How the iPad can revolutionize music notation software - <AUTHOR> http://concertwindow.com/3124/how-the-ipad-can-revolutionize-music-notation-software

<comment><USER2> That could be good. I'm fascinated by music notation software, but I've always found Sibelius and Finale unusable. Lilypond[1] is a pretty good notation language, but it has no interface. Perhaps the iPad app could generate LilyPond code.

<http://lilypond.org/web/switch/tour>

<comment><AUTHOR> good call.. I'll look into that

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Replace "tap" with "click" in your post. How is the iPad better than doing the same things with the mouse? I don't dispute that a very nice app could be created, but I question whether the iPad itself enables any of those things.

Further, a finger is a very imprecise input device. For music, precision is very important. Even a mouse is not precise enough for lots of things I do when I use DAW software.

Music notation is one place where I think pen-based input would be useful. It's precise and the input language is tightly scoped enough that the recognition problem is solvable. There's also no existing system that lets you input musical notes in any faster way. Recording-based apps (midi or otherwise) are always at the mercy of the performer. And unless you're superhuman (I'm not), you have to spend a long time quantizing and correcting the transcribed rhythm. It's real bummer. I would much rather scrawl the notes and know that they'll be nicely typeset out the other end.

<comment><USER4> _There's also no existing system that lets you input musical notes in any faster way._

One word: Keyboard.

This is one thing that I really love about soundtrackers (e.g. renoise[1]). You just _type_ in your notes while seamlessly tabbing between different tracks/instruments. This makes experimentation faster and more pleasant than any other method I've come across.

It is sad that clumsy point-and-click interfaces are still the norm in most music software. Dragging around little rectangles on a grid is _horrible_.

[1] [http://www.renoise.com/uploads/images/screenshots/rns25matri...](http://www.renoise.com/uploads/images/screenshots/rns25matrix.jpg)

<comment><USER5> Sibelius is almost there. Almost. They're still expecting you to use a mouse for some tasks, but you can get a lot done with just the keyboard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I know absolutely nothing about music notation software (and nearly nothing about making music) but wouldn't the easiest way of getting notes into any computer be to connect a midi keyboard and to start playing? I mean, those are dedicated devices, tailored for just that use. They were created for that purpose. I guess you might be unable to play a keyboard at speed but you could still enter the notes without duration with a keyboard (that could be a two step process — press the note and press some key for the duration afterwards).

It seems absurd to me that you would enter notes with the normal keyboard or the mouse or by tapping. What am I missing?

<comment><USER5> A whole bunch of things. First, background: I've recorded over 24 albums, written 5 scores, play over a dozen instruments, and have composed thousands of pages of music in various notational programs using a ton of different input methods. Ok, let's go.

A midi keyboard takes up space. It also takes up more space the better it gets. If you want a 3 or 5 or 7 octave keyboard, you need to have that sort of room in your work area. Imagine an entire piano keyboard on your desk. Even a smaller keyboard takes up more space than another regular computer keyboard, and having a second one of those is difficult enough to work with.

Space issues aside, there's the issue of workflows. I've yet to find a music notation program with an anything approaching an elegant flow. For each passage of music that you'd like to write, there are a ton of variables that need to be expressed and recorded, and the midi keyboard only handles a few of these. You need to capture pitches of multiple notes (chords), durations, accents, articulations, voicing (for multiple parts on the same staff, as in choral music), dynamics, and many other things. Many of these are optional, and only used when needed, but even the most fundamental ones are often a chore to enter. A midi keyboard is great for entering note pitches, but as you described, playing in time (at speed) seems to be the only way to avoid entering all the note-lengths by hand. Playing in time has its own problems, too. You have to match the data to a grid structure. But the grid structure needs to be strict enough to catch the subtleties of the performance, and flexible enough to compensate for human-error. Otherwise, you'll be back to manual data-entry to correct all the parsing mistakes. These constraints also depend largely on the person playing the keyboard. On the other hand, an alternating two-step process isn't any faster with a midi keyboard than a computer keyboard.

Midi keyboards were not created for data entry. They were created for live performance, controlling other dedicated devices that created music, like synthesizers. They've been co-opted to enter data for notation, and while they can accelerate the process somewhat, there are shortcomings on the software side. It is also largely dependent on the type of music being transcribed.

I am very much in favour of an iPad notation program. I've been thinking about that since last summer, but I haven't had time to make one myself. If someone tackles this problem and comes up with an elegant solution, they'll have no noteworthy competition on either side of the PC/Post-PC divide. Pun intended.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I suspect the reason that so few -- and such poor -- options exist is that the market is too small.

<comment><USER8> The market is there, it's just that no one really pays attention to it. The options currently out there are all pricey (for the 'starving artist' types that musicians tend to be anyway), bloated (the latest Guitar Pro has Effects Pedals for crying out loud), and just expect musicians to instinctively know what to do when given nearly half a screenful of buttons. Just the other day I noticed a Sibelius manual at my local bookstore that was the size of a phone book! If you're a songwriter, all you want to do is basically get to the point where you could record a demo of your stuff; the last thing you're gonna want to do, is waste your time going through a huge tome just to write your stuff down.

I'm actually working on a startup that's looking to solve this problem, and we're fully confident that good, affordable, and simple yet well-thought-out music notation software is something that musicians everywhere are going to have a huge sigh of relief over. We're even applying to the summer YC session in hopes of accomplishing this faster :)

oh, and our url is <http://www.tabrat.com> by the way (still only a splash page though).</comment></comment>


Wall Street trader making millions by 30; why he left it all behind - <AUTHOR> http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/this-guy-had-made-more-than--5-million-on-wall-street-by-30-and-left-it-all--here-s-why-175020255.html <comment><USER2> The problem wasn't the money but his addiction and inability to handle the money. And jealousy. [1] Consequently this story could easily be "why I stopped drinking alcohol" or "why I stopped smoking pot".

A nice narrative but I'm not seeing any widespread problems created by making to much money as compared to not making enough money.

[1] Separately if you are making $2 million and all you can be is envious of the next guy making more what will happen when the non profit you started isn't as successful as the one the other guy started in helping the world? Or the next guy has a prettier and younger wife?

<comment><USER3>
      I was in a meeting with one of them, and a few other
      traders, and they were talking about the new hedge-fund
      regulations. Most everyone on Wall Street thought they
      were a bad idea. "But isn't it better for the system as a
      whole?" I asked. The room went quiet, and my boss shot me
      a withering look. I remember his saying, "I don't have
      the brain capacity to think about the system as a whole.
      All I'm concerned with is how this affects our company."

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This story was posted here a few weeks ago execpt not on yahoo and it was written by the man himself.</comment>


IPhone 3.0 has copy/paste, subscriptions, micropayments, P2P, maps, push, MMS, etc - <AUTHOR> http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/live-from-apples-iphone-os-3-0-preview-event/#continued

<comment><USER2> _"Now as I said before, 3.0 brings a lot of new features for devs, but for customers as well... starting... with cut, copy, and paste."_

Freaking finally!

<comment><USER3> > Q: Why did copy paste take so long?

> A: Scott: It's not that easy. There were security issues.

What does this mean? Could it be that with the iPhone, letting the user extract his own data from the device and sending it elsewhere is a "security" issue?

<comment><USER4> You download a game. You play it once. It sucks. Meanwhile, it has stolen your mail and phoned it back home to a server in Uzbekistan.

<comment><USER5> What does this have to do with copy and paste?

<comment><USER6> If you don't trust the free game you just downloaded, you might not want it to be able to see what's on the clipboard. Some number of people will copy their passwords, credit card numbers, etc. If an app phoned home the contents of the clipboard every time it ran, eventually it would pick up some private information.

<comment><USER4> And that's assuming that all the bug gives you is the cut buffer. Who knows how they were actually led to implement the feature?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In-app sales will create huge new opportunities.

<comment><USER8> From the talk: "Would you like to purchase one rocket launcher for $0.99?"

Oh yeah, that sounds like fun. Clearly a great way to be nickle and dimed to death in every application and game.

<comment><USER9> _Clippy resurrects himself from the grave and pops up in the lower right-hand corner_

It looks like you're trying to copy and paste. Would you like to pay $0.05 in order to continue? (Continue/Cancel)

It looks like you're trying to exit the application. Would you like to pay $0.10 in order to continue? (Exit and pay $0.10/Stay for free)

It looks like you're shocked to see one of Microsoft's worst creations pwn your smartphone. Would you like to buy a copy of iLithium(R), iXanax(TM), or iProzac(TM) to soften the blow for $14.99? (Yes/No)

<comment><USER10> I have no idea why this is getting downmodded. _I_ think it's funny. Maybe I'm just the right age for this joke.

Obviously, this in-app payment feature was _deliberately_ designed to be irritating and intrusive. Apple understands that, to most paying customers, the word _micropayment_ carries a connotation of _being slowly and imperceptibly bled to death by vampires_. So perhaps Apple is going to provide an API which turns in-app charges into such an ugly, flow-shattering experience that nobody could possibly miss it -- which will also compel app designers to avoid using this feature unless they really have to.

<comment><USER11> It's possible to abuse any feature. I can see this being a win-win for apps that provide layers of value (depth).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> "So, copy/paste in iPhone 3.0." Applause. Applause for a feature that every other device in the world has. Odd.

I like the iPhone, but this sums up what I usually feel about Apple products.

<comment><USER13> Applause because the iPhone went from being the best mobile phone despite lacking major features, to the best mobile phone which lacks no major features.

<comment><USER14> Except for video recordings, a decent camera, and built-in TV. Those are standard features in high-end phones in Europe and Japan.

<comment><USER15> Built-in TV is a joke.

<comment><USER16> Why?

<comment><USER15> Have you ever seen an OTAHD antenna? That's why.

<comment><USER17> N95 has TV in some countries. The phones look like ordinary N95s. So do lots of Telstra phones in Australia (which have Foxtel content) and KDDI phones in Japan. They just look like ordinary phones.

<comment><USER18> The Telstra phones stream the Foxtel content digitally over NextG if I'm not mistaken?

<comment><USER17> Yup, and good point: there's no need for a giant antennae, anything capable of 3G can do it fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> SDK access to bluetooth? Awesome, I have a client who is dying for this...

</comment><comment><USER20> Lovely. This was a good platform choice for me to specialize in. I'm going to start consulting almost exclusively for the iPhone, I think it's a platform that will be here for a good number of years.

</comment><comment><USER15> Apple really nailed it with version 3.0, and this is going to be great for us. I suspect you'll start seeing app acquisitions as companies look to acquire an 'install' base to leverage.

Time to get crankin' on more apps before gold rush 3.0!

<comment><USER15> Actually, hmm.. I wonder how the subscription will work for apps that were formerly free. I assume users will be able to 'opt-in' for subscription payment, otherwise the application is deleted.

<comment><USER21> In-application payments are not available for free applications.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> 96% of apps are approved? I thought the percentage was much lower. Vocal minority, I guess.

<comment><USER23> That doesn't say how many times the app had to be resubmitted before approval. I'd like to see the rate of _first time_ rejections.

<comment><USER24> A lot of first time rejections are for things like version numbers not matching. I'm not sure why that stat would be meaningful.

<comment><USER25> Well obviously we want to know more about the procedure and why apps get rejected. We want to know what Apple's "moral" objections are and what values they're trying to impose. Its more a fear of some agenda (beyond no apps that don't work or do harm) that we may not agree with then stats.

It also doesn't hurt to know what your chances are to have trouble.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> 3.0 SDK beta is available today. Can't wait to try it out.

<comment><USER27> Is the new OS just for registered developers? How hard would it be for a non- developer to obtain and install it?

<comment><USER28> It's just the normal $99 developers. Originally the betas were limited to whoever Apple liked.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> 30% cut to Apple isn't a micropayment, which I define as tolerating small amounts without getting killed on overhead. You could just charge their credit card and get better rates. I wonder if they'll block services like <http://tipjoy.com> from working on the iphone.

This sounds like an awesome release though.

<comment><USER30> I agree. If I wanted to sell an ebook or mp3 or something at a competitive price it would be impossible!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Search mail on the server!

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm pretty pissed about MMS not being available on the 2G, but at least now with copy & paste I can finally copy those fucking username/password combinations that AT&T sends me.

<comment><USER31> If I understand correctly, MMS will be available on all iPhones once they are updated to iPhone OS 3.0. It was never a hardware issue.

<comment><USER5> Nope.

\---- Engadget ----

11:27AM "What about the rest of us? iPhone OS 3.0 will be available this Summer. A free update to all of our iPhone 3G customers. And it works on the original iPhone. Now the hardware has changed between these two devices. For instance, A2DP and MMS won't be available on the iPhone 1st gen. It's also available for the iPod touch... for $9.95."

\---- gdgt ----

11:27AM - "As a bonus, we've enabled it to work on the original iPhone. The hardware's changed though: MMS and A2DP won't be available on the original iPhone." iPod touch users: $10.

11:27AM - App Store will be in 77 countries. 3.0 ships this summer for free.

<comment><USER32> This sounds like bullshit to me: maybe I'm just naive, but I can't for the life of me figure out how a cell radio could be unable to transmit MMS. Especially the radio in a phone released after 2002.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Shouldn't we wait until this conference is done before posting?

<comment><AUTHOR> too exciting

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Lots of great updates, but still missing voice-activated dialing, which -especially with a bluetooth headset- is very useful when driving.

</comment><comment><USER35> Why does apple not just release new features once they finish working on them? Why do they have to do these we-got-new-features press conferences and only release new features on those dates?

<comment><USER36> Not suprisingly, Apple releases the SDK ahead of the OS release, so that developers get some lead time. When the SDK is released it also announces the new features.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Can someone tell me why cut and paste is so much in demand? I've been using my iPhone for months and never once needed it. Are folks editing documents on their iPhone?

<comment><USER13> What I need it for the most is when someone sends me the details of a social event via mail/facebook (location/time/phone number) and I need to SMS it to my friends. Currently, the only way to do so is to flip back and forth between the apps and rely on your short term memory.

It's also a pain the other way: When you receive an SMS and you need to facebook/e-mail/SMS others (although SMS forwarding solves 1/3 of this problem).

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I wonder how the dock accessoires will influence the app review process.. Will you be required to ship your accessoire to Apple before they can review your app?

</comment><comment><USER39> Does the MMS and voice notes support mean you could record a voice message and 'text' it to someone?

Like the best bits of voicemail and SMS combined? Because that would be brilliant.

<comment><USER40> Yes, it does exactly that!

<comment><USER41> Wow. How very revolutionary! You have been able do that with any standard Sony Ericcson phone, for the last 2-3 years, and probably Nokia, HTC, Samsung too. My phone has a button that says "reply with voice-message" and then using some sort of black voodoo it gets sent over mms.

I like it when apple make a new product, strip it of most basic features and then when they finally add the long missing features... It's like the second coming of Jesus.

<comment><USER40> I never said it was revolutionary. It's a feature that seems useful, is new to the iPhone, and will be a free upgrade. As a very happy iPhone owner (and yes I've had Sony Ericcsons, Motorolas, Nokias, HTCs, etc...) this upcoming feature (and the others) are something to look forward to.

If Sony Ericcson offered a software upgrade that did over the air sync of all my MobileMe data, that would be great, and I can't imagine saying "well I've been able to do that for ages with my iPhone" to a happy Sony Ericcson owner. Why does it have to be a battle?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> What was the report on streaming video? if it's what i think it is, this is a huge win for qik and others.

</comment><comment><USER43> As a serial app developer (though not yet on that platform) here's what I heard from Apple's announcement:

crap, crap, crap, IN GAME PAYMENTS!!!, crap, crap, crap.

P.S. background notifications

I guess that list would probably be a little less bland were I an iPhone user.

</comment><comment><USER44> The app store upgrades look like they might be useful for many devs, but to be honest it's pretty hard to get excited over features other smartphones have had for many years.

And of course, users still don't have access to their own data.

</comment><comment><USER45> Wait - the iPhone didn't have bluetooth before this update right? Which means it was enabled entirely through a software update. Is that right? I know it operates on the same frequency as wifi but still, that's pretty impressive, isn't it?

<comment><USER46> the iphone had bluetooth before this update, but it was very limited in scope.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> How good the micropayments feature is depends on what their cut on it is. 30% off of 10 cents hurts a lot more than 30% off of $10.00

<comment><USER48> um... in what way does it hurt more?

<comment><USER47> That was a stupid comment made in haste that makes no sense as written. Paying apple 30% of repeated micropayments _would_ hurt me more than the alternative, but it's only true in my context - which is probably not the context Apple designed their system for.

I am building a web based service which can also be accessed via an iPhone app. I get paid via micropayments which I aggregate till they reach a certain dollar amount and then process via a payment processor that charges me in single digit percentages. I have the option of using iPhone's own micropayment service but that would hurt me more.

<comment><USER38> The advantage of using the app store micropayments is that users don't have to create a new account somewhere and put their account info in your app. They can use an existing system and have a one-click buy option.

It'd be interesting to see what will result in more profits. My guess would be that the increased sales on the iPhone outweigh the higher profit margin with the alternatives. This depends on your costs too of course (e.g. copyright fees for eBooks)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> is iphone 3.0 only for the iphone, or is it supported on the ipod touch too?

<comment><USER50> There is a fee for Touch users to upgrade.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> So you can embed Google maps in your app, but you can't use their maps? Isn't that kind of worthless?

<comment><USER52> You can use their maps just not for turn-by-turn. Read the article. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> yay for turn by turn apps in the future

<comment><USER54> It will be interesting to see what happens with the pricing for those apps. On other phone platforms, they usually cost over $100 _per year_. A very bad deal, IMO.

<comment><USER38> I came across <http://sygic.com/press/press_12.3.09.html> which says it'll release its software for the 3G for $79

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Soooo ... how long until people pull the SDK apart looking for indications of a new iphone with new hardware in June?

Software streaming video support, the recent release of an Apple patent on a front facing camera behind the screen - are we likely to see a videophone iPhone?

<comment><USER54> What would a new iPhone be like? Slightly smaller? Better battery life? Better camera? It would be hard for many people to justify dropping $600+ for just those features. And, Apple has demonstrated with these major firmware revisions that they can upgrade the device substantially; I think consumers will get angry if they start withholding firmware updates as an incentive to buy more hardware. That is exactly what Nokia does, and I don't think Nokia's customers are going to take it anymore after seeing what Apple's doing here.

Very soon the typical smartphone lifespan will be close to 5 years and the average computer lifespan will be close to 10 years. The Nokia N95 was released in 2006 and there are still tons of people rocking that device. There will probably be millions of people using the iPhone 3G and the Nokia N97 in 2014 (maybe as hand-me-downs).

<comment><USER2> _the average computer lifespan will be close to 10 years_

Is anyone here using a computer they purchased in 1999?

Come on.

<comment><USER55> I'm using a 2nd-hand Omnibook 6100 which is from 2000-2001. It still works, and it's pretty powerful, so I use it.

The main reason is the CPU fan almost never comes on, so it's a quietbook.

Other than that, software development on it is a good idea, because if it runs adequately on this, it'll run blazingly faster on a new machine!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER56> From the report:

 _No backgrounding, no multitasking, no unobtrusive notifications. No copy and paste (yet), no MMS, no video. Really pretty minor stuff thus far._

Ah well. So we have push notification, better hardware access and the maps API opened up for apps. Not totally shit but not revolutionary either.

<comment><USER57> You really should watch the live coverage by someone other than engadget. I get the impression their person is only there because someone threatened to fire him if he didn't go.

If you are looking for information the Grumpy Mystery Science Theater version of the live cast is the wrong place to be.

<comment><USER58> I recommend watching the video on apple.com

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> Micropayments: death by a thousand cuts. Mark my words.

<comment><USER60> Well, that's kind of the nice thing about capitalism. If you don't like it, vote (or rather don't vote) with your wallet.

<comment><USER59> This would be true in a market driven by competition between near-equals.

The iPhone does not live in such a market. It has no competition. It is a qualitatively different product from other mobile phones. The cell phone market is divided into two categories: the iPhone, and inferior crud. If Apple were to begin charging $0.05 per "click", you would have to cough up the dough or switch to a vastly inferior product. Therefore, your ability to "vote" with your money is academic in this case.

<comment><USER21> You're conflating the third party iPhone application market (which can now use micropayments) with the cell phone market as a whole. That's very odd.

<comment><USER59> Micropayments could easily become a standard, expected part of iPhone use. In that case, there will be no escape.

I suspect that this is the reason why Apple users complain about (even potential!) misfeatures to the extent they do. In the product categories where Apple is a player, from the standpoint of a dedicated Apple user, they have zero competition. All of the supposedly competing products are far below the quality-of-user-experience Apple users are accustomed to. Hence the perception that there is nowhere to run to.

<comment><USER21> _Micropayments could easily become a standard, expected part of iPhone use._

Given how everything else you've said hinges on this assumption, you'd have done well to explain why you think it is true. Like I said before, you're conflating two markets.

As it depends on all players in a highly competitive market suddenly colluding to degrade the user experience upon which they all depend without anyone realizing that they might stand to make more money by not doing so, I find it hard to believe.

<comment><USER59> > degrade the user experience upon which they all depend... I find it hard to > believe.

Try this on for size:

[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/11/apple-brings- hdcp-...](http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/11/apple-brings-hdcp-to-a- new-aluminum-macbook-near-you.ars)

<comment><USER21> That doesn't relate at all to anything I've said, nor does it reinforce your point in the slightest. Your powers of misinterpretation are astounding and I hope that in the future you will refrain from commenting anywhere on anything.

<comment><USER59> The linked article shows an instance of Apple unambiguously, deliberately degrading user experience. It is highly relevant to this discussion.

<comment><USER21> That's not a discussion that any of my posts in this thread have been about.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Seamless.com - <AUTHOR>

If you order food from Seamless, they ask you to sign a contract with non compete clause to avoid you to develop a similar system or app. Is it a common business practice? <comment><USER2> I just pulled up their TOS and searched for "compete" and found nothing. Where are you seeing this?

<comment><AUTHOR> In the contract they sent us to subscribe their service.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> They only offer their service to companies. We received a contract to sign and in the contract we found this clause.

</comment><comment><USER3> You shouldn't worry about that. Their app is so horrible that nobody wants to copy it.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'd run that clause by my lawyer. That sounds dubious.

</comment><comment><USER5> Shameless.com seems more accurate.</comment>


Milw0rm Shut Down By Owner - <AUTHOR> http://220.127.116.11/search?q=cache:UB9G4tPVbxoJ:www.milw0rm.com/+milw0rm&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

<comment><USER2> This is really too bad. I always went to milw0rm first -- even before SANS, etc. simply because I preferred to see the exploits in code. It is one thing to hear how an exploit works, but by actually seeing the zero-days I think it makes you a better pen tester and allows you to absorb some of the style and analytic thought that went into discovering the vulnerability.

I assume someone will take up the slack though. milw0rm was great, but there really wasn't anything that special. If nothing else, we still have metasploit.

<comment><USER3> +1

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Link is to the Google cache with the following message:

"Well, this is my goodbye header for milw0rm. I wish I had the time I did in the past to post exploits, I just don't :(. For the past 3 months I have actually done a pretty crappy job of getting peoples work out fast enough to be proud of, 0 to 72 hours (taking off weekends) isn't fair to the authors on this site. I appreciate and thank everyone for their support in the past. Be safe, /str0ke"

It's been written about on several sites as well:

[http://www.darkreading.com/blog/archives/2009/07/milw0rm_clo...](http://www.darkreading.com/blog/archives/2009/07/milw0rm_closes.html)

[http://news.softpedia.com/news/Milw0rm-To-Shut- Down-116112.s...](http://news.softpedia.com/news/Milw0rm-To-Shut- Down-116112.shtml)

</comment><comment><USER4> Are there any others like it that also post the code?

</comment><comment><USER5> Is this a white hat site? Are the exploits posted without notice to the newly exploitable? I am obviously not a security guy, anyone here know more about?

<comment><USER6> It's kinda a script kiddie site that definitely is not blackhat

edit: to clarify it may be used by security professionals but there is no doubt in my mind that it was indeed a script kiddie site especially considering the coverage it got in that community and the hate that incurred from the blackhat community

<comment><USER2> It's a zero-day exploit site. Whether or not it's used by script kiddies is irrelevant. It's very often used by security professionals as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The anti-secs will be happy.

</comment><comment><USER8> now zero-days can be really called zero-days, and would have much more value unless another milw0rm like website comes up to dilute the power of zero-days.

</comment><comment><USER9> It is back up again now...

<comment><USER10> More details:

"milw0rm's back up & posting will start once again, I can't let all of the emails in my submit box to just sit there." \- str0ke

Source: <http://twitter.com/str0ke/status/2550494236>

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> It is b</comment>


Solving for Banner Blindness. Solve Media. - <AUTHOR> http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/09/20/solving-for-banner-blindness-solve-media/ <comment><USER2> Somewhat clever, but above all else, I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to finding information that is little more than an interest piece (by that I mean pretty much all traditional reporting and blogging/meta-reporting) and such a form of advertisement would make me look elsewhere in the land of ubiquitous information. Hell, I can barely be bothered to log into nytimes, and in fact will usually bypass is because I know I'll have to log in if I want to read the story. Every once in a while there will be a story that interests me enough, but truthfully, I feel that most of the stuff being reported on by anyone is crap and I only read it to kill a little time while waiting to do something else.

I do realize though that I'm not the target audience for most websites as I never click on ads and won't even bother to log into a free site. If someone wants to earn money from me, they really need to produce something that I consider quality content, which I will then gladly pay for, but the number of things I pay for is minuscule.</comment>


Facebook's Thrift vs. Google's Protocol Buffers - <AUTHOR> http://stuartsierra.com/2008/07/10/thrift-vs-protocol-buffers

<comment><USER2> After reading that article both protocol buffers and thrift sounds suspiciously like a rehash of BER encoding <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_Encoding_Rules> a standard that has been around since the 80's and is used in things like the LDAP protocol among others.</comment>


Artistic, high-resolution desktop wallpapers - <AUTHOR> http://www.caedes.net/

<comment><USER2> A beautiful desktop does not directly make your more productive, having a nice workspace does have a impact.

Another source for high resolution wallpaper goodness. [http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/?...](http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/downloads/date/any/?promo=disabled)

</comment><comment><USER3> Apparently I don't have enough karma to flag this, so I'll just complain loudly.

 _shouts_ Desktop wallpapers? Really?

</comment><comment><USER4> There are some nice photos on this site, but I think there is a lot junk that looks like it was created at the turn of the decade.

I'm a big fan of interface-lift.com and mandolux.com for my dual screen wallpapers. Sometimes I'll grab stuff from wikipedia's photo of the day.</comment>


Google Doodle of Roswell anniversary is a point-and-click adventure - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/doodles/roswells-66th-anniversary <comment><USER2> Falling down the hole with the plant must be an homage to E.T. on the Atari 2600. :)

<comment><USER3> That's the first thing I thought! it was kind of weird to get deja-vu from something I experienced when I was a kid.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I immediatly thought of Knytt ([http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt](http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Knytt)), a free indie platformer that also features a spaceship crash, scattered parts, and an interesting atmosphere.

</comment><comment><USER5> You can use your nuclear gasoline on the horse. It's useless. But fun!

<comment><USER6> If you haven't already recovered the ring, the giant horse will knock it down :P

Haven't found a use for the giant cow or giant chicken though...

<comment><USER7> Is there any use for the feather?

<comment><USER8> SPOILER:

 _Use the gas on the tree outside the house with the woman, climb up it, tickle her with the feather and take the shiny thing she 's holding to win the game._

<comment><USER9> She randomly dropped it when the bean stalk grew for me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> There are multiple paths to victory. Several more than what's been listed in the comments so far. Explore and play with it!

</comment><comment><USER11> No keyboard controls!

</comment><comment><USER12> I love that there are multiple ways to complete this!

</comment><comment><USER13> Ever since the PRISM revelations, I feel uneasy whenever I see "Google" in the headlines. Even if it's just a harmless doodle, I'm reminded of their partnership with NSA.

<comment><USER14> Sigh. Google does not have a "partnership" with the NSA. They give the NSA data when they are required to do so by law. The problem is the law, which should be changed.

<comment><USER15> It doesn't work that way. "The government told me to do it" is an excuse that died with the Nazis during the Nuremberg trails. As a civilization, humanity has generally agreed that doing something evil because you were told to do it by the "law" is not even close to an okay excuse.

<comment><USER16> Godwin's law fulfilled.

The difference is that you voluntarily offered google your data; those who were enslaved and slaughtered like animals by proxies of the state couldn't simply subsist under the duckduckgo regime instead.

If this were a matter of true evil instead of obscene hyperbole then people would actually stop using google instead of apathetically sojourning into your figurative google gas chamber.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Least squares polynomial fitting in Python, written so I can understand it - <AUTHOR> http://pingswept.org/2009/01/24/least-squares-polynomial-fitting-in-python/

<comment><USER2> Want more, please. Seriously, where can I find more great blog posts like this one. It was meaty, yet still clear and concise. It covered a super-valuable technique in sufficient detail and even included sample python code. Brilliant.

We are doing some device specific characterization and calibration work at my LED lighting startup, which is why I found the post so relevant. However, least-squares polynomial curve fitting techniques have immensely broad application in a variety of fields. Can't wait for the follow up. (Man, I'm such a geek)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks.

That post took at least 10 hours over the past few weeks to write; it's gratifying to know you found it useful. The next one will probably be on regularized least squares (i.e. choosing an x that is close to optimal and also small, so it behaves well in later calculations).

You might also look at Stephen Boyd's videos on linear estimation: <http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=06960BA52D0DB32B>

I think least squares is covered in lectures 5 and 6.</comment></comment>


Ask YC: Learning Web Development, were should I start? - <AUTHOR>

Here's my problem, I know, HTML, CSS, and I'm already learning JavaScript. The thing is that I want to learn about server side programming, Python, Ruby, etc. But I also need to know DB like SQL. So where do I start? <comment><USER2> I had a similar issue a year or so ago. I tried to jump right in to a web framework, but I ran into a few problems. Like so much in the technology world, web frameworks grew in response to a certain set of problems. If you dive into web frameworks without having a least a rudimentary understanding of the problems that are being solved, you'll end up puzzled more often than not. So, when I picked up a bunch of Rails books, and started to work through them. So much of it was confounding, because so much of Rails is developed in response to problems in PHP + Java web development.

You could just say, "Screw it all," pick up a PHP book and dive in head first. You'll pick up some pretty bad habits along the way, but it depends on how you like to learn.

Here's a syllabus that I'd suggest to really get your head around web programming and understand what's going on:

HTTP--learn the basics of what the protocol does, and why. Learn the different response pages, because they are going to be your error messages.

Web servers--you just need a 100 ft overview. Learn how to setup and configure a web server.

Programming--You need to pick a language, Python or Ruby and learn how to at least do some basic programming with it. I'd recommend Python, personally. It's more explicit, and has less "magic". You probably need to understand variables, iteration or looping. You need to understand some basics of the object oriented programming concepts like methods, classes and scoping. And, if you're going to get into any of the web frameworks, you need to understand what things like a dictionary and array are. At least a basic understanding of regular expressions are necessary to learn Django's URL naming convention. The better you know programming itself, the better web developer you'll be, and more things will become possible for you to program.

CGI -- This is the ancestor to pretty much all dynamic web pages, and the foundation of most web development. Pick the language that you're learning, and go through some tutorials on CGI scripting for the language you're going to focus on. And, this will help you understand the basics of what goes on in the address bar, GET and POST methods of the HTTP protocol. You'll also get familiar with the idea of taking variables and inserting them into HTML templates dynamically, which is the basis of most web frameworks.

Learn SQL, and database basics. You need to understand what a database is, how to create a database, why databases are important, how to create and drop tables, how to do queries, etc... Having at least a basic understanding of relationships, foreign keys and constraints is helpful when reading some of the web framework documentation. You really should understand how to do a query in SQL, just so you can understand what the web framework is doing for you.

Finally, pick up a web framework, and start to work through it. After learning the above, learning the web framework will tend to make a lot more sense than if you dive into a web framework deep end first. Pick the framework that's most popular for your language, that way, you can be assured you will have plenty of documentation to work with. I'd recommend Django for Python, and Rails for Ruby.

Lather, rinse, repeat. Iterate through the above steps, and learn more and more each time you approach each subject.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot, you really understood my problem :) I don't want to learn PHP, now I have to decide if it's going to be Python or Ruby.

Can you please point me some of the information sources you used.

Thanks again.

<comment><USER2> Honestly, if you're going to make a serious study of the subject, I'd suggest an O'Reilly Safari subscription. For $15 a month, you get access to 10 books at a time. For $40 a month, you get access to their entire library. I'm not a shill for the service, I just really like the service. It's well worth the cash.

Online tutorials are good for a quick, down and dirty overview of a topic. But, if you're going to learn something a bit more in depth, I'd think that you're better off looking at a book. It's pricey, but it's worth it for me. I figure I'd spend $40 a month on tech books anyway. I'd might as well pay them and get the whole library as well as the Lynda.com video all at the same time.

Also, if you're really serious about it, I might consider finding a web database development class or certificate program somewhere. It might be slower going than you want, but you'll have a more complete understanding of the subjects once you were done.

<comment><USER3> Agreed - I would also recommend taking a class or two if you have the time. Decent community colleges will have many courses for web development ranging from beginner to intermediate. Studying and learning in a classroom environment has many benefits - Who knows, you might meet a few new friends and like minded folks as well!

Good Luck!

(PS: In the Bay area, foothill college is great, IMHO, for continued education)

<comment><USER4> Also, if you're taking classes, you may have free access to Safari and other ebook collections through the school's library.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Blah, blah, blah. I think most of these recommendations are from 15-year-olds who just read about a cool web framework and are now spouting how damn good it is.

Anyone recommending a framework before someone understands web programming isn't someone I would hire. Frameworks are where you go when you finally get what is missing with your web programming language. It might take you years to get to that point.

Go with PHP. Period. People are going to blah, blah, blah about how PHP gives you bad habits, has bad function naming, ran off with their kid sister, whatever. PHP is a mess but it works. Name a webpage .php and you are good to get going. Try that with Ruby.

PHP is a tool that gets the job done and let's you quickly become immersed in web programming. If you don't know your GET from your POST, a great Ruby framework ain't gonna help you.

Once you get PHP figured out (and now are employable as a programmer?), try Python or Ruby out. They are gorgeous, elegant languages. I love using both of them. Then slap a great framework like Django or Merb on top. You'll love it.

But only after you get the basics down. I'm ashamed at you guys, really.

<comment><USER6> Before I got to this, I was wondering if anyone was going to mention PHP. I'm at the exact same stage as the OP and I'm just going with PHP (and learning MySQL simultaneously). I do want to play with Python eventually, but my first goal is to actually be able to find a job doing this stuff by the end of the year. Plus, even though every virtual human I run across has been programming RoR since 1963, everyone I know in meatspace uses PHP... and those are the people I'll be bugging for help.

Go to your local craigslist web/info design job page and run a search for PHP and count how many ads come up. Then run searches for Python and Ruby. That's enough help for me when it comes to making a decision.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> There's multiple things you want to learn:

1\. How to program (hack) 2\. How to hack on the web 3\. How to create application databases for your web stuff

I suggest tackling each of these separately in turn if possible, starting with #1. Python and Ruby both make great beginner's languages.

Be goal-oriented. Once you know your way around a little, worry less about having the right technology and more about getting things done. Create something that you can use every day, like a blog, a calendar program, or something like that. Ignore all the "X is better than Y" talk on the Internet and just work hard on getting stuff done: that's all that really matters.

</comment><comment><USER8> Ruby on Rails. I recommend following a screencast tutorial, like the ones at lynda.com <http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=324>

Sure rails hides a lot but it'll introduce you to some best practices, like the concept of MVC etc.

<comment><USER9> I agree. Rails is currently the way to go. It's much more mature than Django and has more flexibility and more mature gems/plugins.

Lynda tutorials are great. I'd also recommend free ones:

<http://railscasts.com/>

[http://www.akitaonrails.com/2008/2/1/rolling-with- rails-2-0-...](http://www.akitaonrails.com/2008/2/1/rolling-with- rails-2-0-pdf-version)

And for-pay ones at <http://www.peepcode.com>

Also, grab "The Rails Way" book by Obie Fernandez (it's THE BEST book on Rails.. when you learn the basics, it's better than 'Agile Web Development with Rails') and "The Ruby Way" by Hal Fulton.

<comment><USER10> Rails is much more mature than Django? Please provide some sort of evidence surrounding that, instead of stating it as fact.

First, let's start with the languages they are based on, since performance and scalability depends on this. Do you feel Ruby is more mature than Python too?

<comment><USER11> For applications launching soon it's worth noting that Django is in a period of flux at the moment. Ver 1.0 is being actively worked toward and will break backwards compatibility.

I mean, no one is keeping you from working using Django .96, but several of the neater features in the platform (ContentTypes & Generic relations) are a little sketchy at the moment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Write a toy web server. It'll get you up to par with how the requests actually happen which is a good base for understanding CGI and the more complex systems.

<comment><USER5> He is just figuring out HTML. You are joking right?

<comment><USER11> Of course not.

It's practically requisite to understanding Rails or Django and is not so hard a project that you can't start to tackle it quickly (by reading any of the hundreds of simple web server tutorials online)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This seems to be the most asked question on YC, by far. This may be impossible (which would explain why it doesn't exist) but can someone put together the quickstart guide "Learning to Web Develop"?

1-2 page exec summaries of popular languages and the specific problems they solve. Include links to resources that explain things further. It would help to get a snapshot from 1000 ft. above the situation.

There is definitely a need here.

Thanks

</comment><comment><USER13> Hi, I asked a similar question a month ago and got some great advice. Check it out: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=90782>.

</comment><comment> a-priori I think everyone else here has covered the specifics fairly well.

The best advice I can give is to remember that you're at the start of a long road. You need treat it as such. No matter how smart you are (or think you are), it will take you long time to learn everything you need. Persevere.

Err on the side of learning more than you need. You'll find later that knowledge will be useful. Be curious.

</comment><comment><USER14> With a framework like Django, you don't really need to know SQL. It helps to understand the backend, but you basically design the tables based on Python classes. That's how I learned, it and it got me far enough to already launch tipjoy.com

I already knew a good amount of Python though.

djangoproject.com

</comment><comment><USER15> My advice is to pick a language and go from there. Start with either PHP, Ruby or Python. Once you are comfortable with the inner workings of the language, then move forward with an agile development framework. Depending on which language you finally chose you will find open source frameworks for each:

Ruby: Ruby on Rail, Merb PHP: CakePHP Python: Django

I truly think that understanding the language itself will help a lot before jumping into the framework.

</comment><comment><USER16> I'd start by coming up with a project, a goal. What are your interests? Gaming, sports, cooking, art? Decide to make something web-based that pertains to whatever interests you have. Doesn't matter if you're reinventing the wheel.

Now, start creating. Learn the necessary technologies as you go along, mixing in healthy doses of theory and best practices when you get the feeling there's a better way to do what you're trying.

It's hard to learn technologies in isolation, when they have no meaningful connection to problems you're solving. So give yourself an interesting challenge that can be overcome with the tools you want to learn.

If you're using automated tools along the way (installers, package managers, code scaffolding), consider doing what the tools do for you manually. Unravel things and get closer to the metal until you're satisfied.

Consider sharing the source code of your project with others. Maybe nobody will take notice, but it will give you motivation to make your code beautiful.

As far as specifics, Python strikes a nice balance among power, maturity, and marketability. MySQL is standard. Be sure to "unravel" your DB code into SQL without just relying on framework magic.

</comment><comment><USER17> Something like Django or Ruby on Rails would be a good platform. "Unfortunately" it hides a lot from you so you won't get to see what's actually going on. Maybe try writing a few CGI's just to see what's physically happening to get a feel for that aspect of things.

<comment><USER18> Pylons and CakePHP are also quite good frameworks, if you're into that kind of thing, but I'd also suggest writing something simple in PHP (which is pretty much still _the_ webdev language these days),

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> <http://philip.greenspun.com/seia/>

</comment><comment><USER20> If you want to give Django a try, you might want to check out my simple tutorial:

<http://www.instantdjango.com>

It includes a portable Django development environment for Windows, no installation required, and it even runs from a USB thumb drive. The tutorial walks you through creating a simple website, and explains what is happening each step of the way.

The website is overdue for some updates, and I really need to finish writing the second chapter, but you might find it an interesting way to spend 45 minutes.

</comment><comment><USER21> Spend some time on intro cs theory/topics - freelance PHP 'scripters' whose understanding of structured logic is abysmal are everywhere and they tend to start with HTML and go horribly astray.

</comment><comment><USER22> SQL is a language that will take you half a day to learn and you will use it for the rest of your life. Since it varies from platform to platform you better pick the one you are going to use (Postgres, mySQL, etc.) -- Don't fall into those ORM which hides the database behind a "nice" api. for programming I would suggest you Python. The best place to start is by looking at <http://webpy.org> which is a compact yet robust web framework in Python.

good-luck

</comment><comment><USER23> I recommend PHP, and SQL, using MySQL/PHP/Apache/Linux. For an editor, I recommend Bluefish. After that, go with Perl(Old style, but it has it's uses) and then Python. Ruby is the next step after that. W3Schools is a good place to start learning, but the best way to learn is by doing.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot, not it's time to start learning. I'll let you know how is it going. :)

</comment><comment><USER24> Find an on-line tutorial that walks you through every step (including installing the software). Don't worry so much about which technology; you can always change. To get an idea of what I mean, here's one (you can google many others):

<http://www.php-mysql-tutorial.com/>

Here's another oldie, but goodie:

[http://webmonkey.com/webmonkey/programming/php/tutorials/tut...](http://webmonkey.com/webmonkey/programming/php/tutorials/tutorial4.html)

You didn't say which platform you're on, but you could save yourself a lot of trouble by installing an "all in one" LAMP distro, even on Windows.

</comment><comment><USER25> PHP is the best web programming tool to start with!!!

<comment><USER26> I'm sure you'll get downvoted for that because of the l33t crowd here, but I'd have to agree that if you don't know conventional programming, a super straightforward language like PHP is better for learning web programming, as opposed to languages like Python/Ruby that are general purpose languages suited to programming.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> You could also check out arc.

</comment><comment><USER28> HTML

</comment><comment><USER29> Join to some opensource project at sourceforge.net</comment>


Google Nexus 4 Alert - Powered By Twilio - <AUTHOR> http://www.acloudtree.com/google-nexus-4-alert-powered-by-twilio/

<comment><USER2> $AAPL took a beating due to poor stock levels of the iPhone 5. Two months after release you need to write software and tap into an API to have a shot at buying a Nexus 4? A similar failure.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah. Since perspective is one of the few things I can control, I just look at it in economic terms. Supply is short. Demand is high. I'll do what I can for a slight edge. :)</comment></comment>


The AtomicMap Challenge - Solutions - <AUTHOR> http://blog.boundary.com/2011/05/03/atomicmap-solutions.html

<comment><USER2> While the given approach for AtomicMap is interesting and performs well in the common case, it suffers from a few flaws: some fixable, some fundamental.

First, storing polymorphic values in the map (either true values or OneShotThunks, depending on whether the Thunk has been unboxed or not) means you have to give up the static type safety of the compiler and cast values carefully. There's at least two bugs in the current version of the code due to unsafe casting. However, this problem can be fixed with careful coding and thorough tests.

Second, the given code doesn't actually prevent thunks from executing more than once. If the thunk throws an exception when executed, the thunk will still be kept in the map and marked as "unexecuted", so the next thread that tries to read that value will execute it again (and possibly throw an exception again). This is troubling both because the thunk executes multiple times and because an update from one thread can cause another thread to throw an exception. This is possibly fixable with some clever coding, but it's unclear what the desired semantics should be if the thunk throws an exception. (Possibly tombstone the value or replace it with the previous value: as if the update with the throwing thunk had never happened.)

But a fundamental flaw in the entire approach is that AtomicMap imposes a certain kind of threading model on client code. The above-mentioned behavior of exceptions propagating to other threads is one symptom of this problem, but there are others. For example, if the thunk takes a while to execute, or worse yet blocks (either momentarily or indefinitely), then other threads interacting with the same key in the map will block waiting for the thunk to finish executing. This behavior is perhaps fine for many applications, but if you want your threads to operate with strict timeouts for blocking operations, or if you want your threads to be entirely nonblocking, then you can't safely use AtomicMap. The implementation forces a particular threading model on client code, which is deprived from choosing its own threading model.

Perhaps a better interface for AtomicMap to implement is ConcurrentMap[A, Future[B]]. This alternative map could still make all its operations atomic, but by returning a Future[B] (instead of a straight-up B), it gives client code the power to check whether an exception was thrown or to block with a timeout when getting the value. Then its up to the client to decide what threading model it feels most comfortable with.

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the comments, Jorge. What you describe as a fundamental flaw is perhaps better described as a careful engineering trade-off. AtomicMap is intended for specific use cases. If you are not dealing with an extremely high throughput, high concurrency write system, then AtomicMap may not be the right choice for you. If you are dealing with complicated write semantics that are likely to raise exceptions, AtomicMap may not be the right choice for you. In our application, we have a lot of threads writing at once. Exceptions in that path would indicate a pretty significant problem, far worse than how to handle them gracefully.

We have chosen to trade some flexibility in how the data structure can be used in exchange for an enormous increase in throughput. Your needs may differ, resulting in different trade offs.</comment></comment>


Electric Car Drives 375 Miles on a 6 Minute Charge - <AUTHOR> http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1050863_electric-car-drives-375-miles-at-55-mph-recharges-in-6-minutes

<comment><USER2> Interesting, but severely lacking in technical details.

What kind of batteries does this car use? How expensive are they? What kind of special-purpose charging infrastructure is required? Have any crazy tradeoffs been made in order to make this possible (for instance, does the battery die after a few dozen charge cycles?)

<comment><USER3> stolen from slashdot, which stole it from the comments in tfa:

Translated from this page: [http://adacemobility.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/das- wunder-von...](http://adacemobility.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/das-wunder-von- berlin/#more-744) [wordpress.com] "Technical Data Audi A2 DBM * * Subject Empty weight (including driver) 1260 kg Perm. Total weight 1600 kg Battery lithium-iron-polymer (260 Ah/380 V) cell voltage of 3.8 volts Battery weight about 300 kg Charging time about 4 hours due to mains phase current in the household (380) battery requires 6 minutes (future solution) Life time 2500 charge cycles (without loss of capacity) = Service life target: 500,000 km Top speed 160 km / h 5-speed sequential gearbox (race gear: shifting without the clutch) E-motor 300 Nm torque" So, the 6 minute charge is future/theoretical limits of the battery. The actual time is 4 hours; which is still very impressive. Sincerely, Neil

<comment><USER4> _(260 Ah/380 V)_

Please correct me if I've got the math wrong. I'm not really familiar with this area.

260 Ah/380 V = 98,800 Wh, or 98.8kWh

Though I don't pay my own electricity bill, I looked the rate up for here in Halifax[1] and the rate is CAD$0.11796/kWh (flat rate).

That means you could charge this for about CAD$11.83. Not too shabby.

Also, if I'm reading this right, there is another option to pay based on time- of-day usage. The 11pm-7am option is CAD$0.06028/kWh[2], making the total roughly CAD$5.98 per charge.

[1] - [http://www.nspower.ca/en/home/aboutnspi/ratesandregulations/...](http://www.nspower.ca/en/home/aboutnspi/ratesandregulations/electricityrates/domesticservicetariff.aspx)

[2] - [http://www.nspower.ca/en/home/aboutnspi/ratesandregulations/...](http://www.nspower.ca/en/home/aboutnspi/ratesandregulations/electricityrates/domesticservicetimeofdaytarriffoptional.aspx)

<comment><USER5> As soon as everybody would start driving EVs that price will not remain though, after all increasing demand would surely drive up the price.

<comment><USER6> We currently have large excesses of power at nighttime, (production cannot be scaled down and back up in a 24hr period) so the effect could be mitigated by that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This sounds about three times better than existing electric car batteries. Does this mean we can put this battery in cell phones and laptops and get three times the usage?</comment>


Sesame Street' Parts Ways with Three Longtime Cast Members - <AUTHOR> http://m.imdb.com/news/ni60094569 <comment><USER2> Starting with the C's seems smart to me. A's and B's likely get many cold calls.</comment>


Palo Alto mayor pushes for ban on large tech companies taking over downtown - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/02/palo-alto-ban-technology-companies-downtown-patrick-burt <comment><USER2> Whether this happens or not, it's succeeding in framing "techies" as the cause of high housing prices.

Stop restricting new construction.

<comment><USER3> I think the en vogue term for us is "Tech Bro", at least in Seattle that seems to be the case.

<comment><USER4> I thought it was "brogrammer".

<comment><USER5> That's _so_ 2013...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Don't bite the hand that feeds you and wants to hand you stacks of cash.

"We're seeing it transformed into something that risks becoming like every other technology park."

That would be...educated population, business growth, tremendous financial gains for existing property owners.

What exactly is he worried about? Traffic?

<comment><USER7> On the contrary... The hand that feeds Palo Alto is a culture of entrepreneurship. Downtown Palo Alto in particular, with its easy access to Stanford University, venture capital, and many smaller office spaces, has long been a major incubator.

Companies like Palantir that take over all this previous incubator-like space are in fact a threat to the very hand that feeds Palo Alto. Further, once you're big enough that you provide your own services (caffeteria etc) you threaten the viability of downtown businesses that cater to smaller offices.

Also, once inevitably companies like Palantir _do_ make their move to a proper office park somewhere, that will mean a glut of suddenly open office space in Downtown Palo Alto. This isn't healthy either... it's better to ensure that there is always a fairly stable amount of demand and vacancy...

<comment><USER8> This problem is _entirely_ caused by Palo Alto's draconian zoning laws. Many companies like being in a mixed-use area (one that combines housing, office, and retail), but this is illegal in 99% of the city. So everyone fights to the death over the remaining 1%.

<comment><USER9> > This is illegal in 99% of the city.

Wait, what? What's the logic behind this? Wouldn't this cause massive congestion?

<comment><USER10> People (particularly those with children) do not like to live among the foot traffic, noise, or any kind of traffic/signs of life associated with strangers making their way to and from businesses in a residential neighborhood. Businesses are excluded from residential areas to preserve this trait, which homeowners tend to view as a huge component of their homes' value.

<comment><USER11> I wonder how much the prevalence of skinny wood frame walls and sash windows in the US contribute to this issue--if houses were made of 2x6s with continuous insulation, or double 2x4 studs, or masonry, and had casement windows instead, I suspect people wouldn't mind the outside noise as much.

<comment><USER10> True, but I think being in a closed-world snow globe where people feel comfortable letting their children walk around is a huge part of it.

Excluding people who cannot afford homes in the neighborhood or cars to get there is a principal component of the "safety" strategy of suburbia. Add businesses and public transit to reach them, and that goes away.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> There are lots of offices above the retail spaces on University Ave in Palo Alto, and have been plenty of small companies there for decades. I don't think people were upset about that. I suspect impetus for this ban is Palentir. More egregiously, they turned a huge retail/commercial space into their cafeteria. There are big windows in the front where you can see employees eating. Honestly, it's weird.

I think they broke an unwritten social contract: small companies on University Ave. are okay, but you need to move out once you grow up. You can't try take over and push everyone else out.

</comment><comment><USER13> This is idiotic. I live in San Francisco and growing tired of people blaming "techies" for rising housing costs, or "ruining" the culture in the bay area. This is just people complaining that techies make more money than them. It is typical extreme liberal outrage.

<comment><USER14> I do not live in San Francisco, but I would venture a guess that it's much more nuanced than that.

<comment><USER13> Do you think this stereotyping in the bay area of techies is much different than what Trumps says in terms of minorities?

<comment><USER15> When has Trump ever mentioned anything negative about 'minorities'?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Palo Alto certainly has its NIMBYs but the problem is we need our downtown as, well, a downtown: a place to by aspirin, get a meal, have shoes repaired etc. Basically a mix of retail. We have tech parks for businesses. Worse, companies like Palantir have their own cafeterias and other services (they took over face book's, though it was unused for a while after FB moved out, and also converted a copy shop into a cafeteria) which means all those employees aren't even helping the remaining restaurants, while squeezing out foot traffic.

The other problem is that when you have only a couple of large tenants, when they move out (by failing or growing) you suddenly have a bombed-out glut of empty space in a quiet downtown.

This isn't really ideological: there's another "problem" which we _don 't_ address which is that PA downtown has more chain shops and places for tourists (e.g. cheesecake factory) rather than locals. Though I live within walking distance of downtown I often go to cal ave or midtown for my needs. That's an ebb and flow of fashion (over the years the number of chain stores has risen and fallen) and doesn't need intervention. But this overtaking of the downtown has hysteresis effects that could be very bad.

</comment><comment><USER17> I lived in Palo Alto in 2012 and even then, Palantir's building collection seemed a little excessive. I'm mostly happy that they're doing well...but every time I've gone back, it feels less like the already-strange downtown it was and more like a Palantir campus.

I joked with friends then that Palantir's only real business model was buying Palo Alto so they could sell it later.

<comment><USER18> Do they even own the real estate? I was under the impression that they rent.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Has he ever been to downtown Palo Alto? That ship has sailed when I first got to the Bay 10 years ago.

It's like a nerdy Disneyland. Lovely place still, and beautiful to walk around, but this is a bit late.

</comment><comment><USER20> Wait, why does the article say Amazon is based there?

<comment><USER19> They have like... at least 3 offices there for different sub-divisions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Palantir and Skype are in Downtown Palo Alto. Paypal was founded there, and so was Google.

<comment><USER22> Google moved out of University Ave as soon as they exceeded the capacity...they didn't try taking over downtown, they took over boring office park space north of 101 in PA for a while.

<comment><USER17> Facebook was also in one of the University Ave buildings for a bit before they moved to Page Mill and ultimately to Menlo Park.</comment></comment></comment>


Amtrak Says Shortfalls and Rules Delayed Its Safety System - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/us/amtrak-says-it-was-just-months-away-from-installing-safety-system.html <comment><USER2> Hard to understand why a GPS tracking system was not installed that would tell train dispatchers about location / speed of train on tracks.

<comment><USER3> A system like this exists called "positive train control". It is expensive.</comment></comment>


SPJ (Sense of Proportion & Judgement) - <AUTHOR> http://www.adnanymous.com/2011/11/spj-sense-of-proportion-and-judgement/

<comment><USER2> I get and agree with the basic premise, but I think the upside down map example would be much improved by an illustration.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> An illustration would've been great, but I wanted to test my ability to describe something just with words.</comment>


DIY Tractor Repair Runs Afoul Of Copyright Law - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/08/17/432601480/diy-tractor-repair-runs-afoul-of-copyright-law <comment><USER2> If he could actually fix the software, it's possible he could break the digital lock to get there. And it would be illegal. So what? At this point, it should be no surprise to anyone that just about everyone in America needs to break the law on a daily basis to live. It's not news. Just don't get caught. Honestly, I'm tired of reading articles about yet another everyday activity that's illegal in the land of the free. If a solution was proposed, I'd be all ears, but as it stands, no one has a workable solution for the abomination our legal and penal systems have become. Otherwise, this is just another example of freedom amongst too many to count. (NOTE: Some sarcasm present above.)

<comment><USER3> What's keeping this from being a campaign issue? The DMCA is a badly thought- out pernicious law. It interferes with academic and research work. It interferes with the independent DIY spirit of people like this farmer. It means we effectively do not fully own our own stuff that we've paid for. Why isn't this a campaign issue? Can someone paint me a picture concerning demographics, campaign finance, backed up with data?

<comment><USER4> Campaign issues get made out of topics or concerns that statistically relevant numbers of people consider a good enough reason alone to vote for someone, these are called "single issue voters" \-- Abortion is generally the easiest example as both parties use either side of the debate as a single issue lightning rod and large numbers of people will ignore all other positions any given politician advocates for or against, just so long as they are unwavering on their commitment to protect [unborn life|a woman's right to choose]. Previously gay marriage was a similar issue, although that particular topic is mostly moot at this point, at least as far as American politics are concerned.

Copyright reform, along with corporate tax reform, both get rolled into more general economic concerns, the most prominent of which will always be unemployment. Which rarely becomes a serious issue in campaigns unless the jobless rate is particularly high.

Rand Paul and Chris Christie are both attempting to make state surveillance a "single issue voter" concern, I imagine this would be the best place to attempt to slip copyright concerns in alongside-- however, I doubt wiretapping or copyright is a big enough issue to become a real driver of campaigns the way abortion is.

<comment><USER5> Given how much the Iowa primary matters, and how much farming there is in Iowa, there may be some leverage there to make it an issue on the national stage...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Opportunity for a startup to build a "hactor" that uses modern tech but is open source and easily modified with support of online communities etc?

EDIT: I've got patent dibs on the name "Hactor"

<comment><USER7> just like with cars bought by companies and rentals, construction and farm machines are bought mostly with the warranty in mind.

just like in software, for every one nerd that wants to fix things themselves, there are millions who do not. and those folks don't even change the oil to not lose warranty. and newer models even phone home (to the dealer!) when the engine is being abused. and it's actually sold to the buyer as a feature, because the phone home system can be used in case of theft.

do you rater sell one hactor or a million tractors?

<comment><USER6> I would see the average farmer as a little different to your average car/cellphone user. As the article points out, getting things fixed quick and the ability to do it yourself for cheap are critical factors for many farmers and an integral part of their daily lives.

I've worked on many farms and always spent a large chunk of my time fixing a tractor or other farm implement.

<comment><USER7> i know. but farmers with ONE tractor are mostly ignore by dealer/makers.

they mostly buy used. and couldn't care less about drm or dealer visits.

now if you have over a dozen they will send people in less than 4h and invite you to expensive cocktail parties every quarter

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This sort of thing isn't unique to tractors. Our Haas Vertical Machining Centers are great machines while, at the same time, being grotesque examples of "no user serviceable parts inside".

This is ridiculous when you consider we have a group of electrical and software engineers with 20 to 30 years of experience in just about all aspects of technology, including real time embedded systems and robotics. In many ways we are far more qualified to support these machines than the techs they send over. I mean, we could actually design these machines from scratch.

No, you can't get tech manuals. No, you can't have access to internals. Yes, there are a bunch of secret codes and you can't have them. And, yes, you will pay $1,000 (or whatever it was, I forget) for an additional 16 MEGA bytes of memory.

No, we are not eager to jump into a $200K machine to fiddle with it. We are busy enough with our own work. It's about simple things. When a machine goes down for some silly reason it'd be nice to be able to diagnose and get it back up and running rather than waste a bunch of time waiting for a tech who is going to enter a few secret codes to do the same. I've seen it done a bunch of times and it is infuriating.

I also do understand that the typical big iron CNC user doesn't have our profile. We are not a production shop. We have a well stocked CNC shop for prototyping product designs, just like we have pick-and-place capabilities in house. We are a product engineering firm staffed with highly experienced engineers, not a machine shop.

I can see a company like Haas deciding "no way we are giving access to internals to machinist". I get it. Yet, at the same time, they have no provisions for opening the doors to more capable users. I don't even think they have a class you can take to become qualified. Perhaps the tractor industry is similar?

</comment><comment><USER9> How does the DMCA stop a tractor owner from replacing a faulty sensor, engine part, or a drive belt? The article implies that the DMCA stops the farmer from fixing even mechanical components.

<comment><USER10> The problem is going to be getting enough information out of the machine to actually diagnose what the underlying problem is. With the belt story, there was nothing wrong with the belt but the computer thought there was. He could have thrown a new belt on it (i.e. throwing money at the problem and try again) but that wouldn't have fixed the problem. Heck, that might have been the first thing he tried. Diagnosing an issue by replacing part after part along the problem chain takes time and gets expensive fast making it impractical for anything really serious.

<comment><USER11> But it's not like the farmer is trying to retune the internal tables of his engine controller or override some kind of operation mode. He just wants to get the fault code out of the system.

It seems like there's plenty of room for a middle ground here. Deere _certainly_ could have opened up some kind of way for owners to get fault codes out of the system, at least for things that are user-replaceable. Hell, the UI should at least put up that message ("CHECK ENGINE OIL", "BELT BROKEN", etc). But then the owner might not buy the replacement part from Deere, right? Perhaps that's the real motivation here.

<comment><USER12> But the replacement part and send out the field service technician. Deere wants to own the service contract.

As another example, I had a check engine light on my car. It was ~$500 to check the code fault and replace a sensor. If I had my own access to those codes, I could have done the work myself for a fraction of the cost, but the car manufacturer knows that I'm limited in my options. If I want to renew my car tabs, I'll have to pay them and their service technician to do the work. It's a racket.

<comment><USER13> That's the reason for the openness of the basic ODB-II protocol. You can buy a sub-$100 code reader that can read all the basic powertrain codes and can reset the MIL.

That and 2 minutes of Googling will point you in the right direction generally.

My cars haven't seen the inside of a dealer's service bay in over 10 years, other than for warranty or recall work.

<comment><USER11> But OBD-II only has to (by law) provide certain information to the reader, mostly to do with emissions control.

If you own a BMW, for example, the detailed diagnostic information for the rest of the car is sitting on their MODBUS, which is only readable with a very expensive tool and software sold only to BMW dealers.

<comment><USER14> I think you mean CANBus. You can purchase very inexpensive CAN transceivers, but you're on your own figuring out the messages. MODBUS is an industrial automation relic (but like all things in ind. automation, still very popular), and not limited to a particular physical layer.

<comment><USER11> Actually I meant MODIC and not MODBUS. MODIC is a variant of Siemens' D-BUS protocol (not to be confused with the Linux IPC system)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Wasn't it last year that the Library of Congress made cell phones an exemption? There was a big hullabaloo about jailbreaking being illegal up to that point.

<comment><USER16> Yes, and that's a temporary exemption that has to be renewed every three years. I think it runs out this year. [http://arstechnica.com/tech- policy/2012/10/jailbreaking-now-...](http://arstechnica.com/tech- policy/2012/10/jailbreaking-now-legal-under-dmca-for-smartphones-but-not- tablets/)

<comment><USER15> Ah, so it's been longer than I thought.

Well, it'll be interesting to see what happens if jailbreakers get that rug pulled out from under them. It might drive a long-overdue reform of the DMCA.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Since John Deere is so widespread in the US, the farmers could open a cooperative dealership if only to get access to the proprietary tools. Then I guess they'd have to file an anti-trust case against John Deere to force them to hand over the tools but you cannot achieve much without legal action these days.

</comment><comment><USER18> Engine manufacturers are required to make emission critical electronics tamper resistant. Opening up anything that effects emissions is a violation of the clean air act.

Vehicle control code is a separate deal, but liability is a nightmare. If the tractor malfunctions and kills someone, who's fault was it?

</comment><comment><USER19> Welcome to the rentier economy...

<comment><USER20> Disagree. This is the stage where generic consumers, not just techies, start caring about the fine print and adjust spending habits accordingly.

<comment><USER21> Except that the generic consumer in this case is actually very specialized and the market is very illiquid. There are only so many types of tractors you can buy and I would imagine all of them have the software since it "improves" efficiency.

There is an excellent book called "Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry Into The Value Of Work" that examines this move towards things in our life that we can no longer fix on our own. You can't change the oil in fancy cars because they have no dipsticks. You can't fix the tractor because it has proprietary software. You can't jail break your phone because it's illegal (or was and could be again). Etc, etc. We are rapidly getting to the point where no one, not even the historically self-reliant, can fix the things they supposedly own. We don't actually "own" these things anymore, we are just renting them. Or best case, we have them on loan until we throw them out for something newer.

Whether all this is an improvement is a matter of discussion but there seems to be no doubt that the concept of "ownership" is rapidly changing.

<comment><USER3> _We don 't actually "own" these things anymore, we are just renting them_

This seems to be a trend across even more of society than just products with DMCA-laden micro-controllers.

Perhaps the focus of open source and hacktivism should be in an alternative ecosystem for micro-controllers?</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Israel's tech sector faces challenge from shortage of workers - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-tech-employment-idUSKBN1OF06T <comment><USER2> The obvious solution for this is for them to embrace the same solution that's working so well in other countries - embrace immigration and bring foreign workers in to shore up their own workforce.</comment>


PyCon 2011: Advanced Python 1 Tutorial - <AUTHOR> http://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2011/03/09/pycon-2011-advanced-python-1-tutorial/ <comment><USER2> It is not cool to publish someone else's slides on your website without their permission.</comment>


I'm about to be the last one on a sinking ship. Advice? - <AUTHOR> TL;DR: I've been working for the startup since November, and I don't think I could have picked a worse time to join. Right now I'm the last remaining member of full time staff yet to hand in notice, and wondering if I should secure a new job first, risk riding this ship till the bitter end, or, if I should bail now and hope I can pick up something good and new quick enough.
FULL: I'm a fairly recent graduate, with a years placement experience, and a lot of open source contribution. The company I work for right now was small when I joined, however had been around a few years and was/is part of an incubator of sorts. Since joining though the only other (senior) developer has moved onto a better role elsewhere, and the MD was removed shortly after when a couple of new investors came on-board.
When I started it had a great vibe, the team worked closely together, and we all believed in the product. There was also the promise of imminent funding to hire more dev's to really polish off the product. Unfortunately we're now a few months in and no cigar just yet. To make it worse all but myself, and the new (hands on, but never seen) investors, are going to be gone due to better offers elsewhere. It turns out that the management and guidance from the incubator has been not so great, and has been on the decline for a while.
However, the company (whats left of it) is finally about to sign on the illusive investment which could give it a chance to actually bring on new developers, and have runway to get things through till the end of the year.
I'm currently looking for something else, as at this point I'm surprised things haven't just been shutdown. Though I'm not sure if I should:
* bail immediately, * wait till I have something new secured, * or, risk sticking around to make the most out of this new investment and using it as a growth/learning opportunity.
Does anyone have any experience in this sort of situation or advice on what they would do? <comment><USER2> Hi, it's your career and it's your responsibility to look after yourself. There are always better jobs. The longer you look for a job, the more likely you will get a job you really like. Some people like to quit first, because this makes it easier to look for work. There's plenty of work out there so you won't be looking for long.

It's pretty easy to look for work while you are working, so why not do that? There's usually not a good reason to bail immediately.

If you stick around you will have limited control over what happens with the company, so either the new investment works out well or it doesn't, but either way it's out of your hands. If you find a new job, you can select a job with the right circumstances for you.

</comment><comment><USER3> I've been in a similar situation. I bailed immediately, but I had a fairly nice severance package to cushion the transition. If I hadn't had that, I would have started looking for a new position while I was in the old one. You're chances of getting a job are better of you're already employed (they say).

In addition, it sounds like you're young. Skinning your knees is part of cutting your teeth (ouch sorry mixed metaphors), and I would say it's much better to do that sort of hill-climbing (job-seeking) when you're young.

As trite as it sounds, it's true: doors open when others close, and everything has an opportunity within it. Enjoy the ride, it's all part of the adventure!

I wish you the best possible outcomes.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the advice, and no worries about mixed metaphors.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's good that you believe in the product, but it sounds like you don't believe in the management. Which means that even if you get your funding the chances of success are slim. It doesn't matter how good your product is, the business determines your profitability. Great businesses are not run by lousy people (at least, not for long).

Have you considered helping your employers sell the company/technology?

</comment><comment><USER5> Why would you bail without having anything secured? If you are not happy start interviewing elsewhere now and see what you can find. Then leverage the offer to see if it will make it more worthwhile to stick around.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm really not too keen on being the only person sat in the office (or out of it) with no real direction on what I should be doing. I didn't join to work solo on somebody else's project, I joined to work with and learn from the interesting people that were there when I started.

I guess it just seems like the lesser of two uncertainties, and so more comfortable as a choice to have on the table.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Start looking now. Leave when you gave something else or when this company can't pay you, whichever comes first.</comment>