French court orders Uber to pay €1.2M to taxi firm - <AUTHOR> http://www.france24.com/en/20160127-court-orders-uber-pay-12m-french-taxi-group-strike <comment><USER2> Okay, well, let's compare.

Uber's violation: possibly not informing their drivers of the hilarious law of having to drive back to your garage after every trip.

National Union of Taxis violation: \- Instigating and supporting violence in Paris this summer, cars where set on fire and passengers attacked. \- Supporting ongoing a violent rampage that yesterdat blocked a highway, threw tires at innocent drivers and got into a fistfight with the police.

When asked how long the violent rampage will go on this summer, their president commented: "This will go on indefinitely, at least tonight and tomorrow." [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/europe/france-paris-uberpop- pr...](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/26/europe/france-paris-uberpop-protests/)

In the cosmic order of right and wrong, it seems to me more appropriate that Uber get their money back, and National Taxi Union might belong behind bars rather than driving passengers.

<comment><USER3> Or if you want to see the greater picture:

Uber's violation: trying to kill a whole industry by making people act illegally, while also taking 20% of their revenue.

National Union of Taxis violation: trying to not have the lives of the members ruined because an american company thinks it can get rich through illegal behaviour.

<comment><USER2> I understand your point of view, but wouldn't you agree that the The National Taxi Union's use of violence supersedes their motivations, whatever it may be?

If it was the other way around, if it was Uber who attacked passengers, blocked highways and threw fiery tires at the Taxi Drivers. And The National Taxi Union were breaking the drive-back-to-your garage law. -> Then it seems to me that Uber would be the thugs of the two, regardless of who I support.

Whether you intellectually think the Taxi companies deserve protection from competition, it still seems that the National Taxi Union are the thugs here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Also heard there still is some shady taxi company, named G7, that has an almost monopoly of the french taxi market.

Not to defend Uber, but I still don't believe you can solve anti-liberal policies by just breaking everything in a niche market like this one, and pretend it's for the sake of progress.

Also, the day Uber rides get taxed like all other taxis, and end up costing as much because they align with french policies, I'm sure Uber will quickly vanish.

Many french medias already talk about the uberisation of society. I don't know if that's already the case in other places. But I think it's totally normal to see people getting angry at an american company who makes profit thanks to an economic model which is not really compatible.

There is already a lot of talk and disagreement over inequality, so in my mind, it's again normal for people to relate this to be another form of capitalistic looting.

</comment><comment><USER5> > head back to their garages after each fare

What an odd rule in general

<comment><USER6> To put on my charitable hat for a minute ...

I assume the reason for this law is part of an attempt to distinguish call-a- ride services (that can't accept line-of-sight street hails) from taxis (which can).

The fear would then be that someone doing the former can do some of the nuisance stuff associated with the latter, but without passing the appropriate regulatory hurdles -- i.e., they might cruise around hoping to be near a ride, which medallion limits exist to prevent.

Even then, I would think regulators would adapt this kind of thing to a world where a call-a-ride car is _very likely_ to be near a person who specifically asks for them. At the very least, they should change it to something like, "you have to be pulled over when looking for rides".

(Admittedly, that's all speculation.)

<comment><USER7> > i.e., they might cruise around hoping to be near a ride, which medallion > limits exist to prevent.

I'd be interested to see how the extra traffic caused by drivers cruising around compares to the extra traffic caused by drivers needing to drive back to a garage, only to be called out again.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> You would think, if you were being honest about it, that you could build into your app a "checkin at my garage" function that would allow you to prove that after each fair your driver followed the law and went back to their garage.

<comment><USER9> Or you could just pay the tax for not following the law.

I don't see how disobeying the law is any more dishonest than following it, the courts are going to tax you for it but as long as you pay there shouldn't be any problems.

<comment><USER8> So, as long as I have the cash, breaking the law isn't an issue for you?

<comment><USER9> That's the point of fines, you pay what is essentially a tax for your behaviour.

Morality is a whole different thing, I for one don't find it immoral for a driver to pick up passengers without stopping at the garage first.

Anyway, it's called civil disobedience. I'd have though HN would be the last place to condemn that.

<comment><USER10> Are you seriously calling an attempt of Uber to bypass French laws for financial gain "civil disobedience"?

<comment><USER9> Because that's exactly what it is?

This might be different if the law in question wasn't utterly ridiculous.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> As an American, it always seems odd to me to see these significant payouts to what appear to be private organizations (in this case the National Union of Taxis, in previous cases with Amazon the French Bookseller's Union [[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/01/amazons-free- ship...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2008/01/amazons-free-shipping- costing-1000-per-day-in-france/\])) for violation of public law.

<comment><USER12> For the record, the Uber fine (which I don't approve) is _nothing_ compared to the BNP fine imposed by the U.S.

cf. [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bnp-paribas-settlement- idU...](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-bnp-paribas-settlement- idUSKBN0F52HA20140701)

<comment><USER13> And for the record, if we were talking about Uber having driven the Paris terrorists to their drop off, this would be a valid comparison. But that's not what we're talking about, and its not.

<comment><USER14> That wouldn't even be close to the situation. The equivalent would be if uber, at the highest levels, reached out to terrorist networks and helped them get from compound to compound.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Was this law something that existed in isolation or part of a long list that regulate the taxi market? In contrast to US, courts in Europe put more weight on the intent of the law makers than the law text itself, but the description in the article does not seem to cover that angle.

</comment><comment><USER16> Just FYI, 'mn' means million. Had not seen it shortened like that before.</comment>


Ask HN: How to implement an NLP grammar parser for a new natural language? - <AUTHOR> As a novice with NLP, having tinkered before with some basic and naive models to do NLP, I would like to learn it properly this time by creating a grammar parser for a language, for which no current model is available publicly. I can easily access a corpus of sentences for this language, and speaking it myself, I am motivated enough to produce any data needed for this.<p>Where would you recommend to start for such a project, both in terms of minimal theoretical and practical knowledge, but also the engineering aspect of it? What open source libraries and software are available out there to speed up this process? <comment><USER2> Nobody mentionned SyntaxNet or LinkGrammar. If you did not read the article from Chomsky about the two ways of doing AI you should read it. Basically it says there is statistical methods and logic methods in AI. Most of NLP libraries of today use the statistic approach. The other, the logic rules based approach was the most popular before now. Anyway, that's what does Link Grammar. I recommend you start with the introduction [https://amirouche.github.io/link-grammar- website//documentat...](https://amirouche.github.io/link-grammar- website//documentation/dictionary/introduction.html) to get a feeling of what it means to deliver meanings to sentences.

Also nowdays, word2vec is unrelated to the understanding of grammatical constructs in natural languages. It's simply said a coincidence or co- occurance of words. Grammartical interpretation of a sentence must be seens as a general graph whereas word2vec operate on the linear structure of sentences (one word after the other). If word2vec had to work on grammatical constructs it should be able to ingest graph data. word2vec works on matrices where the graphical representation of the grammar of sentence (POS tagging, dependencies, anaphora, probably others) is graph otherwise said a sparse matrix or a matrix with a big number of dimensions. (It seems to me machine learning is always about dimension reduction with some noise).

I am quite ignorant about the literature on the subject of machine learning operated to/from graphical datastructures.

<comment><USER3> word2vec is the latest in a long line of connectionist claims that what we call grammar does not exist. Instead of thinking of a set of deterministic rules, you think of a dynamical system which flays off language as it toddles on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> First, North African languages are called Arabic. The proper written form of Arabic is the same in every country. The Berber language never had a written language or letters and only confuses the matter. It is a tool used to divide the people. Can you imagine Palestinians demanding Caananite be included as an official language? The most common modern standard Arabic would be found in Syria, Lebanon,Jordan and Palestine, with the Egyptian and Iraqi dialects also well understood. The North African dialects need a major overhaul. In Morrocco, they have borrowed even German words and the pace is so fast half the words are mumbled. Use modern standard Arabic as your focus,and perhaps Latin letters to make it easier on non natives while being able to translate it back to Arabic letters.

</comment><comment><USER5> I haven't tried it yet, but Spacy has a guide[1] for adding a new languages to their python NLP framework. Maybe it can be of use to you.

[1] [https://spacy.io/docs/usage/adding- languages](https://spacy.io/docs/usage/adding-languages)

<comment><USER2> This is supervised algorithm, it requires that you annotate a lot of existing text so that the algorithm knows how to annotate "new" sentences.

It statistic based.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> If you want to go directly into coding, the Stanford NLP Parser lists in point 5 of their FAQ[1] some starting instructions for parsing a new language.

If you can deal with the math, some papers such as [2] use corpora for existing languages as a tool to parse new languages, for which there are not too many resources available.

In both cases, you can always contact the authors. They might know how to help with your project, and/or direct you to the right people.

[1] [http://nlp.stanford.edu/software/parser- faq.shtml#d](http://nlp.stanford.edu/software/parser-faq.shtml#d)

[2] [https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/Q/Q16/Q16-1022.pdf](https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/Q/Q16/Q16-1022.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER7> Stanford's NLP course is a good place to start learning about the theoretical knowledge: [https://youtube.com/watch?v=nfoudtpBV68](https://youtube.com/watch?v=nfoudtpBV68)

Then it highly depends on the language; for instance tokenization (split sentence into words) is really easy in English, Spanish, etc compared to Japanese, Chinese, etc. So I would say a good starting point would be to try using a NLP parser for a _similar_ language. What language is it? What kind of NLP analysis do you want to perform?

<comment><AUTHOR> I specifically want to address north african languages (Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian), commonly known as a dialect of Arabic, using a Latin alphabet, with heavy influences from Latin languages (French, Spanish) and Berber (endemic regional language) as well. My intent is to be able to parse a sentence written in this language, and extract the subject, the action, the object. I would also like to build a semantic model of the language (e.g. word2vec if I am not abusing the field) relating similar words.

I have tried models for Arabic but they fall short because of the borrowings from other languages, but also a different grammar in many cases. Also, on one hand, transliterating the Latin written sentences in North African Arabic into a regular Arabic alphabet is a challenging task (many transliterations are possible for a given word), on the other, North African Arabic (NAA) is not standardized, so words are commonly written phonetically using a loose set of transcription rules, also borrowed from other languages. An example of this last aspect would be 'the pharmacist' which in NAA could be written in any of those forms (combinations of either change are possible): \- L'farmassian \- Lfarmassian \- Lpharmassian \- Lpharmacian \- l frmsian ..

Thanks for the reference, I will check it out!

<comment><USER8> Not an expert in NLP, but my understanding is that many models are at least partly statistical these days so you will probably need a set of labeled data.

First you should figure out what type of parsing you want. I would recommend looking at Stanford's CoreNLP library to see which task you actually want. There are multiple ways to parse grammar. Once you can name the actual problem you want to solve it should be googleable.

The downside of classical NLP is that you need to learn some amount of linguistics to create labeled parse trees for your data or even interpret them.

So, if your goal is to build an application, rather than a library, you may want to learn about neural nets/LSTMs. They can let you go from language to the actual information you want without you needing to encode and interpret parse trees.

The downside of neural nets is that they tend to need more data, but the data is much simpler so you could farm this out to mechanical turk if you wanted.

<comment><USER9> A pointer of potential data

Cotterell, R., & Callison-Burch, C. (2014). A Multi-Dialect, Multi-Genre Corpus of Informal Written Arabic. In LREC (pp. 241-245).

[http://www.lrec- conf.org/proceedings/lrec2014/pdf/641_Paper....](http://www.lrec- conf.org/proceedings/lrec2014/pdf/641_Paper.pdf)

It's using arabic characters but at least it's labelled data of Magrhebi arabic. So you'd "only" have to perform a translitteration or multiple translitteration between that corpus and your data.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The highest paid athlete of all time was a Roman Charioteer - <AUTHOR> https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/01/18/the-highest-paid-athlete-of-all-time-was-a-roman-charioteer-if-he-had-lived-today-he-would-have-been-worth-15-billion/ <comment><USER2> When comparing across time periods as broad as this, pretty much the only thing that matters is how you compare purchasing power and adjust for inflation. If you compare something that hasn't gotten appreciably cheaper over time - say, gold, or skilled labor - you wind up with an extremely large number. Compare something that _has_ \- like grain or clothing - and you wind up with a much more reasonable number. Going based off agriculture, back-of- the-envelope math gives about 400k people in Rome and $1000/yr expenses on staple foods for about $400m, which is significantly less than the probably- gold-based conversion scheme the article's source uses.

And if you want to be really persnickety, no amount of money in Rome would buy antibiotics, televisions, etc, etc.

<comment><USER3> Comparisons beyond 100 years or so are largely meaningless. You're right about purchasing power, and that leads to your last point which is that what could actually be bought was so fundamentally different that attempting to do so is almost always going to mislead the public and be irresponsible. But it's one of those things that reporters and journalists can't help themselves from doing.

<comment><USER4> Is 100yrs that hard? I recently watched "The Little Giant" (1933) where the main character claims to have over a million dollars and is kind of retiring. I found it fun to look up what that million dollars would be worth today. According to one site it is $18 million. He went to a hotel in Santa Barbara where he was paying $45 a night for a giant suite. That comes out to over $800 a night which sounds like it might be in the correct ballpark. He gave is girlfriend who he was breaking up with a check for $25k which came out to about $500k in todays terms it seems. He rented a 20 bedroom 12 bathroom mansion for $1450 a month which is apparently $25k today. Sounds reasonable for a 20 bedroom mansion?

Those all seem like reasonable numbers.

PS: not recommending the movie. It was cute but not great.

<comment><USER5> $1 mil in 1993 is not worth $18 mil today (ie. in 2020).

Inflation has averaged 2% during this time, so over 27 years: (1.02)^27 = 1.7069

$1 mil from 1993 would be worth no more than ~$1.71 today.

<comment><USER6> He said 1933, not 1993

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Wikipedia [1] has a more sober figure than the $15 billion claimed from the featured article, which is far below the wealth of modern athletes:

> In equivalent basic good purchasing power, Diocles' wealth would be between > approximately $60 million and $160 million.

This appears to be supported by the table at the bottom of this page [2], which claims that a seaside villa in Naples cost about 3mil sesterces/sestertii. That makes the featured article's claim that 35mil sestertii is $15 billion questionable. Adjusting using seaside villa prices, 35mil sestertii (Diocles' wealth) is more like $7mil.

The $15bil figure appears to come from the "enough to pay the whole army for 1/5 of a year" stat multiplied by the modern-day USA figure [3] (by the way, [3] appears to be the source for much of the featured article).

As far as the "enough to pay the whole army for a few months" stat goes, the most common figure I can find for "annual pay for a legionary" during Diocles' life is 1200 sestertii, or 240 for 1/5 of a year [4]. 36mil/240 is 150,000, which does sound like a plausible (even high) number for the size of the Roman army. On the other hand, [2] claims that 1200 sestertii buys about 100 lbs of pork, so that means a soldier could expect to get paid about 1 Roman pig per year?

Cross-era price comparisons are hard!

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

[2] [http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~lac61/ASSIGNMENTS/SectionOne/R...](http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~lac61/ASSIGNMENTS/SectionOne/RomanMoney.html)

[3] [https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/greatest-all- tim...](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/greatest-all-time)

[4] [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40310480](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40310480)

<comment><USER8> At 1200 sest. per year, a 3M sest. villa would be 2500 years of labor.

A $7M villa, on the other hand, would be only ~230 years of labor for a US solider paid $30k a year.

A pound of pork at Safeway today is ~3/lb. 100 pounds would be $300, which would be quite a meager yearly pay.

My main takeaway is that pork has likely gotten much cheaper, but not seaside villas.

<comment><USER9> > A $7M villa, on the other hand, would be only ~230 years of labor for a US > solider paid $30k a year.

Your parent comment says that, adjusted to modern villa prices, Diocles' entire wealth -- 35 million sestercii, enough to buy 12 standard seaside villas -- would amount to $7M. This would put the price of one villa at only $600,000, or 20 years' labor at $30k / year.

<comment><USER8> Oh! Indeed I misread. Things do align better that way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> A Polish numismatist, Zbigniew Żabiński, came up with _trofa_ (from Greek _trophe_ 'alimentation'), a universal measure of the value of money. One trofa is defined as an average person's daily ration of food typical for the given place and time. Altogether, it has 3000 kcal: 1800 kcal in 450 g of carbohydrates, 900 kcal in 100 g of fat, and 300 kcal in 75 g of protein.

For instance, in late 1970s' Poland, one trofa consisted of 400 g of rye bread, 100 g of wheat flour, 250 g of potatoes, 100 g of beef, 100 g of sugar, 80 g of butter, and 1/2 litre of milk. Assuming that its content has not changed, you take the cost of the food (8.70 PLN in 2016), add 20% for condiments and preparation, and get 10.50 PLN as the 2016 price of a trofa in Poland.[0]

In Octavian's times, one denarius could buy you 2 trofas (with content appropriate for ancient Mediterranean lands),[0] Judas's 30 pieces of silver were worth 60 trofas,[1] etc.

Unfortunately, Żabiński published in Polish behind the Iron Curtain so the trofa is virtually unknown outside Poland. The Big Mac index is its pale reflection.

More information in Polish:

[0] A table of trofa's price from Octavian's Rome to contemporary Poland: [http://blognumizmatyczny.pl/2016/03/14/trofa-miernik- wartosc...](http://blognumizmatyczny.pl/2016/03/14/trofa-miernik-wartosci- pieniadza/)

[1] Thirty pieces of silver: [http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Collectanea_Theologica/C...](http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Collectanea_Theologica/Collectanea_Theologica-r1973-t43-n2/Collectanea_Theologica-r1973-t43-n2-s65-75/Collectanea_Theologica-r1973-t43-n2-s65-75.pdf)

[2] The purchasing power in medieval Balkans: [https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/8080/1/11_Zb...](https://repozytorium.amu.edu.pl/bitstream/10593/8080/1/11_Zbigniew_Zabinski_Sila_nabywcza_pieniadza_na_Balkanach_227-232.pdf)

[3] Google search: [https://www.google.com/search?q=Żabiński+trofa](https://www.google.com/search?q=Żabiński+trofa)

<comment><USER11> While it's an interesting idea, this only captures relative wealth. Places that have higher quality food as standard would be seen as less rich. It's much cheaper to get calories from staples such as rice and potatoes, but a lot more difficult to get it from protein. It's possible to survive on a diet of mostly carbs and little protein, but that can also make you more susceptible to malnutrition, especially if famines are abound.

Also, 3000 kcal per day means that everyone gets fat. The amount of intense physical activity you have to do for an average person to use up that many calories is on the level of modern athletes.

<comment><USER12> Just to mention that staples like grain have indeed much protein, so your sentence actually doesn't make much sense.

The conception of food consisting of vegetable + meat/fish + staple (rice, bread, potato, ..) is an utterly modern one.

All across history in most settled cultures will have lived principally of local plants of some kind, with meat being a rate treat. The exception being fishing villages but even there vegetables/grains will always have been a principal source of calories and nutrients.

<comment><USER11> Yes, and people nowadays are taller, smarter, and live longer. A large part of the Flynn effect is usually attributed to nutrition. Humans can survive with poor nutrition (not getting the right amount of nutrients they need) for a very long time, but it usually has consequences, especially when it happens during childhood.

Another thing to keep in mind is that humans didn't evolve to be farmers. We evolved to be hunter-gatherers. Just because for a slice of our existence people ate one way doesn't mean that that's the diet most suited for us.

By the way, there's a difference between animal proteins and protein in grain. They aren't quite the same composition of amino-acids.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I read a while back where Joe DiMaggio was being interviewed in his later years. The writer mentioned the astronomical sums recent players got, while greats of the past played for much less.

"Some of today's players make millions a year. What do you think you'd be worth?"

"Oh, I figure I'd be worth close to a million. Maybe 8 or 9 hundred thousand."

"But you're Joe DiMaggio! One of the all time greats!"

"Yes, but I'm in my 70s...."

</comment><comment><USER14> A fun thought experiment is what if you could go back in time to year nnnn, pick a time, and you could only take with you 1 lb of material, or X kg, name some reasonable amount you can carry by hand. What would you take with you ? Fun game. But for a time greater than say 120 years, I would argue 1lb of aluminum would make you a kajillionaire since it was not until around 1900 or so that it was possible to refine it, before then it was one of the rarest materials. You could also name things like a computer, a machine gun etc. This little thought game sort of highlights the issue discussed in this thread. Imagine how much you would have made if you had been able to race that chariot guy if you had say a modern 4x4 (assuming you could find gas) although that violates the 1lb rule:)

<comment><USER15> a gun, a solar panel, and a tablet with wikipedia.

<comment> I-M-S perhaps a taser would be even more useful in this scenario since you'd be able to recharge it and not worry about ammo

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> "Diocles is also notable for owning an extremely rare ducenarius, a horse that had won at least 200 races" \--Wikipedia

That seems pretty impressive, and it made me wonder how race horses compare (or are treated differently?) today.

<comment><USER17> It's also possible he had access to rare supplements that enhanced performance; a modern equivalent would be a banned PED or Performance Enhancing Drug.

<comment><USER18> I guess I'm morbidly curious how much better performance a doped horse has?

<comment><USER19> I would think much like doping does today, marginal but when all the competitors / animals are all at the top of their game, marginal gains can be the difference between winning and losing.

<comment><USER18> That makes sense, thanks

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> One of the interesting things that stands out to me is that the age range of athleticism is still the same as today. I guess it's not that surprising that his career spanned from age 18 to 42, but the fact that lines up so closely with modern professional sport competitiveness is intriguing at least for some reason. Sample size of one of course, but I guess maybe that even for all the advancements we've made in terms of knowing about the human body, physical limits haven't changed to a drastic degree or something.

</comment><comment><USER21> "According to Dr. Struck, chariot racer from Ancient Rome named Gaius Appuleius Diocles, amassed a fortune of 35,863,120 sesterces – the equivalent of $15 billion." ... "His total take home amounted to five times the earnings of the highest paid provincial governors over a similar period – enough to provide grain for the entire city of Rome for one year, or to pay all the ordinary soldiers of the Roman Army at the height of its imperial reach for a fifth of a year"

<comment><USER22> So the highest paid provincial governors were typically getting paid $3B over 18 years? Sounds kind of high and makes me rather dubious of how the $15B figure is calculated.

<comment><USER23> It's also interesting that the Roman Army apparently ate five times as much as the entire city of Rome. Resource allocation was clearly very different back then (and apparently in our favor.)

<comment><USER24> Food wouldn't have been the military's main expense. In a pre-industrial society weapons and equipment were extremely expensive.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This is basically a rewrite of the original article on Laphams Quarterly and a better source (images aren't miscaptioned and there's an audio version) [https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/greatest-all- tim...](https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/greatest-all-time)

</comment><comment><USER26> Seems like the highest paid athlete of these days is this: [https://archive.org/details/37AsterixAndTheChariotRace/page/...](https://archive.org/details/37AsterixAndTheChariotRace/page/n13/mode/2up)

</comment><comment><USER27> Perhaps slightly askew, I've read Norwich's History of Byzantium and he talks about there being the Green and Blue factions that kept squabbling some thousand years later.

It seemed the White and Green had collapsed in previous centuries.

I was in the Blue team at my primary school...

<comment><USER28> You blues are so full of yourself, we greens are going strong thank you very much.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I compute 35M sesterces = US$140M. A solidus of gold weighs 8 grams and was worth 100 sesterces. A gram of gold $52 today. A sesterces would be about $4.

</comment><comment><USER30> Ok so whats the realistic number here? I was hoping to using this in the virtual trivia game but it has lost its lustre in reading the comment thread.

</comment><comment><USER31> Romans didn't have television to broadcast these races to the whole nation.

The only way to become rich was through a share of ticket sales.

Ticket sales are limited by the size of the stadium and frequency of races.

With ~thousands of races in a career and ~thousands of people in a stadium, something doesn't add up...

If tickets were expensive enough to amass such a fortune (remembering revenue would also need to pay for other athletes and the venue), I would imagine not that many people could afford to attend...

<comment><USER32> Colosseum sat about 50,000 people. 2000 races would be 100,000,000 customers served. Assuming it's alway full. Not a historian but consistently have heard that the games were heavily subsidized by the wealthy. Kinda like the big boss handing out season tickets to favored staff and business associates.

I think it's sometimes hard to imagine how important this stuff was. The Byzantine had a revolt that involved Chariot Race factions. Seriously.

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

<comment><USER33> These races weren't hold at the Colosseum but at an oval track. The biggest one called Circus Maximus seated 150,000.

But in general these were free to attend. Some rich guy would pay for it to become more famous/get political power.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> This seems to be using scale and price changes to mislead. The modern equivalent would be Lebron James funding a school system, which seems like a similar commitment. We can imagine Lebron eg paying the police force of Cleveland for a quarter of a year. Perhaps more comparable numbers to Rome.

Nothing about the numbers for the globe or the us compare to ancient Roman numbers.</comment>


Apple engineer in need of OSS maintainers - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/mdiep/status/1252586799098183682 <comment><USER2> This is another place where Netflix really shines. Their policy is basically:

Go ahead and work on open source. Use our computers and our office and our internet if you want. If we use the software inside Netflix, please mention that on the project page if you can, but if we don't or you can't, then whatevs.

Also, if the software was created here at Netflix, feel free to open source it if it has to do with operations, but if it has to do with moviemaking, we'd rather keep that to ourselves for now.

They understand that open source software is great for the community and great for recruiting. What better way to attract great engineers than to point out that the maintainer of their favorite open source project works for Netflix?

<comment><USER3> Question: is that the official or unofficial policy? I know a lot of companies that are willing to look the other way–or even encourage contributions–most of the time, but if you end up doing something that they don't like they can and will come after you due the actual employment contract still being the standard verbiage that legal wrote.

<comment><USER4> If you work on open source software, you should probably not accept a contract with such a clause.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Apple doesn't let employees contribute to unapproved OSS projects (even in > their personal time).

Wow, that seems petty. And it enrages me enough that if I worked for Apple I'd immediately start looking elsewhere for a job. I can do whatever I darn well please in my personal time and any employer that says otherwise is being overbearing.

<comment><USER6> Is that even legal? In my mind, if you want to dictate what I do in my non- work time, you pay me for the time.

<comment><USER7> By default it's not. However, if you join FAANG, chances are that you'll be required to sign a contract that basically says "I waive my rights of doing side-projects to to the greatest possible extents under the laws of California". When speaking of contributing to open source, Google generally has a more positive image, but there are still occasions that something could only be released after being reviewed by the legal department if it's work- related. On the other hand, Apple is known to have strict restrictions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> While not employed at Apple, I too have a clause in my employment contract (UK) that states I "assign copyright and IP rights produced by me in the course of my employment, whether during normal hours of business or otherwise, or at the premises or using company facilities or otherwise". I was told by my manager that I need to notify them if I plan to contribute/create an open source project, and even had one open source project I created get claimed by the company since I used it for one of my work tasks even though I created it for personal use initially, in my personal time, because "I could not prove that I developed it independently of my company work needs" and was told "if you don't like this then why are you still working here".

What I want to know is how exactly do you go about getting that part of you contract removed so you own copyright and IP for work you do on your free time without the need to justify it to your employer?

I tried speaking with my company's legal department and they slightly re- worded the contract to say the same thing (basically lied to me as later my project's ownership was claimed), all my managers so far did not take me seriously and basically ignored my request to change/remove this clause, or told me they would approve anything and it would be open source anyway (another lie as my project was taken) to the point I gave up, reduced my OSS contributions greatly and only worked on things I confirmed previously were OK for me to do, which added a lot of useless bureaucracy and got me demotivated.

The only thing I can come up with was quitting my job after I negotiate with another employer to not have such a clause in my contract. But I have not done any interviewing yet, so I don't know if that is even possible.

Any ideas/hints/help would be greatly appreciated!

<comment><USER9> I have never signed a non-compete or a "we own everything you do" clause. However, rather than just saying no, I offer a compromise. I agree not to go after clients if I leave, and I agree anything I make ON COMPANY TIME is solely the property of the company.

It's been a non-started for a couple of companies, but if that's the case, I don't want to work for them anyway.

Once I worked for a company, and me and the owner had a disagreement that wasn't resolvable so I said that I'd have to quit. She leaned back, smirked, and said, "remember that you signed a non-compete." I simply replied, "No, I didn't." She suddenly had an "oh crap" look on her face and looked at the HR director, who said, "I thought I'd get him to sign it later so we let it slide when he came on." The owner then tried to stop me from leaving, but after seeing that shark smile on her face I knew it was only a matter of time before she found another way to screw me and left anyway.

There are more of us than there are them. We all need to stop agreeing to these clauses.

<comment><USER10> Why would leaving with a non-compete be so bad that the owner thought they somehow had an upper hand?

<comment><USER9> If I has signed a non-compete, that limits my income potential, meaning they have me in a bad position if I quit. That means I'm more likely to just go along with their orders rather than wait out a non-compete on savings or an alternative industry.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Original tweet: (now gone)

Apple doesn't let employees contribute to unapproved OSS projects (even in their personal time).

So some of my projects could use a maintainer to manage PRs: <cut> If you're interested, please let me know!

<comment><USER12> Sounds to me like if they own you 24 hrs/day, you should get paid 3x normal wages.

<comment><USER13> Do they? I suppose that Apple is one of the FAANG which are known for their rather-above-market compensation packages.

<comment><USER14> No they don't. It's nowhere near 3x .

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> HN may find this unpalatable, but it's still legal and permissible.

Apple indicates this restriction against personal project work prior to hiring, and employees agree as part of being hired to adhere to it. If they do not, they are not hired.

Non-compete bans are generally structured to prohibit restricting an ex- employee's choice of work after their departure, but only once you are an ex- employee and not before. I am aware of no laws guaranteeing the inalienable right to create and publish software IP while contractually bound not to do so.

Apple's restriction does not prohibit contribution of work to open-source projects, but permits only those contributions approved by Apple as necessary and appropriate by Apple's decision. The personal projects linked here were either denied that permission or never submitted for it.

Personally, I'd have to think quite hard about whether to accept this restriction if I considered working for Apple someday. Silver lining, my tiny projects are all unused abandonware, so it wouldn't require finding new maintainers. I don't envy the author of the linked tweet their duty to find others.

<comment><USER16> > HN may find this unpalatable, but it's still legal and permissible.

It's obviously legal and for obvious reasons, but it's both hostile to the culture of the profession at large AND counterproductive.

<comment><USER17> it is not obvious. the law in question (for california) is CA labor code 2870.

[https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2011/lab/division-3/...](https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2011/lab/division-3/2870-2872/2870)

the law says that employers cannot claim ownership of inventions made without work resources, even if the employee signed such a clause, unless the invention is in competition with the employer.

<comment><USER18> > unless the invention is in competition with the employer.

Companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon work on all sorts of projects. I don't think it's possible to know what is actually in competition with companies like this, at any given time. This is probably why most require permission. With somewhere like Apple, where everything is kept secret, asking and being told no would confirm the existence of a project.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Whenever this topic comes up HN reacts first with disbelief, like you're lying. Nice to see this awful practice getting some exposure from the Twittersphere. As someone who's worked in large companies for most of his career, this has been a major trade-off of accepting the offers: You need to shelf your open source work and any hobby programming you think you might one day release. Period. These companies have armies of lawyers vs. just you. People here will spout off a bunch of simple solutions like "just negotiate, bro." You may be a whiz at negotiating your salary, but you are likely to not get anywhere negotiating legal terms like this with a FAANG company. If you try the cute "strike through the clause in your employment agreement and initial it" trick that HN will advise, I guarantee you will get a stern letter from Legal in 2-7 days telling you to sign it unmodified or GTFO. Ask me how I know.

<comment><USER20> How do you know?

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> California Labor Code section 2870[1] states:

> (a) Any provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee > shall assign, or offer to assign, any of his or her rights in an invention > to his or her employer shall not apply to an invention that the employee > developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer's > equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information except for > those inventions that either:

> (1) Relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the > invention to the employer's business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated > research or development of the employer; or

> (2) Result from any work performed by the employee for the employer.

> (b) To the extent a provision in an employment agreement purports to require > an employee to assign an invention otherwise excluded from being required to > be assigned under subdivision (a), the provision is against the public > policy of this state and is unenforceable.

Large companies like Apple and Google get away with broad rules that effectively ban unapproved open source contributions because nearly every type of software can be said to "Relate at the time of conception or reduction to practice of the invention to the employer's business, or actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development of the employer".

If you work at a small company in California, I suggest pushing back on any rules like that. At my current company the employment contract they initially sent me required me to notify them in writing every time I created any work I felt was protected by section 2870 (any personal open source, any music, any writing, anything that could have a copyright). I had that paragraph removed from the contract. The burden should be on the company to enforce their copyright ownership, and provide evidence of ownership, the burden shouldn't be on me.

[1] [https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySectio...](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=2870.&lawCode=LAB)

<comment><USER22> Worth noting that this law is probably one of the driving factors behind the growth of the tech sector in California compared to other states. We're free to dream our dreams and seek funding later, not the other way around.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> This subject makes me sad. I've recently heard from a bunch of Apple employees who had asked for permission to contribute to my open source project and got denied.

Having worked there in the past myself, it's really weird to think back on how normal it seemed (to me) to allow an employer to put such extreme restrictions on my personal time.

I hope they change their attitude about this some day.

<comment><USER24> > it's really weird to think back on how normal it seemed (to me) to allow an > employer to put such extreme restrictions on my personal time.

Yeah, that's really not OK.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Given that Apple would be the primary beneficiary of a strong Swift ecosystem and seeing how they treat developers on their platform - maybe they should rethink their stance or at least bring all employee projects in-house.

Are there many developers out there that only program for Apple platforms?

I suppose if you want to be one of those developers or if you want to work for Apple, it might be not be a bad idea to contribute.

</comment><comment><USER26> Makes you wonder how many GitHub accounts are pseudonyms for people who want to hide their open source contributions from their employer. (cue _Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta_ )

<comment><USER27> I have a pseudonym account that I write all my software in. Currently my employer does not restrict me working on side-projects; however, I still don't want my professional persona to be associated with my side-projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I dont feel like helping a developer who's employer doesnt respect its customers or its employees.... It sounds like this is the trade off he gets for working there?

I wish it werent like this, people should be able to work on whatever they feel like in their own personal time.

<comment><USER29> Of course, people can work on whatever they like on their free time. The developer in case _chooses_ to abandon his open-source projects to work for a company of his choice. Nobody forced him to take this job, it was his choice.

<comment><USER30> > _The developer in case chooses to abandon his open-source projects to work > for a company of his choice. Nobody forced him to take this job, it was his > choice._

This is so reductionist that it's blind to reality.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Here's a possible solution. Do it anyway, knowing that if your company really wants to piss you off by making an issue out of it, you can (and will) tell them to piss off and quit. No job is worth sacrificing your personal life and freedom for.

When they make a problem, and you quit, if you've got someone in the company that values your contribution enough to fight for you and find a compromise to get your OSS contributions back-approved or whatever, great. The employer will benefit from the loyalty you will feel towards the person who solved the problem ("the greatest boss evar"). If your boss can't make the problem disappear, then you quit. If you've organised your life correctly, you can afford a few months of job search, and your OSS contributions are a testament to the quality of your work.

(Not saying that I ever did this. And you should probably not cross-reference "git log" with my CV either.)

<comment> james-mcelwain This might be the correct advice in many scenarios but is essentially playing with fire. A company that wants revenge could easily bankrupt you with even the smallest contractual leg to stand on. Your 200k base comp isn't going to look so sweet when you're paying a lawyer $1,500 an hour to defend you from some tech giant.

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> What did the tweet say? It's deleted now.

<comment><USER33> [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmdiep%2Fstatus%2F1252586799098183682&oq=cache%3Ahttps%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fmdiep%2Fstatus%2F1252586799098183682)

<comment><USER34> Because it took me a minute to find the tweet text on that page:

> Apple doesn't let employees contribute to unapproved OSS projects (even in > their personal time). So some of my projects could use a maintainer to > manage PRs: - > [https://github.com/mdiep/Tentacle](https://github.com/mdiep/Tentacle) \- > [https://github.com/mdiep/Logician](https://github.com/mdiep/Logician) \- > [https://github.com/SwiftGit2/SwiftGit2](https://github.com/SwiftGit2/SwiftGit2) > … If you're interested, please let me know!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> WTF Apple..?! Is this due to some fear of IP leaking via employees contributing to OSS?

<comment><USER36> Yes, and it is a legitimate fear. Someone with access to Apple's IP may unintentionally or even inadvertently leak that IP in an open-source project. Say you developed a clever new optimization on the job at Apple. You use the same trick in your open source code, thinking it's no big deal, it's just one small piece of code. But that code is now the property of Apple, and they may consider it more valuable than you do. It may enable, for instance, faster encryption with one of their custom chips. That's an edge they have in the marlet that they might lose were it not for exclusive use of that bit of code. They could lose millions -- meaning they could sue you for millions. In a court of law, it is sufficient to prove that the defendant had access to the infringed work and that their work is substantially similar to the infringed work in order to have a case for copyright infringement.

Rather than risk that sort of loss, Apple and many other companies include clauses forbidding employees from working on outside software projects even in their spare time as standard boilerplate in their employment contracts. If you don't want to play by those rules, don't work for the company. They can find plenty of top-tier engineers who will gladly play by those rules.

<comment><USER27> Ok ok, you're taking this way over the top. No engineer ever invents a new optimization that will give Apple competitive advantage and they don't know this is important and "accidentally" put it on OSS code. I don't believe this for a minute. Inventions that give companies technical competitive advantage are created via multiple iteration by a team of engineers, by them doing research. It's never the case that someone wakes up one day and writes code that can be considered an "invention". It usually starts with an engineer finding a problem, another engineer doing research on this problem for some time, and then to improve found solutions, a group of engineers discuss viable solutions.

<comment><USER22> I think large corporations are big targets for frivolous lawsuits, so they grow big paranoid legal teams. Those teams succeed based on crossing every t and dotting every i, so they eventually look for any threats, no matter how small. Eventually it turns inward and they start stifling innovation by trying to handcuff their own developers, because there's some small chance they could accidentally leak something.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Wow, glad I passed on an Apple interview.

<comment><USER38> Still a good company to get an offer from. Most companies are willing to budge the compensation packages to meet the competition.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Well, if your company is _not_ like this and you're interested in being featured on a job board for companies with employee-friendly IP policies, drop me a line (email in bio).

</comment><comment><USER40> Whenever this comes up, the question I have to ask is this: Has there even been a case in California where a jury decided that an employer owned the open source (or other software) an employee developed in their own free time? Has a company in California successfully litigated to take ownership and taken down an open source project because it was an employee's side project?

To protect myself, I have done the following:

• I make sure, before signing an "inventions" clause, to put all of my open source on GitHub a date stamp before the date when I signed the inventions clause. This way, any and all of my own open source I use on the job (usually, a password generator, but I was once at a company with DNS so broken I had to run MaraDNS locally to have a usable Internet) is stuff I did _not_ develop while working for the company.

• I list all of my GitHub projects, state that none of them are related to what the company develops, and that any and all development is done on my own time, using my own computer.

</comment><comment><USER41> The tweet seems deleted, any workaround?

</comment><comment><USER42> What did it say, the tweets been deleted.

</comment><comment><USER43> The tweet was removed. Any mirror?

</comment><comment><USER44> Just "transfer" ownership to your girlfriend or your brother and make contributions in their names. Problem solved.

<comment><USER3> Do you think Apple's legal team is stupid?

<comment><USER44> Ok, if you're that paranoid then use a pseudonym ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> I am not from US, but isn't that kind of standard practice in US? While working at any company they can hold right to everything you do in the field.

While outrageous at the first glance it does make a lot of sense for me. If you wan't to work on your side project you should quit your job. Otherwise there is a big risk you might quickly burn out, be less effective at your main work.

People seem to critique overtime and time pressure on software engineers. At they same time they want to be able to code their startups after hours effectively working 15 hour per day.

Working on open source projects instead of side gigs doesn't differ much in that regard. You might hook up on your project and spend tons of mental energy on it, making your main job suffer.

<comment><USER46> That's a theory that develops from "work is the most important thing in your life".

It's not the only correct starting assumption.

Other things that develop from it are "employees shouldn't be allowed to have kids as it might sap mental energy from your job" \- which is clearly a ludicrous position, but not dis-similar.

<comment><USER45> Quite the contrary in my opinion. This kind of limitations does force many to actually rest after hours.

<comment><USER30> Your method of resting differs from others'.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Non of his projects have any activity during last year. Yet this announcement is formed in quite an aggressive and quite frankly unnecessary way. In few days we might get another post here which will blame Apple for firing him.

<comment><USER3> Why do you think they have no activity?

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Apple's IP, and their zealous guarding thereof, is why most of y'all carry MacBooks to work instead of Dells. So before you open your mouth to criticize, think about how policies like Apple's actually allow them more freedom to innovate.

<comment><USER3> It is possible to contribute to open source without infringing on Apple's IP.

<comment><USER36> It's too risky for an Apple employee to do so willy-nilly.

<comment><USER3> It's too risky because Apple will go after you even if you're not infringing, not because you're using trade secrets or patents from your job.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


A pessimist's guide to the next 10 years - <AUTHOR> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/a-radical-pessimists-guide-to-the-next-10-years/article1750609/page1/

<comment><USER2> I'm a pessimist, but from one pessimist to another- this was way too long. You could have stopped at 3. After that it went downhill. And, I'm not moving to Vancouver, nor will I live near the subway. And I don't believe I will enjoy all of the music my grandchildren enjoy.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm not the author...

I thought he made some good points re: people who are not on technology will become increasingly annoying, and knowing everything will become much less important. I agree the advice has varying value</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Trying to innovate in online music. What do you think of it? - <AUTHOR>

Hi,
A few weeks ago we launched the first beta for a new music app: http://weezic.com.
"Weezic is your place to play classical music. Print your sheet music, grab your instrument and hit play to be accompanied by the whole orchestra."
After a few weeks of user feedback, we decided it was time for a reshuffle/redesign of the whole app.
We launched this Beta2.0 this week. We really love the output. That's why we really need to be challenged.
Developer, Entrepreneur, Investor, Designer, Musician, whoever you are, it would be really great if you could take a few seconds to tell us what you think of our product!
Thank you very much in advance !
Nico for the Weezic Team <comment><USER2> _weezic.com/en/download-free-sheet- music,mp3-accompaniment/mozart,k-191-k6-186e,bassoon- concerto,1:allegro-:43156:-bassoon_

Those are some crazy urls. Looks like the site is trying to stuff them full of keywords, but seems overboard to me.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback.

I agree the urls are not the slickest part of the app.

But I think this is also linked to the amount of content we have on the site (already 60K+ urls) and the fact that we've tried to build unique descriptive urls that describe the exact content of the page:

"download free sheet music, mp3 accompaniments" is what you can do/find on the page

"mozart K191..." is the title of the work/movement on which you are landing, with the instrument for which the ressources are available.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Hey guys congrats for the v2, seems like you killed some features and redesign the whole site. Very nice improvements !

I know well Nico and Gregory and they're very smart people with no previous experience in programming (at all), you should check out their stuff.

Here's a clickable link by the way : <http://weezic.com>

<comment><USER4> No previous experience in programming? Wow!

<comment><USER5> Wow? More like a scary nightmare. No concept of OOP, DRY, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I went to press on "add accompaniment" and it said that content is not ready yet. Why not source accompaniments from the user, then users can vote up or down accompaniments based on their quality? Users then have incentive to give you free content, the quality is managed and they have a reason to practice and get better.

I think it is a great idea BTW.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for sharing the idea.

Actually user generated accompaniments along with more advanced social features are things we plan to develop in the future.

Why we do not do it now then ?

Because we want to build serious tools to ensure the quality and structure of the content.

We want the musician to be able to play the exact work he/she is looking for in seconds: 1 click to find the work, 1 click to print the score, 1 click to launch the full orchestra and start playing.

It is a real challenge to provide this kind of experience with user-generated content (just imagine the number of user-generated recordings needed to build a full orchestra on a given movement, then you need to mix them, ensure they have the same tonality, tempo, etc.).

That's the first reason for which we don't make it available right now.

The second reason is that we provide customizable accompaniments (you can change the tempo and tonality of the orchestra to suit your needs). Again, making it available with user-generated content needs advanced music recognition algorithms.

We are already working on this and it will be part of the offer in the medium term.

We have already included some social features for sharing recordings though: on a given movement, musicians can upload their own interpretation and share it with others. Musicians can listen to each others' interpretations and give comments and quality ratings.

We totally agree this is just a start ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Really nice overall design, although I had not checked the previous version before. Not a musician, but sounds really cool to be able to read the score and setup my backing track. Not sure how on-demand works: will the asked mp3 be available for everyone once produced? Will I have to pay for each on-demand mp3? Cheers!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you very much for your feedback

Concerning "on-demand", this is how it works: It is a system for us to prioritize the mp3 accompaniments production and it is 100% free.

When you find a work where the sheet music is available but for which we don't have the accompaniments ready yet, you can upvote this work by clicking the "thumb up" button.

We produce the most upvoted works first. When we have pushed the accompaniment online, you receive an email.

Of course, once the accompaniments has been produced, we make it available for every weezician.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> [http://weezic.com/fr/telecharger-partitions- gratuites,accomp...](http://weezic.com/fr/telecharger-partitions- gratuites,accompagnement-mp3/mozart,k-299-k6-297c,concerto-pour-flute-et- harpe,1:allegro-:58801:-flute)

This is a direct link to a sepcific work with sheet music and mp3 accompaniments, for those who want to go directly to the core product:

</comment><comment><USER7> I like the idea. Too bad it doesn't work on my iPad. It's hard enough carrying a cello around on the subway, so I'd prefer not to carry a whole laptop.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback

Actually the website should work on the ipad for everything except the sheet music display: that means if you want to play the full orchestra accompaniment on your iphone or ipad, you should be able to do it.

The music scores display uses the Scribd API. Scribd is currently switching from flash to html5. The full app should be 100% available on the ipad in the next few weeks / months.

Of course, we are also planning on developing a more specific version for easier navigation on mobile devices.</comment></comment>


Show HN: CAC – Simple yet powerful framework for building command-line interface - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/cacjs/cac <comment><USER2> Looks sweet, will have to try it out.</comment>


'Shots Fired' Near YouTube HQ in US - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43635864 <comment><USER2> Comments moved to [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16748529](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16748529).

</comment><comment><USER3> Scary. I hope I never have to experience this at my workplace. Seems like this is happening a lot lately here in the United States of America. Why?</comment>


The Disintegration Loops - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disintegration_Loops <comment><USER2> I'm a huge fan of the idea of emergent music that occurs in the moment as a unique event. Aside from the Disintegration Loops being great music, they're an incredible record of a physical phenomenon that could only have happened that once in that particular manner.</comment>


Germany plans 3B in AI investment: government paper - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-intelligence/germany-plans-3-billion-in-ai-investment-government-paper-idUSKCN1NI1AP <comment><AUTHOR> On the same day, Franco-German Future Combat Air System (FCAS) planner: "Autonomy will be a key feature" & incl. "combat cloud ecosystem" with "secure data arteries"

[https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/11/14/with-plans-for- dr...](https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/11/14/with-plans-for-drone- sidekicks-europes-futuristic-jet-program-slowly-comes-into-focus/)</comment>


Rapatronic Nuclear Photographs  - <AUTHOR> http://www.damninteresting.com/rapatronic-nuclear-photographs/ <comment><AUTHOR> The discussion is over here: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4759358>

However, accusations were made that that submission was blogs-pam and pointed at this one instead, so I thought I'd submit it.

</comment><comment><USER2> It's interesting to me that Kerr cells were invented so early. I wonder what they were first used for? I know in the '60's and later they were used in lasers for Q-switching, but I'm trying to think what else they would have been used for in the 1940's...

Also, I wonder if it is more difficult to create a nanosecond pulse using only vacuum tubes...</comment>


Beyond Corp: A New Approach to Enterprise Security (2014) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/login_dec14_02_ward.pdf <comment><USER2> There was a previous discussion on that here [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9539372](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9539372) [2015]

<comment><USER3> Thanks, missed that one.

<comment><USER2> You're welcome!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Executive summary: Re-thinking how you do network security around the assumption that the company's internal network is as full of attackers as the external network.</comment>


Will PBS Deliver the Death Blow to the NFL? - <AUTHOR> http://www.vice.com/read/league-of-denial-documentary-review?utm_source=vicefbus

<comment><USER2> This reminds me of watching Ray "boom-boom" Mancini pummel Duk Koo Kim. When Kim died, I decided I really didn't care to watch boxing anymore but even Howard Cosell's boycott of boxing didn't have much impact on viewership.

<comment><USER3> With the exception of one or two superstars, boxing has died on it's own. (Or is it the UFC that killed it?)

When I was young, Football was the only sport that my parents forbade me from playing. Hockey - ok. Wrestling - ok. Football, no. While their reasoning was different (knee injuries) I'm very happy that they stepped in.

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure whether it's died ... it used to be on main-stream sports shows, but now it seems that it's owned by HBO. Since I have no interest in watching it, I couldn't say how widely it's followed.

As an aside, another sad moment was watching a punch-drunk Muhammad Ali try to give a coherent interview.

<comment><USER4> punch drunk Ali? Doesnt he have parkinson's?

<comment><USER3> Yes. I have no medical training, but it's hard to imagine all the hits to the head didn't accelerate the brain damage.

Here's more on Dementia Pugilistica: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pugilistica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_pugilistica)

<comment><USER4> perhaps however a better example would have to be george foreman. The brain damage he suffered by getting punched by ali quite scary

<comment><USER3> True. And it's not just the fights, it's the training. Ali used to train without headgear, as he wanted to prepare in as realistic a situation as possible. Even with the headgear, you can get a lot of small concussions.

It is sad to see punch-drunk boxers who have started to slur.

I did a little bit of boxing several years back. It was all fun and games until I went into the ring. After two sparring sessions I decided it was a lot more fun to go after bags that don't hit back.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why 50M Chinese Homes Are Empty [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5SE47Xjx2Q <comment><AUTHOR> Seems like anything the Chinese government has to do to fix something is going to tank their GDP.</comment>


Show HN: Hashtags for Email - <AUTHOR>

Website & Signup @ http://chany2.github.io
Demo @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69mqGL08_hc
Hashtagging Important Emails
==
Problems Being Solved:
1) Personal - Help organize your important emails and group conversation threads regardless of subject header.
2) Team Projects - Much of the content lives in the emails. Hashtagging relevant and milestone project emails into a central team access hub or a Sharepoint for Emails. This enable project progression tracking as oppose to creating a separate project log typically with Excel.
3) Work - Replaces overwhelming, unnecessary or less-critical CC'ed emails. Instead, invite users onto a Hashtag thread for them to read at their own time.
4) Search - Existing Search features are inadequate. Really requires the user to remember the content/context of the email before search can begin.
5) Sharepoint - Mostly use as storing files. Lacks files context and project description.
==
Experience:
- Organizing through hashtag in the email content is a more fluent experience than reorganizing your emails into folders, which is only for personal view, and not team based.
- Max numbers of hashtags in emails can be set.
- New social rules would be created that I cannot control. Within a professional setting, if employees are using hashtags in excess, they would be flown upon.
==
Testing Assumption:
- Market would be focusing largely on professionals and will also have an Enterprise-dedicated product.
- Hashtag currently associates with entertainment. Social fear of it in professional communications.
- Frequency of use. Crux of inbox overload from massive unnecessary emails. Organizing important threads from non-important messages.
- Quotes and Research @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RQtgYl44iBnr_p4toc4G7_N0DG9bZ35JKHTLBNqtG0c/edit?usp=sharing
- Please sign up on the website and leave feedback at the bottom. <comment><USER2> I like the idea. Recently, I've thought about two similar concepts:

a.) Ad-Hoc mailing lists / discussion groups you can subscribe to or drop out of at any time. b.) Discussions and status updates you can merely follow (and save for later) instead of participate in without those updates clogging your inbox.

The use case for both would be situations where - especially in larger companies - lots of people get CCed or BCCed because the just need to be in the loop but don't actually have to contribute anything.

I very much like you hashtag approach. It seems like the right solution to this problem. However, I don't quite understand why you took a mobile-first approach. At least in settings I have in mind a web or desktop app would make a lot more sense.

If you'd like to discuss this in more detail I'm looking forward to an eMail from you (contact form / contact details under [http://wilmsmann.fullmontymedia.com/](http://wilmsmann.fullmontymedia.com/) ).

<comment><AUTHOR> I believe what you are discussing about is very similar to CCLoop

\- [http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/24/can-ccloop-rid-us-of-our- co...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/24/can-ccloop-rid-us-of-our-collective- email-woes/)

\- [http://www.quora.com/ccLoop/Why-did-ccLoop- pivot](http://www.quora.com/ccLoop/Why-did-ccLoop-pivot)

If I am correct, the challenge of CCLoop or mailing lists is that it only works if everyone is part of it.

The hashtag concept works starting off as "Evernote for your Emails" \- helping you organize first. With the inclusion of other teammates picking it up, then the added effect is that it becomes a "Sharepoint for Emails".

<comment><USER2> You're right, ccLoop sounds a lot like what I'm suggesting. Your Evernote / Sharepoint analogies are quite good, too.

Having read reasoning behind the ccLoop pivot though, I was wondering how exactly to sell such a tool to enterprises. Michael Wolfe makes a good point when he says that with B2B software you must sell:

a.) Solutions that generate revenue.

b.) Solutions that save money.

c.) Solutions that are required for purposes of governance, compliance, security, and reporting.

While I certainly see how an "Evernote for your Emails" could streamline processes and alleviate some pain what you're selling essentially is a soft value proposition, i.e. your tool might simplify my work but how exactly does it save me money or generate revenue?

I don't want to appear overly critical but I'd even have a hard time selling this to a client of mine who clearly has exactly the problem your product could solve. Unless there's some hard, quantifiable benefit the client's highly unlikely to buy your product (unless you're IBM or Oracle but that's an entirely different matter).

<comment><AUTHOR> Correct those are great questions. How I can get interest of organizations to invest in such an email solution?

So hashtagging contents once adopted would be the base platform of plentiful features that can be used on top of it. Quick examples:

1\. Accessing content in emails to build a Powerpoint Deck with one button.

2.Or contributing to a CRM / Relationship Development application.

Essentially how do I first demonstrate the need. You can also review this IBM research paper @ [http://lifehacker.com/5848244/email-folders-might- actually-d...](http://lifehacker.com/5848244/email-folders-might-actually- decrease-productivity-searching-for-old-emails-is-just-as-fast)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> This seems like a great idea for businesses. It's not clear from your video why you are using a mobile app. I mean, it's great to offer a mobile app, but I feel like the first piece would be getting this to work on desktop, like with a chrome plugin or something, no?

<comment><AUTHOR> Long answer: In the future, Mobile / Tablet would be more prominent in our professional setting. The requirement of a device centric experience becomes a must have.

Short answer: It would double up as a web version. Just didn't show it in the demo.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I like the idea. I can see its usage in an enterprise setting.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the support. Please do sign up @ [http://www.sharemoto.io](http://www.sharemoto.io) for early beta access.</comment></comment>


Caching dynamic content with etagify - <AUTHOR> https://hacks.mozilla.org/2013/02/fantastic-front-end-performance-in-node-part-2-a-node-js-holiday-season-part-6/

<comment><AUTHOR> _crickets_

I had fun writing it, FWIW.</comment>


Pinochet, The Cold War, and the Most Pathetic Match Ever Played - <AUTHOR> http://www.footandball.net/pinochet-the-cold-war-and-the-most-pathetic-match-ever-played/

<comment><USER2> Pinochet also became president of one of the most popular football team in Chile: Colo Colo in 1984.

I also wanted to say that one of the center backs, Figueroa, is considered one of the greatest southamerican center backs in the history of football. He played in Santiago Wanderers from Valparaiso, Peñarol from Uruguay and International of Porto Alegre from Brazil.</comment>


Reddit (or Hacker News?) Marketing Guide - <AUTHOR> http://blog.kissmetrics.com/reddit-marketing-guide/

<comment><USER2> It's curious to see how every new web platform ends up being a mere marketing platform in the end. I wonder how this can be stopped from happening. I've recently seen an article on how to market using Instagram, come on.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's always tricky to understand the intersection between legitimate use, promotion via social media of interesting stuff, and abuse.

Eventually you could go down the path of wikipedia, which has only 4000 active contributors left and dropping. They protected against spam, but lost the broader community. The walls were built too high.</comment></comment>


Improving GCE boot times with custom images - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@duhroach/improving-gce-boot-times-with-custom-images-f77921a2c115 <comment><USER2> tl;dr: not installing dependencies and skipping repetitive, complex and time consuming bootstrapping every time a machine is initially provisioned reduces the time it takes for the server to be operational.

Interesting graphs though.

</comment><comment><USER3> We've accomplished much of the same by using GKE and making artifacts out of containers. New instances scale up within a few seconds (and less than a second if we pre-pull the image).

It's pretty amazing.

<comment><USER4> Came here to say exactly this. Sadly kube isn't great for highly dynamic loads as you need a bit of time to spin up more nodes.

I would just run docker images over custom images. Spin up even faster and a bit easier to build.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> What's worked for me: 1\. Base OS is core OS or GCE container optimised OS. Striped down, ultra fast, low ram (~200MB) and CPU footprint, ready to run docker containers/images out of the box. 2\. Docker Image choice - base Alpine image + {compiled grpc binaries [1] OR compiled C based server for rest APIs [2]} c based rest server size is undeR 8MB, including a couple static assets of~2MB!! Host on gke for faster pull times, or create an instance template for blazing fast boot Times

[1] : [https://github.com/mankash/grpc-alpine- server](https://github.com/mankash/grpc-alpine-server) image: [https://hub.docker.com/r/mankash/grpc-alpine- server/](https://hub.docker.com/r/mankash/grpc-alpine-server/) [2] : [https://github.com/mankash/alpine-kore- build](https://github.com/mankash/alpine-kore-build) image: [https://hub.docker.com/r/mankash/alpine-kore- build/](https://hub.docker.com/r/mankash/alpine-kore-build/)</comment>


During a Solar Eclipse, What Are Plants Doing? - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/science/plants-solar-eclipse.html <comment><USER2> Is there a difference between eclipse and bringing tour plant inside? How is it difficult to simulate a eclipse all year round ?

<comment><USER3> That's my question. Could you not just put a box over the plant for 5 minutes? Even if it needed to be a more elaborate system to simulate the correct rate of light falling and rising, it would surely be easier than waiting for an eclipse.

<comment><USER4> That's how biologists study changes and shift in diurnal cycle and circadian rhythm with pretty much every organisms. Rapid eclipse-like changed have been studied in automated incubation chamber. And all this was already known, and was part of my biology text book 20 years ago. That scientific news in NYT is the new normal sensationalism. The plants aren't really shocked. They've dealt with that for millions of year. It's not like they can escape, or turn on the artificial light bulb.

<comment><USER5> There is an argument for posting articles on established science more often (or well, ever) in the news. Not everybody paid attention in biology class and there is a benefit of not having to post reversal when the next cutting edge article comes out with opposite findings.

"BOATS EXPLAINED: Centuries-Old Problem Solved By Bathtub Nudist"

[https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ndGYn7ZFiZyernp9f/the- beauty...](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/ndGYn7ZFiZyernp9f/the-beauty-of- settled-science)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Some data my company collected during the August 2017 eclipse in Nebraska - [http://www.licor.com/env/newsline/2017/08/solar-eclipse- data...](http://www.licor.com/env/newsline/2017/08/solar-eclipse-data-from-li- cor/)

</comment><comment><USER7> They (start to) switch from photosynthesis to respiration, then are surprised and slightly inconvenienced that they have to abort and go back.

<comment><USER8> 14% loss in production over a day is more than "slightly inconvenienced".

<comment><USER9> They could have lost that production from being stepped on or fed on, or from unseasonably cloudy or rainy weather. Even for a plant 14% loss every few years feels like a no big deal. The macro effects are certainly interesting area of research.

<comment><USER10> Every ~400 years or so.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Tempast just started. It is a new way for microblogging. Posts live max. 24h - <AUTHOR> http://tempast.com/help

<comment><AUTHOR> This is our project - startup! Please give us feedback. Thanks!</comment>


Android 4.0 Released for x86 - <AUTHOR> http://www.osnews.com/story/25383/Android_4_0_Released_for_x86 <comment><USER2> Could this enable more powerful, android based games consoles? I'm just imagining a console based on an i5 and one of today's epic NVIDIA/AMD chips, with dev's already able to develop using the SDK/NDK, could be pretty amazing. (Web developer, not hardware or GFX guy here :D)

<comment><USER3> If I was building a new console I think I'd just use straight Linux; what value does Android bring?

<comment><USER4> An application sandboxing/deployment/sales system, coupled with high-level application/platform APIs that are considerably more coherent than the gnome/kde/whole-universe-of-libraries C mess.

<comment><USER5> A console maker is going to bring their own deployment/sales system, and they're going to choose a single library stack. So no advantages there.

<comment><USER4> An existing console maker.

On the other hand, look at the Kindle Fire, and the rest of the Android ecosystem.

<comment><USER6> I'd just like to point out that Amazon didn't use the Android Market for the Fire but used their own ecosystem (whether you want to argue that they built the Amazon app store for the purpose of putting it on their own devices is another story). So they didn't actually use the existing Android sales/distribution ecosystem.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The link states "Several things don't work as of yet." Anyone know what those might be?

<comment><USER8> What work:

* Wifi

* Multitouch

* OpenGL ES Hardware acceleration for AMD Radeon chipset

What NOT work (yet):

* Sound

* Camera

* Ethernet

* Hardware acceleration for Intel platform

[-] [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/android-x86/JxSLaEDgYB...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/android-x86/JxSLaEDgYBA/7iAdUzZ- xFcJ)

<comment><USER7> Awesome thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Direct link: [http://groups.google.com/group/android-x86/browse_thread/thr...](http://groups.google.com/group/android-x86/browse_thread/thread/27148b6840e06010/57c47e36531d20ee?#57c47e36531d20ee)

</comment><comment><USER10> I don't know if this is a relevant question, but does it come with CIQ?

<comment><USER11> Of course not. This is a build of Android based on the Free Software release, not something some evil corporation wants to sell you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I was kinda hoping we would leave x86 behind, but whatever.

<comment><USER5> Why? It's a heck of a lot more fun doing ARM assembler than x86, but the only assembly work being done these days is a few hundred lines in the bootloader to setup the PLLs and get the C environment going. Decoding the instructions is such a tiny part of today's almost billion-transistor chips that the oddities of an instruction set really doesn't matter. AMD64 gives a good register file and fixes the problems most people complain about with x86.

The biggest impact instruction choice makes these days is on memory efficiency, but both ARM & x86 are relatively memory efficient compared to the other common RISC architectures.

Sure ARM uses less power and x86 provides better performance, but that's no longer due to the instruction set, that's almost entirely due to optimization tradeoffs.

I'm willing to bet that it will be easier for the x86 makers to scale down power usage than it will be for the ARM guys to scale up performance.

<comment><USER13> I wouldn't bet on it. According to Anandtech Cortex A15 will be around Core 2 Duo level of performance, with more or less the same power consumption per chip as today's dual cores and quad cores (Tegra 3).

Dual core 2 Ghz Cortex A15 chips will appear first in Q2 2012 from Samsung (Exynos 5250). Is Brazos or Atom at the level of Core 2 Duo performance yet? Nope. And they still use more power than Cortex A15. In the mean time, ARM chips grow in performance faster than x86 low-end chips drop in power consumption every year.

By the time Atom or Brazos achieves the same power consumption, high-end ARM chips will have first gen i3 or even 2nd gen i3 performance (a couple of years). Atom won't even be fanless until the end of 2013.

<comment><USER5> I'll take that bet.

Brazos & Atom are still 45nm, and are a lot faster than 45nm ARM parts. They should be, they use a lot more power. Exynos 5250 is 32nm.

In Q2 2012 we will finally be able to compare apples to apples. Medfield vs A15. And we'll definitely see fanless CPUs from Intel next year. I don't think there's room for a fan in this: [http://www.anandtech.com/show/4788/intels- medfield-gingerbre...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/4788/intels-medfield- gingerbread-smartphone-reference-platform)

<comment><USER13> The node doesn't matter all that much. It gives a 30% boost or so. That doesn't change the fact that ARM has been improving in performance about 2x-2.5x every 12 months. Have you seen Atom improve that fast in either performance or energy consumption lately?

<comment><USER5> The node by itself gives a 30% boost. It also enables a dramatic increase in the number of transistors, which can be leveraged to also provide a dramatic increase in performance, if there are known gains to be made.

It's far easier to be the second or third company doing something than to be the first. A large part of the increase in performance that ARM enjoyed was obtained by learning from the successes and failures of Intel & POWER & Alpha and all other performance trailblazers.

Now that ARM is getting closer to mainstream performance, that kind of momentum is going to be much harder to maintain.

But mostly I've learned to never bet against Intel. Many have done so, and the landscape is strewn with their failures over the last 30 years. Certainly NVidia & Samsung et al have some very impressive engineers that might be capable of beating them. Eventually Intel will stumble, and it might be this time. But I'm much more willing to bet on Intel than against them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Going to install this on an eeepc now, will post results.

<comment><USER15> Currently running it on an Acer W500 tablet, looking good except for a few graphical glitches. Stock launcher is laggy though, runs better with AWD Launcher.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Brazos still sips significantly more power than the best high-end ARM chip right now. I also think it's a mistake for Google to focus on the x86 platform. If they do it, and they are successful with this, they will be opening the door for Microsoft to come right in and take it all away from them with Windows 8.

Windows 8 will be weak on ARM and strong on x86 as a platform, which is why Google should support ARM over x86 for as long as possible. They are once again repeating the mistake with Flash - supporting a technology just to spite Apple, even though it's not in their best long term interest either.

Right now, in the tablet market, Apple is not their #1 enemy. Microsoft is. They need to focus on (forever) winning the #2 position after Apple in tablets. After Windows 8 fails to become #2 in tablets, they can then go back to winning the #1 position from Apple. But if they don't focus on getting a _strong_ #2 position right now, and make it impossible for Microsoft to ever get it again (just like they did in smartphones) they risk losing both top 2 positions in tablets, and maybe even more.

Also, I really wish they were more pro-active in getting more (a LOT more) developers to make Android tablet apps. Why are they so slow on this? How can Microsoft push for 40,000 apps in one year on a 1% market share platform, and they can't do the same with Android for tablets? Google really needs to get this priority straight because it's vital for the continuing success of Android.

This is not the time to be laid-back about this. They need a very strong showing on tablets by the time Windows 8 appears on them. I still think it's too late for Windows 8 for tablets, but the more laid-back they are about it, the higher the risk is. They need to minimize Microsoft's opportunity as much as possible. This is Google's (and Apple's) chance to stop Windows from dominating the market for another decade.

<comment><USER16> With the exception of Google TV (which is Honeycomb/x86 at the moment), I don't think Google is focusing on the x86 platform for Android themselves. I think they're just happily accepting AMD's and Intel's contributions for a few reasons:

1\. A good Android/x86 port will give them the option of offering an Android simulator (like Apple's iOS simulator) to developers as an alternative to the much-maligned emulator.

2\. If Intel or AMD gets anywhere with x86 smartphones and/or tablets, it is better for Android if it is involved (or at least prepared).

3\. They'd rather have the android/x86 work take place under the official umbrella, rather than be an external fork (especially if the existing external fork(s) would otherwise get high-profile sponsors like Intel and AMD).

<comment><USER17> Its worth noting that the only reason I know of that Google TV and some other early gen "media box" type devices ended up on x86 was the lack of an ARM SoC that could handle 1080p MPEG-4 AVC/h.264 decoding on the higher codec profiles. Boxee for instance publicly stated this was the reason for canning their original design based on the Tegra 2 SoC. There are now ARM SoCs which can do this, NVIDIA's Tegra 3 and the new TI OMAP 4 line.

I wouldn't be surprised to see many such devices move back to the ARM SoC platforms in their next incarnations.

<comment><USER16> Hmmm... I didn't realize the availability of appropriate ARM SoCs was a factor. I'd presumed that having Intel as a co-developer on Google TV was why it launched on x86. However, I can see how the causality can go the other way (not having usable ARM SoCs meant picking Intel as a partner).

I wouldn't be surprised to see devices move back (to line up with the bulk of the Android ecosystem, for instance), but since battery life / power consumption isn't a big issue for TV peripherals, I could see things staying with x86 as well. We'll see.

<comment><USER17> Outside political influences I would see ARM SoCs as a much better fit in this space. While power consumption isn't an issue directly it is an issue indirectly in the form of heat and coincidentally cooling. A device without a fan is desirable from a noise perspective in a living-room, a cost stand point and a "sex appeal" standpoint (pretty case, tiny or no power brick, etc).

ARM systems can also be generally cheaper to implement as with many SoCs there is no "chip set" just the single SoC and a couple auxiliary parts. Few parts and fewer traces generally results in a cheaper product.

I would _think_ but certainly don't know that maintaining a single set of optimized drivers would also be a win. As many of the ARM SoCs share sub- components with the SoCs used already on android. Thus there is a cost win in being able to use existing drivers. On the other hand anyone that has used linux on Intel GMA video knows there are some "issues" with those devices and since android sits on linux, I would assume they had to do a bunch of custom work to get it working well (or maybe its just an X11 thing).</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Dolphin Sonar Reflections Are Decodable? - <AUTHOR> http://gizmodo.com/unprecedented-image-shows-a-dolphins-echolocated-impres-1746714755 <comment><AUTHOR> OP here. This popped up elsewhere, thought I'd share. I'm a bit annoyed though because all this does is show that we can take sonar reflections and create an image from them, doesn't say anything about what the dolphin is doing with it.

It would be a much more interesting experiment to look at just applying the same imaging algorithm to non-location noises (just dolphin chatter) and see what it looks like.</comment>


Ask YC: Verifying Gender - <AUTHOR>

I am mulling over the idea of a social news site for women.  These already exist, but they seem to rely on the notion of being so "girly" that supposedly only women would want to read them.  I find this limiting.  (I am male, however, so perhaps this is just my distorted point of view.)  Is there a good way to verify the gender of users that won't turn them off?  Perhaps using Facebook?<p>I also seem to remember mentions of moderated women-only websites in Japan. <comment><USER2> I'm not sure why you would want to do this. What's better about a site that verifies that all members are women? Protection from invading anti-feminists? Safe space, like an online women's center?

A good strategy might be to make the site invite-only, and distribute invite codes to early members stressing that it is supposed to only be for women. That might actually generate a sort of buzz, if you _forbid_ it to men.

<comment><AUTHOR> Making the site invite-only is a good strategy. But it will not do enough to prevent men from getting registered. There would have to be another mechanism.

The purpose would be to have a social news site that's oriented towards women, but which does not accomplish this by actively encouraging "girly" content. I want the notion of "what's interesting to women" to be emergent, not socially engineered by the site's designers. Also, I suspect that this will make the site safer as well.

The mechanism does not have to be foolproof. The ability to flag abusive users and other moderation mechanisms will still be needed to weed out the "leaks" and female users who also happen to be abusive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Simple, require registration.

Ask gender.

If they answer Male, tell them to fuck off.

<comment><AUTHOR> This won't work. There is a sizable population on the net that likes to pose as female. If all you have to do to forge a female identity online is to choose female, then lots of guys will do it.

I'm thinking that having an "unverified" status is the way to do it. Users who are not yet verified can browse and do certain things, but cannot comment or moderate. Alternatively, they will be able to comment, but at a lower Karma score, or some such.

<comment><USER4> But gender is ALWAYS "just ask and trust them", isn't it? Are you going to check their crotch? Or their hormone levels? Or their chromosomes? It's a bit silly, isn't it?

 _There is a sizable population on the net that likes to pose as female._

Not just on the net. I'd argue that the only reason it's so much more sizable on the internet is that gender-bending is so much cheaper there.

<comment><AUTHOR> In real life, it isn't just "ask and trust them." You have to be invested in an identity. I figure that maintaining a female Facebook identity is a good enough analogue. This won't be absolute, but as you point out, neither is determining gender in real life.

If gender-bending is not so cheap, then by your logic, you should get different dynamics. I am curious what a social news site for intelligent women would produce. Not a Digg for women, but a Hacker News for women!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Make registration require an invite from another member. For the initial users, only invite people you know to be women, and that you trust to follow your rule of only inviting other women themselves.

It may slow your growth at first but could add to the sense of exclusivity that you appear to want. A strong community devotion to the idea of women-only membership might be a side-effect of the self-selecting invite/agree process.

Though beware: there be dragons in online conceptions of gender, and it's sure to always be a topic of controversy (PR hooks?), especially as a man creating a women's-only site.

<comment><USER4> _there be dragons in online conceptions of gender_

And how! There are plenty of biomales who nonetheless consider themselves female, and would probably be well-served by a site like this. What's the value in keeping them out?

Gender is not always so strictly binary.

I don't think you really need to worry overmuch about keeping out men. If you just say it's a "site for women" and make sure to have lots of offerings on topics that you know will attract a largely female audience, you'll probably find that you don't have a problem. <http://shine.yahoo.com> has an almost entirely female audience, and they certainly don't do anything to keep out anyone. Most men won't _want_ to visit a site that's marketed towards women.

And anyway, what's really the harm if men visit your site?

<comment><AUTHOR> _There are plenty of biomales who nonetheless consider themselves female, and would probably be well-served by a site like this. What's the value in keeping them out?_

If they present themselves in public as bonafide _females_ then I wouldn't. This would be for people who are female gendered _in real life_. There are already plenty of places where you can be a female just _online_.

There may not be harm in men visiting the site. But there is potential benefit in a female-only site. This would only happen if we could keep most men out.

<comment><USER4> _If they present themselves in public as bonafide females then I wouldn't._

And if they present themselves in public sometimes as bonafide females and sometimes as bonafide males? What then?

 _This would be for people who are female gendered in real life._

Again, how do you even even define that, precisely? Gender is not so binary as we make it.

 _There are already plenty of places where you can be a female just online._

And your site would, inevitably, be another one of those. _So what?_

 _But there is potential benefit in a female-only site. This would only happen if we could keep most men out._

Marketing! You're Doing It Wrong!!

Instead of worrying about keeping people out, you should be worrying about who you're bringing in, and how to target that market. If you get a few extra page-views, um, is that _really_ a problem?

<comment><AUTHOR> Defining gender absolutely precisely is not important. Keeping males out absolutely is not important either. People deal with the gender issue in real life just fine without such absolutes. The system only has to work well enough, like real life. And in real life, it manages to work well enough because of costs. It will "cost" a lot more to pose as a female on such a site. Therefore there will be fewer posers.

More page-views is fine. Commenting would be female-only. That is the value proposition. Female-majority forums aren't all that common.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> although its not really "women-only", sugar inc (<http://www.sugarinc.com/>) is female-focused, somewhat-social news and such.</comment>


Twitter squatting - <AUTHOR> http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/34635 <comment><USER2> There are no ownership rights in a twitter name. I had some company names and they were reverted over to the companies by twitter itself.

<comment><USER3> Do you know the process to get a name's ownership?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> When tipjoy launched, Mark Mayhew ( <http://markmayhew.com/> ) claimed <http://twitter.com/tipjoy> for us, and gave me the keys. It was really nice.

</comment><comment><USER5> If you're using twitter to engage people and not just push content then your name shouldnt matter much as it will show up in your @replies...

If, like most corporations, you still see twitter as a push tool then yeah you're screwed because people wont be able to type your brand name and find you.

Twitter seems to be pretty good about turning over trademarks though

</comment><comment><USER6> And pchristensen is taken. Thanks for giving me the top too late, networkworld.com.

</comment><comment><USER7> I did that. @WordPress was originally mine but I gave over the keys when I met up with Matt at some event.

</comment><comment><USER8> Flat centralized namespaces are bad; creating new ones is worse.</comment>