Kaniko: Build container images in Kubernetes - <AUTHOR> https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2018/04/introducing-kaniko-Build-container-images-in-Kubernetes-and-Google-Container-Builder-even-without-root-access.html <comment><USER2> This work (and related efforts like Img and Buildah) is a big deal.

Right now docker images and Dockerfiles are joined at the hip to the Docker daemon.

It works great for local development, but for hosted systems that run on containers, it's a dire mess. I have personally slammed head-first into Docker-in-Docker quagmires on Kubernetes and Concourse. Not knowing the particular arcane rites and having neither sufficient eye of newt nor sufficient patience to get it to work, I like everyone else in the universe gave up.

Not an acceptable state of affairs, given the many problems of Dockerfiles in themselves. Dockerfiles force an ugly choice. You can have ease of development or you can have fast, safe production images. But you can't really have both.

Kaniko is another step in the direction of divorcing docker images as a means of distributing bits from Dockerfiles as a means of describing docker images from Docker daemons as a means for assembling the images. All three are different and should no longer be conflated.

Disclosure: I work for Pivotal, we have a lot of stuff that does stuff with containers.

<comment><USER3> > Not knowing the particular arcane rites and having neither sufficient eye of > newt nor sufficient patience to get it to work, I like everyone else in the > universe gave up.

One thing I feel like more people need to know: Docker container-images are really not that hard to build "manually", without _using_ Docker. Just because Docker itself builds images by repeatedly invoking `docker run` and then snapshotting the new layers, people think that's what their build tools need to do as well. No! You just need to have the files you want, and know the config you want, and the ability to build a tar file.

Here's a look inside an average one-layer Docker image:

        $ mkdir busybox_image; cd busybox_image
        $ docker pull busybox:latest
        $ docker save busybox:latest | tar x
        $ tree
        .
        ├── 8ac48589692a53a9b8c2d1ceaa6b402665aa7fe667ba51ccc03002300856d8c7.json
        ├── f4752d3dbb207ca444ab74169ca5e21c5a47085c4aba49e367315bd4ca3a91ba
        │   ├── VERSION
        │   ├── json
        │   └── layer.tar
        ├── manifest.json
        └── repositories

        1 directory, 6 files

• `repositories` contains the tag refs that will be imported when you `docker load` this archive;

• `manifest.json` contains the declarations needed for the daemon to unpack the layers into its storage backend (just a listing of the layer.tar files, basically);

• the SHA-named config file specifies how to reconstruct a container from this archive, if you dumped it from a container (and I believe it's optional when constructing a "fresh" archive for `docker load`ing);

Each SHA-named layer directory contains:

• a `layer.tar` file, which is what you'd expect, e.g.:

        -rwxr-xr-x  0 0      0     1037528 16 May  2017 bin/bash

• a `json` file, specifying (the _patch_ of!) the container config that that layer creates. (If you're composing a docker image from scratch, you just need the one layer, so you don't have to worry about the patching semantics.)

That's pretty much it. Make a directory that looks like that, tar it up, and `docker load` will accept it and turn it into something you can `docker push` to a registry. No need to have the privileges required to run docker containers (i.e. unshare(3)) in your environment. (And `docker load` and `docker push` work fine without a working Docker execution backend, IIRC.)

<comment><AUTHOR> +1000 on docker images being easier to construct than it seems.

I wrote a few blog posts awhile ago on this where I reimplemented docker pull and push in bash: [https://www.danlorenc.com/posts/containers- part-1/](https://www.danlorenc.com/posts/containers-part-1/)

It even got up to basic image modification support.

Disclosure: I work on kaniko and lots of other things that construct docker images without docker at Google.

<comment><USER4> This unpacks a series of tarballs fetched with curl, but it's not clear how it would correctly handle file deletions.

<comment><USER5> In the OCI image spec file deletions are handled with special whiteout files... See: [https://github.com/opencontainers/image- spec/blob/master/lay...](https://github.com/opencontainers/image- spec/blob/master/layer.md#whiteouts)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> We're using docker for development, but we still have to take the leap into production. The whole build/push/pull part is rather confusing somehow. I tried docker hub or docker cloud build as it's now called(?), but the build itself takes forever... what are people using these days??

Also for development machines, how do you sync things between developers. I can commit a docker file change, but unless I explicitly tell docker compose to rebuild my images and containers, it will happily stick to the old version. I have to keep nagging our (3) developers to do this from time to time... what am I doing wrong?? Sorry if these are dumb questions but we're still stuck with the basics it seems.

<comment><USER7> If you're still struggling with the build workflow, it's probably not yet the right time to take that leap.

It's not rocket science, of course. You _build_ an image somewhere (your local machine, a CI server, anywhere), _push_ to a registry, and when you want run the image, you _pull_ from the registry and run it. ("docker run" will, by default, automatically pull when you ask it to run something.)

I don't quite understand what your Compose problem is. Is the Compose file referencing images published to, say, Docker Hub? If so, the image obviously has to be built and published beforehand. However, it's also possible to run Compose against local checkouts, then run "docker-compose up --build", e.g.:

        version: '3.2'
        services:
          mainApp:
            build:
              context: .
          service1:
            build:
              context: ../service1
          service2:
            build:
              context: ../service2

and so on.

There's a whole ecosystem of tools built around Docker for building, testing, deploying and orchestrating Docker applications. Kubernetes is one. If you're having issues with the Docker basics, however, I wouldn't consider any of these systems quite yet, although you should consider automating your building and testing with a CI (continuous integration) system, rather than making your devs build and test on their local machines.

As with anything, to actually use Docker in production you'll need an ops person/team that knows how to run it. That could be something as simple as a manual "docker run" or a manual "docker-compose", to something much more complex such as Kubernetes. This is the complicated part.

<comment><USER6> The problem I was referring to with docker-compose:

let's say I update my Dockerfile and change from `FROM ruby:2.3.4` to `FROM ruby:2.5.1` and commit the Dockerfile change, merge it to master, etc.

Our developers have to remember to manually run docker-compose --build, or to remove their old containers and create new ones, which would get them rebuilt... I couldn't find something that would warn them if they're running off of stale images, or better, simply build them automatically when the Dockerfile changes.

Part of the benefits of docker is creating a repeatable environment with all sub-components on all dev machines. Isn't it?

Maybe our devs should only pull remote images and never build them, but then wouldn't I have the same problem that docker-compose won't force or remind the developers to pull unless they explicitly tell it to? And also, isn't this detaching the development process around the Dockerfiles/builds themselves from the rest of the dev process??

<comment><USER7> If you run with "docker-compose up --build", it should automatically build. This requires that any app you want to work on references the local Dockerfile, not a published one, the same way as in my paste. I.e. "build: ./myapp" or whatever.

Edit the code, then restart Compose, and repeat. It will build each time. If you want to save time and you have some containers that don't change, you can "pin" those containers to published images — e.g., the main app is in "./myapp", but it depends on two apps "foo:08adcef" and "bar:eed2a94", which don't get built every time. This speeds up development.

Building on every change sounds like a nightmare, though. It's more convenient to use a file-watching system such as nodemon and map the whole app to a volume. Here's a blog article about it that also shows how you'd use Compose with multiple containers that use a local Dockerfile instead of a published one: [https://medium.com/lucjuggery/docker-in-development-with- nod...](https://medium.com/lucjuggery/docker-in-development-with- nodemon-d500366e74df).

<comment><USER6> We're not building every time. But some times, like the example above, we do need to build. The problem however is this becomes a fairly manual process. If a developer forgets to do it, they will keep running with an older base image. So all the consistency benefits across developers is gone.

In any case, thanks for your suggestions. I think it's some misconception on my part about how docker-compose should behave.

<comment><USER8> So to me it's starting to sound like "developers forgetting" is your problem. Not Docker or Compose.

The solution I've used in the multiple companies I've started is to maintain a developer-oriented toolchain that encodes best practices. You tell the devs to clone the toolchain locally and you build in a simple self-update system so it always pulls the latest version. Then you provide a single tool (e.g. "devtool"), with subcommands, for what you want to script.

For example, "devtool run" could run the app, calling "docker-compose --build" behind the scenes. This ensures that they'll always build every time, and never forget the flag.

If you have other common patterns that have multiple complicated steps or require "standardized" behaviour, bake them into the tool: "devtool deploy", "devtool create-site", "devtool lint", etc.

We've got tons of subcommands like this. One of the subcommands is "preflight", which performs a bunch of checks to make sure that the local development environment fulfills a bunch of checks (Docker version, Kubectl version, whether Docker Registry auth works, SSH config, etc.), and fixes issues (e.g. if the Google Cloud SDK isn't installed, it can install it). It's a good pattern that also simplifies onboarding of new developers.

<comment><USER6> That's a great suggestion! Thanks. We're doing parts of it, but I just need to expand it to work with docker-compose. As I mentioned, I probably had the wrong preconceptions about it "figuring out" when components were stale... I guess a few simple bash scripts can work wonders to make it more intelligent :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is cool! Thanks for posting. I can see how this is useful if building images is part of your CI process.

I've been using [https://github.com/dminkovsky/kube-cloud- build](https://github.com/dminkovsky/kube-cloud-build) to build images on Google Cloud Container Builder. It handles generating Cloud Container Builder build requests based on the images specified in my Kubernetes manifests, which was a big deal for me since writing build requests by hand was a total pain.

<comment><USER10> If you have CI, you normally shouldn't need something like this.

<comment><USER11> The idea is to not have to maintain separate CI infrastructure in addition to your Kubernetes cluster.

Disclaimer: I worked on this kaniko at Google

<comment><USER12> Thanks for your work really appreciated, but is there any way to cache some layers?

<comment><AUTHOR> There should be! We haven't thought too much about it yet, but there's no reason it wouldn't work. We can't reuse the Docker daemon cache because that would imply access to the docker daemon.

Discloser - I work on kaniko and other container things at Google.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> My understanding is that it is best practice to run your docker builds and images as s non root user. OpenShift will complain if you do for example. Now this kaniko image runs the build as root contrary to the recommendation and the post explicitly mentions this difference with Orca.

Why is it okay now for kaniko to run as root user?

<comment><USER14> This was my first thought as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> With the availability of the free Red Hat tools for building container images (buildah...) and this, it will be interesting to see what remains of Docker (Inc).

<comment><USER16> It's pretty clear that Docker has been focused on moving downstream. They want to add value by assembling open-source components into a complete platform that they can control and sell. They _don 't_ want to be the ones developing all the components themselves - at this level of maturity and sophistication in the container market, they just don't have the manpower to do that. A major benefit of that strategy is that they can use the best component available, regardless of who developed it. I bet they're feeling spread very thin on the open-source side, and would love to redirect some of their resources away from developing a gazillion open-source gadgets on their own, and towards their commercial products (which historically have been not as good in my experience).

Evidence that Docker is doing this:

\- They only advertise three things with the name Docker: "Docker for Mac" (a free product that is not open-source), "Docker EE" (an enterprise product), and "Docker Hub" (a cloud service). Those are all downstream products, like RHEL or Openshift.

\- The whole "Moby" thing is basically their upstream brand, aka "the things not called Docker".

\- They spun out tons of smaller projects like buildkit, linuxkit, containerd, runc, and seem eager to get others to use them and contribute, even competitors.

\- They embraced Kubernetes as part of their downstream product, even though they famously did not invent it, and they certainly don't control it.

So I think people saying "these free open-source tools are killing Docker" are missing the point. The real competition for Docker is Openshift vs Docker EE, everything else is implementation details.

If you listen to the sales pitch of these two companies right now, it's an absolute tug of war. Docker focuses on independence and innovation ("we know where containers are going, and we don't force RHEL down your throat"). Red Hat focuses on maturity and upstream control ("We've been by your side for 20 years, are you going to trust us or some Silicon Valley hipster? Also we employ more Kubernetes contributors than anyone else").

That's the real battle, in my experience on the open-source side you'll find mostly engineers from all side collaborating peacefully and building whatever they need to get their job done.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Interesting! We built and use a service called Furan: [https://github.com/dollarshaveclub/furan](https://github.com/dollarshaveclub/furan)

That said, Furan isn't suitable for untrusted Dockerfiles (or multi-tenant environments) exactly due to the security implications of access to the Docker engine socket.

The issue I see with Kaniko is drift from upstream Moby/Docker syntax. One of the strengths with Furan is that you have the guarantee that the Docker build you perform locally is exactly what happens by the service. When you can't make this guarantee you get into weird situations where "the build works for me locally" but there's some issue when doing a remote build. That's also why we've resisted putting special build magic into Furan (like injecting metadata into the build context, for example).

</comment><comment><USER16> Does this (or could this) use Buildkit? It seems that Docker themselves are encouraging the development of an ecosystem of third-party container build tools, with buildkit as an interoperability layer. I heard good things about buildkit but haven't tried it yet.

If Kaniko authors are reading this: have you considered buildkit and, if not, would you be open to contributions based on it?

My understanding is that the official 'docker build' itself is based on Buildkit.

[https://github.com/moby/buildkit](https://github.com/moby/buildkit)

<comment><AUTHOR> Kaniko doesn't use buildkit - buildkit still uses containerd/runC under the hood so it can't run inside a container easily.

We are looking at interoperability with buildkit (and the large set of of other tooling like this) through the CBI: [https://github.com/containerbuilding/cbi](https://github.com/containerbuilding/cbi) which aims to be a neutral interface on top of things like buildkit, buildah, docker and kaniko that build images.

Discloser: I work on kaniko and other container things at Google.

<comment><USER16> Very interesting, and it looks like the people working on CBI are also active on Buildkit, which is a good sign!

Thank you for the pointer.

<comment><USER18> @zapita

FYI: Kaniko plugin for CBI is now available. [https://github.com/containerbuilding/cbi/pull/35](https://github.com/containerbuilding/cbi/pull/35)

<comment><USER16> Thanks Akihiro for the follow-up. And while I'm at it, thank you for all this excellent code that we get to enjoy for free! It's really fantastic work.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is great work. Github link for the lazy: [https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kaniko](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kaniko)

</comment><comment><USER20> This is a great tool. Wish it could work with build workflow tools like Habitus ([http://www.habitus.io](http://www.habitus.io))

</comment><comment><USER21> Sweet, This is truly great, I was hoping for a service like this for a long time. being able to build images without root privilege!

<comment><USER22> Kaniko does run in the container as root, but the container doesn't need to be granted any extra privileges when run (you don't need the equivalent of Docker's --privileged flag).</comment></comment>


CodeTrace – Your Code Defines Your Skills - <AUTHOR> What is CodeTrace(CodeTrace.io)? For Developers: CodeTrace is a widely functional tool that provides insights and real time code analysis using code parsing and NLP.
For Students and Resume Builders: CodeTrace creates a concrete portrayal of users abilities and up to date evidence of skills to strengthen hiring prospects.
What is Weekly Leaderboard(CodeTrace.io/leaders)? Our Weekly Leaderboard is based on the Experience(XP) of our users. XP depends on the detected technology, contributions, count of authored code, and stars.
What about User Profiles(CodeTrace.io/users/amazingandyyy)? Registered users can view their profiles and get a certified list of their development skills. <comment><USER2> I wish I would have a lot of projects on github, just to see how this works. Nice stimulus to start a couple of projects :)

</comment><comment><USER3> Would like to learn more about it.

</comment><comment><USER4> Very interesting tool!</comment>


20k GitHub projects use vulnerable Node.js `standard-version` library - <AUTHOR> https://securityreport.com/20000-github-projects-at-risk-from-node-js-standard-version-library-vulnerability/ <comment><AUTHOR> Other similar vulnerabilities in popular components revealed too.</comment>


2016 Emerging Cyber Threats Report - <AUTHOR> http://www.iisp.gatech.edu/2016-emerging-cyber-threats-report <comment><USER2> Something that I've found myself thinking a lot about recently is the difficulty of ensuring that the code/app/software a user is running (on their own device) hasn't been replaced with a compromised/backdoored/trojan'd doppelganger that's secretly siphoning off all your data.

It's effectively a DRM challenge, and the sort of thing you can handle using a secret if the platform is secure but it's not clear to me whether solutions like ARM's TrustZone can be leveraged to protect secrets in this way.

<comment><USER3> You could use something like YubiKey and regularly check for its presence.

<comment><USER2> On a smartphone?

<comment><USER4> Maybe if you have one of the NFC capable ones and your phone is capable of that (admittedly there aren't overly many that are) and implement it properly (no Windows phones do, apparently, reducing the target device list still further).

Of you your device supports keyboards via USB OTG, though none of my current devices (an Android phone, a Windows phone, and a Windows-proper tablet) seem to recognise a yubikey plugged in this way (at least the tablet and android phone recognise normal keyboards, the Windows phone I've not tried)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Cyber espionage shows no sign of abating

It's not clear how the public can evaluate this. It's necessarily kept secret by all participants.

What is abundantly clear is that it's far more profitable for states to surveil their own citizens than anyone else, and some states like the US, UK, and AU are going to extreme lengths to do so and make it legal.

</comment><comment><USER6> True, you might want to check this thread that was trending last day [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10463286](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10463286) .</comment>


Ask HN: Does a Hacker-friendly CRM exist? - <AUTHOR> As far as I can tell everyone (esp. hackers) hate CRM systems.  Can you find one we won't hate?
Here's what we're looking for:

  1. A strong API and flexible data model that will let us:
     - Create and update records with events and data from
       our production system.
     - Pull records, events, and aggregate statistics stored
       in the CRM.
     - Export all data and get out if we hate it.

  2.  A web-based interface that makes it a pleasure to
      interact with the stored records, events, and aggregate
      statistics.

  3. Seamless integration with Gmail
     - We use Gmail as our primary sales and support channel.
       Without taking any explicit action, the CRM should
       consume those messages so that emails become
       associated with the appropriate customer & contact
       records.
     - We should also be able to forward email to the system
       (e.g. from personal email accounts) and get those
       emails associated as well.

  4. Many-to-many associations between people and customers,
     i.e.:
     - I will correspond with multiple people at a given
       company using our product; I should be able to see
       those interactions in one place.
     - Some people may be associated with multiple customers,
       perhaps because they have changed jobs or because they
       are consultants serving multiple clients.

  5. Customizable deal stages
     - Again, set a customer's stage via API.
     - Aggregate view of sales pipeline.

  6. MOST IMPORTANT: MINIMIZE FRUSTRATION
     - Won't make an engineering-heavy team punch the walls
       and demand to build their own.
     - Won't require duplicate entry between CRM and other
       systems.
     - Won't require lots of time servicing the damn thing.
 Thanks! <comment><USER2> Not completely biased view here but do give Pipedrive a try indeed - <http://pipedrive.com> . It covers most of the points you raised, and as an insider I can tell you the few remaining requirements you raised are being worked on and will be available later this year. Use 'hackernews' as promo code (or enter it later via Plans/Billing page if you've already signed up for a trial).

</comment><comment><USER3> I like CapsuleCRM. Not sure if it meets all your requirements, but might be worh a look.

</comment><comment><USER4> At the very least, you're giving someone food to solve your pain :) . Any volunteers for a CRM startup? :)

I haven't tried any CRM, but are the industry standard ones so bad? (SugarCRM, Salesforce)

</comment><comment><USER5> Pipedrive should fit the bill pretty well. <https://developers.pipedrive.com/v1></comment>


Facebook Should Offer Sponsored Stories on an Opt-in Basis - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2011/01/26/facebook-sponsored-stories-2/

<comment><AUTHOR> Author argues that Facebook is run by someone who "can't empathize with users" and that the new Sponsored Stories ad should be opt-in.</comment>


Looking for co-founder ; "SALES/MARKETING". - <AUTHOR>

Hi hackers,
I'm working on a project at the moment with an external/freelance 'designer' and a co founder 'hacker'.
We're looking to branch out and bring in someone who is a prolific salesman and understands finance.
We're pre-beta, unfunded (well financed via myself), young and short sighted perhaps. However we are ambitious, smart and believe in the pain point we are trying to solve.
Please email me if you would like to get on board and have a Skype conversation to see if we could all work together as that is the most important factor.
P.S Hackers and designers are just as welcome, we just feel sales/marketing would be an ideal fit to our needs.
P.S.S Must apologise for the somewhat arrogant/ignorant first title. We fully respect sales/marketing guys hence why we are looking for one to join us as a co founder. <comment><USER2> Do you really think a title like that would attract high quality Sales & Marketing talent. The title indicates you have nothing but disrespect for sales and marketing, and in your vocabulary it's probably a dirty word.

The market for great analytical marketeers who know finance as well is just booming. You should be lucky if you get good people to react on this thread, let alone hire a great person who can help you build a great company.

You might be young and short sighted. That is not an excuse to talk little about the skills you need to build your company!

<comment><AUTHOR> I apologise if that is the view that was put across. It is not what I/we intended but just thought it was unique considering 90% of the co founder requests on here are for technical based people.

I 100% regret the title in hindsight with the point you made.

<comment><USER2> point taken. I thought you didn't mean it THAT way, however, writing something in a short space like a title can come across completely different than when you say something.

Good luck with your startup, I'm rooting for all entrepreneurs!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> You should probably talk about the pain point you're trying to solve... or at least the industry.</comment>


Tumblr the Day After - <AUTHOR> https://ma.tt/2019/08/tumblr-the-day-after/ <comment><USER2> "Automattic is still a startup — I'm sure there are deep-pocketed private equity firms that could have outbid us, but the most likely outcome then would have been an "asset" getting chopped up and sold for parts. [...] Instead, Tumblr has a new chance to redefine itself in 2019 and beyond."

I think Matt is right to point out the real story here. Automattic is simply the right home for Tumblr. Perhaps similarly to how SmugMug is the right home for Flickr.

Automattic is a company with a commitment to the open web and to effortless digital publishing. That was Tumblr's original vision, too, before it got lost in in the Yahoo/Oath/Verizon behemoth.

Automattic is a company with a long-term vision for what the open web means and how to monetize it so that valuable services can simplify lives for site operators, at scale. Just think of how many blogs and sites (and businesses) Automattic has enabled via WordPress.com, WooCommerce, etc. They can apply that same know-how to Tumblr's community, no matter how neglected it might have been in the Verizon era.

Verizon probably had no clue what to do with Tumblr as an asset, and I am sure they considered doing an orderly wind-down to focus on their core. This was a much classier alternative.

As Matt mentioned, Verizon does $130B in annual revenue. Tumblr was probably a strange distraction for them and had no chance of moving their KPIs as a business.

Automattic's acquisition of it was probably the best possible outcome, for Tumblr's technical & management team, for Tumblr's community, and, most importantly, for its future potential impact on site operators and independent web publishers everywhere.

<comment><USER3> 100% agree that of the list of realistic outcomes, Tumblr going to Automattic is one of the best possible outcomes.

That said, and I know this is said a lot, but I really wish our industry would stop trying to label everything a "startup". Automattic was founded in 2005 and has 1000 employees. It's not a startup, it's a mature medium size tech company. Its problems are not startup problems, they're mature medium size tech company problems. Automattic isn't even a clear underdog considering the dominance of WordPress.

To be clear, that's not a pejorative: Automattic kicked ass, and Automattic deserves its current success. But the phrasing is a sticking point for me in how people talk about tech companies because it ends up feeding into how we perceive working at these companies. When I was job searching, I saw job postings regularly where "startup" or "like a startup" are used to invoke a cultural image for companies that are already post-growth-stage.

<comment><USER4> This is really just shorthand for saying "our employees don't hate working at our company as much as the typical large company because we try to limit bureaucracy and politicking and we value / recognize good ideas and actual execution"

<comment><USER3> Yeah... I'd agree more if that were actually true. In my experience it actually says "we like to think that we limit bureaucracy and politicking." Whether they actually do, you won't be able to tell.

This aspect of language is all signalling but very little actual signal. It's unfortunate.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > First, they chose to find a new home for Tumblr instead of shutting it down. > Second, they considered not just how much cash they would get on day one, > but also — and especially — what would happen to the team afterward, and how > the product and the team would be invested in going forward. Third, they > thought about the sort of steward of the community the new owner would be. > They didn't have to do any of that, and I commend them for making all three > points a priority.

As nice as it sounds, the realist in me finds a hard time to believe that this is exactly what has happened on Verizon's side.

I have never seen a publicly traded company do these things. Heck, you can be sued by shareholders if you actually do these things.

My interpretation (feel free to correct me, I am just a normal guy on the internet) is that Tumblr was difficult to value, hence PE firms didn't have a clear idea of how much to offer, and Automattic came in with a quick decent offer, and the final price (which I think was not disclosed) was so small for Verizon that they decided to go the easy route, perhaps leaving a few $$ on the table.

</comment><comment><USER6> My only real interaction with WordPress was when I purchased, and then promptly cancelled, a premium subscription. But the process was so unexpectedly easy and the employee was so unexpectedly nice and helpful. She really bent over backwards to help me even though I was leaving.

It might be silly, but that one interaction coupled with Matt's consistently well spoken/written/thought out public comments lead me to believe he & his company are pretty trustworthy. (The fun little smiley faces & haikus they hide all over the site don't hurt either.)

I hope they got a great deal on Tumblr. It's a really special site and I don't think there are many companies that would have the resources _and_ the motivation to build it back up again. It seems Automattic has both.

<comment><USER7> Words? Yes. Actions? That's another story. He's spoken about the open web and such things and then willfully jumps into bed with Google and Facebook, etc.

His "Learn JavaScript deeply" might as well been "Hold onto your ass kids, the rich are about to get richer." That is, WP is no longer a tool of the common people but it's going to be elitist (because that makes my investors happy).

Don't get me wrong. No one is perfect. I simply want to make sure people get to see more of the picture, because there is more to see.

<comment><USER7> Down-voted for what? Honesty? Truth? Or wasting time stating the obvious? God bless you HN.

<comment><USER8> I downvoted because it sounded like an unproductive rant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> "Instead, Tumblr has a new chance to redefine itself in 2019 and beyond"

So, Matt commented in the other thread that NSFW content is not coming back due to the difficulties around hosting and processing adult content (payment processing, advertising, everything).

Where does Tumblr fit in 2020 between Twitter, Medium, and Instagram? What's its medium?

<comment><USER10> For me tumblr does best in that you have chains of responses (reblogs) in images/gifs and text form, that then are reposted on one's own blog for their own followers to experience broadly in a singular dashboard whose ordering isn't really manipulated (like twitter and instagram are, to my extreme vexation).

Also, because tumblr makes it easy to create side-blogs, you can follow a favorite person for their specific stuff. For example, if my artist friend has an "inspiration" blog I can follow that blog instead of their "personal/vent" blog. Similarly if I'm looking for some kind of tea-specific blog I can follow a stranger's side blog without needing to also be exposed to the stranger ranting about a political opinion I am uncomfortable with.

Furthermore, it's one of the large social media sites for which there is a significant and semi-permanent resource and groupings for a variety of LGBTQ/diversity/political/fandom interests in a way that is more flexible than a subreddit or an interest forum. You can follow the individual blogs that you're interested in instead of needing to follow a whole community. So if you don't want to be exposed to some aspect of a community it's relatively trivial to just not follow the people involved.

Twitter has a lot of this, but the lack of easy threading posts and out-of- order feed really ruin it for me. Several of my favorite artists left tumblr for twitter and I've had very little success following them from there.

<comment><USER11> Twitter is the key. Twitter has failed to deliver a sane way to read threads. after all these years I still don't know how to read a conversation. And the whole platform is about conversation ! If Tumblr can get it it right with WP, I won't miss Twitter.

<comment><USER12> i'm not a huge fan of the way twitter presents threads and conversations, but the few times i've tried to follow a conversation on tumblr i've only found it to be even worse than twitter. i'm not sure tumblr is the saviour we're looking for here.

<comment><USER11> You're right, but that these millions dollars startups aren't able to do better than phpBB from an UX point of view is dazzling.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> "Instead, Tumblr has a new chance to redefine itself in 2019 and beyond"

I feel like the same thing was said about Napster at some point as well. It's going to take __a lot__ of resources for Tumblr to overcome its status as yet another formerly-hot-but-now-a-has-been (e.g., Yahoo, AOL, MySpace, etc.)

Trumblr had its moment. It had its time. It had its audience. They are all in the past. The odds of it making any sort of comeback - in a Van's sneakers sorta way - are slim (read: close to zero). The cool kids of today just aren't as interested in a brand like Tumblr.

Tumblr will wallow around for bit and then Automattic will merge it into WP.com, or at least the WP platform with a (name) rebranding of some sort. I suppose that falls under MM's "redefine" but somehow I don't think so.

<comment><USER13> There is still no platform which gives space to those who called (the old) Tumblr home.

<comment><USER14> As a current/former Tumblr user this is all too real. Like The Tumblr userbase has been scattered across IG, Twitter, Mastodon, Patreon, Reddit but the sentiment is still that we're still homeless right now.

Nowhere on the internet had/has a community like Tumblr: aggressively queer, feminist, full of stupid memes, amazing independent art, obsessive nerdy fans, and this general mood of sillyness and innocence and joy and positivity.

And the porn really was weirdly a reflection of that and part of more people's Tumblr experiences than people are seemingly willing to admit: it catered to niche interests, slanted heavily to by-and-for women, super LGBT friendly, funny and over the top, generally tasteful and artsy, and respectful.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Interesting to also compare and contrast to his post on the initial acquisition by Yahoo:

[https://ma.tt/2013/05/yahooblr/](https://ma.tt/2013/05/yahooblr/)

</comment><comment><USER16> It's a shame they won't revert the idiotic decision to ban adult content. The sense of freedom of expression and unrestrained creativity gave Tumblr its edge. Without it, it's just another boring blog engine, and this is just a matter of postponing its demise.

<comment><USER17> Matt said they're not going to, but I wouldn't count on that being the final word on the subject. He's supportive of adult content in principle, his reasons for maintaining the ban are business reasons. If the community persists in demanding that it be lifted, I wouldn't be surprised to see a business solution present itself in the future.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> This is actually a beautiful commentary... kudos to Matt for writing this.

</comment><comment><USER19> The internet comment section: But what about my pron!!!

I didn't see a single positive comment like this post yesterday. It's refreshing to read a different perspective.

</comment><comment><USER20> I recently switched from Medium to a static site, but for anyone else looking to switch from medium - this may now be an option again?

<comment><USER21> I think the real alternative to Medium is Ghost as a hosted or self-hosted version. Depending on your needs and the amount of time you want to spend on it.

[https://ghost.org/](https://ghost.org/)

<comment><USER22> Ghost starts at $29/month, it seems, and Medium starts at $0/month, so I don't see them as comparable.

<comment><USER21> With Medium you don't really have your own site / brand though. You can't use your own domain [1], your users get a paywall pop up when they read your content and the discovery feature that convinced a lot of people at the beginning because they got so much traffic is also not so useful any more.

[1] [https://help.medium.com/hc/en- us/articles/115003053487-Custo...](https://help.medium.com/hc/en- us/articles/115003053487-Custom-Domains-service-deprecation)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Tumblr has the nicest Feed API out of all the social networks, compared to Twitter Firehose, Facebook Public Feed, and Instagram (we built our own ghetto feed for Instagram by scraping with tons of api tokens).

It would be pretty amazing to have a streaming API of the wp.com universe.

<comment><USER24> We have one! [https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/firehose/](https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/firehose/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> It's been a few years since I had logged into my account. Does Tumblr offer a chronologically ordered feed? I'd consider giving it another go if it works in a way that eschews what's annoying about FB and IG.

<comment><USER26> It has a "Best Stuff First" option but you can disable it (and it stays disabled)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> If, as the post suggests, Tumblr becomes OSS (and especially if it becomes distributed/decentralized), I will gladly start using it. It would-- immediately--become the best available free-as-in-speech social network.

</comment><comment><USER28> I suppose that means Gutenberg is coming to tumblr?

</comment><comment><USER29> Yahoo bought Tumblr for over a billion. Verizon sold Tumblr for under $20 million. Guess all that NSFW content they banned was worth more than they thought it was...

<comment><USER30> And/or maybe it was never worth over a billion in the first place.

<comment><USER31> <$3 mill is the latest number. I agree it was never worth a billion dollars, but tumblr definitely lost a huge amount of value during its stay at Yahoo. You don't _just_ overvalue an asset by 99.8%.

Do you? I have to believe you don't.

<comment><USER32> Don't most VCs overvalue most startups by ~100%? This doesn't seem that crazy to me.

<comment><USER28> It wouldn't be 99.8%, it had a 99.8% loss, so it was almost a hundred _times_ overvalued, if nothing else caused the drop (which isn't plausible, but still).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Does this put Automattic into the ad business? Or were they already there?

<comment><USER34> We (Automattic) already run our own ads business: [https://wordads.co/](https://wordads.co/)

<comment><USER33> Cool good to know. Likes like a nice bidder stack. Will that be what runs on Tumblr? That is pretty good inventory IMHO if ad units are available.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What career path is better. Bleeding edge or niche? - <AUTHOR> I want to become an expert at a specific technology but I'm wondering what's better...
Working on greenfield projects withe the latest tech or maintaining legacy products
For example should I learn and master ASP.net completely and find jobs there or should I learn the latest javascript framework and find jobs there.
Which path would give more satisfaction and job security and money? <comment><USER2> In your example I believe that complete mastery of ASP.net and strong competency in the adjacent pieces of the MS stack would probably generate the best job security. This stack is used in many medium size businesses all throughout the US, including many with cheaper cost of living than the Bay area. However, you need to be comfortable knowing that you will work mostly on CRUD type applications that power so many business processes.

The bleeding edge is much more interesting but also carries much higher risk and potential reward. You may find yourself expert in something that was technically very interesting but the timing is wrong or the specific tech fades quickly. So failure mode has you learning and relearning the latest frameworks trying to stay hip and potentially changing jobs frequently. On the other hand, success out on the bleeding edge might but you in an equity position in a start-up that turns into a unicorn.

I gravitated more toward the fringe and have built some cool tech but the start-ups and projects never reached market success and so I often reflect that had I picked more standard problems and tech and become expert in those I would have very high consulting rates today and plenty of work. As it is I have moderately high rates but I don't quite fit into people's mold and it is somewhat harder to stay busy with billable hours.

In the end you also have to live with yourself intellectually and emotionally. So although my more fringe focus hasn't yielded the best economic ROI - I have mostly enjoyed the choices and outcomes for my own life.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you ever want to truly be held as an expert, you should be doing what you _enjoy_ most. Not for money, not for job security. Purely enjoyment.

The rest will follow.

<comment> UK-AL This is terrible advice in the general. I've known lots of people following this advice, to peruse a career in a field that doesn't really pay much. Ended up struggling and stressed.

<comment><USER3> I feel really sorry for you and your friends who spend your lives doing what you don't enjoy for the sake of some 0's on your bank account. Also, I'm not saying go pick flowers for a living. But you should at least enjoy what you do, which fosters continual growth (to become an expert, you must grow).

<comment> UK-AL Most people don't enjoy struggling and the stress of not being pay the bills.

Trust me, that's more stressful than a job fairly your fairy 'meh' about. It's much more likely to burn you out.

Most passions, when you turn it into job, just ruins the passion(Having done this myself). You go from something that's creative into something where cost, and timelines matter and you have very little personal input.

<comment><USER3> I understand where your coming from and I'm sure theres a happy medium. Doing just money or just enjoyment wont work as well as a proper balance.

But, to play devils advocate... Having worked in a high paying, crap job and moving into a job with lower pay but much more aligned with my passion I am MUCH happier

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What kind of job are you looking for? It depends what you want to do. If you're applying for existing companies seeking certain skills that's one thing, but if you're contracting for non-technical clients they don't care what technology you use as long as you deliver a solution on time and do it well.

Personally, I think once you have enough experience you should be able to easily pick up new frameworks. I don't understand developers who try to define themselves by a single language or a single framework. You should be trying to pick the best tools available and learn as you go when required. You might be safe for a couple of years sticking to one thing but the industry is constantly changing so you should have a diverse skillset and always be learning.</comment>


Ole Roemer and the Speed of Light - <AUTHOR> http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/web/essaybooks/cosmic/p_roemer.html

<comment><USER3> A solution to an accurate measurement of longitude for shipping was one of the biggest scientific problems of the time and involved some of the brightest minds in the world working over decades and centuries.

After losing almost 2,000 sailors and 4 Navy ships in an accident attributed to poor navigation, the British government offered the Longitude Prize - <USER2> was worth millions of dollars in todays money.

From Gallileo and his method of timekeeping by tracking the moons of Jupiter, through to John Harrison and his invention of the chronometer - which ended up winning most of the Longitude Prize - the effort that went into finding a solution had many side effects for science and the solution opened up the world to better navigation and the eventual colonization.

The entire story is chronicled in the book 'Longitude'[0], which was a best seller in 1998. It is well worth a read. Wikipedia is also a good starting point for finding out more.[1]

[0] [http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest- Scientific-P...](http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Genius-Greatest-Scientific- Problem/dp/080271529X)

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_longitude>

<comment><USER4> Another interesting read is "The island of the day before" by Umberto Eco. A 1995 novel about the problem of longitude and time zones.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_of_the_Day_Before>

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I love these kind of stories. Such stories fills me up with an immense sense of appreciation for scientists/philosophers/thinkers from the post-middle- ages.

Also, why I'm absolutely loving the coursera class on astronomy: <https://class.coursera.org/introastro-2012-001/>.

If you have not peaked into it yet, the way Dr. Plesser explains concepts and bridges them with the historical advances leaves a lasting impression. I wish we had classes like this back in school.

<comment><USER6> Sounds interesting, thank you for the suggestion. Here's the direct link to course description:

<https://www.coursera.org/course/introastro>

Although course started a while ago they still give access to the materials is you subscribe now.

<comment><USER5> Also, if you like the "Introduction to Astronomy" course, there's a follow-up (although from a different university, Caltech) coming up: "Galaxies and Cosmology": <https://www.coursera.org/course/cosmo>

<comment><USER7> And if that isn't enough for you there's a complete series of stanford cosmology lectures from Leonard Susskind (!) starting here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en- GB&v=32wIKa...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=32wIKaLkvc4)

It's part of a comprehensive course in modern physics, all taught by susskind, and all on that same youtube channel. There's classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, the aforementioned cosmology and more iirc. He's a great teacher, it's amazing that you can just dial up tens of thousands of dollars worth of education like this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> To put it in perspective, Newton's "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" was first published 11 years later.

</comment><comment><USER9> Adam Savage explains how light was measured in a ingenious experiment in 1849: [http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-simple-ideas-lead-to- scientifi...](http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-simple-ideas-lead-to-scientific- discoveries)

<comment><USER10> Measuring the speed of light only with a cog, a piece of glass and a mirror is so clever. The relevant part of the video starts at 4:06.

A history of measurement of the speed of light can be found there <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light#History>

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Very thorough explanation, awesome! What I'm more curious of is, how did astronomers measure the radius of the earth and moon several hundred (1000?) years ago?

<comment><USER12> This set of slides goes over how some astronomical measurements were made hundreds of years ago:

[http://terrytao.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/cosmic- distance-...](http://terrytao.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/cosmic-distance- ladder.pdf)

<comment><USER13> I had known about some of this before like the eclipses being evidence of a round earth and how the estimate for the size of earth from the well story. From this book: [http://www.amazon.com/Theories-Everything-Illustrated- Histor...](http://www.amazon.com/Theories-Everything-Illustrated-History- Science/dp/0792239121)

What I found most fascinating about the explanations (I was in pre-calc at school at the time) was the math involved. During my classes (or any math class I've ever been in) they gave us formulas and equations but no meaning or real world context. If they'd told us how we could use the distance and angles to figure out what they'd figured out so long ago I think the math would have been much more interesting and brought home the point of why it is relevant to anything.

<comment><USER14> And that is exactly why I want to collect all the great experiments of history and give them to kids at the right ages to do - to calculate the size of the earth using pencils and shadows and skyline others kids in different countries for their measurements - it's got to stick in the brain better

<comment><USER15> I think it's a fantastic idea. The most difficult things for me to learn were always those which I don't know how to apply or those which I don't know where they came from. You can't reason over something that seems like magic.

<comment><USER14> OK - so can we start something?

<https://github.com/lifeisstillgood/importantexperiments4kids>

I think I can get support for something like this from STEMAmbassadors of the UK. I shall see.

Comments?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> For those who don't know, a more accurate calculation of speed of light was done in ancient india and had been mentioned in rigveda: <http://www.hitxp.com/articles/veda/light-speed-rigveda/>

<comment><USER17> Looking at the imprecision of vedical units of time and length the range of what the speed could be is pretty big <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yojana>

But I have to admit it's still stunning that the people had an idea that light travels that "slow" as opposed to infinitely fast.

EDIT: also it seems the calculation for time is wrong, wiki says "30 Kālas are one Muhūrta" and not 30.3 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhurta>

EDIT 2: Perhaps they learned that light has finite speed from the Arabs who knew already in 11th century thanks to the "first scientist" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhazen>

<comment><USER18> Vedas are much much older than 11th Century (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas>)

<comment><USER17> Yes, but the precise number appears only in the commentary from 14th century

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Our little startup started it's life at Ole Römers väg (Ole Roemer's road) in Lund, so I've looked up a few versions of this story. The one I like the best* has a more dismal tone: Ole discovered the finite speed of light, but was outmaneuvered by Jean-Dominique Cassini who had a complex theory based on tables. I sometimes use it when I want to explain how important it is to try and see past "social truth" to find the real one.

I can's say which version is more accurate, but there's a scientific inaccuracy in the OP that makes me a bit skeptical of the author: The distance between Jupiter and the Earth will have no impact on how long Io is hidden behind Jupiter. It's the _change_ in distance been Jupiter and Earth from when Io disappears behind Jupiter to when it reappears some minutes later that will affect the timing.

So IMHO the illustration in the OP is wrong, the timing will be approximately the same in position 1 and 2. Position 2 should be moved so that it is at the far right (or left) of Earths orbit.

(*) <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/ancestors-einstein.html>

</comment><comment><USER20> Arrgh. The original, better title had stood for at least four hours, and was the name under which I knew the discussion.

Is there any kind of site/extension that displays hacker news, but gives stories the titles they were originally submitted under? If not I guess I'll do it myself.

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm a little unclear on how was the +/- 11 minutes variation measured throughout the year? Huygen's clocks lost about 15s/day, which would give them around an hour and a half a year.

source: [http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/huygenss- clocks-...](http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/huygenss-clocks- revisited)

<comment><USER22> If you're always measuring from the same longitude, you don't need to rely on a clock. You can take measurements of the stars and get a very precise local time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Love this: "He later served as mayor and prefect of police of Copenhagen and ultimately as head of the State Council."

A real renaissance (or post-renaissance) man! I love imagining a scientist heading up a bunch if police!

</comment><comment><USER24> Is there a book with collection of stories like this?

<comment><USER25> I was just about to post this, but 'A short history of nearly everything' by Bill Bryson has a LOT of these stories. It explains how we determined the circumference and the weight of the earth, the distance to the moon and the sun, etc.

In fact the whole book is about this, it explains all the important scientific breakthroughs from the past and how we've gotten to them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> The NOVA series was good, for anyone curious.

[http://www.amazon.com/NOVA-Lost-Sea-Search- Longitude/dp/B000...](http://www.amazon.com/NOVA-Lost-Sea-Search- Longitude/dp/B000XBPDXK/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1355505396&sr=1-2-catcorr)

</comment><comment><USER26> Loved this. Interesting how it was an accidental discovery based on a different pursuit at the time. That is almost a trope of life itself...

</comment><comment><USER27> Very impressive!

</comment><comment><USER28> What I take away from these stories is not how to calculate the speed of light, but how to discover things previously not known. Observe something on the edge of what is known, (the orbital period of IO), take better measurements than ever before (creating new measurement technologies), observe unexplained phenomenon (the annual increase/decrease in the orbital period of IO), and apply tried and true mathematical principles: (given the distance between planets, and the observed orbital period, solve for speed of light).

It's this process that will answer other unanswered questions in our physics engine, another one for example being whether or not photons degrade, or if it is possible to remove the higgs boson from matter, rendering it with no mass.

<comment><USER29> The Higgs bosons don't live inside the matter, so it's not possible to remove them.

It's more complicated, and difficult to explain without a few algebra and physics study years, but let's try with another broken analogy:

The Higgs field is like an invisible background. When the particles bounce against this background the effective effect is that the particles have apparent mass. Sometimes, the particles create bumps in the background; these bumps can move and they are the Higgs bosons.

It's (probably) not possible to remove the background to make the particles "lighter".

(The equations are so clear, the analogy explanations are so confusing. :( )</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are your thoughts on specialized Tech Management courses? - <AUTHOR> A lot of top-tier schools have recently introduced management courses geared towards technology management.
As someone who is considering applying to these programs, how do you think the programs will fare in the market in the Short term and Long term.
While each school brings its own strengths to the program, most of the programs aim to churn out Product Managers (IMO).
Are recruiters more or less likely towards hiring a candidate with these qualifications over, say a traditional MBA.
Some of the courses that I am talking about.
CMU Masters in Product Management
https://www.cs.cmu.edu/master-science-product-management
NYU Tech MBA
http://www.stern.nyu.edu/programs-admissions/tech-mba/program
Cornell Tech MBA
https://tech.cornell.edu/programs/masters-programs/johnson-cornell-tech-mba <comment><USER2> I think they are great for a person who is more interested in managing tech than making tech or using tech...and to be clear, I don't think there is anything wrong with being more interested in managing tech. I just think a person ought to be clear on the fork in the road they are taking.

Good luck.</comment>


James Cameron: Watching Avatar on an iPhone is dumb - <AUTHOR> http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/james-cameron-watching-avatar-on-an-iphone-is-dumb--679455

<comment><AUTHOR> I often watch movies and TV shows (via. MythTV) on my iPod Touch.

I often favor the convenience over the artistic experience.

If I want to appreciate the art I go see it on the silver screen.</comment>


How Entrepreneurs Can Increase Productivity By 500% - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/03/how-entrepreneurs-can-increase-productivity-by-500/

<comment><USER2> That was a terrible waste of time. After reading this guy's articles, I just get the feeling how the author (James Altucher) has had a miserable life. Either that is true or he is making up sad stories to get the attention of readers. The series of articles he has written are mostly long and could have instead been written down in a few sentences if not a few words. One thing I would like to thank the author is that he once referred to a book called 'never eat alone', which I am reading right now and is definitely enjoyable than his articles.

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't understand how meaningless waffle life this gets published. As billpatrianakos said where does this 500% figure come from? But apart from the article itself, the thing I really don't get are all the obsequious platitudes within the comments (within TC).

IMHO the best way to increase productivity is to stop pissing about reading pointless nonsense on how to increase productivity, and actually start doing the work.

</comment><comment><USER4> "This is, of course, the path of insanity, and not the good kind of insanity." - from Paul Buchheit's 'I am Nothing'. Mr Altucher's persona of his past self is a caricature of seeing the world through a lens of self-identity and ego.. walking boldly down the path of insanity.

Not surprisingly, I think that PB's way of modeling the 'gmail labeler' is more efficient than JA's. Specifically, 'use these emotions as a cue to remember, "I am nothing"'. This frees you up to put an appropriate labeler for accomplishing your goal without bias.

Cool article though, I really enjoy JA's candor, experiences and insights.

</comment><comment><USER5> Step 1: stop reading techcrunch. Step 2. Get to work.

OK, I admit I didn't read the linked piece. Did I miss anything?

<comment><USER6> Same here. I'm routinely in the habit of not reading TechCrunch articles on HN anymore. Straight to comments and unfortunately have no ability to downvote articles.

I expect downvotes for this comment, but seriously why do people upvote these TC stories...?

<comment><USER7> You make a decent point but there's a good reason for the downvotes. Downvoting before reading is not in the spirit of this community (though sometimes, in _rare_ cases it _may_ be okay). You should not be here to collect karma like some sort of street cred so you can play god with the comments. There's a lot of karma policing going on lately where people think that button is there so they can push down stuff they don't agree with. That isn't the point. Up and down votes should be to everyone's benefits and unfortunately there are ton of people lAtely using them on some power trip. Don't be one of the "Karma Police". Use the buttons judiciously.

<comment><USER6> Right, but why can't I downvote overall submissions? I understand there is a karma threshold for downvoting comments, but I'm unaware of any mechanism for submissions.

<comment><USER7> Well, think of it this way: if you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. The cream always rises. I think it's great that all submissions have an equal chance of getting noticed. If enough like it, it goes up while inevitably surpassing the crap that languishes at the bottom. Most unpopular articles don't need any help getting ignored.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is a terrible article don't waste your time; rambling mumbling article about the brain being a gmail inbox.

</comment><comment><USER9> As soon as I saw that the author was Altucher, I clicked the "Back" button. Drivel.

</comment><comment><USER10> There's some decent points about how negativity and pessimism can be debilitating. And that applies to everyone, not just entrepreneurs. But it's hard to see that through the rambling.

If you're more interested in how negativity and pessimism have measurable effects on success, I suggest reading Martin Seligman's Learned Optimism. I found it pretty eye opening.

[http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your- Mind/dp/1...](http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your- Mind/dp/1400078393/ref=tmm_pap_title_0)

</comment><comment><USER11> Drivel.

<comment><USER7> Thank god you said that! I thought I was going to be the only blasphemer that saw that article for what it was.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> His other article about his missed Foursquare opportunity is a good story: [http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/09/i-lost-five-million- dol...](http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/09/i-lost-five-million-dollars-this- morning/)

</comment><comment><USER7> What the hell was that? That sounded like self important self help advice. And it rambled.

I will not set up Gmail filters for my thoughts and I'm still wondering where that 500% number is coming from.

Everyone's got their productivity booster but this one sounds silly. The 500% claim makes me want to stay away from it from the get go. Sounds like bullshit to me.

Edit: I was pretty harsh in my criticism and then I thought about how I'd feel if someone said that stuff about me after I posted something sincerely. So I'll try to add so,etching more constructive here:

I hope those sad stories were from when he was very young, like 18. Don't make outrageous claims like "500% productivity boost". A lot of TC audience will want some proof of that besides anecdotal evidence. Then, inevitably, almost everything on TC ends up on HN where we're far harsher so please think of who will read this before writing it. I think this article belongs somewhere else, not on TC.

</comment><comment><USER13> TLDR: Focus.

Ugh – I feel like showering after that horrible article. What gets me most is that he implies you have to be enlightened to be a success, while the truly interesting part of successful people is in the management of their humanity.</comment>


From Ruby to Fantom:introspection - <AUTHOR> http://ssscripting.wordpress.com/2010/01/15/from-ruby-to-fantomintrospection/

<comment><USER2> A more robust comparison of the two, or something that explained why or when one would prefer Fantom over Ruby, would be great.

This isn't it.

<comment><AUTHOR> That will come as soon as I learn more about Fantom

<comment><USER2> Looking forward to it.</comment></comment></comment>


Failure - <AUTHOR> http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/09/failure.html <comment><USER2> Realize that in a confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins-- not through strength, but rather through perseverance. The definition of perseverance is simple because it means to try and try again. Never give up. Life is far too short in the big picture to participate in anything without being fully engaged. Partial engagement cannot exist because it is associated with fear. I am sure that many of you feel as if I am speaking directly to you with the message that I am trying to convey. It is almost like my voice is echoing through your mind because I have addressed a challenge that inflicts everyone. I consider fear of failure a disease, one that can only be overcome with a dose of perseverance. It comes down to hanging on when others let go. Do you ever find yourself giving up simply because it is uncomfortable to continue onward? If the stream decided not to persevere when it approached the rock, then the river would never reach its end destination. This holds true in life as well because when we are faced with adversity, and it stops us in our tracks to the point where we are paralyzed with fear, we will not reach our end destination.

<comment><USER3> "Realize that in a confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins-- not through strength, but rather through perseverance."

Are you suggesting that the rock did not persevere?

<comment><USER2> I believe that the rock plays a symbolic role in the lives of entrepreneurs because these are the barriers that are erected on our journey, which are indeed stagnant, and potentially throw us off course or stop our momentum all together. Entrepreneurs who possess the WILL and DETERMINATION to see their idea to fruition will use the power of perseverance, just like the water, to surpass the rock, and have a profound impact in the world. With regards to your question, I do not think that the rock persevered because this is not its role....what do you think?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes." --Oscar Wilde

</comment><comment><USER5> Learning lessons from mistakes I can understand.

Failure? What's that?

<comment> loup-vaillant The suggestion that you made a mistake. It may take a failure to see the mistake.</comment></comment>


Are you awkward in social situations? Here's why - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/GetMotivated/comments/4fmldp/article_do_you_avoid_expressing_yourself_because/ <comment><USER2> "With a growth mindset, every social interaction is an opportunity to improve. Saying something awkward is simply an indication that you need to put more effort into that area. It is not a sign of failure or a reflection of 'who I am'.

At no point does the OP ever suggest you try to "gamify" your interactions with people or "evaluate your performance". OP is simply suggesting that a person who self-perceives as awkward should instead reflect on circumstances in which they feel that way. OP suggests that one should separate their behavior/circumstances from their sense of self.

</comment><comment><USER3> I disagree. The idea that you need to "improve" what you say and treat social situations as some kind of game where you evaluate your performance afterwards is just crap.

What about just saying the truth for godsakes? How are you ever going to connect with people in a personal way if you frame the interaction as a game right from the start?

If you want to improve at social situations, analyze what you feel and why you feel that way. There is probably something wrong there if you treat them with too much importance.

<comment><AUTHOR> Umm, I don't think I said that?

The post is essentially trying to give people courage to speak the truth (as you say).

You say "There is probably something wrong there if you treat social interactions with too much importance."

The post describes what's wrong. And it also tells you how to treat social interactions with less importance... by analyzing what you feel and why you feel that way... as you said.

<comment><USER3> You are talking about a game.

You mention "successes and failures" and say that it depends on this "fixed mindset" vs "growth mindset" stuff. And here you imply the same thing:

"With a growth mindset, every social interaction is an opportunity to improve. Saying something awkward is simply an indication that you need to put more effort into that area."

So, if you are trying to "improve", it must be improving at something, which makes it into a game. Saying something awkward in itself shouldn't be considered bad or wrong.

You never mentioned the other people in the social situations once in your article. Isn't that actually the most important thing? What if, for example, they're assholes? What if you just don't get along with them? Is it a failure that you aren't compatible with them?

It's like you are trying to create and improve upon some sort of mask in order to fool people that you are someone you're not. If you are able to do so, not say "awkward" things, as you wrote, then you have succeeded (and also if you have a "growth mindset" you can learn to "succeed" more often which is a vast oversimplification of the mind and damn silly as well). Otherwise, you failed, and you need to "put more effort into that area". Reevaluate what you did, basically, so you can improve your mask.

It's ridiculous, and it is a game mindset.

If you want to connect with people, which is what most social situations are about, you have to start being honest. Concentrate on what's important, which for most social situations is having _fun_ , finding something you enjoy, and letting your mind run with that. Not be in this mental deathgrip of constant thought of self-improvement and self-evaluation that you're espousing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> If it werent for that loner, banging rocks together in a corner for fire and sharp stones, we would still sit in a cave braiding each others hair and listening to the shaman telling use the story of the mamoth.</comment>


How Florida Became Home of the Only U.S. Wild Free Range Monkey Population (1986 - <AUTHOR> https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1986-09-14-0250320165-story.html <comment><USER2> For those in the EU: [https://www.ippl.org/gibbon/blog/the-silver-springs- monkeys/](https://www.ippl.org/gibbon/blog/the-silver-springs-monkeys/)</comment>


How an autistic child became world pinball champion - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40004224 <comment><USER2> Given that it's an article on BBC I expected at least a mention of the rock opera Tommy[1] whose protagonist is an autistic pinball wizard.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_(album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_\(album\))</comment>


Ask HN: Would you rather be able to jump 1000 ft or speak every language? - <AUTHOR> Would you rather be able to jump 1000 feet in the air and be able to land safely or speak every language fluenty? <comment><USER2> Is this from my son? Anyway, the answer must be speak every language. I would love that. Travel the world, talk to people from everywhere? We aren't quite there with simultaneous voice translation, but in 5-10 years maybe.

</comment><comment><USER3> Every language? Human past, present, and future? Nonhuman? Or just modern languages? Even then, your value as a translator would be priceless.</comment>


24 Good Books to Read. Here's What Sam Altman of Y Combinator Is Reading - <AUTHOR> http://blog.shelfie.com/2015/10/20/24-good-books-to-read-heres-what-sam-altman-of-y-combinator-is-reading/ <comment><USER2> Would have been great if the pic was high enough resolution that we could have actually done computer vision on it... Kamil had to be an mTurk for a day and transcribe the book spines by hand.</comment>


Apple Tablet Has No Intel Inside - <AUTHOR> http://www.thestreet.com/story/10656904/1/exclusive-apples-tablet-has-no-intel-inside.html <comment><USER2> WTF is this drivel doing here ? \- "Intel 'had'[citation needed] a lock on the netbook market"

\- The Apple tablet isn't released yet.

\- Is the (as yet unreleased) Apple tablet(?) going to be a netbook by any stretch of the word ?

\- The "Windows that runs Office" (XP, Vista, 7) doesn't run on ARM.

\- ARM wasn't (isn't) as powerful as Atom. Neither is stuff from VIA or AMD in the price/power range.

\- Apple did buy PA Semi for some reason.

\- PA Semi has experience in power efficient Power architecture. ([http://web.archive.org/web/20070927205658/http://www.pasemi....](http://web.archive.org/web/20070927205658/http://www.pasemi.com/))

Something is wrong with the tenses of this 'article'.

"and it was widely assumed that the chip giant _would win_ the Tablet contract at all costs. " :: would try to win at all cost. would need to win at all cost . was/is willing to win at all cost. ????

"Intel _can't be_ happy sitting on the sidelines _as Apple's new product catches on_ with consumers. "

Shouldn't present be replaced by speculative futur ?

</comment><comment><USER3> This is significant - odds are PA Semi's chip is going to be ARM, not x86... we've suspected the ARM will make in-roads into "desktop" style computing (i.e., not just phones and PDAs), but this is much sooner than I honestly expected.

This may be only the first step in the demise of the Atom - ARM chips are getting more and more competitive for "real" computing every single day.

<comment><USER4> Is it really that significant? Designs haven't been released for the tablet yet but it sounds more like a mobile device than a "desktop" style device.

Most similar devices use ARM chips right?

"As of 2007, about 98 percent of the more than a billion mobile phones sold each year use at least one ARM processor.[3] As of 2009, ARM processors account for approximately 90% of all embedded 32-bit RISC processors. ARM processors are used extensively in consumer electronics, including PDAs, mobile phones, digital media and music players, hand-held game consoles, calculators and computer peripherals such as hard drives and routers."

<comment><USER5> The wierd thing about Acorn Risc Machines is that IBM invented the RISC architecture, and some Brits made it a product (200MHZ StrongARM). So the PowerPC is competing with the ARM, when the ARM came later! Pretty amazing story behind that chip.

<comment><USER6> > _So the PowerPC is competing with the ARM, when the ARM came later!_

How is that amazing? Unless they were created at the exact same time, one had to come after the other, and so long as they target the same niche they will compete.

<comment><USER5> Just because you'd assume IBM to win.

I think the ARM story is probably best explained on Wikipedia, thus making my comments kind of not very useful. But for my opinion, I think the Psion portable computers and EPOC (the Psion OS) and Nokia made the ARM chip very popular.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This article treats the Apple Tablet as obvious fact. Has this actually been established? I know the rumors have hit a fever pitch, but has there been anything 100% credible yet?

<comment><USER8> Yes, in so far as major, main-stream news organizations (NYTimes, Wall St. Journal, etc.) have treated it as fact for months now. Additionally, if Apple were not about to announce a tablet they would have squashed this ages ago, as they have squashed previous out-of-control rumors that had no basis, like rumors about the imminent release of an ebook reader or netbook. Apple knows it can't allow this level of hype to build up if nothing is to come from it, and it knows that if February comes without a tablet announcement its stock with take a huge hit. Therefore, their silence is as good a confirmation as needed that the tablet does indeed exist and will indeed be announced soon.

<comment><USER9> So what you are saying is that I could post a blog saying anything I want and get a lot of traffic, apple wont complain, and places like HN will post it?

<comment><USER10> You're at least 10 years late to the party of making an Apple rumors site, but yes that's definitely something you could do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I so want this damn thing to be released (along with the MS tablet at CES) so we can stop dealing with all these speculations and renderings.

</comment><comment><USER12> Article Has No News Inside

</comment><comment><USER13> > However, in tech circles and beyond, Apple's Tablet is the only game in > town.

That's a circle of hell I missed when reading Dante.</comment>


Struggle at the heart of the Apple supply chain - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/14/sapphire-gt-advanced--brutal-apple-supply-chain

<comment><USER2> It's worth noting that Corning is a successful American manufacturer!</comment>


Norway health chief: Lockdown was not needed to tame Covid - <AUTHOR> https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/norway-health-chief-lockdown-was-not-needed-to-tame-covid <comment><USER2> Not a very useful article.. i cannot read the report as I don't speak the language and the graph shown is so low resolution i can't read it thus there is no evidence presented that i can agree to with as to what is written jn the article.

Can anyone help with this?

<comment><USER3> The Spectator is a right wing oped paper that is focused on signal boosting narratives that are in line with a pro-business, anti-regulation position. It's a shame they've decided to take the anti-science route here, as they've been a good paper for a conservative perspective for as long as I've been alive.

<comment><USER4> Evidence is starting to trickle out that a lot of the lock downs may not have been the best move. Like the 66% of New York City people getting covid at home during the lock down.

The problem is that most of the lock downs weren't actually lock downs. They funneled people into a few big stores (where everyone else was). I don't know if the Norway lock down was similar, but if so, that's not a lock down, that's a great way to spread the disease.

This is a problem that I see a lot, people attack the source and say, they are terrible people so they must be wrong. That's not how you win an argument, that's how you get your tribesmen to agree with you, and nobody is better off.

If you have some science to back up your claims that they are wrong, great. If you have evidence that the paper is playing fast and loose with the numbers, or taking the numbers out of context, or something else great. Right now they appear to have some data to back their claims, so dismissing them out of hand makes it looks like you are the anti-science person.

<comment><USER3> This feels somewhat akin to the discussion about whether or not climate change is a hoax. In both cases, the overwhelming majority of experts in each field respectively hold a position about each issue. That's where I defer to their judgment. Then, on the other hand, you have conservative papers, economics journals and cable shows implying or stating that those experts are wrong.

Having beliefs that align with the consensus of experts isn't "tribalism" nor is it political just because there is a tribal anti-science perspective. That's a false dichotomy.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: ClassPager lets teachers send reminders and run live Q&A over SMS. - <AUTHOR> https://www.classpager.com

<comment><USER2> First - the site: I love the simplicity. The concept is clear immediately.

Second - the service itself: it's a great angle. Kids love SMS messages and this embraces the use of technology/cell phones in a positive way. It creates a more personal connection between teachers and kids without breaching privacy. We had something similar, though far more basic, when we were working on an LMS and that was a highlight we often overlooked but got the most vibrant response.

Great work so far!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! And I love that line about the "personal connection" without breaching privacy -- I'll have to use that.

One of the things we've been exploring is ways to integrate over existing LMS software, and it's been pretty disappointing to hear how no one has any sort of plugin system or API for apps.

<comment><USER3> My experience with LMS providers is that they are 10 years behind the times. I submitted a bug report to the one my college uses. The system would change custom javascript code and I couldn't use embed tags. Now they have a workaround for this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Nice Concept. We're just starting the school process (4yr old), and I'm amazed to see all the use of tech in schools these days. When I was in school, we were lucky to have an Apple ][ in the library!

*Question: On your business model, are you hedging that paid classes ($9.99 / month) will just stay under 1,000 texts (Based on twilio .01/per rate) in aggregate and thus leave a little profit for you, or is there more to it?

If there is not more to it, it seems like the 'unlimited' could be risky (unless your unlimited is really like AT&T's 'unlimited' data plan :-) ).

A class of 25 students might encompass 35-40 devices (including parents). @ 40 devices 1 broadcast per school day is $8.20 cost to you. This does not include for responses, multiple sends per day, etc..

I know you've thought through all this, and probably have great answers, I'm just always interested to hear how others think about their price models. Thanks for sharing.

</comment><comment><USER5> Nice site. Since I'm currently viewing this on IE7 (shoot me now), I can see that you have an error in you conditional IE comment so I can see it at the top of the page:

      <!--[if IE lt 9 ]> <![endif]-->

should be:

      <!--[if lt IE 9]> css <![endif]-->

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for catching that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is really neat. A few of my relatives are high school teachers that I'm sure will love this. I'll forward it to tem.

Also, great name. I've seen others in this space with names that aren't quite as clear as yours, which is important for the demographics you're targeting – teachers and parents.

<comment><USER7> I'll forward it too, I know several high school teachers. Are you targeting secondary school teachers or college professors as well?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Yes, I've been talking with some college professors, and it looks like the software would work well there too.

There may need to be some customization of the analytics to handle their larger classes, which we're open to -- we've basically just been building features based on the requests from our teachers.

Feel free to pass on my email -- m [at] classpager.com -- if the teachers/professors have any questions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is exactly how you sell this kind of services. No fancy web design, no over complex messagin, no geek speak. Just straight to the point communication. (I say this as a designer)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Thomas! I love your designs (and <http://www.weekendhacker.net> too :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think this is really awesome and definitely headed in the right direction as far as getting teachers more involved with technology, however from my experience in several different schools, most have been really strict on cell phone use during school and teacher/student communication outside of school.

It was quite a hassle really because teachers wanted to do more but were restricted by school policy. I hope schools start to utilize technology in the classroom.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, that's very true. It's going to take a while to convince schools to change all these entrenched behaviors and policies.

But, as you're getting at, it's also obvious that technology should be -- and will be -- an integral part of the classroom in the future. So we're hoping that, by making it as easy as possible to get on board, and by making the tech usable both inside and outside the classroom, we'll help teachers and classrooms move towards this future.

<comment><USER9> Yeah, I totally agree with the idea. I think it's amazing. And the way teachers still do tests and things by hand in Word is pretty crazy too. There's a huge market with schools.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Do you have any traction yet?

My friend does the same thing <http://www.tophatmonocle.com/>

<comment><USER11> That service seems to compete more with <http://polleverywhere.com> than this.

I see a definite familiarity with <http://remind101.com/> though, with which I have some moderate experience.

EDIT: On a closer look, both even use the same @CLASS subscription method. That's honestly a little sketchy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, there are many different angles.

To be clear, the technique of messaging in a special code to a number to "subscribe" to a service has been around for many, many years before edtech companies started using it recently. But it's a good approach.

And there's one _big_ difference: services like Remind101 offer broadcasting, but they don't allow the students to reply.

We're out to open up and optimize the communication between teachers and students. Over time, each side will get the tools that serve them best. That's why the UX is web-based for teachers and SMS-based for students.

<comment><USER12> For what it's worth... I sent your site to my sister who teaches highschool biology and she replied:

 _I've been using remind101.com. Looks like the same thing except with mine I can have as many classes as I want for free. I can't do the questioning thing, but the kids aren't allowed to have their phones out so I can't use it anyways._

<comment><AUTHOR> Hmm, thanks. We'll have to work on the front page copy.

Do her students never reply to the text messages she sends out? That's the core of the value-add -- whether inside or outside of class, students can reply to ClassPager and we show it to the teacher on the web site.

If she _doesn't_ want students to be able to reply at all (i.e. she wants it to be totally 1-way communication) then I'm actually inclined to agree -- Remind101 is definitely the best and most cost-effective choice there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> My wife is a middle school teacher and created a system similar to this using a Gmail account. She creates groups for each class, then emails to their SMS address (firstname.lastname@example.com or similar).

This looks so much nicer than jacking around with all the various carrier email addresses manually.

I'll have her pass this along to her district. Best of luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

If she or other teachers have any questions, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.

<comment><USER13> Sounds good. She sent a beta inquiry about getting her school on board with it.

I think the school/district-wide system is going to be your best bet. As I'm sure you're aware, teachers don't exactly bring home the bank. So personally dropping $10/mo for something like this isn't likely going to happen for most teachers (most provide quite a bit of in-classroom supplies out of pocket as well).

Something to consider in promoting to schools/districts: lack of parent involvement is one of the biggest reasons kids aren't doing well in school. By keeping parents informed on a regular basis about what their kids should be doing, there's a better chance homework will get done, studying for tests will happen, and those damn standardized test scores will improve. Well, that's the hope at least.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I like the clear, easy to understand site. Sounds like a useful product.

Are you marketing this to teachers or the schools?

<comment><AUTHOR> We've been piloting with teachers, so we're starting by marketing to teachers directly. The goal is to have a product that's both useful at the free level and affordable at the premium level, given teachers' budgets.

We've started talking to schools, too, but I think it will be some time before we really target the marketing there.

<comment><USER14> I'd be interested to hear your success with teachers directly. My wife's a high school teacher, so I know that teachers pay out of pocket for almost everything.

Depends on how passionate the teacher is often.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Really awesome application! I passed it along to a couple of my teacher/professor friends.

Hopefully this can replace a lot of those awful RF-based polling systems that come packaged a lot of college level textbooks. Physics II in college was really painful because of our 'clickers'.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Yeah, we hate those clickers too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Great UI, and I love the signup interface. Just emailed it out to a bunch of my teacher friends.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! We spent a fair amount of time polishing little UI details.

I really appreciate you forwarding it to your teacher friends. If they have any questions at all, or just need a walkthrough, they're welcome to email me: m [at] classpager.com.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Teachers are looking for stuff like this so the key to success is spreading the word. There certainly are competitors in your space (ClassParrot etc)

Just curious. Why did you choose to use Twilo as your SMS provider?

</comment><comment><USER7> Here's what I think:

1\. Great idea, especially considering the attention span of a student can be somewhat diluted with so much modern technology - incorporating that same technology is a great hook.

2\. Color scheme is good, and so is simplicity, but while erring on the side of simplicity is better than erring on the side of a very busy screen, it's still erring. While your concept is clear and concise on the home page, I personally feel as though there is too much white space (again, this is not a color scheme issue, but an issue of not enough going on).

3\. What is the stated problem that you are trying to solve with this technology? In other words, what is the hook you can use to relate to your audience and persuade them to use the product?

<comment><AUTHOR> Good feedback -- thanks.

For #2, do you have any suggestions of other things that would work well on the home page?

And for #3, I went into detail on use cases/specific problems that we solve here: <https://www.classpager.com/more> \-- Are you suggesting some of that be moved to the front page, or are you saying that the hook there is still unclear/not compelling?

<comment><USER7> Actually, you could solve #2 and #3 very easily by moving some of that material onto the homepage. Personally, I'd go with a simple, clean cut demo video. "Meet Martha...Martha is a high school teacher. But..." etc. and then later on in the video describe everything you put into pictures in more detail. Keep the graphic and diagrams though, in case users like those more than the video. And between those two, you'd get rid of a lot of white space hanging around. As for explaining it, the hook is very compelling and clear if you put one or both of those onto the homepage. Because the homepage as it stands now gives a basic idea of what the tech _can_ do, but no examples of _why_ what it does is useful. Having a teacher say, "Remember class is in room 142 today!" via text broadcast is more compelling for teachers than the comparatively less descriptive graphic you have on the homepage right now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This would be a great feature to integrate with ClassCloud, which is a cloud based classroom management system. I hope the class pager guys release an API! Would make my life easier.</comment>


How does the music-identifying app Shazam work its magic? - <AUTHOR> http://www.slate.com/id/2232914/ <comment><USER2>
      Other than playing video games, it's the most useful thing you can do on your phone.

Playing games is _useful_? I really hope that was ironic.

While I do like having Shazam on my phone, I still find, y'know, making and receiving phonecalls, the _most_ useful feature.

</comment><comment><USER3> Unrelated note: Some blogger reverse engineered the algo and posted sample code on his blog as an education experience. He got a takedown notice and was forced to remove the post from his blog.

Can't find the source right now, will look it up if anyone needs it.</comment>


Goto Anything Omnibox for Chrome - <AUTHOR>

Just made a Chrome extension that converts Chrome's omnibox to a goto anything commander.
From basic commands like "Pin tab", "Take screenshot", "Get notified" to crazy customized commands. Just type in the omnibox and it will be done.
Tons of built-in commands covering: Tabs, Windows, Tools, Notifications, Shortcuts, Bookmarks, Downloads, Managements, Browsing Data and Developers
And unlimited customization that enables you to do anything you want.
It is super easy, super fast and made with love!
See it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdjnf0N-kk4
Get it here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/am/foegemcilkabfljepafbncfeopjhondp
Hope you enjoyed!
Cheers. <comment><USER2> Clickable : [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/am/foegemcilkabflj...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/am/foegemcilkabfljepafbncfeopjhondp)

Sounds cool. It's like Vimium for normal users.</comment>