Musk defense "borders on the ridiculous," SEC tells court - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/03/musk-defense-borders-on-the-ridiculous-sec-tells-court/ <comment><USER2> The man truly is his own worst enemy. Seemed clear that something was up with him when he called that cave diver a "pedo" for no apparent reason. I hope that being held accountable for his actions deflates his head a little bit. Smart guy who is working on some good stuff that most people support and he doesn't need to keep lying about it.

<comment><USER3> There's that line that around 2pm when after work we do stupid stuff like: mistakes in hospital work, stupid tweets etc.

Reference to "When" by Daniel Pink

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> this truly is the best (at least the most hilarious) timeline

<comment> core-questions Nothing makes me happier than Musk's utter disdain for legal processes that he can pay his way out of. I wouldn't even go to court if I was him... would just hide out on my island and keep tweeting stuff that pisses off the SEC until the bitter end

<comment><USER5> The SEC is one of the government agencies that's best not to mess around with. They have broad powers, lots of discretion, and a very long arm. They can't put you in jail, but they can make sure you never see the inside of a boardroom or run another publicly traded company until you die. They can also reach out and seize assets overseas, and they have a pretty close relationship with the Justice Department.

I think Musk is just somewhat damaged, as his recent history keeps demonstrating. Calling that diver "pedo guy" was beyond stupid, but going back for seconds on that was nuts. Smoking pot on video when you have a security clearance is also stupid, as was "funding secured." His behavior on that shareholder call was childish, and so on. He just keeps on walking into panes or plate glass and bitching about how much it hurts, but no one is doing this to him, but him.

He has some huge companies to run, and this behavior as a pattern is concerning for those of us who care more about the fate of those companies than his increasingly obnoxious and conspiratorial cult of personality.

<comment> core-questions I guess I'm more on the cult of personality side, because I'm not an investor. My view is that Musk is someone who's peeked behind the curtain far enough to be scared and demotivated by what he's seen, and now he's just surfing down the luck plane to see where he lands.

As an observer, it's fun to watch. Not sure I care that much about the impact, sad as that statement is.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is PCT filing worth it for product startups? - <AUTHOR> Hi,
We are debating the pros and cons of filing a PCT patent application for a new kind of shoes. At an early stage, filing a PCT application is costly and if this is not going to be beneficial, then we would be wasting a significant amount of money that we could rather spend in other areas.
If you have had such a dilemma, and have decided to go one or the other way, we highly appreciate your opinion in whether a PCT is worth it or not.
Appreciate your time. Thanks. <comment><USER2> Filing a pct is not that expensive and buys you 18 months to decide if you want to file national patents. You can even file a pact yourself.

A few thoughts: 1\. if you can't afford to file a patent you probably can't afford to litigate a possible infringer. 2\. In the above case does having a patent help sales from the marketing point of view? If no, why bother with one. If yes, then you may want to just file a us patent.

Ianal</comment>


Codebug: Mac PHP Standalone debugger on it's way - <AUTHOR>

A month ago I submited a story ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4499745 ) to HN about a debugger I was working and I got a lot of feedback of people interested.
Today I'm here to let you all know that the first version is almost ready to be released, it's currently under testing by a few people on HN that contacted me.
I expect to release it very very soon, in case you are interested go to:
http://codebugapp.com/ and I will notify you as soon has it's out. <comment><USER2> I've been working with the beta this afternoon and its great. Its like MacGDBp but with a far better interface, less crashy, and with the ability to set breakpoints directly in your code with a code snippet (which is a huge timesaver for me).

<comment><AUTHOR> Glad it's working great for you :D that's all I wanted a stable easy to use PHP debugger ;)</comment></comment>


Thoughts After a Week with Google Glass - <AUTHOR> http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1720

<comment><USER2> Tried them a few months ago, my impression/fear was that they would:

1- go the Segway route (== dorky)

2- go the bluetooth headset route (== douche)

Sad, maybe, but then again the Segway is so awesome to use!

<comment><USER3> Well, the more I think about it, the more see that being a "dork" or a "douche" is not the problem here:

The problem is that it's a disguised projection of power onto others.

The user is implicitely saying to people around him:

"I can film you and you can't/don't/won't - I can show this to the whole Internet whenever I feel like it. In other words, I control your behavior."

So, Google basically wants you to suck up to the tag line: "Get more power, at the cost of the people around you."

In this context, physical aggression kind of begins sounding plausible, actually...

<comment><USER4> All of which were possible with a phone camera, the only difference with glass is that it's harder to know if the device is recorded.

<comment><USER5> you are not walking around with your handheld camera pointing at everything you look at.

<comment><USER6> Most people have two cameras pointed at everything they look at. The recording is just very low fidelity right now.

<comment><USER7> But these cameras don't have an "Upload to YouTube" feature.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think glass as a physical product looks cool, and I don't yet have enough paranoia as part of my day-to-day that I'd feel weird about somebody wearing it around me. But I can't see wearing one all day, there's simply no use-case I can think of for me to have one on while sitting at my desk at work.

I like the idea of a head mounted display that doesn't block your vision. It's too bad it's not a true hud. That's going to limit the applications tremendously.

I like having a camera on it. I agree with this article's assessment about the quality of the pictures.

It's great getting directions while hands free, I can _almost_ get those today on my phone with a pair of headphones. Once I set the destination, it becomes hands free. I can even listen to music/podcast at the same time and even have my phone record my distance with an exercise app.

About audio only I can hear, headphones work fine for this and it doesn't feel like a brain worm is burrowing in.

It's almost like you can get 90% of the glass experience with your phone in your pocket, a pair of $10 headphones and a bluetooth google now button on your wrist (fictional). I'd say add in a clip on display or something for a hud but there appears to be incredibly few of those around...and the ones that are out there are bulky enough to by mistaken for a orthodontics headgear...

and I guess that's where glass really is great, I just wish I could repurpose the display a bit...

it's kind of "meh" right now, but we'll see where the apps take it

<comment><USER9> I think they look really lame. Good side is that at some point in the future, there'll be a better looking product and we can look back at these old photos from 2013 where people were running around with "bricks" on their glasses and above the ear.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Can you imagine what Glass can do to medicine? Imagine a doctor wearing Glass, repeating the patient's symptoms and being given a dynamically updated list of differential diagnoses with formulary medications and next steps in management based on the most recent research. It would be the perfect assistant. I get hot and sweaty just thinking about it.

<comment><USER11> It sounds dreadful. I would much rather they be using a tablet so they can be 110% sure that the symptoms and diagnoses are clearly articulated. Having them rushed across a tiny screen or read out sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Devices like Glass should only be used for small, simple problems where a wrong answer isn't going to result in someone dying.

<comment><USER12> I'm doing the PGM class on Coursera, and Prof. Koller mentioned that one reason the expert diagnosis systems never took off in the 90s was that it was hard to integrate them into the doctor's workflow.

She also mentioned that situation was changing with the advent of usable tablets, so maybe we'll see some progress here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Locker rooms will never be the same with Google Glass. Peeping at ATMs when someone is using it... I can already see the criminal class thinking up a multitude of uses for it.

On the plus side, it would make an excellent exercise companion. Heart rate monitor, current speed, calories burned etc.

<comment><USER14> I don't understand. The glasses are in front of your eyes, so anything you record you would also be seeing naturally with your eyes. If you can record somebody's ATM button presses with the classes, you can simply see the presses with your own eyes.

<comment><USER11> We don't yet know what the specifications of the consumer Glass will be. It could have digital/optical zoom in the camera. Also a program could be written to recognise a person's fingers and make statistical assumptions about the keys they would be most likely to press.

But I think the ATM argument is moot anyway. Far easier to skim the card or simply rob them.

<comment><USER15> You think it's easier to physically overpower and rob someone than to shoulder surf? The stealing of the pin is part of the card skimming.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've seen several comments around the web from privacy advocates along the lines of "I'll punch anyone I see wearing glass" or "I'll rip it right off your face" etc.

Have there been any reports of this happening yet?

<comment><USER17> [http://eyetap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/physical-assault-by- mcd...](http://eyetap.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/physical-assault-by-mcdonalds- for.html)

Not Google Glass, but similar.

<comment><USER3> I overheard a guy at the supermarket checkout, he was saying to what seemed to be his GF that he would actually kick people with a Glass from behind because that way he wouldn't be recorded... not very happy thoughts, I have to admit.

What's true though is that we're taking a very dangerous road here:

1\. Google Glass means total and permanent surveillance

2\. Total and permanent surveillance means people will be afraid to use their right to freedom of expression (out of fear of blowback)

3\. Suppressed freedom of expression means: Democracy is dead and a police state becomes very realistic.

Who in their right mind wants that?

<comment><USER18> I'm not sure punching people in the face or kicking them in the back counts as "freedom of expression".

<comment><USER5> no one said that. you are mixing physical violence in. could you elaborate what you mean?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> > Where to voice control: while the voice recognition is great, there are few > places you actually can make use of it. At the office and in public talking > out loud to your glasses is not an option.

Yet!

In 2002 I clearly remember being shocked by a cyclist screaming in to his bluetooth headset whilst careering down the road. That's an extreme example, but talking "to yourself" whilst walking is already common in some cities.

</comment><comment><USER19> Amazing that they were allowed on the casino floor. I would have expected different from a Vegas operation.

<comment><USER12> I'm pretty sure they fall under existing bans. Casino personnel probably just don't recognize them for what they are yet.

<comment><USER19> I would have expected that their highly paid, highly resourced security teams (watching via the CCTV, all the time) don't have up-to-the-day information on possible spy camera tech available to consumers.

<comment><USER19> I meant "DO have"!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


A reminder to be cautious merging pull requests on NYE - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/openssl/openssl/commit/4817504d069b4c5082161b02a22116ad75f822b1

<comment><USER2> Im not saying its even 50% true but the original comitters recent commits look almost-suspect too.

a few things that look guilty even though they might not be:

(just looking at 5 of his last 1 mo of commits)

1) hes touching a lot of crypto 2) hes removing crypto 3) hes adding ifdefs disabling services (ie #ifdef windowsstuffflag skip_eliptic_curve_encryption ) - real example . wtf. 4) im not seeing a lot of feature additions 5) oh openssl 1.0 came out i better make 1.01 2 days later with like 2 features, my tls heartbeat code and some lame other feature 6) his heartbleed commit uses the var "payload" instead of "data" or "msg" \- wtf.

7) hes reversing flags in code

        if ("OK" == vt_asdf_ok){
            if (checkflags) {
               dostuff()

becomes

        if ("ok" != vt_Asdf_ok) {
        }
        if (!checkflags) {
           //dostuff

idk i only looked at 5 commits</comment>


Censored on Imzy /Politics for defending Trump supporters against violence - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@trentlapinski/censored-and-banned-from-politics-on-imzy-for-defending-trump-supporters-against-violence-263007fd0020 <comment><USER2> Good articles. So much for Imzy being a 'kinder gentler version of Reddit'. Looks like the same old activists have colonized the strategic key areas and are using the same old tactics of attacking the poster, not the content, and raising such a stink in the process that it silences normal people and drives them away. Then they will claim that their enforced orthodoxy has spontaneously emerged via the 'hive mind'. It is overwhelmingly likely that these are paid activists.

</comment><comment><USER3> Boy there's nothing half as exciting as reading a dude's blog post about getting banned from a web forum. (Same guy apparently wrote this : [https://medium.com/@trentlapinski/the-berkeley-riots- were-a-...](https://medium.com/@trentlapinski/the-berkeley-riots-were-a- cowardly-act-of-domestic-terrorism-2bcafbb32ff0#.32fyap9zr) )

<comment><USER3> Oh wait mysticlabs appears to be the same person as the author, or at least a serious fan.</comment></comment>


Playboy Magazine Interviews Google Pre-IPO (full text) - <AUTHOR> http://www.google-watch.org/playboy.html

<comment><USER2> Wow, us start-ups have something to look forward to...Party's at the playboy mansion to play with boobs and bunny's. Brin and Page, you guys are our idols.

<comment><USER3> ...fake boobs and an old man hooked up to a dialysis machine and a 600 horsepower Swedish penis pump working round the clock.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I bought that issue for the articles.</comment>


Has anyone tried providing a service to improve people's blog posts (e.g., in terms of grammar, style, tone, fact checking, etc.)? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> I am not sure if there are enough people that care/realize the importance of this. I personally do.

Fortunately for me I had great English teachers in high school that designed their classes around effective communication rather than fancy writing. I still drop them an email every now and then to get their advice on how I could communicate a given idea more effectively.

Other than that I love Orwell's paper on English(<http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm)> He makes great points that every blogger can learn from.

-Zaid

</comment><comment><USER3> A service that crawls a given URL and reports spelling or grammar mistakes would be relatively easy. The 'lynx' and 'spell' utilities inherent in most Linux distributions would suffice for the basics.

I think the service would be better marketed as a last line of defense against linguistic embarrasment. If the 'service' found a typo, punctuation (that would be a little harder) or grammar error on a given URL it could simply e-mail a designated contact, show the error in context and suggestions to correct it.

This would be useful only in situations where ajax based "as you type" correction (or more traditional regex post-posting) is not possible, or if a site blindly imported harvested content from other sources without human checking for such errors.

Given the ease of which this could be developed, I say .. go for it.

</comment><comment><USER4> Two reservations come to mind:

1\. How many people would want this? It seems like the number of people who take their blogs seriously enough to be willing to pay for this is maybe a thousand.

2\. I don't see how this can scale. Unless you're thinking of AI, or some sort of peer-to-peer network, then you're selling a skilled-labor-intensive service, not a product. You might be able to form a profitable small business, but I wouldn't call it a startup.

<comment><USER5> It doesn't need to be as purpose-specific as the title suggests. Blogs are a medium of communication; there are many possible media.

Consider this interaction. A: this rose is green. B: roses are not green. C: (so the rose is not green!). C: actually, it's not a rose, it's a leaf.

This can occur in a blog, in a chatroom, and more importantly, it occurs in everyday life. Proofreading, fact-checking and such is a streamlined application of this self-correction process (e.g., of the ABC system above), applied to written material.

While we are a far way off from AI that can do this on the fly, the processes certainly is extendible, and should be extended. It's how ideas evolve.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This the type of thing that is doomed to fail. And it _should_ fail, because filtering peoples thoughts through a machine will lead to everyone speaking the same online, when in real life people do not speak that way!

Blogs are real people with no editors. If you want correct grammar, and fact checked posts, read a newspaper.

</comment><comment><USER7> Paid copy editors already battle with writers over grammer and word choice and you want to provide a service to casual writers?

Setup a package consisting of "The Elements of Style" and a link to copyblogger.com and one of two will prove beneficial for most bloggers.

<comment><USER5> The service isn't actually trivial. And I don't know if amichail has anything specific in mind, but improving the quality of a writing is not as simple as following stylistic guidelines.

First, battling over grammar and word choice shows that there are usually multiple interpretations and construction methods for a single utterance.

Second, grammar and word preferences change over time. While this makes a case for writing fashionably, it also means that really good writings are valued for content; good content can be expressed without strict adherence to guidelines. Rap, for example. It makes no sense to proofread rap.

In any case, there are no absolute rules for language use. This point is stronger when you have a large readership, and even stronger, when your readership has the ability to talk directly to the author, and perhaps even contribute.

The challenge is to be able to accomodate a huge number of these copy editors, who come and go as they please, shout or whisper their preferences, and somehow make the end useful and actually better.

<comment><USER4> "good content can be expressed without strict adherence to guidelines. Rap, for example."

Apparently, "good content" is one of those phrases subject to multiple interpretations.

<comment><USER5> my writing led to confusion and thus was not "good content." but ah, you know, good content. you know? :)

notice that dfranke just proofread my post.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Yes, but present / future tense :)</comment>


Google is Creating an Amazon Prime Competitor - <AUTHOR> http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204012004577072323400561792-lMyQjAxMTAxMDAwMTEwNDEyWj.html

<comment><USER2> With these companies constantly getting into each others' business, I'm reminded of the old joke:

Heaven is where the police are British, the lovers French, the mechanics German, the chefs Italian, and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the chefs are British, the mechanics French, the lovers Swiss, the police German, and it is all organized by the Italians.

In just the last three years, Google has gotten into mobile devices, social networking and now allegedly e-commerce, Amazon now does full-on computing devices (with Google's OS) and Microsoft has the #2 search engine. This is getting hard to keep track of. And no wonder everyone keeps expecting Facebook to come out with a phone.

This report seems like the oddest one yet. Does a shipping service even qualify as organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful?

<comment><USER3> One thing that Amazon does is shove a load of adverts, i.e. leaflets, into their parcels. Given that Google is also a behemoth in the ad industry, this might just make sense.

<comment><USER4> My family has never had ANY leaflets in our parcels, and we've been ordering off amazon for years now.

<comment><USER5> I've been a Prime member for 3-5 years, I guess, and we've gotten dozens and dozens of them through the years. I can say that I cannot actually remember the last time I received one. I can, however, remember that it was a "Cell phones for servicemen" or something like that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've noticed in the past that Google has special provisions for: Navigation, Autonomous Vehicle Control, or Enterprise Applications in the terms of use - <http://code.google.com/apis/maps/terms.html> \- 10.2c.

Google has all the data to know the exact steps between the location of the product in inventory and the location of the doorstep of the customer. I could see them reducing cost of delivery in the following ways:

1\. Using automated routing tools to allocate delivery resources in real-time. Currently, a human dispatcher can account for up to 35% of the cost of a same- day local delivery. Straight from an algorithm to a mobile phone is cheaper.

2\. Using delivery contractors to collect video data to help build in the direction of an even richer google maps street view.

3\. Eventually using autonomous vehicles to replace the human driver. I'm not saying this will happen any time soon, but I could see certain sections of city roads being approved for autonomous vehicle use in the next 3-5 years. Especially if google is pushing it while demonstrating safety. Paying a human driver can account for up to 60% of the cost of a same-day local delivery.

Also, there are some intangible aspects of having the relationship with a customer at their doorstep. Creates some advertising opportunities and gives nice contextual data about the customer.

Anyhow, being fairly familiar with the space I think Amazon and Google moving in this direction will really evolve online retail. More shipping options on products; more goods being shipped locally (for cheaper); more control over the delivery chain; visibility of exactly where your package is on the way to your house. That is the kind of innovation we can expect to see if google finds a way to leverage its data towards lower delivery cost.

<comment><USER7> How would that autonomous delivery vehicle make it up the stairs to my apartment?

<comment><USER8> I would think that some incentive (say a cut in 20% of the delivery cost) might convince you to get /down/ the stairs from your apartment.

<comment><USER7> If I were there, perhaps.

<comment><USER8> If we are talking true autonomous delivery then I guess scheduling it when you're around should be the least of our concerns.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Until Google demonstrates that they understand how to handle customer service I will never use this service. Google is horrible when it comes to dealing with customers.

<comment><USER10> From what i understand ,in this effort , google only plans to be a search engine for companies who offer one-day shipping e-commerce.

I wonder if this is just google saying "get of my lawn" to amazon with regards to android.

<comment><USER11> If all Google is offering is a filtered Google Shopping, then I doubt many people will use it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> If there's one thing Amazon could use improvement on, is it's search results. Specifically, sorting them.

Seriously, I just tried it now. My complaints:

\- Why do I have to pick a department to sort? (I can kind of understand this, but it's annoying)

\- Why isn't shipping taken into account when I sort?

\- Why are used and new prices mixed when sorting?

While I understand that Amazon can't read my mind, there are certain product categories (cell phone cases, for example) where it's like panning for gold. You need to spend a non-trivial amount of time digging for a quality case for a good price.

I don't have a solution, but it certainly feels harder than it needs to be. Searching on newegg.com feels so much better, but I suppose they have the advantage of having a very narrow focus.

<comment><USER13> Also, sorting by reviews is broken (in the sense of being useful). A product with a single rating of 5 stars should not be ranked above a product with 1000 five-star ratings and 1 four-star rating. It's a really easy problem to solve too...

<comment><USER14> The silly thing is that IMDB figured out ranking in 1997 by using a beysian posterior mean: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Movie_Database#Ranking...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Movie_Database#Ranking_.28IMDb_Top_250.29)

(guess who has owned IMDB for over 10 years?)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> For awhile there was this general sense that Google was doing a little bit of everything and getting involved in everyone else's business (the root of the "what if Google decided to enter this market" question).

However, lately they've been making the news for the products they're no longer focusing on (Wave, other Labs, etc.). Could it be that with things like the UI refresh, Google+ and a shipping service (and a host of other initiatives), they're attempting to connect more with people and put out a "human touch"?

</comment><comment><USER16> Google is dipping its hand at EVERYTHING I wouldn't be surprised if it would go and compete with a custom cupcake business soon (taste graph + location + social "share my cupcake" potential)

<comment><USER17> A client gave me an earful just yesterday because I recommended using Google Chrome instead of Internet Explorer; she felt like Google was "too big" and didn't trust them anymore. I tried explaining that Chrome was a safe product anyway, but she wasn't having it.

I don't think this is a widespread problem, but it might not be too far away.

<comment><USER14> Firefox is the safe alternative here. For years, I've setup users with Firefox, and IETab for those specific (now mostly intranet like Outlook web mail) sites that play better with IE.

Some folks grok Chrome, and that's good... but it's for more savvy/advanced users.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This has to be a part of the Google Check out, which means the vendor integrating the API must opt to honor it (assuming they do not make it mandatory). I don't understand why vendor's would want to participate in it though. It does not give them any competitive advantage over their competitors since this is available to everyone else. So unlike amazon where they have a lock-in advantage with Prime, Google is not really offering it to its customers.</comment>


Hope or Hype: Would You Even Want a Tablet Computer? - <AUTHOR> http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/surveys/hope-or-hype-would-you-even-want-a-tablet-computer-092005

<comment><USER2> I have the ThinkPad tablet. (x61; I have two of 'em, actually.) Love it. Favorite machine ever, warts and all.

<comment><USER3> I also have the x61 ThinkPad and love it.

During class time, I use it to take notes. Being able to search and organize notes digitally is fantastic, as is the ability to quickly email them to someone who has missed a particular lecture.

During my off time--and occasionally at work--I use it, along with Inkseine* from MS Research, for iterative design of user interfaces.

* [http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/inks...](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/inkseine/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have an HP tablet laptop (model tx251cl) with a swivel touch screen.

One application I found that fits it perfectly is learning to write Chinese characters.

Of course drawing is another application (if only I could draw).

I think it could be used in some games, too.

Using it for control operations (moving windows around etc) feels awkward.

Oh, one other thing I forgot. It's a dual boot, and my Ubuntu does not recognize the pen. Vista does (it came in as a pure Windows box). But it does not generate a middle mouse click without an external device: pressing both trackpad buttons does not do it, nor anything else. So I set the pen click as the middle mouse click and use it mostly for that. (Lame, I know.)

</comment><comment><USER5> It sounds good in theory to me. I'm currently reading/writing this on my iPhone, in bed. A ten inch version would seem to be pretty awesome to me. However, you never know until you try it.

</comment><comment><USER6> I already have an HP tx2500-series Tablet PC, and I adore it even given some of the manufacturing oversights I've noticed.

That said, it's actually a pretty valuable tool for presentations and tutoring sessions with several people, and reading digital-format maths and physics texts is not that bad either.

... but that's assuming I have a stylus and a touch panel and the whole nine yards. Apple's probably going to use only the capacitive touch panel and not include stylus input capability.

</comment><comment><USER7> To me it has to be thin, light, yet robust just like the iPhone/iPod. I want to be able to read magazines on it, with as close to the same experience as reading a real magazine - flipping pages, ripping bits out, post-it noting pages. I hope Conde Nast or other major publishers are listening. Perhaps this type of device will bring some relief to the magazine industry, but they have to be early adopters.

</comment><comment><USER8> i just have to assume that apple has a plan with this... it'd be shocking for them to come out with a dud. i suppose it has to happen eventually, but jobs seems to err on the the far side of sure-ity. the questions really is what unique attribute is this thing gonna have that makes it unlike all tablets b4 it....?

</comment><comment><USER9> I've always just imagined it as the ultimate concession that Macs are designed to run Photoshop. Might not be good for a regular user, but I could imagine a graphics/arts/illustration department buying them by the hundreds to _complement_ their current tonnage of desktop and notebook Macs.

</comment><comment><USER10> I have a toshiba portege tablet/laptop. Screen swivels round to make a tablet.

Pro: Good for reading in bed or on a plane. Auto rotates to show a page of text.

Cons; Stylus is totally useless , but it has a page up/down button on front. Too thick - slightly thicker than a modern laptop

</comment><comment><USER11> I continue to eschew a mouse in favor of the keyboard (hell, that's why I use vim), but I am a programmer. Oh, and that doesn't mean that you can still ship a computer without a good trackpad. (I'm talking to you IBM. That pointer- thing is not suitable)

</comment><comment><USER12> Since when is consumer tech driven by _necessity_?

It seems to me the last few decades have been driven almost entirely by capacity and convenience.

</comment><comment><USER13> Once they can make the resolution similar to that of a real life pen I would be interested.

</comment><comment><USER14> I have a Fujitsu Stylistic and I love it.

</comment><comment><USER15> no</comment>


Cost to make Google phone in U.S: $4 - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/28/technology/mobile/moto-x-united-states/index.html?iid=Lead <comment><USER2> The headline used by CNN is grossly misleading. They are deriving the $4 additional cost by comparing the Moto X to an iPhone, and subtracting their estimated cost from each other.

<comment><USER3> Agreed. The comparison is not really valid..

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "China also has far more skilled engineers than the United States does. Apple has said it requires 30,000 industrial engineers to support its on-site factory workers -- numbers that simply don't exist in America. "

Of course America doesn't have IE's, they stopped hiring those people in the US 30 years ago.

</comment><comment><USER5> Bad headlines aside, its remarkable that its only $4 more expensive to make a phone in the USA! Why in the world aren't more electronics being made in the USA then? (Think quality control and product security, at least.)

<comment><USER6> The article addresses that:

" _Unlike U.S. plants, Foxconn and other Chinese manufacturing operations house employees in dormitories and can send hundreds of thousands of workers to the assembly lines at a moment 's notice. Workers are subjected to what most Americans would consider unbearably long hours and tough working conditions.

That system gives tech companies the efficiency needed to race products out the door. Plus, most of the component suppliers for tech companies are also in China or other Asian countries. That gives companies the flexibility to change a product design at the last minute and still ship on time._"

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is a terrible headline. The cost of the phone isn't 4 dollars. It's 4 dollars more than the iPhone.

<comment><USER5> To slightly edit/correct your statement: I think they are saying the cost of manufacturing the Moto X in the USA ($12) is only about $4 more than the iPhone in Asia ($8).</comment></comment>


The difference between the US and Europe - <AUTHOR> http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/the_difference_between_the_us.php

<comment><USER2> Actually the things he pointed out where, A) London is really expensive city to live, by European standards. B) Europeans do make different lifestyle decisions.

B1) Its more energy efficient to dry things by hanging them to dry instead of having a drier, so it saves nature. B2) Thinking about having lots of cable channels is just a waste of money. When people spend their free time on Internet. Or in sport activities. B3) I consider west European buildings as crappy as what I've seen in TV from America. [I'm Scandinavian we have perfect buildings, small but well insulated.] There are some basic things about saving the world by not spending too much energy on cooling in the summer or heating in the winter. And no size isn't everything. In some places LAND is so expensive and building code requirements are such that you just cannot build American style mac mansions here, and if you would build them the quality requirements would make it multimillion dollar building. B4) the minimal support that government gives for people who are jobless and already dropped out of unemployment is enough for people to eat meat everyday. B5) Lunch issue is two fold. In america do you pay 15USD per hour for mcDonalds worker? If not its probably the reason why professionals don't buy as much service here its just that some of the things that are really low wage in usa are not that that low wage here, due to labor unions and government regulations. I have brought in lunch at work just to save TIME, not save money. Damn stairs and slow elevator...

Now the other way around. I hope you enjoy your 15USD per month 3.6Mb/s ,max average 3GB per day mobile phone Internet ;)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is all based on London - which is exceptional both in terms of what is considered a normal commute there and the cost of living there. Locals who are based in London get paid a lot more than the rest of us who choose to live in nicer parts of the UK.

My own view is that London is great to visit but I would never want to have a job based there unless I was getting FU money, and even then I'd only do it for a year or two.</comment>


Ask HN: What sensors do you have in your home? - <AUTHOR> I started looking for tools to measure air quality, and found many more commercially available sensors (for various things) than I'd ever considered.<p>I image more than a few people on HN must have experimented with these kinds of things. What sensors do you use and what metrics do you collect? <comment><USER2> I have none. I'd never put any in my home unless I had complete control over them. Same goes for digital assistants, no Google home or Amazon echo for me.

</comment><comment><USER3> My home-made flatulometer is calibrated in sniffs per minute, but the family does not like the calibration experiments.

<comment><USER4> I hope you have smoke alarm at least.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Temperature and humidity. I'm looking into building a PM10 sensor.

</comment><comment><USER6> I have a bunch of wireless temperature and humidity sensors in my apartment: [http://blog.tafkas.net/2012/10/03/gathering-and-charting- tem...](http://blog.tafkas.net/2012/10/03/gathering-and-charting-temperatures- using-rrdtool-and-highcharts/)

</comment><comment><USER7> None, I have my physiological senses and that is enough for me.

I don't want a sensor telling me one room is 1C colder than another room. Or controlling my light. Same goes for the Amazon Echo wiretapping for the CIA.</comment>