Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancers? (June 2011) - <AUTHOR> Please lead with either SEEKING WORK or SEEKING FREELANCER, your location and whether remote work is a possibility. <comment><USER14> SEEKING WORK

Nomadic - currently in Hong Kong, will be in Albuquerque next week and possibly LA/SF around the end of the month.

I've worked professionally with python, ocaml and erlang. I've worked in search ( <http://bit.ly/ji-texsearch-opt> , <https://github.com/jamii/texsearch> ), testing ( <http://bit.ly/ji-fuzzer> , <https://github.com/jamii/ocamlcheck> ), distributed systems ( <http://bit.ly/ji-mealy> ) and am making inroads into p2p ( <https://github.com/jamii/dissertation> , <http://bit.ly/ji-telehash> , <https://github.com/jamii/erl-telehash> ). I have a strong background in math (real analysis, probability, discrete maths) and computer science (randomized algorithms, AI / epistemic logic, machine learning).

I'm willing to work on anything but my main interests are distributed systems and p2p networks. My current project is described here <http://bit.ly/ji-mist> \- if you are working on something similar or interested in collaborating please get in touch.

Resume - <http://bit.ly/ji-about>

Blog - <http://bit.ly/ji-blog>

Github - <https://github.com/jamii>

References - [http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=65525388#recommendat...](http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=65525388#recommendations)

</comment><comment><USER15> Hmm. Lots of employers in the the on-site jobs thread. Lots of job seekers in the freelance thread. We've long had the technology to work remotely, now we're just waiting for corporations to catch up to the 21st century.

<comment><USER16> Most of the people seeking work seem to be designers and specialists in Wordpress or Drupal and the like. The job seekers nearly all want remote contract work.

Most of the job posters (in the other thread) are looking for full time developers and are concentrated in SF, NY, and Boston. They want programmers on site.

It's either a market imbalance or a communication disconnect.

<comment><USER17> I've been a remote worker for maybe 5y now. I realise now that I've spent more time working remotely than I have in an office. My experience with getting hired on various jobs has been: the people with who(m?) I've worked remotely with before (for example, because they've been somewhere else at a different organisation) have absolutely no problem (and are enthusiastic even) about hiring me, and the people who have not interacted with me in that way, and especially not worked with remote workers before are really very wary indeed - but the enthusiasm of the people who have worked with me remotely is enough to overcome that. There's clearly a division, and clearly people can move from one side to the other, but it seems very individual: people are happy for _me_ to work remotely rather than for "staff in general" to work remotely. So there's a reputation thing going on - but it doesn't seem a reputation that is widely understood - its a reputation understood only by a set of people who've had the experience. I don't really know how that reputation can be propagated and understood by others without the hard sell from someone already in there...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> There's also the HN contractor doc: [https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en_US...](https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?hl=en_US&key=tk7rUIb-2aPdk_5gFJEodCA&hl=en_US#gid=0)

<comment><USER19> In these freelancer threads i always see a lot of SEEKING WORK but not much offers, wondering how the contractor doc performs...

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> SEEKING WORK Remote only - I live in Dallas

Languages/Frameworks I love: Ruby on Rails, PHP/CodeIgniter, Python/Django, CSS3, Prototype, Scriptaculous

Languages I get along with: C#, JavaScript, jQuery

Languages I won't touch with a ten foot pole: C/C++, Perl

What I'm into lately: iPhone/Android mobile development, Readability/Instapaper APIs, RSS

What motivates me: Freedom. Being professional, but working the way that's best for me. Hard problems that can be solved with finesse.

Github Link: <http://github.com/jwwest> My 'lil LLC: <http://www.treehousemobile.net/> My blargh: <http://www.thefuturewithjetpacks.com/>

References available upon request, natch.

</comment><comment><USER21> SEEKING FREELANCER

Remote (close to EST) or on site in NJ.

Looking for a p/t freelance rails developer, and a designer/front end UI/UX person to assist me with new product/service features.

Our current stack is: (for all you developers)

Rails 3.0.x

Nginx

Linode VPS w/ S3 & SES

HAML/SASS (and soon coffeescript)

We also use git and capistrano for versioning and deployment

Ideal individuals would be those who have experience in the music industry building services to stream (and scale) content to end users.

Please contact support [at] dblsystems [dot] com with the header "HN DESIGNER", "HN DEVELOPER", "HN UI/UX" or some similar combination so it doesn't get buried.

Be sure to send code/design samples, links to linked in, github, and all the other usuals stuff....

b

</comment><comment><USER22> There are so many people out there looking for work, sometimes I think I could just be the middle man and take on 4-5x as many projects and just pass them on to these freelancers and make money that way...

<comment><USER23> If you can get 4x-5x the projects, that is definitely a good model to start your own web design company.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> SEEKING FREELANCER - Remote Preferred

Throwaway account here, I haven't posted for freelancers before and don't know what the spam level will be.

Our startup is looking for a remote freelancer(s) to help with various Javascript development tasks. Ideally you'll have experience with raw JS or a cross-framework JS experience as well as high comfort level with HTML, CSS and the DOM.

We have a large volume of small discrete projects and could use some help in working through them.

You can contact me at: email@example.com

Please feel free to pass along a resume, portfolio site, github link, etc along with your current rate.

Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER25> SEEKING WORK

Nomadic - in Boulder, CO for at least the next two months.

Generalist developer looking to build up clientele. I have a strong background in scientific computing / algorithms, but I've been recently working with Node.js and websockets and have been loving it.

Got some number-crunching that's dog-slow and don't know why? I'd love to talk to you. I love a challenge.

C, C++, Python, Numpy + Matplotlib

Currently working with: Node.js, MongoDB, jQuery, underscore.js

Would love an excuse to learn: Clojure, backbone.js, Erlang, OpenCL

Resume: <http://bit.ly/jeremy_resume> Email in profile

</comment><comment><USER26> SEEKING WORK - Nomadically traveling the world (currently in .ca) - <USER13> only, availability up to 20h/wk

Currently do web dev front to back on Rails/jQuery/real life js/MySQL/Postgres. Can do PHP, Django, but usually only for porting to Rails. Rebuilt the .pro registry and did most of the Washington Post's 2008 online election coverage.

github: <http://github.com/pushcx> blog: <http://push.cx> email: ph@ the blog

</comment><comment><USER27> SEEKING FREELANCER

I'm looking for a freelance Rails dev to help me with Talkbee (<http://talkb.ee>). It's a knowledge marketplace where you can book sessions with experts.

I'm in Paris, France but remote work is no problem. I'm looking for someone who's motivated by the project, but unlike most of the "join my startup so we can become the next Facebook" things I'm definitely willing to pay you for your time.

If interested, email me at hello[at]talkb.ee

<comment><USER28> Hello Sacha, I just shot you an email.

Your portfolio is amazing and I'd love to work with you. I've actually stumbled upon your blog in the wild before, and your post about designers who can't code and vice versa hit home for me. Although I'm primarily a programmer, I've made it a point to cultivate an eye for design (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity - CRAP - as one book so humorously reinforced), striving for elegantly simple user interfaces, and working closely with graphic designers to straddle the form/function fulcrum in a balanced way.

I hope to hear back from you!

Regards, Jonathan

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> SEEKING FREELANCER - New York City preferred, would consider remote.

We need an iOS developer with experience building games or picture book apps. We'd love to talk to someone who has also done Android development or used cross platform tools like phonegap or titanium, but that's not required.

Please send a link to an app I can install, a video of an app, or something else that demonstrates how great you are. email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER30> SEEKING FREELANCER - Berkeley, CA - Remote OK

I'm a Drupal contractor in search of a good Drupal themer who can help me on projects. I have one immediate project and others coming down the pipe over the next few months. I would build the back-end and provide you with the functional site and PSDs so you can build the theme.

I'm looking for someone who: \- Already has experience building themes for several Drupal sites \- Is comfortable using the Zen theme \- Never, never uses !important in stylesheets \- Knows the difference between _padding-right and %padding-right. \- Prefers to reuse CSS classes wherever possible rather than duplicating style declarations \- Knows what l() and t() are and uses them \- Generally available and responsive to emails in the 9a-5pm Pacific timeframe

It's a bonus if you know jQuery and excellent if you know PHP.

If interested please send me an email with a brief note about yourself and some links to work you've done. My email is in my profile. Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER31> SEEKING WORK

Portland, Oregon or remote

Data analysis & visualization: on the web using HTML, SVG, and JavaScript, but I also like the constraints of print / PDF (via LaTeX + Illustrator). I typically use a combination of Ruby + R + SQL. My machine learning experience is in classification problems---typically some dimensionality reduction like SVD or sparse dictionary learning followed by a support vector machine. I'm waiting desperately for social media network graphs to blow over.

Kindle application development: I'm one of the handful of developers in Amazon's private SDK beta making "active content" for everyone's favorite ultra low power black and white mobile device. See <http://keminglabs.com>

Portfolio: <http://www.dirigibleFlightcraft.com> Github: <https://github.com/lynaghk/>

</comment><comment><USER32> SEEKING WORK

Easley, South Carolina USA (Willing to work remotely or on-site)

Can do front-end xHTML/CSS/jQuery/AJAX (expert in all) and even a little design

Can do back-end OO PHP (expert), MySQL (expert), LAMP stack (intermediate in Linux shell / Apache administration)

My site & Portfolio: <http://jneal.com>

Recently completed sites: <http://www.instigateclothing.com> <http://www.alienantfarm.com> <http://www.12stones.com> <http://www.egyptcentral.net> <http://www.chris-adler.com>

I can take an entire project from start to finish, or fit seamlessly into your existing team of designers and developers. Use contact information from my website if interested.

</comment><comment><USER33> SEEKING FULL-TIME REMOTE

I've got lots of experience (3.5+ years on the job) and a degree in CS. I'm getting bored of agency work and would prefer to work with a respectable startup or well-known company. I've worked on sites of large companies. I've got lots of open sourced material and a blog I'm willing to share. I'm FULL of ideas with an entrepreneurial spirit. Interested parties must be willing to hear my idea rants every so often and at least appear vaguely amused or interested :)

* LAMP developer

* SQL skills

* Frontend developer skills (a boatload of jQuery)

* Zend/Kohana/Subversion/Git/Cap/Network Admin skills

* Love creating scalable code and solving scalability issues

* Client/agency experience

* Worked with NoSQL solutions in production.

* Love to learn, willing to pick up on technologies

* I'm on the east coast.

I consider myself more senior than junior. I've worked with my fair share of developers and realized I need to work with individuals sharing my passion.

Send details my way. I'll be sure to reply with a more appropriate introduction.

email@example.com

this is a throwaway.

</comment><comment><USER34> SEEKING WORK. YEAH.

You wanna be awesome? You bet you do. I can see it tattooed on your forehead. It says "I wanna be awesome".

Right underneath that, it says, "I want my Wordpress blog to be awesome too. Please?"

Maybe Xzibit can pimp your ride and make you awesome, but guess what homesauce - I can make your Wordpress blog awesome.

I'm a critic, and I'll critique the hell outta that Wordpress blog you've got. Design, SEO, plugins, security, branding, navigation, post titles, and all that grammar. Whatever, player. You want it to shine? I'll do more than spit on it. I'll give you the insight you need make it awesome; awesome enough to pony up the cash for a laser tattoo removal. Maybe awesome enough to call up Xzibit and not have your voice crack when you ask for some new hubcaps. Word.

<http://www.thomasjfrank.com>

</comment><comment><USER35> SEEKING WORK

Remote or on-site in Connecticut. Will travel at your expense if requested.

Strengths: Mostly front-end stuff, although I'm really infatuated with CouchDB right now and am in the middle of several CouchApp projects. I'm also very comfortable with creating Wordpress themes, and will use Wordpress if CMS or blog functionality is desired.

Other: I can do some small-scale PHP and MySQL work, but as a support for the front-end stuff. I can do design work, but I don't spend a ton of time in Photoshop - my designs tend to be simple, but eye-pleasing and UX-focused.

Oh, and when I'm not working on a website, I'm working on a game.

Email: firstname.lastname@example.com GitHub: <https://github.com/andrewrabon> Resume: <http://goo.gl/3mBVO>

</comment><comment><USER36> SEEKING FREELANCER

Looking for someone who has experience of Contao (Typolight) CMS and is able to take PSD and make them work with the templating system in Typolight. Please only contact me if you can show me a Contao site you have done. Remote work is fine peteloaf [at] me.com

</comment><comment><USER37> SEEKING WORK - <USER13>

Web UI designer - HTML5/CSS3/JS - from concept to finished product, no bullshit.

Experienced working with developers, version control, template languages, Sass, Stylus, etc++ across time zones.

Portfolio site -> <http://nylira.com>

</comment><comment><USER38> SEEKING WORK - Baja, Mexico - <USER13>

Generalist Developer seeking a good project to take on, fully proficient on LAMP architecture, and on frontend, vast experience working on marketing agencies, good practice is a given.

Have experience Scripting as well, Bash, Perl, Python, and even PHP on CLI, can help take on any DB Problem as well.

<http://ramonroche.com/> <https://github.com/mrpollo>

Dont Forget to check References on LinkedIn <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ramon-roche/6/548/47>

</comment><comment><USER39> SEEKING WORK - France - Available anywhere

Freelancer for about 2 years, specializes in Flex, Air, PHP Application/site development. Main programming languages : AS3, MXML, PHP Secondary programming languages : Javascript - Ajax, HTML, CSS

</comment><comment><USER40> SEEKING WORK

Contact me if you need the highest quality front-end work. I am an expert in client side technologies HTML/CSS/JavaScript, cross-browser development, _front-end optimization_ and can help with all the buzzwords (CSS3, HTML5, media queries/mobile ready). As a bonus: good grasp on accessibility and usability.

I am equally well-wersed in server-side stuff (PHP, MySQL and RoR) but currently not interested in this kind of contract just that my domain knowledge there will be helpful and make communication easier.

Preferable tasks: design to code implementation, front-end optimization.

REMOTE only. I am in Vilnius, Lithuania.

email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER41> SEEKING WORK

Remote or on-site in Jacksonville, FL. I will travel at your expense if requested.

Stuff I want to do: Clojure, Ruby (with or without Rails), Haskell, Lisp, Lua. I tend to prefer backend to frontend but I'm up for anything. Machine learning and AI stuff is especially interesting to me, but I'm content making website backends, desktop apps or anything else.

Other stuff I can do: Javascript, PHP, HTML, CSS, Java (a little), C (kinda rusty), Python (a little), basic *nix server administration, languages I've never heard of (I pick them up fast).

firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER42> SEEKING WORK - SE Asia (American currently living abroad) - Remote with possibility of on-site anywhere in the US starting in August.

Run personal Django websites for myself and friends, and am developing a complex sales/registration site in Django for a technical training company.

Experience with scientific programming in Python/C++ - notably in image processing.

Strong knowledge of Java (was a curriculum manager/developer and on-site trainer for Java for 2 years).

<http://jasonkotenko.com>

</comment><comment><USER43> SEEKING WORK

New York, NY or remote

Ruby/Rails/Javascript engineer with experience developing with HTML5 and CSS3 features for multiple platforms. I am very versatile when it comes to languages, and I can code in Objective-C and ActionScript as well. I've done Flash development for 4 years prior to switching to Rails about 2 years ago. I have experience with Agile development methods, and communicate easily with non-technical people.

Please drop me a line.

My portfolio: <http://websava.com>

</comment><comment><USER44> MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN THE RIGHT WORK

I live in Italy, and do Rails work, mostly, these days, although I've done Erlang, C, Tcl, Java (mostly related to mobile) and other things in the past.

</comment><comment><USER45> SEEKING WORK - Florida, USA

I've done a number of Django apps and projects and am looking for some great ways to spend my extra time. Also know Rails and C#, but just greatly enjoy Python.

<comment><USER46> I'm in the middle of putting together something for florida programmers looking for work. Send me a quick email if you'd like to be notified when it's up and running. brandon -at- brandoncordell.com

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> SEEKING WORK - <USER5>

Boca Raton, FL

Mainly Ruby on Rails.

I've done work with HAML/HTML/ERB, CSS, some jQuery, and a multitude of gems to build fully functional websites and web apps.

Available immediately and able to communicate through IM, Skype, Phone and email.

Email is in profile

Github: <https://github.com/gduplessy> | Resume: <http://gduplessy.com/resume.html> | Blog: <http://gduplessy.com/>

Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER48> SEEKING WORK London or remote

Expert: PHP (internals, optimisation, best practices, security)

Intermediate: Python, Django, Android, C

Familiar: Most modern programming languages. Coding is a lifestyle, right? ;)

I have experience from single-handed projects to leading enterprise teams.

Notable projects: Technical lead for <http://five.tv/> (Drupal); technical lead for <http://www.trustedreviews.com/> (Symfony).

Contact: email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER49> SEEKING WORK (Designer) - Currently in London, frequently works remotely and can relocate for contract duration at reasonable notice.

Portfolio: <http://zoltanray.com>

I design interfaces and lead creative teams for websites and mobile apps. I've designed for some of the biggest companies in the world (HSBC, British Airways, Tesco) and numerous startups. Over 100 completed projects in the last 8 years.

</comment><comment><USER50> SEEKING WORK

New York City.

I have ten years experience with ASP, ASP.NET, C#, Javascript, SQL etc. Along with SAP/ ABAP. In the last few years I have been using python, django, javascript etc. In general I am an all rounder and my past two roles have been as senior/team lead.

I married an American and (as of two days ago) I have permission to work in the US. I would like to stay away from Microsoft products for the most part but I would consider a mix.

email: shanebest99[@]gmail.com

</comment><comment><USER51> SEEKING WORK

Experienced Web Developer, recently moved from Toronto to Edinburgh. Seeking PHP/Python/JavaScript/HTML projects (add Ruby to that list shortly). Find my linkedin profile here: <http://www.linkedin.com/in/janlasbic>

Would prefer to work locally, but if you like what you see and have an interesting project for remote work don't hesitate.

</comment><comment><USER52> SEEKING WORK - Miami,Florida- Available anywhere

I can build custom WordPress themes from scratch, help with minor tweaks etc.

I also have knowledge in Drupal, Joomla! and Magento.

Skills: HTML/CSS JavaScript (basic/intermediate) PHP (basic/intermediate)

here are my samples and you can contact me through the site too <http://www.codeitforyou.com/gallery>

</comment><comment><USER53> SEEKING WORK

Mountain View, CA, remote

Frontend engineer with experience at Yahoo and Mozilla. Expert in frontend performance, layered semantic markup, CSS, HTML5, JavaScript, etc.

Preferable tasks: frontend optimization and scalability consulting. About 10-15 hours/week availability.

<http://ryandoherty.net/> email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER54> Seeking Work - <USER13>

Let me handle your screencasting so you can focus on doing what you love: working on your code. I'm an experienced marketer and product manager who wants to help put your product on display and reduce your support volume. Let's reach your target market and better support your users.

Contact me: justin.burdett AT gmail.com

</comment><comment><USER55> SEEKING WORK - Washington DC, Metropolitan Area or Remote

Lots of Ruby on Rails and Objective-C experience. I like coupling Rails backends with Objective-C frontends. A good example rails site that I've built is <http://barsannapolis.com/>.

Blog: littlebitofcode.com

</comment><comment><USER56> SEEKING (limited) WORK - Raleigh, NC - <USER7>

Specializing in:

* Interactive, responsive, and easy to use web applications

* Javascript, SVG, jQuery based design tools (WYSIWYG)

* Scalable Content Creation for SEO and targeted traffic generation.

I have a background in Math, Clinical Trials Management Software, BPM/Workflow, and Industrial Process Control/Monitoring

</comment><comment><USER57> SEEKING FREELANCER - Remote is fine

We are creating a reddit-clone aimed at girls 16-30. We plan to re-skin and make minor adjustments to the code base. We have a fantastic marketing solution to get initial users. We would prefer someone to work part-time for equity.

Contact me at chase.greiner12 AT gmail DOT com

</comment><comment><USER58> SEEKING WORK - Northern Arizona - remote work only

Jack of all trades web developer/sysadmin/UX designer. For a complete skill set list see:

<http://www.zulius.com/#skills>

Available for 2 month projects or smaller, 1099 only.

I can be emailed at tim.white (at) zulius.com for rate/quote/questions.

Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER59> SEEKING FREELANCER

Looking for iPhone developer in the Chicagoland area to work on finishing a real estate app targeting professional users. MUST have submitted previous apps to the App Store, and preferable to have experience with Android and Blackberry as well.

Please email firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER60> SEEKING WORK

Ruby/Rails development, server configuration/admin, HTML/CSS/Javascript/Photoshop. C++ work also, and I have some, but not much, experience with iOS.

Currently in London, UK.

My GitHub - <https://github.com/jasonl> Email: jason [at] jasonlangenauer.com

</comment><comment><USER28> SEEKING WORK

Remote or New Hampshire/Boston

I'm a web developer with equal experience on the backend with Rails and the frontend with HTML/CSS/jQuery. I have been central in the development, deployment, and maintenance of 3 production websites and 1 production web app. Here is a little background on a couple of my previous projects:

At one company, I inherited the company's existing intranet "project management" Rails web app (<http://metro-tek.org>). I added major functionality including timesheets for payroll (covered by unit tests), automated email reporting, model and form validation, and PDF rendering. I fixed bugs and set up automated error notifications, backups, and deployment. I also wireframed, programmed and deployed a new corporate website (<http://metroelectrical.com>) written in Rails. I developed an internal CMS platform to update the website, and integrated CopyCopter for production copy editing.

For my freelance website (<http://soliddesigngroup.net>), I developed a custom blog platform and CMS for internal use. I developed the information hierarchy and wireframed the website. I translated the website from a PSD layout file into production code, including social media integration, server and client- side form validation, and dynamic front end programming. I created custom jQuery plugins, and set up error notification, automatic backups, and automated deployment.

Here is a sampling of the "best practices" software I roll in my Rails stack:

      * web server - Nginx + Passenger
      * version control - Git + Github
      * automated deploys - <USER8>
      * error notification - <USER9>
      * automated backup - <USER10>
      * cron jobs - <USER11>
      * HTML/CSS templating - Haml/Sass/Compass
      * Production copy editing - <USER12>

To view some examples of my work, check out my open source code at <http://github.com/szTheory>, or my freelance work at <http://soliddesigngroup.net/portfolio>. I can provide further code samples upon request.

This is by no means the limit of my abilities or experience, but a small sampling. Please contact me at the email address in my profile for a copy of my resume, and references upon request. I look forward to hearing from you and answering any questions you may have for me!

Best regards, Jonathan

</comment><comment><USER61> SEEKING WORK

Looking for remote p/t work - I'm currently based in Auckland, NZ. But happy to work US hours.

Looking for work in Ruby/JS or ux/frontend design. Can also do any manner of wordpress/joomla theming etc.,

Also have iOS/Android mobile app development experience using Titanium and Phonegap.

cameron [at] ignite.co.nz

</comment><comment><USER62> SEEKING WORK - Remote or Philadelphia area

Development projects I'll love: Content management systems (CMS), iPhone/iOS Development & web applications

I grok: Objective-C, Perl, Java, PHP, HTML/CSS/JS

Lots of experience in complex projects and mixed technology platforms.

Email with 'HN Freelance' to ben.shive /at/ gmail

</comment><comment><USER63> SEEKING WORK Bowling Green, OH Web & UI design

Looking to build my clientele so I can work on the cheap (nothing below $1000) if necessary.

I have experience with HTML5, CSS3 jQuery, and Wordpress.

<http://www.ryanglover.net> for contact information.

<comment><USER64> BG!

Shoot me an email. I don't have anything currently, but I know quite a few people over here in Cleveland and stuff seems to be popping up all over right now

</comment></comment><comment><USER65> SEEKING WORK In India, I've worked on ASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, SQL Server, C#, JQuery and other web related stuff with MS stack

Availability up to 20 hr/week

Reference - <http://in.linkedin.com/in/maheshsingh>

</comment><comment><USER66> SEEKING WORK

London (Through June) Colorado (Through July). Remote is fine.

Available for short term (< 6 week) projects. Web apps, et al. I work in php, python, html5/javascript, jquery, css, racket.

<http://mebassett.gegn.net>

</comment><comment><USER67> SEEKING WORK - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK - Available anywhere in UK

PHP Developer Interesting CV: <http://bit.ly/kjYYgF> Boring CV: <http://bit.ly/kxOVZJ>

</comment><comment><USER68> SEEKING WORK

Currently in the Philippines. New Zealand guys, I have a pending Skilled Immigrant Visa for New Zealand (application submitted last April 2011).

PHP, MySQL, jQuery (Javascript), Apache, Zend Framework, Wordpress, Joomla, etc.

PM me if you want more details.

</comment><comment><USER69> SEEKING WORK - Baltimore, MD - Remote Work

I develop with PHP, jQuery and MySQL/SQLite. And I offer other services, such as copy-writing. LinkedIn profile: <http://linkd.in/jExicZ>

</comment><comment><USER70> SEEKING WORK Remote Lahore, Pakistan Rails, Php, Javascript(JQuery), Facebook Twitter API's

<http://pk.linkedin.com/pub/abid-mahmood/32/b18/b94>

</comment><comment><USER71> An L.A. (US) based startup is looking for a contracting Django developer to push an on-going stealth project into private beta and beyond. Full-time preferred. My e-mail is in my profile. Remoting is OK.

</comment><comment><USER72> SEEKING WORK - Remote, Moonlight

Server: C#, WCF, OData, Windows Azure

Client: JavaScript (jQuery), HTML, CSS

Mobile: Android

REST enthusiast. Great at UX design. Not so great at graphical design but I can easily make a PhotoShop mock-up work. Based in Buffalo, NY.

</comment><comment><USER73> SEEKING WORK

Madrid, Spain or remote

I'm a Java developer mostly doing web-backend and frontend work. Also very much into Python development including Django

homepage: <http://bit.ly/java-dev>

</comment><comment><USER74> SEEKING FREEELANCER - NYC - Remote work possible but not preferred

We're building a shopping tool on Ruby/Postgres/jQuery and are looking for freelance developers

Email me at jobs (at) wantworthy (dot) com

</comment><comment><USER75> Looking for a UX designer (contract) for an ASP MVC web application. (having ASP MVC skills is a plus) Preferably based in London. Contact info in profile.

</comment><comment><USER76> SEEKING WORK - New York, NY - Remote OK

I will make your SQL queries fast.

I am most proficient in MySQL but can work with any major SQL rdbms (Postgres, Oracle, SQL Server)

email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER77> SEEKING WORK - Phoenix, Arizona - Remote Work Yes

I like to develop web apps using Rails, Sinatra, and web.py. I'm also into Scala and C# development a bit.

</comment><comment><USER78> SEEKING WORK - New York, NY - Remote I work with rails, mongoDB, and backbone.js. Open source work: github.com/codebrew

</comment><comment><USER79> SEEKING WORK - <USER13>

Islamabad, Pakistan.

I mostly do Python, Django and jQuery based projects.

Blog: <http://asadjb.com>

</comment><comment><USER80> SEEKING WORK

will code for Bitcoins

I can do Machine Learning, clustering, data mining, data cleaning, scraping, etc. Python and C++.

email: firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER81> SEEKING FREELANCER

Las Vegas, Nevada USA

Remote work is fine

Need someone that care about my broken FaceBook game and is not just doing the work for the money i pay them.

The work requires a RoR programmer with FaceBook experience.

We can negotiate a pay rate based on your experience and performance.

If you're interested, you can take a look at the patient here: [http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=107717989269...](http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=107717989269253)

Thank you.</comment>


British billionaire Hohn launches campaign to starve coal plants of finance - <AUTHOR> https://in.reuters.com/article/climate-change-coal-banks/british-hedge-fund-billionaire-hohn-launches-campaign-to-starve-coal-plants-of-finance-idINKBN20P0KB <comment><USER2> I think this is great. It's worth actually reading the letters - [https://ciff.org/news/ciff-calls-leading-banks-and- regulator...](https://ciff.org/news/ciff-calls-leading-banks-and-regulators- end-coal-finance/)

He is asking for banks to publicly disclose their coal loan exposures and significantly increase the applied risk-weighting of these coal loans. Sounds prudent to me.

</comment><comment><USER3> Divestment is one of the most effective ways to fight climate change. And guess what, you can do it yourself too.

Shift your investments from fossil to green. If you can't find enough worthy greens, shift it to anything else. Some say it won't impact your returns: [http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/the-mythical- per...](http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/news/the-mythical-peril-of- divesting-from-fossil-fuels/)

Move your deposits and savings to a more sustainable bank. It's very easy to do yet quite powerful [https://fairfinanceguide.org](https://fairfinanceguide.org)

<comment><USER4> This kind of "divestment" is doing literally nothing to fight climate change. You're just offering stocks in fossil companies at bargain prices, making them more attractive to hold by increasing ROI. Nothing changes in real economy, everything operates as usual.

<comment><USER5> Except you're taking your money elsewhere and "investing" in future technologies and providing them capital to grow and outpace fossil fuels ?

If the majority of money was locked up in coal, there would be no capital for new types of power generation.

You're argument sounds like it might even be crafted to make people think divesting is pointless but it can't be.

Money is actually finite and therefore can be distributed in different ways.

<comment><USER6> If you're buying stocks (outside of an IPO), you're not actually providing capital to a company though? You're just buying the shares from someone else & somewhere back in the chain of ownership, _someone_ provided capital to the company.

<comment><USER7> You're paying off the early investors who funded that company, making similar investments more attractive.

Plus many companies do raise money by issuing new stock after IPO, or buy other companies with their own shares, and so a higher stock price benefits them, even if you don't buy those particular shares.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> _" In his letter to Carney, dated Feb. 28, Hohn warned that British banks were "highly likely" to suffer losses on coal financing as the cost of renewables continued to fall and regulations on air pollution and carbon emissions tighten."_

If that's the case then Hohn shouldn't even need to push this agenda at all. Coal usage would go down dramatically naturally based on market competition from renewables based on his own statement. Either he doesn't believe that, or he does and there's something else going on.

<comment><USER2> I think it's mostly to do with timing. What he is highlighting is risk mispricing when it comes to coal loans (that aren't properly disclosed to shareholders of banks). But the effects of this mispricing - and market competition from renewables can take years to play out.

In the meanwhile, climate change doesn't wait - if we want to have any chance of not going beyond widely accepted atmospheric CO2 limits, it's important no new fossil fuel infrastructure is built.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> There are some countries like Australia and Japan that only increase investment in coal mining and burning. It's hard to starve such a big economies.

<comment><USER10> After so many fires in Australia, how come there aren't any protests to decrease coal mining? Yes, most of that is exported and producing money for mining companies, which pay AU taxes and employ miners. But still, that's a small fraction of AU population.

<comment><USER11> I was reading a book to my kids yesterday that had an opening rant about how the wildfires over Australia are a massive problem and our forest management system is a disgrace globally. Flying at 10000 feet led to coughing and choking, seemed like it was everywhere in the country.

The author was Jacques Cousteau, the book was written in 1973.

Australia's been dealing with giant wildfires forever. It's not clear whether the fires are getting bigger or smaller with time, what impact forest management has in same, and whether smaller fires closer to population centers get more press and then make it seem like the problem is worse when it may not be.

Global heating is a slow burn, but we're all poised to read any climate tragedy on it.

<comment><USER12> >> It's not clear whether the fires are getting bigger or smaller with time

I'm pretty sure that it's very very clear that the fires are getting maybe not bigger, but definitely more frequent. Sure 1973 might have had a fire as bad as the one this year, the problem is that Australia is now expected to have such a fire every year or even multiple times a year, instead of once a decade or so.

<comment><USER11> This is largely a forest management issue and not one of global heating.

Forest management used to focus on eliminating fires entirely. This has the impact of building up brush to the point where any fire became massive. They thought they were reducing fires, but they actually just increased amplitude and decreased frequency.

It's kinda like dams for flood control, but with different time scales. A few dams for flood control reduces flood frequency massively, and we build up population centers in what was previously deserted floodplain. Then a flood (dam failure eg Oroville came pretty close) has a huuuuge systemic and possibly chain reaction, trading semiannual road blockages from minor flooding into one Whoa Noah every hundred years.

<comment><USER5> This is incorrect.

You can't manager a tinder dry forest with fire anymore because the droughts and dry seasons are becoming hotter and dryer than in recorded history.

What land management would fix this issue because deforestation?

The only thing that probably needs to be reincorporated in Australia is indigenous cold fire burns when the time is right.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Sounds like coal is competing against his other investments. Pretty smart way to dress up your self-interest as a virtue.

<comment><USER7> Running businesses that pollute less than the alternatives _is_ a virtue.

<comment><USER14> Until you've made energy so expensive lower class families get an extra financial burden to handle

<comment><USER15> This such nonsense. Green tariffs (where 100% of electricity is from renewable sources, and sometimes a bit of your gas is biogas) are essentially the same price as non-green tariffs in the UK.

<comment><USER14> And what about in Kazakhstan? Primary source of energy is from coal. Should we let them freeze because they aren't as fortunate as you to live in the UK?

<comment><USER15> I don't see how that follows from anything I said.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Or how to make investing into coal plants more profitable for those who don't buy into this guy's campaign. One would expect this to reach Nash equilibrium with barely any change.

</comment><comment><USER17> This is good, but I wish we aren't _so_ dependent on the largesse of billionaires for every major, planet threatening problem there is to solve

</comment><comment><USER18> coal miners should be encouraged to claim compensation as well:

[https://www.gov.uk/coal-health-compensation-claims](https://www.gov.uk/coal- health-compensation-claims)

</comment><comment><USER19> I hope re-education of the plant workers is part of this campaign.

<comment><USER20> Re-education of the would-be workers at future plants that don't get built?

In general, I'd say re-education is a job for the workers in question and government.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I doubt it'll work. If the business is profitable, capital will find a way to flow to it.

<comment><USER22> I didn't interpret the letter as laying out a plan that must work.

I understood:

\- If governments stop funding coal, coal goes down.

\- Governments are likely to stop funding coal.

\- Coal is likely to go down.

\- This risk isn't adequately represented.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Half of us don't acknowledge a problem.

</comment><comment><USER24> Nice, I'm sure many people will appreciate being out of a job.

<comment><USER25> "Jobs" is never a great argument to defend a technology overtaken by development.

It is an especially bad argument in this context, because not only is coal endangering the whole society, but when we close down coal plants, we continue to need electricity. So the coal plants are replaced, usually these days with renewable sources. And those tend to be more labor-intensive than coal. So "jobs" is actually a good reason to close down coal plants.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Less privileged people who who rely on cheap but dirty energy will get to chose between starving and staying warm. Renewable energy research being done by these companies will cease to exist. This seems incredibly naive at best, at worst it's intentionally malicious and devoid of compassion.

<comment><USER26> The money that would have funded these plants is not just going to disappear. And there is more than enough money going around to keep the poor warm and fed. People in countries like South Korea and Japan are obviously not going to starve if their central banks stop investing in coal.

<comment><USER14> I'm not worried about South Korea and Japan. If you cut off funding to every coal plant, massive regions of Africa, South America, and Central Asia will be without any source of heat and electricity (or more likely they will just burn something worse). I want to see renewable, but not at the cost of entire nations going dark and freezing in the winter months

<comment><USER7> Funding for operating existing plants comes from the clients and/or the government, or possibly from bank loans for cashflow management. Investor money is usually for funding new plants or mines.

The only reason most existing plants might close is if cheaper alternatives provide a better service.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> He just has convince every other private investor, every government, every bank and pension fund and the owners of existing plants to all agree. Literally every single one.

<comment><USER28> Not really. You don't need to get anywhere close to 100% to effectively make coal too expensive to be worth it. Even if he just convinces a few big ones that will make coal operations more expensive, hence less attractive also for other ones, hence more expensive... . Viscous cycle, virtuous cycle and all that. To win you only need the price to increase to a higher level than preferable alternatives and the market will do the rest.

<comment><USER27> How does not being funded by a few investors etc make it more expensive to be funded by others?

Remember, these projects are inherently very profitable because coal is cheap and easy (and dirty, but dirty isn't a cost). If a big name won't invest for a 5% return, I'm sure 1001 small names will...

<comment><USER28> > How does not being funded by a few investors etc make it more expensive to > be funded by others?

Supply and demand. If the number of investors goes down, the remaining ones can charge higher rates. The 1001 small names would be stupid to invest for 5% if they can get 6%. The coal company would build even more plants if it were lucrative, but at 6% such and such big investment does not make financial sense anymore.

<comment><USER29> It's self-correcting. At 6%, more interest will be shown by other sources of funding, who will then enter the game and lower the interest rate as a result.

The world is awash with capital right now, money sitting around idle, looking for a place to be invested. Just look at how much money is being thrown at startups, how low interest rates are for countries who were bankrupt or on the verge of bankruptcy <10 years ago. This scheme is guaranteed to fail right now. Maybe in another credit crunch it has a chance?

<comment><USER28> That is not what "self-correcting" does.

Your argument does not show that it won't go up, but only that it won't go from 5% to 15% but rather find some balance at, say, 8%. Mission accomplished, coal is now at a disadvantage compared to what it was before.

> The world is awash with capital right now, money sitting around idle, > looking for a place to be invested.

And considering that coal is not doing well (and thus has to offer higher rates), much of that money will be invested elsewhere. Sure, some will still be invested in coal but less than it would be if you didn't do that.

This type of argument pops up often: "but there is a small counteracting effect, so it will balance out to not do anything". No, it does not work like that.

<comment><USER29> >Your argument does not show that it won't go up, but only that it won't go from 5% to 15% but rather find some balance at, say, 8%. Mission accomplished, coal is now at a disadvantage compared to what it was before.

Or it will settle at 5.01% due to the fact that a middle eastern sovereign wealth fund or two will be bigger than all investors who sign up to this scheme put together.

>And considering that coal is not doing well (and thus has to offer higher rates), much of that money will be invested elsewhere. Sure, some will still be invested in coal but less than it would be if you didn't do that.

But that has nothing to do with global warming or ethics of coal. It's mostly due to natural gas becoming so much more economical, which is mostly due to the shale gas revolution. It's a huge benefit to the planet, but mostly an incidental one. Of course politicians and energy companies will still use it to pat themselves on the back very very publicly.

>This type of argument pops up often: "but there is a small counteracting effect, so it will balance out to not do anything". No, it does not work like that.

Depends on the scale of the pro-acting effect. My guess is that the effect of 'ethical investment' due to ethics/global warming alone, and not due to fundamentals of energy markets that have to do with prices of natural gas, will be close to zero. If I'm wrong, it'll only be because a majority of investors who would have otherwise invested in coal (important distinction) jump on board this campaign, or close to a majority.

<comment><USER28> > Or it will settle at 5.01% due to the fact that a middle eastern sovereign > wealth fund or two will be bigger than all investors who sign up to this > scheme put together.

Which did not sign up at 5%, but at 5.01% it is now totally worth it... . No, it is entirely unreasonable to expect that _if_ the current large investors drop out they will be more than replaced.

It might be the case and even likely that Hohn does not achieve the first step, but _if_ he can convince a few large investors the effect will be much bigger than 5.01%.

> If I'm wrong, it'll only be because a majority of investors who would have > otherwise invested in coal (important distinction) jump on board this > campaign, or close to a majority.

If "just", say, 10% jump on board, what then?

<comment><USER29> >It might be the case and even likely that Hohn does not achieve the first step, but if he can convince a few large investors the effect will be much bigger than 5.01%.

No, not a few. Most.

>If "just", say, 10% jump on board, what then?

Then it'll make little or no difference.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I see nothing in the article about helping workers who would be out of jobs when coal plants shut down. The headlines will read "Billionaire causes thousands of blue-collar workers to lose their jobs".

<comment><USER25> Renewables tend to to be more labor-intensive than coal. So switching to renewables rather creates jobs. Besides the usual benefits of saving the climate, keeping the air clean...

<comment><USER31> Renewables presently look more labor-intensive because they are still being built at a rapid clip, whereas there are no coal plants under construction in the US. "Coal power jobs" presently include only the permanent employment for operating and maintaining plants that were built in the past, plus associated mining jobs for fuel.

Most wind and solar jobs are temporary construction/installation jobs. It takes a year or two for hundreds of workers to build a solar farm. Then the site can operate for 20 years or more with just a handful of permanent employees. Jobs in manufacturing the _equipment_ used for renewable generation are steadier but also less plentiful. Factories for making batteries, turbines, inverters, and solar modules are already thrifty with human labor and becoming more so over time.

I actually think that these characteristics of renewable generation are _benefits_ , overall. Aging populations benefit from technological developments that enable the same material standard of living with fewer prime-age workers. Low labor intensity also means that renewable electricity prices can fall further until hitting a price floor set by the wages of plant workers.

See a previous analysis here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13750787](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13750787)</comment></comment></comment>


Good Housewife Guide  - <AUTHOR> http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/misc/days.pdf

<comment><USER2> This was 1955, 10 years after the second world war. A lot of GI's with shell- shock and PTSD had come home and started families. Most of this reads as a pop guide to treating PTSD. Speaking in a low voice, avoiding clutter and stress is exactly the right thing to do.

</comment><comment><USER3> Ugh. I recently went to a wedding where the Best Man read this out in its entirety as his speech (without any attribution). Lazy, in bad taste and very cringeworthy.</comment>


Show HN: Phrot, a more social way of blogging. - <AUTHOR> http://phrot.com/

<comment><USER2> Sexually suggestive names notwithstanding, why don't you make this a blog aggregation platform?

Almost every blog in the world has RSS - why not make it "social RSS"?

I mean, there are already blogs around and many people put ads on their blogs and post links to reddit and HN and get an audience and whatnot.

What I'd like to be able to do is come to Phrot and submit a link to workingsoftware.com.au/rss and know that whenever I post a blog entry it'll go on the home page for people to see. Tagging would obviously be a good way to automate the categorisation, people could upvote and comment just as you have now and Phrot would become another source of "reactions" on the internet through backtype so I would still have that conversation hosted on my blog.

The people should be able to favourite bloggers they like, and plug the feed from Phrot into their favourite RSS reader, and share their favourites and have friends and all that sort of malarky that goes along with the most ridiculous internet buzzword of all time (social).

But forcing me to blog _in_ Phrot won't work for me.

Oh, and while you're solving all my problems, another thing I've always wanted was a way to see what _people i know_ or care about are saying - not a list of massive comments on a blog but just like a chat room that spans the entire internet (not sure if Disqus already does this - if they do it's not particularly obvious but they sure as hell should I reckon!).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> As a gay guy, I've got to say that "Phrot" is the worst name imaginable.

[NSFW] <http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=frot>

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh dear, thanks for pointing that out. I've never heard that term used in conversation though, is it common?

<comment><USER4> Well it's not the worst thing ever...I mean the website is kind of about people rubbing their stories with other people's stories, and I'm sure it will cause a lot of excitement...

<comment><AUTHOR> That's an... interesting way to put it, but yeah, I guess we can use that as an excuse if anyone brings it up ;).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Kind of look like reddit/hn or whatever, only now they also host your blog (and for people who want to earn a little money via ads, that won't cut).

Wondering if they would also add the "readability" button, who get the shares of those up-votes?

So just as the recent posts about hacker news and how to solve them ([http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news- problem.h...](http://al3x.net/2011/02/22/solving-the-hacker-news- problem.html), hn:<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2252152>) it seems that there are a few more cases where people would like to make new things with to solve them once and for all.

For this case, I wonder if there are any tagging system implemented to sort, the topics are just too board.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback, sure, if you want ads on your content then by all means use something like wordpress for that, we may offer some revenue sharing model in the future though. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by a readability button, could you elaborate?

A tagging system is a pretty good idea, we will definitely consider implementing something like that.

<comment><USER5> <http://www.readability.com>

They offer a revenue sharing model for subscribed users.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The confirmation email the app sent me went into Gmail's spam folder -- maybe this is related to the domain name you're using?

AIUI, the idea is that people's friends will also be on phrot so that when somone writes an entry, their friends will see it. If this is the case, do you plan to add friending/following options?

Out of interest, what's it written in?

<comment><AUTHOR> Hmm that's odd, gmail hasn't given us problems before, as anyone else had this issue?

We don't have plans to add friending/following options at the moment, but it's certainly a possibility in the future. The site is written in PHP with a MySQL backend.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> What's the advantage of Phrot over competing blogging platforms?

<comment><AUTHOR> When you set up a blog on a traditional platform like Wordpress with the intent of looking for feedback on an idea, to share a story or just to start a conversation, or even just to share an idea with a large amount of people, there's not really any immediate way to do it, unless you market your blog and actively advertise it to get readers, and if you want to keep the interest of those readers, you generally have to commit yourself to your blog.

A lot of people just want to write something without having to spend time marketing it. It doesn't make sense, why would you want to do that, when all you want to do is write one or two blog posts in a year? Phrot is a very community centric site to blog with. It's designed for the person that wants to write about something, and wants it to be read, but doesn't want to have to go through all the hassle of promoting it.

This isn't designed to replace other blogging platforms like wordpress, just to provide a more suitable alternative for people who want to do things a bit differently. I hope this answers your question :).

<comment><USER8> Just to play devil's advocate here: let's say Phrot takes off and becomes wildly popular. Then, isn't it harder to get attention for your posts, since it'll be lost in the crowd? Basically, then you're back to having to market your blog posts heavily on Phrot to get it notice, which is the original problem Phrot is trying to attack.

At a higher level, I disagree with your point that you can get away without the "hassle" of promoting your content. You'll always have to do some kind of promotion of your content, even if it's really good. And, if it's bad, no amount of promotion will get it anywhere.

IMHO, the main point I'm driving at is that there is no "free lunch". You'll always have to promote your content in order to gain a followship. It's just a fact of the web.

<comment><AUTHOR> If it does take off, I'd be happy to begin subdividing the site into categories in order to help it scale better. By subdividing, there would always be a manageable stream of content within those categories for discovery.

Regarding your point about this not completely eliminating the promotional aspect of gaining a followship, that's not what Phrot is ultimately about. I agree if you really want a followship, you do have to work hard to build it up, and if you're publishing content on a daily basis, that's not what Phrot is for, you can use a wordpress blog or something similar for that. I should also make it clear that we're all about promoting and rewarding good content that wouldn't otherwise be discovered, not giving a chance in the spotlight to everything that gets submitted regardless of how good or bad it is.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I suggest that on your introductory video, you remove the music. It's distracting, and made it a lot harder for me to understand what you were saying.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry to hear that, we didn't think adding music would cause any problems, thanks for the suggestion.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I like the idea, and really hope this takes off.

<comment><USER10> You're talking about the blogging platform, right?

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Use javascript to correct '1 comments' like it is done on this site.

</comment><comment><USER12> How is this any different than what hacker news essentially is now?

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a blogging platform, not a "hacker-news-like" site.</comment></comment>


Dev boards – embedded Linux by example - <AUTHOR> http://dev-boards.blogspot.com/

<comment><USER2> > Gigabit ethernet port - ( PROPER eth port - unlike the Raspberry Pi shit)

This is, by far, the most lacking feature of the Pi. I wonder why the RPi Foundation has not corrected this in the B+ revision - I understand why stuff like GPIO pin assignments etc. cannot be changed, but who bitbangs their ethernet port!?</comment>


Ask HN: Rent a mathematician / numerical analyst? - <AUTHOR> Is there some place where I can pay to have math problems solved?<p>Specifically I'm looking for a fast accurate floating point implementation of log(I_n(x)) where I_n(x) is the modified Bessel function of the first kind. There are nice implementations of I_n(x) but taking the logarithm after the fact is awful for accuracy. Doing this right probably involves expressing it in terms of Chebyshev polynomials or some other weird functional analysis that I don't really feel like learning. <comment><USER2> This sounds dangerously close to a homework problem, so my response will be in the form of homework hints.

I'll assume you want I(n,x) for integer n. For small-to-moderate x, write I(n,x) as a power series, peel off the leading order x^n term, then take the log of the right side and use properties of logs to get n log(x)+log(c+o(x)). The result should be just as accurate as your logarithm function.

For large x, use the asymptotic expansion of I(n,x) and again use properties of logarithms.

To figure out where the boundary of "small-to-moderate" and "large" lies, see Abramowitz&Stegun.

If you aren't a student, please accept my apologies. Feel free to email me (email in profile), I'll give you more info if you reciprocate by telling me where you came across this problem. If it's not a homework problem, it looks interesting.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not a student, but I do appreciate the hints! In my case I need it to work for positive real values of x and values of n=y/2 where y is a positive integer.

As for why this comes up: I'm working on a statistical estimation problem and this is part of the normalization term in my log-posterior.

Again, thanks for the hints. I'll try my hand at solving it.</comment></comment>


HaNS: The haskell network stack - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/GaloisInc/HaNS <comment><USER2> A readme would be helpful.</comment>


The San Francisco Games Revolution Is Over - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/13/the-san-francisco-games-revolution-is-over/

<comment><USER2> Honestly I'd say at least 95% of gamification companies were seemingly run by con artists to begin with. Extrinsic motivation completely kills intrinsic motivation, a fact that virtually none of the gamification companies take into account in their design even though presumably most of them know about this since it comes up right away in any decent book on the topic. This means that basically none of these companies had a chance in hell of working. Yet there are tons of investors who've probably never taken more than psych 101 who see these companies and throw tons of money at them without any due diligence, because they intuitively seem like great ideas if you don't understand that they're contraindicated by the academic research. So it just encourages more people to come along and do the same thing.

Note to investors: find someone who understands psychology and the other social sciences to help with your due diligence. And not just normal psychology, but also specifically Internet psych. (Which is actually a field.) For basically all businesses you should be looking at whether they're consistent or inconsistent with what the social sciences suggest will work, work great, or be completely non-viable.

(Also, it should be noted that there are startups that use gamification to good effect, like Squidoo and Ginzametrics, but these are very rare.)

<comment><USER3> "Extrinsic motivation completely kills intrinsic motivation"

Can you help me understand what this means?

<comment><USER4> Extrinsic motivation takes the form of external incentives to do something, such as the promise of money. In actuality, though, it seems that these incentives actually demotivate people from performing the task, because it kills their intrinsic motivation, their innate desire to do that task (such as a true interest in the work).

So, instead of an innate desire to take on the task, the person now has an artificially incentivized desire, which results in lower motivation, since the motivation doesn't come from their own innate desire to do the work, but rather from the money.

"At least 70 studies have found that rewards tend to undermine interest in the task (or behavior) itself; this is one of the most thoroughly replicated findings in the field of social psychology." <http://www.alfiekohn.org/managing/cbdmamam.htm> — and see also Alfie Kohn's book _Punished By Rewards_.

<comment><USER5> Can gamification be considered a reward in the same context?

It's not money or physical reward, but a 'badge' or an 'achievement'. It's automatically having the system give attention and recognition to people who do something the system likes, instead of having that recognition parseled out by manually by moderators and admins.

<comment><USER2> "Can gamification be considered a reward in the same context?"

Yes, the psychology is the same whether you're talking about tangible rewards (money, physical products, digital downloads, movie tickets, etc.) or intangible rewards (grades, praise, points, stickers/badges, etc.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I like the ambiguity in the title, is it Hipster speak or is it literal? Who knows.

This article is an excellent discourse on the corportification of the gaming experience. It really points out the notion that 'smart money doesn't innovate, it evaluates' which is so prevalent in the casual game space. So much data, the temptation to use it is impossible to resist, but then going against it becomes equally impossible.

I don't think the revolution is over though. There is a lot of money to be made in entertainment, but it is true that trying to make it mathematically or through statistical analysis is in peril. Actual game designers, folks who can conceive out of whole cloth a fun and entertaining gaming experience, will come out on top.

<comment><USER7> > I don't think the revolution is over though. There is a lot of money to be > made in entertainment, but it is true that trying to make it mathematically > or through statistical analysis is in peril. Actual game designers, folks > who can conceive out of whole cloth a fun and entertaining gaming > experience, will come out on top.

Like there are auteurs like Kevin Williamson and Aaron Sorkin in Hollywood, so there are true renaissance men and women in game creation.

Zach Gage.

"Gage is an indie game designer — the Bon Iver to Rovio's Katy Perry, the artisanal free-range heirloom-turkey breeder to Zynga's factory farm. He works out of his apartment and has long hair and a perpetually in-progress beard. He works on games mostly by himself, collaborating occasionally with friends, and sometimes he drops into immersive research sessions that can last for weeks. One recent session was intended to figure out why people like playing word games, a genre Gage has always hated. (He thinks it's cheating to build a game on top of a system that already exists, like words or numbers.)

So he spent two weeks playing Bookworm, Words With Friends and Wurdle, during which he decided that the genre suffered from a serious lack of strategy — aside from Scrabble, he says, most of those games are just dressed-up word searches.

The result of this was SpellTower, Gage's newest and most successful game, which allows users to create towers by building words from letters in adjacent boxes. In its first two months, he says, it earned him enough money to live off for two years." [1]

[1] [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magazine/angry-birds- farmv...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magazine/angry-birds-farmville- and-other-hyperaddictive-stupid-games.html?pagewanted=4&_r=3&hp)

<comment><USER6> Sounds like a really interesting person, I expect you could hook him into a support network of developers, marketeers, and brand managers and his insights would start supporting an entire mini-industry, like Pierre Cardin, or Ives St Laurent.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> On point #2 I think it's still too early to say whether the handheld market has been upended at all. Yes you see a ton of people on the subway playing with their phones, but that may well be an example of the gaming market growing to include more gamers, not that traditional console gamers abandoning their dedicated handhelds. Consider that for September software sales for the 3DS were up 89% YOY. It launched poorly, but it also launched at an unprecedented high price.

The market is changing but I'm not sure if traditional handhelds are being hurt by the new iOS market.

</comment><comment><USER9> What do you think about point number five; graphics? Is graphics an important part in the next future game hit? Graphics is certainly not a priority in the social games that have been succesful so far. The beauty of many hit social games I feel is in that they're so easy to start to use and even my mom understands them, will AAA graphics add to that effectively (since it's so expensive)?

<comment><USER10> Disclaimer: I'm not a gamer or games programmer. But it seems to me that "good" graphics are not just about beauty, but style and personality. For example, South Park animation is crude but instantly recognizable as South Park. There would be no point in converting it to Pixar-level quality except as a joke.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The San Francisco Gaming "Revolution" never existed. If it did, we'd also have to talk about the Tamagotchi Revolution and the Furby Revolution.

It was a (very) short-lived phenomenon that was wildly profitable for a short time, and at no point did it appear to be sustainable. Everyone who thought this was the beginning of a long-term industry was delusional.

</comment><comment><USER12> I like to think the "San Francisco Games Revolution" began over a century ago in 1895 with the invention of the slot machine:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slot_machine#History>

Zynga is merely a continuation in that fine tradition... whether their pivot to real-money games works or not.

</comment><comment><USER13> And once again techcrunch crashes the ipad ...

<comment><USER14> Complain to Apple.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> There is no bubble</comment>


A more detailed, colorful map - <AUTHOR> https://blog.google/products/maps/more-detailed-colorful-map/ <comment><USER2> I don't know if it's just me but Google Maps usability has declined a lot in the last two years.

Before it was just so easy to look up something, set the route and go. Now it seems that there are a lot of unnecessary steps and information. Also there's a baffling bias toward showing directions instead of launching the live navigation view.

They are trying so hard to make it look and work like Yelp that the overall "job to be done" of the application which is navigation has almost become a non first class citizen in the app.

But even with all that, the thing that I hate the most about Google Maps these days is that somehow the "keep map up north" setting never stays off. I don't know what I'm doing but that setting gets enabled without me intervening. And that makes navigation in a car so hard and dangerous. I always have to open the settings in the middle of a trip to turn it off.

<comment><USER3> I actually like being shown the directions first. It's really helpful to have an overview and understanding of the route instead of just being spoon-fed surprise mystery directions at the last moment. Sometimes you need/want to deviate from your plans, and a little extra spacial awareness goes a long way.

<comment><USER4> And that's the point where you're supposed to tweak the route if you know better. I used maps to gauge traffic on my commute but there were times when I know they're wrong and haven't picked up on an accident yet.

<comment><USER3> True! Also helps you realize if you're heading to the wrong destination.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> So, are we losing the functionality to easily see what areas are parks (previously green) and what areas are not? Seems like a step back in usability.

<comment><USER6> At the moment I am constantly surprised by how hard to read the maps are. I very often cannot see the roads because they are white no a white background (on my phone).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Looks like a catchup feature to Apple Maps. Traffic signs must be next.

<comment><USER8> What a weird thing to say. Did you compare any of the examples with Apple Maps? All of Iceland is flat gray in Apple Maps, as is Morocco.

<comment><USER9> Apple updated Maps earlier this year to include more visual details. AFAICT it's still US-only.

[https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/01/apple-delivers-a- new-...](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/01/apple-delivers-a-new- redesigned-maps-for-all-users-in-the-united-states/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Still no traffic lights? "Turn right in 1.2 miles" will never be as easy to follow as "turn right at the third light" (or "turn right at the McDonalds").

</comment><comment><USER11> This feature doesn't seem live in my web browser. Iceland still looks like the old version.

<comment><USER12> Not actually rolled out yet...

> This week, we're rolling out new visual improvements

<comment><USER13> Google's releases are always so anticlimactic, since they are rolling out over a relatively long period of time.

It is, of course, the correct way of doing things, but readers will be disappointed when they try it themselves.

(I still have not gotten the noise-cancelling feature in Meet. Not sure what's up there)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm wondering when Google will start to show me based-location ads (with a, of course, "Skip" button) that interrupt me whenever I'm using their maps app</comment>


Social media bosses could be liable for harmful content, leaked UK plan reveals - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/04/social-media-bosses-could-be-liable-for-harmful-content-leaked-uk-plan-reveals <comment><USER2> This is going to be even more incentive for technology companies to pull out of Europe/UK. The future of the internet is going to be tech savvy Europeans VPNing into the US or otherwise tech friendly locations to access all of the "real" content and services.

<comment><USER3> Nothing of value... etc etc.

Honestly, FR was a better social network that facebook killed by nature of being the behemoth it is.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Bash on my new webapp? - <AUTHOR>

http://onepix.me
I just reached what I like to think is MVP last night and I'd really appreciate it if you'd bash on my app for a bit and give me your feedback.
I'm looking specifically for a few things. First - can you figure out what it does? This has been my biggest problem so far as most people can't figure out what it does. Second, would you use, and pay for it?
Right now there is no way to pay for the service, but it would be great if you'd sign up for a trial account and let me know how the process works. I'd like to hear about any usability issues as well, or outright errors.  I have tons of extra features planned, but I'm bootstrapping so I'd really like to know if you think this is  viable project.  Thanks for your help! <comment><USER2> Personally I would really focus the ability to know when your email has been read, there are many analytics software providers that give you far more detailed statistics than your package will.

While I know there are email trackers and from a commercial point of view you would be using an email marketing provider.

But from a consumer's point of view tracking when a really important email has been sent could be a great idea. I would use it if I was sending an email to someone I hadn't contacted before but respected a lot and placed a high value on being in contact with them.

As a result if I was running the site, I would focus the branding and marketing on the consumer level, simple to use email tracking versus commercially focussed stuff.

 __Also tip: maybe don't use so much tech mumble on the homepage, tell the user about the results of your technology on the homepage and the details of the technology on a sub-page, otherwise you are just confused if you are coming from a search engine or social media site.

So something like: "copy and paste this one line into your emails and know whether the recipient has read your message".

Looks like a cool idea so keep going.

</comment><comment><USER3> Just signed up, couple thoughts:

\- I think it is pretty clear what you do, so that is good

\- The left right buttons on the homepage weren't working for me

\- after signing up its weird to see some red text "You're 33% of the way there...", it makes me think something went wrong.

\- its also a little weird that I have to add my e-mail address again to create my first notification, maybe that should be pre-populated with the address I signed up with to save a step when signing up.

\- I got 2 e-mails every time (signup, e-mail verification, notification)

But it looks cool, I will give it a try on some of our pages, nice work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I'll check in to the duplicate message thing. I'm glad that it was pretty clear what it does. The red text was to guide you through the process of setting up your first notification but obviously it needs some work. The reason it asked for your email address a second time was that you can receive notifications on other email addresses, not just the one you sign up with - but now that you point it out it does seem dumb that you have to add it a second time and makes more sense for me to automatically add your primary address.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Put the Image in an HTML email and know exactly when the Email is opened."

Do most eMail clients not block images because of this client tracking, gMail and Outlook spring to mind.

</comment><comment><USER5> I think it is a good idea for non developers, but as a developer I would know how to implement this feature without needing your service. So I would be a little worried about your target audience and really making your webpage speak to those people.

Here's my 2 cents on some things I saw: \- Plans and pricing has some css issues \- Signup page has three sign up callouts. Maybe put some benefits on that page and remove the duplicate call outs.

</comment><comment><USER6> Just signed up too, and I agree that it looks very good! I'll test drive it for a couple of days to see how it works. I can imagine it's very cool to get notified whenever a new user signs up, but once you get to the point where you have 1000s users every day it could get annoying... I'm not at that point though so I want to know!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yup, you've got it exactly. You probably wouldn't want to put it on a page that got 1000's of visits a day. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable: <http://onepix.me></comment>


Ask HN: What are you using for your logging and metrics needs? - <AUTHOR> What are you using for your logging and metrics needs? <comment><USER2> Netdata and Datadog ... big fan of Netdata

<comment><AUTHOR> So datadog for logging?

<comment><USER2> correct

<comment><AUTHOR> How is that? Did you consider any other tools?

<comment><USER2> We used to use the elk stack and filebeat but we got tired of maintaining the stack. Datadog is expensive but out-of-the-box for a lot of things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Nagios, and not by choice.</comment>


Ask HN: Any devs who want to partner up with a designer to spice up Linux Apps? - <AUTHOR> As a designer, I was impressed by Microsoft's recent products for makers and disappointed by Apple's seemingly focus shift off of the Mac line and more geared towards the iPhone and the watch for mass consumers.
I've never used a Linux before, but I'm interested in giving it a try. Though the software on it really looks like crap.
I'd love to have all the Adobe like software I use on a daily basis, and all the developer tools, available - made apple like simple and beautiful, and just work.
I'm not a developer. I'm a designer. Looking to help different developers who make software that I personally would use, so I can hopefully contribute to a more professional and attractive ecosystem on Linux.
If interested, please email me at firstname.lastname@example.com with the software you're working on that could need a UX and UI rework. Love to collaborate.
Founder of Flypx.com, logodust.com and Fairpixels.co in case you want to see some previous work. <comment><USER2> Also, if KDE is not your cup of tea, you might want to get in touch with the guys over at ElementaryOS ([https://elementary.io/](https://elementary.io/)). Their Pantheon suite of apps are really nicely designed. I'm sure they'd do great with an additional hand on deck.

<comment><USER3> Although I think they are in more urgent need of developers than designers - their software looks great, but unfortunately tends to be rather buggy...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Hi! Can you tell us your experience with and opinion of GIMP?

(P.S. I am interested but would like some public discussion first).

</comment><comment><USER5> Did you see the plasma mobile thread? It already looks nice, but hands are always welcome. Great post!

<comment><AUTHOR> Nope. Could you link me up to it? Tnx

<comment><USER5> Sure! It is the first one in front page now: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12858326](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12858326)

<comment><USER6> From: [https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved](https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved)

 _Visual and Human Interface Design

Whether you are an artist, a designer, or just someone with an interest in how people interact with software, the KDE community needs you! The VDG help make KDE software both beautiful and usable by helping teams design their user interfaces. This includes creating icons and themes, as well as thinking and researching how to help users do what they are trying to do, instead of getting in the way. By joining this team, you can help make software that makes users happy, and those around them jealous. Find out more about joining the VDG._

Link at the end: [https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/design](https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/design)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


IBM: Digging itself in deeper - ESR - <AUTHOR> http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=1892#more-1892

<comment><USER2> As the old joke goes, IBM is good at 2 things: shooting self in foot and reloading.

</comment><comment><USER3> This is just a PR trick from TurboHercule. IBM told them they might infringe on over 173 patents, out of which 2 are from that famous 500 pledged patents. And of course that this trick to diverge focus works just fine on open-source zealots.

Looks to me that TurboHercule wants special treatment just because they do (for now) open-source. Perhaps they shouldn't have incorporated, but started an non-profit organization.

This also looks interesting because TurboHercule is incorporated in France. I would like to see the validity of US software(hardware?)-patents in an EU court.

</comment><comment><USER4> Both of your recent submissions of ESR blog entries have linked to the third paragraph of the respective entries, making the first two paragraphs start scrolled off the top of the screen, which is kind of annoying.

When you see a story on ESR's blog and click the "read the rest of this entry" link, that links to paragraph three, and that's what appears in the URL bar. If you scroll up and click the title to the story, you'll get a link that starts at the beginning.</comment>


Put your multiple personalities in Firefox Multi-Account Containers - <AUTHOR> https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/introducing-firefox-multi-account-containers/ <comment><USER2> Nice.</comment>


Ask HN: Best practices for software development? - <AUTHOR> I've been writing software professionally now for about a decade, but I feel like I've never learned how to do it 'properly'. For example, I've never experienced agile methodology, never used unit testing on my code, and only just recently started using source control tools.
What are the current best practices I should consider following? And conversely, what worst practices and non-best practices should I avoid?
My projects have delivered just fine and my clients and employers have been happy with the work I've done, but I feel like I'm missing important techniques. I've mostly worked solo rather than on a team of developers so that might be a contributing factor. <comment><USER2> Read "Code Complete". Read "Mythical Man Month." Maybe read "The Pragmatic Programmer." If you're interested in learning more about testing, read "How Google Test Software." If you work on a lot of other people's code, read "Working Effectively with Legacy Code"

Good unit tests are absolutely crucial to any kind of future refactoring effort. They are helpful at finding regressions and give you some confidence that you do not break the paths that are tested. If you work in a team larger than one, code reviews are a must. Code reviews allow both participating parties the opportunity to learn, improve the overall codebase, and catch bugs. I also think writing code comments and documentation is absolutely important. Mostly so the "next guy" understands why the code is doing what it is doing. Most of the time the "next guy" ends up being you.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hi

Best practices varies depending on the project & team size. What's best for team of four might be bad for team of 100 or for single developer. For example source control, when I work alone I used it mostly as history of my code and backups but don't care too much about branching, but when I work on something bigger with e.g. ten people involved it's almost impossible to work without setting some rules about that.

Agile is becoming a standard for bigger teams, but it also might be bad for some types of the projects. If you join any agile driven methodology you can pick up basics in like one day and then just follow up - I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Unit testing from my perspective is really crucial even for small projects developed by one person. On the top of unit testing it's at least good to read a about BDD / functional / integration testing to understand how you can test your code even if you find out it's too much for you.

Microservices is another trends worth to read about but it also doesn't mean that you should create every project using microservices/SOA.

Best practises are the very open topic, it is hard to know without knowing what kind of project or languages do you use. You should also keep in mind that following trends might be good or bad if you don't understand what you want to achieve - I saw many projects killed because over engineering. From my perspective code is good as long it is simple.

I think the best source of knowledge is following technical blogs related to language you are using or industry.

</comment><comment><USER4> If you ever work on a team I can't recommend code review enough. I can't comment on how useful it is to review your own code after the fact by reading it, but you could certainly give it a try that way if you are currently working alone.

Code Review requires two skills (one interpersonal, one technical):

1\. How to read code (often in diff format) and run through it in your head to look for technical correctness.

1a) How to read code and look for style issues like code structure and variable/function naming.

2\. How to write constructive feedback so that the author of the code feels happier after your review than before it.

The best part of code review is that even in an environment that doesn't officially support it (e.g. no code review tool or source control, or an official policy against pre-commit/pre-merge reviews) you can easily do informal post-commit reviews. In my opinion the two major benefits are to decrease your bus-number, and to slow down the pace of code changes (at least if you have a pre-commit/pre-merge review policy). By decreasing your bus- number I mean that you force someone else to read and understand the code before it goes into "production". Even with half-hearted reviews this usually means you've got at least one other team-member who is can say "Oh yeah, I remember that $IMPORTANT_FEATURE was changed recently." And finally by slowing down the pace of code changes I mean that code spends an extra few hours/days sitting around, which gives more people a chance to look it and spot issues before releases. This is kind of a social hack, it stops from-the-hip code changes from immediately going into your codebase which increases the chances of the author or someone else giving them a sober second look.

</comment><comment><USER5> I think there's some ebb and flow in what practice is ideal.

There are benefits to a detailed up front design. Conversely there are benefits to jumping straight into code, to get feedback and let the design emerge through real experience.

Unit tests are a nice way to define interfaces. Conversely sometimes it's better to discover an the ideal interface organically rather than setting it in stone up front.

Some of it is just differences in what _medium_ you perform design. People want the medium to be like playdoh so it can be changed. Before they cast it in marble. Some languages are more like marble, some like play doh. But don't ever delude yourself, thinking you have found the best way to design.

Source control is not really software development. It's a very good thing, but in the same way that eating a healthy lunch will assist creating things.

</comment><comment><USER6> I recommend "Site Reliability Engineering" from O'Reilly. It is about how Google uses Software Developers to achieve scale, and puts a focus on how developers can build and design scaleable systems

</comment><comment><USER7> Read Clean Code, keep code small and always have a few tests you can auto run.</comment>


The turpentine effect - <AUTHOR> http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2010/03/18/the-turpentine-effect/

<comment><USER2> Excellent article, I especially loved the quote "I'd rather write programs to write programs than write programs."</comment>


Ask HN: How to call functions and do basic math in Clojure and core.logic? - piotr-yuxuan https://gist.github.com/piotr-yuxuan/54347c4bf9b6f85227b7 <comment><AUTHOR> Math is possible with core.logic (in a sense) using the finite-domain constraints and functions. Check out the clojure.core.logic.fd namespace for more: [https://github.com/clojure/core.logic/blob/master/src/main/c...](https://github.com/clojure/core.logic/blob/master/src/main/clojure/clojure/core/logic/fd.clj)

</comment><comment> piotr-yuxuan By the way I think it'd be better for me to post in as "Ask HN" but I haven't found how to do it >< \-- any clue?

<comment><USER2> Articles show up in /ask when they were posted without URLs. It's a convention to put "Ask HN" at the head of the title.

Putting Ask HN at the head of a title where the post links to an external story breaks the convention somewhat, but since that was your intention we've added it here.</comment></comment>


Does the iPad Have One Button Too Many?  - <AUTHOR> http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/02/does-the-ipad-have-one-button-too-many/?hp

<comment><USER2> "the bezeled edge seems a bit overkill for a company so obsessed with understatement"

This is silly. How else are you going to casually pick it up, with your thumb and forefingers of a single hand, without accidentally clicking on areas of the screen? The bevel is quite "functional".

This whole article feels slightly ridiculous, almost like the author is trolling.

<comment><USER3> Plenty of sketching and writing apps already have really good wrist-detection. It shouldn't take much effort to extend that to assume a pseudo-bezel if you enable it in Settings.

<comment><USER4> Or the iPad could normally work in bezel-mode, but allow a separate "fullscreen mode" to take advantage of the whole surface area for some uses cases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> If Apple gets rid of that button, they would be sued for copying the look and feel of almost every Android 4.0 tablet manufacturer.

When Samsung sued them for look and feel infringement, the entire court system would be in danger of dividing by zero and suffering gravitational collapse.

</comment><comment><USER6> Apple's design of the single button is really smart, and I doubt they'd abandon it any time soon.

Why is it smart? Because it allows people who have no prior knowledge of an iPad (or iPhone) to understand how to work it immediately.

The fact it's a hardware button is a bonus, because people know how to work those who've never used a touch device before.

The problem with gestural interfaces is that creating affordance is difficult. It's the reason that draggable things on iOS usually still have drag handles.

When there's a single button that brings you back to a predictable state, it's impossible to get lost.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, though I wonder if the power button could conceivably fit that role? Pressing it once returns you to the home screen. Holding it down powers the system off.

I do prefer a physical button over the gestures...there are many apps that use multi finger touches and those sometimes are interpreted as iOS multi-tasking gestures, which interrupts the app.

<comment><USER7> I'm a little bit paranoid about physical buttons breaking down over time, so if the power button got increased usage, I'd probably get a bit worried.

That is the reason I dislike the idea of a physical home button, but at the same time, it seems like it's the best idea right now. A friend didn't know gestures existed on the iPad until I showed her recently and she is by no means not smart. I also know many people who didn't know about gestures on WebOS and instead used the flimsy home button on the TouchPad.

For now, I think Apple's home button is the best solution, but I'm constantly hoping for a better way to do it without getting ordinary users confused.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The problem is discoverability. I've had an ipad since 2007 and had no idea about most of the gestures he mentions. Novice users would get horribly stuck without the one no-brainer emergency exit that the physical button offers.

<comment><USER9> _I've had an ipad since 2007_

The first iPad was released in 2010 and these gestures are only for iPad2 and up (unless you jailbreak).

<comment><USER10> That is no longer the case. I have an unmodded iPad 1 and I can do the Grab to close, 4 finger app switch, etc. Just enable them in the settings. [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/how-to-activate- ipad-2-mu...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/how-to-activate- ipad-2-multitasking-gestures-on-the-ipad-1/16186)

<comment><USER9> Thanks for this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> If they must have a bezel, it should at least disappear when the device is sleeping/powered-off. Why not extend the screen fully to the edge and instead illuminate a bezel with the screen itself. You could even allow users to customize it a bit. Then you could _gasp_ remove the Home button for a soft button or buttons.

Soft buttons are possible and sexy, really. Just because they are executed poorly on second-rate Android devices does not mean that they are all bad and impossible.

After all the hurdles they've crossed, do you really doubt that Apple can solve that UX problem?

</comment><comment><USER11> One reason why I bet this won't ever happen is because it would create an inconsistency with how we use the iPhone. You can't do a five finger pinch easily on the iPhone, so you would then have two different ways of 'going home'. This is one too many for apple. Remeber how they changed the rotate lock to a mute switch even though it didn't make that much sense to do so? THey did it /just/ to create consistency with the iPhone. There will be better iPad-centric ways of navigating iDevices, but a pure gesture based one is unlikely.

</comment><comment><USER12> Is there a way to return to "normal mode" in the home screen after being in "edit mode" (moving, grouping, removing) that does not involve pressing the physical button? I seemed to have tried all "obvious" attempts of doing so with no success.

</comment><comment><USER13> I had always assumed that the home button was designed so that if an app locked up or something, there would be an immediately obvious way for users to get out without powering down the device. Does anyone know if this is the case?

</comment><comment><USER14> Is it just me or using more than two fingers at the same time on that screen feels wrong? The way to go is webOS-like gestures. I don't think I used my TouchPad's home button ten times in one year.

</comment><comment><USER15> On the other hand, I wish more Android phones would return to using real physical buttons instead of unreliable haptic soft keys, or the new on-screen buttons like in ICS.</comment>