focus on the person that we want to be. Undue attention to the things we once did ties our identity to the past, preventing the person we are now from escaping the person we once were.

</comment><comment><USER3> Learning to express yourself clearly, both in speaking and in writing.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The check list is a second example of a humble and effective tool - although I know it has got more coverage on this forum.</comment>


Reasons to install Sublime Text 2 - <AUTHOR> http://1p1e1.tumblr.com/post/14262857223/9-reasons-you-must-install-sublime-text-2-code-like-a

<comment><USER2> > Look at your editor. Now back at mine. Now back at yours. Now back to mine. > Sadly your editor is not like mine. But if you stopped using noob-scented > editor, and switched to Sublime Text 2, your editor could look like mine.

I'll stick with vim, but thanks for the laugh!

</comment><comment><USER3> <emacs partisan> Look at emacs. Now look at Sublime Text. Now back to emacs. It's in horseback-mode. "C-x S-( M-% sublime RET emacs RET y C-x S-)" will fix your post. </emacs partisan>

<comment><USER4> <another emacs partisan> Look at emacs. Now look at Sublime Text. Now back to emacs. Time to admit it: Sublime Text makes you look like a wimpy stupid wench who cannot stop talking about some stupid unprofessional tool that tries to spoon-feed little crybabies who concern more about, um um, look than actually getting things done. Let's face it, if you want to prove your manliness, be my guest and pull down your pants. Otherwise, I have more useful stuff to worry about than the stupid sexism. </another emacs partisan>

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, apologies if you find the title sexism. It's just a reference to OldSpice's commercial: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE>

The first part of the article was meant as a joke if that's not clear.

<comment><USER5> The title doesn't have to do with the joke though... at least I'm not seeing it. The old spice thing is funny and is fairly obviously not sexist but the title could be a little less so.

<comment><AUTHOR> In the end of the video there is a text saying: "Smell like a man, man" :)

No sexism intended, but I can see why people think that.

<comment> eren-tantekin Because a woman does not want to code like a man.

People know you didn't intend to be a sexist. They are just trying to raise your awareness on this issue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Two of my colleagues are using Sublime, but I'm still not sure if I want to switch.

I didn't know it's also on Windows and Linux - if I would switch to it, I would need this, since I'm jumping between OSX/Ubuntu/Windows very often.

But one important thing for me in Eclipse is debugging. How does Sublime fare in this department? Can I run my django project in Sublime, set up breakpoints, etc? And generally manage the project itself?

<comment><AUTHOR> I think unfortunately that's not possible yet. There is a request for it though: [http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/54089-support-for- xdeb...](http://sublimetext.userecho.com/topic/54089-support-for-xdebug- breakpoints-or-a-way-to-add-support-via-plugin/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I tried it, love it and bought it right away. Since than, I haven't look at another editor for my needs. On the plus side, I'm using it on Windows, Ubuntu and Mac OS and it works the way I want on all those platforms.

It simply works. Get it now.

<comment><USER8> > it works the way I want on all those platforms lol.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is like saying Notepad on Windows is faster than Visual Studio. Eclipse is an IDE, not an editor, hence why it isn't nearly as fast as ST2.

I use ST2 on occasion and definitely agree with the other points, though.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, it's a comparison without a lot of meaning. :) It's more of a fun fact.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I tried Sublime Text 2 but ended up going back to UltraEdit. Appearance, support for regular expressions, and the ability to load large files are my three needs.

Sublime wins it on appearance. UltraEdit is nice with my dark theme, but Sublime is better. However, Sublime lost it on regular expressions. Attempting to perform a search/replace in Sublime on a 55 meg file wasn't just slow, the application crashed. UltraEdit was slower than I'd prefer ([a-zA-Z] to 0 in gVim took 15 seconds), but it doesn't crash at least.

</comment><comment><USER11> _0\. It's gorgeous_

I completely disagree. I think it looks like akward, linuxy, OSS style. Textmate and VIM with a proper theme/font looks much better.

I tried playing around with various Sublime themes and fonts, but I just find its fundamentally awkward looking, and its not just a matter of tweaking it.

This might seem like a silly requirement but I'm also a designer as well as a developer. It would be something that would bother me daily.

<comment><AUTHOR> And you are using Textmate?

<comment><USER11> I use Textmate when I'm doing design work (HTMLizing wireframes/photoshop).

I use VIM when I'm writing JS/Ruby and using terminal heavily.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> For some reason their download site is flagged by our security filters (Cisco) as having "previously been detected as spreading malicious software such as viruses and worms". Sigh, wish they could distribute it somewhere else besides c758482.r82.cf2.rackcdn.com.

<comment><USER13> Such is the challenge of hosting public content. _.rackcdn.com is for content hosted on Rackspace Cloud Files and served via our partnership with Akamai.

Cisco's SenderBase recently changed the rating for _.rackcdn.com and Bad Things (tm) happened. We (Rackspace) have been in contact with Cisco, and our reputation with their products has been restored (see [http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/detaildomain?se...](http://www.senderbase.org/senderbase_queries/detaildomain?search_string=rackcdn.com)). Unfortunately, this probably won't be fixed for you until your security filters update the policies from senderbase itself.

Let me know if you have any other issues with this. email@example.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I hear good things about Sublime Text 2, thanks for reminding me to try it.

I'm put off by the 'code like a man' bit though. That's needlessly off-putting to female readers.

</comment><comment><USER15> I laughed at the 10 seconds opening and closing the editor part, try zero seconds, that's more like what vim does.

</comment><comment><USER16> I will never go back to text mate. Switched a year ago. Sublime will be actively a maintained forever.

</comment><comment><USER17> I know this thread is dead by now, but I just have to ask whether this is some kind of brogrammer troll, or is the author seriously that uninformed about the editing landscape?

</comment><comment><USER18> Sorry, but anybody who writes like that is not qualified to tell us what editor to use.

This is a tech forum, give us the technical reasons. If there aren't any, don't blog.

<comment><AUTHOR> Did you read the article till the end? I'll assume you didn't. If you did, please elaborate on your statement. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Btw what are your favorite plugins?</comment>


Ask HN: Do you attend Hackathons? - <AUTHOR> I spent another weekend in a Hackathon (T-Hack 2015 at Sao Paulo). Just like a real marathon, I don't run to win, finishing one is already a victory.
What saddens me is seeing this kind of event putting off real hackers (some friends stop attending because of this) by weighting too much on the "business" side of the project.
There are already plenty event formats like StartupWeekends, DemoDays and other pitch contests for the hustlers among us.
I'm guilty of that as well, I helped organizing the FIESP Hackathon this year (probably the biggest one in Latin-america with 200 contestants) and I don't think the better hack won.
Do you attend Hackathons? Do you feel most events are more Hustlathons than Hackathons and what can we organizers do in order to amend the situation? <comment><USER2> I stopped attending Hackathons (and Jams) out of a principle decision. I've come to feel that Hackathons are only encouraging some of the worst aspects of the software industry. The industry as a whole has long, bad habits of encouraging "crunch work" and unpaid overtime. Hackathons are a celebration of those bad habits (and a mirror to them). The arguments pro-Hackathon point out that such events are unsustainable and you can't expect to do it every weekend, and yet you also start to see Hackathons filling up nearly every weekend in a year and people that try to attend all of them that they think they safely can.

I don't want to encourage "crunch work" and so I stopped paying attention to Hackathons entirely. Life is too short to burn so brightly on weekends for projects that mostly don't matter. I do worry that Hackathon culture encourages more bad software business cultures that think that they need crunch or can survive on crunch and that "everybody is doing it".

<comment><USER3> I went to one and although a good experience (to do once) I found it was smelly, cramped, there was encouragement to work all night, ergonomically it was hell (bad plastic chairs) and too many idea people.

My answer to hackathons is doing an hour here and there in my spare time.

<comment><USER2> Yes, I enjoyed Hackathon-like things in college, but there is something to be said about youth and youthful exuberance there.

I'm also at the point where the sorts of things I do that meet the Hackathon role in my life at this point, particularly because I think they should fit spare time and not eat up my focus or impact my day job, I'm tending towards at least a fortnight deadline (two weeks) and often more like month (things like NaNoWriMo in particular have captured my attention). I do think that is a bit more sustainable. I've also sort of tried to brainstorm up for what I think a good sustainable "jelly" (slower than a "jam") might be and it would probably be something like fortnight sub-milestones towards a month or two project. Of course, I'm still not sure how you keep that from feeling like an unpaid internship, but maybe I'll figure that out at some point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> No, I don't recommend anyone but students attend hackathons. The first problem is they are usually badly executed with limited seating and very bad food. Secondly, no professional is going to allow themselves to be compared with amateurs. All a pro will get out of a hackathon is probably to look like an amateur and to be shown up by someone who has a lot of shortcuts up their sleeves. Thirdly, hackathons don't represent real world software development in which it can take weeks to roll out basic features. Only by working ahead before the competition do people complete hackathon projects in a short amount of time.

<comment><USER5> I agree. The last one I attended, a group won that had shortcuts up their sleeves. A member of the winning group had interned with the company that was judging for the winner. I also consider myself a professional, although I am still a student. I have more experience working in software development than most students. The food was terrible. Extremely high in sugar foods, with absolutely no water given out, but things like Coke, Monster, etc. There was also no where to sleep, so people were sleeping on the hard floor. I'll be attending one again, but as a volunteer tech mentor. There's no way I'll be judged against amateurs like I was at that last hackathon. The winner of that group used the most Buzzwords.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I love hackathons and game jams. I also don't run to win, and definitely finishing them is victory.

I have to agree with some of the detractors here, though. If a major company sponsors a hackathon or game jam, I immediately get suspicious. Anything offering venture capital or business deals to the winner, I think it will be a "pitch-athon", and I've seen the winners be those with the best pitches, not to those with the best implementations or even best ideas. I've seen hackathons go sour from bad faith in prize money (see [https://medium.com/@aliciatweet/the-dirty-secret-behind- the-...](https://medium.com/@aliciatweet/the-dirty-secret-behind-the- salesforce-1m-hackathon-b839268fb82d) for one example).

Having said that, I join the Global Game Jam every year, and partake in several other game jams and hackathons. Dedicating a weekend to a play project, something I plan to never look at again, is an outlet for creativity and fun that I just can't find elsewhere. Sometimes I'm lucky and I'm so impressed with what I've done that I end up submitting to the app store, or otherwise sharing with the world, sometimes it's embarrassing and I never talk of that again. I've worked with a wide variety of people using technologies I've never used before.

The easiest way I think to prevent "hustlathon" is to simply not have prizes nor sponsors. Although I don't completely avoid hackathons of that nature (and hackathons without sponsors are rare, someone donated the space if nothing else!), it is far too common that some company wants to dictate what the technologies used are in a hackathon. Prizes that are "we will offer venture capital" also quickly lead to hustlathon. And a lot of times terms and conditions can approach the offensive.

Anyway, I think more than just students can learn from and enjoy hackathons. And all the comments focusing on the food? When I hosted game jams I didn't offer food! You aren't required to eat bad food.

</comment><comment><USER7> I used to. I have made long-lasting friendships there. But I stopped a while ago.

I think that CS/Engineering students should attend a couple of events like this. Everyone should get exposed these (worst) aspects of the trade before hitting corporate world. (Stress, deadlines, team-work, conflicts, unfairness, etc...)

I only one once (the last time I attended) and that because I learned how to "play", putting more on the presentation and looks of the app than consistency or code quality. I basically made a demo not an app, and it won. This is why I stopped going.

[Edit]:

I know people that come with pre-coded modules for hackathons (especially in mobile dev), they copy-paste the codes and projects and just change a bit of the UI. They win every-time.

Unfair? Yes. But they hacked the hackthon system and they win, so good for them.

</comment><comment><USER8> Hackathons are great for the CS undergrad who just learned how to make an iOS app. It's a good way to push yourself to solidify a skillset, especially while in school. Students don't necessarily have time to be doing side projects (although they should make time). Getting a bunch of work done in one big spurt can be very beneficial.

That being said, I personally don't enjoy them. Free food is great, but I would much rather be working on one of my long-term projects. Also, I think hackathons are targeted a little bit too much towards newbies, rather than experienced devs.

</comment><comment><USER9> I would be considered a "hustler" under the terms offered in your post. As such, I have attended multiple hackathons as a company rep, to support friends, or just to keep up on new ideas. Yes, for me hackathons can be a spectator sport. I do understand the frustration of some hackers that build brilliant applications but fail to win, I have seen it happen. I also have yet to meet a hacker who does not think he/she should win every contest they enter. (that is funny because its true). Like everything else that grows in popularity the original goal may become less obvious over time. Is this a good or bad thing? It depends I suppose. One thing I do know is that popularity brings more attention, which brings more sponsors, which brings larger and more diverse hackathons. Hackers are the heart and soul of hackatons obviously, just don't discredit the business side too much. We kind of need each other. Good luck with your next event

</comment><comment><USER10> I only attend civic hackathons that are run by non-profits and for the benefit of non-profits. They are not a competition.

Stuff like: [http://hackforchange.org/](http://hackforchange.org/)

</comment><comment><USER11> I'm a CS student, and I do attend hack-a-thons several times a year. My policy is to ignore the competitive aspect. I should feel successful no matter what the judges decide.

My mindset from the beginning is that I won't work on the project at all after the 24 hours allotted. It's a throw-away project. This is really freeing. You don't have to worry if the code is messy, or even if there is a fundamental problem with your idea (game mechanics, etc.)

My goal is to pick a new technology or library to learn and build something with it. Once, I decided I wanted to learn how to use OpenCV, so I made a little game that is controlled by facial tracking. Another time, I had just bought some USB Nintendo 64 controllers, and I wanted to make a game that used them, so me and some friends made a local multiplayer fighting game. (The projects almost inevitably end up as games). Another project we made a multiplayer game with WebSockets to fiddle with lag compensation and clock synchronization. I learned a ton of distributed systems stuff in that short time. Sometimes, the technical problems take all time, and the finished game just barely counts as playable. Getting OpenCV bindings working with Java took nearly 8 of the 24 hours. Another project, using WebRTC for a peer-to-peer multiplayer game, only came together in the last hour, and stretched the definition of game so much that we won a special award "for challenging perceptions of what games can be" :).

It doesn't really matter, because my goal isn't really to make a great game, it's to force myself out of my comfort zone to learn something new. The game is incidental, really. Sometimes, the judges are looking for something more polished, or more business oriented. That's OK -- the game isn't for those judges. I only invested 24 hours into it. However, I've been pretty lucky, so far -- most hack-a-thons I've been to really celebrate true hacks.

I think one thing organizers can do is emphasize the process of writing the code, rather than the result. Ask what challenges the teams faced, the hardest bug they fixed (or didn't :). Near the beginning, try to offer workshops on different technologies, so that people can branch out and try something new. You can also offer categories of judging -- if there is only one category, it's hard to decide between an awesome business idea with little technical innovation and an awesome technical achievement with little applicability. No matter which one you pick, someone will be disappointed. But if there's a category for best game, best presentation, best app, most innovative, best technical achievement, or whatever categories you pick, then everyone at the hack-a-thon can participate however they like best, and be recognized for it.</comment>


Your Feedback: Personalized Products Discovery, Fashion and Technology - <AUTHOR> http://www.menswr.com <comment><AUTHOR> We felt we needed the option to shop great products that inspired us without spending too much time in the discovery process. As we envisioned a place that got to know us in a snap and offered the latest products from amazing brands, we decided to build MENSWR.

Create your profile in 15 seconds. Our style feed will serve you a selection of great products in men's fashion, technology, clothing, shoes, which we know you will love.

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Dreaming of a Linux Ultrabook? Meet the New ZaReason UltraLap 430 - <AUTHOR> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/260835/dreaming_of_a_linux_ultrabook_meet_the_new_zareason_ultralap_430.html

<comment><USER2> _With a 14.1-inch HD (1366-by-768) glossy LED backlit display._

My understanding is that laptop manufacturers tend to think of consumers as rather simple types who won't get all the fuss about screen resolutions, hence chucking out 1366x768 as the display standard.

However, if you're going to pitch a laptop at developers, why on earth wouldn't you add a few extra dollars to the price and go with something like 1600x900? Dell seem to be making the same mistake with their "developer" laptop (although I believe Dell are somewhat cheekily marketing the laptop at people who might buy _in the belief_ that's what developers would like to use, not the developers themselves).

Very frustrating. And a very poor show from PC World claiming that this is the laptop of one's dreams.

Obligatory plug: don't care about playing games? The laptop I have right now, a lowly HP ProBook 6450b, is the best developer purchase I've ever made. I only use Linux under a VM, but the support's meant to be there as well: <http://www.linlap.com/wiki/hp+probook+6450b>

<comment><USER3> I am getting increasingly worried that I will not be able to find a replacement for my 15", 1920x1200 display when the time comes:-( It packs a ton of stuff on the screen, which is how I like it. And no, I don't want an Apple. Linux is where it's at for me.

<comment><USER2> _I am getting increasingly worried that I will not be able to find a replacement for my 15", 1920x1200 display when the time comes:-(_

I'm not sure about HP's ProBook line, but I'm 99% sure their 15-inch EliteBook range supports 1920x1200. I thought that there was an upgrade option for their 15-inch ProBook range, but am likely wrong on that count.

I'd be surprised if a Thinkpad wasn't an option for full HD as well. More expensive than HP - and often Apple for that matter - but you can't beat the quality.

<comment><USER4> 15.6" EliteBooks have 16:9 screens, the max configuration being 1920x1080.

Similarly, 15.6" Thinkpads use 16:9 screens and max out at 1920x1080.

Also, Thinkpads are generally less expensive than EliteBooks. And if you want to beat the quality, get a Panasonic laptop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I was considering buying this one last week (it was between this one and a Dell XPS 14). The only pro it has over the Dell, besides price, is the keyboard. I use the pgup/pgdn/home/end keys at the side of the keyboard all the time and can't imagine living without them. I don't understand why Dell decided to follow Apple's lead and get rid of them in favor of the chiclet keyboard with the horrible arrow keys... It's especially strange since they're marketing the XPS 13 as the "Ubuntu for developers" laptop. Am I the only one who feels this way?

I eventually decided to get neither, because this one is quite ugly and rather expensive for what you get, and the Dell has a crap keyboard, has problems with Ubuntu 12.04, and is also quite expensive (though worth the price for the parts). Instead I'm buying a 512 SSD to hopefully make my old laptop feel like new!

</comment><comment><USER4> That's a horrible laptop.

<comment><USER6> it's a horrible article; besides some PR fluff, the description of the laptop is "it's a completely standard Ivy Bridge ultrabook except with Linux preinstalled." no examination of the bizarre claims about designing for Linux versus Windows or anything like that, just "hey, here's a thing! look at how neat it is!"

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The touchpad is in completely the wrong place! They centered it in the laptop body, instead of putting it where it belongs for a touch typist, centered under the B key.

</comment><comment><USER8> ugly, and a resolution befitting of the 90s?

<comment><USER9> Sadly that resolution is all too common in this decade.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Up to 6 hours of battery life does not seem fitting for a new Ultrabook.

<comment><USER11> To me, 6 hours is pretty good for a laptop running Linux.

<comment><USER10> Sure, but other windows ultrabooks will do 8 to 11 hours of battery life. Unless I really want Linux, or don't need battery life, there is no reason to buy this. Even the MBP has slightly better battery life.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> No developer will use a screen with only 756 pixels in height.

<comment><USER13> My ThinkPad X220 has the same resolution (1366*768 - not sure where you got 756 from), and so did my ThinkPad L512 before it. I honestly don't mind it at all. Maybe I'm weird or something.

<comment><USER14> the x220 is smaller...

<comment><USER13> The L512 is 15 inches and has the same resolution.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I'm loving my ThinkPad X60s which would be about the same size and runs Linux perfectly (even if it does ship with a "built for Windows" sticker).</comment>


Tests Are Your Best Friends: Do Not Neglect Them - <AUTHOR> http://victorarias.com.br/2013/05/30/tests-are-your-best-friend.html <comment><USER2> The problem is tests become legacy code themselves.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thats exactly why tests also need attention. They need to be refactored as every other code. The good part is that nicely written tests are by definition short and therefore easy to read and maintain.</comment></comment>