Ask HN: What are your best learning methods/hacks/tips? - <AUTHOR> Say you're learning something that is totally new to you and totally out of your comfort zone (Something like learning Chinese when the only language you can speak is English and you're a westerner, learning archery when you have been a couch potato for years etc).<p>What would be your learning methods? Do you have any tips/hacks etc that works for you? Lets assume you are learning on your own, from books/videos etc, and not learning from a teacher <comment><USER3> I just commented this in another thread, but I highly, highly recommend the free Coursera course _Learning How To Learn_.

In particular, I found that the following worked especially well for me:

* Emphasis on balance between focus and diffuse mode: taking a walk or exercising after a focused study session.

* Spaced repetition: Anki works wonders. Reviewing notes multiple times is also tremendous.

* Sleep: ignored the importance of this for so long, but it helps so much.

I made it through undergrad without these, but applying these and the other lessons from the course in my post-graduate classes felt like magic. The results (both in understanding gained and grades) were completely different.

<comment><USER4> I have tried a few times to get on the anki/supermemo bandwagon but have always struggled a bit figuring out how to structure the cards. Maybe I just have some hangups with it but would love to see a good workflow or best practices for incorporating it into my study.

I think specifically I would second guess myself for the syntax of the cards I was creating - and if there was another better way to do it. I always wanted to find almost like a guided walkthrough that would take me through the whole process or something and help me build the skills associated with it.

<comment><USER5> > I think specifically I would second guess myself for the syntax of the cards > I was creating - and if there was another better way to do it.

This kind of perfectionism has also been bothering me. ("I need to write the card perfectly, or else it's not even worth doing or even actively harmful.") But there's a couple of points worth remembering to change this belief:

1) If a card is bad, you will notice it when reviewing. It will be difficult to remember (i.e. you will fail the card often compared to other cards); it will be annoying to review (there's a general sense of "ugh" and/or confusion when you see the card); it will be unexpectedly time consuming to review, etc.

2) Bad cards can always be refactored. You can suspend the card (where the card is still in the database, but removed from the learning queue); reword; or split into multiple cards.

Michael Nielsen [0] gives an example of a card which asked for the syntax for creating a symbolic link in Linux. He always messed up the order of the filname/linkname, so he created an additional card that explicitly asked for the order of the filname/linkename in the ln-command.

3) The only way of learning how to make good cards is by just starting making cards, and then noticing which ones don't work.

When a card doesn't stick, it's useful to ask yourself what doesn't work and why. Is the back side surprising when you reveal it? If so, maybe rewrite the card to add more context to the front to make it clearer what you're asking for. Do you always miss one or two pieces of the answer? If so, maybe split the card into multiple cards, each of which asks for one part of the answer. (Or add an additional card to direct your attention specifically towards what you struggle with, ala Nielsen.) Etc.

4) There's diminishing returns on card improvement. Time spent on perfecting an already OK card is time taken away from creating new cards to remember new information. If your goal is to remember as much as possible in a given time, spending time on perfecting already existing cards is trade-off not always worth making. (The quote: "a poem's never finished, only abandoned" comes to mind to highlight this.)

[0] [http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html](http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html)

<comment><USER4> Thanks for your detailed reply. These are all good points. I need constant reminders about perfectionism and I like that quote.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I often make an explicit effort to convert frequent actions from "System 2" to "System 1" (in the language of Daniel Kahneman) as soon as I can. For example, if I'm learning a foreign language, I commit common expressions (not words) to memory as soon as possible. If I'm learning a new software (say Adobe Illustrator or emacs), I commit the common shortcuts to memory as well. It's often one of the first things I do.

Then, when I actually learn the more complicated stuff, I don't ever think about the basic stuff (and I get that out of the way very early in the learning process). I think it frees up my brain to focus on the complexities of any domain a bit sooner than I would otherwise.

I'm not sure this method generalizes to other people, but it seems to work for me across various domains. I think the use of rote memorization is a bit underappreciated (given how useless it seems in high school or university), but I've continually found it useful in my professional life.

[Edit] It's also useful to identify what the "common action" are, and in general that's only from "learning by doing" and realizing what's important/what's not - then saving the important stuff to the "hot path" of processing.

<comment><USER7> I think rote learning is only not applicable when you are learning disparate facts with no relation to the whole.

For example, learning all of the HTTP status codes before you know anything about HTTP could seem like a waste of time.

However, when you are writing a server that makes api calls to a third-party service, when you receive a 400, if you know the codes by rote you won't have to research / reason why you are receiving that code.

I think "learning by doing" usually ends with more self-directed, problem solving learning. This type of learning can show your weaknesses and provide you with holes in your knowledge that you can use rote memorizing to fill.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> In my experience, it's vagueness of learning goals that actually kills my attempts at learning.

In an effort to overcome this, I now try to commit to a formal learning program with examinations and tests for things I want to learn. This gives me a definite body of knowledge to master and a criteria to judge my progress. I have used this successfully with learning the rudiments of Sanskrit. I enrolled in a correspondence course program and had online sessions with a Sanskrit tutor for some time.

Where such a program doesn't exist or isn't feasible, it still helps to stick to a definite text. For example, if you want to learn classical mechanics, it helps to stick to just one book rather than refer to books and videos from here and there and losing track of your learning program in the process.

</comment><comment><USER9> Anything I am good at, the common theme for why I am good is the interest (or force) to keep at it for years, reading, and tons of practice. There really is no way around practice. Practice is what separates most people who are good at things from those who aren't.

Music, math, programming, writing, learning languages, painting, drawing, physics, finance, etc. Find good books and good teachers/videos/other instruction, and practice relentlessly.

<comment><AUTHOR> _Practice is what separates most people who are good things from those who aren 't._

Yes, but mindless practice doesn't help, isn't it? Is there a deliberate method to your practice? How do you keep track of your weak areas, and how do you specifically practice those weak areas?

<comment> barry-cotter Mindless practice will get you substantially further than not doing anything. Even when you have only the vaguest idea what you're doing doing something beats doing nothing almost universally. Deliberate practice is great but with a tight feedback loop just doing things works wonders.

If you spend 1000 hours doing mindless practice you won't get as far as someone who spends 500 hours practicing deliberately but you are unlikely to do worse than the person who did 100 hours.

<comment><USER10> More than "practice makes perfect", it really is "practice makes permanent"

At least in martial arts, I have learnt the hard way that if you had practiced a particular form wrong, then it takes that much more time to undo the learning, especially if it is the basics.

<comment><USER11> Amen.

Growing up, I asked so often for guidance for how to learn to write essays. I got told "just do it" and "just write the damned essay" and "just buckle down" so much I concluded that there wasn't a way to learn a better writing process. So, I practiced writing via my having an emotional breakdown, procrastinating heavily and doing something at the last minute. As a 29-year-old, I'm trying to unlearn this and figure out how to write a technical blog post in a calm this-is-merely-work sort of way. Its really hard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> 1\. Produce learning artefacts. Scribbles, notes, flash cards, mind-maps, drawings, projects, whatever. Don't let that overtake you or break your ingestion flow, and don't worry about that being usable in the future. Act of structuring that information is the key here.

2\. Avoid learning what you won't put in practice immediately after. This is also useful to cull effectively infinite space of what you may want to learn next.

3\. Learn the basics. Do not worry about this being marketable skill or knowledge - it'll pay dividends later on. "Basics" is not quantum physics, it's whatever's layer below the layer you're comfortable with.

4\. Keep using what you learned, even if it's a toy project. Don't worry about making it public or useful to others.

<comment><USER13> I can't stress how important 2. is to learning. I don't think I learned anything well unless I used what I learned in practice. Reciprocal don't add anything to your learning if you won't use it on a regular basis.

<comment><USER14> i cant claim fantastic success, but I tend to flip this around. rather than say ' i want to learn to do x', i just start trying to do x and figure it out. obviously thats not very effective.

but when I do start to read the canon, everything makes so much more sense. pleased at having extracted some useful hints I go back to screwing everything up, but a little better this time..and repeat.

that means that i've wasted alot of time doing things the wrong way, but after that*, insight happens in a flash.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> If I get a notion to do something, I first research what it is I want to achieve and how others have solved it. Once I decide on an approach (tools, time, etc.) I then read as much as I can before starting. I then prototype, make mistakes, get it right. I then document while implementing. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The Marines teach a concept know as BAMCIS (Bam-sys), which I still use loosely.

BAMCIS is an acronym: Begin planning, Arrange for reconnaissance, Make reconnaissance, Complete the plan, Issue the order, and Supervise.

This, in a nutshell, is how Marines plan and execute, and explains much of how they get stuff done, save lives, be successful with missions.

</comment><comment><USER16> This will come up in any Hackernews thread that mentions spaced repetition, so I might as well mention it to get it over with.

Supermemo [1].

SuperMemo is the king of spaced repetition software.

Anki uses the algorithm from an earlier version of SuperMemo - SM2. The current version of the algorithm used in SuperMemo is SM17.

The benchmark for the algorithm's performance is the repetition workload. I don't have the numbers close hand. But the point is that the repetition intervals in SuperMemo will increase much faster than in Anki, but you will have the same, if not better, retention rate.

Also, it has Incremental reading.

To be honest, I used Anki on and off for more than five years. SuperMemo scared me, with its ugly non-conventional interface. But in the end, I succumbed, and now for the first time, I actually do my repetitions every day for 4 months now.

This despite the fact that I have to boot into Windows from Mac OS every time I need it.

It helped me learn Python and a bunch of other less practical things.

Of course, spaced repetition is not all you need for better learning. Most of what you need to know is covered in the Coursera Learning How To Learn course.

Jim Kwik is also good.

[1]: [https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Main_Page](https://supermemo.guru/wiki/Main_Page)

</comment><comment><USER17> Make a routine and commit to it, like going to the gym, or brushing your teeth. You just find time to carve out in the day to practice/learn, even if its like twenty minutes. Typically I would use this time to actually DO something - work through a tutorial, write a scraper to scrape NBA data, try some new library, etc. If you have a particularly helpful book on your topic, then use the time to read that (and preferably practice the material in the book).

I always found the Jerry Seinfeld method helpful - he would commit to writing material every single night, and mark his calendar with an X when he was done. Over time, he built up such a streak that it became almost second nature - <USER2> had come so far he did not want to break his streak, and break up that marvelous chain of 'X's on his calendar.

</comment><comment><USER18> Learning how to learn course in coursera is by far the best resource, I compiled some other resources in my wiki [https://github.com/hrnn/wiki/wiki/Lifelong- Learning](https://github.com/hrnn/wiki/wiki/Lifelong-Learning) hope it helps.

</comment><comment><USER19> I don't know if it's really scientific or not but I was convinced (or maybe the right word is duped) by this BBC article:

>An effortless way to improve your memory

>A surprisingly potent technique can boost your short and long-term recall – and it appears to help everyone from students to Alzheimer's patients.

Link:

[http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180208-an-effortless- way-t...](http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180208-an-effortless-way-to- strengthen-your-memory)

I found it so compelling that I consciously follow this effortless method.

</comment><comment><USER20> For me personally, I tend to remember things better if I write them down.

If I'm at a lecture, I take notes. If I'm reading a textbook (e.g., studying), I take notes. If I'm in a meeting, I take notes. And once I'm done taking notes, I transcribe those notes into more structured notes, since they were taken hastily, and I probably wouldn't be able to decode them later if I didn't do it right away.

Anyway, that's my process. Hope it helps.

</comment><comment><USER21> What you're learning will fall into different categories, physical, mental or a combination of both. They will employ their on strategies to help them stick. I put language learning in the third category. Anki + srs for memorising vocab, When recalling vocab and phrases, mnemonics etc there's tonnes information online nowadays.

Something you won't hear often is this tip: Try and action/gesture what you're trying to say before you say it. I have no explanation why this works so well when learning but it's a technique actors use when embodying a character.

Then the obvious tip is to practice with native speakers,

If you have something purely physical, you have * Mental rehearsal of the action (anki) * Execution of the action in practice. For this to be helpful you need feedback, you could use a coach or record yourself * performance - like in a sport.

Had to rewrite my response because I went to heavy on the language learning tips

This is what I've used to date

</comment><comment><USER22> My method to learn most things (mostly applies to technical subjects learned as a hobbyist in my case):

1\. Grab all the textbooks I can find on Libgen on the topic.

2\. Read tables of contents to get a high level view of the main components of the subject and the scope of what you want to learn.

3\. Start reading (I usually skip introductions too) from the textbook that looks most appealing/authoritative (cross check on Amazon, or curricula from well known universities, but sometimes even the design of the textbook can make it more motivating/easy to consume, e.g. I hate most "modern" textbooks that have 25 random boxes of text per page — very confusing reading experience).

4\. Keep going until you get confused/tired.

5\. If still motivated/have enough energy, see how other books cover the same topic to see if it's clearer.

6\. If you're too tired to read, try Youtube videos covering the topic.

7\. Sleep.

8\. Repeat, start over from where you feel you have good command of the topic.

</comment><comment><USER23> Throw yourself into it, such as by speaking Chinese, in this example. I've learnt much more that way than theoretical reading, videos, etc.

I learnt 100x more about running a startup after starting one, and initially doing a bad job, than by reading thousands of blog posts.

<comment><USER11> What should you do if before throwing yourself into a situation, you think, "I can't imagine how I would handle this well." And then during the situation you think "aaaahhhhh! I don't know what is going on or how to usefully focus my attention or get anything done!" And then after the situation you think "well, I failed pretty badly there"?

I've found in that sort of situation, it is tremendously useful to find a good book or other form of guidance so that I have a mental framework to organize information and a way to imagine myself succeeding. You know the OODA loop? I think theoretical knowledge really helps with the 'Orient' step.

<comment><USER23> There may be some people for which my advice is bad.

But otherwise, these are lessons. If you don't focus, and so get nothing done, you'll learn to focus, by saying no to some things, even if everyone tells you they're critical.

Conversely, if you focus too much on one thing, do it excellently, and fail at other things, which I've done, I've learnt to do things to the extent needed, not more, as opposed to building a car with the world's best engine but no steering wheel.

This has just been my experience. I respect that it may not work for you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Best way to learn is to read the necessary information once or twice, then just do it.

If you're taking an exam, learn it by taking practice exams and looking up what you get wrong.

If you're building an application, build it, mess up, then rebuild it.

If you're learning a language, memorize the basic nouns and verbs, then jump in and start writing and speaking in that language. Look up what you don't know, then jump back in and keep on keeping on.

Use mental maps and word associations for memorizing.

Reading while walking helps me a lot surprisingly.

Learn stuff right before you sleep and you're brain will process the information while you sleep.

Exercise to keep your mind right. It's another way to meditate, but you also get a healthy body.

<comment> barry-cotter > If you're taking an exam, learn it by taking practice exams and looking up > what you get wrong.

Nothing exposes the fact that you don't know a damned thing like attempting past or specimen exam papers, or answering the questions in a textbook.

<comment><USER24> Ha yeah, but after the first run at least you know what you don't know.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> What I would like to know is how to retain what I learn in the long-term. It's not too difficult to memorise things, either by rote memorisation or using some of the techniques described here. But, how can I remember something banal that I learn today in 10 or 20 years - without using spaced repetition, as I find that is not always maintainable in the long term.

Why is my brain so efficient at erasing things I went through so much trouble at one point, and for a specific purpose, to memorise. It seems to decide for itself that this piece of information is irrelevant at some point and just wipes it away. Like a overly pro-active personal assistant.

<comment><USER7> There are a bunch of evolutionary reasons that your brain forgets things that aren't used. Check this article for some related to sleep: [https://www.supermemo.com/en/archives1990-2015/articles/slee...](https://www.supermemo.com/en/archives1990-2015/articles/sleep)

But based on the current models of memory, you seem to be correct, your brain has a couple of criteria that it uses to determine whether or not it should retain memories. Frequency (spacing) is one, novelty could be another.

Even memories learned through mnemonics can ultimately be forgotten if not reviewed.

And I think the brain keeps itself plastic by optimizing "unnecessary" information out. Unfortunately, without help we can't choose which information is removed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Persistence. Set a low goal of 10 pages per day or 20 minutes or something really really achievable. Make sure you do at least that much per day. All the clever tricks in the world are worthless if you aren't putting in the time.

<comment><USER27> This is the real key for me. Every day I play an instrument for at least 10 minutes, sing for at least 10 minutes, and exercise for at least 10 minutes. Sometimes guided practice, sometimes noodling, but always something.

A great mentor of mine told me that if you want people to code quickly and without so much bureaucracy, convince them they are just making V1, a toy implementation, a prototype, etc. As opposed to The Solution. I think the same thing applies with picking up new skills. Approach it as fun and it _will_ be fun.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> One of my tried and true learning habits that help tremendously is reading/watching the content VERY QUICKLY -- and not for full comprehension. I watch all educational videos at 2x speed as well as audio books first. With prose I speed through large chunks of pages at a time. Then going through it again at a normal pace. Helps a ton for retention and also boosts confidence on completely unknown subjects.

</comment><comment><USER29> Learn by doing.

I taught myself morse code by actually using morse code on ham radio, not by drilling myself silly with code practice tools (which is imperative to learn the alphabet, but after that it's less practical).

There's no number of videos or essays or books etc that will make you magically get better. You must take what you discover from those sources and put muscle (and/or brainpower) into the activity yourself.

<comment><USER11> Its important not to misread this advice as "don't seek out books/videos/guidence". The value of those things is they point out where to direct your focus and thereby help you stay focused.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I track things I am learning now & want to learn in a Trello board ([https://trello.com/b/cu32qF3q](https://trello.com/b/cu32qF3q)).

And I try to learn things by building projects I care about ideally. ([https://trello.com/b/alB1ryRP](https://trello.com/b/alB1ryRP)).

</comment><comment><USER31> Keep throwing yourself into the deep end. Like, when I was learning pole dance, at one point my teacher told me that I was a _lot_ more willing to keep trying new moves that I didn't have the hang of yet than most students. Most of them would try it a couple timesheet, then go back to refining something they already had. (Also don't try learning pole dance without a teacher, you could very quickly get in way over your head and break something.)

Keep a diary. A physical diary. Specifically for this thing you're learning, it's a second diary if you're already keeping one. Maybe in a nice notebook with a nice pen clipped to it, maybe in a cheap dollar store notebook, whatever. Every day, write down what you did with regards to this thing you're learning - did you read/watch new stuff, did you actually try practicing this new skill you're learning? If you didn't do anything, then _write down that you did nothing_. This will help push you to actually try _using_ these developing skills on a regular basis.

</comment><comment><USER32> I think learning how to build habits is underrated. I'm naturally very curious but I also tend to be impatient and easily discouraged, so in the past I've hopped from project to project without really ever finishing anything.

Recently I've been taking to heart the idea that 'if something is worth doing, it's worth doing half-assed', which basically means picking up a new body of knowledge during my downtime and letting myself slowly progress. I have a lot more fun when I'm not pressuring myself for instant results and I've seen moderate gains for the things I've been picking up (going to the gym, learning Japanese).

Taking things more slowly also helps my brain digest ideas. Sometimes I'll go faster when I feel like it's a good day; it all depends on how my brain feels. Sometimes I think people forget the brain is a muscle; it also needs rest to recover from strenuous use and to make tangible gains.

</comment><comment><USER33> If I were to learn a new language, I would try to immerse myself in it as soon as possible. Ideas: change your OS display language, select a VPN server in a country where it's the primary language so you occasionally get localized pages, partake in online forums, read children's stories, speak the language with a friend (I usually have at least one friend whose native language is the one I'm learning) or get a pen pal, watch movies and listen to music, write poems.

As for the actual learning methodology, I would use the one I always use: study, use/experiment, rest. I call that one learning block, of which I can do one to three in a day. A study phase of tops an hour focused on few concepts followed by a use/experimentation phase, and then a rest phase of twenty minutes to an hour (I prefer walking, no earphones, just the quiet--I don't want any new inputs during this phase).

The resting phase is critical for me, you can also call it a timeout, and it's something I do many times in the course of a week. It's not actually resting, it's a period of time I set aside where I "disconnect" and block all inputs. I don't listen to music or any other audio, I won't allow anything to disturb me, the phone's on silent and won't be touched or looked at, no screens at all. During this time my brain is processing new information and relating it to old--making connections. My only job is to think about nothing in particular while I walk or just sit/lay on the couch. This is when most ideas, insights and deeper understanding come to me. When I'm done, I jot down whatever manifested.

To maintain knowledge, you must actively engage. And why would you not? I would not learn a new language as a project or challenge and then not use it, I would use it for the rest of my life. By learning a new language, you can open new doors, alter your perspective, and gain understanding and empathy for people you previously knew little about.

</comment><comment><USER34> 1 - While learning some subject learn surrounding concepts or related facts as well. For example, if you are learning Calculus - learn the historical context, infinitesimal approach. If you are preparing for an exam and your text book gives one method and a specific topic, try learning related additional concepts and additional methods. This will help in not forgetting the core concept of technique. A close approximation scenario(not entirely true - but gives you an idea): you learn one forget one, learn four and retain two.

2 - Spaced Repetition - people have covered already.

3 - Active Recall - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_recall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_recall)

4 - Active Learning - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_learning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_learning)

Edit: Paragraph alignment

</comment><comment><USER35> Snarky answer: Getting a college degree in the subject is a really great way to start.

For any given activity, there is someone better than you at it and you can save yourself a lot of pain by learning through them.

I optimize a lot around avoiding decision fatigue.

Take a class on the subject taught by an expert. In person is better than a MOOC. A few words of advice from an expert can be worth YEARS of trying and failing. Also, having a group of people to learn with can be helpful in motivating you. Finally, you avoid decision fatigue because you have someone telling you what to do and learn, and when to do and learn it.

Read a bunch of books on the subject. From history to technical application. Books are not a perfect way to improve, but they are an easy way to dive in and get your hands dirty. Also, it is one less decision to make. Tired that day? Read the book.

</comment><comment><USER36> I'd use mind maps to make notes, and spaced recognition to remember, and would try to understand context as much as possible.

With language learning though I'd try to get lessons on italki to speak with native speakers of that language. Grammar drills. Anki/Memrise for spaced repitition.

</comment><comment><USER37> Most of my life I've been self reliant. My thought process is that hard work pays off and that I can do anything I put my mind to. This often leads to some form of independence which I've learned is actually closer to isolationism.

I realized this by observing a good friend of mine. Whenever he wanted to learn something, he sought out an expert in that field and asked them for some of their time. Sometimes it was a golf lesson he paid for, sometimes it was a business leader he admired and just reached out to for some advice.

I immediately saw that I should strive to learn more collaboratively, through and with others.

</comment><comment><USER38> Much of learning is repetition. I don't have the best long term memory so I solve this by regularly keeping an engineering journal. I designed a Django app to help me with this at work. Should it be of any help to you feel free to use it, hack it or build off it. Cheers~S

[https://gitlab.com/shanedora/bornstellar](https://gitlab.com/shanedora/bornstellar)

</comment><comment><USER39> Besides practicing a lot I like reading books on the topic I'm learning. Usually multiple books and always from start to finish instead of jumping around in the book.

I apply this mostly when learning programming languages or frameworks or tools. It's amazing how much small details you can pick up when reading an in- depth book on the topic cover to cover. Even for things you've been using for years.

</comment><comment><USER40> Cal Newport's Deep Work(0) is a fantastic treatise on exactly this topic, but extendable to many more.

(0) [https://hackernewsbooks.com/book/deep-work-rules-for- focused...](https://hackernewsbooks.com/book/deep-work-rules-for-focused- success-in-a-distracted-world/d1b3b31390821e96e1e8f5a5f8855444)

</comment><comment><USER41> This blog post may be useful, it's a summary of learning strategies: [https://becomingoverhuman.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/how-i- lea...](https://becomingoverhuman.wordpress.com/2018/11/30/how-i-learn/)

</comment><comment><USER42> Take a look at this Quora question: how do top students study? [https://www.quora.com/How-do-top-students- study/answer/Hooma...](https://www.quora.com/How-do-top-students- study/answer/Hooman-Katirai-2)

</comment><comment><USER42> Take a look at this Quora post on How do top students study: [https://www.quora.com/How-do-top-students- study/answer/Hooma...](https://www.quora.com/How-do-top-students- study/answer/Hooman-Katirai-2)

</comment><comment><USER7> For a good article on proper language learning, check out the guys from Antimoon.

They go into detail on how to learn a language and many myths regarding the topic.

[https://www.antimoon.com/](https://www.antimoon.com/)

</comment><comment><USER43> You need to put the concepts you are learning into practice. If you just read and study something, no matter how long you do it, you will never truly digest the information.

Try things, fail, learn why you failed, do it the right way, succeed, repeat.

</comment><comment><USER44> Try to make it fun.

If you enjoy the learning process, there is a much higher likelihood that you'll stick with it in the long-term, and a much higher likelihood that you'll dedicate a lot of time to the learning process.

</comment><comment><USER45> Applying what you are learning to a project you are working on, you get free "spaced repetition" that way every time you use that bit and/or come back to re-read/edit it.

</comment><comment><USER46> The single most underestimated tactic to enhance your learning is to improve your speed and retention in Reading.

</comment><comment><USER47> I've been using Piracetam and Noopept

</comment><comment><USER48> Science has already looked into this[1] (in the more "academic" aspect of learning, but I think it can be applied to anything really).

Most effective techniques:

1\. Simulate you are being evaluated and take exams regularly. Your brain connections seem to strengthen every time you try to fetch information you already know, and nothing better to force that retrieving than a quiz. What you can do is create yourself a small exam with what you've learned today and take the quiz tomorrow. When you are creating the exam you'll think the questions are so easy (you've just learned them) but at the other day you'll be surprised by how many you don't remember/get wrong.

2\. Distributed practice: Say you are willing to invest 800 hours learning something new. Would it be better to do it obsesively and cram them in in 3 months? Or to space them out over the course of a year? Well the more spaced the practice, the longer the topic will be remembered. Of course you need to put a lot of continuous hours at the beginning when you know nothing but after a time it's quite important to revisit the topic from time to time. Even revisiting learned topics once a year can make them stick long term in your brain.

3\. Do not apply rule #1 by discrete topics, try to mix them up. There was an experiment where students were taught how to calculate the volume of four different solids. In one group they were instructed on how to calculate the volume of one solid, then they made exercises about that type of solid. After that they were explained how to calculate the volume of the second, made exercises about it and so on. In the other group they were given the instructions on how to calculate all four groups and at the end given exercises asking about all 4 methods mixed. They not only had to apply the formula, they had to choose which formula to apply. The results? The first group got 80% right right after they were instructed, whereas the 2nd got 60% right. But after one week? The first group got 20% right while the 2nd maintained the 60%

4\. The why technique. Ask why and why like a little child in a chain until you get to foundational concepts / axioms. This way you'll get to the "first principles" or fundamental concepts of whatever you are studying. Building the "tree" before the "leaves" as Elon Musk says.

Anecdata: I learned german from 0 to 97% score in the B1 official test in ~7 months, while at the same coursing CS in the university and living very far from any german-speaking country. I tried to apply all the techniques presented here, for example I made dozens of preparatory test for every level I was... I tried to be doing something related to german all the time (chilling time was watching german movies, listening to german radio or playing german musik at the background hehe) ... I tried to mix up everything I could, for example anki-style cards are awesome, but you'd be very bored if you had to repeat them for hours every day. I also went out and tried to meet as much germans/austrians/swiss living in my city as possible (there are language events, tandem partner programs and etc in all big cities). But I think the most important factor to actually put the hours is motivation, I would earn a 1 year scholarship in Germany if I did learn german in a short time.

I tried to learn french a couple of years ago without a clear goal and was very unsuccessful.

[1] [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233088142_The_cogni...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233088142_The_cognitive_functions_of_underlining_as_a_study_technique)

</comment><comment><USER49> Getting enough sleep.

</comment><comment><USER50> Read and listen, practice, fix mistakes, repeat.

</comment><comment><USER51> Learn how to learn and deliberate practice.

</comment><comment><USER52> Know Yourself: there are many learning styles, most people lean towards one (e.g. visual, verbal, learning by doing or physical).

[https://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/](https://www.learning- styles-online.com/overview/)

Motivation and inspiration play a huge role. So, Why are you learning something? If there is a profound motivation to learn something, with deep meaning, then learning becomes exponentially easier. Think of the neurochemistry involved when comparing an activity which intrinsically always produces joy, vs. trudging through an activity which only causes suffering.

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P1JDJO/ref=dp-kindle- redirect?...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004P1JDJO/ref=dp-kindle- redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

So then a hack is convincing yourself of profound meaning within the thing you're attempting to learn.

[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W94FE6/ref=dp-kindle- redirect?...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000W94FE6/ref=dp-kindle- redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

Study Flow. Someone posted the idea that we want to avoid autopilot. I agree one must really focus to be mindful of what is contributing or conflicting with their learning. But I somewhat disagree, as the experience of Flow, when the challenge is great, is actually ideal, and in my experience is akin to a form of conscious autopilot. Once a skill is mastered, and flow is harnessed while competing at a high level, then one can recognize optimal experience as optimal performance, and thus the goal of learning and mastering a skill. I know English, and I don't have to think about each word to generate a sentence. I can think about the central concept and let the words come on their own. As a software developer I think way less about syntax and language nuances, and more about the problem I'm trying to solve, then the solution arrives on its own. Yes raise the bar, and yes pay attention to difficulties you have, overcome the gaps in knowledge and skill, then experience flow, enjoy it, iterate on that. I think a key is recognizing how to enjoy it, so you keep coming back to learn more.

And then speaking of concepts, think of Jungian Archetypes or Mythological Abstractions. Jung believed the realm of the unconscious was just as real as the computer you're interacting with. Out of this realm arises abstract concepts which apply to all of human psychology, across humanity (cue OO programming, and abstraction layers, for the programmers in the room). So then, discrete concepts can fit into their parent abstraction. Arts like Jiu Jitsu, reflections on human nature, leadership in business and studies of military strategy, can overlap with one another (the Jocko Podcast is a great illustration of this). So then once you begin to master a skill, you can take abstract concepts and apply them to something new, only expanding on what you already know about yourself, rather than what you might consider to be completely foreign.

Of course, all the suggestions on this page are certainly helpful. When it comes to learning skills, I have a tendency to look a bit deeper in order to learn quickly. I believe there is a mindset where 100 hours in a new skill, leveraging 10000 hours in a previous skill, will be far superior to the 500 or 1000 hours of deliberate learning when the focus of learning is too narrow and the overlap isn't noticed.

It's like sports or strength training. Steve Nash grew up playing soccer first and didn't start playing basketball until middle school. Michel Jordan wasn't great at baseball, but he still played professionally. Anyone remember Bo Jackson? "Bo Knows" baseball and football.

Just thoughts, hopefully stimulating and helpful.

</comment><comment><USER53> take notes and look at 'em before sleep, Is what work best for me.

</comment><comment><USER54> I had a serious math problem when i started studying at university. Not only had i not used math in a long time (except the most basic algebra). I had build a sincere rejection mechanism to it, beeing force fed by my rather religious parents, and thus having turned on math with the same scorched earth policy of ignorance i applied to bible studies.

The trick to overcome that almost physical reaction, was to couple it with something i loved. Which was programming games. So sinus and cosinus was needed? I would add grenades using sinewaves for bouncing, scaled by a time factor. It was not always usefull or meaningfull work. But i kept the problems in my head, until i understood and could solve them with the new tools i got.

So i guess that is my advice, take something you love and glue what you want to learn to it. Switch frequently so that you have successes and not just non stop starting frustration. Apply in large doses.

</comment><comment><USER55> Depends on the domain. For languages, having learnt or being learning a few (including Japanese & Chinese) my approach is to first learn about the phonology. Then basic vocabulary and grammar, searching words I don't know in the street (not everything) and having input from authentic material. I prefer learning from books using multiple one at the same time and cherry picking on what pick my interest. Having a few friends in the target language is a huge help to understand some concept or learn about cultural point. Also Wikipedia.

For other things, reading accessible research papers, reference books and searching for unknown concepts when I encounter them, sometimes ask people about a thing or two.</comment>


Want to Work in 18 Miles of Books? First, the Quiz - <AUTHOR> http://nytimes.com/2016/07/17/nyregion/want-to-work-in-18-miles-of-books-first-the-quiz.html <comment><USER2> The quiz itself (which has changed over the years) is not provided. And the last paragraph of the article makes it clear that the bookstore itself doesn't take the quiz seriously as a hiring screen.

But the article fits, in a quirky way, into the HN "how to hire" and "company culture" categories.</comment>


Pinscreen Deepfake Live Prototype [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imOreIfpzsU <comment><USER2> Before anyone is panicking, please remind yourself that whatever medium was used by humans as a form of communication in the last few thousand years, was also used for fakes. You only need a half-decent voice actor to pretend you are someone else on the phone. Fake photographs are as old as photography. Even the probably most immediate form of interpersonal communication, seeing another person, can be faked, which is demonstrated by the many Doppelgängers used by politicians in the past. The power of the house Habsburg basically had its roots in several imperial documents and bulls faked by Rudolf IV. in 1358 (which was only discovered in the 19th century).

This isn't a new phenomenon that now means that we cannot trust anything anymore - it's only that the fakes are finally catching up with live video.

<comment><USER3> In the past, you needed to put effort to fake things. Of course, people still exist that believe the moonlanding videos were faked, but their hypothesis hinges on the government spending extraordinary amounts of money to produce the fake.

Deepfakes are deeply troubling, because anyone with a computer (a requirement that's getting optional as well quite fast) can fake any video almost instantly.

Consider just one sinister motive that's already making women in many countries cower in fear: if you reject a dude he can just make a deepfake porn video with you and release it as revenge. What's the equivalent of this in the distant past? All a guy could have done is "allege" the woman is so-and-so, which to be sure, probably did ruin some women's lives, but it's almost as if our society has devolved back to that same Stone age at best then.

And we live in a time when "facts" already don't matter much anymore and people are just looking to find evidence that supports their claim alone rather than the truth. To not take this technology seriously, to brush it off because "sensible" people will still pursue to seek the truth, is the kind of smug arrogance about questionable tech that has led us to the current overall shit:sandwich state of affairs to begin with. Let's hope we learn some lessons at least.

<comment><USER4> What the original commenter is saying, and what I will agree will happen, is that the behavior of automatically trusting video as evidence will go away. I think this is actually a good thing if it encourages people to dig deeper into the sources of information.

> If you reject a dude he can just make a deepfake porn video with you and > release it as revenge.

This will be troubling at first, but again in the long run it will likely just lead to people not taking these sort of videos seriously and interpreting them as a joke / weird stuff on the Internet. This already essentially happens with Photoshop and celebrities.

> And we live in a time when "facts" already don't matter much anymore and > people are just looking to find evidence that supports their claim alone > rather than the truth

This is how human beings have been since the beginning of time. There is no "Golden Age of Rationality" that we are exiting.

<comment><USER5> > What the original commenter is saying, and what I will agree will happen, is > that the behavior of automatically trusting video as evidence will go away.

This is doubtful. People still believe in pictures despite it's so easy to forge. People believe obvious oral lies. Hell, people believe tweets.

The video medium is incredibly powerful, and the damage it can do is huge.

We are going to suffer for this, and most people won't even understand why.

<comment><USER6> I am observing increasing number of people is now seriously believe in "Moon Hoax". Definitely more than back in 70-80th. Why is that? Generation of YouTube? Deliberate propaganda?

<comment><USER7> Don't forget the Flat Earth movement.

I don't think anything about that is "deliberate propaganda".

It's just nutjobs gathering and gatherings of nutjobs creating more nutjobs. It's much easier these days with "social" media.

<comment><USER8> What is the actual social impact of the flat earth thing, though? Is flat earth creating new nutjobs? Does it really have the power to draw from the ranks of the rational, or is it drawing in people who would have fallen for something absurd eventually? I'd be curious to find out what social conditions predispose people to believing it.

<comment><USER9> They have big conferences about it, as long as no one is hurt all good with that, but truly doubt that people aren't being hurt by this delusion.

It's an illness that demands rejection of overwhelming proof, it leads down dark paths, much like how arsonists become murderers these things need to be cutoff at the stem. There's nothing wrong with that

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The human brain is very skilled at recognizing faces, it's the result of evolution.

While deepfake are high quality, I think most people can notice that it's not entirely authentic. A deepfake cannot really account for the shape of the skull, face mimics, face muscles, how the head and jaw move, etc, there are many things that the human brain works on to identify a face. I'm not really sure that deepfakes measure and render all those things reliably.

So I'm not really convinced by deepfakes in general. It's mostly a glorified silicon mask, nothing more: it will trick people if they're far away enough. Those might be able to fool face recognition softwares, but not humans, even those who are aware of deepfakes.

<comment><USER11> I think people are mostly able to tell because they are told "this is a deepfake video of arnold schwarzenegger" (and the technology is early). Now imagine someone deepfakes a video of a gathering of people taken from across the room. It purportely shows a politician talking to some constituents and espousing some whacky ideas. It gets posted and before the politician can address it, it's already gone viral and there are pitchforks at their door. The video quality issues are hidden by the fact that it is a grainy cell phone video in a dimmly lit room with digital zoom enabled.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Can someone explain the difference of this and a typical Instagram / Snapchat filter? Sorry I'm a bit of a deepfake n00b

<comment><USER13> This looks slightly better. It's also a bit more in the uncanny valley in my humble opinion.

<comment><USER14> Another technical difference is deepfake is end-to-end and nobody knows the exact maths applied to each pixels, while filters are more or less hand crafted functions.

This particular article is not that impressive, looks like animation to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The George Bush example was not impressive. I havent seen many DeepFakes, but is hair generally not part of the equation?

<comment><USER16> I don't think hair is usually included in the faked part. Generally for a convincing result you would use a base video of someone who has at least some semblance to the target (including hair).

It is also possible that hair was disabled to get real-time performance for this (quite impressive) demo.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Hmm, I thought deep fakes consume lots of computational power both at training and inference time. Is there some tech/science breakthrough here or they have just scaled it up to more hardware?

<comment><USER18> I think it's the training of the model that requires most of the time, once that's done it just needs to decide what to swap with swap.

So I'd expect it to only work on the 1 person in the demo, with the 4 famous people depicted.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> though I have to admit this looks like the best in class, there is a public real time deep fake service already available: [https://www.aphrodite.ai/](https://www.aphrodite.ai/)

</comment><comment><USER20> Damnit he skipped the female models. Which I think is the most funny. Thinking about monetization - what about animal models? Who wouldn't want to look like a panther...

</comment><comment><USER21> Most of the debate here is around evil use cases for this but I just keep thinking how it will aid in the creation of memes

<comment><USER22> I don't necessarily see the contradiction...

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Why did he choose celebrities of different races? Did more similar faces fall even deeper into the uncanny valley?

<comment><USER13> Ethnicity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> OH NO! PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO START USING SKEPTICISM AND CRITICAL THINKING WHEN WATCHING VIDEOS FROM SHADY PARTS OF THE INTERNET!

</comment><comment><USER25> How can we achieve this with what's available in open source world? Or is it only available as a proprietary system?

<comment><USER26> Some recent links and models and code, updated early 2020 Q1

[https://github.com/iperov/DeepFaceLab](https://github.com/iperov/DeepFaceLab) ("More than 95% of deepfake videos are created with DeepFaceLab. DeepFaceLab is used by such popular youtube channels as Ctrl Shift Face, Sham00k, Collider videos, VFXChris Ume")

[https://github.com/deepfakes/faceswap](https://github.com/deepfakes/faceswap)

[https://faceswap.dev/](https://faceswap.dev/)

[https://forum.faceswap.dev/](https://forum.faceswap.dev/)

[https://dfblue.com/](https://dfblue.com/)

[https://pub.dfblue.com/pub/2019-10-25-deepfacelab- tutorial](https://pub.dfblue.com/pub/2019-10-25-deepfacelab-tutorial)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> It scares ma a lot!

</comment><comment><USER28> Funny how all this deep fake scare is happening just as important people like Epstein & cohorts start being brought down...</comment>


Progress Button Styles - <AUTHOR> http://tympanus.net/Development/ProgressButtonStyles/

<comment><USER2> Is there a GitHub repo for this, or a version control link of some kind? The page doesn't appear to offer any way to get the code short of yanking it from source (which seems less than ideal because the page doesn't clarify a license), and the blog post linked in the top right only offers a zip.

</rant>

I do realize that not everybody subscribes to the "Everything is a repo" philosophy that holds sway for me, and that tarballs and the like are still used by a significant portion of the internet to share code. I just wish I could sell more people on The Repo Way :)

<comment><USER3> [https://github.com/codrops/ProgressButtonStyles](https://github.com/codrops/ProgressButtonStyles)

<comment><USER2> <3 Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This reminds me of this UX Overflow post about the right way to do "Yes, delete it": [http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/49991/should-yes- delet...](http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/49991/should-yes-delete-it-be- red-or-green)

I think a more contrasting approach to color is likely better - maybe you start with a green button, which goes Gray on click, and then fills with brighter green. This will avoid issues with color-blindness, or even just myopia, where people won't really see the subtle color filling in.

</comment><comment><USER5> I really love this effect. In use, I would suggest changing the text from "Submit" to "Saving", to better explain what's happening.

<comment><USER6> > changing the text from "Submit" to "Saving", to better explain what's > happening

I took a similar idea from a small remark in the recent "what I would do if I were Tarsnap" article. It made me wonder who uses the verb "submit" nowadays, what meaning does it have to users that are not web-developers (and immediately think of `<input type="submit">`)?

Arguably it makes sense because you are submitting a form to web server, but what common user really thinks of this action in that way?

Maybe this is super obvious to some people, but I was reminded that you can put pretty much any verb in context there, and it'll probably be better than "submit".

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This looks great, nice work.

Do people using this sort of thing (or the YouTube style top of the page loading bar) actually get back real % completed values from the server or do they just use it to show that _something_ is happening?

<comment><USER8> I think the vast majority of sites just make the progress bar move in a way such that it appears to be loading quickly/making progress, but when the server is finally ready the bar just jumps to the end.

<comment><USER9> Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile does this too. If your connection drops out, the progress bar continues to move towards 90%, then gets stuck there forever. It's maddening.

<comment><USER10> That being said, giving a good estimation of page load time is downright impossible.

You don't know in advance how many resources you need to load, you don't know in advance how large they'll be, or how long the DNS reply will take ...

If you don't want the scrollbar to move backwards, you can just give a rough approximation of progress, if any. And if you just wait until you certainly know how long it's going to be you're probably almost finished anyway.

I guess there's a reason web browsers nowadays just use a little spinner that says »I'm doing ... uhm ... _something_!« instead of them pretending »I'm 46.5 % done«.

<comment><USER11> You can't do this very accurately, sure, but you can add some meaning - e.g. report back when each of a number of known steps is completed. That gives a vague idea of whether we're talking seconds or minutes. I might be able to do something else once I know a specific step is complete.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Very nice.

I mean this as a total compliment: HTML/CSS/JS seems to be quickly catching up to the opening scenes of my two favourite news shows from the 1990s: The Day Today [1] and Brass Eye [2]. Thirty second clips of those scenes for each below:

[1] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_nk8PzL0Zw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_nk8PzL0Zw) [2] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuCAQnWyAiQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuCAQnWyAiQ)

</comment><comment><USER9> I like the top-line horizontal version. It's consistent with the new "progress bar on top of single-page application" convention.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The folks at Tympanus have thoughtfully included a tutorial for these effects as well. Check it out at [http://tympanus.net/codrops/2013/12/12/progress- button-style...](http://tympanus.net/codrops/2013/12/12/progress-button- styles/).

</comment><comment><USER13> Some might argue that buttons should remain buttons and loaders should remain loaders.

<comment><USER4> After thinking about it for a minute, I don't have an opinion on your comment either way, but I think it's a good question to ask.

This control is more concise than two controls, which is nice especially on mobile. But, we could easily hide the button with animation, and replace it with a classic loader. Can we say anything about which approach is better, without empirical data?

I excitedly up-voted the post after clicking a few buttons, and I think the author is a creative and clever person either way!

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I highly recommend all of tympanus/codedrops articles and examples. [http://tympanus.net/codrops/category/playground/](http://tympanus.net/codrops/category/playground/)

</comment><comment><USER15> The site has an amazing collection of UI experiments and tutorials! Love it!

</comment><comment><USER16> This page is too green. Can you try with a white background?

<comment><USER17> You can try it yourself, just open firebug/Chrome Developer Tools and edit the body CSS. Don't rely on others to do for you what you can just as easily do yourself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> If this sort of thing interests you then I'd recommend following the Codrops blog. They are always coming up with very innovative and interesting stuff.

</comment><comment><USER19> Viewing on Chromium, and I can't see a single difference in the 10 styles that have "perspective" in the name. Am I just being dense?

<comment><USER20> It says at the top "Without support for transform-style: preserve-3d you will see the fallback style (fill horizontal)." I think support for it is a little flaky on certain linux/graphics driver combos.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Neat. It would be even nicer if it had hover and active states for the buttons as well.

</comment><comment><USER22> I love the whimsy present in some of these, especially in `flip-open perspective`.

</comment><comment><USER23> I'd def go for ROTATE-SIDE-DOWN PERSPECTIVE. Clear, concise and intuitive.

</comment><comment><USER24> This is exactly what i was looking for a long time.

</comment><comment><USER25> Super.

</comment><comment><USER26> I would like to see a version where the progress bar fill-color gets brighter colors as it nears completion.

</comment><comment><USER27> ROTATE-ANGLE-LEFT PERSPECTIVE FTW

<comment><USER28> I hear you. I never saw this before, and it's rare to see a new concept in UI for the very first time. So that one had me slightly excited, too :)

Though I generally dislike loading bars for images (I prefer progressive jpeg), some sites do insist on using them, and I think this particular effect could look fantastic for thumbnails. And enhanced to use two colors, it could also be used to indicate buffering status and seek position when playing short audio samples (a gallery of birds and their song is the first thing that comes to mind haha)

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Why have a progress bar at all? I'd rather "Submit" and... things happen immediately.

I do realise that there's probably some server-side things going on when you've submitted, but you could do that at the very last form input, and once the button is pressed, magic appears. No loading, no progress bars.

If javascript is disabled, these buttons do not work. _Always_ need a fallback plan.

I know this is a WIP, and it's awesome. Very green though. ;-)

<comment><USER30> Explain yourself why we "always need a fallback plan" if JS is disabled.

Without saying "screen readers", as they're 90%+ JS enabled these days.

<comment><USER31> Because millions of people use Opera Mini 4.x which does not support most JavaScript functions.

<comment><USER32> Millions of people are not using Opera Mini 4.x on any sites I actually work on. They constitute a small fraction of a percent of total visitors. The opportunity cost of developing fallbacks for them is simply too high when we could be developing additional improvements for the vast majority of our userbase.

<comment><USER28> Additional improvements, or bling? That's kind of the point, breaking functionality for mere shinyness is silly. If you need javascript anyway, that's different of course.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: A Sonic Tribute to the Blade Runner Movie and Vangelis - <AUTHOR> https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/november2019SoundscapeGenerator.php <comment><AUTHOR> Iconic movie Blade Runner (1984) takes place in a dystopian future which was imagined to have happened by November 2019. So, I had the plan to come with a sonic tribute on that date. And here we are. You can play with the varied tracks - even animate the sliders. Among others, you will be able to recreate the mood of the opening scene in the original movie, and classic Vangelis moods. As the different stems loop with different timings, the whole creates ever changing variations. The iconic Yamaha CS-80 sounds have been recreated using the modern Moog One - an all-analog synthesiser too. This soundscape goes really low in frequency, good headphones or a subwoofer, are highly recommended. Enjoy!

<comment><USER2> For Blade Runner 2049 the sound/music crew located an original CS-80 to compose portions of sound for the sequel.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Great background for the whole of November 2019!

The CS80 is entirely too thin though hehe - but then again it s hard to replicate

<comment><AUTHOR> I wish I had access to a CS-80! Tough I understand what you mean, the thinning is also due to EQing, as each slider must provide room for the others in the mix (so they each are equalized, similar to mastering). So, it was deliberate from me. The middle slider, for example, is anything but thin : [https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/november2019SoundscapeGene...](https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/november2019SoundscapeGenerator.php?l=08202529692725211406&m=&d=0)</comment></comment>


We don't sell saddles here - <AUTHOR> http://medium.com/p/4c59524d650d

<comment><AUTHOR> Bragging aside, explaining the whole business from a (potential) customer experience is what differentiates good from bad companies (_nb_ I was tempted to write successful vs failing, but then I realized there are some very bad companies out there)</comment>


NetFlix: America's Most Underestimated Company - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/id/2265755 <comment><USER3> I love Netflix. They're a role model for other companies, and for me as a person.

Netflix has succeeded on the strength of two things: integrity and ambition.

They _genuinely_ care about their customers. They work extra hard to make sure people who give them money are happy to do it. In their call centers, CSRs are friendly and empowered. They're instructed to err on the side of doing things that are most likely to make a customer happy, instead of pissing people off with stupid "it's policy!" behavior. In their distribution centers, they have a hardcore quality control culture that goes to great lengths to ensure that mailed out DVD's correctly match a customer's order.

Contrast this with their dying competition, who never once gave a damn about customer satisfaction. Who, indeed, codified policies whose direct result was to enrage customers.

As for ambition, Netflix has continually worked hard to make the service the very best it could be, opening more and more distribution centers to minimize the wait between returning and receiving your DVDs. Despite having every reason to rest on their laurels, they decided they'd also be the Netflix to their Blockbuster, going deep on the Watch Instantly strategy that's redefining their business. Instead of waiting for someone else to come along and make them obsolete, Netflix grabbed the bull by the horns.

This is one of the rare moments of modern capitalism producing something truly excellent, on its merits, based on the needs of the market. If only we could see similar disruption in larger and even more corrupt industries.

Honestly: I love these guys.

<comment><USER4> I wasn't so lucky with them. I was a good customer, but they started silently throttling my account, and they wouldn't admit to it either. It's since come out that that's exactly what they were doing.

If it's too expensive to send me that many disks, fine, but don't lie to me about it.

<comment><USER3> I didn't know about this. So much for my remark on integrity. Do you know if they still do this throttling?

I personally never ran into this -- I've never been more than a light-to- medium user, except in spikes. Like when I when I discovered 24 six years ago.

edit: Here's something straight from the horse's mouth:

[http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/...](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100034248/index.htm)

"I stopped my subscription to your service because of your well-documented "throttling" of frequent renters. How can you say you are focused on customer service when you alienate your customers in this way? Bill Greenstein, Seattle

When we are short on new releases, which we try not to be, we believe it's fairest to allocate those new movies to subscribers who have not rented much recently. This upsets heavy users because they are not in the front of the line for new releases. We are straightforward about how it works, but not everyone likes that policy."

Eh, okay, assuming it begins and ends there, I can see the argument for doing things this way.

<comment><USER4> I don't really go for new release type movie generally, so I call shenanigans.

I was a heavy user who got movies sometimes the day after I returned the last one, which was great. Then I started getting them 3, 4, 5 days later.

They blamed USPS, even though no other mail to or from me was slow at all, so I started tracking the returned movies. They uniformly were delivered back to the warehouse just as quickly as before, but remained (via the netflix interface) unreturned for several days after that.

Normally I'd chalk that up to simple incompetence: they just weren't processing the movies very fast and/or their backend system was a piece of shit. I could buy that.

But I'd seen just how efficient they could be when they _wanted_ to be, ie before I passed the "heavy user" threshold, so I knew they were doing it deliberately.

I get the logic, I'm a heavy user, they can only send so many movies before I'm not profitable. But like I said before: don't lie to me about it.

I would've paid extra for a premium "heavy user" account if they had offered me the option, but instead they pretended USPS was magically slow JUST for netflix movies, and they permanently lost a customer.

Their loss.

<comment><USER5> Addressing the 'Their loss' comment - Netflix could be happy you left from a business standpoint. I've talked to wireless carrier network execs who can speak specifically to the type of subscribers who they would like to encourage to leave the network.

<comment><USER4> They are only happy because they weren't charging me enough, and I was willing to pay that extra cost too, so it really is their loss.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Argh, a truly good article marred by one thing: the assertion that BitTorrent is a competitor for NetFlix. This notion just won't die - I use BitTorrent, sure - to get stuff I _can't_ pay for, because nobody is interested in selling it to me. But I'd much, much, _much_ rather toss NetFlix their $9 every month to deliver what I want without the hassle of BitTorrent, and that's the canard that the entertainment industry just can't get past. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's cheap. $9 a month is cheaper.

<comment><USER7> You might have morals and/or value your time, but actually I think the article is dead on that they're competitors. A large segment of the population chooses to pirate instead of pay. If BitTorrent ceased to exist (as a technology - <USER2> the company), NetFlix would almost certainly gain some customers.

<comment><USER8> Whoever prefers the hassle and crappy experience of using Bittorrent instead of spending a few bucks a month for Netflix, their money isn't worth chasing. It would be like Econolodge trying to market to the homeless population.

<comment><USER9> I'm not in the U.S. so I can't spend a few bucks on Netflix. But your bad experience with BitTorrent is probably purely a function of using the wrong trackers.

I have access to some trackers where the download very rarely goes below 2MB/s, with 5-8MB/s being the average. Some of these have material like discontinued music and foreign films that I could never get where I live, at least not without significant hassle.

With this setup I can initiate a download for a foreign 720p film, go and make some tea, and it'll be there by the time I come back.

That's quality of service I can't even pay for where I live, no matter how much cash I fork out.

<comment><USER10> To get access to those trackers, you generally have to be "cool enough", or know the right people, which for me is impossibly daunting.

<comment><USER8> Yes. Everything I found was junk; it was like Gnutella all over again. The last time I tried to download a movie torrent, it turned out to be porn of a type that I do not want on my hard drive. (That's why it was the last time.)

<comment><USER11> To me, that result seems really non-typical. For the majority of movies you're going to have hundreds of seeders -- they're not going to keep mislabeled movies-as-porn.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> It's too bad there's no way to assign a universal "reputation" score to the various pundits out there so that readers can better assess the value of their published predictions. Michael Pachter, for instance, has been wrong on a number of occasions (he predicted Sony would dominate the current console generation and Nintendo would languish and MSFT would be #2 -- at least he got the last part right).

Like the iPad which many pundits couldn't figure out, the consumers never wrote off Netflix and that's pretty much all that matters.

<comment><USER13> A database that list all pundits' specific prediction and give them a rating based on if they succeeded or not?

<comment><USER14> The problem is that you have to take account how unlikely a given prediction would be in comming true - a person who predicts one in a million things but only gets it right one out of a thousand is still way better than somebody who predicts the results of coin-flips with 51% accuracy but in your system the latter would be ranked far higher.

<comment><USER15> Indeed,

You would have to give each prediction an "audacity factor", how unlikely it _seems_.

The system would work in fashion where a 50% accuracy rate and a 30% one would actually be considered the same accuracy. Either you get higher than a 50-60% rate OR you get some of your predictions rated as having a high audacity factor.

<comment><USER16> There is a very good system for handling this type of thing: Prediction Markets (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prediction_market>)

The basic idea of a prediction market is like a stock market for outcomes with an end point. If you make good predictions you will make 'money' and if your predictions are correct but go against the common idea your rewarded even more handsomely. Of course a true prediction market has a shifting price point where you can choose to sell your 'shares' at any point, yada yada, but I think the concept applies.

The trick is you have to have the pundits participate in order to make it work. I suppose there could be some third-party that pulls their articles and 'ghost trades' for them?

However I think the truth is that pundits DON'T WANT to be held accountable. Even if they are shown to be 'the most correct' they are still going to be wrong some of the time and those will always be used as examples to attack them and their views.

Just look at another comment in this thread that tears into this pundit for his poor job predicting the Sony vs MSFT vs Nintendo war over this console generation. This is a SINGLE data point being used to try and dismiss his views.

edit: For anyone interested in prediction markets check out Inkling (<http://inklingmarkets.com/>). I don't work for them, but I just think they have done an awesome job of creating some useful software. I am trying to push for this to be adopted internally for creating 'confidence metrics' of how stable a build is going to be, or if a deadline is going to be hit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This is a tangential pricing-related question:

Why does Netflix, which is solving some hard and interesting problems both on the technical (delivery/algorithms) as well as business side (licenses etc) only charge $9-$15 a month whereas online services like dating sites and project collaboration SaaS tools that are arguably much easier to build get away with charging anywhere from $30 to $60 a month?

If pricing is about supply and demand, shouldn't Netflix be able to charge a lot more (at least double of what they do now) since there aren't any comparable services with the level of user satisfaction as Netflix. I would gladly pay $30 a month for Netflix just because of how great the service is - I mean unlimited instant watching, access to some amazing foreign films, DVDs. Dating sites and some other SaaS services - dime a dozen. When a Match.com asks me to pay $30 a month, I cringe.

I'm perplexed by this.

<comment><USER18> Remember that Netflix came around in a consumer culture that was renting videos and DVDs from corner shops for maybe $2-4 a pop.

Throughout their history, all of Netflix's pricing structures have been designed to stay within that range.

It costs Netflix pennies to stream movies. ("Akamai charges a customer like Netflix about 5 cents for an HD movie, compared with about 3 cents for standard definition." See: [http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_34/b41920385...](http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_34/b4192038586570.htm))

I expect their prices to rise, though. If they want to stream first run movies (a la cable), they're going to have to pony up serious dough for the licenses. That means higher costs to the end consumer.

<comment><USER19> Why would they want to do that? They're kicking ass on the long tail.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Netflix also has a company culture that tends to keep people motivated. They've identified that a great place to work isn't a place with perks, it's a place where you get to work on hard problems with great people.

And besides making users happy (which is important), at its heart, it's a technology company, and it shines through when they're able to leap from platform to platform to deliver the movies.

</comment><comment><USER21> I have been a Netflix subscriber since February 2006. It is the only service that I have subscribed to for that long, and the only one I never, ever ponder unsubscribing to.

<comment><USER22> I've subscribed for as long, and Netflix occupies the same place in my lifestyle. It's a testament to just how great the core service is that they could make some very bad decisions, such as removing the entire social subsystem of friends, lists, and notes, yet not once did the thought of canceling cross my mind.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Apple Stock vs. Netflix Stock over past 5 Years: [http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&...](http://www.google.com/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1282168239878&chddm=493833&chls=IntervalBasedLine&cmpto=NASDAQ:AAPL&cmptdms=0&q=NASDAQ:NFLX&ntsp=0)

</comment><comment><USER24> Netflix has a great engineering culture, not just a great stock.

Shameless plug: we're hiring good hackers. Check out <http://netflix.com/Jobs>

<comment><USER25> Your use of Silverlight makes me question that assertion :-)

<comment><USER24> Why?

<comment><USER25> Biggest reason: support for Silverlight is crap on the Mac, nonexistent (for video) on Linux. Market penetration for Silverlight is very low, so a large percentage of Netflix users are forced to install it or upgrade for the first time (which is lame).

Why _would_ Silverlight be chosen on its technical merits in an engineering- driven company? I don't see many other companies making that choice and I certainly wouldn't.

I happen to know that Microsoft is very interested in persuading big web sites to use Silverlight. I always assumed someone at Netflix was bribed^Wpersuaded with an XBox integration deal, or some other licencing/partnership deal.

<comment><USER26> Netflix has to deal with DRM. I've asked this question before, and it's not just the "oh, this is good, let's use it!" they've experienced the linux question plenty of times before. They have to submit to whatever their content providers demand they use. Right now, it's Silverlight. :/

<comment><USER27> I don't buy that. Why is Flash good enough for Hulu's content providers, but not Netflix's?

<comment><USER25> And why are they okay with Netflix not using Silverlight on the iPad/iPhone?

<comment><USER28> because there is no silverlight for iOS.

Silverlight was chosen LONG ago (fall 2008). It was and is FAR better than the shitty windows media player version of streaming.

Perhaps netflix has found other methods of DRM that the studios approve of since fall 2008?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> The killer app in this space is studio catalog - that's the competitive advantage.

Distribution for NFLX is strong - but given the move for most new hardware devices to include "Apps" integration, distribution is going to be a waning advantage.

It's going to be an interesting battle, for instance what does the paperwork look like in Netflix' studio agreements - can they sell to Apple?

<comment><USER18> Astute. I think you're dead right about the studio catalogue.

Unfortunately, the studios are still trying to protect what they view as their major customers: Retail chains (WalMart and Blockbuster) and cable companies. They understand those business, they've made money with them, and file sharing and secondary markets are negligible in those environments.

I've never thought about Netflix's agreements with third party distributors. That's a good question. Originally, I assumed some money was changing hands but maybe not. Maybe Netflix looks at it as a form of loss leader and a strategic advantage in the long run.

It seems like every company that comes out with a set top or mobile device now eventually includes Netflix. For consumers, Netflix is becoming a feature that's just not anticipated, it's expected.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Netflix succeeded because of having right values and great culture. The slides explains their values and culture in detail. It is so much easy to visualize why they are successful: <http://www.slideshare.net/reed2001/culture-1798664>

</comment><comment><USER31> NetFlix simplified my life. The value of that is what I think is underestimated.

</comment><comment><USER32> On a recent visit to the states I got to try out Netflix, and on being told you could watch any film you wanted was very impressed.

Turned out there are only certain categories of film (i.e. the ones that would be on daytime tv..) you can watch on "freeplay" and anything good you have to wait for a DVD in the post.

No wonder its cheap. Was still better than the adverts every 8 mins while watching Rambo on a cable channel though.

</comment><comment><USER33> I won't become a netflix customer until they stop using pop-under advertising.

<comment><USER34> are you sure it's them directly and not someone advertising for their affiliate account?

<comment><USER33> No, but that doesn't really matter to me. If netflix doesn't realize it's happening, maybe someone will notice my comment and do something about it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Quite simply, they are in the business of renting video content to people using newly available infrastructure. Put that way, theirs is a good business to be in.

</comment><comment><USER36> I love Netflix. But Apple is gaining on them. At some point I might switch, or just use both.

I'll certainly never sign up for cable tv.

<comment><USER37> I think Apple's store has some great ideas, but I'm not going to pay for a "one time rental" type of service when Netflix is an "all you can eat" type of service.

I realize their "Instant" offering is still not as large as their DVD offering, but it's growing all the time. I currently have over 100 items in my "play it now" queue. I routinely switch items from my DVD queue to the "play it now" queue, so it appears that they are continually adding more content.

<comment><USER36> I've stuck with Netflix thus far because nobody can compare with their vast catalog of movies (DVD or streaming). However when it comes to value, there are months when I might watch many movies and really get the value out of Netflix's "all you can eat" structure, but other months I might not watch any movies and still pay the full subscription price. I think it probably averages out to cost about the same as Apple's pay-per-view system, so to me it really comes down to who has the best catalog of movies.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> I just wish the would come to Canada.

<comment><USER39> Actually, Netflix is supposed to be available in Canada soon.

<http://www.netflix.ca/>

Mind you there are existing similar services.

<comment><USER40> Zip.ca is existing, similar... and awful. Which parallels a lot of tech- oriented services in Canada (cell phones are a great example).

Hopefully the Netflix service in Canada nails it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Meh. Netflix was great for the first 6 mo. Then everything got stale and nothing is good on streaming nor DVD. C'mon where's the remake of Tron for god sake.... I've canceled.</comment>


Renault Shares Drop on Apparent Fraud Probe into Emissions - <AUTHOR> http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-14/renault-shares-drop-on-report-of-fraud-probe-into-emission-tests <comment><USER2> Or perhaps they are probing the fact I had to change my window regulators EIGHT TIMES on my previous car (Scenic), while the vigorously defended that 1) it was not a design fault and 2) refused to make the repair at their own costs.

And despite hundred of pages of online forum discussion about this particular problem.

And, mind you, it's not just them, I think the auto-industry needs to be kicked, hard, and repeatedly until they start behaving with a notch more honesty.

<comment><USER3> It's not particular to the car industry, you can see it everywhere, from 3M making every American and possibly every living thing more propense to cancer [0] to Unilever dropping tons of mercury on the forests of India[1] to IBM taking every position they can to India because it's cheaper[2].

The reason is: if this reflects on "making more money" they will do it and fight to make it look right until they are challenge on court, as a result probably the fines will be lower than the earnings related to how they did it.

Edit: there is nothing wrong with moving positions to a another country.

[0][http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/01...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2006/01/25/AR2006012502041.html)

[0][http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/link-dupont-teflon- cancer-26060...](http://www.aboutlawsuits.com/link-dupont-teflon- cancer-26060/)

[0][http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/Factsheets/A_DU...](http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/resources/Factsheets/A_DUPONT_LEGACY_PFOA_Pollution.pdf)

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

[2][http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123799610031239341](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123799610031239341)

<comment><USER4> >The reason is: if this reflects on "making more money" they will do it and fight to make it look right until they are challenge on court, as a result probably the fines will be lower than the earnings related to how they did it.

The reason behind this reason is that as long as consumers keep demanding cheaper products, companies will continue looking for ways to lower their costs. Just take a look at poultry farms, they are living hells, but people don't seem to mind it as long as they can buy 6 chicken nuggets for 99 cents.

We can't have the cake and eat it too, we have to decide whether we want companies to be responsible or if we want to pay less for the products and services we consume.

<comment><USER5> > The reason behind this reason is that as long as consumers keep demanding > cheaper products, companies will continue looking for ways to lower their > costs.

I'd have no problem with actually competing price vs. quality but the problem is with legislative/judicial challenges to things like environmental laws and consumer protection.

We simply don't punish enough those who willingly shit on the commons to make a buck (and consumers are often in the dark about the quality of their goods), and so those who have large investments in these vehicles use some that money to influence/corrupt the regulatory and legislative bodies to prevent their cash flow from being stopped.

Just wait till TPP is signed and ratified...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is the most informative link I've seen so far in VW emissions cheating scandal.

[http://lwn.net/Articles/670488/](http://lwn.net/Articles/670488/)

</comment><comment><USER7> >"This was a couple of software engineers who put this in for whatever reason," Michael Horn, VW's U.S. chief executive, told a House subcommittee hearing. "To my understanding, this was not a corporate decision. This was something individuals did."

[http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-vw- hearing-20...](http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-vw- hearing-20151009-story.html)

<comment><USER8> While VW DE said "no engineer will be sued over this, we will give them total immunity and want them to speak free", and subsequently suspended 10 of their top managers, and had 2 CEOs resign in a row.

It's clear that VW US' CEO has only his own interests in mind.

<comment><USER9> do you have a source on that please ? I can only find the ridiculous 'one rogue guy did this' version.

<comment><USER8> Look at this [1] and this [2].

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/business/volkswagen- offeri...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/business/volkswagen-offering- amnesty-asks-workers-to-come-forward-on-emissions-cheating.html)

[2] [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/business/volkswagen- suspen...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/business/volkswagen-suspends-5th- executive-in-emissions-scandal.html)

Sadly, it's almost completely unreported in English media, somehow it appears that only German media has properly reported on it.

<comment><USER9> thanks. Very weird to see this discrepancy in the media.

<comment><USER8> I've been noticing that in the past year, more and more discrepancy between the news in different countries.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Renault's stock price (RNO) drops by 16%. Peugeot (UG) also drops by 6.5%. Fiat (FCAU) loses 7.7% in premarket.

AFAIK, Peugeot hasn't been raided (yet). Here's some context about the companies' exposure to the diesel scandal: [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-25/peugeot- re...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-25/peugeot-renault-set- to-be-hit-by-fallout-from-vw-s-diesel-dupe)

<comment><USER11> Seems like FIAT's situation might be unrelated, i.e. they are apparently being sued in the US for unrelated stuff[0] i.e. forcing dealers to report higher sales data than real (though the thing seems somewhat odd).

[0] [http://www.wsj.com/articles/fiat-shares-suspended-several- ti...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/fiat-shares-suspended-several-times-in- milan-after-heavy-losses-1452775574)

<comment><USER12> In the rumor over rumor game, I think fca stock drop was more related to gm refusing a merger

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> California also recently rejected VW's "fix" for their cheating engines:

[http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/221104-california- rejects...](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/221104-california-rejects-vws- proposed-2-0l-diesel-engine-fix-epa-agrees)

</comment><comment><USER14> > investigations so far has found "no evidence of a defeat device equipping > Renault vehicles".

</comment><comment><USER15> European here and on the look for a new car. Which exact brands haven't been affected?

Hard to find actual info, there are a lot of probes to various companies, but which ones have been verified?

<comment><USER16> For now, only VW AG (so VW, Audi, Seat, Skoda and Porsche). BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Opel and PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) have been mentioned, but I haven't seen any confirmations.

<comment><USER17> Ford also uses PSA motors (for example the 1.6 L Diesel Duratorq engine [0]).

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratorq_engine#1.6_.22Ti...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratorq_engine#1.6_.22Tiger.22)

<comment><USER16> And Mercedes uses Renault engines in some models. I have no idea which party will be responsible in those cases.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> It has rebounded significantly after the announcement that "no evidence was found" of a cheating device.

</comment><comment><USER19> Like others have said - Volkswagen was just the tip of the iceberg. All of the major car companies knew what Volkswagen was doing and they did it too just to keep up. Now that Volkswagen has fallen they're now snitching about other car companies in an effort to reduce their exposure by spreading the blame and implicating others.

</comment><comment><USER20> Other auto emissions related shoes beginning to drop? I'm surprised it took this long.</comment>