The Toxic Saga of the Tsukiji Fish Market - <AUTHOR> https://www.eater.com/2017/7/25/16019906/tokyo-tsukiji-toyosu-olympics-delay <comment><USER2> Funnily enough, I live in Toyosu, and can see where the market should have been moved to from my house.

The cause is simple enough: graft and corruption on all levels and at a massive scale, exposed in large part by Yuriko Koike (the relatively new governor of Tokyo).

</comment><comment><USER3> Some similarities to the Berlin Brandenburg Airport saga. They were only a few weeks away from a planned move of all the airlines into the new airport in 2012, when it turned out there were massive flaws in the design and construction, and allegations of corruption.

Now it's 2017 and the airport still isn't ready... Maybe 2019?

[https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist- explains/2017/01/e...](https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist- explains/2017/01/economist-explains-18)

</comment><comment><USER4> >It's also fairly obvious that the fishmongers weren't widely consulted during the construction process. The shiny new stalls for vendors are closed off in an attempt to be more sanitary, but the design deeply limits the mobility of the fishmongers, especially when cutting large hunks of fish. (In one television program about the new space, a wholesaler showed just how difficult it is to go about his business of slicing tuna as his elbows repeatedly bumped up against the cubicle-tight walls.)

s/fishmongers/programmers/g

"It's also fairly obvious that the programmers weren't widely consulted during the office remodeling process. The shiny new office for the programmers is an open space in an attempt to be a more collaborative environment, but the design deeply limits the ability to focus of the programmers, especially when working on the complex pieces of code. (In one twitter periscope stream about the new space, a programmer live tweeted just how difficult it is to go about his business of coding as his focus was repeatedly broken and/or his attention was repeatedly called for by the multitude of other people's happenings in the wide open space of the office around him.)

</comment><comment><USER5> It's really frustrating how hard it is to properly manage/use a resource like the ocean.

We're not running out of chicken, but we are running out of fish.

<comment><USER6> Tragedy of the commons. If people owned areas of the ocean in the way they own areas of land for farming, this would be less of an issue.

<comment><USER7> It's not quite as easy with the ocean. Land doesn't tend to flow around freely.

<comment><USER6> And the ocean is _deep_, too, and it's much easier to pollute your neighbours.

But the basic principle is the same: private property rights can help mitigate these problems.

<comment><USER8> Tell that to the 1322+ Superfund sites in the US costing ~1 billion per year.

The optimum strategy for small land ownership is often maximum exploitation. In the case of the ocean fishing people would fish as much as possible, and just wait for more fish to wonder back.

<comment><USER6> Yeah that's because your bankruptcy laws are broken AFAICT - it's too easy to hold insufficient funds for post operational clean-up, then transfer assets elsewhere and declare bankruptcy.

That is, private owners in this case are able to socialise the cost of their operation, which is no more private ownership than when the profits are socialised.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> For a country that functions so well, it's amazing it can still have such occurrences of dysfunction and corruption. Sounds like this mayor would be a good prime minister.

</comment><comment><USER10> >"Tsukiji is the most exalted fish market on earth, the sort of humbling place that causes the likes of globally worshipped god-chef René Redzepi to deem it one of the "seven culinary wonders of the world."

What a cringe-worthy sentence that is. Also what a load of crap that sentence is. I'm guessing the writer has never actually been. Tsukiji is a wholesale fish market. Its smelly, cold and wet with lots of flash frozen fish sitting on warehouse pallets. Just like what you would expect a wholesale fish market to be. It just happens to be in Tokyo.

<comment><USER11> I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place. The mind-boggling variety of life from the sea, the frenetic energy, and the tuna auctioned for tens of thousands of dollars - it made an indelible impression on me.

<comment><USER10> >"I highly disagree. I have visited many times, and I find it to be a truly magical place."

I am curious how many other fish markets have you been to?

Mexico City and New York City have similar scale fish markets with just as many varieties and with just as much commerce. I'm guessing someone like Anthony Bourdain or some other TV food celebrity put Tsukiji on the tourist map and so now people feel compelled to see something special in it.

And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood Japanese.

<comment><USER12> > And I honestly can't understand why anyone would get up before dawn to go to > a 5:30AM fish auction if they didn't work in the business and understood > Japanese.

You know why. Hipsters do it for bragging rights.

<comment><USER13> Or you know it's actually an interesting experience. Have you done it?

<comment><USER12> Yes, I have done it. Not for bragging rights, just because I wanted to see what it was about. Far from being impressed.

<comment><USER14> I'd have to beg to differ.

As someone who is passionate about food, cooking and in particular, japanese cuisine - going to Tsukiji was really an amazing experience.

Learning first hand from a wholesaler about the daily process of acquiring stock which they go on to sell was fascinating. It's really astounding that people are going there every morning and inspecting ~1000 tuna for a mere few seconds, inspecting only by colour and occasionally the fattiness of the tissue in their fingers. These split second assessments then lead to them making a ballpark valuation of the stock which they take with them to auction - the decisions affecting their livelihood.

If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi. Considering sushi is something like 7 ingredients (rice, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, fish, vinegar, wasabi) the execution of the dish and the quality of the ingredients are absolutely key. Being able to go to the heart of where everything begins is really quite exciting.

<comment><USER12> > If you have had the opportunity to sample sushi from across the spectrum of > quality - you'll know full well that there is good sushi and bad sushi.

I eat sushi often, and I have been to good and bad places alike. But as a sushi amateur, I don't really grasp the passion of Japanese for tuna - it's not even a fish they used to have in the first place in Japan, most of it is not fresh and is just imported from the Mediterranean, and to my tongue tuna (and I tried about every part of it) is nothing I crave for. I enjoy a LOT more the local fishes they have in Japan. Again, it's probably just me, but I find tuna utterly boring in mouth.

> the decisions affecting their livelihood.

Not really. Plenty of bad sushi joints stay afloat for years and do not lack customers. I have even eaten at famous places near Tsukiji and I have found it to be OK, but nothing at a spectacular level despite their reputation.

<comment><USER14> Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree - perhaps it's simply a matter of different interests as I get pretty excited going to butcheries and equally found Smithfields and Billingsgate (in London) pretty exciting. So maybe I'm just a food nerd.

>Not really. Plenty of bad sushi joints stay afloat for years and do not lack customers. I have even eaten at famous places near Tsukiji and I have found it to be OK, but nothing at a spectacular level despite their reputation.

I'm not convinced your observation is really a valid response to what you've highlighted. If your professional reputation revolved around buying and wholesaling tuna, it naturally follows that your livelihood depends on the decisions you make when you buy your stock. Maybe when you make a bad purchase you can recoup some of the losses by selling to one of the bad sushi joints that you mention, but you have still lost time and probably margin. You may have also disappointed customers who may have been depending on your usual quality stock. So for me, having any first hand insight into the nuance of another person's way of life in interesting and made the visit to Tsukiji a worthwhile experience.

Getting up once late at night is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, even if only to cross off a (hypothetically bad) experience.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> One of the few fish markets selling whale meat. But the tourist community keeps tolerating it.

update: And for some reason I get downvoted for denouncing something that is against our best interest... whales regulate the oceanic carbon cycle. You kill them and contribute to ocean acidification.

<comment><USER13> I'm not for or against, I just don't understand the market. I had whale prepared a few different ways in Japan and they only decent preparation was thinly sliced and raw. It just tasted like a tougher, slightly fishier, worse version of beef. I could understand it if it was significantly cheaper than beef, since domestic and even imported beef can be pricey. But it's often times more expensive than anything but the highest quality.

I expect the market will slowly collapse as the Japanese who grew up eating it in school slowly die out. Most people my age had never even eaten it.

<comment><USER16> It's an old people thing. Once upon a time whale meat was served in Japanese schools. Those who grew up eating it want to eat it now. They are dying out and the younger generations (us) have no taste for the meat.

Try finding anyone in the UK under 60 willing to eat tripe or jellied eels.

<comment><USER17> Never thought of the nostalgia factor but that makes sense. Fwiw the school means served it because those regions (and the entire country) was too poor to afford any other kind of meat.

I believe some traditional crafts use some kind of whale whiskers, but I wouldn't imagine that is that big a factor.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Stop Vilifying Almonds - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2015/04/almonds_in_california_they_use_up_a_lot_of_water_but_they_deserve_a_place.html

<comment><AUTHOR> "Here's a shocking statistic that doesn't get enough attention: nearly one- half of California's farms still use 'flood irrigation'"

This should be the incredible, head-lining statistic. It turns out that CA does have enough water, but much of it is squandered on flood irrigation and the political will to do anything about it just doesn't exist, for now.</comment>


Timeboxing: You Will Work Like Never Before - <AUTHOR> http://www.mostlymaths.net/2010/06/timeboxing-you-will-work-like-never.html

<comment><USER2> I'm fascinated by work methodologies, but they always remind me of the Atkins diet - something that probably works in the short term, so people rave about it, but breaks down over time. Even maniacs like Tim Ferris can't seem to stick with anything for the long run.

Has anyone been able to stick to a personal work technique like this for longer than a couple months?

<comment><USER3> I was pumped when I first started using the pomodoro technique, but after about two weeks I just stopped. I just couldn't stay in that groove.

Reading articles like this make me want to try and start again, though.

<comment><USER4> I have recently re-started the pomodoro technique. There is no doubt at all my productivity is higher with it than with no technique at all. But it's much like exercise, we know we should do it, but for whatever reason, it's hard to maintain it.

I've added a different twist though that so far I am liking. At the beginning of the day I decide how many pomodoros I am going to accomplish today. If I have no meetings or other responsibilities, it's typically 13-15 (25 minute pomodoros with 5 minute breaks). Then my work day isn't done until I've hit that number. It motivates me to get on them and get them done, rather than work late just because I'm being inefficient.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Here's a related trick, more useful when you're starting your day than when you're already in the flow of things:

Pick your task, preferably something small and easily defined like "refactor this duplicated code", estimate how long it will take you, set a countdown timer for that amount of time, and then try to beat your estimate.

This can begin your day on a productive note, rather than sitting and spending 45 minutes reading email and whatnot.

<comment><USER6> I wrote a pretty simple iPhone app that could be used for this called ToDo Timer (<http://bit.ly/hBn9jk>). Here are some promo codes: <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1867872/ToDo_Timer_Promo_Codes>

<comment><USER7> Googled todo timer, 2nd in search result is your itunes app link, congrats!

Also interesting is 8th result is techrepublic's listing. Did you submit to them or did they mined it?

<comment><USER6> Thanks. Techrepublic must have mined it as I don't recall ever submitting anything and they have all my apps listed with descriptions word for word.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I believe the pomodoro technique boils this idea down into a digestable method of doing things [http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/resources/pomodoro_cheat_sh...](http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/resources/pomodoro_cheat_sheet.pdf)

<comment><USER9> Thanks for the link. Have you used this technique and can you comment on its effectiveness?

<comment><USER10> I've been using a modified version (50 minutes work, 10 minute break) for about 3 years now. It's invaluable and I don't even use a timer anymore. I don't even stay at my desk for the 10 minutes, I go chat, or step outside, or grab some coffee. I think just the act of getting up, away from the desk does more than being on a short deadline.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Very good life hack IMO. There's a very similar trick I've heard of to help get you doing the chores you don't want to do: start a 5-minute timer, do the chore, and after 5 minutes you can stop with no guilt. Most of the time what happens is that you end up continuing until you finish, e.g. I've washed half the dishes, it's not a big deal to wash the rest.

I've found this really helps to get my cognitive processes over the initial hurdle of taking the first step. For me, that makes up almost all of the resistance and aversion I have to things like cleaning the apt, etc.

Edit: I think the 5-minute time slice is really key here because it so drastically reduces the amount of perceived effort and commitment I have to make toward any task.

</comment><comment><USER12> Wondering if someone can recommend software for easily setting this up? Was thinking something i could sit down with at the beginning of the day and would track my progress/alert me throughout the day?

<comment><USER13> On a Mac, you can try Vitamin R (<http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/>). Very active development, works well with Things and Omnifocus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I haven't tried this but I really want to. I've noticed that I'm most productive when I'm working on the laptop and I don't have anywhere to plug in. I hover over the battery icon and notice that I only have an hour left... and I work like crazy. Motivation levels are high and there's no procrastination. I usually get my task done, too.

I wonder if the effect will be the same if the time limit is artificial and planned. I also wonder how much discipline it takes to make it work. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

</comment><comment><USER14> I might be doing it wrong but I find time-boxing works great until you hit a problem. In that case I keep working on the problem till the time is up. Then when i revisit the problem I feel the time pressure which causes me to try think faster - which usually means about specifics, rather than chilling, sitting back and rechecking things. Is it the code or was it a firewall setting?, recheck calmly for typos (calmly because otherwise I end up reading what I expect rather than what is there) etc.

often find that if

</comment><comment><USER15> > If you do, ask yourself another question: which day saw the best of you in > terms of work done and work focus? If you ever did this, the answer will be, > without doubt, the last night.

The focus may be there, but was the quality?</comment>


Ask HN: How do you protect your idea?  - <AUTHOR>

Since Hacker News is, in my opinion, the best community of businessmen and hackers, I have come seeking advice.
I have a website that I would like to release to the wild soon, but I don't know if there are any legal precautions I need to to take before I launch (do I need copyright, patent, etc.).  What steps should I take to make sure that my idea is protected?
I'm asking for advice and/or pointers to any literature which I can read about the topic.
Thanks <comment><USER2> Patents</comment>


Build an Offshore Development Team That Won't Suck - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/27/build-an-offshore-development-team-that-wont-suck/ <comment><USER2> A surprising amount of good advices.

I may only disagree with "Rule No. 5: Don't Use An Agency": there's value in building your own team, but ultimately recruiting good profiles and making them work as a team is hard and takes time (lots of it). Moreover, your team will only be as good as its leader.

An agency brings you this right off the bat, this is why you pay a premium.</comment>


Why Web-based development might not be the best choice - <AUTHOR> http://weblog.infoworld.com/fatalexception/archives/2009/01/the_case_agains.html

<comment><USER2> _1\. It's client-server all over again._

But without the problems of deploying an application to thousands of desktops.

 _2\. Web UIs are a mess._

These arguments are the same for the desktop apps. Powerbuilder looks different than .NET looks different than Swing... Besides, maintaining an open stateful connection to a server is very very expensive and limits scalability.

 _3\. Browser technologies are too limiting._

Wrong! Having to go into the office because your desktop app is installed on the computer in your cube and you can't VPN is too limiting. Web apps enable the freedom to access information securely from anywhere much much easier than desktop apps.

 _4\. The big vendors call the shots._

A little bit of truth here. Browser incompatibilities are a real hurdle, but so are desktop incompatibilities. I'd rather solve incompatibilities between a few browsers (which in an organization is usually just /one/ corporate standard browser) than thousands of different desktop configurations: laptops for the execs, desktops for the front line, etc...

 _5\. Should every employee have a browser?_

Just because you have a web browser installed doesn't mean it can browse the "web". Install a firewall or block problem domains -- all the cool corporations are doing it!

</comment><comment><USER3> I have difficulty using web-based apps because they are just too slow for me. I am a bit of a speed freak, tweaking and overclocking, etc. -- but I do value my time and I've never used a web-based app whose speed pleased me.

If I have a choice, I'll stick with desktop applications forever.

Sure, they're the right solution sometimes. But that doesn't mean I want to use them if I can help it.

<comment><USER4> What browser are you using? That usually is most of the problem. Chrome chews through even the toughest javascript-based apps, including gmail, greader, facebook. It's way faster to load a web page than to open an application on my own machine.

<comment><USER3> I use Firefox 3.0.5 on Linux.

I have 10,000RPM drives in RAID 0, so my computer is always faster to open a local app than to open a webpage.

<comment><USER5> When I put ubuntu on my machine at home firefox 3 seemed substantially slower than it did on windows. I'm not sure if FF3 is crappy on iinux or if there was something about my install that was screwed up.

<comment><USER6> Firefox has some serious issues on Linux. It's admirable that they make a browser for Linux, but they do seem to let a lot more fall through the cracks than on other platforms.

For example, I've seen several websites that crash Linux in Firefox -- not good. The rendering in general is also not as good as win/mac, esp. with respect to transparency.

<comment><USER3> Strange -- it seems faster in Linux to me than in Windows, though I've never done any formal benchmarks.

Haven't had any crashing problems, either.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> These are mostly straw-man arguments or issues that are even worse in OS-land.

</comment><comment><USER8> "Browser technologies are too limiting."

Sometimes, this is a very good thing! The current browser technology model is somewhat of a funky, broken, incomplete technology stack, but has an interesting set of side effects. I firmly believe that _creativity is born from constraints_. The browser is a set of constraints that has proven For example...

1) Modal dialogs, typically an annoyance or "UI smell", are hard to implement 2) Base functionality: back/forward 3) Base functionality: window management 4) Base functionality: collaboration via URL sharing 5) Forced to either be ugly, or do a bunch of work and thinking. Desktop apps get away with arranging the native components into a pattern that looks like crap. 6) Can't steal the focus from other apps

</comment><comment><USER9> I fail to see how any but the third is web-specific. Any app with a server component will have scaling issues, at least there are well-developed mechanisms for spreading HTTP unlike a home-grown protocol. I've seen _plenty_ of absolutely horrific native client UIs, and I'm looking at you Lotus. OS vendors _and_ OEMs call the shots on native apps not to mention the nightmare of poking arbitrary holes in a firewall. And the last point is just a joke. There needs to be restriction on web access just as there is for applications. I can't install WoW on my work PC, why is facebook somehow different?

<comment><USER10> His argument about employees shopping and browsing during work hours is easily taken care of by firewalls and work policies. It actually becomes moot when you take personal mobile devices into account anyway.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> _5\. Should every employee have a browser?_

Making a decision about your technology platform based on how easy it will be lock down your employee's freedom to access information on the web is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

</comment><comment><USER10> I don't find these reasons to be compelling. Surely there are other reasons against web apps like security.

I would actually like to see a more in-depth critique of web apps and a corresponding one on local apps.

</comment><comment><USER12> Exactly. I think you can say at least that the value of a web app can be much higher much easier if combined with hardware or a desktop application.

</comment><comment><USER13> Web apps were a temporary fad. They are good for some type of applications that are similar to document based (e.g facebook, flickr, HN news), but for others, web apps are terrible (twitter, photo editing, making phone calls).

There is space for both types, and web apps are not going to replace desktop apps.

<comment><USER7> Were? Even if they are part of a fad, it's pretty clear that the fad is still in full swing.

<comment><USER13> It's totally dying. I got the memo, maybe you're further down the line than me. Wait a year or two, the memo will arrive at your desk soon.

<comment><USER14> There's no need to be rude about it. What makes twitter better on the desktop than the web?

<comment><USER13> Comfort.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Oculus Rift Pre-Orders to Open on January 6 - <AUTHOR> https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-to-open-on-jan-6/ <comment><USER3> I am truly surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on this thread.

The Oculus is the FIRST high-fidelity consumer VR experience.

And they've got the horsepower of Facebook's cash-machine as their bankroll.

Zuck gets this to the degree that I suspect he believes Facebook & VR will be synonymous within a decade (1)

Do I wish that Oculus was owned by some benevolent billionaire trickster like OASIS in Ready Player One? Sure, but come off it!

This release will mark the starting line of the change in how we interact with computers, how we capture memories, how we tell stories.

Oculus + 3D audio + input + eventual tactical is going to completely blur the lines of reality in ways we can't yet imagine.

Already in the DK2 I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.

Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.

I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.

. . .

Really though, I have had some shocking experiences in the Oculus, starting with the DK1 going off the edge of a rollercoaster and feeling my stomach physically drop.

Yes this is a generation 1 product for early adopters.

Yes it's going to be expensive to buy, it won't be perfect.

But if you're browsing HN because you're a hacker / developer / dreamer you are crazy to discount how substantial this release is (especially if you haven't TRIED it yet!).

(1) [http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/feee4a1e-63aa-11e5-a28b-50226...](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/feee4a1e-63aa-11e5-a28b-50226830d644.html#axzz3wIPsefAw)

<comment><USER4> I've played with a DK2. It was cool. But reasons not to be super-excited are:

1\. Hardware requirements are steep (GTX 970 minimum), so plenty of hardware -- including plenty of hardware that's good for high-end gaming today -- won't be good enough for this.

2\. Only Windows support. No compatibility with Linux, SteamOS, or even OSX means that the techie enthusiasts who'd play with it as a tech toy are going to be less interested.

3\. But biggest of all: The games aren't there. It's become very clear, both from playing with the DK2, and listening to presentations by Valve and Oculus people, that VR games can't just be regular games with VR bolted on. "Skyrim, but with VR" sounds cool, and makes for a cool five-minute demo, but will just make you sick and be unsatisfying in the long term.

VR games need to be designed for VR in a really fundamental way. It's not clear that there are any interesting games that do this, or that there's a lot of effort going toward making games like this.

If this were a product that were coming out from Nintendo, I'd be confident that they had a good idea about how to adapt their franchises to take advantage of VR in a really cool way, and that there'd be at least a handful of games that made it an absolute must-have. But from Facebook... well, they're a tech company, not a gaming company, so they're depending on someone else to make the games that will justify this thing. Maybe that'll work in the long term, but right now, it doesn't seem like there's any must-have VR game.

Add that all up, and this is a product that won't appeal to most gamers yet, and won't appeal to a lot of tech geeks due to the Windows focus, so... yeah.

<comment><USER3> 1) Yep. But not bad for a first generation product. Already plenty of guides about building a VR ready computer for <$1000.

2) Only windows. Agreed. But I'm glad they did so they could get one platform dialed in instead of chasing multiple rabbits. For now.

3) Games - copying part of this - do yourself a favor and try with Elite Dangerous or Assetto Corsa. And gaming doesn't scratch the service in terms of application - training, social interaction, SEX, therapy, etc, etc.

<comment><USER4> So part of what I'm saying is that 1 & 2 cancel themselves out. The people who would drop $1500 ($1K computer plus maybe $500 VR headset) on a first-gen thing are more likely to be the early-adopter types who are less interested in a Windows-only device.

As for 3: I played Elite for a bit. And then quit when I got motion-sick. I'm not particularly motion-sensitive, but DK2 got me there pretty quickly.

Maybe the retail one is better in ways that wouldn't make me sick in that case, but from what Valve people have been saying, the only reliable way to get rid of the sickness is to remove the disconnect between not-moving and seeming-to-move, aka make games that involve only your real-world motion.

If that's the case, it implies that what we need are radically different games than what we have. So I'd either want to see those games, or see some proof that you can do Elite-style gaming with no motion sickness even when playing for hours.

<comment><USER5> > The people who would drop $1500 ... on a first-gen thing are more likely to > be the early-adopter types who are less interested in a Windows-only device.

I feel pretty confident in saying that the people who spend big bucks on computer gaming are mostly not giving two shits about Linux while they do it. SteamOS and general Linux gaming is pretty decent these days but still... if you are a hardcore gamer, odds are overwhelming that you are running Windows.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Here are my thoughts on the situation:

1) First generation devices are usually flops/riddled with bugs, but usually exploitable if you don't upgrade firmware/etc.

2) I would probably need to buy a 980TI ($600) or Titan X ($1k) to make up for my i7-2600k's failure. (I want a Titan X for deep convolution neural networks anyways).

3) Nvidia is on the verge of releasing their Pascal architecture. The Titan X was just recently released (Mar '15?). While it is a powerhouse, the pascal base Titan may come with 12-16GB of memory and a 10-20% speed increase.

4) Intel is near release on their broadwell-e platform which should be able to consume 40 pci-e lanes (like haswell-e). No word yet on if they plan on being able to use 40 pci-e lanes with skylake.

Summary: In 1 years time, there will be a base Pascal Titan that outperforms the Maxwell Titan X, a new ~$500 CPU that will be on par with the current $1000 CPU, and an assortment of VR options available. As much as it pains me, unless I see a Titan X for $600-800 on craigslist, I'm going to wait this one out.

<comment><USER7> The DK2 works fine on middle-line GPUs. I'm certain this one will too.

Edit: I meant "worked"

<comment><USER8> Really? My understanding was that VR required extremely high framerates to provide a satisfying experience to the user.

<comment><USER9> Officially recommended graphics hardware is a GTX970, which are a much more palatable $3-400.

<comment><USER8> I've never dropped more than $150US on a video card, and that was before the Canadian dollar tanked.

I'm thinking I'm going to be waiting a bit before getting into this business.

<comment><USER9> IMO, for Nvidia the *70's are the sweet spot at about $300. They perform well enough that they last for a while and aren't obsolete quickly (my main problem with buying at the lower-middle end), but don't have the absurd diminishing returns of something like the Titans.

The specs of the Oculus Rift are fairly steep and are basically a middle high end gaming PC, but they have said that the requirements won't change over the life of the device so it'll go down. It was about time for a GPU upgrade for me anyway, so I've been pondering over going for a new GPU + Rift.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Probably the better link is to the announcement of the pre-orders itself: [https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders- to-...](https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-to-open-on- jan-6/)

I'm confused though; why do a pre-announcement for an announcement about pre- purchasing a product that's only two days away? They should have simply opened up pre-orders immediately.

That being said I can't imagine they expect to sell much. It requires such a beefy PC (of which fewer and fewer are buying them nowadays for ultrabooks and tablets) and it's going to be expensive plus it won't ship with the touch controllers.

I think VR will ultimately become HUGE but until I can get one for at most $200 and use without a beefy PC I'll pass.

<comment><USER11> Gamers tend to own and upgrade beefy PCs.

<comment><USER10> Hmm I'm having trouble finding any type of reliable statistics. When I used to do lots of PC gaming I was in many gaming groups of which maybe 10% of them would upgrade their computers to be above mid to high end. At most (all of us always complained about how terrible our PCs were and how lower our FPS were almost as if it were a badge of honor). But this is anecdotal so I have no ground to really speak on. Having said that it's hard for me to swallow that PC gamers "tend" to "own and upgrade beefy PCs".

Any sources?

Edit: interesting that when asking for source regarding the parent's claim I get multiple downvotes. I don't really understand why.

<comment><USER12> Here is a good source - unfortunately down at the moment for me:

[http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey](http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey)

<comment><USER10> Thanks I'll check it out when it comes back online later. It's been a while since I looked at the steam survey; I wonder how indicative it is compared with the PC gaming industry as a whole. I mean they practically have a monopoly so I would imagine it's at least good statistically but I don't know how many go through the survey (I'm assuming it's still opt-in like it was when I last used it which could skew the numbers).

<comment><USER13> It pops up every few months to a year for me when I first open Steam, so not necessarily opt-in (but very easy to opt-out). About the only thing you have to fill out as well is your connection speed, so it's pretty painless.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Now the real question- go with Facebook and buy an Oculus Rift or go with Valve/HTC and buy a Vive?

The Vive has more features (like head tracking) but maybe it will be more expensive? There's been nothing but silence in terms of pricing of either of them... I do have a hard time justifying $500+ for a screen I'll strap to my head that will probably be obsolete in a year or two.

I will say though, I recently bought a Steam Link and a Steam Controller and I am pretty impressed with the quality of Valve's hardware.

<comment><USER15> I tried both and the HTC Vive was just years ahead. I haven't tried the new oculus touch but the simple fact that they won't ship it included tells me it's nowhere near HTC Vive.

<comment><USER16> I've tried both (and own a Vive) and the Touch definitely has better ergonomics and is more analogous to having your hand in the world whereas the Vive 'wands' feel like you are holding a stick. It's not a clear cut decision. Personally I prefer Touch.

<comment><USER17> The Vive controllers are literally a steam controller cut in half, i.e. prototype material. I think they already said that the released controllers would be updated.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I just get the feeling VR technology simply will not work because the resolution isn't high enough, and even the most top-end monster PCs cannot handle standard resolution VR, let alone 4K or even 8K in the future.

Graphics cards really need a huge performance jump to make VR work, and given both Nvidia and AMD seem to be happy releasing a new set each year with only modest 20-30% performance gains then what does this mean for VR?

<comment><USER19> Eh. VR "worked" quite well enough for presence on the now-ancient Rift devkit 2. And my machine is hardly top of the line. A many gens old Intel proc with modest RAM and a GTX970.

Worst case? It means that details are scaled back in the name of framerate. Presence still works in a world that doesn't seem perfectly lifelike, so as long as the player is in another world, that's the single most important thing.

Less AA, less texture resolution. We can dial that back up as the tech gets better.

VR is the new Crysis when it comes to stress testing your hardware :)

<comment><USER20> Exactly. Half Life 2 worked when hardware was 10x slower than today. Lots of 3D games worked even before that. They just didn't look like Star Wars Battlefront.

<comment><USER21> Unreal Engine 1 is still my benchmark for doing impressive things on pretty much any level of hardware at the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Not that you can necessarily pinpoint a specific date for release when dealing with hardware but I have to believe, with no hard evidence, that releasing new products right after Christmas and just before tax time has to be one of the worst times to release...unless you intentionally want demand to be initially low.

<comment><USER23> I imagine the pent up demand for a consumer launch may exceed their initial manufacturing capacity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Did they ever decide to care about Linux again? I returned my devkit because they said they didn't care about Linux a couple of weeks after I got mine. I won't send them more money unless they're going to support Linux.

<comment><USER25> You could... return it? I thought they were very clear it wasn't refundable and there were some discussions in the forums about it with some negative quotes from the customer support...

> I won't send them more money unless they're going to support Linux.

Careful, they already said they support linux with the dk2 and we know how that went. Don't rely on what they say they "are going to do". Only buy it when they demonstrate complete and fully working linux support, not earlier.

<comment><USER24> >You could... return it? I thought they were very clear it wasn't refundable and there were some discussions in the forums about it with some negative quotes from the customer support...

You're right, but I spoke with support and made my case and since it had been such a short time since I bought it, they went ahead and did the refund.

>Careful, they already said they support linux with the dk2 and we know how that went. Don't rely on what they say they "are going to do". Only buy it when they demonstrate complete and fully working linux support, not earlier.

Sorry about my wording. I'm not going to buy it until there is actual support that I can actually use at the moment I open the box.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I'm surprised no one on here has mentioned Minecraft yet.

One game that I was never able to get into before Oculus Rift was Minecraft. My kids have been begging me to play with them, but I really struggled to remain interested in the game. I could see why _they_ loved it, but I didn't get into myself.

It bugged me that I was missing this opportunity to connect with my kids, especially with something computer-y, so over the holiday I spent a little time getting the Minecrift mod working.

Wow!

I now totally get it, and it seems to me that Minecraft will be at least one huge driver for the adoption of VR hardware amongst folks who are able to use it. (Recommended 13+.)

The low-resolution polygons in Minecraft really accentuate the 3D effect. When you're going up hills or looking at trees, the depth effect is crazily pronounced and amazing.

The basic graphics in Minecraft also have the benefit of rendering quite nicely even on incredibly limited hardware. For example, I spent hours playing on my 12" Retina MacBook, which I believe is the weakest hardware Apple ships. (Maybe it benefits from a GPU that powers a Retina display? I don't know.)

Getting attacked by creepers and zombies in the first-person was an insane experience. My heart rate was actually going up as I attempted to escape and ultimately failed.

And I was _there_. I grew personally attached to the cave I mined for myself where I hid to protect myself throughout the night, and felt a little sad when I accidentally let water flood in and destroy it. I was _in_ that cave. Very cool.

I would frequently look down at my hands to remind myself of what weapon or tool I was holding and go through my hot keys until I saw the tool I wanted to use.

I'd spend a good deal of time just watching that big pixelated sun set over a landscape, and if I found a safe place, I'd sit around and watch the stars move through the night sky as the earth rotated. (Mostly I think this is when I became the most aware of the "screen door" effect.)

Anyway, if you've got DK2 hardware, I highly recommend trying it out with Minecraft if you haven't already. Microsoft announced they're planning official Oculus Rift support for Minecraft in the first half of next year, and judging from the way my son talks to his friends about it ("he's actually _in_ Minecraft,") I think Minecraft will be a huge driver of sales of Oculus Rift.

</comment><comment><USER27> Why do they have to be so secretive of their pricing?! Why can't I see the price now so I can consider if it's worth it or not?

<comment><USER28> Presumably because they want to be able to justify the pricing by telling you all about the new stuff they put into the thing, and they want to time details of the product with a big unveiling and marketing push.

Just announcing the price without details of what you're getting for it is just going to make a bunch of forums and subreddits very angry in the way only gaming communities can get really angry.

<comment><USER21> If they're shipping by Q1, then they know exactly what the details / specs are.

If they haven't released the price, it's more likely because FB wants to throw some serious money behind the marketing push. Which either means they were going to anyway, or the price is going to shock people.

<comment><USER28> Sure, they definitely know what the details and specs are, but they also want to make a big deal out of said details/specs, and dropping it silently on a web page isn't anyone's idea of a big launch.

It's likely that there are substantial differences between the product and the DK2, or even what's been discussed in previous interviews/previews, so it makes sense to not talk too much about the product until they're in a position to present it properly (e.g., a big keynote followed by journalist demos).

And yeah, it's going to be expensive - the fact that they've said as much in previous interviews means they've already been trying to soften the ground for the revelation. It's almost certainly going to be more expensive than the DK1/DK2.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> I don't understand why there isn't more emphasis on non-realistic graphics for VR to keep the specs down. If you try to make a VR game that looks as good as current high-end games, it's always going to require massive horsepower because it must run at 60+ FPS at a high resolution so everyone but hardcore gamers are going to be left out.

Mobile gaming became hugely popular without high-end graphics because of the easy of use, portability and touch input controls. I would have thought it would make more sense for VR games to focus on experiences you can only have with VR games (e.g. highly immersive, having sense of scale, use of hand input) and play to its strengths rather than limit its audience with high-end graphics.

I'm very excited about VR but having to buy a Rift and a high-end Windows gaming PC is asking a lot to get involved.

<comment><USER30> There is a lot of emphasis on non-realistic graphics. But the consensus is that it must run at 90FPS+ with two views so that bumps the specs back up again. Especially considering that most contemporary game engines aren't build with those sort of latencies in mind.

<comment><USER31> > There is a lot of emphasis on non-realistic graphics

Yes, I've seen this a lot on mobile especially and also with things like "Job Simulator". What I'm confused about is everyone (especially on /r/oculus) being very adamant about needing a GTX 970+ for VR.

My ~$200 GTX 760 can consistently run Team Fortress 2 at upwards of 200 frames per second, and TF2 looks fine to me.

I'm sure many people will appreciate having games for VR that take advantage of their fancy hardware, but why scare people away with such high requirements? Can't the industry tighten its belt a little for the first round and live with the fact that VR games won't look quite as good as their 2D counterparts? Surely even a $700 gaming PC would deliver a better experience than GearVR, which is already quite good.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Ah, between this and HTC Vive... After testing both the HTC Vive was just years better than the Oculus, but I haven't tried the new Oculus iteration with touch... So hard to choose.

Anyone want to discuss setups for both? I need to buy a new machine for that.

<comment><USER12> Are you sure you tested the Oculus CV1? There's been many hardware iterations from Oculus and the latest one that people have been sampling has gotten very good reviews, some better than the Vive.

I'm not saying that I know for a fact that one is better than the other, but I'm surprised that you think one is 'years better'.

<comment><USER15> I have actually never read a review placing the Oculus above the HTC, I haven't read reviews in a while though. Around 6 months ago the consensus was that HTC Vive was way ahead IIRC.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> As a flight sim enthusiast, I am super pumped about this. Though a shame the hands-controller was delayed so I'll need to buy a third-party one (leap motion).

<comment><USER33> Flight sim in the rift is what I spend the majority of my free time doing.

Not sure what type of flight sim you are into, but using a proper yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals makes the experience much more immersive.

<comment><USER32> I use FSX and X-Plane. I already have a yoke/throttle/rudder pedals. I agree, they vastly improve the experience more than anything else.

I currently use a TrackIR with two monitors, but truth be told it's a bit janky and I find it very difficult to visually tell angles (for example: what's the angle of my plane to the runway? I could use the heading indicator for that purpose but I don't want to develop bad habits for real-life flights).

The hands thing would let me flip switches in-cockpit, which is nice. No more mouse!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> The thing that worries me about this is that I don't see anything mentioned about different sizes. Hats aren't all one size. Glasses aren't all one size. I have an unfortunately large skull and "one size fits all" hats never fit me.

Does this mean that there won't be an Oculus for me?

<comment><USER4> It uses an elastic strap around your head, and flexible rubber surrounds for the eyepiece. It should fit just about any head.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> So... when does it ship?

<comment><USER36> and what will it cost?

<comment><USER37> It looks like it hasn't been announced yet:

[ While Facebook and Oculus VR aren't quite ready to reveal a price of the Rift, Luckey suggested that it'll cost more than the $350 developer's kit.

"You know, I'm going to be perfectly honest with you," Luckey said in an interview back in September. "We're roughly in that ballpark... but it's going to cost more than that. And the reason for that is that we've added a lot of technology to this thing beyond what existed in the DK1 and DK2 days."

While $350 may be too low, $1,000 seems to be too high. Elaborating on the Rift's pricing on Twitter recently, Luckey stated that Oculus VR has the backing of Facebook and doesn't need an immediate hardware profit.

"A company that has to survive on immediate hardware profit would have to hit with a much higher price - think $1000+. Not greed, reality," he tweeted. "1st gen VR users are being heavily subsidized by major players who want VR business to grow, though few seem to understand that." ]

Source of Above: [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/120994/20160103/oculus- rif...](http://www.techtimes.com/articles/120994/20160103/oculus-rift- features-pricing-release-date-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know.htm)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> I'm more looking forward to seeing the Sony VR. It's rumoured to be around the $250-$350 price mark. Sony have a history of getting traction despite not having the best spec/product, for example, remember HD DVD vs Blu Ray?

<comment><USER39> I also think the Sony VR specs are pretty high. They want people to buy a PS4 and play games on their VR system.

<comment><USER29> The big advantage Sony has is they know all VR games will work well by design as all PS4s have the same spec.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Now watch this face plant in the market. It's a niche product with horrifically overinflated expectations, steep pricing, and no application ecosystem or clear, killer-app use case. Good luck folks, you're gonna need it.

<comment><USER41> I mean, i'm not going to buy it... but only because I think the vive offers a better experience. I think VR in general is pretty promising, and a bit more than "niche"

<comment><USER40> What's the use case to justify the massive cash outlay these things require? I don't see it.

<comment><USER42> Use case? Video games,obviously. This is early-early adopter tech. Chill out with your absurdly premature predictions.

<comment><USER40> We're talking $1500 for the headset and GPU able to support the headset. Plus a pretty beefy workstation to feed that GPU. Plus the games don't actually exist yet, and they face a massive chicken-and-egg problem. No one but the most dedicated early adopters will buy this until the price comes down like 3x.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Anyone know if the rift would work on the newest high end model iMacs with the AMD M390? Obviously still have to run it via Windows I assume but just wondering if it would even work on them.

<comment><USER43> Your GPU has an "M" in it. I don't have hard evidence, but my experience says it won't work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> Making predictions about the adoption of technology is always perilous. However, after using Google's cardboard camera to take a few pictures on vacation and reviewing those pictures afterward I'm a believer. There's something about the immersive nature of those images that provide a very emotional contextual experience. If one is able to experience this with albeit relatively crude technology when compared to offerings like Oculus, I think these products could be very impactful.

<comment><USER45> Wait until the light field cameras (like the Lytro Immerge) come out. It's going to blow peoples' minds.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> Can anyone speak to using the Rift as an extended desktop? I've seen some mention of using it as an extended monitor in both Windows and OS X - <USER2> anyone with development devices used it with head tracking and had an almost infinite display?

How cool would it be to ditch multiple monitors and spread out over a 360 sphere code windows / browsers / documentation / etc... ? Use the head tracking to navigate the desktop world and still use the keyboard / mouse to interact.

<comment><USER47> For what it's worth as of SDK 0.6.0 of the Oculus you can no longer use it as an extended display. Prior to 0.6.0 you could run the Oculus in either "Extended" mode which just made it show up as an extra monitor, or in "Direct" mode where apps directly displayed their contents on the Oculus (without you having to move the window, make it full screen, etc).

What you're talking about however can easily be done with [Virtual Desktop]([http://www.vrdesktop.net/](http://www.vrdesktop.net/)) -- I've used it a few times while developing, it mostly works. It's definitely a nice experience to have your IDE infront of you, documentation a head tilt to the right, and Google a head tilt to the left, but the resolution was too low for me to be comfortable reading text for a long time on the DK2.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> Better link?

[https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders- to-...](https://www.oculus.com/en-us/blog/oculus-rift-pre-orders-to-open-on- jan-6/)

Also, no mention of the promised Xbox One controller among the bundled items. Wonder if they'll just be sending a coupon or something in the box.

<comment><USER45> It's in the box. Palmer has said over and over people can just sell it if they don't want it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> VR is not comparable to 3D TV because it's not TV. It's fundamentally an interactive medium over which the user has complete narrative control, yet one that doesn't feel like you're _interacting_ with something, so much as wearing a piece of clothing. 3D TV is _burdensome_ for _very little benefit_. VR is _freeing_ for significantly greater benefit.

If you haven't tried it, you don't understand the difference between head tracking and moving a mouse around in an FPS game. They are not just different ways to move a pointer around. They are fundamentally different. They are so fundamentally different that it's actually difficult to combine the two concepts.

VR is not comparable to the Wii or the Xbox 360 with the Kinect (which were _massively_ successful products, so I don't know what the point of comparing them is), because there is zero disconnect between motion and reaction. You aren't looking at a mirror version of yourself moving around. You're just moving around.

If you haven't tried it, you don't understand the difference between waving your hand around at the Kinect, trying to line up hits with no depth perception, and using VR with even a relatively low-res positional tracker like the Leap Motion.

If you haven't tried it, you just don't know what you're talking about. You have nothing in your life from which to draw a conclusion. That includes anyone talking about the systems from the 1990s. I can, today, in a weekend, create a full VR experience that would blow Dactyl Nightmare out of the water, and give it to you for a handful of dollars. The order of magnitude difference in realism and price is staggering. It's the between a real car and one of those RC cars that only turns when you put it in reverse, and then only in one direction. Except the real car is the one that costs $50, and the RC car was $20k.

VR is going to fulfill the promise of teleconferencing. If VR was a "flop" in the 90s, then teleconferencing definitely was, too. Talking to people face-to- face in VR is night-and-day better than using Skype or FaceTime. There is barely any comparison to be made. You forget you're using technology when having a f2f with a person in VR. And this isn't a prediction. This is available _today_.

The product development lifecycle is going to speed up, as VR is going to give us a new, virtualized testing cycle that isn't bottle-necked by physical prototypes just to check look-and-feel.

Architects are going to make better pitches. Universities and hospitals are going to sell more buildings and research wings to big-ticket donors. Other universities will do away with their physical presence entirely. Doctors will be able to share life-saving techniques and train other doctors across the world in the fine-motor skill to perform it. Museums are going to be able to record exhibits in full detail, into perpetuity, and provide patrons unprecedented access to artifacts that would otherwise be too sensitive to put on display in public, relatively uncontrolled environments. Psychiatrists are going to be able to treat more patients. Data scientists are going to be able to recall and organize more information.

All of these things are doable on a smartphone in a cardboard box, say nothing about the rapidly developing market of purpose-built devices. Have you not been paying attention? Technological advancement has only been accelerating. It's not going to be "many years" before these devices are any good. It's going to be two. It's going to be less time than it took the iPhone to get any good. Remember that original iPhone? That no-app-store-having, no-3G-having, no-GPS-having, no-speech-recognition-having iPhone? That glorified iPod with a relatively crappy phone crammed in it?

To quote Tom Hardy's character Eames, speaking to Joseph Gordon Levitt's character Arthur in the Christopher Nolan film INCEPTION: "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling."

<comment><USER45> > VR is going to fulfill the promise of teleconferencing.

This is perhaps the most important aspect of VR to me. Presence with people who aren't present will be VR's killer app. Time and time again we see that messaging is the biggest use of most platforms. Messaging in VR will just be turning your head and talking to someone.

I am really interested to see whether meatspace office buildings will be able to compete with shared virtual workspaces.

Turning your head or walking across the room to ask someone a question was always the key differentiator for physical offices. VR takes that away. Maybe there is some killer feature left for offices, but I kind of think this might be the moment where the disruptive technology (telecom) overtakes the incumbent (meatspace).

<comment><USER49> I'm actively hoping meatspace office buildings become a quaint, too-expensive- to-compete contrivance. With AR and virtual work spaces, I think it'll be possible to make people more productive than they would be without VR. If that happens, it will be economic suicide to NOT use VR. The savings in green-house gasses, the extra time people will have, the reduction in cost of living. We'd finally have a truly global economy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> Having tried both the Oculus and Glass, I'd say the Oculus is more exciting. The Glass had about the least capacity a user could tolerate - slow with few pixels. The Oculus is about the most you cram into a wearable, even if you have to pay a lot for it.

</comment><comment><USER51> A pre-pre order holding page. Before this webpage I guess we were in a pre- pre-pre order state?

</comment><comment><USER52> Is there anywhere to see a demo? Or are we just preordering?

<comment><USER53> Major trade shows in the coming months are your best bet. I assume you're in SF and the next best SF event to demo would be GDC in March (if you can wait that long)

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> I wonder if the Ephiphany day was chosen on purpose. Just kidding, can't wait!

</comment><comment><USER55> All hail the Lawnmower Man! This is going to be the biggest flop in the history of history due to being sent back to the 90's [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCxFGxqLsHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCxFGxqLsHE)

Go Mondo2000!</comment>


I personally have absolutely no problem with the Search+ debacle. - <AUTHOR>

I personally have absolutely no problem with the Search+ debacle. I actually think it's a good thing.
I really would like Google+ replace Twitter. Lately I've found Twitter quite stale. The web interface is slow and clunky (yes, the new new one). It's just too big for them to make big ui changes.
I'd love to see Google+ become the new, eh, social network to be on. That's obviously what Search+ is all about.
It's somewhat like Apple getting rid of the floppy disk, and more recently Flash, it's a bit painful, but it's a good thing in the end. Out with the old, in with the new. <comment><USER2> I am having a real hard time committing to joining Google+ because of the sad state of my Google accounts. I have a half dozen of them connected to a dozen different services and devices and it seems impossible to consolidate them in any way without losing settings and history at one site or another.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's hardly a "debacle" though, it's just a bunch of bloggers baiting web traffic by pretending to be lawyers.</comment>


Ask HN: Best VPN for personal use / privacy? - <AUTHOR> I am looking for a great VPN service (cost is not really an issue), to increase my privacy and security, and occasionally to access content from other countries. Any good suggestions?<p>In particular, I am worried about some of the VPN services that offer "shady" software to use with their VPN. <comment><USER2> I personally use PIA, now the service is slower (than other services), but they've clearly proven themselves :)

[https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-providers-no-logging-claims- tes...](https://torrentfreak.com/vpn-providers-no-logging-claims-tested-in- fbi-case-160312/)

</comment><comment><USER3> I find Private Internet Access to be pretty good. [https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/](https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/)

</comment><comment><USER4> I would go with something outside the US. Like Mullvad (cheap + same-day email support) or / AirVPN (better UI, slightly more expensive). If you go on reddit.com/r/VPN you'll find detailed info on which ones have which features (jurisdiction, logging policy, etc.)

</comment><comment><USER5> [https://www.ivpn.net/](https://www.ivpn.net/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Ultrasurf i use on daily basis.</comment>


Ask HN: LIDAR sensor for development? - <AUTHOR> I work on a field related to 3D modeling and environment composition and I'm looking to start playing with LIDAR sensors to measure spaces and distance in rooms.
Is there any developer friendly LIDAR sensor that you guys know? It would be good if it worked over USB port, had a .NET SDK and be cheap :)
It also needs to be accurate to centimeters.
Any suggestions with these restrictions? Any alternatives? <comment><USER2> We've ([https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au](https://littlebirdelectronics.com.au)) sold the LIDAR-Lite v3 for a while, they're pretty solid.

If you're thinking about the RPLIDAR, get it from DF-Robot and not Seeed Studio (DF have better shipping).

</comment><comment><USER3> There are a few kits available:

[https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032](https://www.sparkfun.com/products/14032)

[https://www.seeedstudio.com/RPLIDAR-A2-The-Thinest- LIDAR-p-2...](https://www.seeedstudio.com/RPLIDAR-A2-The-Thinest- LIDAR-p-2687.html)

</comment><comment><USER4> I've used the LIDAR-LITE v2 (the V3 is now available) to build a product that incorporated a motor to scan the beam.

I made a handful of units for one company last summer, so the dev cost is covered already. I'd be willing to build a few more. How many do you need?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm going on a tangent on my job to make a proof of concept that would later be presented and maybe funded so I have 0 dollars to put on this at this point.

My guesstimate is that once everything is said and done we would need about 20 units. But It's a wild guess. It could be way more.

If you wanna discuss this further hit me at me[at]tucaz[dot]net.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Scanse.io seems to be exactly what you're looking for.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah it does. But it's still in pre order :(</comment></comment>


Kenyan locust swarm estimated to be 930 square miles - <AUTHOR> https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/200125090150459.html <comment><USER2> > Swarm the size of Moscow - meaning it could contain up to 200 billion > locusts. Could become 500 X bigger by June.

That's a biblical sized swarm.</comment>


Google alleges that Facebook is blocking links to Google+ - <AUTHOR> http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/08/16/google-plus-links-allegedly-not-showing-up-on-facebook.html

<comment><USER2> Google+ is blocking links to Google+. (I've just been banned.)</comment>


Ruby Gets An Official Spec: Heading To Become An ISO International Standard - <AUTHOR> http://www.rubyinside.com/ruby-iso-spec-draft-2900.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RubyInside+%28Ruby+Inside%29 <comment><USER2> Are there any languages for which international standardization processes have not been either tombstones (like Smalltalk, repeatedly) or vehicles for inter- corporate bullying?

<comment><USER3> That was my first thought too...

"Well, there goes innovation in Ruby".

<comment><USER4> Just because there's a standard doesn't mean you have to follow it. I'm sure MacRuby for example will keep its divergent selector syntax; they just won't advertise themselves as conformant to the standard.

<comment><USER5> "they just won't advertise themselves as conformant to the standard."

But they _should_ advertise themselves as non-conformant to the standard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Hopefully this turns out well for the community.

Some advantages I can see being based on ruby 1.8.7 is that now people will have a specific language to develop libraries for, also new people to ruby can have something specific to start with (rather than having to chose between 1.9/1.8).

Those that still want to move so quickly can still choose to do so and continue to use and support 1.9 they just might not have the same following as before.

<comment><USER7> I really enjoy the speed improvements that 1.9 affords, I can't help but think this will bring back the arguments that Ruby is a slow language simply because the "standard" implementation is slow.

<comment><USER8> Just because 1.8.7 will be 'standard' doesn't mean that MRI has to remain the standard interpreter for it.

<comment><USER9> In fact, standardization and a written spec will make it more likely that faster interpreters will be written for it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I want to be excited about this, but there are big gaps in this spec.

For example, "blah"[0] should return an Object instance which represents "b". Could be a Fixnum. Could be a String. Could be a JPEG of some ASCII art representing the essence of "B." Any of those responses would be valid according to RubySpec.

What happens when you shadow a local variable with a block variable is unspecified, too. In 1.8.x, it overwrites the variable. In 1.9, it doesn't.

Even with a "RubySpec-compatible" implementation, you have no way of knowing if your application will run or not, which kind of defeats the purpose.

</comment><comment><USER11> I think it's an opportunity to test whether the damage the approval of OOXML caused caused to ISO affects this standardization process or not.

</comment><comment><USER12> ...and RoR to become the new J2EE.

hey, certification-backed trolls! Time to get new certs! =)

<comment><USER13> This is a formal language spec (e.g. Here is what happens when you call the "foo" method), not a developer certification. Previously, there was no spec, so official Ruby behavior was "whatever the interpreter did". This would have been really useful when projects like JRuby and Rubinius were earlier along.

<comment><USER12> There will be lots of RoR certification, because certification is a business itself. Think of SAP or Cisco.

Usually certification does not required for a gifted artist, because his abilities are self-evident, but for low-skilled craft man to prove that he possibly could not fail. It is a trick to not to show your abilities each time, because it is extremely difficult to you - think a certificate of sexual ability for impatient - for a healthy man it is not a problem to "prove his ability" =))

mr. Nabokov, for example, didn't got TOEFL before he wrote his "Lolita". TOEFL is required only for pidgin-speakers, like me, and after some amount of practicing it become useless.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Well, looks like Ruby just got boring.</comment>


Cryptocurrency sentiment analysis tool - 0-o http://sentanalysis.com <comment> 0-o Hi Guys,

I wrote a cryptocurrency twitter sentiment analysis tool I use for trading, but I'm about to go on a holiday for a month, and thus making it public for a while!

It filters tweets by amount of followers, favourites and retweets.

It's connected to the google language api and does some weighting over followers amount and average user sentiment. If you want to know more, send me a message or an email!

If you like it, feel free to donate a coffee!

Litecoin: LKx6ZddwtqbHVG55xKgFoRjEcRoLwBemR7

<comment><AUTHOR> Have you backtested this at all ?

<comment> 0-o Not properly but I want to add a graph in the future to see if currency prices correlate with sentiment and in the case that they differ, determine how they move towards each other.

<comment><AUTHOR> I guess the big question is how much the sentiment precedes the price movement, not just correlating with. For example, I can imagine people bad- mouthing a coin when its price is falling. This is not so useful.

<comment> 0-o Exactly! If you'd want to do data analytics on this I'd be happy to expand the API to fit your needs :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> Neat idea but sentiment stats are not loading [https://www.coingecko.com/en](https://www.coingecko.com/en) also tracks Twitter counts.

<comment> 0-o Unfortunately the HN load showed one of the queries is broken, classic mistake, I'll see if I can quickfix

<comment> 0-o Quickfixed by removing the 8 hour query :). Will build in caching asap!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> This isn't working for me either - just get a Loading... on the table.

Edit: Sorry, it did load but took about 20 seconds.

What exactly does the Sentiment column measure? Apologies if if I'm asking a dumb question.

<comment> 0-o Not a dumb question, it selects certain tweets, analyses them using the google language api.

All tweets together weighted over their followers determines the sentiment.

Sorry for the delays! I wasn't quite ready for the amount of requests coming from HN

<comment><USER4> So what's the number? An abstract score?</comment></comment></comment>


8 Web to Mobile Tips - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2007/03/20/grubbs-8-web-to-mobile-tips/ <comment><USER2> Great submission! for those interested in a mobile startup such as I here's a more comprehensive list <http://jonathangrubb.blogspot.com/2007/03/8-ways-to- mobilize-your-web-product.html#comments>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the link jamon. I'm considering setting up something like YC news but for articles about mobile. What do you guys think? Currently the only reliable place for mobile info is carnival of mobilists.</comment></comment>


Single Application Mode: My favorite hidden feature of OS X - <AUTHOR> http://zackshapiro.com/post/26300586593/single-application-mode-my-favorite-hidden-feature-of

<comment><USER2> Alternatively, hold Command+Option when switching apps to toggle "single app" mode. I.e., you switch apps and hide all others in a single step. I use it all the time.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I didn't know about this. Personally, I like Single Application Mode so that I don't have to think about it. I throw every computer I have into Single App Mode when I get it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Another alternative approach - fullscreen. Gives me more room on the 13" Macbook, and as the article says, you can just cmd-tab.

This works fine for browsers, terminals, but afaik the OSX builds of emacs don't ship with a fullscreen mode; so you just do M-x server-start, and in a fullscreened terminal run /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/emacsclient -nw

<comment><USER4> There is a working patch somewhere out there that adds lion fullscreen support to emacs.

<comment><USER3> Yes - in fact there are several. You can even do it with external apps (<http://chpwn.com/apps/maximizer.html>). But meh, this ancient macbook runs hot if you even ask it to show a flash video, I'm not going to set it on fire by asking it to compile emacs or run more stuff.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Alternatively to the dock / defaults changes, you can just press Command+Alt+H

<comment><USER6> My inkling is that your _Hide Others_ and the basic _Hide_ are seriously underused by OS X users.

 _Minimizing_ a window in to the Dock is only worth it if the app has another window(s) that you want to remain visible. If instead you _Hide_ the app, it doesn't take any clicks to get it back, you just Cmd-Tab.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This article looks like an edited down version of this <http://tidbits.com/article/10624>

With no mention or link to the original work.

<comment><AUTHOR> That was my mistake. I must have closed the tab by accident. Updating now. Thanks for catching this, cadooo.

<comment><AUTHOR> Updated!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I usually just go fullscreen. One of the biggest peeves I have is that Chrome doesn't show the Omnibox (nor does it let you type a new url) while in fullscreen mode.

I do love Sublime Text 2's distraction free mode.

<comment><USER9> _Chrome doesn't show the Omnibox_

It does:

\- View > Enter Full Screen mode -- with Omnibox and tabs.

\- View > Enter Presentation mode -- without Omnibox or tabs.

Or click the little button on the right to switch between modes: <http://i.imgur.com/GD1LX.png>

<comment><USER8> Am I crazy or just stupid? I can't find (nor did I know there existed) anything like that.

I'm usually switching between Ubuntu and Windows 7.

I think I need to dig deeper in to the chrome settings.

Edit: Never mind, looks like an OSX only feature.

<comment><USER9> Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about OS X and its recently introduced full screen mode, which Chrome initially supported without showing Omnibox.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I use CTR+tab to switch between windows, anything that would work for me?

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not familiar with single application mode for Windows. Sorry, grim :(

<comment><USER11> The question wasn't about Windows. The single-app setting only works when you use the Dock to switch apps, not when you use Command+Tab. I would like to know if there's a way to affect the latter as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Let me do some digging. I suspect not. I use Command + Tab to switch apps and then when I want to isolate I pull up my dock and click an icon (my dock is usually hidden).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Is there any xmonad alternative for mac?

</comment><comment><USER13> yo zach, you from baltimore? go ravens!

<comment><AUTHOR> I am indeed! Are you? Go Ravens!

<comment><USER13> yessir! also live in SF—our apartment is adorned with all sorts ravens paraphernalia.</comment></comment></comment>


Docusaurus – infrastructure to help manage open source websites - <AUTHOR> https://docusaurus.io/blog/2017/12/14/introducing-docusaurus.html <comment><USER2> We've used Docusaurus on [http://bucklescript.github.io](http://bucklescript.github.io) and [https://reasonml.github.io/reason-react/](https://reasonml.github.io/reason- react/). Some highlights:

\- Fast dev workflow. The dependencies are kept relatively minimal, which is very appreciated. \- Very little magic. Doesn't opt you into a particular e.g. css paradigm. I personally appreciate the sweet spot where things "Just Work", but thanks to simplicity and obviousness, rather than explicitly architecting (though I'm sure the team actually put lots of thoughts into the design). \- Generates clean, idempotent static output, that you can manually introspect. A small source change leads to a small artifact change. A nice consequence derived from its simplicity. \- Generates static sites that work without JS, naturally. You can also progressively enhance it through regular JS. \- i18n! Super grateful we didn't need to handle that ourselves.

Haven't tried versioning, but we'd love to look into that as well.

Thank you Docusaurus team =)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks @chenglou for being one of our earliest adopters. You and your team really helped improve the quality of Docusaurus for launch.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm excited to have been involved with this project! Docusaurus already powers the documentation of Relay, React Native, Jest, Prettier, Reason-React and many more

Huge congrats to the hard work of the core team: @JoelMarcey @ericnakagawa @hectorramos and our former intern Frank Li.

Hopefully your next open source launch will be made a bit easier with this tool, and allow you to focus on writing great documentation!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks @EricVicenti! And congrats to you as well, especially since you were the one who brought this idea to us back in the summer. So happy you did. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why did you guys not look at/adopt gatsbyjs ?

From first look, it seems that docusaurus comes with saner and simpler defaults for a site. Gatsbyjs has to have plugins installed just to get markdown working and then grok graphql syntax to fetch data from markdown.

I wonder if that was it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Gatsby is a great tool for documentation as well. In fact, some of our open source projects use Gatsby (e.g., reactjs.org). We feel that Docusaurus serves a bit of a different audience. Docusaurus is focused on the fastest way to document a project. We wanted to provide a really quick way to get a site running with certain core functionality that folks might find useful. We can see Gatsby and Docusaurus possibly collaborating on some features. In fact, we could see integrating/adopting parts of Gatsby into Docusaurus under the hood. That is something that is worth exploring moving forward.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Wish it supported Asciidoc. For now jbake and hugo will be my preferred choices but definitely adding this to pinboard as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi @eitland! We wanted to start off relatively simply for the launch. Support for markdown and static assets, including images, css, raw HTML, etc.

However, we are definitely looking at supporting other formats moving forward. We just want to make sure we do not complicate Docusaurus too much by doing so. Trying to find a good balance.

<comment><USER5> Hi and thanks for answering!

I already bookmarked it the other day and anyway I'm happy for everybody who contributes to open source even if I choose to use another problem.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Looks pretty neat.</comment>