23andMe Just Got FDA Approval for a DNA Cancer Test - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/5510009/23andme-fda-approval-cancer-test/ <comment><USER2> When will 23andMe start making true at-home kits that facilitate getting a digital output of your DNA without having to send in DNA samples to their lab? In other words, when will there be a kit that does not require shipping DNA?

I acknowledge that such a device will not be cheap. My privacy is worth more than any device could cost. The device must not be network enabled.</comment>


Elfeed with Tiny Tiny RSS - <AUTHOR> https://codingquark.com/emacs/2020/04/19/elfeed-protocol-ttrss.html <comment><USER2> TT-RSS is pretty great. For Android, I suggest the open source client of the same name, from the same author. For iOS, I suggest "tiny Reader RSS":

[https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/tiny-reader- rss/id689519762?l=...](https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/tiny-reader- rss/id689519762?l=en)

</comment><comment><USER3> > elfeed-protocol will authenticate with your ttrss server, fetch feeds and > displays in elfeed like they were native feeds added to elfeed.

 _This is exactly what I was looking for a couple of months ago._ I'd even posted an Ask HN [1] on it. Please reply to this comment if you know of similar setups where one can use an aggregator and get the feeds in a local reader as if the subscription was done in the local reader app (I don't like web interfaces for feeds since it may not work offline and may not download and cache all the feed data for offline use).

[1]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22404840](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22404840)

</comment><comment><USER4> How does TT-RSS compare to FreshRSS? [https://freshrss.org/](https://freshrss.org/)

I'm still using a commercial reader/aggregator at the moment but might consider switching to self-hosted at some point.

<comment><USER5> I just switched from TT-RSS to FreshRSS. FreshRSS comes out of the box with a Docker image which is really easy to set up. For TT-RSS you have to create your Docker image yourself as neither of the two images available on Github work without putting in a bit of effort.

TT-RSS requires an (old, probably no longer maintained) plugin for the Fever API. FreshRSS has it built in.

Interface wise it doesn't really matter that much.

<comment><USER6> Yea I had to make my own dockerfiles:

[https://github.com/sumdog/bee2/tree/master/dockerfiles/TTRSS](https://github.com/sumdog/bee2/tree/master/dockerfiles/TTRSS)

[https://github.com/sumdog/bee2/tree/master/dockerfiles/TTRSS...](https://github.com/sumdog/bee2/tree/master/dockerfiles/TTRSSUpdater)

I like how TT-RSS has an API that can be integrated with mobile and native app readers so you can sync RSS feeds across multiple apps (although so far, I've only really used the mobile and their web interface).

I'll check out FreshRSS.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Every cloud service should be replaced with free software like this running on a raspberry pi in your basement.

<comment><USER8> ACK.

I switched from google reader to feedly to newsboat. One cloud service less.

While i like the idea to be able to read my feeds from multiple computers, i don't actually _need_ it. In fact, readig them on only one device gives me back (a little bit of) focus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've never understood the need for synchronization of transient content. It adds to much complexity, attack surface, and bulk to any project. Is it really that bad to just run a secure native, non-web, reader on every device?

And to answer my own question: No, it isn't that bad. It's fine.

<comment><USER10> Shameless plug: I am currently working on a free, open-source, mobile RSS reader which doesn't require a server or any kind of registration, because everything happens and stays on the device.

Currently it's in beta testing, let me know if you find it interesting. [https://github.com/felfele/feeds](https://github.com/felfele/feeds)

<comment><USER3> I use the free and open source NetNewsWire app, but am always looking to try other feed readers. I appreciate the fact that your app requires iOS 9 or later, and isn't restricted to just the latest version of the OS. I'll certainly try it out.</comment></comment></comment>


FizzBuzz with Matlab and CVX. TensorFlow Version Had Bad Feature Engineering - <AUTHOR> https://www.facebook.com/siilats/posts/10104962964136889 <comment><AUTHOR> I made an actual solution</comment>


Build a thermal camera with Raspberry Pi and Go - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/sausheong/build-a-thermal-camera-with-raspberry-pi-and-go-8f70451ad6a0 <comment><USER2> > _The software can detect people but it can't really be used for thermal > screening because it needs to be tuned to the correct temperature to > screen._

Plus the slight issue of having a sensor with a precision of +/-2.5C...</comment>


My zero-equity co-founders - <AUTHOR> http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2010-10-10-zero-equity-co-founders.html <comment><USER2> Let me for one second pretend to be your co-founder:

Hey Colin, that website sucks (even if it is much better than it used to be), we have too little traffic to really make a go of it and all we get is some of the HN crowd, the world is a _LOT_ bigger than that.

Let's either make a real go of this or kill it because for the money it brings it it isn't worth the time it is taking from someone as talented as you. Our tech is superb but our marketing sucks, picodollars may be setting a new standard for fairness and humor in pricing but nobody outside of a bunch of nerds are interested in that sort of thing.

There you go ;)

And I don't want any equity either. And Amazon would never tell you that.

The real value of 'co-founders' is not that they're wheels in a machine, the real value is that they will tell you when you are wrong about something. And that equity helps to keep your goals aligned, that way everybody wins at the same time. AWS will just send you a bill for services rendered, they couldn't care less if you swam or sank.

<comment><USER3> _The real value of 'co-founders' is not that they're wheels in a machine, the real value is that they will tell you when you are wrong about something._

I have had co-founders disagree with me and guess what: one of us may have been right. The problem is, we never really never which. Half the time a co- founder told me I was wrong, I considered their feedback and stuck with my gut anyway.

Make no mistake about it, a good give and take between co-founders is essential, but _it doesn't matter which of you is right or wrong_ , what really matters is what your customers think.

Replace "co-founder" with "customer" in the quoted sentence and then you have something there.

This reminds me of the old joke about 3 baseball umpires:

Good umpire: I call them as I see them.

Better umpire: I call them as they are.

Best umpire: They aren't anything until I call them.

A single founder is the good umpire. Co-founders are the better umpire. Your customers are the best umpire.

<comment><USER4> I agree that the customer is the ultimate measure and I'm a fan of this whole lean startup thing. You're right that the only thing that ENDS UP mattering is what customers think. But to use that as an argument against having a co- founder seems strange.

Co-founders disagreeing doesn't result in a flip of the coin to see whose opinion they go with. There's a heartfelt and intelligent discussion. Logic, experience, and a bit of intuition. One co-founder might say, "I know the team over at CompanyX who struggled with the same thing. They chose Y-- let's see how it worked out for them".

If the OP had a co-founder who was smart about marketing, design, and conversion funnels-- there'd be very few arguments in those areas, but there'd sure as heck be better decisions made being there.

In short, I agree with your point but I don't think it applies to this discussion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The problem with this is that it leaves me asking, "Does cperciva know what a co-founder is?" A co-founder isn't someone you bring in with a one-way communication channel that does your work for you. That would be closer to, "my employees that I don't have to pay", except, well, you do have to pay for AWS.

There are lots of ways to shorten your path to market using external services, whether human or infrastructural. But they won't tell you that you're being a dumbass and help you steer the company in a better direction.

<comment><USER2> Just having people tell you that you're being a dumbass isn't enough, you have to have the wits to realize they're right too (when they are!).

Colin obviously meant it metaphorically but further down in this thread he says he uses HN for that. The harder part is to listen and act upon advice.

HN can be easily ignored if what people there say is not to your liking, but with a co-founder that has put money on the table for their equity that would not be so easy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> You don't know me and I'm just starting to post on HN, but I've read a bit of your writings and you're clearly a brilliant guy. I recently saw a thread from a couple years ago where a few people made the flawed assertion that the aggregate rate of failure among entrepreneurs was uniform, and that your chances of success were also 10%, just like everyone else. Your response basically said that you were quite confident you were better than the average entrepreneur, and that you were pretty sure you're on the right hand of the bell curve.

I actually admire that bravado in people who can walk the walk. I'm not a fan of false humility.

All that being said, you seem to wear the solo-founder badge a bit too triumphantly. I can't comment on the superiority of your solution versus competitors but I'll bet you can hold your own. Getting someone on board who can SELL your story, and communicate your product to interested buyers would probably do wonders for your sales if you found the right guy.

Trust me, I see where you're coming from. After a bad past experience myself, I am now a single founder building up my product in solitude. But I know where my limits end, and when my product is ready to go to the next level, I'll have no problem bringing on a VETTED and qualified partner to grow the company as fast as possible.

Just a thought!

<comment><AUTHOR> _Your response basically said that you were quite confident..._

Ah yes, the old Putnam thread which gets trotted out every month or so...

 _I know where my limits end, and when my product is ready to go to the next level, I'll have no problem bringing on a VETTED and qualified partner to grow the company as fast as possible._

Sure. One of the bullet points from my talk which didn't get translated into the blog post was "Step 1: Figure out what you're good at". I'm very much aware of my limitations, and if I ever forget them tptacek will step in to remind me how horrible I am at web design and how I need to do a better job of selling Tarsnap.

As for marketing, I very nearly listed Hacker News as my marketing co-founder: Roughly 10% of Tarsnap users come to the website from <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=389304> \-- far more than any other single page (although my blog is more in aggregate).

<comment><USER7> That's not marketing, dude, that's some thin shreds of organic traffic. Perhaps you should listen to tptacek, wheels, jacquesm (and myself) and actually find someone who's competent at building a business, just as you are competent at building technology, and team up with them.

Would Steve Wozniak be considered successful by any metric if only 100 Apple computers had ever been sold? No. A business needs many things, of which a great product is only one. "Make something people want" implies you need people (enough of them) to actually want your product. If they've never heard of it or if they don't buy it because of some other reason, they don't want it. If only very few people buy your product, it's because it sucks on some important metrics.

Harsh reality: until you get your head out of your ass and bring in someone with the skills to turn your technology into a business, you don't even have one founder, because you don't really have a business at all... yet.

<comment><AUTHOR> _That's not marketing, dude, that's some thin shreds of organic traffic._

I'd say it's a thick shred. :-)

One of the benefits of Dropbox's popularity is that there are a very large number of people who google for "dropbox security".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> My zero-equity co-founder is the internet. If I had jumped back into 1960 I would have to spend 50 years creating the internet. He doesn't even want a cut of my company!

</comment><comment><USER9> cperciva, I completely understand the sentiment, and I can relate to it as a single-founder myself (not really a "founder", not yet, for now I am a solo consultant.)

But I don't think infrastructure/libraries can be considered "co-founders", because they don't give you new ideas and insight.

You see, to be able to use a certain solution, platform, library, etc. You have to _know_ of it, know of its uses, and know how you might use for a specific problem.

OTOH, co-founders, domain-experts with vested interest in your enterprise, are not just mere resources to be called upon when needed and put to use. They are not just a knowledge-base of solutions. No. They're engines for _creating_ new solutions, but also the means to _pose_ knew questions and problems. Problems you never knew you had, and solutions you never thought of, or thought were acceptable (like "who cares, forget it" -- humans are excellent at these types of dismissive approaches to problem solving; we have an intuitive knack for ruling out issues that are not worth bothering with. And by "we" I don't mean programmers, sticklers for the tedium and observers of minutia.)

At the very least, a human co-founder allows you to take a day off, picks up your spouse from the airport, and comes with you for happy hour. I would kill for someone who is "in" on it with me. These types of "benefits" might not merit any sophisticated Rumsfeldian epistemology ("there are unknown unknowns", etc.) but they're very important, and I say that as someone who sorely lacks them.

<comment><USER10> _But I don't think infrastructure/libraries can be considered "co-founders"_

A better way to express the utility he gets can be summed up in this article: "We Are All Open Source Billionaires" [http://thecodist.com/article/we-are- all-open-source-billiona...](http://thecodist.com/article/we-are-all-open- source-billionaires)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> It's somewhat unfair to equate co-founders with web services and software. Co- founders can say "you can't do this dude" or "don't you think this'll work better?" or "hey I had this idea which I think is great" or go out and have a beer with you.

<comment><AUTHOR> True. But if I want to hear people say "it's somewhat unfair to do X" I just come to Hacker News instead. :-)

<comment><USER11> fair enough :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> When I saw the title "zero-equity co-founder" I thought it was about inspiring employees to work as committed as an actual co-founder, which would be totally appropriate.

I think the downside of single founder startup is that 1. there's no one to bounce your ideas with; 2. speed to market is greatly reduced; 3. there's no one to share the stress or keep each other motivated when things get tough; and most importantly, 4. there's no one to share the joy when you manage to solve a business/technical problem that is not visible to outsiders.

I don't see any apparent advantage of keeping a single founder startup. You may have the ability to run the startup as well or even better as a multi- cofounder startup and keep all the shares - but it's not fun, and fun is very important for an entrepreneur!

<comment><USER13> It's absolutely _not_ appropriate to ask employees to work as well as actual co-founders. If you want them to work as well as co-founders, give them equity. Hell, I _expect_ my employees to fight me for their rights, when I don't give them enough.

If you aren't going to pay your employees like co-founders, they should very well _not_ work as cofounders.

<comment><USER12> That wasn't what I meant.

What I was saying was that you want to inspire your employees with your vision, so that they feel a sense of purpose in your startup. When your startup is making meaning not just money, the satisfaction they get from doing work is more than any money or equity you can pay. They are committed.

And I'm not against giving employees equity at all. But inspiration is a higher level, and arguably the right kind of, motivation.

<comment><USER13> I agree, but I think that's something they grow into, rather than something you can enforce/influence. I have a feeling we agree, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> A co-founder would be the one to tell you "What the hell is a picodollar?"

<comment><USER15> To be fair he gets plenty of that here, so for that he doesn't need a co- founder.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Yes libraries and infrastructure do not give you insight like a co-founder, but a large part of an engineering co-founder in a heavy engineering startup is perhaps %80 - %90 showing the strength and attention to getting the development right. For example managing an engineering team, showing attention to detail, making sure the design is exceptionally good etc. He has these two crucial pieces of technology at hand which would otherwise be developed by using most of the energy of a tech cofounder. So in that respect I agree with the point.

In summary, there are now tools to make it so much easier for startups that sometimes they can even do almost as much as a technical co-founder.

</comment><comment><USER17> Tarsnap is a mediocre service - the co-founder you needed was one that could have brought a user focus that was apparently beyond you. I'd guess that the majority of your business is directly due to being one of the insufferable, self-satisfied minor pundits on HN. You say that fully 10% of your signups are _direct_ page referrals from HN - a remarkable and telling statistic.

Might I suggest that you invite some of the other big fish in this small pond over to join you? I bet that, say, ptacek would be good for an immediate doubling of revenue.

</comment><comment><USER18> _> This is an average of roughly one thousand lines of code per month, which is pretty much the limit to how quickly I can write high quality "never need to look at this again because it will never break" code._

What's your secret for being sure it will never break? How often do you find yourself revisiting it anyway?

</comment><comment><USER19> All that OP is saying is that there would have been 2 extra co-founders, if it was 10 years ago.

</comment><comment><USER20> My zero-equity co-founder is my Aeropress, for keeping me supplied with excellent coffee at all times.

</comment><comment><USER21> Those same "co-founders" are working for a lot of other companies though.

</comment><comment><USER22> Ugh. Link-bait title.

This is just as useful: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1566568>

<comment><AUTHOR> It wasn't deliberate link-bait. I use the term "zero-equity co-founder" because it makes the point that these provide something which (until recently) you would need to bring in a co-founder for.

<comment><USER23> But the same can be said for _any_ component in your business that was made outside your office walls. Your operating system. Your compiler. Your office chair.

This is in fact how an open and free economy works. You always build on the work of others.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, if you ignore the "(until recently)" part.

I'm not trying to be exceptionally profound here; just to point out that the giants on whose shoulders we stand are growing taller by the day.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Launching HealthCare.gov (2013) - <AUTHOR> http://developmentseed.org/blog/2013/06/25/healthcare-launches-in-the-open/

<comment><USER2> This is the static marketing content, not the exchange part.

</comment><comment><USER3> This is the part of the site that didn't go down, no?

<comment><USER4> yep</comment></comment>


The Degradation of Java Developers - <AUTHOR> http://yakovfain.com/2012/10/11/the-degradation-of-java-developers/

<comment><USER2> One great thing about lambda expressions is that they filter out the programmers who haven't updated their skills in 10 years.

I mean besides making a ton of problems way easier to solve.

</comment><comment><USER3> The sad thing is most recruiters/interviewers are also clueless: if you DON'T include a gazillion frameworks on your CV, you're automatically out...

</comment><comment><USER4> There's a ton of frameworks, technologies, whatever out there. They pop up all the time. People are trying them out, simply to try to keep up with the technology, which isn't a bad thing. But, I agree that creating a couple of small projects with some new technology probably doesn't justify you listing it on your resume as a skill.

</comment><comment><USER5> People still bitch about ORMs in 2012? Jesus.</comment>


Yuval Noah Harari: the world after coronavirus – Free to read - <AUTHOR> https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75 <comment><USER2> I confess to have really enjoyed his books. At the beginning of Homo Deus, he starts precisely comparing how pandemic illnesses were treated today Vs 100 years ago. Now that I'm confined at home and everything looks grey to me, I still can compare against Spanish influenza and see the differences.</comment>


Christmas Terror: It Is Possible That We Have a Dangerous Criminal Around - <AUTHOR> http://www.scrolib.com/2016/12/christmas-terror-dangerous-criminal/ <comment><USER2> I know people will use any excuse to spread fear, but this takes the cake: fear-inducing title, scare tactics, and the call "not to give in to fear" is literally buried at the end of the article.</comment>


Contracts in OpenBSD (2010) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://kindsoftware.com/documents/reports/Torlakcik10.pdf <comment><USER2> Looks like a lot of work per function. Though may be justifiable for security focused distro or library.

</comment><comment><USER3> Quick question: Why can't I write, with a pen, in the margins of PDFs I read?

At first glance it sounds like a dopey question. But think about it. Writing in margins has been one of the most useful tools in human history, and for some reason we can't make it happen digitally.

I'm thinking either a browser extension or a standalone electron reader might work well, but only if there are iOS and android apps too. That's a lot of work! And then it's unclear anyone else will be able to read your notes.

Maybe one solution would be to rasterize out a new PDF whenever you draw on it, and just destructively update all your PDFs.

<comment><USER4> Why not type comments? Almost any PDF reader provides the feature.

<comment><USER3> They do, but is it searchable?

The best solution I've found till now is to just create a text file with the same name as the pdf.

<comment><USER4> > They do, but is it searchable?

Yes:

 _Acrobat searches the PDF body text, layers, form fields, and digital signatures. You can also include bookmarks and comments in the search._

[https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/searching- pdfs.html](https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/searching-pdfs.html)

Other PDF applications do it too.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Promiscuous Cookies and Their Impending Death via the SameSite Policy - <AUTHOR> https://www.troyhunt.com/promiscuous-cookies-and-their-impending-death-via-the-samesite-policy/ <comment><USER2> Firefox is planning likewise: [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1604212](https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1604212)</comment>


CryptoShark: self-optimizing code tracer based on dynamic recompilation - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/frida/cryptoshark

<comment><USER2> The description of this application from the submission and linked Github page isn't entirely clear. From watching the screencast, it appears to watch and trace a project, showing you in real-time what functions have been called, allowing you to study them by carefully injecting logging and (potentially?) other side-effecty code.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, that's spot on! I just updated it. Hope you don't mind that I based it on your excellent and to-the-point description. :)

<comment><USER2> No problem. Glad to help.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Does it support symbol files?

<comment><AUTHOR> There's internal support for them in Frida, but it's not currently exposed to the public API (which CryptoShark uses). The main focus has been on proprietary apps so far, but it would definitely be a very welcome feature for a future version.</comment></comment>


Cipherli.st – Strong Ciphers for Apache, Nginx and Lighttpd - <AUTHOR> https://cipherli.st/ <comment><USER2> Author here, please let me know any comments, issues or anything else.

I'm also behind other projects like an SSL (site) test, a fast one: [https://ssldecoder.org/](https://ssldecoder.org/) and a certificate monitoring service (reminds you before expiring): [https://certificatemonitor.org/](https://certificatemonitor.org/).

Also my personal site describing my adventures in *NIX and cloudland: [https://raymii.org/s/](https://raymii.org/s/), plus a boatload of TLS related articles.

The mozilla guide is also very good, the ability to configure based on your server settings and browser support is a heck of a nice feature. Whenever I have time to learn javascript that's the first thing to implement.

Although, all my projects are open source ([https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/](https://github.com/RaymiiOrg/)) so merge requests are welcome. Ferm GPL believer here.

<comment><USER3> How often are the recommendations on cipherli.st updated?

<comment><USER2> Not very often, mostly when someone sends a merge request with a new piece of software (like varnish).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here's a configurable version by Mozilla: [https://mozilla.github.io/server- side-tls/ssl-config-generat...](https://mozilla.github.io/server-side-tls/ssl- config-generator/)

<comment><USER5> I like this one better, can pick versions and backwards compatibility level.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Why is there a giant heart-shaped lock obscuring most of the screen?

<comment><USER7> It's very distracting and makes website hard to read.

<comment><USER8> Agreed. After a few mins of reading, it became annoying enough that I felt an urge to remove it via dev-tools.

Nice content, nonetheless.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I know it may not be too interesting or relevant but it would be nice to have similar configurations for common/popular enterprise tools/platforms such as F5, Cisco, Juniper etc.

I see so many badly configured systems as part of the day job that it certainly would be great to help start socializing good configs.

PS. even for something like Tomcat (which changes features on minor versions?!?), it's hard to find good configs. I have a whole bunch of notes on things like this and happy to share if someone wants to codify it.

<comment><USER2> If you have the config or required format for config I'd be happy to add it. Create an issue with the config,, I can do the code then

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> See also: [https://bettercrypto.org](https://bettercrypto.org)

</comment><comment><USER11> The SSL config for dovecot on Debian Jessie (2.2.13-12~deb8u1) stops Thunderbird 45 from connecting.

(I did open an issue about this.)

</comment><comment><USER12> Posted at least 4 times. Guys please keep it clean. [https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=cipherli.st](https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=cipherli.st)

<comment><USER13> Reposts are fine, especially when they haven't gotten much attention before.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Software to manage a jobhunt? - <AUTHOR>

When you're on a jobhunt, there's a lot to keep track of:

  - Job ads
  - Notes on companies
  - <USER2>
  - Who you've contacted, when, and about what
  - When you've sent out your resume and to whom
  - Interview schedules
  - Followup schedules (who and when to call back
    or send thank-you notes to)
 What software do you use to keep track of it all?
Do you use a bunch of plain text files?  Do you break out the old spreadsheet?  JibberJobber?  Something else? <comment><USER3> Actually I started to build something that is a job search "augmentation" tool, it uses the Indeed.com API and uses a roll-out sidebar to list job openings and then you can go through them and then mark them blocked, applied to, saved, etc to filter through them so you never have to look at the full list again, I built the original solution using the Java stack and used it a bit for my own purposes, now that I'm getting more into Ruby I think I might rebuild it using Rails and see if I can make it into a more fully featured application, I think there is potential to add in more features similar to what you have mentioned (like being able to associate contact names with a job ad, etc).

On a side note, something I have realized is how fundamentally broken and annoying a lot of companies' job application process is. The sites that make you create an account on some barely working site that looks like it was built in 1995, then force you to basically manually fill out pieces of your resume into various input fields, are rather appalling. It is a good way to filter out the companies that probably wold suck to work for though as you can tell right away how much they care about interfacing with their employees.

</comment><comment><USER4> A fellow hacker news member bullrico has thought about this issue and created quite a cool solution: <http://impressar.io>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3518376>

<comment><AUTHOR> What I really don't like about solutions like this (and other "software as a service" sites) is that that the solution provider has access to my private information and data.

I'd much prefer using a standalone app that runs on my own computer and does everything from there.

No business has a need to know about which other businesses or people I contact in my job hunt, or really anything about me or my jobhunt, unless I'm applying for a job directly with them, and even then what they need to know is limited to my employment history and such, not about who else I've talked to during my jobhunt, much less the content of the conversations I've had with them.

I agree with RMS in that I think sites like impressar (and Facebook and Gmail, etc..) are really just spyware.

They might be worth using if they somehow managed to convince me my data would be completely private (ie. if even they didn't know what I was doing, saying, or who I'm talking to, etc). But that's a very tall order, and until they've got it together I am going to steer far clear of sites like these.

<comment><USER5> Calling it spyware is a bit harsh. The reason a lot of things are going SaaS is really simple: it's better for business. There are a ton of benefits to companies:

-Recurring revenue

-Instant upgrade

-Easier support / no wrangling with different platform differences

- _Most_ people like accessing their services from anywhere via the web

-Easier to track user engagement, improve user experience

The list goes on and on. It has nothing to do with wanting all your personal data. It's a pretty simple business objective.

And, not to be offensive, but who really cares what jobs you are looking at? I honestly doubt the Impressario guy really cares if you are looking at Megacorp A or Megacorp B or Social-Startup C.

There are some things to be concerned about privacy - I have my doubts that this is one of them.

<comment><AUTHOR> Just because there are business reasons for making SaaS webapps doesn't change the fact that they do in fact collect private information -- and that brings with it all the potential for abuse, leaks, sale of the information without my consent, tracking, spying, etc.

Call it what you will, but I certainly don't want my private information in the hands of some person or entity I don't trust.

As for who cares what jobs I apply to, you might not have noticed but there's something called datamining that can link all sorts of innocuous-seeming information to draw conclusions with serious privacy implications.

For example, before some researchers actually went ahead and did this, who would have guessed that your Netflix viewing habits could be used to determine your political preferences or sexual orientation? And would you really want Netflix and anyone who they sell the information to or anyone who manages to hack their servers knowing these?

You might not mind, but I bet a lot of other people do. Unfortunately, plenty of Netflix users probably still don't know that this kind of abuse -- and it is abuse -- is possible.

Something else that was in the news about a year ago or so is the recent trend of companies trolling through Facebook to see who your friends are, and determine from that whether they think you're credit-worth (or worthy of employment). Again, something apparently innocuous being subverted to have serious unintended consequences for the victims who were naive enough to give out their private information.

There are hundreds of examples like these -- there have been many books and articles written about the trend towards a surveillance society and the loss of privacy that's overcoming our world, with the advent of highly sophisticated technologies and the internet.

SaaS sites and the invasion of privacy that they encourage and participate in are a big part of this problem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm currently working on a similar solution that will have some of those features - <http://www.gigbasket.com> Beta is due to launch in March 2012.

There are a few similar services implemented already though, but they are either too complex or too primitive in my opinion, therefore I decided to give a shot rolling out my own solution. Nevertheless, the ones that I have found are:

<http://www.jobspeaker.com/>

<http://applymate.com/>

<http://gigcart.com/>

<http://www.jobkatch.com/>

</comment><comment><USER7> Personally nothing. If there was seamless solution that I was aware of I might use it. Currently I just keep track of everything in my head and it has been working fairly well thus far. I am sure a more organized approached would be better. It would definitely be useful for keeping track of who I met with in person and a little background about them.

<comment><USER8> I keep track of it in my head as well. However I would love a better system to keep track of my tailored cover letters and resumes. In my last job search I had several versions of the same resume going depending on the type of job I was applying for. I also would tailor my cover letter for every application.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Google Reader and Google Docs spreadsheet.</comment>


Ask HN: How to focus if attention in a programming project lasts for one day? - <AUTHOR> When I start to implement a new Idea or work with something interesting new, I am working intensively for round about 1 day. Then I get distracted or disappointed and start something new. Over the years I become good at programming, because working with thousands of different things. But this comes also with depression and similar bad feelings. How to focus in the future and how to escape this cycle? <comment><USER2> Focus on creating value and leave everything out of your todo list that doesn't add up to that.

I wrote an article on how I went from idea to app store submission in < 30 hours by doing just that: [https://medium.com/shipharder/how-i-shipped-my-1st- product-i...](https://medium.com/shipharder/how-i-shipped-my-1st-product- in-2020-by-focussing-on-value-first-8161ebc912f6)

It calls out actionable examples of how I kept focussed. If you can manage to built the core in a short amount of time, you will keep feeling that progress and get going</comment>


Two questions from a newcomer - <AUTHOR> 1. What is the rules here to submit new url/text? 2. The signup process is very simple. How you(ycombinator) stop SPAM? <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

<comment><USER3> Also [https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html).

(These are the "Guidelines" and "FAQ" links at the bottom of the page.)</comment></comment>


Thailand is launching a stock exchange just for startups; no revenue required - <AUTHOR> https://e27.co/thailand-is-launching-a-stock-exchange-just-for-startups-20161205/ <comment><USER2> I see they have pretty tricky exchange controls, that restricts how you can bring money in and out of Thailand...

[http://www.doingbusinessthailand.com/blog-thailand/doing- bus...](http://www.doingbusinessthailand.com/blog-thailand/doing-business-in- thailand/bank-accounts-thailand/thailand-bank-foreign-exchange-control- regulations.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> This will end well.</comment>


How we turned Mount Everest into a dump - <AUTHOR> http://theweek.com/articles/546387/how-turned-mount-everest-into-dump

<comment><USER2> >(...) this huge influx of climbers has left its once pristine slopes covered in garbage, discarded equipment, and human waste.

And dead human bodies. Over 200 of then. ([http://sometimes- interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bo...](http://sometimes- interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bodies-on-mount-everest/)) ATTENTION: GRAPHIC IMAGES!

The real challenge in life is not to conquer the innocent nature but issues you have in your self.</comment>


Ask HN: Questions to ask candidates in a job interview? - <AUTHOR> I'm conducting my first interview today on the hiring side of the table. Do you have good questions you recommend asking prospects? Thanks. <comment><USER2> I'm usually more interested in the person's passion and drive, and their interest in continual self-development, than I am in what they know right- this-minute. So I tend to less stuff about specific API calls, or design patterns, or programming language syntax, etc. and more towards things like:

Why did you get into development? How many technical books did you read in the past year? What was your favorite technical book in the past year? What did you learn from it? What websites do you read regularly, related to development? Do you maintain any open-source projects? Do you code in your spare-time? Do you love programming, or do you do it for the money? Have you accomplished anything important in your career yet? Do you want to? What would make you feel that you have done something important? Can you hack a Gibson? etc, etc.

I also like a few questions that probe whether or not the person actively thinks about the various aspects of what they're doing and how they do it. So, things like:

What's your favorite programming language? Why? If you could add one feature to your favorite language, what would it be? Why? If you could remove one feature from it, what would it be? Why?

... and a similar set of questions on operating systems, editors, app servers, etc. There are no right or wrong answers, it's just about them having a position and being able to defend it. I mean, I hate vim, but if you rattle off a dozen reasons why vim rules, and can explain what it's pros can cons are, I take that as a Good Thing, regardless of my like or dislike for the tool.

<comment><USER3> I have a note about the "books" question.

I don't read whole books, but I read lots of essays/blogs, whole chapters of books, watch tech talks, engage in Q/A forums (e.g. Stackoverflow), follow latest news, etc.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, same here to some extent.. and if somebody tells me that in an interview, that gets more or less the same point across. I definitely like to hear people say they read HN, participate on StackOverflow, Quora, Wikipedia, whatever. And if somebody says "Hey, I haven't read any book lately, but I'm watching this great set of videos on Machine Learning from Stanford" then I'm suitably impressed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I agree with bartonfink's questions. The exact questions to ask depend largely on the role for which you are interviewing, as well as the interviewee's background. The best questions tend to be open-ended, behavioral, and relevant.

Open-ended meaning they shouldn't end with a Yes or No answer. They should lead to a longer discussion that allows you to ask follow-on questions, probe deeper into their thinking, and arrive to the core influencers of their past decisions.

Behavioral questions assume that past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Therefore, ask them about previous situations and how they specifically dealt with them. There's less chance a candidate will answer with a generic & good-sounding answer this way.

Relevance goes back to bartonfink's questions. Asking a programmer about his favorite accounting methods is as good as asking a chef whether he prefers Ruby or Python.

But in case you're just looking for general, all-purpose questions, here are three of my favorites:

* How do you personally define and measure success?

* What are you doing to improve yourself, physically, mentally, or spiritually?

* In what kind of work environment do you do your best work?

In case it helps, I have seven more in a blog post (don't mean to be spammy or SEO slimy; nofollows takes care of that):

[http://bizthoughts.mikelee.org/ten-great-interview- questions...](http://bizthoughts.mikelee.org/ten-great-interview- questions.html)

</comment><comment><USER5> If you've never interviewed someone before you should speak to someone in HR group to review the types of things you CAN'T ask. Asking questions about religion, family, health could result in a lawsuit.

Some quick examples: <http://www.alllaw.com/articles/employment/article14.asp>

</comment><comment><USER6> You're asking the wrong question :) It's not about what specific questions you should ask.

The question you should ask yourself is "what am I looking for and how to I detect this?" Only you can answer the first part, the second part follows from the first.

When you write down a question to ask you must also explain to yourself and the other interviewers _why_ you are asking this question.

For example, recently I've just been interviewing SysAdmins to manage a diverse data centre. Three key traits that I believe are extremely important for the position I've been trying to fill are:

1\. Automation: the ratio of servers to people to so high that you have to want to automate as much as possible, otherwise you will drown in a sea of menial tasks.

2\. Rigor: dirty hacks and unfixed bugs have a tendency to creep on you; I'm looking for people who will go beyond hacking in a work-around and instead take the time to fix things properly - not just reboot the machine in the hope that the problem goes away.

3\. Debugging skills: sysadmin problems often involve subtle interactions between multiple layers of the software and hardware stack; you need a broad understanding and the skills to home in quickly on the problem area to be efficient.

So, this is what I consider important. What questions do I ask?

1\. I ask questions like "how would you install Linux on 50 machines?" Burning 50 CDs is not the correct answer :-) The key is not whether they can explain PXE/KickStart but rather whether they show an inclination to automate the process.

2\. I ask questions where there are quick and easy work-around answers, and I look for candidates who take the long term view and say "I'd do _blah blah_. I know that it would take longer in the short term, but it's better in the long term because ...".

3\. I do a debugging role play. I explain that I'm interested in how they go about debugging a problem and then we do a role play where I describe the first "help me!" email, they say what they'd do (e.g. I'd check log file X) and I tell them what they find in log file X and ask them what they'd do next, etc. It doesn't matter whether we get to the "final answer" or not, what I'm interested in is how they think.

There are, of course, more questions. But each one is asked for a reason. Decide what is important for you, and then ask questions that reveal whether the candidate has these characteristics.

<comment><USER7> How open are you about what you're looking for? Do you put "applicants should be able to show {Automation skills, Rigour, Debugging skills}" in your job description? Or do you think that an interviewee would be able to answer these questions without prior knowledge?

<comment><USER6> We don't state these in the job description (perhaps we should). Rather, it's the natural tendencies that we're looking for.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Ask thought problems, how would you do this and why. Even ask real problems that you're facing.

Another really good indicator is whether someone can teach themselves a skill or talent. Did a business major learn programming on his own? Does a programmer read about business and gain a grasp of the subject?

I always value 'doers' far more than 'thinkers' is someone willing to take action to fix a problem, not just think about it and then ask permission out of fear of being wrong. If someone has a highly analytical mind with developed problem solving abilities there are few problems they can't overcome.

Another that I don't think people focus on much is, does this person's personality meld with mine and the rest of the team. In a startup you're going to be spending a ton of time with them, it's far more enjoyable and stress free if everyone gets along.

</comment><comment><USER9> As a joke, I have always asked interviewed admins this: vi or emacs?

Interestingly most of them had something insightful to say in a defense of their choice, some clue on their personality.

<comment><USER10> And if they say nano...

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The best problems, in my experience (as an interviewee), are ones that are based on your own experience. e.g. "Last week I was trying to do ___ because ___. How would you have done it"

It's important to realize that the candidate has had much less time to think about it (and is in a more stressful position), but I think that questions like these should tell you a lot more than generic "reverse a linked list" type questions.

</comment><comment><USER12> What position are you interviewing for? What level of seniority? What do you need this person to be able to do for you?

<comment><AUTHOR> An analyst role at a financial technology firm, fresh out of college. Not an engineering role. Need a smart candidate that is willing to take on a lot of responsibility early-on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> You might have seen this posted here before, but Reg offered an interesting one that certainly opens the door to other questions that may help or give you ideas:

[http://weblog.raganwald.com/2006/06/my-favourite- interview-q...](http://weblog.raganwald.com/2006/06/my-favourite-interview- question.html)

</comment><comment><USER14> hire them as contractor for a few months and see how they work out.

[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing...](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/GuerrillaInterviewing3.html)

this blog from joel splosky is pretty good too... You want people who are Smart, and Get things done. Look for passion.

</comment><comment><USER15> Ask a question like: How many people in Japan do you think are married?

There's no right or wrong answer really, you're just trying to get at how they come up with a number.

A hypothetical answer: Let's see, let's say Japan has 50 million people, of those 50 Million maybe 35 Million are consenting adults. Japan is a pretty traditional culture so probably a large percentage of...

You get the idea.

Cheers

</comment><comment><USER16> (1) The hiring manager should have told you what she wants you to learn during the interview.

(2) You should be able to match up parts of the resume to what the HM wants. Ask questions to see how the candidate rates.

</comment><comment><USER17> keep them coming. I will be interviewing in next few weeks for ASP.NET Frontend developer so this is very useful :)</comment>


Introducing Daala part 3: Time/Frequency resolution switching - <AUTHOR> https://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/daala/demo3.shtml <comment><USER2> Posted (by the author) earlier:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6202522](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6202522)

seems like the lack of http(s) confused the dupe filter.

Also noticed, when searching for it, that HN retains the comment even if you add a URL, though it only displays one on the main page:

"I've just posted part 3 in my demo series introducing the Daala video codec. This one is kind of a long one, mainly because I think it's one of the only really detailed presentations of 'TF' aka Time/Frequency resolution switching.

Not to mention, there's hot glue and saltines."</comment>


Show HN: Security Journey--app security training for developers and testers - <AUTHOR> https://www.securityjourney.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Creator of Security Journey here. I've been in the field of application security for 20 years. I spent 10 years working at Cisco as part of the Cisco Secure Development Lifecycle team, where I built a similar program for internal use. Since then, I've decided strike out on my own and create my own app security training product that helps change the security culture at companies that are one person dev shops through the Fortune 100. I'd love to get your feedback on this product, and I'm happy to answer any of your questions.</comment>


Chat room charges you a penny for every character you type - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/3/18246851/expensive-chat-room-marc-kohlbrugge-charge-penny-per-characte <comment><USER2> Show HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19269938](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19269938)</comment>


ClickLock: Lock your Mac in just one click - <AUTHOR> https://clicklock.xyz/ <comment><USER2> The screensaver hot-corners lock-screen already exists.

<comment><AUTHOR> Right, I'm aware of that. This is just an alternative for users who don't like using the hot-corners, the keyboard shortcut, or the touchbar</comment></comment>


Evaluation of SDR boards and toolchains [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://gitlab.com/librespacefoundation/sdrmakerspace/sdreval/-/raw/master/Report/pdf/Evaluation_of_SDR_Boards-1.0.pdf <comment><USER2> A bit surprised that HackRF wasn't even mentioned, never mind included, given that it is fairly popular. My understanding is that HackRF's noise figure isn't that great so maybe that is why, but that wouldn't jive with the inclusion of the RTL-SDR.

<comment><USER3> The document at hand evaluates the use of SDRs for satellite communications (including Low Earth Orbit signals). HackRF is an awesome product and project, no doubt about that. Personally I would suggest anyone interested in a benchtop SDR get a HackRF. It's a great open-hardware project.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is an evaluation of performance on bands used for satellite communications, i.e. VHF and above.

If anyone is looking for an SDR primarily for HF and below, I think the Airspy HF+ Discovery is considered the best affordable option right now. If you want a good general-coverage SDR, I'd recommend one of the SDRplay products like the one they reviewed or the cheaper RSP1A.

<comment><USER5> I'm interested in HF, but I'm interested in transmitting too. It's my understanding that Airspy is receive only?

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I have the RTL-SDR and use it mostly for monitoring VHF/UHF, and it works just fine. There's nothing interesting in my area above 900 MHz so the frequency limitation above 1 GHz isn't an issue for me. It's a great way to get started with SDR if you're limited with your budget.

</comment><comment><USER7> Holy crap, just skimming this it's obvious this is going to be an amazing resource for folks making the agonizing decision of what kit to go with. Awesome!!!

<comment><USER8> I'd go for the widest real-time BW and best phase noise (clock jitter), as there are things you can do with offset tuning, low IF, and decimation to get around some of the spurs and dynamic range limitations that are inherent in these direct conversion transceivers.

A few external components (LNA, filter) can make a large increase in performance, so specs like noise figure are minimal for many applications.

<comment><USER9> That's good advice.

But yes, the best way to cure the ailments of zero-IF is to use low-IF, and the best way to cure the ailments of low-IF is to use high-IF and filters -- and we're back to standard RF architecture.

Nothing will make you respect traditional superheterodyne architecture quite like fighting with software image suppression / signal path correction.

<comment><USER10> Or direct sampling. Although they're expensive, there are 10 Gsps ADC's these days.

[https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad9213.html](https://www.analog.com/en/products/ad9213.html)

<comment><USER11> Holy moly you weren't kidding, they're nearly $6K USD apiece. Does anyone's SDR kit drive these?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> On SDRs that transmit, I'd like to see the how much harmonic suppression there is. For example, if you transmit at 144 MHz, what's going on at 432 MHz?

If they use switching mixers I would expect a lot of power in the harmonics. If they use analog multipliers, less. There has been work to make the front end mixer more multiplier-like using "harmonic rejection mixers". Apple bought one such company, I forgot which. The advantage is that you can reduce the analog filtering needed.

I think it should be the same for receivers: I assume they pick up a lot of noise from the harmonics.

<comment><USER10> They're horrible. The 3rd harmonic is just a few dB down.

<comment><USER8> Yep. The killer for the AD9364 is the 5th harmonic of the 2m amateur band falling on this nation-wide (USA) LTE signal. That damn LTE seems to be everywhere, and it's strong.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Hi people. I'm the vice chairman of Libre Space Foundation ([https://libre.space](https://libre.space)) together with the European Space Agency ([https://esa.int](https://esa.int)) we coordinate this report.

Just wanted to make sure that this document is still in review and it's results shouldn't be considered final yet.

Cheerio.

<comment><USER13> Why was the HackRF not included at all?

<comment><USER14> I don't have a good definitive answer to your question, other than we had to limit the scope of our work and we chose a representative set of devices amongst the ones that people showed interest in. Despite its popularity in wireless security research, I don't think the HackRF is widespread in the satcom or cubesat communities.

<comment><USER3> As far as I know (@csete or others might correct me here if I'm wrong), HackRF is primary a benchtop Software Defined Radio, and it's excellent for testing, prototyping, etc.

The paper @csete works on is focused on the use of such devices to enable satellite communications one should take into accounts the limitations and challenges of such signals (especially when working with Low Earth Orbit satellites).

HackRF is a great product with great value; if you are seeking to experiment with a versatile Software Defined Radio. In my personal opinion, it is the "swiss army knife" of SDRs.

<comment><USER13> Thank you for the explanation, I appreciate it :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Does anyone have a good reccomendation for an HF transceiver? It seems like many popular SDRs are receive only or crazy expensive. I've been looking at the RS-HFIQ ([https://www.hobbypcb.com/index.php/products/hf-radio/rs- hfiq](https://www.hobbypcb.com/index.php/products/hf-radio/rs-hfiq)) but it doesn't seem to be that popular and I can't tell if it's because it's got too much "hacker" in it for the average ham, or if something else is going on. Maybe I should just spend more money?

<comment><USER15> There is a duality between affordable and performance. For example, the Hack RF is pretty great and has a large frequency range and wide bandwidth for a relatively small cost. But for HF transceiving you need probably need better filtering, which has to be specific to the band and mode, amplifiers both ways, although, with transmission you probably need several stages of amplifiers and filtering in each stage as well. So all of those things would be costly and depending on what you want to do it may be better to buy a regular radio.

<comment><USER5> I agree with the duality that you describe. Nevertheless, wouldn't the software part of an SDR reduce the need for expensive physical electronic components, while increasing ability? An amplifier seems to be the only additional expense (as you pointed out). It seems like the amplifier negates any cost benefit, yet utility remains superior if one doens't consider multiple components and building blocks a liability. It seems like there are expensive SDR transceivers (e.g. Flexradio) which utilize SDR technology to beat out the competition in specs and performance. To get on the air with a budget SDR, I haven't seen lots of demand for the idea. is the utility of a budget SDR just not better than your basic radio? It seems like it to me but where's the demand?

<comment><USER15> Yeah I think most big name radio producers see amateur sales as a secondary market. There are some hobby projects like the uBitx and the mcHF, and both are low power. The amplification and filtering are in opposition to dynamic range and total power output. For instance without filtering, a very strong signal will blow out the dynamic range and quieter signals will get lost. If you say were to build a ZetaSDR and plug it into a 192khz 24bit sound card, you would have excellent dynamic range for weak signals, but you'd still want to filter out local FM and AM stations.

I think as more SDR stuff gets reduced to single chips for commerical or military reasons, then perhaps the amateur equivalent will be viable... But filtering and amplification is still something that is difficult to miniaturize due to heat and wavelength.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Perfect Tense – An automated grammar correction tool with an API - <AUTHOR> https://www.perfecttense.com/developers <comment><USER2> 17 a month seems really, really expensive for only 300 API calls. I think users prefer real-time feedback for this type of thing anyway; this API tries to be a one and done thing but users want assistance as they type.

<comment><AUTHOR> $17/mo is for 300 API calls per day - so that would be closer to 9,000 calls.

If you are looking to do more API calls than that there would definitely be cheaper pricing - especially if your use case involves sending requests as the user types!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Whoa. This is awesome.

</comment><comment><USER4> Seems interesting.</comment>


What is this "tagxt"? - <AUTHOR> http://www.tagxt.com/

<comment><USER2> My 2cents: The text on the homepage is overwhelming.

Would prefer any of the 2 ways to convey your point:

1\. Have a decent landing page OR

2\. Have a tagxt page (like this <http://www.tagxt.com/post/567>) which talks about tagxt.

</comment><comment><USER3> so.... it's a forum.

<comment><AUTHOR> Indeed, it shares many characteristics of a forum.

I prefer the term "micro-forum" :)

<comment><USER3> Micro in what way?</comment></comment></comment>


GRiSP – Erlang-based IoT hardware platform - <AUTHOR> https://www.grisp.org/ <comment><USER2> This project is quite interesting, and very promising, if it's actually available. RTEMS is an very well-characterized RTOS originally designed by the military (a Real Time Executive for Missile Systems was the original meaning), and it conveniently has a POSIX layer. I've built some things out of RTEMS and found it to be a pretty enjoyable experience, once you get a build environment set up (and don't touch it when you do!).

I have to wonder though, has Peer actually released any code yet? I implored him to release a couple of years ago, and wasn't successful in convincing him. At the time, he was insisting on some drivers to exist before he'd be willing to. I was quite disappointed.

<comment><USER3> I haven't seen anything related to the Erlang changes, but the grisp github project has an RTEMS app which I assume is for running/compiling your Erlang apps with. The progress is really promising, I believe he just has a very high bar for releasing things.

<comment><USER4> Actually we have Erlang on RTEMS in production since Erlang R16B03 on a MPC8309 embedded cpu (200MHz) this is running a controler for industrial manufacturing transport system with attached RFID antennas and a distributed PLC language that compiles to beam files also.

The main work that is done at the moment is the expectedly Wifi driver stack where there was a bit unexpected extra work to do -- longer story but we needed a from scratch new USB driver which needed us to upgrade the FreeBSD network stack to the most current, currently getting Wifi connections but the FreeBSD driver we use needs some adaptions still.

The porting Erlang part is mainly rebasing to the current Erlang version and disentangling of some customer code. But we already know it generally works quite well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just a couple of days ago I was searching for Erlang implementations for low- power mesh-networks.

Personally, for connectivity I wouldn't mind using a RFM69HW module or RFM9x [1] (868 Mhz / LoRa)

Creating a mesh-network with supervisors using Erlang seems like aa interesting and feasible idea. It's a good method to introduce actor systems to a new audience.

[1] [http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM69HW-V1.3.pdf](http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM69HW-V1.3.pdf) [2] [http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM95_96_97_98W.pdf](http://www.hoperf.com/upload/rf/RFM95_96_97_98W.pdf)

<comment><USER2> I suspect you could accomplish this with NERVES without too much trouble. I'd start with an Erlang port[1] that uses Linux's built-in SPI support to interact with the device itself. If you need something a bit higher-level, you might adapt the RadioHead library.

[1] [http://erlang.org/doc/tutorial/c_port.html](http://erlang.org/doc/tutorial/c_port.html)

<comment><USER6> Actually, nerves has decent API support built in! The tricky part is getting all of the registers setup correctly for the radios. Alternately, there's a C++ library for it, that's gpl, but could be setup as a nif or a port.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> 300MHz/64MB of RAM on an M7 doesn't exactly qualify as IoT in my book.

I pine for something that runs in 64KB flash/16K RAM that doesn't suck.

<comment><USER8> I think you're using the wrong metric. It's not flash/RAM that makes something "IoT", it's size, cost, and power.

<comment><USER9> when it comes to power, low end chips win by order of magnitudes ( for example [http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/30009941G.pd...](http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/30009941G.pdf) ). But it all depends on what your power constraints really are

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Cool stuff - Peer has been working on this for a while, I think. He's a bright guy.

It'd be nice to see what's been built with it, and also get a better idea of what kind of hardware it runs on.

</comment><comment><USER11> This is a super interesting concept. But also kind of the definition of niche.

Anyone tried this? Escaping C usually comes with a steep cost...

<comment><USER12> Tried Erlang? It's fantastic for everything except number crunching. The VM is basically an OS and makes a lot of sense for embedded devices. I remember reading about some guys programming drones with Erlang a few years ago, they demo'd hot code reloading mid flight (an Erlang feature you get out of the box), very cool.

However! Erlang doesn't have any hard real time guarantees so that may limit applicability. Generally doesn't seem like it'd be an issue for IoT.

<comment><USER13> _However! Erlang doesn 't have any hard real time guarantees_

But this, from the end of the GRiSP page, is interesting:

* When Erlang is running on RTEMS there is very little latency between something happening on the hardware and a reaction on the Erlang level. There is strict control over what can pre-empt the Erlang VM: only hardware interrupts allowed. In practice, this means Erlang's soft real-time is not as soft as on normal operating systems.

For the future, we plan to provide hard real-time processes on the Erlang level; GRiSP-Base will be the main test platform for this. _

<comment><USER14> That's really exciting especially with respect to how Erlang's GC model works. I haven't used it in anger but everything I've read seems that Erlang doesn't have a need to stop-the-world GC since there's no shared state and processes can just drop their pool when they die without the need to collect.

<comment><USER15> Pauses for GC are per-actor for the Erlang VM, so indeed no stop-the-world, or if there is, it's a very low latency sync point where the GC to switches mode.

There are plenty of soft and hard real-time GCs though suitable for use with any GC'd language. For instance, the CHICKEN collector in [1] is an absurdly simple copying collector with an observed maximum pause time of 120 microseconds with average pauses of 1 microsecond.

Low-latency GC tends to sacrifice a little throughput though, which is why it's not more widely used. Relative to a standard concurrent MS, CHICKEN adds up to 30% in execution time, although the average seems to hover around 10-15%.

[1] ftp://ftp.inf.ufrgs.br/pub/geyer/PDP- Pos/Artigos/PDP-2011-2-TL1-artigos/PDP-2011-2-TL1-GT-A%20Study%20of%20Concurrent%20Real- Time%20Garbage%20Collectors.pdf

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Somewhat similar to [http://nerves-project.org/](http://nerves-project.org/)

<comment><USER3> Somewhat, but it's very different in that it uses RTEMS, not Linux. RTEMS was built for embedded computers on missiles, and is commonly used in space applications. Nerves is a distribution of Linux buildroot, and has quite a bit of fat compared to something like RTEMS. I can't wait to see Elixir running on RTEMS, from my conversations with Peer, it seems he's ported the Erlang VM to RTEMS directly, much like the OSE port.

<comment><USER10> I wonder what the difference looks like in terms of the total system footprint.

<comment><USER2> Massive. NERVES requires Linux, plus system libraries. I've built RTEMS applications in the tens of kilobytes. Both require BEAM, of course, plus the actual Erlang application itself.

<comment><USER6> Nerves is around the 10-20 MB range. The main downside of the Grisp system I could see would be that nerves has a really nice two phase firmware update story, and that isn't mentioned in Grisp that I've found. IMHO, the remote firmware update and tooling is a "killer" feature of nerves.

<comment><USER4> Firmware update in the field is important but only a small aspect of a embedded system (one that really needs to work).

But Erlang already offers a lot around releases out of the box and in our case The VM + the whole "OS" is just one file to swap so we don't have a lot of problems one has if Linux + Erlang + Application needs to be updated.

FWIW: for larger Embedded systems we use FreeBSD + nanobsd wich solves a lot of the above mentioned problems. Update image verification and running the update is about 200 lines of Erlang code. And nanobsd comes with the normal FreeBSD system (builds disk/flash filesystem images with multiple partitions for easy update -- runs from one swap to the other)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Newbie question: why isn't releasing beam source files for an existing popular rtos(e.g. Freertos) an easier path to take? Is the issue posix support by the underlying rtos combined with tool chain headaches?

</comment><comment><USER18> Sounds awesome, and something I'll be looking into in the near future. Wonder if it can run Elixir apps.

<comment><USER4> Of course it can. It runs everything that runs on BEAM, Elixir, LFE, erlua and Erlang

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Why not use c/c++ based actor systems , in a size more fitting small microcontrollers , like [1] ?

[1][http://www.state-machine.com/doc/concepts.html#Active](http://www.state- machine.com/doc/concepts.html#Active)

<comment><USER3> Go right ahead, use C/C++ based actor systems! This project is to allow Erlang ([http://erlang.org](http://erlang.org)) to run on low power embedded devices.

<comment><USER9> this isn't low power ( well not in terms of what low power means in the embedded world )

<comment><USER4> This is a eval board, which is optimized for developer time.

In practice low power and performance are interchangeable (you try to race as fast as you can to the next point where you sleep as deep as you can). The CPU has decent sleep modes so when the system idles it can be made considerably low power.

So since Erlang is a language running on a VM you give up some sequential performance (power consumption). But in real world embedded systems you see a similar effect than with Erlang on the server: it reacts quite quickly on external events which is what most embedded systems do most of the time.

So the same which can be achieved on a server counterintuitively more performance you would expect looking at the sequential Erlang performance one can get in a embedded system. And this can be translated to power consumption directly and indirectly: quick reaction then sleep longer, possible reduction of clock speed or smaller CPU.

<comment><USER9> where I am ( www.outpostcentral.com ) we look for extremely low power, so we have micros dedicated to that. Most sleep currents of processors like this are just too high for frequent battery operation. However we do use a higher power ARM processor for comms / high level processing functions, but that gets completely turned off for the majority of the time.

So this is still really cool, conceptually, this brings a very good platform to probably the lowest level that's practical. I've put it on the list of things to consider for one of our new product designs.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Google Announces Acquisition of Widevine - <AUTHOR> http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-demand-is-in-demand-weve-agreed-to.html

<comment><USER2> This is right on the heels of Netflix announcing that their app would only be available on a subset of the Android handsets (dependent on the carrier) due to no built-in DRM.

So maybe Netflix will be getting their wish of a built-in DRM after all.

</comment><comment><USER3> Prediction: Chrome gets DRM'ed WebM support and YouTube starts streaming Hollywood movies.

</comment><comment><USER4> What's with the language "agreed to acquire" over simply "acquired"?

<comment><USER3> It's possible for shareholders or the government to derail acquisitions; see On2 and ITA for recent examples.</comment></comment>


Dribbble and how YOU are ruining it - <AUTHOR> http://joshhornby.co.uk/blog/dribbble/#

<comment><USER2> What? a shortage of visitors represents a fault in the visitors? This is a recipe for creeping and progressive obscurity. Think of real reasons why there are so few visitors. There certainly are such reasons, and "defective visitors" is not on the list.

<comment><AUTHOR> This isn't about vistors but more about the feedback those vistors give.

<comment><USER2> Any explanation that depends on blaming the visitors and their behaviors is bound to fail.</comment></comment></comment>


How I made $18k on CodeCanyon - <AUTHOR> https://maxkostinevich.com/blog/my-experience-with-codecanyon <comment><USER2> Congrats! Even for a freelance developer in the US, this is significant money, and doesn't require directly trading time for money.

And the most important thing is that you've built a solid foundation to improve upon. Most people can't ship as much as you have, and most don't have the foresight to write a blog post about it.

I've started to notice similar things on the economics of themes and plugins on Themeforest. Unless you're a top selling theme/plugin the revenues don't often provide enough to encourage updates. I've had a few themes I bought go not-updated for years, so I have to switch to more popular and robust themes that I know will be supported.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback! I totally agree with you regarding the issue with non-top selling items - most of them have never been updated, so it's like a playing in lottery.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I hope you were just doing this as a side project. Doesn't seem like it was too lucrative at ~$800 a month. And why delete the plugins off Codecanyon?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep, it was a side project, I'm living in a Eastern Europe (where avg. salaries are less than $500/mo), so ~$800/mo was a good additional income for me. It probably would not worth it if you're living in US/EU.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Great blog post; interesting, relevant, and to the point.

Does anyone know of any other hubs for content creation that don't keep such a steep % of $?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback!

I think [http://ui8.net](http://ui8.net) may be a viable option for now if we're talking about design/ui-kits/templates/etc. However, I'm not sure how big their customer base is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why delete it though? Was support too much?

<comment><AUTHOR> Support didn't take much time. However I felt that my plugins were outdated and they were too simple and haven't added a real value to WordPress eco- system.</comment></comment>


Authenticate on linux by plugging your USB stick - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ralt/hermes <comment><USER2> Hi!

Project author here, glad to answer any question.</comment>


11 Things Startups Should Know About Enterprise 2.0 - <AUTHOR> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/11_things_to_know_about_enterprise_20.php

<comment><USER2> I thought the last point about "Know how to deal with secrecy, structure and control needs" was good. This is a point that is often missed with web startups who are trying to build social and web tools for enterprises.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I find the "Blue Ocean"-strategy for Start-Ups quite dangerous - because this means convincing customers that they have a problem that only you are able to solve. And that could easily result in building something far from a market.

<comment><USER3> I don't think Blue Ocean strategy is foremost about convincing people that only you have the right solution, but rather that you are an 'alternative' solution. You might not be the "best" solution for everyone, but you can certainly focus on being the best solution for a smaller subset of unmet needs.

As I understand it, Blue Ocean is primarily about differentiating yourself in the marketplace in such a way that you get to own your own space. Lock-in may be a consequence of it, but I think that's still missing the point.

Take Apple or Nintendo, for instance. Dell or HP competing with Apple is like XBox or Playstation competing with Nintendo. Nintendo has defined its own space, which it basically owns almost completely. Neither Sony or MS are likely to be very successful at cracking the Nintendo market because of the unique mindshare and approach to gaming that Nintendo has. Most of the time, Sony and MS will be busier competing for the same customers in _that_ space _over there_.

Apple has done something similar. Competition with Apple tends to be indirect, more often than not. How does Apple continue to grow despite the lousy economic outlook for other computer manufacturers? How was it able to insulate itself?

"Apple" is essentially its own marketplace with its own ecosystem.

Another corollary might be the idea of "opinionated software". If you have an opinion on how something could be done better, well then you may have just identified your target market - your own "Blue Ocean" - and these are going to be the people who have the same unmet needs as you and wish for the same things you do.

"Man, I sure like [insert product or service here], but what would _really_ make it sweet is..."

That's when you know you're onto something.

In any market, you can find gaps and cracks where products and services don't overlap, and possibly never will for a variety of reasons. Those gaps represent opportunities. Most of these may not turn out to be billion-dollar opportunities, but they are probably profitable enough to satisfy most of our ambitions.

No?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Find a customer" now means "Find a customer within a customer".

<comment><USER5> Could you explain it further?

<comment><USER4> Sure.

This is the exact same strategy that got the PC into the enterprise. At first, IT departments wanted nothing to do with them and considered them "toys". If you needed anything, they insisted you go through them (and wait).

With the invention of the IBM PC and Visicalc, accounting departments bypassed IT and bought their own PCs using their own budgets. Fortunately, the cost was low enough to be under the radar. Several years later, IT had no choice but to accomdate PCs and real user needs into their plans.

History is repeating with web apps. There's nothing to stop you from finding a user or entire department that needs an app and isn't getting what they need from their own IT department.

Just sell directly to the end user. They have plenty of desire and budget to bypass IT once again.

<comment><USER6> This is exactly how PDAs got into the Enterprise. RIM took a direct approach with BlackBerry, but they are the exception. It's happening again with iPhone.

Consumers buy these things and bring them into work. Then, IT tries to get them under control once they fail to prevent them from getting adopted. These products are all useful to regular people as well, so this variant (Consumer->Enterprise, vs Individual Department->Enterprise) is only interesting if you're building something that is interesting to both Consumers and Enterprise (or Consumer->Individual Department->Enterprise).</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Eris v0.3.0 (Go error handling) released with formatting and perf improvements - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rotisserie/eris <comment><AUTHOR> We just released eris v0.3.0 with improved error formatting (options for error/stack inversion) in addition to several fixes and performance improvements (changelog: [https://github.com/rotisserie/eris/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/rotisserie/eris/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)). We're always looking for feedback from users so feel free to submit an issue or feature request to us or chat with us on Discord. Thanks!!</comment>


HN: What happened to orange names - <AUTHOR>

(if this already got mention flag it :))
Did they get removed or is it just that no one actually has a good enough average? I was AFK from HN a few days after they got implemented and I dont remember seeing any since I returned.
Que? (just interested) <comment><USER2> At first they caused problems with the server, so PG removed them for a bit. After lots of discussion, though, most didn't like the idea of orange names because it fractures the community and places unnecessary weight on karma.

</comment><comment><USER3> Read the essay:

<http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html></comment>


Rubberband Flamethrower - a rubygem for benchmarking Elastic Search insertion - <AUTHOR> http://www.cloudspace.com/blog/2013/04/11/introducing-rubberband-flamethrower/

<comment><USER2> Nice. Does anyone have performance benchmarks for various setups?

</comment><comment><USER3> good job. nice write up</comment>


Ask HN: What are some underrated startups we will hear about in 2013/2014? - <AUTHOR>

A lot of hivemind here sometimes means we need to step back. Who is on your watch list to make serious ripples? <comment><USER2> I don't know if they are underrated, but you'll probably hear even more about Stripe. They'll either make it, or get stomped out by the big players.

</comment><comment><USER3> I hope Fork the Cookbook is on someone's list :P

</comment><comment><USER4> www.wishclouds.com</comment>


Think preventive medicine will save money? Think again - <AUTHOR> http://news.yahoo.com/insight-think-preventive-medicine-save-money-think-again-051222908.html

<comment><USER2> Reading the title, I equated preventative medicine with public health work, but reading the article it seems that this isn't what they meant.

I'm not particularly surprised that the kind of treatments and screenings that they're talking about here are not cost-effective, they mostly seem to describe giving extra drugs to healthy middle class people for no particular reason.

</comment><comment><USER3> The article says that it won't save billions, but will only save 0.2%... but 0.2% of the 2.7 trillion they mention is still almost 5 billion. Obviously a biased article.

</comment><comment><USER4> In addition to what has been pointed out about money -

Shooting poor people like horses and dumping their bodies in ditches when they get sick would save a great deal of money (ammunition costs pennies), but it doesn't mean it's the right way.</comment>


TOCC: A Tool for Obsessive Compulsive Classifiers - <AUTHOR> http://t-o-c-c.com/

<comment><USER2> Funny reference in the name: "TOC" in French stands for OCD - "Trouble Obsessionnel Compulsif". [http://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_obsessionnel_compulsi...](http://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_obsessionnel_compulsif)

<comment><USER3> Not necessarily so funny if you have TOC ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I love this idea, but it appears to be limited to Linux(?). Is there a similar tool (or a plugin I'm not seeing) that works on Mac and Windows?</comment>


Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% - <AUTHOR> http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105?currentPage=2 <comment><USER2> You may want to update the link, it's currently pointing to the second page of the article. I read it and thought it was a bit light until I realized I had missed the much heavier first page.

<comment><USER3> here's page 1 [http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top- one-p...](http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one- percent-201105?currentPage=1)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This was already posted here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2402027></comment>


Google Analytics Graphs Play Music - April Fools - <AUTHOR> http://willjennings.net/album/google#ps-img-448000

<comment><AUTHOR> You select an instrument and it plays according to the graph displayed. Am seeing this on the main vistors overview page of the standard reporting tab of the new analytics version.</comment>


Ask HN: Rate my idea - The Venture Matrix - <AUTHOR>

Hi all.
I would be really keen to get as many people's input as possible on my idea described here:
http://justinvincent.com/page/100/how-to-trump-microsoft-google-twitter-facebook
To sum up... the post describes the Venture Matrix (working title). A new type of company incubator that itself is a new type of company that anyone can join... company 2.0 if you will. It's a cross between the Borg, peer-to-peer networking, MMORPG, socialism and capitalism in their purest forms. The main principle behind the idea is to use proven software patterns to manage and delegate work required to create a new efficiency in the market of starting companies. An efficiency that has hither too been impossible.
The more people's feedback the better! <comment><USER2> You might be describing the next GitHub, but I think that arbitrary team-size and role limits probably make your concept less likely to produce something amazing than what's already there (does the 'pod' working on an API to connect Project X with Project Y really need a designers and marketers?)

P2P achieves the very simple task of reassembling a file: it works because the blueprint exists and the peers are just mindless drones. The wider OSS ecosystem works because people build what interests them and don't worry unduly about their efforts being uncompensated or the emergence of forks. Using the same principles to organise people to build something undefined, very big and purely profit driven sounds like a nightmare. And unfortunately you're also bound by rules set in place to regulate the status quo: when it comes to assigning equity based on levels of contribution that constantly in flux it's going to be a legal minefield

Anyway, if your idea ever kicks off you'll find me working on the pod that looks after the revenue collection... :)

</comment><comment><USER3> _At some point along the way, I'm not sure exactly what made me think of it, I had the revelation that the very creation of businesses is a centralized necessity… and, just like anything else it can be improved, refined and perfected._

Congratulations. You've just explained the vision behind <http://fairsoftware.net>

You skip over some issues with the implementation:

\- anyone can join: in our experience, founders are quite paranoid with their ideas, so they'd definitely not let everyone have access

\- how to determine who owns what: that's a major problem and I don't understand how you plan to address that. The way we solved it is to copy the way normal startups operate. The initial founders decide on a split, and then keep deciding on more stock issuance as time passes. Call it the manual method. What else do you have in mind?

</comment><comment><USER4> "...a new type of company _that anyone can join_."

Letting anyone join is the first thing I'd reconsider. I applaud that you're thinking all-inclusive, but most entrepreneurs wouldn't want just anyone joining. They want skilled professionals who are easy to get along with --- people who are more signal than noise.

</comment><comment><USER5> So the idea is basically to open-source a startup? Too many cooks in the kitchen comes to mind.

However, if you say, I own the idea, it's "X" and I need the following expertise: 2 developers, 1 designer, 1 marketing, then maybe you're onto something.

Freelancers that are looking to start a biz can look at all the available ideas and "bid" for the ones they want to work on. Sort of solves the mgmt issue problem we all face as the best ideas should bubble to the top and be competitive.

However, then you're back into siloed operations on a company-by-company basis. The devil is always in the details and unless you're involved in the day-to-day, I have a feeling you're going to miss out on a lot of the details...

</comment><comment><USER6> Won't work. Real life collaboration is hard enough.

Having said that, here are a few ways you can mitigate the problem:

a) require vesting. If a person does less than, say, 3 equivalent months of full time work in 2 years, they have no claim.

b) automatic time bomb. If no work gets done on it over 12 months continuous, the project files become open source.

c) automatic nagging.

d) Make sure there's room for advisers, who get compensated with stocks. These people may bring contacts.

Roles doesn't help in a start up. Read Steve Blank.

</comment><comment><USER7> Clickable: [http://justinvincent.com/page/100/how-to-trump-microsoft- goo...](http://justinvincent.com/page/100/how-to-trump-microsoft-google- twitter-facebook)

</comment><comment><USER8> Take a look at <http://zemerge.com/></comment>


Show HN: Makesends – client side encrypted online file transfers - <AUTHOR> https://www.makesends.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Not actually my own project, but a Swiss start-up that I'm helping out during a few weeks. Key difference with existing solutions is that it will encrypt your files locally in your browser and never transmit the key over the internet.

Very interested in hearing your opinions on how we can improve this idea.</comment>


China: Ascendant Superpower Or Just Another Nation with Structural Problems?   - <AUTHOR> http://www.oftwominds.com/blogapr09/china04-09.html

<comment><USER2> The headline: "China Is Not Another Ascendant Superpower, It's Just Another Nation with Structural Problems"

Why are the two concepts mutually exclusive? The US suffers from a lot of structural problems as well, but there's no denying that it's a superpower.

IMHO China is going to hit a brick wall in terms of growth unless they get corruption under control and impose proper rule of law. For a country of its industrial stature it's a surprisingly lawless land - they need to get it together if they want to see long-term success.

</comment><comment><USER3> The modern history of China is phenomenally interesting. If you want a good overview, read "China Since 1919: Revolution and Reform". It covers the last century using almost entirely primary source texts--interesting primary source texts--since there's surely no better way to learn what Mao was saying than to read what Mao was saying. For a more analysis-based approach, there's also Schoppa's "Revolution and its Past."

Today's China, regardless of its successes, is in part the result of many years of mistakes, some avoidable, some not, which have led to all sorts of problems. A somewhat telling example is the case of scientific research.

The Communists were always obsessed with science and technology, especially Mao, as they realized its critical importance in terms of becoming a world power, and it fit their worldview in terms of the importance of production. But Mao was also deeply distrusting of intellectuals, which didn't fit well with the concept of institutionalized science for obvious reasons. Mao also strongly disagreed with the concept of "basic research"--that is, research that advances the core knowledge of science--research necessary for future, more-applied research.

Today, despite decades of attempts to increase the number of graduates in technical fields and improve science, the current system is surprisingly awful. They spend enormous sums of money on new facilities and then don't even have the funds to staff them. Scientists quickly learn to focus on publishing as many papers as possible for recognition, even if it means making each individual one nearly useless. There are very very few first-class scientists relative to the number of researchers as a whole--and much like the situation 60 years ago, many of these first-class researchers were trained abroad anyways. Despite enormous expenditures, Chinese science is still, to some extent, going nowhere.

One theory is that the Chinese government still doesn't fully understand how science works--that you cannot merely throw money at big, expensive labs and have discoveries just "happen." Often it seems like here in America the politicians don't understand this either...

</comment><comment><USER4> If this guy didn't waste a good deal of the essay on crackpot goldbug economics, it would have been a more valuable read.

"Perhaps a private grain-backed currency will draw upon the grain exports of North America as the only "real wealth" of nations. Would you buy a wheat- backed "quatloo"? I personally would be interested in trading paper for wheat, gold, oil or anything more valuable than paper."

Backing a currency with an agricultural product is a recipe for inflation, as several American colonies discovered with tobacco in the colonial era. Gold works better because it's really hard to inflate (unless there's a gold rush-- likewise, the silver rush proved bimetallism untenable) but a grain-backed dollar would be a disaster waiting to happen.

</comment><comment><USER5> Thanks to the editor who changed the headline

</comment><comment><USER6> A: Superpower</comment>


Show HN: Hacking is not Cracking - <AUTHOR> http://www.hackingisnotcracking.com/ Inspired by our conversation here, I've set-up this site so you have somewhere to point those people that don't know the difference. Would love to hear your feedback. (I also registered hackersarenotcrackers.com as well, just in case!).<p>Thanks. <comment><USER2> The color scheme doens't exactly inspire trust in the kind of people who needs to be told this.

Also, I think this explanation is better: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(computing)#Controversy_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_\(computing\)#Controversy_and_ambiguity)

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a good point, I may put a 'more reading' section for those that are really interested in the differences.

Will see what I can do about the colour scheme, I was feeling somewhat obtuse when I created it ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> This ongoing campaign of the hacker community is well-intentioned, but I don't think we'll ever get the term "cracker" to stick. Luckily, the term hacker has gradually come to be an umbrella term for a wide set of skills, capable of both good for evil, describing everything from building web apps to cracking DRM to security auditing, as well as the actually nefarious stuff.

(Of course, this ignores the reality that the majority of ne'er-do-wells have very little technical skill, but plenty of existing terms already fit the bill: fraudsters, vandals, thieves, etc.)

<comment><USER4> upvoted for the use of "nefarious"

made me think of a Vaudeville Villain laughing maniacally while twisting the ends of his waxed moustache and contemplating the fate of his scrambled egg addicted clientèle.... =S

The way that I've seen it develop is that the general public now uses the term "crack" pretty exclusively (in tech terms that is) to mean the breaking of copy protection on proprietary software. Whereas the term "hack" or "hacker" still languishes in the "romanticised" picture of a lone wolf stalking the internet for system vulnerabilities to take advantage of, subvert and abuse an innocent box....

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I agree with some of the recent sentiments on HN about this. It seems the media and the general public are beginning to become aware of the new "meta- geek" usage of the word "hacker" and it's subterranean counterpart.

I'm now lost in the "problem" (to paraphrase a recent post - "programmers don't _love to code_ they _love to solve problems_) of how to eat an egg without braking the shell?

I think this should be a contest - best answer gets upvotes?

I think the primary assumptions of the problem must be thrashed out first.

1\. The Egg is to be an average sized chicken egg - none of them quails jive! 2\. Eat: as in to consume the whole, 3\. Egg: as in the Yolk and the White (albumen for the l334) 4\. Without "Breaking the Shell": I think this needs to be defined as it would seem that careful incisions that could be reversed so as to leave the overall shape of the shell intact should be allowed. 5\. ABSOLUTELY NO PUNS!

<comment><USER5> EGGcelent idea! (you asked for it... =P)

But yeh, what counts as 'breaking' the shell? Can i dissolve the egg shell in some sort of acid? concentrated sulphuric maybe? I hear acetic acid works but its incredibly slow.

<comment><USER4> Dagnabbit! Why can't I downvote!!

doin a quick bit of research while waiting for the day to finish (trans: working), I found that the chemical composition of Egg shell is mostly Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3) and that this can be effectively dissolved using many common acids. So putting an egg in vinegar (acetic acid) for some time would eventually dissolve away the shell (which is technically not _breaking_ it).

.... any others?

EDIT: saved by the common brainfart

the problem with Sulfuric is that you have to be able to eat the egg itself afterwards ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As far as I am concerned a 'cracker' is someone who breaks encryption/codes or someone who makes modifcations to software to remove protection methods. and a 'hacker', well... that's more open to interpritation.

I think what people have to realise is, that language evolves and words take on new meanings, A name is just a name, let your actions speak louder than your label.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Inspired by our conversation here <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=575487> , I've set-up this site so you have somewhere to point those people that don't know the difference. Would love to hear your feedback. (I also registered hackersarenotcrackers.com as well, just in case!).

Thanks.

</comment><comment><USER6> It's good this thing exists. Hope everyone can help to improve this & the author is ready to get feedback.

</comment><comment><USER7> also, writing that a cracker is a "burgler" instead of a "burglar" does not make it more authoritative.

<comment><AUTHOR> Spotted. Thanks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I can't help but laugh at people who don't realize this war is long since lost.</comment>


The Telecom Triangle - <AUTHOR> http://timesonline.typepad.com/science/2010/06/sea-sand-sun-and-science-a-geek-holiday.html

<comment><USER2> Ah, nerd tourism, like Neal Stephenson's epic-length 1996 article for Wired on FLAG, a transoceanic fiber optic cable.

<http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html></comment>