Show HN: Textile – Return Facebook photo exports back to nicely-named galleries - <AUTHOR> https://fb.textile.photos/ <comment><USER2> Things like this are what might actually turn the trending #deletefacebook statements into actions. Maybe.

While it's nice that 'alternative Facebooks' are gaining visibility, those I don't think will really get people out. Simple tools on the other hand, to give people their data in a usable format, will.

Next, perhaps a nice 'export registered groups with Admin and user list,' or 'list of sites I've used Facebook login for,' or, 'export Facebook pack: Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp...

<comment><USER3> Indeed, but for this kind of thing to make a serious dent in Facebook, it would need to include a photo hosting and sharing service. Which, unfortunately, cost money to hold the data, so you either need to charge for hosting, or collect revenue through ads or selling data (self-hosting would be nice, but difficult to get your grandma to do it)

But, maybe even a simple photo sharing service _that lets you share those photos back to facebook users_ might be the first crack in the dam wall

<comment><AUTHOR> While it is going to cost money of course, this is exactly what we are building into our product. But instead of using centralized servers that know your private keys, we are building it on decentralized hosting (IPFS) and we never know your private keys. Take a look, [https://www.textile.photos/](https://www.textile.photos/)

<comment><USER3> That's pretty cool. Can I suggest though, that sharing easily on other platforms will be important (at least as a stepping stone)? So that might involve building a facebook app that shows shared photos as well as the default one. Even though this might seem counter to #deletefacebook, I think you need to let people take small steps to taking their data back.

<comment><AUTHOR> Totally, I'm into that. One of the big motivators here is how painful it is currently to move _your_ photos (or any personal data) across services. We want to build an open system where you control where your data goes and how. It seems like a great idea to have outbound integration like that for sure.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is an open-source project, in case you don't feel like dropping your zip file in to your browser (even though it does run _in_ your browser):

[https://github.com/textileio/textile- facebook](https://github.com/textileio/textile-facebook)

<comment><USER5> Keep in mind that, just because it's open source, and possibly hosted on github pages doesn't mean that the hosted copy is the same as the open-source. Referring to the IOTA seed generator hack that happened earlier this year. ([https://thatoddmailbox.github.io/2018/01/28/iotaseed.html](https://thatoddmailbox.github.io/2018/01/28/iotaseed.html)) (not my site).

<comment><USER6> Yup, take a look at the page source to be as sure as you can :)

<comment><USER6> We made sure it wasn't uglyfied or minified, so folks who want can see what's up

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> If a social network wants to take over for Facebook, an "import your data from your Facebook export" tool would be a killer growth hack.

Also, there's really no reason Facebook couldn't organize photos this already. I feel like they make that data dump as obfuscated as possible to discourage you from doing anything useful with it.

<comment><USER8> Absolutely. One of the big issues with GDPR is going to be how to practically use the right to port your data. Export functionality is one thing. It's the import bit that's often not there or isn't practical. Some standards would help.

<comment><USER7> I was expecting someone to mention GPDR, but as an obstacle more than a benefit. It seems importing your Facebook data, which includes messages and connections with _other_ people, into a new service, may run afoul of GPDR. That's not even to mention the legal hellstorm Facebook would rain down on any startup using such a tool successfully.

It's interesring that GPDR forces Facebook to allow export, but may cause problems with importing that data elsewhere. The hand giveth, the hand taketh away.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> About six years ago I wrote about the perils of using Facebook as your primary photo store (among other things) - [http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2011/10/dont-trust- facebook-...](http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2011/10/dont-trust-facebook- with-your-data/) . Sad to see that so few people have followed my advice, that a tool such as this is necessary.

</comment><comment><USER10> Name conflict warning: There is already a software project named Textile. Here's the homepage: [https://txstyle.org/](https://txstyle.org/)

<comment><USER11> Also github's textile: [https://github.com/textile](https://github.com/textile)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> After hearing people talk about finding very personal things in their archive like audio recordings, I tried downloading mine. I was almost disappointed to find that it essentially just outputted my public facebook profile. Nothing remotely unusual about the data, but i'm sure there's much more that they wont admit to or hand over.

<comment><USER13> I wondered about that.

Facebook know what I visit a site with an embedded tracker. This isn't in my data dump, but things like "interest in X" are. Do they really use the tracking to influence those scores, then throw away the data?

<comment><USER14> I'd assume they keep every ping from the tracker but simply class it as "their" data instead of "your" data.

<comment><USER13> If that were the case, then they are not complying with the existing European rules giving "data subjects" (me) the right to see data about them.

They would be allowed to remove all identifying information from the ping, e.g. retain a date, approximate location and so on, but not an identifier than links to my account.

[https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data- protectio...](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data- protection/principle-6-rights/subject-access-request/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> We also put it on ProductHunt in case any of you want to share with others over there, [https://www.producthunt.com/posts/facebook-gallery- recovery](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/facebook-gallery-recovery)

</comment><comment><USER15> Does it fix Facebook's removal of exif/metadata from images?

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh no! I saw that FB put the metadata into the html but didn't realize they _ALSO_ removed them from the images. I'll look into what's possible!

<comment><USER16> You can scrape it from the original photo page. I made an extension that does that:

[https://github.com/tantalor/fb-photo-meta](https://github.com/tantalor/fb- photo-meta)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I made one a few years ago that support EXIF and correct dates

[https://github.com/mohsen1/fb-photo-fetch](https://github.com/mohsen1/fb- photo-fetch)

<comment><USER18> I hacked together something similar (not CLI) at [https://www.fbexporter.com/](https://www.fbexporter.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is awesome, it makes me wish I had my Facebook data. I deleted my account without downloading it :/

<comment><AUTHOR> Bummer. There is a grace period, I forget how many days, where you can undo it before it's gone forever. You could sign back in, undo, export, and then redo. Unless you did it too long ago.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> It would be so funny if Textile gathered all the data. So much irony.

<comment><USER6> Haha, that would be pretty hypocritical of us! Check out the source to be sure we aren't: [https://github.com/textileio/textile- facebook](https://github.com/textileio/textile-facebook), and if you really want to be sure that's what we're deploying, use your browser's dev tools to inspect the code ([https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Learn/Common_questi...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Learn/Common_questions/What_are_browser_developer_tools)).

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Not working for me. The output is the same as the input. Any ideas?

<comment><AUTHOR> Very odd. If you drag the zip onto your laptop and the drop event listener doesn't pick up on it, your browser would likely just "download" the zip you dropped. Which explains what you see I'm guessing. What I'm not sure about is why the JS doesn't pick up on the drop event and process the file. Do you have any settings that would block JS? What browser are you using?

<comment><USER22> I tried in latest versions of FF and CH and it does not work (on Windows10). When I drag the ZIP archive to the area it does not do anything. Do all people just try on MAC or why it does not work for me?

<comment><USER6> Hi forcer, when you drag it over the 'drop zone' does the little zip image/icon disappear?

<comment><USER6> Ok, this looks like this issue: [https://github.com/textileio/textile- facebook/issues/4](https://github.com/textileio/textile-facebook/issues/4) We'll try to update this soon!

<comment><USER6> Fixed on github, should be live soon(ish)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I'm getting all my zip archives with x-zip-compressed MIME type. Any way to convert it to application/zip or make it work with x-zip-compressed?

<comment><USER6> We just pushed some changes to fix this. If you want quick access, take a look at the code over at: [https://github.com/textileio/textile- facebook](https://github.com/textileio/textile-facebook). Those fixes will go 'live' later. To get it running on your own system right away, you download the zip (click clone or download) and run it locally.

<comment><USER23> thanks ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> This is just a small issue (if it is an issue at all) -- maybe do something with the name to distinguish it from Textile the markup language?

</comment><comment><USER25> you could integrate with people's existing dropbox (i.e. copy the photos into it) and provide a super simple web viewer

<comment><USER6> cool idea, though for this small project, we're trying to keep everything self-contained... so no data leaks possible...

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Does anyone know other offline or online tools that allow you to visualise data better from the FB export?

<comment><USER27> I am currently doing a CS101 course and was thinking about building exactly that as my final exam. What type of visualization were you imagining to fit your needs? What feature would be the most important of your dream tool to achieve the purpose?

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Wow... So people who have issues with how facebook handles privacy should dump their data in some other third party service? And probably some people will because well... "dumb f __*s ".

Well it might actually be all good intentions (probably just read below is all client side readable code) but if non coders use this service it just means they learned nothing.

<comment><USER29> > All the data processing happens right in your browser. Your photos will be > reorganized without ever being sent off of your device, your data remains > yours :)

Don't know how exactly that works, though.

<comment><USER6> Yes that's right. Also, the code can be inspected here: [https://github.com/textileio/textile- facebook](https://github.com/textileio/textile-facebook). For non-coders, if you are concerned about us using your data (we won't!) you can a) trust us, b) ask someone to check for you, or c) go to the page, turn off your wifi (so you aren't connected to the internet), generate your archive and download, close the page, and then click back on wifi... easy peasy :)

<comment><USER6> The way it works, is that all the Javascript code runs in your browser, that way, there's need for any data to leave your computer... safe and spy-free!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


x64dbg: An open-source x64/x32 debugger for Windows - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/x64dbg/x64dbg <comment><USER2> x32 is not the correct name for 32 bit Windows. It is confusing, because it crashes with the new Linux kernel x32 ABI.

</comment><comment><USER3> I've used this debugger for quite a while. It's excellent. Clean UI, feature rich, and all around stable. The UI is familiar (kinda like olly), but also new fealing. Highly recommend

</comment><comment><USER4> Absolutely love this debugger. Feels like an improved ollydbg.

<comment><USER5> Why do you like it? What do you use it for?

<comment><USER4> I use it whenever I need to debug a piece of code. For example I like to play with fuzzers, so when one of my fuzzers finds a crash in whatever software I'm fuzzing I'll re-run it in a x64dbg and see what's happening.

I'll also use it to debug my own assembly code if I'm working on a low-level project. Projects include trainers for offline games, low-level system inspection tools and/or security tools (such as monitoring which process opens which files etc).

Sometimes I need to reverse malware for my job, I'll use both IDA (for static analysis/keeping notes) and x96dbg for dynamic analysis.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Spam!!!! Almost all the stars are from the throwaway/spam accounts!

<comment><USER7> Main author of x64dbg here. This is very probably the case and I contacted Github support to figure out what is going on. Before today we had around 3k (legit) stars.

<comment><USER8> I've never heard of your project but woke up this morning when my phone started buzzing with alerts from issue #1864. Looks like my account somehow has ended up starring and watching your project. That probably explains why you have replies to that issue saying "Unsubscribe" and "what?"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Other than the stupid name, this is a great debugger, completely replaced OllyDBG for me.

</comment><comment><USER10> Not a single screenshot of the debugger in action.

<comment><USER11> Just go to their website... [https://x64dbg.com/](https://x64dbg.com/) It's pretty good, actually

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> > _C-like expression parser_

What does that mean? What can you do with that?

> _Source code view_

Does it understand programming languages? Can you inspect the contents of variables like in VS?

My impression is that the focus is on debugging executables where source level access is unavailable. Cracking, reverse engineering. Are there people who use it for development?

<comment><USER7> > What does that mean? What can you do with that?

That you can use c-like expressions in various places (the command bar, goto dialog, calculator, conditional breakpoints)

> Does it understand programming languages? Can you inspect the contents of > variables like in VS?

No and not yet, it just uses the symbols of an executable to display a source code listing. I only know of a few asm developers that use it for development but the main use case is reverse engineering and malware analysis.</comment></comment>


One year later, the homeless coder is still living on the streets - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2015/04/05/homeless-coder-still-homeless/

<comment><USER2> When asked what he should've done differently, he replies that he should've built an app that generates more revenue (i.e. more revenue than an eco-app).

I won't judge him, but if his goal was to make enough money to stay off the streets (and perhaps buy that luxury apartment) then he should take the idea that 'he could work at Google, he could work at SpaceX' and actually apply it. Spend his 10 grand on a nice temporary apartment, a suit and food, and spend the three following months applying for those jobs.

Encouraging people to do startups is nice if they can go back to live with their parents or simply apply for a job and get hired immediately for their already impressive resumes. But homeless people obviously don't. The old adage is that one should only take a risk if one can take the loss.</comment>


The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals - <AUTHOR> https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2017/08/amateurs-professionals/ <comment><USER2> Anyone interested in this topic should check out 'Turning Pro' by Steven Pressfield. Quick read.</comment>


Show HN: 2005 YouTube Modernized - <AUTHOR> https://codepen.io/lf94/full/xxxydpg <comment><AUTHOR> This is more so an interpretive piece than anything. At 1am I stumbled on versionmuseum.com, and suddenly had the idea to see how well 2005 YouTube's layout of information and general style would transfer to today's YouTube's conventions.

This is the original: [https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/websites/youtube- websit...](https://www.versionmuseum.com/images/websites/youtube- website/webp/youtube-website%5E2005%5Eaugust-homepage.webp)</comment>


Everything you need to know about the Apple versus FBI case - <AUTHOR> http://www.troyhunt.com/2016/02/everything-you-need-to-know-about-apple.html <comment><USER2> _> > most Android devices still don't use full disk encryption so the court order is less of a pressing issue for Google than it is for Apple. (Incidentally, I looked for stats on Android disk encryption rates but couldn't find anything authoritative, leave a comment with a link if you can point me at a resource.)_

I was also looking for this last year. Anyone has some documents on this?

</comment><comment><USER3> This all seems like a re-hashing of the Clipper chip debate but with software instead of hardware.

</comment><comment><USER4> An excellent summary in an easy to read format by Troy Hunt.</comment>


Clayton Christensen's Innovation Brain (staying close to your customers can lead you astray) - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2007/id20070615_198176.htm <comment><USER2> It's interesting to hear his perspective on the iPhone.

BTW, for folks who aren't familiar with Christensen's work, his books and ideas rock. (He coined the phrase "disruptive technology," and has done a lot of solid research on patterns of disruption.) Highly recommended for entrepreneurs.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you achieve good company culture for remote teams? - <AUTHOR> If all employees in a company are working remote, how do you get a nice culture where employes:<p>-feel sense of proud (and maybe loyalty) -feel it's a fun work environmet -feel connected on a personal level to each other -feel connected with the vision and objectives of the company -take responsibility for their work and work hours<p>Do you have any experience from companies that managed well with this? <comment><USER2> Sense of pride and loyalty is generally not a problem. For many (most?) people working remotely allows them to better balance work and life. It often makes it easier for them to do things that are important to them.

One of the ways people "pay that back" is with loyalty and engagement. Also if working remotely gives them opportunities which they can't get elsewhere they might have a higher attachment to keeping the job.

Taking responsibility for work and work hours also comes with the territory. If you can't do this, you can't work remotely. The more common issue that remote employers have is prevent overwork and burnout.

Feeling connected to each other is a bit more complex. Remote companies need to be deliberate about this, especially as they scale. It depends a lot on the way they are constructed. A company that is remote but all within one region can have a synchronous culture. This influences how workers interact. If the company is spread across many timezones they are more likely to have an asynchronous culture and need different ways to interact and build bonds between people. It is possible, just requires effort. I talk about how we do this on the Collaboration Superpowers podcast [https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/232-getting-to- know...](https://www.collaborationsuperpowers.com/232-getting-to-know-your- global-team/)

I think the most public remote companies are also companies who are quite thoughtful about why they exist and what they want to be. Which are good places to start when creating vision and objectives!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot, I will definitely listen to the podcast!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> An interesting idea is to use some form of game / sandbox evnirnment for interactions. Interestingly, highfidelity which was until recently a VR- focused startup announced that they are switching to a more business oriented desktop experience, which sounds a lot like "slack in 3d". I think this model has a lot of potential as these 3d social tools lend themselves naturally to interactions, prototyping things together, and also give a sense of "presence" .

[https://www.highfidelity.com/blog/toward-a-digital- world](https://www.highfidelity.com/blog/toward-a-digital-world)

</comment><comment><USER4> I worked for a fully-remote company for two years. One of the major issue with remote is the loss of communication and spontaneous conversations. Our company did a good job by having mandatory, regular Slack meetings and get-togethers every 6 months. But then again, you can't replicate those "water cooler conversations" or "lunch break brainstormings"...

At the end of the day you are accepting a bit of a tradeoff between cost/talent availability and communication bandwidth.</comment>


Ask HN: Good place for Legal Help on Startup - <AUTHOR>

I'm working on a startup that'll help freelancers collect unpaid invoices.  I have a feeling that this is treading into murky legal waters and i'm not sure of the first place to look for how to be protected & cover my bases.  Any good places to look or consult for legal advice?  Or, are there blanket ToS that will cover any startup from a good range of possible pitfalls? <comment><USER2> You have two different things happening here:

1\. Normal startup legal issues (corporate form, employment law, tax, funding, IP, etc)

2\. Subject matter legal issues. The subject matter you've chosen (collections) is a highly regulated activity, at the state and federal level. You need to find someone who does collections (also called debtor/creditor) to help you understand what you can and can't do. A TOS document doesn't help limit your liability to third parties - like debtors - who may gain the right to sue you if you screw up. And that's a profitable niche for some attorneys - representing debtors who want to sue creditors/collectors who don't follow the rules. Your TOS can insist that your customers indemnify you - which may turn out to be worth nothing, if the customers are insolvent/thinly capitalized.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the reply. Re: #2, I'm not sure if i'm necessarily treading in the collections water. It's more of an added service (similar to invoicing) to help freelancers persistently remind (aka nag) their clients that are slow to pay or haven't paid. I'm wondering if by structuring the service in this manner if I can avoid becoming a debtor/collector. Apologies to bring the response a bit off topic -- I guess i'm in the process of figuring out what my question actually really is. Appreciate your feedback.</comment></comment>


Google Will Soon Let Users Automatically Scrub Location and Web History - <AUTHOR> https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/google-will-soon-let-you-automatically-scrub-your-location <comment><USER3> This is welcomed, but they might do better to remove the requirement to have the Web/Location/App history enabled for apparently unrelated features.

E.g. I cant store my home location in Google Maps without turning on Web & App activity history. Why? I cant share my _current_ location (not historic, just my latest location - they only need to store one) with my partner unless I turn on Web and Location history. Why?

I am sure a lot of people will now pipe-up and say "Ah well they want your data! That is why!". Kthx bai for that - I get it.

It strikes me as this being a "nudge" more than anything, or perhaps just a cut-corner to get a feature enabled rather than support something custom (e.g. in the case of my current location vs location history, it was probably easier for them to build something that just picks the most-recent record off of the top of your location history rather than create something new for only storing the most recent ping independently from location history along with all the privacy controls, legal reviews, documentation, and UI fiddly bits that go along with supporting something new)

<comment><USER4> Here's your answer:

There's no such thing, at least at scale, as sharing your information without also storing it. Not if you want the system to be reliable. So in order to make Google share your location with others, you have to give them permission to store your location. This should be self-evident enough if you take a moment to think about it.

As for lumping web history together with location history, it turns out you can derive the latter if you know the former. There's been a lot of fuss and breathless reporting about that fact. So authorizing them to know the one without the other is a bit of a fiction, especially in those cases that get written up by tech journalists. Best not to pretend that it's possible to keep them separate.

This new thing is an acknowledgement of the fact that the whole point of using Google services is sharing information with them and asking them to hold on to it, at least for a bit, at least until you've gotten the desired use out of the service... but also of the fact that a certain kind of person, the kind you often find on HN, would sleep better if Google deleted that data after it had served it's immediate purpose.

<comment><USER5> >So in order to make Google share your location with others, you have to give them permission to store your location.

Sure. I have no problem with that. What I have a problem with is, why is google insisting on storing all the locations that I am not sharing?

I only want to share this current location. So yes, that will have to be stored somewhere. But for the love of everything I don't see why sharing my current location requires saving all my future locations.

<comment><USER6> Because otherwise Waze doesn't work.

You can also imagine the other sub-rosa reasons for this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The funny thing is that Google will still let you store your home address and they'll display it on the map, but if you have Location History turned off they'll refuse to list it as an autocomplete option when you search for addresses or directions. They _know_ what it is, but they won't let you actually use it unless you expose everything else. It's extremely user hostile and there's no good reason to do it.

Edit: To clearly demonstrate what I'm talking about: [https://imgur.com/a/QW9OxAS](https://imgur.com/a/QW9OxAS)

They pin your saved locations to the top of the UI. If I click "Home" it will take me to my exact address. However, if I attempt to search "Home" in the search bar I get

"Turn on your Web & App Activity setting to search for 'home' and other personal places"

No thanks, Google. You don't need to know my entire location history 24/7 to take me to a static address you already have saved.

<comment><USER8> This is hilarious. Every single Google conspiracy is basically because some Google Engineer tried to DRY up functionality in an insanely complicated system.

<comment><USER9> It's funny, though, how every single "conspiracy" just randomly ends up falling in the "fine if you give them full access, fails if you turn off location services" quadrant. Like, I've not _once_ seen a mistake in the direction of "eh just turn off that data collection point and it'll fix it."

<comment><USER8> Imagine you have ~billions of users and 99.9% of them use the default. Do you put your eng effort towards power-user flexibility for the tinfoil hat crowd or do you improve popular features?

In the case mentioned, searching "your locations" appears to be just all on or all off (I have no insider knowledge of Maps). That _greatly_ reduces the surface area for heisenbugs in a high QPS system.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> So does this actually delete it ... for Google?

Deleting it from say my browser, maps, or other history is one thing. Does Google no longer have any of it?

Also the top and bottom bars that leave me with like 1/3 usable space on google's blog is really frustrating to read on: [https://blog.google/technology/safety- security/automatically...](https://blog.google/technology/safety- security/automatically-delete-data/)

<comment><USER11> Yes, if you choose to delete it, it will be deleted. (It takes nontrivial amounts of time to delete it across distributed service architecture but the deletions do get propagated.)

<comment><USER12> I simply do not believe this.

Unless they're audited by a source that can be trusted and have the findings made public, I will not believe it either.

<comment><USER11> You're welcome to believe whatever you want, but a decent chunk of my day job is making sure that it's true.

<comment><USER13> I value your contribution to this thread, can I ask some follow-ups?

Does Google have multiple "Deletion policies" such that deleting data from i.e. your GCP bucket follows one policy, and the "scrubbing" described in this article follows an entirely different policy? If so, do different deletion policies have different processes and different audit trails such that the end "deleted" state is subjective and controlled by the engineering and managerial oversight of the engineering/leadership team of that given product(s)?

From my (naive) opinion, it must be really, really, hard to for example, retrain every ML model that a now deleted datapoint ever touched. Its hard too to believe that, at some high level in Alphabet's org, there is no motivation to have the positive PR of feature(s) like this, but still at essence not delete the parts of the data trail that significantly drive Google's revenue. Do these datapoints significantly impact Google's revenue?

<comment><USER11> First let me say that I can't speak to whether anything "significantly impacts Google's revenue" \- either I don't have any material information in that regard, or if I did the SEC probably wouldn't want me making statements about it. :)

So with that caveat in mind, let me see what I can help answer.

I'm not entirely sure what nuance you're implying when you say "different deletion policies" \- while for instance Cloud might have a different timeline or set of triggers for when and what data is deleted, when it happens "deleted" still generally means "deleted". Some products like GSuite have the ability for administrators to say, disable accounts, which removes them from use but doesn't delete the account, but that's transparent to the domain administrator.

It's definitely nontrivial to track data propagation within large systems, but standardizing infrastructure, having central documentation of data handling plans, and having comprehensive privacy reviews for any new functionality that launches helps keep people on the same page.

Edit: oh, and regarding "retraining every model a data point touched" \- the easiest way to do this is to just always be regenerating your models on a frequent basis. If you retrain your models once a day or once a week on a fresh snapshot of your data, they'll only ever be that stale.

<comment><USER14> Uh, I guess all of this is wonderful and I appreciate the write up, but anecdotal evidence on an internet forum is not very reassuring to many of us. Until Google commits to some real actual transparency, there is no reason to believe they are actually deleting any data from their own servers, and that the options presented to end users is nothing more than a placebo switch.

No offense to you, but I remember when Amazon was releasing their home devices, and many people rang alarm bells in these forums only to be answered by supposed Amazon employees or friends thereof explaining why these devices couldn't possibly been sending data. Well low and behold, they are sending all sorts of data to Amazon. Were those commenters just lying? Were they misinformed? Were they trying to spread disinformation for whatever reason? Perhaps all three..

Here in America, the gig is up. Everyone, even our grandma's, understands that security and privacy is _always_ going to take a back seat to profit. Always.

So again, no offense to you personally, but everything you are saying must be taken with a ginormous grain of salt.

The only answers are either open source or objective third party auditing, or preferably some combination of both. Words from google employees mean nothing.

<comment><USER15> What data are the Amazon devices sending other than recordings of commands which need to be interpreted?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Will they also untrain the machine learning model that they've fed all of this data into to predict exactly what kind of ads are most likely to get you to spend money? How about slurping up data for users who don't have an account but send a ping to google on every goddamn page on the internet?

<comment><USER17> Google is not allowed to collect PII data of users who visit google services without registering. So everytime you delete your cookies, you are a new user, and they also are not allowed to log the ip address of non-users indefinitely.

<comment><USER16> Do you have a source, or any evidence that they don't? Google doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. This is literally their business model.

<comment><USER17> I think this is basically the GDPR rules, but I would need to look into the details more.

<comment><USER18> You're right - Article 3 of GDPR defines the scope as applying to any user residing in the EU. If the users are not logged in then you don't know where they reside (IP address != residence), meaning any international company that operates in the EU needs to err on the side of caution for non-logged in users everywhere.

<comment><USER19> IP address geolocation is the normal way people determine if GDPR applies.

<comment><USER18> IP address geolocation is not always accurate, can be spoofed, and is flat out wrong for EU residents who travel outside of the EU.

Maybe it's normal for a startup, but for a billion dollar company, they're not going to roll the dice on 4% revenue fines and IP address geolocation.

<comment><USER19> If you send some test requests to any big company including Google I believe you'll see they're using IPgeo.

(Disclosure: I work at Google, I'm not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice)

<comment><USER17> Do you think my interpretation of Google not having long-term user-profiles of non-logged in users due to GDPR is correct? I read that Google has rolled out their GDPR compliance worldwide.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Will that remove the history from Google's Sensorvault?[0] Because if not, this is just theater.

[0][https://www.eff.org/es/deeplinks/2019/04/googles- sensorvault...](https://www.eff.org/es/deeplinks/2019/04/googles-sensorvault- can-tell-police-where-youve-been)

</comment><comment><USER21> One thing that I find very interesting in the comments is people's approach to Google services. It's no secret that Google makes money from ads and models based on the user usage on their free services.

A lot of people are complaining that if they disable data collection, try their hardest to not contribute to these data models and block the ads with ad blocker then some feature doesn't work for them. So you just want to use Google services completely for free without contributing anything.

Other people complain about permissions that Assistant or other products require. There's always a very good reason why these permissions are required that is not monetary. Each permission request goes through a lot of scrutiny, lawyers reviews, product reviews, approvals, etc. You can ask why disabling some permissions affects features that shouldn't need it. Sometimes it is lawyers fault, sometimes it's just engineers not supporting properly each of 2^{number of permissions} permission combinations.

<comment><USER22> > So you just want to use Google services completely for free without > contributing anything.

Not necessarily. I believe that google's services are good enough to use them, and I'd certainly pay a few bucks a month to do so and be their customer - <USER2> not be the product that they sell to their customers. I'm also pretty sure that they'd make more money off of me paying them for providing a service to me than they make by selling my data to advertisers (me blocking ads and all that). If the only way of "contributing" however is to give up my privacy, then yes, I don't want to contribute.

<comment><USER23> Why not pay for a GSuite account? That seems to meet your criteria.

<comment><USER22> That would be more of a "paying for something", I think. I don't use Google Apps, I have a gmail account that I don't regularly use. I'm a simple man, I just use search (and it's variations) and maps, and the occasional YT video. I understand that GSuite doesn't touch those, so while a good idea from a moral view ("I can't pay you for this, so I'll pay you for that which I never use but can pay for"), it doesn't change the privacy invading parts of the products I actually do use.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I'll be happy when they let me use their products like Google assistant without collecting all this info in the first place. Even a degraded experience would be fine. Why does assistant need to know where I was last week or what I searched for to answer simplistic questions?

<comment><USER25> You're in luck! Those requirements were removed months ago. You can use Assistant with those settings disabled no problem.

<comment><USER24> I just tried. Still asks me to turn on web and app activity, voice and audio activity, and device information. I say "OK Google" and it asks me to turn these things on. It does understand that I invoked it but won't help me unless I turn on these three trackers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> TBH I dont mind Google knowing all this stuff about me. I like targeted ads. What I dont like is the idea that someone could steal that information from them and use it against me. Soak up as much info as you want from me Google, idc but if you're going to do that than you better damn well be able to keep it protected.

<comment><USER27> >you better damn well be able to keep it protected

There is no 100% security.

Some companies do a lot better job than others at protecting their systems, but it's only a matter of time before they are breached or information is leaked, especially a high value target like Google.

If a powerful nation state wants to breach a corporation, they will.

So, the real question is this: is an affinity for targeted advertising really worth creating the most detailed psychological profiles in history on billions of people if it is inevitable that this information will be compromised and used for more nefarious purposes?

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I see this(others recent Gmail changes) as tactical measures that google is taking to save its image in light of steep growth of privacy friendly startups(proton mail, duckduckgo, etc.). But my take is that they aren't going to get too war with this until they really commit themselves to preserving users privacy. Unfortunately, likelyhood of this change in thinking of Google executives is very low as its an up hill battle against the revenue they earn selling users data.

</comment><comment><USER29> Doesn't Google keep track of web history through IP/browser fingerprinting even if you don't use an account? And when asked about it they give vague answers about what information is being kept and for how long. That's why I switched to using DuckDuckGo for most of my searches.

<comment><USER30> Probably. I also switched to DuckDuckGo, and it generally works fine. On Google, I would get banners suggesting that I set my privacy settings, but it would say I had to log into a Google account to use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> This is huge, and exactly what I want from these kinds of services -- a set "age out" policy where I can specify how long my data is retained before being deleted.

If FB let me clean out all my posts/comments/activity from everything older than a year I might actually start using it again.

</comment><comment><USER32> Google should know that they have very little credit left on my side. When I read the this article, I immediately think about the ways on how they can still keep tracking me.

\- Check the latest user status after 3 months before deleting user history.

\- Compare it with the previous 3 months and update the difference ona separate table that are not facing the end user.

\- Scrub location and web history from user facing database.

It saddens me now that all google apps on my mobile phone are no longer allowed to access nothing. I try to only grant access if i really need to. This is how it became unfortunately.

</comment><comment><USER33> Why is the minimum lifetime of data set to 3 months? Is it because 3 months sounds like a reasonable period of time for users to look back at their usage or is it because Google needs 3 months to process the data, for marketing or other money making purposes?

The reality is whether they keep the data for 3 months or 18 months doesn't mean anything. It just gives you the illusion that they no longer use your data. I find it hard to believe there's good intentions behind this (other than deleting data AFTER it's used).

<comment><USER11> You can always set it to zero by turning off location history / web and app activity entirely, causing new data to not be stored at all.

<comment><USER34> And then a pile of features that _shouldn 't_ need that history will refuse to operate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Dup: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19804232](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19804232)

</comment><comment><USER36> I'm happy to just leave both settings off entirely. I actually do have some _historical_ location data still stored there, they know where I was a number of years ago.

I almost wonder if leaving it there has a positive effect, as my life has changed, the locations I go have changed, the products and services I use and the stores I patronize have changed, and Google is left with a version of me that is no longer accurate.

<comment><USER37> This is why most ads target within 30 days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> This is actually worst for your privacy because it gives you an impression that your data is not being used. However, by the time that you remove it Google is already done with your data. I feel this will spread to other type of data that they are collecting too. I cannot convince myself that it's a good thing and Google has good intentions with it.

<comment><USER39> Yes, maybe if the auto-delete was for 24h, at least as an option, but 3 months? Why bother? Just pause the activity completely:

[https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols](https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols)

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> [https://blog.google/technology/safety- security/automatically...](https://blog.google/technology/safety- security/automatically-delete-data/)

<comment><USER40> What value has "buzzfeednews" added here?

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> > Scrubbing this data from your Google account...

What about those of us without Google accounts? I use pretty aggressive tracker blocking, but wouldn't be surprised if a PREF cookie, ETag, browser fingerprint, or some other tracking mechanism snuck through at some point. My parents don't use any Google services other than search (not logged in), but Google likely has most of their web browsing histories going back years, thanks to ads and analytics.

If I delete my Google cookies, will Google delete my history and not try to re-identify me? It seems like "privacy theater" otherwise.

</comment><comment><USER42> What's the over/under on how long before this feature 'accidentally' breaks? I'd bet even money on it 'malfunctioning' in less than 1 year.

Just like so many of the privacy features put out by FANG companies, which mysteriously undo themselves upon update roll outs. Funny how I've never seen those roll outs cause the privacy features to automatically turn on, only off.

Still better than nothing, I appreciate the option, but I can't help but being VERY skeptical about this.

</comment><comment><USER43> The article doesn't mention Google collecting and storing location information even when it's turned off, and having the users figure out more convoluted ways to get rid of that tracking. Scrubbing this information periodically is not a substitute for not collecting or storing it in the first place. Whenever that's done, I'll probably accept that Google is doing something for privacy.

</comment><comment><USER44> This feature looks pretty cool and it's basically what I wanted. Kudos.

The question is, are they deleting that data?

I think they are big enough that, at least for EU users, not deleting that data would land them in a lot of trouble, so I think that they do.

For people concerned with privacy I don't think Google is trustworthy enough, but these features are good to have for the rest of the world, so I'm glad to see it.

<comment><USER45> One nice form of regulation would be a mechanism to let companies in this situation make a formal and binding privacy claim, that would then expose them to painful consequences if shown to be untrue.

Right now we just have to take Google's word for it, but if they were willing to pinky swear (figuratively speaking), it would let people trust them more, and possibly let them offer new kinds of services.

<comment><USER46> > One nice form of regulation would be a mechanism to let companies in this > situation make a formal and binding privacy claim, that would then expose > them to painful consequences if shown to be untrue.

Or you could just make making false representations to get anything of value from people a tort _generally_ , and in egregious cases a crime as well, rather than making it a privacy-specific regulation, and without making any particular formality on the part of the vendor necessary for consumers to be protected.

<comment><USER45> Your scenario means you have to sue Google and win, as well as prove damages. That has historically just not worked. When Snapchat was shown to be collecting location data after explicitly promising not to, for example, they just got a slap on the wrist.

I'm taking about a system that would let companies voluntarily increase their legal exposure to specific claims as a proof of commitment. That would allow companies to pick a level of privacy protection they wanted to offer, and market to customers based on that commitment, in an enforceable and credible way.

<comment><USER46> > Your scenario means you have to sue Google and win, as well as prove > damages. That has historically just not worked.

So does a proposal about a special ceremony which makes the claim binding; you still have to take action when they break it, and prove that they did.

> I'm taking about a system that would let companies voluntarily increase > their legal exposure to specific claims as a proof of commitment.

Increased exposure in what specific way? Lowering the standard of proof below preponderance of the evidence? Keeping that standard but allowing statutory minimum damages? Adding a damages multiplier?

<comment><USER45> You have a regulatory body to provide outside auditing, high monetary penalties for violations through neglect, and if the violations are intentional, somebody goes to the pokey. Kind of a codified and structured version of what the FTC does now, except with real teeth and without the problems the FTC faces in enforcement.

If you don't like that approach, there are other ways to make the idea work (or, since this is HN, "well actually" it into a fine powder).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> There's a hint of hubris in this move, the way I see it. Google must have enough confidence in the interferential power of the data they've accumulated that they can now wash their hands of anti-privacy dark patterns and declare themselves pure. It's a huge PR win without having to commit to deep changes in their (primary) business model.

<comment><USER48> Assuming that were true, wouldn't it be a massive existential risk to Google? The finely tuned ML model that classified everything correctly before might catch fire and explode if the thing generating its data changes.

In practice I assume that data has highly marginal value for them so the small percent of people who bother to use this won't matter much.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Living outside US jurisdiction, I strongly believe, my data will end up in the hands of the interested party, specially when/if I am targeted, no matter what setting I choose. I rather get some services running smoothly in my devices when I have these settings (i.e. historical data) enabled. So, I prefer keeping these enabled.

</comment><comment><USER50> Is there an open source replacement for Google Maps timeline that doesn't destroy battery life?

I know how bad it is privacy wise but I get so much utility of being able to see all the places I have been on a map, it's so wonderful after travelling or for finding places in my hometown I haven't yet been to.

</comment><comment><USER51> On a web forum for programmers on a website known for funding startups there are numerous discussions about Google being inconvenient about privacy and some of them are thinking about buying Apple products. As opposed to rooting their smartphone and using MicroG.

<comment><USER52> Rooting and re-romming is decidedly nontrivial in many cases, even for otherwise technically proficient users. Many devices are poorly supported, information is at best unclear, tool distribution is vastly less than trust- inspiring, data loss risk is high, and supported platforms for accomplishing root are limited.

Source: been trying (off and on) to root a device since 2015. By all accounts, it's _not_ ROMable.

This being a key reason I've all but entirely soured on smartphones and tablets of _any_ description, though Purism are looking interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> It would have been fairer to let the users decide how many days precisely they want to keep history, and let everyone find their sweet spots.

And, sure, it's deleted from Google. Is it also deleted from ads networks after Google shared the data with them? I doubt about it.

<comment><USER23> What do you mean? Google is the ad network. They aren't sharing that data with anyone else.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Too little, too late. The average person is beginning to hate you as much as the tech savvy people, Google, and there's no one to blame but your greedy elitist self!

</comment><comment><USER55> By the way, I deleted my entire history two weeks ago, and since then I didn't notice any downsides yet, such as a deterioration of my "search experience".

</comment><comment><USER56> Offering this should be a legal requirement for any company collecting tracking data, IMO. I might even re-enable my YouTube and Search history when they roll this out.

</comment><comment><USER57> But only if you have a google account. If you don't have a google account, there's no way to request your shadow profile get scrubbed. As usual.

<comment><USER21> If you don't have google account then your data is stripped from all PII making identification virtually impossible. How do you want to instruct Google to delete your data if it cannot tell what's your data?

<comment><USER58> Not sure if this is sarcastic or not. Psudeoanonymization is a paragon of plausible deniability.

<comment><USER21> Deniability of what? Google cannot reliably identify logged out users. There're different lawyer groups that make sure it's the case. I was working with the log data and this is actually a big pain, having to go through data reviews and remove all identifiable data.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> We will do something approaching the right thing... soon!

</comment><comment><USER60> I don't want to send my location to google in the first place. Is there a way to do that on Android without disabling Location Services entirely?

</comment><comment><USER61> Google builds a profile for each user.

Even when the data is deleted, I assume the profile stays (as far as I can tell from the meager writing so far), and can continue to be developed with further info, even if all the old info has been deleted.

At the end of the day, the profile is more important than the data that was used to build the profile, so its great for Google - and it doesn't help me that much that my data was deleted.

In addition, Google could save in that profile all sorts of useful metadata (how many emails, from what range of countries, etc.) that might someday be useful.

Other commenters have stated that Google's algorithm currently rebuilds the profile when any data has changed. Obviously this will have been fixed (...to include the fact that the user wants deletion in the profile) before this feature gets rolled out.

1\. Only a tiny percentage of users will use this, so the benefits in a legal sense are big compared to the loss.

2\. The only loss is that future development will have been able to squeeze more from that info, and the metadata is enough to offset most of that risk.

</comment><comment><USER62> Why just not stop collecting it?

</comment><comment><USER63> Great, another thing they deprecate, my own history. /s

</comment><comment><USER64> Only do that if you don't want to know what Google knows about you (because they will keep your history and don't mind hiding it from you).

</comment><comment><USER65> can we export our location history?

<comment><USER66> Yes. Google takeout has that as an option.

</comment></comment><comment><USER67> Thank you European Union

</comment><comment><USER68> google will soon let you think you can scrub your personal info.

</comment><comment><USER12> uh huh

<comment><USER69> Would you please stop dragging down the quality of this site by posting uncivil and/or unsubstantive comments? If you don't believe something, fine—the rest of us don't necessarily need to hear about that, but ok, one comment was fine. This one, though, is both rude and dumb. Posts like this will get you banned from HN, so please don't do it again.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER70> I personally don't believe them. I have an android phone but no Google login. I don't even want to begin to try and work out how to get them to scrub my anything. I've asked them for a copy of all my data based on phone number under GDPR. I've also instructed them to delete what they have about me. Obviously very interested to see how it works out.

</comment><comment><USER71> Whenever I want to send an email through gmail in my phone, it doesn't suggest senders unless I give them permission to access my phone contacts. Does anybody know a way around this?

</comment><comment><USER72> Ya ok, call me a cynic, but I doubt it amounts to anything more than a new column in their tables. It's gonna all be there - there's too much money on the line to permanently erase anything

</comment><comment><USER73> Honestly, people have to be fools to think this is anything more than a feel- good placebo. Google is only doing this because public sentiment is starting to grow restless regarding data privacy. But given the pitiful, embarrassing grasp (judging by the Facebook/Google hearings) Congress has on the issue, I guarantee there will be no kind of followup to ensure Google actually deletes the data as they say they will. And honestly, why would they actually implement the feature? Who's going to hold them accountable? Won't be the federal government, they're a wet sock. Won't be shareholders, it's actually against their interest to provide data deletion. Won't be the media, they'll move onto another news narrative soon enough.

<comment><USER10> I don't know that we can be so sure it is a placebo.

It would be good policy at Google to do / be ready to actually do the thing so that if called to / required to... they can quickly say "done!".

A CEO sitting in front of congress would certainly like that.</comment></comment>


Twitter's Legal Battle: Who Owns Your Tweets? - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnbc.com/id/48817077

<comment><USER2> "Protecting" the citizen.

</comment><comment><USER3> Its counter intuitive, but brilliant. Goverment goes to court to "give away" things they do not own, to a party that does not want them. For the benefit of re-appropriating those assets to use against the parties that _do_ own them. Oh, and these assets? Copyrighted, published works...</comment>


NJ Congressman Rush Holt Is Attempting To Repeal Patriot And FISA Amendments Act - <AUTHOR> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130716/20430323830/nj-congressman-rush-holt-is-attempting-to-repeal-patriot-act-fisa-amendments-act.shtml

<comment><USER2> Good luck with that.

It's not happening until someone is likely to lose an election if it does not happen.

<comment><USER3> Its good to at least see elected officials giving it lip service. That means the awareness and concern we feel is shared by enough of our countrymen that even politicians feel its pressure.</comment></comment>


Godaddy SUCKS, ASP.NET and Discount ASP. - <AUTHOR> http://www.spoiledtechie.com/post/GoDaddy-ASPNET-and-Discount-ASP.aspx

<comment><USER2> I have no personal experience with it, but doing .NET on a shared host just sounds like a world of hurt.

<comment><USER3> I do have experience with it, and it is _painful_.

If you're going to host an Asp.NET site; do yourself a favor and get a dedicated box to do it with.</comment></comment>


Fusion Garage JooJoo review (with Vid) - <AUTHOR> http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/05/fusion-garage-joojoo-review/

<comment><USER2> Well, if you weren't going to buy it before you certainly aren't after this. Which I suspect will put an end to the Joojoo. When you're an unproven, mail order company you only get one bite at the apple and this was theirs (no pun intended)

<comment><USER3> A mail order company??? What's a mail order company?

<comment><USER4> Someone with only an online/catalog presence. As opposed to a company like Apple, who has a hefty retail presence that lets their customers, who may be still undecided, try before they buy.

<comment><USER3> Oh, so you mean like every ycombinator company and pretty much every startup out there. Funny I never saw anyone call them a "mail order company."

<comment><USER5> It's because they sell a physical product, which you probably already realized, but don't let that stop you from being a smartass, good lord.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I feel for them on the subject of Flash performance. They're discovering what has been biting Apple for years: Adobe's timeline for making their software work properly on your platform is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key. That key is Adobe's fiscal interest.

<comment><USER7> That's not entirely true. Up until version 7 of Flash Player, Adobe (Macromedia at the time) provided a Flash Player SDK which basically gave you full access to the Flash Player source code (if you checked out as a genuine hardware provider, like Nokia, Apple etc. and where willing to sign some sort of NDA). Some old link: <http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer_sdk>

I don't believe the SDK is available like it was back then. I think Adobe has rolled all of this into their Open Screen Project (<http://www.openscreenproject.org>). I believe the SDK is still available to all the open screen project partners. Apple of course is not an open screen partner. They haven't even tried...

<comment><USER6> I was mostly thinking of Adobe dragging their heels on keeping their software suite up to date with Apple's OS progress. But it sounds like you're saying that all Apple needs to do to get crash-free Flash performance is to fix Adobe's bugs for them. You may be right.

<comment><USER8> I don't think so. Opera have a long history of working in the mobile, embedded, consumer space with Adobe and I only recall them expressing frustration with the limitations that Adobe placed on them. Paraphrasing from memory: "why are you only shipping Flash 7 when 9 is available? Because that's all that Adobe allows on these platforms."

I'm fairly certain they were being charged a great deal of money for the privilege too.

Here's a direct quote, talking about the Wii:

" _Why didn't we update the Flash plugin to a more recent version?

The answer is simple: there is no way to do so. It is out of both Opera and Nintendo's hands.

The latest version of the Flash SDK (Software Development Kit) offered by Adobe is version 7, so that's what anyone who is not a Windows, Linux or Mac PC have to settle with. To support Flash on a phone or device, you have to license the Flash SDK from Adobe, and as long as they do not provide a more recent version, there is nothing you can do.

If Adobe had offered a more recent version, no one would have been more thrilled than us. It would have made more sites work, and that would lead to less frustration to our users._"

I think it's all in the tone of voice there really.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The whole review is a collection of small oversights and bad decisions. This is what makes the difference between bad, good and great products.

When people wonder what makes an Apple product great, it's the attention to detail. They didn't choose an LPS display just to add another item to the feature list. They thought about where to put the light sensor, the headphone jack, which ports to add, and all those details add up to a good experience.

Like Jony Ive said, he hopes that most users don't even notice the amount of work he's put into the design. Most people won't notice the lack of a USB port, just like they don't complain that their Nexus One or N900 is lacking a USB port. Apple is happy to give the market share for the USB port lovers to HP or some other company in order to stay focused, just like they gave the market share for MP3 players with FM radios to others for a long time.

</comment><comment><USER10> Ironically, Arrington's review of iPad seemed to have a tone of "haha, I am glad we are not with the sinking ship of a JooJoo," not that there's anything wrong with it, given the drama...

I honestly was excited about the CrunchPad because of the rumored price of $199 back in the day. Oh well, maybe that is where the JooJoo needs to be...

<comment><USER5> Well I haven't read Arrington's review, but he shouldn't be too smug since he was heavily involved for most of the development. Clearly TC could have moved a lot more product, but it seems like maybe nobody involved had the UX chops to make this thing work. Arrington is certainly good at criticizing things but I have no evidence he knows the first thing about building a product, so it's not surprising there would be some friction.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> So to sum it up: bad hardware design, rushed UI/UX design, no multitouch, practically useless Flash support, no apps platform, and the same price as an iPad?

The issues could be bearable for the originally rumored $200, but at $500, when there's obviously a superior product on the market? Not a chance.</comment>


My side project: Rank your tech company based on culture - <AUTHOR> https://www.becandid.co <comment><USER2> I like the idea (kinda like a no-frills Glassdoor), but the moment I went to plug in my company, the first thing that pops up is a LinkedIn permissions page.

No prior explanation of what the data will be used for, no assurance that my information will be anonymous, nothing. Closed the tab.

Please consider supporting alternate signup methods for those of us that don't want personal information tied to reviews. I know you very well may not do this, but if you don't tell people that up front, the mind goes places...

<comment><USER3> Seconded. If you want people to be honest about their employers, tying it to the one place employers are almost certain to see it is a little daunting. I understand if you want to make sure they're actually employees of the place they're talking about, but (a) you should say that, and (b) what's to stop me from faking my LinkedIn?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! We're adding a bit about the LinkedIn verification. For this MVP it is an easy way to check (within reason) someone actually works at a place. Sure, they may lie to linkedin, but for the MVP it was an 80/20 decision.

<comment><USER4> In its early days, Facebook used email verification at a certain domain to verify membership to a uni. Perhaps you could do the same?

<comment><AUTHOR> I like that line of reasoning. I think the anonymity and peace of mind a company has NO way of tracking who visited the site would be degraded with work emails. Most US companies can and do read employee emails...Thanks for the feedback!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The first thing I looked for was a geographic search feature. Add this for job seekers like me who want to learn more about the good stuff in their communities!

<comment><AUTHOR> "Window-shopping" is definitely a driver on the post-mvp roadmap. Geo search is an interesting idea...

Thanks for the feedback!

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Your algorithm for calculating final score seems flawed. For example, if I give location as best rating but pay sucks, the company's rating is still pretty good. In reality, pay matters much more than location. You should adopt overall happiness as the final score and leave everything else as details instead of doing average or weighted average of individual score. Also other questions you might want to include:

* Do you think, on average, you work with smart people in your area?

* Would you recommend this company to your friends?

* How do you feel about management/politics/agility?

PS: I like the idea of using Linked-In profile. Nice.

<comment><AUTHOR> Very nice... We surveyed a hundred or so corporate types to settle on our 7 factors... but we do want to experiment with new questions.

We also envision a responsive algorithm based on a variety of variables (i.e., questions skipped or ignored repeatedly).

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks everyone for the input! I wanted to let all those who gave feedback know we updated the site over the weekend with better explanation of LinkedIn, an explicit privacy policy, and an alternate (albeit it a little heavy) way of asking to review a company without LinkedIn.

</comment><comment><USER7> Neat concept....keep in mind that culture and fit can vary from person to person and you're going to have a range of experiences. What's important is organizing companies based on their culture so people can match themselves better.

<comment><USER8> Yea like what does a score of 80 mean? Maybe company A really values free spirited people, a bunch of people rate them highly because of that, but the reader doesn't like that.

How can you make the scores more relevant to a new visitor? I'd personally like a little survey that asks me what I value in a culture, and then calculates a match based on what other people have seen.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting idea- we were interested in the score to start so that companies with great culture can wear it with a badge of honor. Statistically, anything above 50 is above average. 80s, and 90s would be very very good Candid scores.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The white header/light grey body text is very hard to read against that background image.

<comment><AUTHOR> Roger that. Thanks for the feedback.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Wow. Searched for 10 well known companies and nothing. Pretty lame. Side project indeed.

<comment><USER11> Perhaps it's new? </s>

<comment><AUTHOR> Brand spanking new - Launched last week at LAUNCH Festival in SF.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> A list of the known companies would be useful, rather than just having to search.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point - we're thinking of reworking the main page to scroll more featured/recently scored companies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Shame it needs LinkedIn permissions.

How about some kind of privacy policy?

<comment><AUTHOR> We'll be adding that shortly. LinkedIn was the 'easiest' way to do a litmus test on whether someone works as a place currently or not. Not perfect, but was a good start.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> LinkedIn permwall. No thanks. Flagged.

<comment><USER14> Flagged is a bit much. It is a fair criticism to make that requiring LinkedIn is probably very inappropriate and probably completely counter productive but that is enough I think.

<comment><USER13> Unflagged (if it matters). You make a good point.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> How about a real response. FUCK YOU</comment>


Juicer: Package your JavaScript and CSS - <AUTHOR> http://ajaxian.com/archives/juicer-package-your-javascript-and-css <comment><USER2> I found the original linked page much more descriptive than the Ajaxian summary: [http://www.cjohansen.no/en/ruby/juicer_a_css_and_javascript_...](http://www.cjohansen.no/en/ruby/juicer_a_css_and_javascript_packaging_tool) Juicer is written in Ruby. You need Java too if you want to use JsLint and YUI Compressor.

Read the Ajaxian comments before you use. One personal rightfully noted that you shouldn't add parameters for cache-busting because it'll also bust server- side proxies/caches. The right way to do this is to rename the file, which Juicer supports.

</comment><comment><USER3> Anyone know if there's something similar written in python?</comment>


Apple is in the eye of a hurricane (US-China Tech War) - <AUTHOR> https://om.co/2020/08/10/us-china-tech-war-apple-is-in-the-eye-of-a-hurricane/ <comment><USER2> Tim Cook was a masterful operations guy with an MBA™ in the early 2000s. Rather than compete for manufacturing with the big, established, and expensive manufacturers in places like Japan, he partnered with little nobody Chinese manufacturers like Hon Hai (now FoxConn) to make Apple products like the iMac and iPod. Brilliant!

Like all masterful operations guys with an MBA™, he either forgot or ignored an ancient adage. In his case it was, "don't put all your eggs in one basket...and don't put all your baskets in one boat." At no point did he or anyone at Apple question the narrative that China could merrily support their supply chain without any hiccup into eternity.

Apple reaped the rewards for 20 years, and now the lack of meaningful hedge could undo all of it...with one Tweet or two.</comment>


Improving Internet access in the developing world through zero rating [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2015/02/13-digital-divide-developing-world-west/west_internet-access.pdf

<comment><USER2> Zero-rating (also called toll-free data or sponsored data) is the practice of mobile network operators (MNO) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) to not charge end customers for a well defined volume of data by specific applications or internet services via the MNO's mobile network in limited or metered data plans and tariffs.[1] it allows customers to use data services like video streaming, which otherwise might result in significant charges depending on their data plans and volume caps. This has especially become an option to market 4G networks, but has also been used in the past for SMS or other content services.

Source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero- rating](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-rating)</comment>


Ask HN: Real time system project - <AUTHOR> For a course Real time systems, i need to make a mini application project using c or java. For example like showing simulation of solar system. Any ideas would be appreciated. <comment><USER2> >For example like showing simulation of solar system.

Why not this? That sounds like a worthy Endeavour...

<comment><AUTHOR> Someone has already taken it</comment></comment>


Anita Sarkeesian Cancels Speech After School Shooting Threat at Utah State - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2014/10/14/anita-sarkeesian-cancels-speech-after-school-shooting-threat-at-utah-state/

<comment><USER2> See also [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8458865](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8458865)

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm speechless.</comment>


Tufte in R - <AUTHOR> http://motioninsocial.com/tufte/

<comment><USER2> I've done a lot of work writing how to make nice plots in R/ggplot2 ([http://minimaxir.com/2015/02/ggplot- tutorial/](http://minimaxir.com/2015/02/ggplot-tutorial/)), but I admit that a lot here is new to me.

As the Tufte code samples indicate, plotting using base R graphics can be headache inducing, though, which is why the inclusion of a ggplot2 implementation is helpful. The other themes included with ggthemes seem pretty interesting as well.

An important thing to note about plotting with R is that if you can, you should use R in OS X for antialiasing. It makes a very notable difference for high-res charts (see my post), and it's clear that there's a lot of pixelation around the text and lines in the OP. Here's the Tuft line ggplot2 plot rendered on my MacBook: [http://i.imgur.com/DC6TgW9.png](http://i.imgur.com/DC6TgW9.png)

<comment><USER3> Can't you just export a vector file and then let whatever other renderer (e.g. a browser) handle the antialiasing?

Edit: I don't think I understand your complaint. The graphics in the original article are antialiased. Are you just saying their antialiasing algorithm isn't as good?

Here's what your version (on the left) looks like when rescaled (using Preview on OS X to rescale) to about the same size as theirs; the two seem roughly comparable: [http://i.imgur.com/LWCeAPj.png](http://i.imgur.com/LWCeAPj.png)

(I think the reason for the difference in apparent line/font weight in my picture there is that Preview properly downscales in a linear (not gamma- encoded) color space, whereas most vector antialiasing/rasterizing algorithms, including both Quartz and Cairo AFAIK, work in a gamma-encoded space). If you had generated the image at the same original size, I suspect it would look extremely similar to the one in the blog post.

<comment><USER4> > Can't you just export a vector file and then let whatever other renderer > (e.g. a browser) handle the antialiasing?

You can. In my experience, for good quality, it's best to output graphics from R as PDF and if you need a rasterized version, do that separately with pdftoppm or something with a dpi chosen based on where it will be shown.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I am certainly no fan of "chartjunk" and value clear graphics, I do not see the value of removing the lines on the axes. I find them to be valuable visual cues. I would also note that Tufte used them in his books, for example: ([http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg?msg_id=0...](http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch- msg?msg_id=0003uk)).

<comment><USER6> A couple points:

First, DAPP is 1974; _VISUAL DISPLAY_ was 1983. Critique based on "once, you did something different" seems misplaced.

Second, if you read _VISUAL DISPLAY_, you'll see that there's plenty of room for individual judgement in the principles he espouses. Tufte is no dogmatist. If you think the chart needs more ink, put it in and don't worry about the response from ideologues.

Third, it would be useful for you to attempt to articulate to yourself the cue value of the line, (as opposed to the tics). You might find that, when you try to describe to yourself what it does, that you're describing comfort with common pattern.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This looks really nice. The resources linked to are also cool:

[http://www.daveliepmann.com/tufte-css/](http://www.daveliepmann.com/tufte- css/)

[http://sachsmc.github.io/tufterhandout/](http://sachsmc.github.io/tufterhandout/)

</comment><comment><USER8> I've been using Tufte all day today. First to make an email template for my CV and then a theme for MOU so i can take some clean notes. Man, this is just so good, like really really good, I am almost embarassed by comparison. Super cool, great job.

<comment><USER9> What do you mean by "an email template for my CV?"

<comment><USER8> I used tufte css and some added styles and made an email template. It has a heading and signature, and allows for annotated notes in the body. I am going to write a cover letter and send it that way.

<comment><USER9> So the body of the email is formatted like a CV? If so, sounds like a good idea.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Anyone know how hard this would be to do in python?

<comment><USER11> I would suggest either using this: [https://github.com/yhat/ggplot](https://github.com/yhat/ggplot)

or this : [https://github.com/bokeh/bokeh/pulse](https://github.com/bokeh/bokeh/pulse)</comment></comment>


Hive: Free unlimited cloud storage for you and your friends - <AUTHOR> https://www.hive.im <comment><USER2> Is this a serious thing or are people always blinded by 'FREE'?

There is no way of getting information about the company on the company website, you have to go to the company web app.

So you get free unlimited storage, ad funded and to target you better with advertising they look at your content. This is hidden in the Terms of Service. [https://beta.hive.im/terms/](https://beta.hive.im/terms/)

At the company web app, there is no information about the company, the backers, the people etc. The 'about section' of the company is a bunch of marketing speak [https://beta.hive.im/about/](https://beta.hive.im/about/)

There is an address if you look hard enough - in the Privacy section. [https://beta.hive.im/privacy/](https://beta.hive.im/privacy/) It is in Hong Kong. There is no information about team, backers etc.

Best of luck to anyone that tries this.

<comment><USER3> For the uses I have in mind they can pretty much do what they want with my data - including lose it without warning or send it the NSA.

But yes - not everyone is going to approach this with their eyes open.

As in all things there's a tradeoff. I am perfectly happy with the tradeoff Gmail offers me as long as I am kept informed and I'm happy with the tradeoff here - which is that I don't assume anything as I've never heard of the company.

So - I'm going to upload a huge directory of stuff that isn't personal and is already safely backed up. In return I get web access to it without paying a penny - and a 'sort-of' backup.

<comment><USER4> Likewise, the biggest use I have for things like Dropbox or potentially Hive is to store my personal collection of guitar tabs that I've curated, so wherever I go I can still practice without having to remember to bring my tabs. I also keep a collection of educational PDFs and ebooks as well as some pictures I found on the Internet that I decided to keep for one reason or another in case I need to link to them on Reddit or send a funny gif to a friend. In college, I would put my notes there as well as homework assignments or group projects that I need to share with classmates. Hell, I don't even care if any of that were to be released to the public, let alone if the NSA or private companies are snooping on it.

Then again, I'm fully aware of the dangers of cloud solutions. Others are not. And that's the problem.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Won't let me drop a directory of files in, because one of them is a bittorrent file (why are you looking so carefully at the types of my files?)

mp3s don't seem to come back bit-identical, obviously some editting going on remotely.

So, don't trust this with files where you actually care about your data not getting "adjusted".

<comment><USER6> How about a zip file?

<comment><USER5> I don't care enough to do deep experiments, but it seems if I upload files Hive doesn't have "magic" for, they don't get changed. Also, another mp3 didn't get changed, so maybe they do some kind of cleanup on some?

<comment><USER7> Maybe it's slightly fuzzy deduplication?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> So this becomes "You are not paying, so you are the product" with a twist. As the premium plan gets cheaper, the more friends you invite, the saying goes something like this:

"If you are not paying, you sell your friend's data as a product?"

Sorry, but that is some twisted pyramid scheme imho.

<comment><USER9> I guess it's about marketing Hive to people. If you bring them 100 customers, and 5% of them will pay full price for Premium. Why shouldn't they give you smth in return?

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wonder what their game is here. Why is it free to share with 100 friends? I can't see that it would be any cheaper for them. Also, 100 friends? When would I ever want to share file storage with that many people?

<comment><AUTHOR> I think that they're trying to create a viral loop in order to attract advertisers to their platform.

<comment><USER10> You're probably right. They expect you to join someone's free group and then decide to pay for your own.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I really dislike the fact that this is totally anti-privacy which is one of the hottest topics in cloud file storage today. Everyone is asking for things to be more secure, and people are willing to pay for storage and security when they need it. This is solving the wrong problem.

<comment><USER12> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the privacy advocates are the target market for this site.

I also believe that the cloud has proven people are willing to forgo some privacy in exchange for the ease of use/access. I don't take part is such activities, but many seem to.

<comment><USER13> _> I also believe that the cloud has proven people are willing to forgo some privacy in exchange for the ease of use/access. I don't take part is such activities, but many seem to._

Or they don't understand exactly what they are trading away in exchange for the free service.

Which would be understandable, since it's not like any of those services go out of their way to explain it to them. It's just marketed as a free lunch.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I am a heavy user of Plex and have about 600GB of video in my Dropbox via Plex Cloud Sync. Hive has no desktop client as far as I can see which is already a deal breaker as the machine I browse on is not the machine my video is stored on. On top of all of this we have no clue how they plan to offer this free storage other than "Ads".

Don't get me wrong $9/mo for unlimited data sounds nice but there is no way I am using my upload pipe to move my 10-12TB of media into a cloud that I know nothing about and could shut down next month.

To be fair I doubt I am the user they are targeting. It's not a "All your media in the cloud" but rather "A way to share one-off video/picture/music in the cloud which is not something I am interested in at all.

<comment><USER15> I use plex and host all the content on my local HDD. You can buy 2x3GB Raid drives for under $200. Much more cost effective imo. I wonder why you use Dropbox to store all that data?

<comment><USER14> * I assume you mean 2x3TB :)

I use dropbox+drive for friends/family or if I'm not going to be at home. My upload connection is decent for where I am but it can't handle multiple HD streams (3+) so moving content I know people want into Dropbox means faster streaming for them and less congestion on my network. I have 4x3TB + 1x1TB drives currently (no raid, yes, yes, I know I need to do it) and those are about filled up and my media server has no more room in it for more drives so if I want to add more it would have to be external (I do have a couple eSata ports though).

I am currently looking for a replacement, I've considered buying one of those 20-drive server rack mounts [1] and filling it with 3TB drives which at Raid 6 (zRaid 2 really since I would just use ZFS soft-raid) would give me ~54TB of space. That should last me for a while yet :). At that point I would also start looking into colocation (That way I wouldn't need the Cloud Sync) but then I lose the VERY nice local speeds I get by having it all 10ft from my TV.

[1] Something like this [http://smile.amazon.com/NORCO-Mount-Hot-Swappable- Server-RPC...](http://smile.amazon.com/NORCO-Mount-Hot-Swappable-Server- RPC-4020/dp/B001NO7THO?sa-no-redirect=1) (First result on google, I would look more before I decided of course)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> "Download to mac"? Lemme know if they ever get out of the hipster startup phase [http://i.imgur.com/DTKz15Z.png](http://i.imgur.com/DTKz15Z.png)

</comment><comment><USER17> Everything about this says creepy.

</comment><comment><USER18> If only turning off the email notifications would turn off email notifications.

</comment><comment><USER19> So it looks like the general consensus is people are not comfortable being the product. They would rather pay a nominal fee. So it's funny if Hive charged only like $0.99 / month or even $2 / mo I bet this launch would be received a little more graciously.

<comment><USER20> Young people may think differently.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Interestingly, the site breaks on vertical monitor orientation. Rather than attempt to render it complains and asks the user to maximize the already maximized window.

</comment><comment><USER22> Where can i access my profile? [http://i.imgur.com/9zbI6ac.png](http://i.imgur.com/9zbI6ac.png)

<comment><USER23> I like the big sad "<your name> \- NO FRIENDS" smiley on the right. Even facebook tried to be polite and avoided any "lol you have no fiends" situation, how ridiculous it ever may be - and those guys rub it in your face instead.

They must have some impressive social network analysis planned if they try so many different tactics to get you to build a large network quickly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> "Hive is the first free unlimited cloud service in the world."

Sure it is.

</comment><comment><USER25> god knows where the hell our personal data will be residing .. better to use [http://owncloud.org/](http://owncloud.org/)

<comment><USER26> Owncloud is the simplest way to store your files, all you need is a web hosting account and just install the file its that simple, and here is guide [http://www.crawlerguys.com/how-to-start-your-own-cloud- stora...](http://www.crawlerguys.com/how-to-start-your-own-cloud-storage- without-touching-code/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> If it's free, you're the product.

<comment><USER28> HN is free, yet here you are.

<comment><USER2> HN is free but you as users are the product. HN is a fantastic marketing tool for Y-combinator. They do a pretty good job of keeping the balance right though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> If you scroll right the site breaks.

<comment><USER30> How are you scrolling right?

<comment><USER31> Middle click generally gives you a cursor which you can drag to scroll in any direction, not sure if it's limited to chrome.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> The logo looks a bit creepy to me.

<comment><USER33> Looks strangely reminiscent of the final panel here: [http://pbfcomics.com/168/](http://pbfcomics.com/168/)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How can a 19-year-old find web programming work? - <AUTHOR> I'm a 19-year-old, self-taught programmer (C/C++, Ruby/Rails and PHP, mostly). I'm in the middle of a transitional year between high school and college and I know that I'd like to pursue a career as a web programmer. I've gotten a few programming jobs here and there, but nothing really substantial. If I could find a full-time job, I'd consider postponing college, but I haven't had much luck so far. Regardless, I'd really like to pay my way through college (opposed to parents/loans). Does anyone have some advice for finding regular web programming work? <comment><USER2> If you're good, make a name for yourself. That means, have a good website, write some really useful open source library or something, blog and give talks at conferences/... (easier than it sounds). Once you have a name, it's easier to find jobs.

</comment><comment><USER3> I was your age in the late nineties, so I got that kind of job by volunteering to build web sites for my high school (sophomore year) and local government. That led to me giving the city's web hosting company configuration instructions, which led to a summer job offer that turned into weekends-and- summers employment throughout college. I also got some referrals from the math department head.

These days, everyone has a web site. But most are not very good. So, I suggest volunteering to build web applications for your neighborhood or city. This might lead you to a product idea for your own web service, it will serve as resume fodder, and it will increase the likelihood that someone will ask you to work for them.

</comment><comment><USER4> Don't put off college. Go now, while you will get the most out of the experience. Even in the hypothetical situation where you learned nothing that you couldn't have taught yourself, that piece of paper will be incredibly important to your future. There is also something to be said for the life experience of being around professors, other students and the environment and energy of campus.

Find a part time job through your University. Apply for work-study, check out bulletin boards, talk to your school's career center.

</comment><comment><USER5> Develop your own website which will be your portfolio to show everyone. Generally not having a degree will hurt you a lot and will generally lower the amount you can require for developing a website. There are websites such as 99designs.com which you can offer your designs to people that post how much money they are offering. This can help get your designs and name out there. The best bet IMO is to go to Uni next year and during your first few years build that portfolio, if you are going to a mid to large school you can sometimes get grants from certain schools if you offer to develop a website for them (I know someone who got half of his masters degree paid doing this). However in todays world the degree really does help.

</comment><comment><USER6> Remember, there are federal (some called stafford I think?) loans that are interest-free during the entire time you are in school (this includes grad school). You also get a grace period of about half a year after graduation to start paying them back.

I bet you will find plenty of work-study ops in college with your skill set. College is a great time to witness how much so many things are broke and understand people's pain points - if you are observant enough, you will more than survive.

So, go to school, start applying for good internships starting in the fall. Regardless of what you do, go forth and network like it's your birthday party.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hmm. This is rather difficult. I'm under a lot of pressure from my parents to move out of the house and support myself. However, I have no experience doing anything else. I've applied to many jobs which require no skill, but have had no luck. Not really sure what to do... I don't dispute that building a portfolio, going to college and getting a degree would be a good idea, but I'm just trying to solve a difficult situation.

<comment><USER6> Take a look at this mile long listing of HN related folks' jobs, gigs, etc... [https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely...](https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&nui=1&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2FDoc%3Fdocid%3D0ASrV38bNy1TlZHhqNjlmel8xMjdmN2Q4em5jZw%26hl%3Den&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2FDoc%3Fdocid%3D0ASrV38bNy1TlZHhqNjlmel8xMjdmN2Q4em5jZw%26hl%3Den&ltmpl=homepage&rm=false) You need to log in to look I think.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Don't forget the best part of going to college: meeting girls.

\- PSU Junior working on his own startup.

</comment><comment><USER8> Where are you from? I don't think its hard to find some web work getting paid 20 bucks or so an hour. Getting paid a decent salary with benefits might be a little more challenging, until you've built up your resume though.

<comment><AUTHOR> I live near Seattle.

<comment><USER9> If "near" means "close enough to work in", feel free to contact me with some examples of what you've worked on; we've got space that you might fit. Email in profile.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Go do college. Get internships and co-op jobs while in college.

You will be able to find them, you will make enough to keep the loans down to something sane.</comment>


Ask HN: Most popular sub-domains? - <AUTHOR>

"www" is surely the most popular sub-domains, but which one is the 2nd most popular?<p>"blog, "dev", "static" etc. ? <comment><USER2> Probably "m.", with 623,000,000 results. Likely more with https considered.

[https://www.google.com/search?num=100&newwindow=1&espv=2&q=i...](https://www.google.com/search?num=100&newwindow=1&espv=2&q=inurl%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fm).

</comment><comment><USER3> potentially cdn.*?

</comment><comment><USER4> forums</comment>


I, Glasshole: My Year With Google Glass - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/12/glasshole/

<comment><USER2> _People get angry at Glass. They get angry at you for wearing Glass. They talk about you openly. It inspires the most aggressive of passive aggression._

I'm genuinely surprised at how controversial these glasses are.

Soon we'll see news reports of people getting into scraps because someone refuses to remove their _google goggles_. (Hell, I'm keeping them on, I can send the video to the police and have your arse slammed in jail.) Talking about the cops, they will probably be wearing them soon. In Russia, a lot of drivers have cameras in their cars for resolving responsibility in road accidents (another potential use). If the cops in your area are unsavoury, and you are a Glasshole, keep 'em on when they pay you a visit. If they complain, use that old saying "you got something to hide, eh?".

How about Google Gloves, when you punch someone and break their glasses (and their nose) the gloves' internet connection automatically contacts a lawyer.

There is a lot of potential for mischief with these glasses, I'm all for it.

I am far more concerned with the ergonomic and ophthalmic issues.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> This article is very in-depth and a very thoughtful. As predicted, Google is planning to launch the consumer version (as of now only few early birds have it) of "Glass" in the year 2014. The future is on its way, and it is going to be on our face. Although the techies and high net worth individuals are going ga-ga over it but will it be legal, that's the question. Some reports suggest that many state Governments want to ban Google Glass at least while driving. There are some restaurants have already ban them for the privacy of customers. Anyway, it would be very interesting to see how Google deals with all of the hurdles obstructing to their platform changing invention in the upcoming months. What do you think?

<comment><USER3> I'm afraid they'll ban all the cool uses of Glass.

You could use them to get directions, or to dictate a text message while driving, which would be much less distracting then touching a GPS or a phone.

One of the best use cases is already banned by Google - face recognition. I sometimes forget a person's name, and it would be much less awkward if I could press a button and compare the face I see with people I've emailed with. It wouldn't be such a big leap - I already use tech in that case.. but it's much more conspicuous to pull out your phone and to search old mails or facebook to find out if it is "Anne" or "Anna" or "Tom" or "Tim".

<comment><AUTHOR> "I'm afraid they'll ban all the cool uses of Glass." \-- But wan't that the main aim behind Google's Glass invention. What if Apple tomorrow launches an iPhone 6 with a sensor where it can detect the faces and gives the related information like Google Glass. So should we ban that too. Much of the details are already on the internet about you and Google Glass is just fetching it and serving you on your face instead of your browser.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Oh god, an app for glass that notifies you of NYTimes headlines sounds terrible. It's bad enough to be online and distracted by all this news you probably won't act on. But now it's going to be in your face, when you're walking along the sidewalk?

That's what bothers me about glass. You can put your phone in your pocket, take it out when you need it. But glass is meant to be on your head the whole day. Now you'll never be able to escape your co-workers flippant emails, pointless tweets and farmville notifications.</comment>