That's Business, Man: Why Jay Z's Tidal Is a Complete Disaster - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2015-05-28/why-jay-z-s-tidal-streaming-music-service-has-been-a-disaster <comment><USER2> _" It's too early to write off Tidal"_

No it's not. It's over. There's no coming back from a $75M in debt at startup that makes no money with no end in sight. You'll need more investment. But who invests in companies that already owe huge debts and have terrible press? People that expect major ownership and a change in leadership, that's who. Or people that want to pick through the bones and pull out IP.

Maybe I'm wrong but if they get another infusion of cash, or make a profit in the next 3 years and bootstrap their way back, I'll be surprised.

<comment><USER3> Wasn't this technically their exit? Jay-Z bought Tidal...

I wrote an article[1] on what I think Jay Z is planning with Tidal. I do think it's far too early to write it off. Jay Z and the other coowners of Tidal have something that Spotify and co really lack. Domain knowledge.

1 [http://cranesandcaffeine.com/against-the- current/](http://cranesandcaffeine.com/against-the-current/)

<comment><USER4> It might be interesting if there was some cited basis for the speculation about what Tidal might do. Sure, Tidal's owners are insiders, but you've made a giant leap from "they're insiders" to "this is there specific plan".

<comment><USER3> It would be a huge leap but Jay-Z has specifically said this was his exact plan. To create a platform that eases a musicians journey from recording to streaming and ultimately to money making.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> In my opinion, here's the weirdest part of Tidal's message: "We cut out the middleman and passed the savings on to... well, actually, we raised the price. Enjoy!"</comment>


Is Your Product Too Engaging? - <AUTHOR> http://ryanhoover.me/post/65523627397/is-your-product-too-engaging

<comment><USER2> _coughhackernewscough_

Not exactly the same, the there's a reason that noprocrast is there.

<comment><USER3> Wow, I've seen noprocrast dozens of times but never thought to use it. Now that I've looked into it, it's actually a fantastic model (maxvisit and minaway). Not hard to comprehend, but if anybody's curious:

[http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html#07nov07](http://ycombinator.com/newsnews.html#07nov07)

I wonder if there are any chrome extensions that share a similar model.. I use 'stayfocusd' right now, but it's nowhere near as effective.

<comment><USER4> I use this - it's not a chrome extension, but an OS X application that blocks sites for all browsers: [http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/](http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/)

<comment><USER3> Oh this is fantastic. Almost exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> That's why we limited introductions to one per day on At The Pool and quickly scaled to 100+ countries...

[http://atthepool.com](http://atthepool.com)

<comment><USER6> Ahh, good example, Alex. I've used your product before. Coffee Meets Bagel uses a similar one-per-day approach. Smart.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Interesting that this is "Tinder for startup professionals" because the co- founder of Tinder said they're interested in applying their idea to professionals in the future (not just dating).

The co-founder of treatings.co has been blogging on PandoDaily every week about doing the same idea. I guess a bunch of people are going after this space, and I wouldn't be surprised if LinkedIn has a more noticeable feature like this in the future.

</comment><comment><USER8> The problem isn't that your product is too engaging. The problem is it's not good enough for your users. In your example, you don't have enough users in your app to make it more useful. The solution isn't to make it less engaging - it's to add more users. To make it more useful.

<comment><USER6> Not quite. The biggest issue is connecting too many people at once. Assuming the goal is to meet people in person for coffee (and one could argue that meeting via email is just as or more valuable), making numerous connections floods the user with "commitments" to meet. Most people are too busy to meet several people (e.g. 5) within a 1-2 week time frame. The product needs to address this flood.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> the double buy-in approach is interesting, and being applied to a lot of different use cases - hr/employment, by Angel list, hooking up, via Bang With Friends (now called Down) and of course Tinder, and also dating via OkCupid locals... it's especially effective if the subject of connection is not something you wish to socially broadcast, due to stigma or fear of rejection (jobs/dates/hooking-up/etc.). There's a lot of untapped use cases where applying double buy-in would be effective, like finding a roommate. Or, perhaps situationally it could be effective and reduce the fear of rejection or awkwardness associated with striking up a conversation at a bar or at a convention, etc.

</comment><comment><USER6> What examples can you think of outside of gaming or dating that face this challenge?

<comment><USER10> turntable.fm

<comment><USER6> You think so? It doesn't have a content problem (there's infinite music).

I posited that Turntable.fm failed for other reasons: [http://ryanhoover.me/post/45420658844/what-killed- turntable-...](http://ryanhoover.me/post/45420658844/what-killed-turntable-fm)</comment></comment></comment>


Tell HN: Angellist jobs terrible user experience - <AUTHOR> Ugh. Forces me to create a full resume and answer goodness knows how many questions just to search their jobs.<p>No thanks. Terrible user experience. <comment><USER2> it is, sometimes, hilarious how entitled we can get.

a site full of jobs that allow you to use your favourite technology, work remotely, with hip startups doing cool things, but god forbid you have to upload a resume.

imagine one of the less fortunate get annoyed by the idea of "writing a resume". the horror.

<comment><AUTHOR> Have you actually tried to use the angelist job search as a new user?

All other job sites just let you do a search. Why not this?

<comment><USER2> because it wants you to register. how is that not obvious?

i cant browse linkedin without registering, either. angellist wants to be a social network. users who are not registered are worthless to them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Sorry getting a six figures job isn't easier for you.

Professionalism, it's what you are paid for.</comment>


Forget leap day, there's a serious plan to replace it with an extra week - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnet.com/news/forget-leap-day-theres-a-serious-plan-to-replace-it-with-an-extra-week/ <comment><USER2> Working with the dates and times is a major pain in the ass. It's also a solved problem. Introducing a new system isn't going to help anyone.

So now every January 1st is a Monday. So what? Also, why Monday? Make it Sunday so NYE/NYD fall on a weekend. Christians would also be happy about Christmas being on a Sunday. Why put the extra week in December? Who the hell --in the northern hemisphere--wants an extra week at the worst time of the year? At least compromise and stick it in April or October. Or maybe we can trade back and forth between hemispheres.

This is just replacing calendar complexity. Instead of some [already written] logic around leap days, we've now got to deal with new logic around a leap week "every five to six years" (and how is that determined?). Any logic dealing with historical dates also has to handle computation between both systems. It's bad enough transitioning between Julian and Gregorian, but we're not still managing mortgages from the Renaissance.</comment>


A Beginner's guide to HTML and CSS - <AUTHOR> http://learn.shayhowe.com/html-css/

<comment><USER2> Nice website. Seems basic to me but I know HTML/CSS already so that is probably a good thing.

Of note, did you think of making the left-side nav fixed so when you scroll down the page a user can click on a new topic? Just an idea.</comment>


Tweet at 11p EST for more engagement  - <AUTHOR> http://www.gettingmoreawesome.com/2011/05/17/tweet-at-11p-est-and-more-tips/

<comment><USER2> FB seems to have a different dynamic than Twitter, because the posts float around for several hours once posted.

With Twitter, after ten minutes or so, your post is lost in the shuffle unless it hit big earlier on and received many retweets.

<comment><AUTHOR> very very good point. I generalized "Status Updates" to Twitter and Facebook. I changed the title of the blog post so it is more clear.</comment></comment>


Stop Brexit: 700k sign UK petition to stay in EU - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-petition/stop-brexit-700000-sign-uk-petition-to-stay-in-eu-idUSKCN1R2124 <comment><USER2> The petition is here. Looks like it just crossed 1,000,000. [https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/241584)

<comment><USER3> Only 16m more to go

<comment><USER4> Can we then have a 2nd petition, just in case anyone has changed their mind?

<comment><USER5> I support a 3rd petition too. In fact why don't we just repeat all elections and referendums until we get what we want?

<comment><USER6> That is literally how democracy is supposed to work. You have regular(ish) elections to appoint your "representatives" in parliament (representatives in scare quotes because they seldom represent the people).

Even the 2016 EU referendum wasn't the first we've had. As the voting populous grows old, new voters come of age, and the relationship with our EU partners change, it makes total sense to revisit past decisions.

Nothing in democracy should be closed to re-evaluation for all time in the future just because some people made a vote once.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> However, 17,410,742 voted to leave

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_U...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_Kingdom_European_Union_membership_referendum)

<comment><USER8> Those 17 million voted for many different versions of leaving, different sets of changes to our relationship with Europe (many of those were impossible or illusory -- based on lies). All those who voted to remain voted for essentially the same thing, to maintain our current relationship with Europe.

<comment><USER9> Isn't this how most of democratic elections work with many different faces of leader and their different set of plans targeted to different groups of people. Does the burden to separate lie and misinformation from truth along with the responsibility to choose the best not lie with electorate?

<comment> jon-wood The difference between an election and a referendum of this type is that in four years there'll be another one, so even if everyone realises they were wrong an opportunity will be along in not too long to reverse that decision.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm not British, so I have no real horse in this race. I'm generally in favor of Brexit, and think that long-term it will benefit the UK far more than it will hurt them short-term.

That said, I don't think it's "undemocratic" to hold a second referendum. Parliament is clearly not on board with the whole idea, and the EU isn't really inclined to make a graceful transition. So let the voters make another statement, given what we now know.

If Brexit carries the day again, then Parliament will hopefully become a little more flexible, and the EU, for fear of alienating an important trading partner, will likely stop with the game of chicken as well.

And if Brexit loses then everyone can kiss and make up, with the new knowledge that actually pulling off an exit from the EU is harder technically and the full implications are more daunting than the voters anticipated.

<comment><USER11> EU parliament defends the interests of EU countries, including the Republic of Ireland. Europe is protecting its interests; politicians in the UK assumed that the EU would bend to their will, they were wrong. With Theresa May's hard Brexit and red lines, it was impossible for the EU to do more; I actually think they did some compromises in the current May's deal. The problem is that May's deal is not what was sold to voters, far from it, that's why no one is happy about the current situation.

Europe just said: You cannot have your cake and eat it.

<comment><USER10> > Europe just said: You cannot have your cake and eat it.

Yeah, sure. But they _could_ have just said: You can have your cake and eat it. Why exactly is it "impossible" \-- UK exceptionalism was already the norm.

let the UK have their cake and eat it. How much of their intransigence is a matter of principle vs. a game of chicken (hoping that the UK will give up on Brexit) is something that I don't know if we can really know unless push comes to shove.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Where's the competing leave the EU petition?

<comment><USER6> If there isn't one already then you're free to create one yourself. Nobody is denying the right for one to exist.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Can someone make a petition for those who want to leave.

<comment><USER4> We had one already.</comment></comment>


Buy Stamps from Your Command Line - <AUTHOR> http://blog.geteasypost.com/post/48133423082/stampsfromcommandline

<comment><USER2> You can also use `$ npm install -g easypostjs && easypost --help` -- this will let you print postage via CLI with inputs, see <https://github.com/EasyPost/easypost-node#easypostjs->

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed, much easier than cURLing

Thanks for the awesome work, Nick!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This is absolutely awesome. I'd love to see EasyPost integrate/replicate Microsoft Office's mail merge functionality for commonly used label templates. For instance, you could `GET api/labels/ids=id1,id2,id3&template_provider=avery&template=15664&format=pdf` and you would get a pre-filled PDF with 3 labels that would print directly to an Avery 15664 label sheet out of an inkjet printer. If EasyPost doesn't do this, we'd probably end up replicating this in-house, but since every self- fulfilling online retailer (a) needs to do this, and (b) would probably just buy these label sheets from the local Staples, it just makes sense for you guys to offer it as well.

<comment><USER4> Absolutely. This is the missing link in any shopping cart that I've tried out. We don't do huge volume (maybe $100,000/year for 2013), but this is a continual source of annoyance for me - that there is simply no good, automated way to deal with this. Paying a 5% surcharge is absolutely reasonable if someone can just use the USPS APIs and wrap it into an automated postage plugin where my orders get posted to their API and I simply just print out the PDFs that come out. Or something like that. We're not even close to that right now and it's silly!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is neat! Can you also support negotiated rates by using our account's credentials?

Also - shameless plug - I myself am working on an actually-usable python UPS library (with a real quickstart and example code and everything!) It is surprising how weak open-source library support is for this kind of thing, which is tedious, but not alltogether insurmountable. <https://github.com/classicspecs/ClassicUPS>

<comment><AUTHOR> You can! Nice work!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I like the simplicity, but from my experience with warehouses no one is willing to take a 5 cent increase in postage costs, let alone a 5% (or less) increase.

Is the rate you're basing the ~5% on commercial base, commercial plus, GEPS? There are other consolidators that will offer those prices (Express1 for example). And while they are more work to integrate, the long term savings can be enormous.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right. We started with % of spend because it was easiest. We've had plans for a while now and will push them soon. These have competitive rates for volume shippers. In need of something like this?

<comment><USER6> We use the Endicia and Express1 API's in our software currently (Mainly because Express1 will share a bit of our client's revenue with us). We are definitely still in the marketplace for UPS, FedEx, etc solutions though. Haven't gotten around to their API's yet, and I don't know if there are good consolidator rates for them.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great, we'd love to talk. Feel free to drop me an email at j at easypost dot co (I can't find your email)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> As a side-effect can your service be used for address normalization?

<comment><AUTHOR> verification? yes

check it out here <https://geteasypost.com/docs>

<comment><USER7> Great.

Your service is doing more than simple verification. Verification by its nature would result in a boolean. Your service is suggesting a better address (which is what I'd call normalization). e.g.

        curl https://www.geteasypost.com/api/address/verify \
          -u cueqNZUb3ldeWTNX7MU3Mel8UXtaAMUi: \
          -d 'address[street1]=388 Townshende Ave' \
          -d 'address[street2]=Unit 20' \
          -d 'address[city]=San Francisco' \
          -d 'address[state]=CA' \
          -d 'address[zip]=94107'

yields:

        {"address":{"street1":"388 TOWNSEND ST APT 20","city":"SAN FRANCISCO","state":"CA","zip":"94107"}}

Anyhow, semantics aside, are you going to make it fuzzier or this is based entirely on USPS' api?

<comment><AUTHOR> What do you mean by fuzzier? We're doing it carrier-based, so that the corresponding postage works. What are you needing this for?

<comment><AUTHOR> There's SmartyStreets. You tried them?

<comment><USER7> Yeah, SmartyStreets sucks for a few reasons:

1) They are abusing the USPS api and charging access for it.

2) The USPS resolver sucks anyhow. "388 Townsend San Fran" yields an error. Google & Yahoo both correctly match it.

3) Their pricing is pretty expensive, imo.

<comment><USER8> How did you arrive at #1? We used USPS's api for a year before switching to SmartyStreets, and there's no way their api is powered by USPS's buggy api.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Jarrett,

Just got the email from your blog post. What's the preferred method of printing first class labels/postage generated via your API?

<comment><USER10> DYMO printers are pretty standard and come in different sizes. The 4XL would certainly fit this use case:

[http://www.amazon.com/DYMO-LabelWriter-4XL-Label- Printer/dp/...](http://www.amazon.com/DYMO-LabelWriter-4XL-Label- Printer/dp/B002M1LGJ4/)

<comment><USER9> Thank you sir!

<comment><USER10> An aside that may be useful, DYMO has a somewhat supported JS library to print labels from a browser. I implemented it with an inventory system to print shelf labels, but I don't see why it couldn't be used here.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> We're currently spending about $2000 on shipping a month and evaluating moving to either easypost or <https://www.postmaster.io/> (away from Endicia). Both are small, agile, responsive companies and have a bunch of awesome features. Feel free to email me at firstname.lastname@example.com if you want to hear about our experiences.

</comment><comment><USER12> I would like for the API documentation to have more examples of shipping with flat rate boxes or different shipping options. Right now I find myself having to guess or look into the source code before printing certain labels.

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed, we need to better lay out the shipping options. What types of labels are you printing? Feel free to email me and I can give you the correct calls

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> So, where's the Bank or Credit Union that has an interface like this?

<comment><USER9> Simple is almost ready to launch it's API: [https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/simple- ap...](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/simple-api)

And Dwolla already has one: <https://www.dwolla.com/developers>

<comment><USER14> By "almost ready to launch" you mean "they abandoned that idea 2 years ago"? At least, your link suggests that (last post in the group dated by 2011)

<comment><USER9> I'll have to get more info. I interface with their support team frequently, have a Simple account, and use it on a daily basis. "Abandoned" wouldn't be the info I've heard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Do you support Media Mail - <https://www.usps.com/ship/media-mail.htm> ?

<comment><AUTHOR> We do! You can see it in the rates calls, and then select it with MediaMail for service

<https://geteasypost.com/docs>

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Wait till my grandma gets word of this...

</comment><comment><USER4> Oh wow, this is awesome. Integration with WooCommerce and/or other shopping carts would be amazing.

</comment><comment><USER8> Do you support international rates? I looked into Postmaster.io but they don't seem to yet.

<comment><AUTHOR> We do! We're live with USPS International. Shoot us an email to international at easypost dot co for access

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Very nice website.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!</comment></comment>


First Covid-19 outbreak in a U.S. nursing home raises concerns - <AUTHOR> https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/29/new-covid-19-death-raises-concerns-about-virus-spread-in-nursing-homes/ <comment><USER2> previously: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22453183](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22453183)

</comment><comment><USER3> Clickbait, bogus title.

A handful of people there "show some symptoms", which could be influenza, or anything.

"officials have not yet found a link between (the deceased's) case and the outbreak in the nursing facility. " um, okay... so how does this qualify as a "COVID-19 "outbreak" in the facility?!

<comment><USER2> > _So far, two people from the nursing facility outbreak have tested positive > for Covid-19. One is a health worker in her 40s, who is currently in > "satisfactory condition," Duchin said, while the other is a resident in her > 70s with significant underlying chronic health issues and is in "serious > condition."_

<comment><USER3> This text did _not_ appear in this statnews article when submitted.

<comment><USER2> does here: [https://imgur.com/aPnOQjY](https://imgur.com/aPnOQjY)

<comment><USER4> I don't see it in the _submitted_ article, either. Why are you being disingenuous about this?

<comment><USER2> This is a screenshot I just made after clicking the link above.

Here is an archive.is snapshot (1 hour old), containing the same text: [https://archive.is/QE5FK](https://archive.is/QE5FK)

EDIT: checking archive.org, it appears this was indeed not in the article ~2 hours ago: [https://web.archive.org/web/20200229205343/https://www.statn...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200229205343/https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/29/new- covid-19-death-raises-concerns-about-virus-spread-in-nursing-homes/) vs [https://web.archive.org/web/20200229225108/https://www.statn...](https://web.archive.org/web/20200229225108/https://www.statnews.com/2020/02/29/new- covid-19-death-raises-concerns-about-virus-spread-in-nursing-homes/)

<comment><USER3> I see it _now_ , in the two paragraphs added since it first went live on the site.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>