Adaptive Hardware: Context Aware Interfaces (2013) - <AUTHOR> https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/AdaptiveHardware.aspx <comment><USER3> Anyone remember this keyboard? [http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/](http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/)

Super expensive, but pretty interesting concept.

</comment><comment><USER4> So what happened after 2010? It seems like they could have brought that last one to market with a bit of polishing.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'd rather have OLED keys than the strip on the MBP.

Sure, they would effectively be function keys, but you could see what the keys do for all the various apps without having to learn and remember.

</comment><comment><USER6> This is what I was hoping the new MBP keyboard would do.

</comment><comment><USER7> I own a Thinkpad X1 second generation with a touch bar, its not as sophisticated as this or the new MBP but I really hate it.

It lacks feedback when pressing the button. Trying to find the correct button without looking to the keyboard is quite difficul since the virtual buttons dont have relief. I find it as well quite annoying since moving your sight down makes you feel out of place

If you check online the Thinkpad X1 2nd gen is one of the most hated Thinkpads, because of the touchbar and the trackpad...

</comment><comment><USER8> Off-topic: I suppose my link [1] did have wrong title or timing to be noticed ;)

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12809915](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12809915)

<comment><USER9> Happens all the time and IMO it's mostly timing-related.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Was this the keyboard they built using a touchscreen and a bunch of transparent keycaps?

</comment><comment><USER11> The last video looks like the Macbook Pro.

</comment><comment><USER12> What I find amusing is that through the series of videos, the "keyboard" slowly morphs from something with plenty of tactile feedback, moving keys, and other "physicalness" to a tactile-less flashy touchscreen thing that I would not want to be typing on for any length of time. Nevermind the fact that the keys can show images that change; to me, a good keyboard is one I can operate effortlessly and comfortably _without_ looking at it.

At the other extreme, there's [http://www.daskeyboard.com/](http://www.daskeyboard.com/)

<comment><USER13> I've been using a Das Keyboard Ultimate for the past couple of years, I love the feel of it. I've got the Cherry Brown switches so it's a tad quieter than the full clicky ones, too. They're very vulnerable to liquids, though - <USER2> teaspoon-sized splash of water on mine and the 'w' key stopped working. In the end I pulled it apart and swapped the switches around (who uses scroll lock anyway?) and it's fine again, but I was surprised how little it took.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> There is also another MS Applied Science project that is a mix of Surface and TouchBar-like enabled keyboard:

[https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/D...](https://www.microsoft.com/appliedsciences/content/projects/DisplayCover.aspx)

<comment><USER15> Of course! This is cool in so many different ways.

I can imagine a large touch bar with stylus input (!) would actually be useful.

Also a trackpad at the top of the keyboard would be perfect for working on trains and planes!

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Why not expand the conventional laptop trackpad area into a touch display?

<comment> yoz-y I would guess that the problem is with the angle at which you would have to bend your neck to look over there. But it would be interesting to see a laptop with two integrated touch screens and the keyboard in between the two.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> It's a cool concept, which might help a bit with productivity but it didn't leave the research phase at Microsoft so on this one Apple got there first because they delivered.

I'd assume now that it's out there other manufacturers like Lenovo, Dell and HP will try to copy them.

</comment><comment><USER18> Here's the question I have. If you have morphing context aware keys, how do you avoid the tragedy of disparate iconography across apps?

I haven't watched much of the material, so pointers welcomed. But "ctrl+s in this app saves" seems preferable to "which icon is save in this app"?

<comment><USER19> Apple (used to be) very good about getting developers to adhere to the standards. Failing that, I'm hoping for an intermediate layer where developers expose the actions but users can customize the presentation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I remember seeing it for the first time on HN few years ago and it's still relevant: [http://hijinksensue.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/08/2012-06-1...](http://hijinksensue.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/08/2012-06-19-surface-tension.jpg)

OK, before you kill me: I know it's not the same thing and Apple actually brings value to the table with their products (even if sometimes it's 'just' polishing the UI/UX). What I don't like is that most of the world will gladly accept everything that Apple sells as Apple's fantastic and groundbreaking ideas, forgetting about the prior art.

<comment><USER20> Shipping a product is quite different from a publishing a paper.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Microsoft throwing shades at Apple.

<comment><USER22> How so? This is from 2010.

<comment><USER23> It's more a case of someone on HN reminding everyone that Apple didn't really 'revolutionise' the keyboard and that everything old is new again. Lenovo did this (adaptive keyboard strip) when they replaced the function keys on the X1 Carbon with something similar to what Apple are doing now. FWIW I absolutely hated it. Edit: Added lenovo.

<comment><USER18> Mods edited it. I think the date is key. This isn't MS speaking to Apple, just HN reminding us how science gets done.

<comment><USER22> I also suspect it's drive-by commenting, drawing conclusions based solely on the article title and personal bias.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> It's a shame that keyboards with programmable key images didn't get more widespread usage beyond Optimus [1]. I currently have a Corsair K95 RBG keyboard and it's programmable 18x3 keys [1] are near unusable because I can never figure out what G1 or G2 does. But if I had programmable key images...

[1] [http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/](http://www.artlebedev.com/optimus/)

[2] [http://www.corsair.com/en-us/landing/k95-rgb](http://www.corsair.com/en- us/landing/k95-rgb)

<comment><USER25> Do people actually look at their keyboard when typing?

I think tactile feedback is still the biggest possible feature of a (real) keyboard.

<comment><USER26> Some people probably do, I don't, half my keycaps wore off within a few months.

<comment><USER27> The programmers's war wounds.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ray-Ban maker Luxottica agrees €46bn merger with Essilor - happy-go-lucky http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38633306 <comment><AUTHOR> I don't know if this will bring greater choice to the customer.</comment>


Many cattle ranchers have declared war on Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat - <AUTHOR> https://beta.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/25/veggie-burgers-were-living-an-idyllic-little-existence-then-they-got-caught-war-over-future-meat <comment><USER2> > Mississippi's new law is sweeping: "Any food product containing cell- > cultured animal tissue or plant-based or insect-based food shall not be > labeled meat or as a meat product."

I can see the argument for the plant-based case and maybe for the insect-based case, but cell-cultured meat? I know that this is law was almost certainly helped along by cattle lobbyists, but I'm trying to imagine a situation where this is justified.</comment>


I took 50k images of the night sky to make an 81 Megapixel image of the moon - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly_50000_images_of_the_night_sky_to/ <comment> m-p-3 Becausr the full-res version links went down often yesterday, I'm hosting it on my IPFS node, here's the link (for those on IPFS, if you can afford the bandwidth please pin it to spread the load :) ) [https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmVLTMHtLRhnft3QspDx4qTJeXY6hiib1j77UfQ...](https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmVLTMHtLRhnft3QspDx4qTJeXY6hiib1j77UfQmY54CGe/mosaic.png)

Also made it available in torrent form (with the IPFS URL as a web seed) [http://www.urlhash.com/124410/mosaic.png.torrent](http://www.urlhash.com/124410/mosaic.png.torrent)

<comment><USER2> I've got plenty of bandwidth on my server - [http://files.jjcm.org/mosaic.png](http://files.jjcm.org/mosaic.png) if anyone needs a non-ipfs / magnet link :)

Alternatively, if you have a slower connection I made a lossless webp here which should result in the same output at about 1/10th the size: [http://files.jjcm.org/mosaic.webp](http://files.jjcm.org/mosaic.webp)

<comment><USER3> Loading this image brings me back to the days of my 2400 BAUD modem.

<comment><USER4> youtu.be/ckc6XSSh52w?t=44

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As an amateur astronomer who has looked directly at the moon through a telescope hundreds of times, this photo looks strange and artificial, though I know it's not. I pondered why this was for a bit, and came to the conclusion that its otherworldly quality is actually due to being superior to what one can see directly. At any one moment, direct observation will have artifacts of the air moving between you and the target object. This picture quashes all of that at once, lending an "uncanny valley" feeling I think spurred by the fact that my brain just isn't used to that level of fidelity looking at a real object. This work is fantastic.

<comment><USER6> No no, it _is_ strange and artificial. The stars are comped in from something else, and the moonglow looks like a gaussian blur. Still, it's pretty, and has hopefully inspired people to go stare at the moon.

To be fair, _most_ astrophotography is "enhanced" one way or another - I can spend hours screwing around with a single DSO shot after stacking.

Here's a quick and dirty 30 second reconstruction using a shot of the moon from last summer, acquired in much the same way as OP - except using an EdgeHD 14 with an EOS 7D in video mode. It's pretty crap as last year was my first foray into planetary imaging - I usually do DSOs.

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hYLJeb_pO9z2qNFwtux0q5Jix9D...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hYLJeb_pO9z2qNFwtux0q5Jix9DZ5MFT/view?usp=sharing)

<comment><USER7> Amateur astronomer here as well that has also done a bit of lunar photography. (envious of your EdgeHD 14...)

I made a similar comment about the moonglow, but thinking a bit I think it's a combination of: \- Higher dynamic range than the human eye (combination of stars, moonglow, and high contrast lunar surface both in shadow and in sunlight) \- High resolution imaging, and the digital signal processing aspect (noise reduction, deconvolution, etc.)

They combine to make something that looks kinda like reality but is really a mix, and maybe triggers a little bit of the uncanny valley effect.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> All the download links are down at the moment. Here's a torrent link:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:j6ixrzpitvpmkx5tgroy6utcpqr5hhhj&dn=updated%20mosaic.png&xl=304863698&fc=1

<comment><USER9> You can download/share via webtorrent

[https://instant.io/#4f9178e5e89d5ec55fb3345d8f52627c23d39ce9](https://instant.io/#4f9178e5e89d5ec55fb3345d8f52627c23d39ce9)

<comment><USER10> This is very cool. I've never used this site before!

<comment><USER11> You might also be interesting in file.pizza. Very useful. The webtorrent ecosystem in general is very cool tech.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Beautiful picture!

Author's comment about how it was made [https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly...](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly_50000_images_of_the_night_sky_to/egmo9s8)

<comment><USER13> More details from another user [https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly...](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly_50000_images_of_the_night_sky_to/egn6mbz/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This is great; as another pointer, [http://clarkvision.com](http://clarkvision.com) is my go-to source for beautiful astrophotography with technical explanations. Look for astro gallery and tutorials if interested

<comment><USER15> A quick word of caution. For anyone who might be interested in astrophotography I really wouldn't recommend any of the tutorials on the clark-vision site. This is what the co-author of an astronomical image processing program had to say about them: [http://forum.startools.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=912](http://forum.startools.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=912)

"The "articles" exhibit a litany of errors, nonsense and misunderstandings of how some basic algorithms and mathematical concepts work in image processing, including (but sadly not limited to) light pollution removal, deconvolution, the commutative property in mathematics, stacking, linearity vs non-linearity of data, basic physics and color theory.

After politely inquiring why he thought any of this was good practice or scientifically accurate and getting nowhere, even after demonstrating the mathematics and writing code to disprove some of his more fanciful claims and pointing out errors and untruths. The fact that I'm having to put this warning up, gives you an indication that that didn't go very well."

<comment><USER14> This can definitely be true and I personally find that the writing style of Clark's tutorials could use some polish -- his random switches between scientific and colloquial styles within a single tutorial can annoy both engineers and artists. I also heard that he does not like debate that he deems repetitive and is not be the friendliest opponent to his critics.

That said, the criticism above is very scarce on details. What exactly is the nonsense about mathematical concepts that he is objecting to? Roger's data describe his metrics, methodology, data and conclusions (not to the level required to publish in Nature, but better than most websites on the topic). One can argue with either or all of those, but such arguments should include the rigor at least to the level used on Clark's site.

That way we can understand what are some reasonable simplifications that are OK even if not strictly correct (e.g., when we tell middle school kids that equation x^2 = -1 has no solutions without into complex numbers or axioms of R) and which are genuine, major errors.

But the strongest argument going for Clark, IMO, is his stunning pictures. If his methods describe how he produced them, I am interested in reading more. My 2c, corrections welcome.

<comment><USER15> > That said, the criticism above is very scarce on details. What exactly is > the nonsense about mathematical concepts that he is objecting to?

There are examples in the thread I linked to.

> But the strongest argument going for Clark, IMO, is his stunning pictures.

I've seen countless amateurs produce far better images with much cheaper equipment. He also misses the point of modding cameras, improving Ha sensitivity allows more structure to be captured. A case in point, this is my quick and cheap North America nebula with an old modded DSLR and Ha filter: [https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4490/37423232795_8a37a7ecbf_h....](https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4490/37423232795_8a37a7ecbf_h.jpg)

My colour image isn't great but it shows a great deal more structure than Mr Clark's, despite using the same 200mm camera lens and less exposure time: [https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/593/22026540174_273c7ffa8b_b.j...](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/593/22026540174_273c7ffa8b_b.jpg)

For comparison: [http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.astrophoto-1/we...](http://www.clarkvision.com/galleries/gallery.astrophoto-1/web/north- america-nebula.c07.25.2015.0J6A4162-213-c-c1-1181s.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The image is 9000 x 9000 pixels.

Future proofing for my own-it-someday 8K monitor background.

<comment><USER17> I tried opening the image, but it made my entire laptop unresponsive[1]. So let's hope the graphics manufacturers catch up with the pixel trent before those 8K monitors become mainstream.

[1] On Chrome for MacOS. Granted my macbook is a couple years old, and the Apple graphics drivers are garbage.

<comment><USER18> If you have an nvidia card in your Mac, they make drivers available which work well.

<comment><USER17> I do have an nvidia card, but since MacOS 10.14 the nvidia driver manager reports that my driver (3220.127.116.11.40.105) is not compatible with my OS, and it also reports that there are no newer drivers available when using the update function. So I'm currently back at the default Apple driver.

I have ran the nvidia driver before MacOS 10.14, and it did feel slightly faster than the driver supplied by Apple. I doubt if it will improve opening an 8K*8K image in a browser though...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Pretty much every download link is down, but the torrent is working: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:j6ixrzpitvpmkx5tgroy6utcpqr5hhhj&dn=updated%20mosaic.png&xl=304863698&fc=1

</comment><comment><USER20> A couple of 1920x1080 versions for desktop, I like the one on the right so there is space for icons on left: [https://imgur.com/a/I62aGZ2](https://imgur.com/a/I62aGZ2)

</comment><comment><USER21> ~~I obviously don't know enough about images... Why would you store this as a jpg and not a LOSELESS format?~~

The full resolution image is in the comments, it's uploaded small because of Reddit

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lGDV6jOHc0v5UdkxcqYShqhKBz_...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lGDV6jOHc0v5UdkxcqYShqhKBz_UijPl/view)

<comment><USER22> > LOSELESS

Lossless

<comment><USER23> you lose less with a lossless codec

<comment><USER22> I'm glad you didn't write "loose less".

<comment><USER24> Well, a lossless codec loses less information and so it's less loose with the pixel data :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This comment explains some of the technical details: [https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly...](https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/arer0k/i_took_nearly_50000_images_of_the_night_sky_to/egn6mbz/)

</comment><comment><USER26> This is so beautiful, thanks! I'll cut some pieces to be used as desktop backgrounds. The southern part of the moon and surrounding space if turned upside down would make a really nice one. BTW, I spent some time zooming around the stars and objects and some of them look rather interesting, at least to a completely astronomy illiterate like me, such as the closest objects to the moon at roughly 2 o' clock.

</comment><comment><USER27> Anyone have a mirror of the full-size lossless image? All the download links are dead atm.

<comment><USER28> Seem to be up now, I just downloaded

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> If anyone wants to look at this image properly then you need OpenSeadragon and VIPS.

OpenSeadragon enables you to view this image at full resolution without your device keeling over, VIPS enables you to make the image tiles required to get OpenSeadragon to work.

OpenSeadragon has only ever made it to the academic world, in this age of Instagram people want average resolution selfies that take three seconds to look at. OpenSeadragon enables a deeper look.

If anyone has ten minutes spare:

[https://openseadragon.github.io/](https://openseadragon.github.io/)

On linux just apt-get install vips and then:

vips dzsave massive.jpg massive

And you are then good to go.

Now where was that torrent link...?

<comment><USER30> For images of a moderate size such as this one, viewing it on a regular image viewer is less of a hassle.

<comment><USER29> Such as?

I didn't see any example of that in the comment threads.

<comment><USER31> Firefox works great, as others have mentioned.

<comment><USER29> Have you tried OpenSeadragon? I feel like I have been casting pearls at swines here.

<comment><USER30> Openseadragon may make sense for huge images, not for merely large ones as this one, that fits comfortably in memory. Besides, not everyone is keen on using "web-based" programs just because.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Great!

It is interesting, why Google or anybody else have not made a map of Moon just like Googlemap of Earth. Are there some technical problems?

<comment><USER33> They did: [https://www.google.com/moon/](https://www.google.com/moon/)

Last time I used it, Google Earth provided a 3D view of the Moon and of Mars.

<comment><USER34> It's too bad they haven't updated this to act like the modern version of Google Maps. It's like going back in time to the old HTML version.

<comment><USER35> That's because you aren't using the maps version: [https://www.google.com/maps/space/moon/](https://www.google.com/maps/space/moon/)

<comment><USER34> Oh thank goodness.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Windows Photos is having a hard time despite my strong specs. Any alternative to use aside from browsers?

<comment><USER37> This makes me lose my shit every time I want to see a simple jpg image in Windows 10. WHY?? Even my 14 year old linux laptop can open 100+ MB images faster than W10.

<comment><USER38> Viewnior barely breaks a sweat on my (powerful by 2014 standards) machine

        %CPU %MEM    VSZ   RSS TTY      STAT TIME COMMAND
         2.8  1.6 823764 277528 pts/6   Sl+  0:06 viewnior updated mosaic.png

That's about 804 megabytes allocated, 271 megabytes resident. Took about 2 seconds to read and render the file.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> What's the glow over the lit part? There shouldn't be any dust or air to provide it there, right?

</comment><comment><USER40> This is amazing! Definitely my new wallpaper... on all my computers. :)

</comment><comment><USER41> Is the haze around the moon sun light scattering because of moon dust?

<comment><USER7> No, it's partially artistic, partially light scattering in the Earth's atmosphere from the moonlight and the exposure settings he used. The moon does have a very tenuous atmosphere but nothing thick enough to cause this effect.

<comment><USER42> > "it's partially artistic"

When I view the moon with my telescope, I see the same haze. I think its earths atmosphere, not the moon that causes it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Is the resolution high enough to see any man made stuff?

<comment><USER44> Not even close. (81 megapixels is 9000 by 9000, and the moon only takes up about the middle 1/9th of the image, so it's about 3000 pixels across. So that's over a km per pixel at the very front of the moon, and even worse at the edges where the surface is at an oblique angle to our view)

<comment><USER45> Also, I can't remember the source (maybe it was a "What If?"), but I seem to recall that it's actually to create a lens that allows us to focus a point on the moon to allow us to make out current man-made items on the surface of the moon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Awesome picture. Well done :D

</comment><comment><USER47> majority of the 81 megapixels are not of the moon though..

</comment><comment><USER48> that doesn't look like cheese at all :S

</comment><comment><USER49> Very nice!</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone here divorced or separated and have kids? - <AUTHOR>

I'm building a product aimed at people who are divorced or separated and who have kids.<p>Wondering if anyone here matches that profile, or are you all the cliched developer i.e. 20-something single young male without children? <comment><AUTHOR> Apparently no-one.

<comment><USER2> 12 minutes is way too short a length of time to judge.

I am divorced and have children. What's the product?

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi Dan,

I'll release it soon hopefully if I can trudge my way through the last steps in the process - i.e. writing terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Andrew

<comment><USER3> Do those preclude talking about what you're doing?

Separated with an almost 3 year old.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's so close benologist that I'd rather just release the working thing so you can check it out. You know what it's like. The final 1% of the project takes 50% of the time.

<comment><USER3> Why did you submit this to HN if you can't talk about or show what you're doing?

<comment><AUTHOR> It occurred to me that HN may be populated substantially by people without kids or people who are not separated/divorced and I became curious so I thought I'd ask.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


15 Chrome Extensions for Developers - <AUTHOR> http://usersnap.com/blog/chrome-extensions-for-developers/ <comment><USER2> Nice tools, but...

While these are all helpful tools, most (but certainly not all) of these are performing functions that are already available from the built-in developer tools on Chrome.

And IETab is rather pointless if it's only available on Windows, because Internet Explorer already has (rather decent) developer tools built in and can render older versions, but it's still not as accurate as running a virtual machine with the actual IE version. The real IE bugs, such as CSS selector limits, are not represented by the renderer.

I would be very disappointed to see a professional front-end web developer using all of these extensions while ignoring the built-in options.</comment>


Apple buys ads on competitor's keywords - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/10/apple-google-ads-dell-streak/ <comment><USER2> A smart tactic to be sure. However I do find it odd that it is Apple doing this as opposed to Dell or HP. I'd argue that more people have heard of the iPad than have heard of the Streak. Take a look at google trends for example: [http://www.google.com/trends?q=Dell+Streak%2C+Apple+iPad%2C+...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=Dell+Streak%2C+Apple+iPad%2C+HP+Slate&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=1)

Being in the dominant position I wonder how much Apple gains from this. Dell and HP though should definitely start doing this to raise awareness of their products.

</comment><comment><USER3> Isn't this common? I feel like I see this _everyday_ and it doesn't seem like an issue. Dell (or whoever) could do the same and probably should.</comment>


Gujarati Capitalism: Going Global - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21683983-secrets-worlds-best-businesspeople-going-global <comment><USER2> Since we are generalizing, its worth mentioning the tendency of Gujratis (or most Indians) to be extremely insular and selfish:

"Trust and honesty remain essential to Gujarati-dominated industries. Mr Mehta, himself a Jain from Palanpur, whose diamond company has a turnover of $1.8 billion and offices from Antwerp to Tokyo, says that, despite the size of the business, it is still "all based on handshakes and words, with no contracts". "

These people have traveled from Antwerp to Tokyo for 200 years...yet Palanpur is a shithole just like every other town in India. They have seen all the benefits of a free and modern society, but have not lifted a finger to bring 1% of those ideas to the town where they live.

Surat which processes 90% of the worlds diamonds is also a shithole. Its just yet another massive Indian city with no modern infrastructure, garbage and sewers everywhere, and had a plague outbreak about a decade ago!

While these globe trotters make millions which they stash, how much money do you think the rank and file of diamond polishers make? Do they have adequate health benefits and protection against problems like this: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16201206](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16201206)

"We don't have to deal with government too much, and mostly not with the banks, as most money comes from families," says Dinesh Navadiya, the head of the Surat Diamond Association. "So there is little scope for corruption."

No corruption...except massive tax avoidance. It is impossible to run the smallest business in India without running into corruption.

Some might argue these people have no obligation to improve society and that's Ok. But any article writing about the pros, should also write about the cons.

<comment><USER3> Indian Gujarati here. OP is correct. Gujaratis are good at making money in a host society. But the original towns etc. in Gujarat are shite-holes, and they've not cross-pollinated all the progress of their host societies into their source society. Also, as far as helping non-Gujaratis is concerned, fuhgeddedaboutit. To me, the implication is that they essentially lack societal vision, altruism and out-group empathy. (I'm considered an outcaste, a "wannabe sell-out" because I question why no Gujarati billionaires do more for Gujarat -- or India or Africa -- than Bill Gates.)

<comment><USER4> As another person of Indian origin, I'd have to say that unfortunately this is true of the vast majority of Indians and not just Gujaratis.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The confidence with which the author generalizes various groups of people in the article makes me quite uneasy.

We know that this is not permitted if we are attributing negative qualities to a group of people. Why is it then permissible to generalize when we are praising the same groups? In doing so the author is sort of admitting that it is at times logical to generalize groups of people and that there is no risk of prejudice in doing so.

<comment><USER6> I agree with you that this article makes too many sweeping generalizations but nevertheless it struck a chord with me. I am a Gujarati programmer and have never fit in with any of my family or community members in the realm of career or goals. I have no problems with nurturing personal relationships with other Gujaratis but I just can't connect with them on any STEM topics (except medicine). I closely know probably 100+ Gujaratis but I can't think of even one person with whom I can discuss non-arithmetic math or non-business-related software. On the other hand, I can easily think of a dozen who would love to discuss derivatives (stock market not calculus), marginal utility, or EHR/EMRs.

Growing up in India, I was told that owning your business was the only path to success. In 1990, my dad borrowed a ZX Spectrum from a friend so I could play video games and he was genuinely confused when he found out that I spent all day typing (I was learning BASIC) instead of beating his hi-score in Jetpac. Thankfully, as I learned programming, I got a tremendous amount of support from his Gujarati friends, all of whom wanted me to write DBase III+ / FoxPro software for their businesses. But whenever I came up with non-business ideas, my people just didn't get it. I don't think anyone outright discouraged me when I wanted to write software for fun but they just didn't understand why I would write freeware when I could easily sell it. Half of my years between 15-20 were spent being lectured by successful businessmen on why/how I should market my music player or transliteration software.

This article resonated with me because I finally get just how ingrained business is to my culture. I always knew I was the odd one out and came to terms with that a decade ago but now I realize how others in my community must think of me. Time and again I have chosen to not make money even after I made a finished product. For me, once the product is built, I completely lose interest and want to make something else. For them, I already did the hard part of making the product and am bailing out at the fun part of making money from it.

To any Gujaratis reading this who love hacking for the sake of hacking, I'd say there are dozens of us! Let's keep talking business with family and friends of family during the day and quietly watch Numberphile after everyone is asleep.

<comment><USER7> Thats a great writeup. I have a followup question. It seems like Gujaratis are looking at everything from business perspective rather than "problem solving" perspective like in SV. Is this true?

<comment><USER6> If you define the problem as a lack of business or financial success, then looking at everything from business perspective is just problem solving.

I honestly cannot speak for any Gujarati in SV or even tech, but in my experience, I don't think that Gujaratis are significantly different in terms of skills, morality, or values than any other Indian or non-Indian group of people. It is very easy to say Gujaratis are shrewd or follow the old-boys- club tactics but those are just typical human traits passed on culturally and sociologically instead of genetically. The basic Gujarati values mirror the basic Indian values (be peaceful, love everyone, respect elders, help the poor, be studious, work hard) but some are emphasized a lot more than others.

For every commenter in here saying Gujarat is a backwards place, I personally know a Gujarati who has donated large amount of money to non-religious public service projects. My uncle sponsors the education of 10 kids in our village in India and feeds 100+ people on the death anniversary of my grandfather. I am not saying he is a saint, I am saying he is just one data point among the tens of thousands of successful Gujaratis. It's not fair to measure charity, benevolence, and kindness because one's native place is not Singapore or Zurich just yet.

In the past few decades, our village has progressed significantly, with wealthier Gujaratis awarding scholarships to kids in need ( [http://www.balasinorcollege.com/found_trust.html](http://www.balasinorcollege.com/found_trust.html) ). Is that enough to wipe out poverty from Gujarat or India? Absolutely not. Gujaratis are NOT any different from other people. Few great, most decent, and a handful of bad apples (e.g. Harshad Mehta). I don't think the article was trying to highlight Gujaratis are some uber-exceptional race. It was just highlighting how ingrained business acumen is in the Gujarati ethos.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Indian Gujarati here, so I get a pass for what I'm about to write.

If this article was about whites or about Christians, it would not have a laudatory tone. Instead, the author would be writing about how the "old boys network" keeps others out of lucrative businesses, about how there's no diversity in the top rungs of these companies, and about how "handshakes" are circumventing government laws and taxation. But that is exactly what the Gujarati network is all about. Yes, it is a hardworking group, but also very in-group oriented, and yes, racist.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm a Gujarati. My ancestors established businesses in most British colonies at the time, from Ceylon to Hong Kong, from Siam to Réunion, from Australia to the Suez, from Kenya to Rangoon. Our family names are based on places where our dad worked for a living. For instance, my mother's family name is Siamwala (an indicator that my grand dad and his family were involved in international trade based in Thailand).

This article seems more like PR but isn't far from truth. I think, as a community, Jews have probably outdone any one community out there.

In fact, a great many jewish business families in British-India adopted Gujarat, and spoke Gujarati.

Here's another biased take on the topic by a Pakistani journalist:

[http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/WaBCEddMLH5DaM0aD5wzbN/Why-I...](http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/WaBCEddMLH5DaM0aD5wzbN/Why- India-is-part-dysfunctional-fully-functional.html)

And here my answer on Quora on a related question: [https://www.quora.com/Why- do-Gujarati-people-make-up-a-large...](https://www.quora.com/Why-do-Gujarati- people-make-up-a-large-percentage-of-the-population-of-Mumbai-despite-the- city-being-in-the-state-of-Maharashtra/answer/Murtaza-Aliakbar)

<comment><USER9> That is a very rosy view of Gujaratis. A lot of non-Gujarati folks think of them as ruthlessly miserly and capable of going to any lengths to make money. Surely an attribute that helps in a business, but not one that endears them to the 'host' society.

<comment><USER10> Be careful listening to that kind of stereotype. It's often promoted by natives who are outperformed economically by immigrants. That builds resentment and can have horrific consequences.

Finding moral fault in others is often just a way to explain their own lack of accomplishment.

Not always, of course. But something to be very careful of.

<comment><USER11> This is a two way street. You can't expect with the dissemination of ethnic- based propaganda and "pride" type movements that natives or other social groups not to take notice of your endeavors and starts responding to you in kind.

It's good to celebrate success but not good to determine the worth of individuals or social groups solely on the basis of financial assets or business holdings.

This is the real slippery slope you don't wanna step on.

<comment><USER10> I'm not sure I agree that there needs to be symmetry between compliments and insults.

I think the right approach is to compliment specific groups and people and behaviors; and criticize only behaviors. The specific people/groups who are behaving well will value the personal credit and build on it; the specific people behaving badly can take impersonal criticism without feeling the need to be defensive.

Occasionally naming names is warranted in criticism, but that's the exception.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I know that this is intended to be a puff peace about the perceived entrepreneurial spirit of the Guajarati community as a whole but I would have appreciated more if the author took the time and effort to shed some light on the usual failure stories that some members of this community endured and didn't make it abroad.

The author made it sound like every and each Gujarati person is destined to entrepreneurial success and failing and losing are unexpected outcomes in their cases.

Nothing against Gujaratis or Indians in general. I really like entrepreneurial and trailblazing people provided they earned their wealth through legitimate means not questionable or unethical ones but I preferred to read a more impartial analysis or critique of this anthropological topic than this nauseating self-congratulatory Economist article.

<comment><USER12> I feel there is definitely an element of generalization and survival bias in this article. There has been a recent Patidar reservation agitation [1] in Gujarat, India. The Patidar community, people with the surname Patel (Patels are one of the communities that is mentioned in the article extensively), are losing opportunities in education and government jobs due to the reservations in Gujarat and are calling for reforms with reservations. One of the reasons being the survival bias of the Patel community, that everyone generalizes the community to be very entrepreneurial and successful while ones that are not so fortunate in the community are marginalized with lack of opportunity.

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

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I am reading this sipping dunkin donuts coffee made by gujarati lady.

</comment><comment><USER14> Here's the problem: once you allow ascribing a particular laudatory quality to a certain group, you HAVE to concede that certain groups have bad qualities. That is, unless group qualities are only good, a claim for which there is no evidence whatsoever.

So... Gujaratis have an ethic of capitalistic success. Are you also comfortable saying Blacks have an ethic of failure, Jews have an ethic of in- group morality, Gypsies have an ethic of stealing, and so on? If you are not, then you are arbitrarily imposing a limit that qualities assigned to a group must only be good. If you are, congratulations! You are now racist.

<comment><USER15> Your argument is basically slippery slope.

The article merely documents the entrepreneurial genius of the Gujarati community which is worth lauding. Gujarati is not a race.

<comment><USER16> The article itself contains formulations like "Like the Jews, Chinese, English, Scots and Lebanese, they have come to form an impressive global commercial network.", suggesting that this about more than just the community. At the very least, it must be the values that matter. And once you acknowledge that some sets of values are preferable to others, and that different religions come with different values, you are already very close to sliding down the slippery slope from the original comment.

<comment><USER11> > "Like the Jews, Chinese, English, Scots and Lebanese, they have come to form > an impressive global commercial network."

English people as merchants or commercial folks on an individual level, I haven't heard of that. Maybe from Europe the Italians or Greeks to some extent, that's true but English people, I don't think that his/her observation is correct.

<comment><USER17> The article is referring to these diasporas forming 'global commercial networks', so I think your interpretation is slightly off. Interesting article. Gujarati's are also responsible for some of the finest 'Indian' cuisine around too!

<comment><USER11> I was arguing that on an individual level English people don't rank higher when it comes to entrepreneurship. I was not arguing that the British Empire wasn't commercially successful or that it didn't manage to accumulate wealth from their colonies if that what you were alluding to in your reply.

English people didn't make it commercially « on their own » but with the help of their state or empire globally and this is a historical fact and thus the comparison to the Chinese, Levantines or Jews who mostly acted on personal initiatives is not apt one.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Identifi – A tool for organizing one-on-one sessions in your company - <AUTHOR> https://www.identifi.com/ <comment><USER2> Nice site design. Will try it out. Seeing a lot of the water color images you used on your homepage lately. Twist uses some too. Is there a standard site /designer who makes these?</comment>


Ask HN: The C4 model, any reviews, opinions or alternatives? - <AUTHOR> I am learning how to document software architectures and I stumbled upon the C4 model[1], in my humble opinion it is pretty straight forward and I like the maps analogy.<p>I want to know opinions on this, any pain points while using this and I want to know what is your experience and if there are any alternatives.<p>[1] https://c4model.com/ <comment><USER2> It looks like something similar to UML but made more accessible. I like it too.</comment>


Meme pages plan mass revolt against alleged Facebook bias - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailydot.com/unclick/meme-pages-revolt-against-facebook/ <comment><USER2> topic: a number of these have "Japanese" in the titles. There is a internet- subculture called "vaporwave" connected with the "dank meme" people. There are...inspired by Japanese culture, they most likely aren't Japanese.

OT rant: this page has made almost 600 requests in the last 4 minutes[0]. My connection isn't the best and I'm seeing a direct effect. Is this the new standard for news sites?

And it's still pulling shit in.

[0] [http://pasteboard.co/7XrZrRbhY.png](http://pasteboard.co/7XrZrRbhY.png)

EDIT: 600, I can't count. Don't worry, it did reach 700 and kept going :)

<comment><USER3> I don't think they're inspired by Japanese culture as much as have random Japanese characters for no reason and sometimes random anime characters as some form of irony.

<comment><USER2> Hence the dramatic ellipsis before "inspired."

Full disclosure, I'm a pretty big fan of vaporwave "music".

<comment><USER3> Ah, my eyes somehow missed them! I've always wondered why Japanese characters of all things, but they do have good typography.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This reminds me of one of my favorite Onion headlines:

        RETIREES RISE UP AGAINST GANG VIOLENCE
        All are killed

</comment><comment><USER5> Do these pages make money by reposting content from other people and sites or do they just like getting likes?

<comment><USER6> Most do it for fun, when pages usually monetize, it's usually from selling shirts. Advertising is a big no-no in this community and often lead to loss of likes and comments including the words "shill"

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I think the underlying problem here which will have to be addressed at some point is that there's no recourse and often no real communication when a company decides to ban a person or delete content.

There needs to be a consistent freedom-of-information style mechanism where someone can request a review of a decision by a human, and a non-generic explanation, accompanied by a chance to download a copy of the deleted content.

<comment><USER2> The issue with that is we are assuming that someone has the same freedoms in a public park that they do in a hotel lobby. Some are truly unalienable, but if the manager wants you out, damn your freedom, you're on private property.

I'm not sure what the remedy is, if there can be one. fb is essentially a social utility, but it is a private entity and since you click a checkbox under a terms of service, so they can do whatever they want.

<comment><USER8> The same "private property" where I can run a segregated lunch counter or refuse to bake a gay wedding cake?

Sorry, truly private property and the previous principles of negative freedom of association died a hard death in the 1960s, and it's only a matter of time until Facebook et. al. are brought to heel (or worse).

<comment> nommm-nommm >The same "private property" where I can run a segregated lunch counter or refuse to bake a gay wedding cake?

You are being banned from the lunch counter based on _who you are_ , not _what you are doing_ at that lunch counter.

<comment><USER8> A difference without a distinction when who you are, a non-"liberal"/progressive/Leftist member of the "Right" is the real reason, the "what you are doing" is just providing the evidence of what you are.

I notice you're not extending your argument to the latest example I cited of forced baking of gay wedding cakes. In that case, until the gay couple reveal they are such, there's no's issue, e.g. they could meet a Biblically observant baker half-way by substituting a M/M or F/F figure at the top after taking delivery, and customize the frosting if needed/desired.

Don't ask, don't tell, more traditionally "live and let live", is a _old_ American tradition they could tap into if they were only looking for a solution to line item on a wedding checklist. But that's not their agenda when they make their demands of such establishments, they're demanding full acceptance of _who they are_ with the full coercive force of the state behind them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> really thought provoking material here

<comment><AUTHOR> say what you will about memes but i think that the fact that people are making memes hints at the fact that they are trying to fill some sort of creative void. yes, they are stupid but it's a step up from the previous state which was no creative expression at all.

<comment><USER10> > the previous state which was no creative expression at all.

The previous state of what? When was this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Pre-memes.

<comment><USER10> There was no creative expression before memes were invented?

(To be clear, my position is that you are selling memes short. "They are stupid" misses the entire point of what's valuable about them, and more importantly, _which ones_ are valuable.)

<comment><AUTHOR> On average, they are somewhat stupid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This site is literally unusable for me. I don't know what it's doing in the background but I can't let it load. I had to open it and immediately start the Safari reader to be able to read this article.

<comment><USER12> Umatrix makes it work for me. Even if you set it to default allow, and blacklist sites like this, it's worth the time to set up, imo.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Can't blame Facebook for not wanting to get slogged down in angsty "existential" memes.

</comment><comment><USER14> It's pretty bizarre how 4chan of all places turned out to be the cultural epicenter of this generation. All these meme pages are just reposting content from there.

<comment><USER15> Not sure why you were downvoted. Something Awful, while incredibly influential early on, didn't really grow because of the paid nature of the forums. 4chan exploded because of the anonymous nature of the memes. They were funny, and they weren't tied to the creator to boost his or her internet points. They are pure ideas coming from the level playing field that is Anonymous. Awful and great stuff arose out of it when its biggest competitor was flash-based stuff from ebaumsworld, funnyjunk, black sheep, and newgrounds.

Now I'd say Reddit is a huge influencer but it is fragmented (as opposed to a single /b/) and still tied to internet points. And missing the pink babies from Something Awful.

<comment><USER16> There is something beautiful about how pure the content on 4chan is because there's no e peen.

<comment><USER3> And people who try to build an identity are almost always disliked (though the ones that persevere make the site more fun).

<comment><USER17> Depends what you consider "fun". A so-called namefag posting in a thread out of the blue can completely derail it merely by their presence.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


VLC and the App Store - <AUTHOR> http://mitchj.info/blog/2010/11/vlc-and-the-app-store/ <comment><USER2> More spam.

[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/11/the-vlc-ios- licens...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/11/the-vlc-ios-license- dispute-and-how-it-could-spread-to-android.ars)</comment>


URLs in books - <AUTHOR> http://tarekziade.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/urls-in-books/ <comment><USER2> What happens when the author's website goes down? I'm guessing his job is not really to maintain an URL shortener website, so he probably won't be dedicated to its stability and reliability. Are there URL shorteners that let you edit the URL? That's probably what he needs...

<comment><USER3> He really needs to print both the actual URL and the shortened tag. This way, is his site goes down, the link is still legit, yet if the link changes, his redirect is still active. If both sites go down, well there's no solution to that.

<comment><USER4> Actually the shortened tag is a good idea. It would make books more readable. And he could publish a list at the end of the book with the actual URLs (think of it as site version 1). He could even call it an "index".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> How <i>do</i> you content digital and print media?

</comment><comment><USER6> Rather than put URLs in books, I think it's better to put URLs them alongside them. You can always make updates, and you can save the paper, ink and oil you would have spent printing and shipping a bibliography through the distribution channel.

Press Release: [http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/news/pressreleases.ht...](http://www.thinkcomputer.com/corporate/news/pressreleases.html?id=32)

Example: <http://www.thinkpress.com/authoritas/resources.html></comment>


Qt for Android better than ever before - <AUTHOR> https://www.kdab.com/qt-for-android-better-than-ever-before/ <comment><USER2> I have in the past developed a fairly large (proprietary) Qt application that used the same codebase on Linux, Windows, and Android. I would say Windows and Android are tied for compile hell.

This update looks really neat, and may solve some problems for some people. But personally my biggest gripe with Qt is qmake.

When you are doing Android, lots of resources assume Gradle, and lots of Qt stuff assumes qmake. Neither is ideal if you're dealing with other libraries like gstreamer, or even worse: proprietary libraries compiled using an old NDK.

So I ended up writing my whole build system in cmake, which made builds on Windows and Linux a lot saner, but made Android a living hell. I'd love to see better support in Qt for actual sane build systems you can use with real world third-party libraries, because qmake is not it in my experience.

<comment><USER3> I read somewhere a few months back that qt is dropping qmake in favour of cmake in the medium term. And everyone rejoiced.

<comment><USER4> That's a step in the right direction. The next thing would be to drop the compiler extensions (signal/slots macros) in favor of modern C++.

<comment><AUTHOR> There is sadly no reflection nore code generation yet in C++ so that cannot work without lots of ugly macros.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've been getting more and more interested with qt development. As a linux user, I'm exhausted from the bloat and cycle stealing electron apps ( with VSCode being a notable exception to this rule). But more recently, the idea of writing one app in Qt, running it everywhere between Android, a Librem 5, and desktop platfoms is really exciting.

<comment><USER6> That was the main idea behind Pyre-Qt, but dynamic media resizing is not well supported in Qt unless you pull in a web view (at which point you've recreated Electron).

[https://pyre.chat](https://pyre.chat)

One fork of Pyre does this using a web view, and it fixes the media scaling bug, but what is the advantage over Signal Desktop at that point (besides being a tray icon & having native integration)?

Edit: Capitalization

<comment><USER7> What about qml?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've been looking for a way to write cross-platform apps without a painful language or build hell, and I've just come across EQL5-Android, which binds Qt for Android with Embeddable Common Lisp. I don't know Common Lisp, but I like Scheme and I'll try anything to avoid Java or C++. So far it's looking very slick...

[https://gitlab.com/eql/EQL5-Android](https://gitlab.com/eql/EQL5-Android)

<comment><USER9> You may be also interested in my hobby project, a WIP tool for writing Android apps in Nim, _completely without Java and /or Android Studio_: [https://forum.nim-lang.org/t/4840](https://forum.nim-lang.org/t/4840). I'm slowly pushing it further since the initial PoC announcement above, but it's not yet there for a second phase of loud publicity. Still, you may like to watch for releases on GitHub. As you can see from this project, I'm also desperate to avoid Java or C++... ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> If you were to make a list, building the damn thing would probably come last. Go to the store on your favorite platform, search "The Qt Company" and try some of their demo apps.

It's all complete dog. Looks terrible, behaves worse. It's like Flutter except with 1/100th of the developer firepower to make sure it behaves natively.

My personal favorite is the input controls. They haven't freaking implemented copy and paste! It is all just beyond unusable.

<comment><USER11> > My personal favorite is the input controls. They haven't freaking > implemented copy and paste! It is all just beyond unusable.

What are you talking about? Qt Widgets and Qt Quick Controls (QML) have always supported copy and paste.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I don't know how Qt & Android fare these days... I know it was quite a hassle to create background services when I first tried to get into it and there was no definitive answer as I think it was still on the roadmap to add it (perhaps?).

Qt is amazing and so is QML. I still found QML JavaScript engine utilizing a lot of memory back then as well and I don't know if it has been fine-tuned these days.

<comment><USER13> Qt6 will have faster and lower footprint QML because JavaScript will be optional.

Also QML will gain type checking.

<comment><USER14> Is there a timeline or target release date for Qt6 yet?

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.qt.io/blog/2019/08/07/technical-vision- qt-6](https://www.qt.io/blog/2019/08/07/technical-vision-qt-6)

TL;DR : "we're aiming to have Qt 6.0 ready for a first release by the end of 2020."

<comment><USER14> Thank you! I read that page, but I guess I didn't read it properly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> > The user of your application has to be able to re-link your application > against a different or modified version of the Qt library. With LGPLv3 it is > also explicitly stated that the user needs to be able to run the re-linked > binary on it's intended target device. It is your obligation to provide the > user with all necessary tools to enable this process. For embedded devices, > this includes making the full toolchain used to compile the library > available to users. For parts licensed under LGPLv3 you are obliged to > provide full instructions on how to install the modified library on the > target device (this is not clearly stated with LGPLv2.1, although running > the application against the modified version of the library clearly is the > stated intention of the license).

Source: [https://www.qt.io/faq/](https://www.qt.io/faq/)

Using the LGPL licensed Qt on Android looks difficult. Although, I suppose compliance would not be much work in comparison to the development of a significant app.

Has anyone else had to go through compliance with the above? How did you do it?

<comment><USER16> Typically you get a commercial license for mobile development. That's the only way to distribute Qt apps through Apple's store.

[https://www.qt.io/start-up-plan/](https://www.qt.io/start-up-plan/)

I thought there was a small business license available for a one-time fee of $100, but now I only see recurring subscription options.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> For people new to Qt: It's a cross-platform GUI framework. It's written in C++ but can also be used from (among others) Python. If you're interested in examples, see for instance [https://build-system.fman.io/pyqt- tutorial](https://build-system.fman.io/pyqt-tutorial) (I'm the author).

<comment><USER18> > Not Found

> The requested URL /pyqt-tutorial was not found on this server

<comment><USER19> [https://build-system.fman.io/pyqt5-tutorial](https://build- system.fman.io/pyqt5-tutorial)

5 missing

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Qt is a great toolkit and I've messed around with it on Android on and off since Lighthouse. One thing I want to point out is that Qt is LGPLv3 and (in my non-lawyer opinion) this is a pain point on restricted application environments like the Google Play store on Android. Its not clear to me that you can comply with a user request to get access to replace or modify LGPL'd software in your application.

<comment><USER16> That issue goes away if you purchase a commercial license, which is quite affordable.

That's the only way to legally distribute Qt apps through Apple's app store.

<comment><USER21> Thankfully it's a one-shot license for "mobile" development as opposed to "embedded" development, which needs a paid license _per unit_.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> What are the technical reasons to prefer Qt over JavaFX[1]? Even Bitwig Studio, which is a C++ audio application, went with JavaFX for its cross- platform UI. It can also be written in React-like declarative style[2], which is much easier to maintain.

[1] [https://openjfx.io/](https://openjfx.io/)

[2] [https://github.com/cljfx/cljfx](https://github.com/cljfx/cljfx)

<comment> yoz-y You can write in C++ so it's much easier to re-use libraries in C/C++.

<comment><USER23> Electron does allow to use c++, what make QT c++ more practical for business logic?

<comment><USER24> The things that are missing in standard C++: Unicode, SQL, filesystem (kind of fixed in C++20 or so), serialization, network protocols, JSON, XML, an event loop(!), signals and slots, a thread pool, compiled-in resources, runtime plugin support, etc

<comment><USER23> Thanks for exemplifying! Nit: filesystem is fixed in C++17.

<comment> yoz-y I'd add that passing objects is also way easier when you do not need to bridge languages. And you avoid gyp.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> For those new to hearing about Qt / Qt for Android:

\- [https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/android.html](https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/android.html)

\- [https://www.qt.io/](https://www.qt.io/)

> Qt for Android enables you to run Qt 5 applications on devices with Android > v4.1 (API level 16) or later.

> One framework. One codebase. Any platform.

</comment><comment><USER26> Qt for Android has always looked pretty good but I never see it used. Could someone link a few real-world apps developed with Qt for Android?

<comment><USER27> I had a Qt app for MeeGo and Symbian, and later ported and released it to Android too. I didn't like the use experience, so I rewrote in native Android some five years ago or so. Code was fine, but the UI was a lot of work and still felt a bit out of place.

<comment><USER28> That was my experience back in Qt 5.4 (so a while ago).

So I ended up keeping the logic in C++ with native views.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> That is great, love it how sometimes things like this are stumbled upon by working outside what you are used to.

</comment><comment><USER30> Is there Qt-app template in Material style for Android in source form?

</comment><comment><USER31> I'm very disappointed that native GTK+ on Android went nowhere

</comment><comment><USER32> No it's not.

<comment><USER33> You're being downvoted for making a contrarian comment with no substance.

If you had a negative experience with Qt for Android, go ahead and share it.

<comment><USER34> Now there are three comments with no substance.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Are the new TLDs bad for business? - <AUTHOR> I've noticed an increasing amount of generic TLDs being created. There are generic ones owned by obscure companies like .band and then others like .beauty owned by L'Oréal. In the former case, this feels like squatting and in the latter, monopolization on a whole namespace. In either case, it takes an exorbitant amount of money for the average person or company to get a generic TLD. What are people'a thoughts on the process for getting a TLD when it comes to pricing and the rules? Personally, I'm worried that we will have a polluted namespace with confusion about the legitimacy of certain TLDs.<p>Reference: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains <comment><USER2> Here's my personal, not so useful take on this. At some point, there will be some confusion with so many TLDs and names (if it's not there already). This is why it's more important to worry about your brand name being unique or recognizable first and then worry about which TLDs to use. Marketing should take care of surfacing your domain.TLD in searches and social media.

If you don't have a business with profit in hundreds of millions of dollars a year (or revenues in billions of dollars a year with no profit), then you should just go with whatever domain and TLD you get, preferring the originals, like .com and .net, then preferring any ccTLDs, and then preferring other TLDs. I don't think many common people recognize and understand that something like .google or .amazon is really a website address. Don't worry about the TLDs that you cannot get because of the price or because it's being squatted.

If you do have a business with profit in hundreds of millions of dollars a year (or revenues in billions of dollars a year with no profit), spend a low fraction of a digit percent of it on brand management by engaging a company that can help you figure out the right mix of domain name, brand value, which squatted domain to buy, how to buy it for cheaper, etc.</comment>


EaRing: It All Started As A Joke - <AUTHOR> http://www.zedshaw.com/projects/earing/

<comment><USER2> Earlier discussion of Zed's EaRing paper:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=221678></comment>


Has AI surpassed humans at translation? Not even close - <AUTHOR> https://www.skynettoday.com/editorials/state_of_nmt <comment><USER2> Minor nit: I wish the "With great data come great neural networks" graph in the blog post had data points from real experiments instead of the hand-wavy curves that are drawn. I know the goal is to give intuition about DNNs v. classical methods, but I don't think I've ever seen a version of this graph with real data! I doubt the real curve would be infinitely differentiable like the ones plotted :P.

>> Neural networks have recently met success because of the rise and availability of large amounts of data.

I think that the improvement in computation power has had at least as much of an impact on the field as data! The only reason people have even bothered to collect the amount of data they have is because the DNNs that need the data are finally cost effective to run on modern hardware.</comment>


Lessons That Might Have Saved Our Business Had We Learned Them Earlier - <AUTHOR> http://blog.path.to/post/55607312083/six-lessons-that-might-have-saved-our-business-had-we <comment><USER3> Summary - (1) make money fast, (2) say no to new features unless necessary, (3) dominate small core markets, then expand, (4) _really_ listen to feedback, (5) _really_ listen to your team, (6) trust your users.

Every time I see one of these letters, it saddens me to think how strongly the current SV model pushes growth before value. You might say it's best for VCs but not for founders, but does even the VC see the upside they might have gotten with more patience?

What these stories seem to say...Groupon isn't a deviation; it's the most successful incarnation of a broken and widely promoted growth model whose typical end state is this.

<comment><USER4> Groupon's created a ton of actual value with their product. Groupon's issues have less to do with value delivered and more to do with competition and their stock being over-valued.

<comment><USER5> The principle problem with Groupon wasn't the competition or the stock being overvalued. Groupon's main problem is that their acquisition costs were so high that they couldn't make money.

Competition only became a drag on them when users began to get fatigued with daily deals. But even if users didn't get tired of daily deals, their business model simply wasn't on the path to profitability.

<comment><USER4> CPA is closely tied to competition.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> TLDR: we made nearly every rookie mistake in the book.

"A 'build it and they will come' mentality has taken over the startup space."

I don't want to sound patronizing (but I will anyway). "Has taken" is the wrong verb tense. It's been that way for over a decade, particularly for early stage startups with technical founders. Find yourself some better advisors next time around, if you failed on rookie mistakes, you'll have little hope of solving the "level 2" problems without some seasoned counsel.

<comment><USER7> Back in the late 90s people used to walk around saying "GBQ": Get Big Quick.

Changing the name of the concept to "traction" doesn't change that cashflow matters.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> For anyone like me who would mostly hit the link to check, this is a recruitment service rather than the app-based social network by the guy with the day and night iPhones.

</comment><comment><USER9> Do you chalk it up to a failure of execution? Or was the core concept not viable?

I've always thought some kind of OkCupid approach to matching job seekers and employers would be very useful. GroupTalent seems to be doing something similar, but mostly focused on developers.

<comment><USER10> There's definitely believe there's room in the market to displace contingent recruiters, create efficiency, drive down costs, and create a much more pleasant experience for both sides of the transaction.

One key with job seekers: there's a narrow window of opportunity to make matches. If you have quality talent, but you lack intent to switch jobs, nothing happens.

Likewise, if you have a huge pool of talent - and only some of it is good - you create too much work for the employers to filter/sort, and they are better off just using LinkedIn/Entelo/TalentBin to play spray & pray game - <USER2> known as guess & check - at a lower cost.</comment></comment>


Is the global economy melt-down the USA's fault? - <AUTHOR>

I've been reading about all the world-wide markets taking a nose-dive and I'm wondering:
Is this all fall-out from our (USA's) sub-prime/credit collapse, or were these other countries also making the same mistakes?
Did we tank not only our economy but the whole world's?  Or did everyone shoot themselves in the foot at the same time? <comment><USER2> Search for articles about the collapse of Iceland's financial markets for a partial answer to your question.</comment>


Great macrology lecture (in PLT Racket) - <AUTHOR> http://pl.barzilay.org/lec22.txt This is the best macro tutorial ever written (other PLT guys just seems to be uncapable of writting anything as clear as this gem).<p>Thanks, Eli! <comment><USER2> The PLT macro system is the result of some of the most advanced research into the core of what code is. It addresses issues of what it means to use a variable name, what exactly scope is, and so on. I'd highly recommend reading this lecture if you want to understand the nitty-gritty low-level details of what exactly a macro is.

On the other hand, if you're not an experienced macrologist, I'd recommend reading Graham's _On Lisp_ first; it uses a much simpler macro system (that of CL) to introduce the _practical_ aspects of macros: why and how you'd use them. This lecture is closer to the theory --- low-level nitty-gritty theory at that.

</comment><comment><USER3> Just link to the big kahuna, Barzilay's list of lectures along with descriptions :-)

<http://pl.barzilay.org/resources.html></comment>


Eric Holder, Wall Street Double Agent, Comes in from the Cold - <AUTHOR> http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/eric-holder-wall-street-double-agent-comes-in-from-the-cold-20150708

<comment><USER2> Sadly, that article sounds like it mig be mostly true.

<comment><USER3> Matt Taibbi is a legitimate journalist in an industry of few.</comment></comment>


Google Closure: How not to write JavaScript - <AUTHOR> http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2009/11/12/google-closure-how-not-to-write-javascript/

<comment><USER2> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=937175>

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh, sorry about that. I thought HN would've directed me to a duplicate while submitting.</comment></comment>


New Documents Confirm Police Vehicles' Real-Time Access To DHS Spy Cameras - <AUTHOR> http://www.storyleak.com/new-mesh-network-documents-confirm-police-vehicles-real-time-access-dhs-spy-cameras/ <comment><USER2> I could almost accept the government having cameras everywhere as long as all law makers and law enforcement were also recorded and not exempt from the video used against them in prosecution.

Except that's never going to be how it works. If they get bypasses for the TSA, I am sure they get to skip monitoring.

<comment><USER3> With respect, I will never accept cameras everywhere. The thugs may force them on me, but I will never call them a good thing. We don't need to live in a goddamn police state.

<comment><USER4> Sadly, we all do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Awhile ago, I was robbed at night while walking in what was presumably a well- surveilled area, in lower Manhattan. There was no CSI/"24" computer system here, the detective had to spend part of his day going over to the location and individually getting camera footage from the nearby businesses.

I know what you're thinking: "Well, that was just for a dumb robbery". But it was an unusual case and, anyway, if the police had a centralized repository to get camera footage, even after a significant delay, I think the detective would've gone there rather than hoof it over to the crime scene.

Another incident comes to mind: A woman was brutally beaten in a subway station and the incident was captured on film...within hours of the cops posting the footage on the Internet, commenters recognized the fraternity logo and the suspect was arrested almost immediately. The problem was that the cops waited almost a _month_ to post the footage.

[http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators...](http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=9053236)

> _" There are lots of different systems out there you have to make it > compatible with our system, so there are some challenges in putting out > these videos as quickly as possible," Kelly said._

So yeah, far from "real time" access

</comment><comment><USER6> I don't know much about the credibility of storyleak.com (although a quick look at their other headlines gives me an idea,) but this story derives from an inflammatory article by infowars.com, a site run by Alex Jones, the highly the deceptive right wing nutcase who rivals in nonsense Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck combined.

Whether there is a story here, I don't know. Don't trust this source though.

<comment><USER7> With this particular issue, unfortunately, these rift wing looney sites have actually been reasonably accurate, and are the only outlets reporting on these issues.

That's the problem with excessive secrecy and a neutered mainstream media who has devolved into a press release factory. The press cannot afford to report, so they do not extensively publish stories unpopular with the government -- because doing so would lead to their access to politicians being cut off.

This stuff is reasonably true, although the headlines may be blown up a bit. My city paid for municipal wifi using grants from the state and federal governments. One of the significant grants was to provide access to street cameras to police cars via wifi networks.

If you look in police trade journals, you should be able to find references to some of the more big brother technologies. Look for grants if you are so inclined. License plate reading technology and highway traffic management systems would be a good place to look.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Saying these are DHS spy cameras is misleading. DHS and other government agencies (like the DoJ's COPS Program) provides grants to lots of police departments so they can buy technology, like video surveillance.

That police cruisers can access municipal cameras (whether funded by local businesses, local tax revenue or federal subsidies) is a common and well known implementation.

Beyond that, what is the real concern here? Unless you are simply objecting to any publicly owned and managed cameras, which is something much more fundamental.

<comment><USER9> "Beyond that, what is the real concern here?"

I am concerned about _any_ expansion of police power, including local forces. One of the protections we have against unjust laws is that they are _unenforceable_ , but that protection is eroded when the police get expanded budgets. Whenever the police become better equipped to enforce the law, the citizens suffer because of it. We have a lot of unjust laws on the books; giving the police more ways to enforce those laws is harmful to our society.

<comment><USER10> >One of the protections we have against unjust laws is that they are unenforceable.

"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." \--Abraham Lincoln

<comment><USER11> > "The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly†." > \--Abraham Lincoln

†may require working democratic process, ability for regular people to affect policy change, lack of special interest groups with opposing positions, and a congressional representative who will actually do something about the issue for you. restrictions apply, including but not limited to: population of those disaffected is too small; population of those disaffected is discriminated against by the population at large; population of those disaffected is too poor and focused on survival to work at policy change; congressman disagrees; congressman doesn't care; policy is remotely controversial; policy can be associated with incendiary buzzwords such as socialism, government spending, and "big government"; and more.

see: "the war on drugs"

<comment><USER12> Well it sure as hell is never going to change so long as your only solution is to declare you won't vote because both parties are the same.

You want to change the system? Learn how it works first and stop throwing the problem into the too hard basket.

<comment><USER13> Yes. Americans keep complaining about their government, yet every election they keep on voting for the same party they voted for last time, the same one that already did what the didn't like - or they don't bother. Where I live, people complain that they can't influence politics, they can't even complain about the government online without getting arrested. They don't have voting rights to do anything about it. Americans do! No amount of lobbying can force you to vote for someone you don't want.

<comment><USER14> Your logical fallacy here is that you have no evidence whatsoever that the people complaining are not voting for a third party every time. Perhaps they are, and in fact, it is as ineffectual as they claim.

<comment><USER12> Its not about voting for a third party - which is ineffectual. It's about remembering that you have _way_ more elections then _just_ who the president is.

<comment><USER11> even ignoring the issues i raised in my original post, another huge problem is the success of propaganda and the polarization of the political landscape. even if the system worked perfectly, a large portion of the population would continue to vote against their self-interest due to propaganda and social conditioning. and the polarization makes it so you can't get people to entertain different views, as they feel that they're getting attacked and "losing the fight" if they change their stance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Some more background on this - [http://seattletimes.com/html/latestnews/2022269628_spdwirele...](http://seattletimes.com/html/latestnews/2022269628_spdwirelessxml.html)

"But the ACLU has criticized the city for purchasing and employing technology, as well as an array of waterfront security cameras and unmanned aerial drones, without first holding public hearings and drafting policies on how to govern the devices."

</comment><comment><USER16> what I dont understand is - if the security forces in the US have access to SO much information - why do SO many crimes still go unsolved or even happen in the first place? (no im not thinking minority report as such )

<comment><USER17> Because the whole concept that massive monitoring leads to reduced crime is just one of those seductively simple authoritarian fallacies.

At best it is a tool that lets you "rewind" time to look at events that were coincident to a crime. But that doesn't necessarily get you new information, often its just a different way to get the same information that 'old-fashioned policework' would have turned up.

At worst it becomes a distraction for the police, a mental box that they are stuck in. Kind of like, "if it isn't in google, it isn't on the internet."

I'm not saying monitoring _never_ improves the situation, I'm saying that its kind of like a glass of water - you can only pour so much water into it until the excess just spills out and starts making a mess.

(BTW I have a similar opinion about the utility of 'targeted' advertising.)

<comment><USER18> This effort by law enforcement to identify "bad actors" in society is similar in concept to the effort medical biologists to identify "bad" genes.

Oddly enough (or maybe not), both groups appear to have run into the same problem. In biology it was once thought that more "omics" (genomics, metabolomics, etc) would be better and lead to a better prediction of negative outcomes. Apparently, it is not, mostly, at least not yet.

It seems that for many important events (crime/cancer) a larger mass of untargeted data does not make determining causative effects much easier. Personal expertise in a particular disease area almost always trumps the most fervent of statisticians and "big data" biologists. I imagine it is similar for crimes (for example, the local police would know who is a trouble-maker, or a congressman would know which bankers are shady).

I don't think this will forever be the case, but for now, detection of pre- crime and pre-cancer are in the realms of fiction, at least in the majority of cases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Uh, isn't that kinda the whole point of municipal cameras?

</comment><comment><USER20> > _the mesh network devices' ability to siphon off unsuspecting mobile user's > IP addresses as well as the last 1,000 locations visited_

They are grabbing mobile users' _MAC_ addresses and are therefore able to track user movement.

When the reporter wrote IP address, I initially thought he was talking about web-browsing habits.

</comment><comment><USER21> I would like to argue for the surveillance state, or at least government cameras recording all public actions.

Consider what it means to be in public. If you are in public you are giving up your implicit right to privacy relating to being viewed or overheard (and depending on jurisdiction, recorded without permission). I would argue that it is perfectly reasonable for the government to have as many cameras as they want in public spaces, with a few caveats:

* The data from the cameras should be publicly available. Probably not in real time (or with the option for the temporary disabling of real time by law enforcement until after whatever they disabled it for has ended (with obvious common sense restrictions, like maximum 48 hour delay)).

* This would require changes to laws, and society, about how illegal certain types of information is (information should not be inherently illegal) because anyone would be able to put anything on the public cameras, and to prevent cover-ups the data must always be there, even if horrendous and despicable (see: child rape, which is then child porn).

* The government has to respect the privacy of private property. Obviously businesses (with public areas) may prefer the government to invade their privacy for the protection they get. But people should be able to request movement (or removal of areas being recorded) of camera's view.

People will have to accept that being in public means potentially being recorded, and laws must adjust to fit that. There isn't a way around it if we like being able to take pictures, and recording ourselves. Other people will become recorded. Allowing the government to do it is a logical legal extension.

Consider what this enables, and what we already have which mimics it, by accepting this we acknowledge the reality, and don't deny what can already happen. And then consider what this enables that we already don't have. In the end public cameras are just another piece of automation:

* Following people's movements, and interactions, in public areas. We can already do this by tailing people. However currently it requires quite a lot of man power to do it (governments or corporations). With cameras anyone can do it, with some facial recognition software it becomes completely automated. You or I can see where any CEO goes, who they talk to, etc. Of course it can also be done to stalk people more easily (not that it's currently hard).

* Recording people's conversations in public areas. We can do this with a directional microphone, or a well placed bug.

* Every violent crime committed in public is easy to solve. This is reason we are installing them in the first place. We can't do this currently. But with this we can make it so it applies to police officers as well.

* Real-time world analysis. The start of Ubiquitous computing[1]. We don't have this at all for now. We can tell where there is heavy traffic. Follow a protest. See the weather at an exact location. I'm sure some startups could do great things.

So the next time you call your congressman, or discuss issues like this. Consider offering the compromise of making the recording public. It can also allow you to bring up the issues of illegal information (for example illegal primes are a good example of why it's ridiculous) or that there is no expectation of privacy in public.

Besides it would give us a good excuse to have punk hairstyles ([http://cvdazzle.com/](http://cvdazzle.com/)).

[1][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquitous_computing)

<comment><USER22> What a stupendously BAD idea and a huge waste of resources. You seriously need to rethink this.

What you are going to end up with is "normal" people being monitored/recorded etc. and the privileged being able to opt-out. Much like what has already been done with information such as home addresses etc.

I'd much rather the money used for something useful like science.

<comment><USER23> > _I 'd much rather the money used for something useful like science._

Think how absolutely amazing and useful would such a thing be for science. With such data we could learn a lot about behaviour of people, groups, traffic, resource usage, etc. and use it to optimize the society even further.

That there are bad sides doesn't mean that there aren't any good ones.</comment></comment></comment>