How Cybercriminals Profit by Tapping Your Email - <AUTHOR> https://easydns.com/blog/2019/11/20/how-cybercriminals-profit-by-tapping-your-email/ <comment><USER2> I've accidentally executed this tactic on myself - no red flags were raised and funds were received.

Being owed a sizable wire from a corporate entity, I requested payment to an account via my personal email (<name>@<name>.co). As they were validating/processing that, I opened up a new bank account that can receive wires with no fees. I then sent them an email with the new information, and a couple weeks later received the funds in my new bank account without any friction. What no one brought up was the fact that the email with the new information was from <name>@<name>.com, as I had transitioned from .co to .com in the meantime. The attack vector highlighted in this article is definitely under-guarded.

<comment><USER3> So many in tech were speaking up about how bad of an idea it would be to add .co when it was announced, totally foreseeable problem.

<comment><USER4> They were speaking up about adding a TLD for Colombia?

<comment><AUTHOR> OP did: [https://easydns.com/blog/2014/03/28/the-new-tlds-are-here- em...](https://easydns.com/blog/2014/03/28/the-new-tlds-are-here-email-guru- holdings-blah-blah-blah/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why not just use the approach that banks use? Rather than admit that you got tricked, invent the concept of "identity theft" and blame the intended recipient.

</comment><comment><USER6> This is why all my invoices and my first contact with my clients' accountants always make them aware of the problem and ask them to confirm any account details changes out-of-band via another medium (Slack, phone, etc).

It won't help if the attacker spoofs the first invoice but hopefully will raise alarms if future invoices are spoofed and contain different bank details. I guess it could also give me a legal argument that I've explicitly made them aware of this risk and that they should've known better and that they still owe me money and should pay again (as the first time they haven't actually paid _me_ but the attacker).

</comment><comment><USER7> Forwarded this to my boss because I'm not sure how to handle this. There are many - maybe hundreds of cash real estate transactions happening in my state daily.

I think perhaps in the signature line of our email, we need to implore that last minute or unexpected changes to the original plan- especially involving wire transfers - be verified over the phone.

<comment><USER8> I wonder whether asking for verification over the phone would lead to SIM swaps. Though faking someone's voice would be more difficult.

<comment><USER9> Faking someone's voice isn't as difficult as you'd think: [https://github.com/andabi/deep-voice- conversion](https://github.com/andabi/deep-voice-conversion) [https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/5/20851248/deepfakes-ai- fake...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/5/20851248/deepfakes-ai-fake-audio- phone-calls-thieves-trick-companies-stealing-money)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Never ever wire money without second-channel verification of the destination account. You can lose all of it with no recourse.

<comment><USER11> Wires can be reversed in most circumstances, especially in cases of fraud, although it's a bit painful and can take some time.

<comment><USER12> Can you describe the process? As far as I've known, up until the moment the transfer occurs, the bank can indeed reverse it if they are suspicious. But the moment the other bank accepts the transfer, it is game over, and the delivery is complete and permanent.

<comment><USER11> The UCC[1] requires that wire transfers are reversible for 60 days, although only in very special circumstances (only fraud and bank error basically). The receiving (beneficiary's) bank is on the hook for collecting the money back from them.

In cases other than fraud and bank error, the timeline and process depends. Basically ask your bank really nicely, they'll ask the receiving bank really nicely, and if everyone agrees with your reasons (and the money is still there) you'll most likely get it back.

There has to be a way to reverse wires, otherwise if the teller fat-fingers an extra zero onto the end of your requested amount you'd be SOL.

[1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Commercial_Code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Commercial_Code)

<comment><USER12> Thanks for the description and the link. I recall being told bank criminals typically used transfers because they couldn't be reversed once completed - especially if the transfer went overseas. Maybe it came from an armchair expert, or confusion over the old Swiss numbered accounts, and just became "common knowledge" from there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> How do the criminals handle the banking aspect? It's one thing to sit somewhere and cyber-phish/attack someone through email. But they need a bank account. In Canada. They then need to move 800k out quickly to another account somewhere. At least some aspects of this had to be done in person, using some kind of id?

<comment><USER14> There are many ways to trick people into "washing" money for you — criminal organizations that are sophisticated enough to spearphish on this level surely are sophisticated enough to do that laundering too.

I'm convinced that a lot of the money is in fact reversed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> >If you're running a law firm, real estate agency, investment bank or any entity that routinely shuffles large chunks of funds around, you should have a mechanism in place that can detect lookalike domains as they become registered.

That's not the obvious technical solution and would not be very effective. The most obvious technical solution would be to insist their customers sign any emails that involve the movement of large sums of money.

</comment><comment><USER16> We talked today about such problems in the office. Why for ex. is it not possible to allow VBA just inside from the document, but not access other files etc.

Why you have to accept "the document can do everything what it want", if you like to print a PDF from Adobe Acrobat Reader or do Fullscreen mode?

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h So a permission system:) I approve, and indeed would like for every "executable" "thing" (JavaScript, CSS?, VBA, .exes, ELF binaries, Python, ...) to have a fine-grained permission system similar to Android or iOS.

<comment><USER16> Maybe yes, something like this. For ex. I do share an Excel Document (with VBA) with a very high person in our company. I could write everything in there and it would executed when he open it with his account with access to all this fancy information. I joke about this all the time.

I mean just VBA is not a problem, just if you start to do things outside of the document.

I think it wouldn't be even hard to implement it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've witnessed someone else getting stung (well pieced it together after she realized)

My friend wasn't compromised but the person she was dealing with was. evidently they were reading the other guys mail and when mention of invoicing came up they made a fake email address that was almost the same as his (swapped a l for a 1) and sent through a new banking detail.

the woman at this end didn't realize the email didn't come from who she thought it did and sent a 10k payment directly into the thieves bank account.

She was mortified afterwards.

</comment><comment><USER18> From the article is not very clear how the cybercriminals exactly pulled this off (i.e. by simply changing the IBAN or also by changing the name of the recipient of the transfer).

Isn't banking system supposed to protect from this kind of stuff? I mean, is not responsability of banks to ensure that the recipient of the transfer is indeed the one specified by the sender? Or one should consider a (wrong) placed banking transfer simply gone? The (non-)reversibility of transfers is one of the main arguments against crypto-currencies, and yet this kind of events seems to be happening with banks anyway.

My family runs a small-medium business and a couple of years back we were victim of something very similar. I'm a professional penetration tester myself (not to brag but I'm pretty sure my family company is pretty secure), anyway as we were the victim here (the one that were not paid in the process), there was no way for us (me) to detect the issue (at the technical level) up until it was too late. What happened is that one of our customer got their email compromised, and attackers were literally man-in-the-middleing all of their emails. When they detected some bills and payments requests from us, they simply forwarded them back to our customers using a fresh registered domain name that looked a lot like ours. In the process they did alter the attachment, to change indeed the IBAN.

To keep it short, when we realized that something was wrong it was too late, and banks even refused to pay our customer back.

We did report the event to the authorities, however to this day we did not hear anything back :)

TL;DR Attackers compromised some customers' emails, altering the IBAN in the attachments in the process. Customer did pay attackers instead of the legitimate company, and bank could not undo things. Is sending money to a wrong IBAN the same as sending it to a wrong wallet address for crypto- currencies? Not a big fan myself, but if there are no guarantees we might as well do the switch.

Only a rant</comment>


Microsoft Edge partners with Watchdog to warn about fake news - <AUTHOR> https://mashable.com/article/newsguard-microsoft-edge-fake-news/ <comment><USER2> Sounds good if you trust the "Watchdog" \- some have criticized NewsGuard as biased towards news outlets representing Neo-Con interests.</comment>


Messenger probe just impacts on Mercury - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/04/30/messenger-mercury/#.VUJ17xfmqlp

<comment><USER2> I guess there was no easy alternative, but I kinda hate that we had to crash a junked satellite onto a planet.</comment>


MoviePass CEO says the app tracks your location before and after movies - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/05/moviepass-ceo-proudly-says-the-app-tracks-your-location-before-and-after-movies/ <comment><USER2> MoviePass announced their their new, improved, and unrestricted plans in August. We all knew the $10 a month plan was not going to be profitably by itself. In the last week they have started blocking out specific movies, requiring some users to provide photographic proof of their ticket purchases, and bragged about collecting data outside what is described in their TOS. This is after already locking out customers from using the service at some of AMC's flagship theaters. Who had it had it at roughly 6 months before MoviePass started running out of money and needed to resort to trying to milk every last cent out of the theaters, studios, and moviegoers?

<comment><USER3> > We all knew the $10 a month plan was not going to be profitably by itself.

How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]? The only new development here is that dumping is no longer limited to large companies with large war chests thanks to the availability of venture capital.

The more interesting question is can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an environment where they have to compete with startups that are ready and willing to undercut them by losing tons of investor money. I don't think the current status quo is good for the long term health of the valley.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_\(pricing_policy\))

<comment><USER4> > _How is this kind of "growth hack" not simply dumping[1]?_

"Dumping" is bad because it harms unsubsidized competitors. (It also pits foreign governments against private companies.) I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors.

> _Can healthy, truly profitable technology companies develop in an > environment where they have to compete with startups that are ready and > willing to undercut them by losing tons of investor money_

Lyft seems to be doing fine.

<comment><USER5> > I fail to see who MoviePass hurt except its own investors.

Games on the iOS App Store are generally free (or 99 cents). It is not profitable to recoup your costs by selling the product, because consumers will not pay for an app that costs more money than $1. In order to sustain this environment, the industry has moved to selling data, ads, and other sort of nonsense.

Let's suggest that MoviePass successfully "disrupts" the industry and then gets bought out or dies. What happens if this disruption permanently causes admissions revenue to go down, because consumers expect $10, and as such, movies to be substantially more unprofitable to make?

This sort of long-term "environmental impact" never seems to come up as long as we can pile more ads and tracking on top to make up the difference in unreasonable business models.

<comment><USER6> > because consumers will not pay for an app that costs more money than $1

I'm quite the opposite. If a game on the play store is low priced/free and contain the "in-app"-purchases label I run far away.

It's a bit sad as some use this method as a demo with only a "full game" unlock in-app and I won't know. But I've been burned by that in the past, i.e. buy a full version without adds of a game and having the "full version" destroyed by adds a year later.

I'm generally extremely wary of buying anything on the play store now and have resorted to only using mail, signal, firefox with ad-block and my public transportation ticket app.. And the PS4 apps

<comment><USER7> Not sure if Play Store has the same thing, but the App Store lets you expand the IAPs if you scroll down, so you can see whether it's just a full game unlock or garbage ingame currencies.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Any app that asks for your location can and will track you. This is so lucrative that Foursquare pivoted the whole company around the concept of location data as a service ([https://enterprise.foursquare.com/](https://enterprise.foursquare.com/)).

Fortunately, you just need to revoke the permission (or don't grant it in the first place) if you want to avoid being tracked. If you're concerned about this, I'd definitely suggest doing a quick check of the apps that track your location and disable the permission in the ones that you distrust.

<comment><USER9> I will _never_ understand why people leave Location Services on all the time.

I don't even _install_ apps that request location when it isn't _necessary_ for _my_ needs (active geolocation, like mapping if I'm lost, hikes, and such).

For Moviepass, and for the rare cases where I am lost or really _need_ active directions, I turn Location services on. Then, it gets immediately shut off. (Similarly, I keep Bluetooth and NFC off except when in active, _intended_ use.)

In fact, for Moviepass and other apps that _require_ locations, I install them on a secondary phone that I use only for nosy apps. It just stays in the car. (This is a good use for an old phone without a SIM; most apps will run fine over WiFi.)

And when apps want to update and in the process try to _add_ permissions they didn't originally seek and have no business using (e.g. Stubhub, Magnifier, Flashlight+), I just don't let them update.

<comment><USER10> People have different valuations. I turn on Location Timeline and allow Google to record my location 24x7, because I find it useful to be able to know where I was any arbitrary day or time.

<comment><USER11> Is it also useful to be contributing to the apathy that our privacy, as a society, isn't worth protecting?

<comment><USER12> This is a pretty close-minded view on the pros vs cons of sharing any kind of data in return for benefits you value over that raw data.

<comment><USER11> The pros you get are a luxury, while the cons are an infringement on our privacy.

We're at the point where you sharing your data harms everyone else. For example, if there are 1000 people in a population and 999 willing share all data on themselves, the last holdout doesn't need to offer his data. They can already derive it from based on everyone else's.

<comment><USER13> _cons are an infringement on our privacy._

You have to explain why I'm supposed to care that MoviePass knows where I am when I'm near a theater (i.e. why is this a _con_ ). You're acting like this is obvious, but it's not. All your work is ahead of you.

<comment><USER11> Because they give that information to 3rd parties who have a larger database about you in which to add it. Privacy is a basic human right and everyone wants it. You wouldn't willingly offer all data about yourself and livestream a camera of yourself 24/7 for everyone to see. I also already gave you a reason on how this harms people who don't want to give up any data on themselves.

<comment><USER13> The degree _is_ the difference and it's a big one. We all trade privacy for other benefits _all the time_. If the right to privacy is fundamental, then surely I can claim the right to trade that privacy for something else, too.

(Note: we all do this _all the time_ in both explicit and implicit ways. We give away private data to obtain loans, we invite people into our homes and to view our bodies, we tell important secrets to build relationships. Privacy _is_ valuable, and we _use_ it like it's valuable. That's what's going on here, too.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I'm really over trying to fight companies on this on an app-by-app basis. If we want this to stop, it has to be through legislation. Either we allow companies to do it and stop acting shocked when it happens, or we legislate the possibility away.

<comment><USER15> I prefer non-legislative way. Mobile OSes are already doing something towards this. Notification warning like "app X is using your GPS" \- even though it's closed or even though your screen is off. Or only allowing GPS usage while the app is on your screen.

I don't think many people care though. And even if you disagree on that, I think it should be their right to sell their privacy for convenience if they want to.

<comment><USER16> Mobile OSes and web APIs should have distinct permissions for foreground location data and background location data. I'll gladly give my _current_ location in exchange for temporary convenience, but the way it works now I have to give my location away from now until such time as I uninstall the app or jump through the hoops necessary to revoke permission.

<comment><USER17> iOS does.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The quantities of money are so low, and the deal I'm getting back is so good I barely care. Then again, I was paying 30/month for moviepass when it just came out years ago.

The sad part is that AMC doesn't have an unlimited plan. Growing up in France I had the UGC illimite pass[1]. Moving to the US killed my movie-going habits from twice a week to maybe once every other month. Then of course moviepass came along and I was confused at how cheap it was. I mean, can't we have a regular pass for 50/month no imax from AMC and call it a day? Someone, either the studios, AMC, or me, is brain-dead and I can't figure out which one it is.

[1] [https://www.ugc.fr/les-offres-ugc-illimite.html](https://www.ugc.fr/les- offres-ugc-illimite.html) \-- it still exists which means this business model has proven to make sense in France for at least 15 years.

<comment><USER19> I go maybe once every two years. Afterwards I feel empty asking myself "Was this really worth 12 euro?". Then I don't go for another two years until I forget the feeling. It was always like this even when I was a kid. I preffered Lego and books (and computer when that got available). Movies were always a letdown.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Moviepass is going to get more and more desperate as their money runs out. I don't have Moviepass but it's fun to think of how they could sell out their users in the future.

Like maybe they could force users to write 500-word reviews? Or better yet record their faces so sentiment analysis algorithms can track users every feeling during a movie? Maybe ask users to spot product placement in movies - you don't get the movie free unless you enter every product spotted and write your thoughts about it. Maybe they could force women users to sit next to creepy men users who pay for that "extra service?" There's no limit to how you can innovate when you have no respect for your users.

</comment><comment><USER21> Overall, MoviePass is a step forward for privacy advocates and a benefit to "netizens".

MoviePass just set the price for your data; an abstract possession that people are barely beginning to value as an actual possession of theirs. The going price for tracking your purchasing behaviors before and after attending a movie is the cost of however many movies you can see in a month minus $10.

Facebook paid with a social networking platform to connect you to an unimaginable number of people you probably wouldn't be connected with otherwise. For that, you gave them your history and your super-ego.

Google gave you a map, an email, a phone number, and a bunch of productivity tools. For that you gave them everything.

The value of your data is holding steady or going up, depending on your perspective.

Also, MoviePass took a step in the right direction towards disclosure of intent when their CEO opened his mouth about it. Their TOS is typical, but the CEO is more transparent than most. They should be the brave first company to make their intention transparent.

<comment><USER22> > The going price for tracking your purchasing behaviors before and after > attending a movie is the cost of however many movies you can see in a month > minus $10.

Well, it's the _value to you_ of however many movies you can see in a month, minus $10. That's likely very different than the nominal cost of all those movies, since MoviePass is likely to cause you to see more movies than you otherwise would.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> As far as I'm concerned, it would hardly matter if the theaters charged $0 for movies.

My family almost always goes to the movies for a "family date night". Last night our concession stand bill was over $60, and that's just because I din't have a drink and we didn't get popcorn.

The theater we pretty much exclusively go to is one of those fancy places with the power recliners and food, so we will usually eat dinner there.

I know, this is choices we make when seeing a movie. But, I can't _AFFORD_ to get unlimited movies for $10/month. :-)

<comment><USER24> Huh. All the folks I know bring their libation (beer even sometimes) and even food into the theater.

My wife and I always eat first, then take a small snack in her bag and that's it.

Of course, we don't go to an upscale theater.

<comment><USER25> What theater lets you bring in outside food/drink? I've never heard of the practice, outside of theaters that let you bring your own growler for them to fill.

<comment><USER24> It's all on the down-low so only works with minimal snackage but no theatre around where I live pats you down.

So it's against policy, but most folks do it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> From my understanding, the bet that MoviePass is making is that they will be able to sell user/usage data to studios (or others) to make back the money that they're losing paying full price on the tickets; they've even admitted this in other interviews... just without specifying what data. Even if it's not location data, I would imagine that any/all data they can associate with a user they will.

<comment><USER27> Off the top of my head I'd say they're looking to see what other things people do after movies, like go out to eat, shopping, or go home.

<comment><USER28> What's the value of that information?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> They will DEFINITELY run into trouble with Apple's app store policy. Apple doesn't outright ban apps that do this but they have to clearly state what they do when requesting location services permissions. There is a string called "app explanation" that has to state what they will use it for. Theirs says:

 _" Find Theaters and movies near you, and be able to use the app to get tickets and the theaters."_[1]

There's nothing about tracking you outside of that purpose. Nothing about your drive to the theater, nothing about where you go after. So if they're doing that or start doing that, they should and probably will get kicked out of the app store.

Having said that, I wonder if this is true for their iOS version or just Android. The privacy policy in their TOS is probably sufficiently vague to pass legal muster.[2]

[1] On iOS go to Settings > Location Services > MoviePass

[2] "we ask you to supply us with personal information so that we can provide, enhance and personalize our services and marketing efforts" [https://www.moviepass.com/privacy/](https://www.moviepass.com/privacy/)

<comment><USER30> "be able to use the app to get tickets and the theaters." is this simply a typo that should be "and TO the theatres"? That would make sense if it actually gave you directions to get there at least...

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Yes, this is kinda annoying and yes, we're losing our privacy little by little but please, give me a break with the fake bewilderment. It's an explicit permission (on iOS at least) to use GPS when you're not in an app. This journalist is in total shock that the app actually uses this permission to try to make money. Come on.

<comment><USER32> And it doesn't even ask for the background location permission, so unless it has magical superpowers, it isn't going to be able to track you unless have the app open.

This is a really bad article, and I am shocked, just shocked, to see reporting of such poor quality on TechCrunch.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Jokes on them, I've purchased all of my tickets via an Android Emulator and GPS spoofing. I've got it setup such that I text my home box that it's "movie time" and I get a response as soon as the app says the card is loaded.

<comment><USER34> Half jokingly , I thought about doing the same thing and "Milk" the service. That is use as many subscription as you have family members//friends, buy one ticket a day and sell them all back on Craigslist for 25% less.

I would never do it of course, but I'm surprised nobody is doing it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> The way TechCrunch presents this, it seems even shadier than Uber's "we'll track you for the 5 minutes after you get dropped off" tactic from last year.

With no language addressing such tracking in the EULA, how is that legal?

<comment><USER36> > Uber's "we'll track you for the 5 minutes after you get dropped off"

Ah, is this how Uber knows my preferred pickup point near my condo? It's an excellent feature.

<comment><USER35> Yeah, I believe the rationale was to know better where entrances and exits are to certain buildings. The idea is a good one, but many people were up in arms about tracking that wasn't expressly during the interaction with Uber the company.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> A monthly subscription cost for "unlimited" movies priced lower than the price of a single movie?

Mind you, my mum wouldn't understand that at that point she's the product. However, the ol' "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" is something everyone should know.

I don't agree with MoviePass' approach - which is the reason I haven't subscribed - but unless it's blatantly illegal I think it's safe to presume they'll do anything to make a buck.

MoviePass is too good to be true. Let's not be naive. Let's cut back on the fake outrage.

<comment><USER38> I think that's the thing people are upset about: Many of these deceptive practices are not illegal, and probably should be. The EU has a good start with their new data privacy legislation; the US needs to adopt that.

<comment><USER37> They're upset because...they're getting something for next to nothing (in terms of hard dollars)?

Should there be more transparency? Sure.

But even so, being naive is only going to manifest itself somewhere else. The Nanny State will never win that race.

<comment><USER38> "They're upset because...they're getting something for next to nothing (in terms of hard dollars)?"

That's a rather disingenuous way of putting it.

"The Nanny State"

That's an even more disingenuous way of putting things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Hasn't it been demonstrated that apps can track user location even without requesting location or WiFi access?

      Android apps can track a user's location and glean potentially
      private, personal information – such as where you work or live
      – just by monitoring the internal sensors. More importantly,
      they can do this without ever needing access to a device's GPS
      or Wi-Fi permissions.

Source: Are your apps secretly stalking you? Android phones can be used to track you without permission [1]

[1] [https://www.wired.co.uk/article/android-apps-can-track- you-w...](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/android-apps-can-track-you-without- using-gps-or-wi-fi)

</comment><comment><USER40> Without setting location access to "always", this shouldn't be possible, right? He might only be talking about the customers who have it enabled. So yeah, will wait for the clarification.

<comment><USER41> On Android, that is not a setting you get.

<comment><USER42> An Android, it also asks for permission to read all your photos and you can't use the app if you don't accept. I only run the app on an old iPhone I had lying around for that reason.

<comment><USER43> Is there a use case in the app that makes that somewhat reasonable? If not, it sounds like grounds to be reported and removed from Google Play as malware. I thought that would be 100% against the developer rules. Maybe it is just a guideline to only ask permission for things you need, and to let the user use the app even if permission isn't granted.

Maybe it's just that Google won't feature you or something. But it should be against Play Store rules if it isn't already.

<comment><USER44> > Is there a use case in the app that makes that somewhat reasonable.

Maybe image recognition to see the kinds of things you're eating/considering buying before/after going to the movies?

This seems pretty reasonable to me. I consider it a fair trade for the monetary discount they're offering on their services.

I don't want to spend $10-$15 whenever I want to go to the movies. But I'm more than happy to provide access to my data and photos which I have no way to easily convert to monetary value.

If I didn't feel this way, I just wouldn't use their service.

<comment><USER45> If only it were that harmless.

No, the reason for accessing your Photos is to get the location and timestamp off of every one and build a nice little trail of where you are and where you go.

<comment><USER27> To what end? This kind of hyperbole just desensitizes me to concerns about data collection.

<comment><USER46> That doesn't seem too far fetched to me. Knowing where you go gives a lot of information about you, who you are, what you're interested in etc... That sounds valuable for targeted advertising.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Slight tangent but is it the case that the vast majority of Android apps (like >99%) which ask for superfluous permissions that cannot be denied or revoked, are about to become illegal under GDPR?

<comment><USER48> It looks like much of what's going on here would already be illegal under the existing EU data protection rules, even without the GDPR. But does MoviePass operate within the EU?

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Someone in an earlier thread about Moviepass posited that they are banking on making money on data, because they are losing money on the ticket portion.

The surprising thing is that the CEO admitted it so readily.

<comment><USER50> Why is that surprising. They were always up front about the data when they got acquired & dropped it to its current price. The new part is the location tracking (which thankfully you're now in charge of on an iPhone).

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> In the UK we have a chain of cinemas called Cineworld, they have a card that allows you to go to any movie, any time, for a 12 month sub of £17.90 a month. I'm practically always at the movies with this card. Between this, netflix and my parents sky account, it's rare that i'll miss a movie for the year.

I'm surprised the USA movie chains haven't aped this (or even that Cineworld wasn't aping the USA chains).

<comment><USER52> Another happy Unlimited subscriber here. Odeon also started a similar one called limitless

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> You know, maybe I'll just pay for the ticket.

</comment><comment><USER54> I was a MoviePass subscriber for about 4 months. But I noticed that international movies and few theaters are blocked, can't reserve tickets ahead of time as per TOS. With all these restrictions I didn't even watch any movies for a couple of months. So I just cancelled and subscribed to Sinemia (I am in no way related to this service).

<comment><USER55> Never heard of Sinemia. How is it different?

<comment><USER56> Looking at their plans ([https://www.sinemia.com/new- plans/](https://www.sinemia.com/new-plans/)) it's capped at 2 or 3 movies a day, available at any theater and in any format. You can also apparently buy advance tickets, which is a huge limitation for MoviePass.

Their business model seems more sustainable than MoviePass, too. Well, at least when it's not heavily reduced due to the Oscar promo.

<comment><USER57> Per MONTH*, not per day. That's a huge difference to MoviePass.

<comment><USER56> Yes, which makes it _far_ more sustainable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER58> Their CS is very poor. The app, even the updated one, doesnt work very well and will sign you out randomly. You're allowed to check into sold out movies. They got rid of the largest supported AMC theaters. The company has so many downsides now. Before I was telling everyone to sign up now I'm talking about all this type of stuff.

</comment><comment><USER59> >It sure isn't in the company's privacy policy

What they are doing is illegal in the state of California.

</comment><comment><USER60> This is why a company "privacy policy" doesn't mean anything - they can change it with no warning or just plain lie about it. The only purpose is to placate their users.

<comment><USER48> Maybe that's true in say the US, or some states in the US, but it isn't true everywhere. The EU is probably the biggest counterexample, with relatively strong privacy and data protection rules already, and almost draconian new rules for organisations that are working with personal data coming into effect later this year with the GDPR. A privacy policy is a part of the rules there, and misleading with one could get you in trouble with the regulators if someone complained.

<comment><USER60> Given the state of data management throughout the US and the world, I welcome some draconian rules if they actually protect people's data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER61> We've stopped going to the movies since this service came out, and bought a bigger TV. We don't want to pay the movie food tax, movies are now _packed_ with people and unpleasant to watch in our area, and it's just not an enjoyable experience.

Location-based tracking is totally common, and a serious business these days. This dataset will provide MoviePass with a huge and unique database, and they will prosper.

What nobody is talking about in this thread is that once they combine it with all of the _other_ databases (profile, interest, etc), they will be able to track every single movie consumer from cradle to grave, from home to work, and on to the theater. They will know how your friends are, who you go to the movies with, where they live, who they know... this is all stuff that companies have been doing now since the early 2000s.

My point is that not only is this not illegal, it's relatively common. It might feel creepy, but this is the new normal. It's just not talked about very much. Google has a ton of this data, so does every cell provider, and of course someone mentioned foursquare, who realize that the location business was a better business than anything else they can build.

Also, the more we allow social media into our lives the richer these profiles become, because the qualitative data from social networks is the foundation of location networks. Where meets who meet when = datapoint.

In case you were wondering where all the mobile advertising revenue transitioned, start reading the T&Cs on the apps you download friends. :)

</comment><comment><USER62> They can't be collecting data continuously if the location privacy setting is set to "While Using the App" on iOs. I remember Uber removed "While Using the App" option and provided only "Never" and "Always" options. And they got a lot of heat because of that.

</comment><comment><USER63> Load app - present ticket - uninstall app.

<comment><USER64> It's getting close to a point where you should just bundle all of these apps onto an old android phone and use it just ad-hoc when you absolutely need them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER65> I don't see the big deal really, Google maps and the like has probably 100x the data plus the mean to make it evil. I don't really see what extra data they will have compare to just ticket sales. It seems just a bad VC bet, and you can take advantage of it.

<comment><USER66> Some people here are hilarious. Bad if moviepass goes it - Fine if google/Facebook/Apple/etc does it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER67> Never heard of MoviePass before (or are they connected to these strange Arnold Schwarzenegger meercats commercials)?

It seems cinemas are doing this already by themselves, for example Cineworld with its Cineworld Unlimited program for about £200 a year.

</comment><comment><USER68> Of course it does, why wouldn't it. The only thing preventing most companies from doing this to you is their ability manage the data effectively enough to turn a profit. Pure capitalism.

</comment><comment><USER69> The oneplus variant of android, oxygenOS, allows you disable location services granularly per application. They continued the granular permissions system from CyanogenMod.

</comment><comment><USER70> Just log out of the app after purchase. If that's not enough, delete the app and reinstall each time you are at the theatre.

Love MoviePass!

</comment><comment><USER71> not sure about Android, but on iOS you can customize which apps have access to location data all the time (eg google maps) and which ones have it only while using (eg moviepass).

So if you open the app only to check-in in the theater, they shouldn't be able to access your whereabouts before/after that.

</comment><comment><USER72> I don't get the outrage over this -- haven't Uber and Lyft and Google been doing this for years?

</comment><comment><USER73> in other news, Ford Executive says he can track you anytime you drive... [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec- gps-2014-1](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1)

</comment><comment><USER74> iOS explicitly lets me give location access to an app only when it is open. I was under the impression that it's a literal definition and that apps can't track me in the background. Is this a mistaken view?

</comment><comment><USER75> Not too tough. I guess "in front of cinema" in both occasions.

</comment><comment><USER76> It's also draining the heck out of my battery.

</comment><comment><USER77> Can't you just revoke the location permission?

<comment><USER78> Yes, all up until you need to check in for the movie. You have to be physically located within a set distance of the theater in order to load up funds on the credit card.

</comment></comment><comment><USER79> they also try to get permission for android's "body sensors"

</comment><comment><USER80> I never understood the concept behind this app anyway. You save money with tickets but are supposed to buy more overpriced food in the theatre? Thats not how you save money. Must be an American thing.

<comment><USER81> You don't have to buy any food.</comment></comment>


Google spends more lobbying Congress - <AUTHOR> http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2010/10/google-reports-increased-spending-to-lobby-congress/1

<comment><USER2> I like Google and part of me wants to believe they were lobbying Congress about introducing the self-driving cars to the the mass market. But on the other hand I have a feeling that is not exactly what they were talking about.

Google motto: Don't be evil.

My response: Define evil.

Ps. Here's an idea for a start-up: a website that gathers funds from individuals (the public) to hire lobbyist to advocate for a specific cause. Suggestions? lol. If you can't beat them join them.</comment>


Things I Should Have Known at 20 - <AUTHOR> http://inoveryourhead.net/ <comment><USER3> The list is all phrased as commands. I can't stand that. There is no one way through life, and I wish people didn't act like just because it worked for them it will work for everyone.

Find people that are cooler than you and try to be even cooler than them seems like a particularly terrible command to give in general. So many of the people I admire the most just don't care so much about image. And I've met too many people who've exposed their own shallow foolishness trying too hard to be cool.

If it worked for the author, fine. And I'm sure there exist people for whom that is actually all right advice. But life is full of edge cases and exceptions, and no one should act like their life should be the prototype for everyone else's.

<comment><USER4> Agreed. I find myself increasingly annoyed by the tone of people who have discovered that the Great Secret of Life is having kids/getting up at 5AM/exercising for hours every day/eating nothing but meat and vegetables, and if you don't do that you're a pathetic specimen who will never amount to anything.

<comment><USER5> I'm curious to know if anyone who doesn't feel like they might be successful doing something someone else points out as a good practice has actually TRIED doing it.

If you've tried something and it didn't work out, write up a rebuttal and post it! Personally I'm a little dismayed at the negativity surrounding these posts when it's obvious that everyone is armchair quarterbacking here.

<comment><USER6> But posts like this are armchair quarterbacking everybody else's lives. If the guy phrased these purely as personal lessons and talked some about how he learned them, he would be much less grating.

What really kills me is his bio. "Hi, I'm Julien Smith.I help people lead more productive, awesome lives— one day at a time. This is my blog. If you like it, please subscribe below."

For me that might as well read: "Hi! I'm an overconfident asshole who gets off on telling people I've never met how they should be awesome exactly like me. And I get paid for it! Please let me manipulate you into buying my stuff."

<comment><USER7> So you kept reading it why?

You're armchair quarterbacking -- the OP isn't.

You're commenting on his actual web site, telling everybody how it should be. That is armchair quarterbacking.

He wrote a blog post for a general audience. It wasn't about _you_. It didn't describe specifics of _your_ life. It didn't question _your_ judgment.

<comment><USER6> I'm not telling him what to do. He's welcome to carry on being a huckster. But I'm allowed to critique his writing and his business model, just like everybody else.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Number two is flat out wrong. The majority of knowledge that you need to know is not bleeding edge and does not become outdated by the time a curriculum is formed. In fact, you can't even understand the bleeding edge research without first understanding what came before it.

If by institutions, we are talking about universities, then they are one of the best places to access vast amounts of information and experts on different domains that you'll ever find. Most of us are just too young to realize it and don't care enough about learning to make use of those resources.

Hell, we see article after article here on hacker news about how horrible it is that science papers are so often paywalled. Yet nearly everyone went through university during which time they probably had free access to nearly every single relevant english science article on earth.

Perhaps if people bothered to learn a fraction of what is available in just the computer science or engineering departments of their university we wouldn't see the same old 50 year old technologies being reinvented again and again. Hey look! It's event driven frameworks again! The next greatest thing that's 50 years old!

The only part of point two I like is to not have faith. Never have faith in anything. Always observe, reason, and experiment.

<comment><USER9> _The only part of point two I like is to not have faith. Never have faith in anything. Always observe, reason, and experiment._

That seems wrong. Without believing in both yourself and in something beyond yourself (it doesn't necessarily have to be physically real), there's little point in observing, reasoning, or experimenting.

Expertise in epistemology doesn't help much if you've got no normative philosophies for applying it.

<comment><USER10> What do you mean by "believing in yourself"? I'm pretty sure I exist, indeed it would be a logical conundrum to think otherwise. Belief doesn't figure here.

What else should I believe in?

I don't _believe_ that gravity is real, I just operate my life on the assumption that it exists and is predictable. It's working great so far.

I don't _believe_ climate change is real, but I accept the evidence provided, and will continue to do so until such time as I'm provided with further evidence to consider.

I don't _believe_ my mother loves me, I'm quite satisfied that she does. I have enough evidence.

<comment><USER9> Ah, so you define the word "to believe" as "to have blind faith in", rather than "to estimate a very large probability with high confidence that a proposition is true."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> #21: Floating navbars are an abomination and make your site incredibly frustrating to read on a mobile device -- especially in landscape mode. At least put an X button on that thing.

<comment><USER12> #21(b) X buttons will not save a floating navbar with a "digital clock font."

<comment><USER13> Fun fact: the technical term is "seven-segment display character representations."

<comment><USER11> Even when there are clearly more than seven segments?

<comment><USER13> You're right, this one has nine, I didn't look very closely. I guess you could still call them SSD-like...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I thought this was going to be BS, as I do all numbered lists [1], but it's actually pretty good. Here's a TLDR, but the elaborations on each point are worth reading:

1\. The world is trying to keep you stupid.

2\. Do not have faith in institutions to educate you.

3\. Read as much as you can. Learn to speed read with high retention.

4\. Connect with everyone, all the time.

5\. Don't waste time being shy.

6\. If you feel weird about something during a relationship, that's usually what you end up breaking up over.

7\. Have as much contact as possible with older people.

8\. Find people that are cooler than you and hang out with them too.

9\. You will become more conservative over time. For this reason, you need to do your craziest stuff NOW.

10\. Reduce all expenses as much as possible.

11\. Instead of getting status through objects (which provide only temporary boosts), do it through experiences.

12\. While you are living on the cheap, solve the money problem.

13\. Learn to program.

14\. Get a six-pack (or get thin, whatever your goal is) while you are young.

15\. Learn to cook

16\. Sleep well

17\. Get a reminder app for everything

18\. Choose something huge to do

19\. Get known for one thing.

20\. Don't try to "fix" anyone.

[1] Change the title to "Things I Should Have Known at 20" <http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

<comment><USER15>
      > 1. The world is trying to keep you stupid.

No it doesn't. Quite the opposite. While the idea that less educated are easier to manipulate is true the item on the list says expresses a different idea.

      > 2. Do not have faith in institutions to educate you.

You can only educate yourself. However institutions can help a lot. As for outdated curriculum: guess how old Newtonian physics and calculus is. Now think how many still have problem grasping these.

      > 3. Read as much as you can. Learn to speed read with high retention.

Agree with the first part. The second part is oxymoron.

      > 4. Connect with everyone, all the time.

Bullshit.

      > 5. Don't waste time being shy.

Bullshit.

      > 6. If you feel weird about something during a relationship, that's usually what you end up breaking up over.

Ok.

      > 7. Have as much contact as possible with older people.

Why?

      > 8. Find people that are cooler than you and hang out with them too.

Why?

      > 9. You will become more conservative over time. For this reason, you need to do your craziest stuff NOW.

Why? Do I need to do the crazy stuff at all? Also, not sure about the whole getting more conservative thing.

      > 10. Reduce all expenses as much as possible.

Ok.

      > 11. Instead of getting status through objects (which provide only temporary boosts), do it through experiences.

Whatever.

      > 12. While you are living on the cheap, solve the money problem.

Whatever.

      > 13. Learn to program.

Why? Why program, not plumbing? I think people to often conflate programming and reasoning skill.

      > 14. Get a six-pack (or get thin, whatever your goal is) while you are young.

How about not getting fat?

      >15. Learn to cook

Ok

      > 16. Sleep well

Ok

      > 17. Get a reminder app for everything

Bullshit.

      > 18. Choose something huge to do

Ok

      > 19. Get known for one thing.

Whatever.

      > 20. Don't try to "fix" anyone.

Mostly true. But you can be a good help for someone who really tries to change.

My addition: don't make shallow lists like this.

<comment><USER16> _> 1\. The world is trying to keep you stupid.

No it doesn't. Quite the opposite. While the idea that less educated are easier to manipulate is true the item on the list says expresses a different idea._

He is actually right, in several ways. For example, how do you find the average joke posted by a friend on Facebook? Also TV is called the idiot box for a reason. And its not easy to break the addictive traps. And this is just one way.

Similarly if one _thinks_ there is a lot of weight in other points as well. But of course one has to interpret them in one's own context.

<comment><USER17> I just started watching CCTV (Chinese State TV in English - <USER2> locally from 'Cornroe' Texas), and the contrast with ABC/NBC/CBS etc., is amazing.

Actually foreign news, not just US forces adventures, and human interest.

Do yourself a favor and watch at least source of foreign news, such as the BBC, CCTV, CNN Intl, Al Jazeera etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Any book worth reading is worth reading slowly.

<comment><USER19> What's the slowest book you've read?

<comment><USER18> There are several different types of reading slowly.

Math is slow because you have to work things out as you read it.

Books written very long ago are slow because I read them like a detective, looking not just at what the author means to say, but also at what he's saying implicitly about how things were at the time.

Other books I read slowly because they're so good I don't want them to end. I used to have to make a conscious effort to make Patrick O'Brian novels last, and I stopped reading them at about number 12, to save the rest for later. (I worry though that I wouldn't like them so much now.)

<comment><USER20> They keep going with the same level of quality until the very end. Even the three draft chapters of the unfinished 21st volume left me wanting more.

<comment><USER21> Agreed. I read them as slowly as I could manage over the course of about five years. Even 21 was a great read. I was blown away that I was still maintaining the same enjoyment 15, 16 books in. I just assumed the quality would have had to deteriorate. Although O'Brian does get a lot of reuse out of Stephen's joke about the dog watch being cur-tailed.

I wish I still had eight and a half more to go!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I'm not a fan of speed reading.

In my experience, "gulping down" a book instead of "savouring" it leads to a rough comprehension of what the book is trying to tell you, so if someone asks you'll be able to give a brief summary.

But if you take your time (with a pencil) you'll be able to actually follow the person's trail of thought that went into writing what you're reading, ultimately helping you in making similar conclusions in differing areas, which is at least why I read: To broaden my own horizon, not to parrot-like mimic what other people think.

Also: >Don't try to "fix" anyone. Instead, look for someone who isn't broken.

Not sure about this one either - having had a few relationships from that department I know that I learned a lot about people in general and had amazing experiences, something which I couldn't have learned from a relationship with a person who's "normal". Of course ultimately, it's not worth it in the long run.

<comment><USER23> On "fixing": ultimately, people don't get fixed. My experience is that they tend to become more of who they are with age. Looking back over people I've known for three and going on four decades, it's amazing how early the fundamentals of personality are laid down, though there can be substantial changes especially during adolescence and early adulthood. Past that, traumatic experiences (war, violence, drugs, abuse) can literally leave brain (and emotional) scars.

There's a huge difference between enjoying the eccentricities of someone, and trying to change/fix them. There's a large class of eccentrics who are very interesting/entertaining if you keep them at a modest distance, though they can be explosive or toxic/harmful if you get them too close.

The corollary is, of course, you're broken too to many people. The key is finding someone who's no more or less broken than you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> These lists always miss the point.

For example, the list is most likely right about sleep. However, if you're not sleeping enough you'll most likely say "It's ok man, it's under control".

Only when experiencing personally the damages of sleep deprivation you'll say "I should sleep more". Not because you read it on a list or your friend tells you.

As for six packs, yes, it's important, because it will insulate you from 95% of back pain. But who's going to do stomach crunches after reading such list?

Céline said it better than me: Experience is a lantern that lights only the carrier (L'expérience est une lanterne qui n'éclaire que celui qui la porte).

<comment><USER25> crunches have nothing to do with a six pack. follow the link he provided.

<comment><USER24> It's a bit OOT, but, allow me to retort.

I'm not a big fan of intermittent fasting or any 'program' for that matter.

What I'd like to say, from personal experience, is that nothing beats a balanced diet and regular exercise. No program, no "method". Just an old fashioned healthy life.

And sorry, but if you want a six packs, at some point, you'll have to sweat for it.

<comment><USER26> Nobody said you don't have to sweat for it. I'm currently in the process of getting one, and I do no crunches (although I'm sure they help). Also, a sixpack has nothing to do with fitness (other than that you incidentally get fit). It's purely for aesthetic reasons.

Me, I was working out anyway, so I figured I'd lose the fat to look lean as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> It is a pretty solid list.

I am 25 and these are things that would have helped me at 20.

I am trying to accomplish some of these now.

3\. I used to read a book per week. I stopped and now I need to get back.

9\. I never thought I would be a conservative person. I see the difference between my younger cousins and I.

10\. I am jobless. I definitely am trying to eliminate costs.

13\. I started taking Udacity classes. I have a business degree. It has been harder than I imagined. I still am motivated to learn more languages besides python.

14\. I go to the gym six days per week. I ride my bike everywhere I go.

20\. A very simple statement. That is very true.

<comment><USER28> 13) A word of advice based on what I perceive your experience level to be: focus more on _really_ learning Python than amassing a list of languages with whose syntax you are familiar. Once you master Python, then Java, Ruby, etc. will be easy to learn. Employers understand this. The ones you want to work for, at least.

<comment><USER29> Agreed.

Too many people who are new to programming assume they need to learn all the languages. What you really need to learn is the theory behind each lesson. When learning loops don't think "so this is how you do a loop", rather think about why you are looping, when, and what types of loops there are.

All the languages (listed above) have looping mechanisms, and you will use them for the same reasons you did in python. You will know when to use loops, and then you can just look up the syntax for the language you are currently in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think #8 is silly at best. I'm not even sure I know what is meant by "cooler," but whatever the definition the statement does not seem like sage advice from an elder. I am 32 now; I got over thinking about who was cool and who was not when I was 15.

I would add something about not burning bridges.

<comment><USER30> Far from silly. The characteristics he mentioned on this one: (by doing cooler things, being more laid back, accepting, ambitious, etc.)

Those are mostly about developing the characteristics of a leader -- someone others admire and want to follow.

<comment><USER12> How many adults talk about Alice being cooler than Bob? Furthermore ambitious and laid back?

      am·bi·tious (adjective)
        1. Having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.
        2. Intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve.

      laid back (adjective)
        1. Relaxed or unhurried.
        2. Free from stress; easygoing; carefree.

<comment><USER30> That apparent contradiction is really what makes cool so hard. It's not just about being amped up at 10 or being a bump on the log at 0. It's about being a 10 at where you're going while you make it look like you're at 0. You kick ass, but you make it look like it's easy and you're not trying.

One of the best entrepreneurs I've ever worked with had that quality. The guy was focused like a laser on where he was going, but I never saw him get upset or look like he wasn't in control of himself and the given situation. He exuded "cool" and he attracted people like a magnet.

<comment><USER12> I guess one of the reasons that being a "cool kid" does not appeal to me is that I'm not as interested in appearances/image.

<comment><USER31> Can't one be cool without being concerned about appearance?

I think coolness is about how one responds to situations, esp those unexpected.

Think about how people talk to gate agents when their flight gets cancelled. Those that are reasonable and rational are cool (as in cool headed). Those that yell are not. They also tend to get more of what they desire while not making enemies.

The definition of cool should not be stuck in a 15 year old's perspective of jocks vs. nerds.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Previous discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4036058>

</comment><comment><USER33> This article is obviously written by someone (at least mentally) under the age of 35. Always try to be cooler and more accepting than others? WTF. I gave that up years ago. There too much to deal with in life without worrying about what is cool.

<comment><USER34> I started to write a similar list out for my son to read later on in life. It was mostly bullshit. I like his comment about relationships however.

<comment><USER35> My parents indoctrinated me with Kipling's "If." It's certainly as good a list as this one, for better or worse.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> The thing I knew when I was 20 is to take everything with a grain of salt and think it through yourself and refit the lesson in your life. What's true in someone else's life often isn't true in your life. I knew it but I just didn't believe it.

As an adult, I know that's more true than ever and I'm able to believe it, yet only partially. I'm working on it.

When you think things yourself then you're not bound by the limits that other people before you have set. You don't need to be bound by "what's true and what's right": you can rediscover your own life in a very different setting. But it's a courageous path and I'm not always so courageous. I'm working on it.

</comment><comment><USER37> Interesting list, but the presentation and layout is terrible.

Limiting the size of the page horizontally improves readability.

Limiting the size of the page vertically is just annoying.

</comment><comment><USER38> If I could go back to when I was 20, i'd have myself memorize this:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnout_(psychology)>

Would have saved me 3 agonizing years.

<comment><USER39> I'd memorize:

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

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

and

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streets_in_Baltimore,_M...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streets_in_Baltimore,_Maryland)

<comment><USER40> At a tender age of 20, were you sir a Johns Hopkins Biology student faced with an essay question in a final exam about the types of reproduction in the Cnidaria phylum?

But after the exam and with nothing further to lose, you tried to get to The Block to escape the nonsensical world of jellyfish sex for something more practical; however, lacking directions ended up in a even sketchier part of town and during some ensuing endeavors, caught the claps? And finally experiencing natural selection yourself.

Only way one'd memorize those three things.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> This isn't a permalink, and it took me forever to find one (neither title nor date are permalinks? conventions mean nothing?)

Submission URL should be changed to: [http://inoveryourhead.net/20-things-i- should-have-known-at-2...](http://inoveryourhead.net/20-things-i-should-have- known-at-20/)

</comment><comment><USER42> This list highlights the one lesson I see repeated in almost all advice about life: "Be an Extrovert, and if you aren't, act like one."

<comment><USER43> Exactly. Fake it till you make it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> The only way to succeed in life is to fail. This article reads like it is a definite list of commands and rules to abide by for a great life forgoing the fact that no two lives are the same. There are a few good tid-bits of info in this article, but if there is one thing in life you should know it's you will fail and thinking that learning from the mistakes of others will safeguard you from failure is a sure fire way of being doomed to a life of failure.

<comment><USER45> That is true advice and you can actually accomplish a lot by adjusting your attitude about failure. I personally try to consider something a success as long as I attempt it - regardless of the actual outcome. If I don't even try, that is failure to me. If I try and it doesn't work - that's still a success because I made an attempt and most likely learned something along the way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> An old man once told me I shouldn't follow anyone's advice and just figure shit out for myself in life. I wasn't sure what to do...

</comment><comment><USER47> "Shyness is the belief that your emotions should be the arbitrators of your decision making process when the opposite is actually true."

This is the very opposite of how I've been trying to live my life. I do not know what to think of that.

<comment><USER48> That's interesting. What do you mean? How have you been trying to live your life?

<comment><USER47> Well, I've always considered emotional decisions to be poorer than decisions made with logic.

Say if you're considering buying a new thing, is it just an impulsion to get the endorphin rush, or logically do you need that item?

Or maybe it's a moral question. You're 20. A friend's cute sister wants to have a beer with you. Logically you can see where it could lead and the negative impact it will have on your friend and yours relationship. On the other hand, you're getting all sorts of cues from your emotions to go for it. That's evolution for you, we're wired that way. So these two things are at two very opposite ends of the spectrum.

I've considered logical decision making to be a superior route for some time, and I thought that was somewhat well accepted. To hear the opposite just kind of threw me.

<comment><USER48> Personally, I agree with you, here, and that has always been my policy.

It seems to me like the author of the article agrees, too, though. I think he's saying that shyness comes from putting your emotions first, and I assume he thinks shyness is a bad thing.

<comment><USER47> You know, I think I read the quote wrong. As I read it back I think I agree. Whoops!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance (Dave Barry)

<comment><USER50> The thing is also, if you never get up, you'll never learn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> I think it's a pretty decent list. Can't understand all the negativity.

</comment><comment><USER52> This is a fantastic list, though I have to nitpick on this one:

>2\. Do not have faith in institutions to educate you

Except if you learn the fundamentals, instead of the specifics. Learn paradigms and methodologies, instead of individual systems and practices. This way as time goes on you've always got something to fall back on.

<comment><USER53> I think he was referring to the general idea of fully trusting something to educate you. People make mistakes, including those who are teaching you. I think what he meant is that we also need to do our homework and do our own research from time to time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> I upvoted this post. however the author would do well in further explaining or expanding his pieces of advice. a lot of them are true in a specific setting, or for special occasions - they are to my understanding - not generalizable directions for your life.

> eg. in my opinion: _Read as much as you can_ and _The world is trying to > keep you stupid_ really go together. Read as much as necessary to overcome > common misconceptions and educate yourself. don't spend weeks speed reading > thru the twilight series.

> _Find people that are cooler than you_ is a poorly worded advice / way to > become less socially inept. Eg if you want to stop _wasting [your] time > being shy_ , you need to learn from people who are more comfortable in all > the social interactions you go thru every day.

</comment><comment><USER55> Liked it, but he kind of goes against himself:

 _"Otherwise known as morons on the internet telling me about the world like they know better. God, these people are unbelievable"_

<http://inoveryourhead.net/how-to-recognize-an-idiot/>

ops..

</comment><comment><USER56> After item 2, I wanted to upvote, but I forced myself to be patient. By item 16, I had to stop and come upvote it. It's about a 90% match for what I wish I could go back and tell my 20 year old self. At least I'm doing most of it now.

</comment><comment><USER57> It's great that you took the opportunity to reflect on your life. I would have enjoyed seeing more context to some of the points though. Given the HN community, "Learn to program" might be a consensus, but I would love to get more of your thoughts on it. Why? Any stories? I pick this point as just an example, but I felt there were more than a few places where some anecdotes would have worked very well.

</comment><comment><USER58> Be superman!

Or you know, you can also just

1/ live

2/ think, learn, try on your own instead of reading blogs that are telling you to be superman (cause of course you've the will power for that right?)

works rather well.

</comment><comment><USER59> > Get a reminder app for everything

While I agree with the thrust of this suggestion (that if you leave everything up to memory, you'll miss out on some important opportunities), I've found I'm most productive if I let my subconscious pick what to work on next (with a little artificial bias towards working on long-term projects to counter the inevitable fatigue).

</comment><comment><USER35> What if I already saw _Fight Club_?

</comment><comment><USER60> Another MLM wonder. Check out the totally egregious 'contest' designed to spam the tweet-o-sphere.

Perfect use for a time machine, check-out these know-it-alls later in life, when life has thrown them a few curve balls, and their bodies are falling apart in their 80s.

</comment><comment><USER61> The OP link now leads to a different blog post. This seems to be the listed post:

[http://inoveryourhead.net/20-things-i-should-have-known- at-2...](http://inoveryourhead.net/20-things-i-should-have-known-at-20/)

</comment><comment><USER62> #51 Sometimes it doesn't matter what you do, you still screw up ~ <http://seldomlogical.com/2012/03/24/rules-and-resolutions>

</comment><comment><USER63> And don't forget sunscreen.

</comment><comment><USER64> From my experience, these are things I wish I had known, not should have known, at 20. As Rod Stewart said, "I wish that I knew what I know now... when I was younger."

</comment><comment><USER65> How do I learn to read with high retention? I'd love to do that. Currently I feel like the words I read are falling out of the back of my head :-(

</comment><comment><USER66> For me, #5, being shy, is more about the reinforced belief -- after a life time of observation -- that no one wants my opinion regarding any topic.

<comment><USER67> If I look at my surface-level emotions, that's what I see. If I scrape deeper, I realize it is more related to me not _connecting_ , so my opinions don't seem to resonate. If I dig even deeper, I realize it is often me _projecting_ how I expect somebody will respond, thereby circumventing the need for them to actually respond.

But knowing that doesn't make it easier for me to ignore it.

(FWIW, I appreciated your opinion on this. This point struck e, too, but it wasn't until I saw your comment that so closely echoed my own feelings that I stopped to put more thought into it.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER68> I am 36 and admit that 19 out of 20 of this suits me. Disagree with #4. I think it leads to waste of time.

</comment><comment><USER69> I assume the author is in dire need of a list of things he should have known at age 30+.

</comment><comment><USER70> "8. Find people that are cooler than you and hang out with them too"

Oh dear, I don't think so.

</comment><comment><USER71> I really enjoyed this post, a couple of things touched a note. Thanks.

</comment><comment><USER72> Learn to ignore good advice, it's the same skill used to ignore bad :)

</comment><comment><USER73> According to this, I'm actually doing pretty good for being 21.

</comment><comment><USER74> (Bias Alert: I'm 20)

Forgive me, but this strongly reads like the thoughts of a man who was once twenty many years ago :)

I am always very interested in the advice of my elders, but I have difficulty swallowing your advice. (Secondary Bias Alert: I've already got a preexisting set of rules to follow)

These articles on what I'm missing out on at 20 both seem to carry some deeply held beliefs that emerge as a result of some societal preconceptions about the origin of success and happiness. You stress breadth but you don' seem to put much stock in depth. It is safe to say I have learned everything I know from studying computers very intently. In this century especially, it is entirely possible (perhaps preferable) to understand the many human disciplines by examining them in that context of your own discipline. Very disparate fields coexist in any sufficiently complex system. The intersection between computer science and literature, finance, anthropology, semiotics and a slew of other fine arts, social and hard sciences seems especially apparent to me. I don't think I could fully appreciate (whatever that designation implies) Postmodernism or Bell's Inequalities through any other context. Nontechnical books tell us more about the current cultural climate than any sort of great human truth.

As far as steadfastness on goals - I started working on a NoSQL database for high speed transactions when I was 19, I now make a considerable portion of my living doing support through this open source, entirely altruistic and ultimately exploratory process. I wasn't "sticking to" anything, I was hanging out and having fun and not really thinking about solving any kind of money problem (perhaps this betrays my own naivete). Regardless, I don't think I could have learned Erlang, Mathematics or anything about databases without a very considerable amount of "wandering". I personally can't fathom the idea of sinking 5 years of your life into something that leaves you with some sense of inescapable dread. I can't help but think you've framed 'youth' in a cliched middle-life tone - crossing nostalgic sentiments about bygones days and entirely present-day concerns (kids these days!).

As far as negotiation: I am always very blunt (sometimes to a fault), but pithy negotiation has always struck me as nothing more than an intentional disregard for another human being's dignity. I once worked at a Del Taco when I was 15 and absolutely hated the many people who tried to nickel and dime the drive-through. Negotiation as a sales process is entirely different than dealing with people who work very hard, and whom you choose o pay to provide you with a service.

I don't care much for reminder apps or pomodoro or any of these 'productivity enhancing' apps, not to say you can't benefit from them. I can, however, speak anecdotally to the efficacy of hard physical work and deliberate focus on improving productivity. We let ourselves get away with too much, too often.

I think you don't emphasize compassion for other people enough. It is far too easy to become so enraptured in your own schemes that you forget how valuable it is to be in good accord with others and to have a good name. If we cultivate ourselves with an awareness that's rooted in 'reminders' and success and not human welfare, we won't get far.

<comment> Side Note

I wrote these out many months ago to codify some internal dialog spanning many years on what sort of system of action is the most profitable use of my time. I have imposed these on myself for a very long time with varying (but monotonically increasing!) degrees of success over time. I consider having rules like these to have been a considerable source of permanent, lasting change on myself. Maybe they will be useful to some other young people.

\- Stop "collecting" programming languages beyond what is pragmatically useful or is genuinely spiritually/intellectually enlightening.

\- Don't hold onto things I no longer need, try to think critically about if buying something will make me happier.

\- Don't take yourself so seriously, but think seriously about the world.

\- Never commit myself to action with only partial confidence.

\- Do something to detach myself from desire every day

\- Try not to prefer anything over another thing

\- Never complain

\- Don't let myself be guided by either love or lust

\- Try hard to judge people only by their skill in their craft and how they treat others, not by their charisma or attractiveness.

</comment></comment><comment><USER75> Point 20 is wrong.

You'll find that everybody is 'broken' in their own special ways. There really isn't any such thing as someone that isn't broken (unless you're talking about serious mental trauma as the definition of "broken"). We all accumulate baggage over a lifetime, and from each relationship; we all have weird quirks and strange behaviors and eccentricities of varying degrees, and weird reactions to things we do or don't like, and so on.

Find someone whose 'broken' qualities are acceptable to you (not a deal breaker), or even adorable if you're so lucky.

<comment><USER76> Point 20 isn't totally wrong. You shouldn't try to "fix" anyone.

<comment><USER75> That's definitely true.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER75> #792: ideas are not that valuable

#793: a modest product today, is better than a perfect product next year

#794: incorporating, lawyers, accountants, are not that important, build something and then worry about that

#795: find a pin, and knock it down; if you never knock down that first pin, you're never going to knock the rest down

#796: force yourself to get very good at selling; selling yourself, selling your vision, selling your product, etc.

</comment><comment><USER77> None of these are bad things, but they are not universal truths or musts.

</comment><comment><USER78> "You will become more conservative over time"

Could not agree more with this. When I was 20, man I was crazy. Now, everything scares me. I am only 30.</comment>


Hack && Ship - <AUTHOR> http://reinh.com/blog/2008/08/27/hack-and-and-ship.html <comment><USER2> I wasn't particularly interested in the article, but do love the title!</comment>


In Korea, NHN Makes Google a Midget - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/sep2008/gb2008095_505433.htm

<comment><AUTHOR> "NHN executives made concerted efforts to create their own content and build up Naver's database with partnerships with content owners. To keep its edge, NHN blocked rivals from accessing the trove."</comment>


Commentary: The world's best cyber army doesn't belong to Russia - <AUTHOR> http://www.reuters.com/article/us-election-intelligence-commentary-idUSKCN10F1H5 <comment><AUTHOR> Excerpt:

 _Unlike the Defense Department's Pentagon, the headquarters of the cyberspies fills an entire secret city. Located in Fort Meade, Maryland, halfway between Washington and Baltimore, Maryland, NSA's headquarters consists of scores of heavily guarded buildings. The site even boasts its own police force and post office.

And it is about to grow considerably bigger, now that the NSA cyberspies have merged with the cyberwarriors of U.S. Cyber Command, which controls its own Cyber Army, Cyber Navy, Cyber Air Force and Cyber Marine Corps, all armed with state-of-the-art cyberweapons. In charge of it all is a four-star admiral, Michael S. Rogers.

Now under construction inside NSA's secret city, Cyber Command's new $3.2- billion headquarters is to include 14 buildings, 11 parking garages and an enormous cyberbrain — a 600,000-square-foot, $896.5-million supercomputer facility that will eat up an enormous amount of power, about 60 megawatts. This is enough electricity to power a city of more than 40,000 homes.

In 2014, for a cover story in Wired and a PBS documentary, I spent three days in Moscow with Snowden, whose last NSA job was as a contract cyberwarrior. I was also granted rare access to his archive of documents. "Cyber Command itself has always been branded in a sort of misleading way from its very inception," Snowden told me. "It's an attack agency. … It's all about computer-network attack and computer-network exploitation at Cyber Command._</comment>


Code Search API - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/blog/1564-code-search-api <comment><USER2> Looks good. Hopefully someone will write something to automagically search for unintentionally exposed sensitive files and notify the repo owner - when the "human" version of Code Search came out, a lot of private keys and other such things were discovered.

<comment><USER3> I'm not sure I want automated bots contacting me through github.

<comment><USER4> Malicious bots don't care if there is an API. They can screen scrape easily.

<comment><USER3> I'm sure malicious bots do try to mass message repository owners through Github. It's called spam and every platform over a certain size experiences it. I expect Github already has measures in place to block it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Can't wait for a code completion editor plugin based off of this API.. 20 requests per minute isn't too bad.

<comment><USER6> What do you have in mind? I'm not seeing a good use case.

There are already really good ways to do that which don't involve making connections to remote servers.

<comment><USER5> I suppose there are already templating abilities written into the popular code editors, but something that maybe takes the first two or three lines of what you've written (maybe a common JDBC connection style block) and identifies it as such. I'm not sure if it would be incredibly useful but it would be interesting to see what came of it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What I want to know is, when will it support regular expressions?

</comment><comment><USER8> To me, Github search is kinda useless. When I search for anything Android related (i.e. usage search for some framework type), I get a billion copies of the main Android source. The signal to noise ratio is almost 0..

<comment><USER9> You can filter the repo results by their number of stars and forks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Interesting. Will have to look into integrating this with searchcode.com

My biggest issue with github search is it still has issues with searches like $i++ as it will not match something like for(i=0;i++;i<100) which is occasionally frustrating. For reference a comparison [http://searchcode.com/?q=i%2B%2B](http://searchcode.com/?q=i%2B%2B) vs [https://github.com/search?q=i%2B%2B&type=Code&ref=searchresu...](https://github.com/search?q=i%2B%2B&type=Code&ref=searchresults)

</comment><comment><USER11> I've been waiting for this for so long! Any word on when it will be available for Github Enterprise?

</comment><comment><USER12> One great use for this would be to search for known vulnerable code and then get people to patch it.

</comment><comment><USER13> I want to search by filename but also limit by repository's stars or similar.

</comment><comment><USER14> What's wrong with command line git grep?

<comment><USER15> It doesn't search though every repository on github.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What's a good office chair? - <AUTHOR> Hello HN,
I'm in the market for a new home office chair. As I spend a lot of time working from home I'm looking to spend maybe about £300 in the chair.
Looking at the market there are lots of good looking chairs. I like meshed chairs as otherwise my body builds up too much heat. I'm also looking for some lumbar and head support.
Have you used any office chair you could recommend? <comment><USER2> The price range seems a bit low for 'named' recommendations. Not that you can't get a good chair at that price point, just that you probably won't get a famous one.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I was actually thinking second hand! though I didn't mention it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Herman Miller Aeron, Steelcase Leap

<comment><AUTHOR> I finally bought an Aeron. There was one for sale second hand in my own town.

Got it for a bit more than £200!

Thanks for the recommendation!</comment></comment>


Http://www.mapstagram.com: Real-time mashup of Instagram & Google Maps - <AUTHOR>

My buddy and I recently released Mapstagram (http://www.mapstagram.com), a place to explore real-time Instagram photos.
If you're an Instagram user, you know that there currently isn't a good place to explore Instagram photos from other users.  With the mobile app, you can only really look at your own feed or popular photos.  It would be nice to see a general feed of photos.  Now you can with Mapstagram, and the best part is that it's real-time.
I'm planning on adding more features such as the ability to log in and comment/like/befriend.
I wrote up a blog post about how I created Mapstagram:
http://www.jamietsao.com/blog/2011/3/23/mapstagram-mapping-instagram-photos-in-real-time.html
Hope you guys like it. <comment><USER2> Nicely done. It captivates you for a while, just to see what comes next. Does it cut off after a few minutes so you won't waste the api rate quota?

Clickable link: <http://www.mapstagram.com>

<comment><AUTHOR> Good question. Based on the design, the number of "connected" users doesn't actually affect the Instagram API rate limit. But since I'm using GAE's Channel API (which is their implementation of Comet), I try to conserve resources by setting a 10 min timeout on the client side. The user has the choice to continue at the point of course.</comment></comment>


Hinkley Point C is £2.2bn over budget and a year behind schedule, EDF admits - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/03/hinkley-point-c-is-22bn-over-budget-and-a-year-behind-schedule-edf-admits?CMP=twt_gu <comment><USER2> Most nuclear power plant construction projects have historically been over- budget and late...pretty normal in the industry. For a fraction of the cost and time, nat. gas generation capability can be spun up and deployed.</comment>


Unexploded bomb safely defused by laser method - <AUTHOR> https://optics.org/news/10/10/29 <comment><USER2> I could not understand what they were saying so i found this...

Researchers from the Laser Center Hannover (LZH), meanwhile, are working on "secure deflagration of live bombs by laser technology" (DEFLAG).

purpose is to cut indentations or breaking points into the shell of unexploded ordnance wherever the detonator cannot be removed safely – like in the Munich case.

What's the advantage of such a breaking point? Well, the metal body of the bomb is then weakened. It will break apart before the explosive in the bomb can build up its full pressure, meaning the bomb deflagrates, or combusts through heat transfer.

That results in a pressure wave that's not as strong, so the metal parts fly away more slowly than they otherwise would have. Avoid heat

This system has not been fully developed – yet.

The researchers will have until April 2019 to implement their ideas. Their greatest task

will be to cut the shell of the bomb and, at the same time, avoid heating the metal above 240 degrees Celsius (464 degrees Fahrenheit). That's where TNT ignites.

[https://m.dw.com/en/defusing-bombs-is-there-a-safer- way/a-43...](https://m.dw.com/en/defusing-bombs-is-there-a-safer- way/a-43470011)</comment>


Bad news for Bitcoin miners: It's no longer profitable to create the crypto - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/15/bad-news-for-bitcoin-miners-as-its-no-longer-profitable-to-create-the-cryptocurrency.html <comment><USER2> For anyone wondering, like I was, the electricity cost used in the model to make this claim was $0.06/kWh. Presumably, since the network is still running, Bitcoin miners in locations where they are paying less electricity than that are still profitable.</comment>