Stripe CLI - <AUTHOR> https://stripe.com/blog/stripe-cli <comment><USER2> Stripe is by far the best developer experience I've had in my career working with third party APIs/services. The attention to detail is just second to none, and documentation is a big part of this.

<comment><USER3> Top APIs I've enjoyed working with:

1\. Stripe (Best)

2\. Twilio

3\. Twitter (Does what it needs to do quickly)

4\. Puppeteer (Amazing. Was super helpful.)

5\. Google (mostly ok but could be better)

APIs I've hated working with:

1\. Paypal (the worst - docs are horrible and UI is not consistent with most of the help material out there because it changes all the time. Have you tried their support? That's a beauty)

2\. Facebook (same story but manageable compared to paypal)

<comment><USER4> Add eBay to the second list. We are still uploading XML documents.

<comment><USER5> And Amazon sellers API (Amazon MWS). Rarely seen such an inconsistent mess of often poorly documented SOAP-ish calls, that so many external partners base their livelyhood on.

<comment><USER6> Some APIs you can choose to use. Other APIs you have to use. The ones you have to use tend to not care much about the developer experience... Because why should they? No one's going to avoid Amazon because their API was annoying. People need to make money.

This actually explains a lot of other things. Like the DMV.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In the Twilio world, I can do something like this, via the command line and their API:

\- activate new phone number

\- send SMS from that number

\- deactivate number

I have not ever done _that particular workflow_ , but I could.

Who is the Twilio of payments/fintech wherein I could perform a workflow like this:

\- generate new CC number in my name

\- set transaction limit(s) and expiry 10 days from now

\- (go use that CC in real life)

\- deactivate the CC

or maybe:

\- disable existing card

\- reenable existing card

I know I could do this if I wrote the API myself and had a big, complicated, sticky relationship with a bank ... but does someone let me do things like this if I am just an end-user (like Twilio does) ?

<comment><USER8> Privacy.com gets pretty close. They can generate burner cards or "per service" (such as a card just for your netflix account) that have spending limits per some period of time or in total. Their autofill plugin for firefox works pretty well. That's the extend of my usage of the service, it might do more but I'm not sure.

Personally, I use them for anything that doesn't accept paypal or similar payment systems. Hopefully that's helpful.

<comment><USER9> I also use privacy.com and it's great. The only problem is that sometimes merchants don't accept prepaid debit cards (that's what privacy.com cards are under the hood).

So far I've had cards rejected by Patreon and AT&T.

I still recommend privacy.com though.

<comment><USER10> Also, DigitalOcean. I'd used a prepaid debit card with them in the past, but they don't accept them anymore.

<comment><USER11> Adding that prepaid debit card to your PayPal account, then paying DO with PayPal works seamlessly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Hi all! I'm one of the folks who's been working on this for the past few months. I'm happy to answer some questions about the CLI or how it was built (using Go and websockets for pushing data). If you have any ideas or feedback feel free to email me directly too! firstname.lastname@example.com -- We'd love to hear how you're using the CLI and what you'd like to see in the future.

<comment><USER13> Super minor complaint, but when I suspend/lose connection for a while and it restores, I have to restart the CLI to resume receiving events.

<comment><USER12> We're looking into improving the disconnect/reconnect flow! Hopefully will have some progress on that soon.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Excellent product, fast improvements, best in class API/SDK, and documentation; this was pretty much my summary after extensive research on payment processors. After 2 years of using Stripe, my conclusion is unchanged.

Also, an interesting coincidence that I've just released a case study of Stripe's success and recent $35B valuation [YouTube]: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlFAbBvu7hA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlFAbBvu7hA)

<comment><USER15> Fwiw, we kinda had the opposite experience when trying to get them to fix the a11y of their product.

It has been a constant struggle on all platforms to get the stripe widgets to behave correctly.

Since payment is not exactly an optional step in a product, this has been very painful.

<comment><USER16> Curious which widgets you're talking about?

<comment><USER15> the credit card data input widgets that stripe provides

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Always interesting to see what CLI library is used. Looks like another feather in the cap of [https://github.com/spf13/cobra](https://github.com/spf13/cobra). I would love to hear why they chose cobra over something like [https://github.com/urfave/cli](https://github.com/urfave/cli)

</comment><comment><USER18> I filled a bug task on your github page, but you've got a deadlink for the linux install in your readme.

Really excited to get to use these tools. Already integrated with stripe for my projects, but this will allow for more cool testing. Thank you stripe team!

<comment><USER19> Kenneth from Stripe here. We just committed a fix. Thanks for the heads up! [https://github.com/stripe/stripe- cli/commit/edaa05a505e935a5...](https://github.com/stripe/stripe- cli/commit/edaa05a505e935a53a96a9ba2290ef09192fcf16)

<comment><USER20> Very impressive. From an engineering standpoint, Stripe knocks it out of the park.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> This looks really good.

It sounds like you won't have to configure tools like ngrok anymore to accept webhooks on a local connection. That's a huge win because with the free version of ngrok your subdomain would change a lot which means having to goto the Stripe dashboard to update it there. It was pretty tedious.

<comment><USER22> This is a free equivalent to ngrok and it only uses SSH - [https://serveo.net/](https://serveo.net/) \- and it accepts custom subdomains. I spin it up for each project like this with $DOMAIN and $PORT being defined/fixed for each project and the connection kept open permanently using autossh:

         ssh -R $DOMAIN:80:localhost:$PORT serveo.net

There are API endpoints for creating, listing and deleting webhooks in Stripe now too - my test suites and dev instances purge any existing webhooks and create a new one each run.

[https://stripe.com/docs/api/webhook_endpoints/create](https://stripe.com/docs/api/webhook_endpoints/create)

<comment><USER23> Do you think there would be demand for `serveo` but instead of running your project locally, you point to a Dockerfile and the entire container + all of its dependencies are ran remotely (with wildcard subdomain SSL included)?

I was going to test the waters with [https://www.dollardeploys.com/](https://www.dollardeploys.com/) (not functional yet), wasn't sure how to differentiate it between ngrok/serveo.

<comment><USER22> I think at that point you're really into Heroku's territory rather than ngrok/serveo. Their free dynos might be hard to compete with, you can push a git commit or docker image or automatically deploy upon repo changes:

[https://devcenter.heroku.com/categories/deploying-with- docke...](https://devcenter.heroku.com/categories/deploying-with-docker)

<comment><USER23> I 100% agree which is why I decided not to pursue the idea. Thank you very much for taking the time to provide feedback!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Love this! We Strive everyday at Routefusion.co to model our developer experience and attention to detail off of what Stripe has done. They turned credit card payments sexy, not an easy thing to do, but when you have great experiences like this and focus on a the builders of tomorrow I guess it works!

</comment><comment><USER25> I like the attention to detail this feature reveals - in particular, how if you're in Stripe test mode in browser tab X and type `stripe login`, the cli will open a page in browser tab Y that gives you a test mode webhook secret, without prompting you to select a mode again. Very intuitive.

</comment><comment><USER26> Wow, this is amazing! I was learning more about ncurses and the various UI libraries built on top of them (e.g. Urwid). From going without Internet for a third of this year and using 1GB of mobile data per month, I've learned there aren't actually that many companies these days trying to serve customers with slow/intermittent Internet or optimize for data load. And that's an opportunity, because those customers are most likely sticky! I read that 3% of Americans still use dial-up internet, which amounted to 9.4 million people in 2016 ([https://www.allconnect.com/blog/people-really-still-use- dial...](https://www.allconnect.com/blog/people-really-still-use-dial- internet-actually-9-4-million)). IIRC this is still better than the Internet connectivity in developing countries. If you got $1 from each of those people every year (less than 10 cents a month), you'd have $9.4m ARR, and it'd be sticky. Sticking to curses enables issuing API requests out to the world without having to build/download/install a GUI/XWindow server, and an entire browser on that GUI, and an entire webpage on that browser, which may drastically improve reach. Optimizing for legacy machines and empathizing with such a customer base is probably a big reason why WhatsApp looked so attractive to Facebook and why Facebook paid such a high premium to have the platform under its product ecosystem. I'm looking forward to seeing how this expands!

</comment><comment><USER27> I too salute our stripe overlords. The payments api is so easy to use - I was done in a few hours, literally... in php (boo). :-)

</comment><comment><USER28> This is a great improvement! Last time I did a stripe integration it was definitely kind of a painful, disjointed experience.

<comment><USER23> Really? It's like... 3 API calls. Create a customer, store a card, create a charge.

<comment><USER29> There's quite a bit more complexity in some use cases. Some payments are now asynchronous due to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_customer_authentication](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_customer_authentication) ; handling failed payments for things like subscriptions takes some effort (and managing webhooks).

My experience _with_ Stripe has been great, but payments can still get into the weeds through no fault of Stripe's.

<comment><USER23> I might sound a bit dumb here, but would a cron job that runs daily, finds customers who haven't been billed in 30 days, then tries to bill them and disables their account on failure easier than dealing with webhooks/etc.?

<comment><USER29> Potentially, but Stripe has a lot of features you might have to duplicate in that case. They automatically re-attempt (including machine learning that tries to do it when the card's least likely to be maxed out). They send email receipts, handle SCA notifications if additional authentication is required...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Is Stripe's "documentation stack" open-source? I've seen Slate and its derivatives, but honestly nothing really comes close to the full (amazing) dev experience their docs provide.

</comment><comment><USER31> Great stuff, wonder if they used any frameworks like oclif or something as a base. Looks extremely detailed, and wow, how do they always launch with such great docs?! Baffling (in a good way)!

<comment><USER32> Looking through the repo's dependencies ([https://github.com/stripe/stripe- cli](https://github.com/stripe/stripe-cli)), it seems they are using the GO CLI framework Cobra ([https://github.com/spf13/cobra](https://github.com/spf13/cobra)).

</comment></comment><comment> seph-reed A lot of people say "mobile first," but I think that's because they're overlooking CLI's.

They're by far the fastest way to prototype functionality, and a dream for the QA team.

</comment><comment><USER33> that's nice! :) I have found that quite often Stripe's UI would just through errors when trying to open some customers, failed payments or subscriptions. Couldn't really pinpoint why it happens, tried different browsers, disabling extensions and so on.

Hopefully CLI wil work :)

<comment><USER34> Hmm, that shouldn't happen – mind shooting me an email with an ID or two that failed? rattrayalex at stripe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Wow, so I have implemented Stripe integration in my project recently and I was using at least one feature mentioned in this blog. It was breeze to add payments to my project (and I have experience with some other systems that requires days to implement and test properly).

</comment><comment><USER36> I've build something similar for our company about 4 years ago (also payment gateway) but made it as general free tool to test webhooks via ws [https://waithook.com](https://waithook.com)

</comment><comment><USER37> How can I get the multiple terminals view in the blog header image?

<comment><USER38> looks like just your regular iterm2 split panes?

<comment><USER39> alternately, you can use tmux which lets you detach sessions, rotate panes, and configure them in whatever arrangement you'd like! Would highly recommend it :)

<comment><USER40> Alternatively iTerm2 also comes with a native tmux integration. I personally prefer using tmux on my own but have several friends who prefer the iTerm tmux integration (copy-pasting text is definitely easier).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> you don't say!

</comment><comment><USER42> Nice ad.

</comment><comment><USER43> Still waiting for my country to be supported for years now.</comment>


Experiment finds under 1 in 10 people can tell sponsored content from articles - <AUTHOR> https://www.bu.edu/research/articles/native-advertising-in-fake-news-era/ <comment><USER2> For serious now: I think the whole idea of "native advertising" just shows how rotten the whole advertising industry has come. They are completely morally bankrupt and have zero human decency.

Even the term "native advertising" is an euphemism. In my opinion, this stuff is outright fraud. Why is this still tolerated?

Why haven't those people been chased out of Internet Town with virtual torches and pitchforks?

</comment><comment><USER3> This is why I like news aggregators like HN, Reddit, Slashdot, etc. Even if I happen to be the 9 in 10 regarding some article, the 1 in 10 will usually be quite vocal in the comments.

<comment><USER4> Reddit is an absolute shithole now. I've never seen a website fall from grace so quickly, not even Digg.

<comment><USER5> With the redesign and their further forcing of it on users with the giant text and ads all over, it's tipping away from even tolerable now - looking for the next minimalist aggregator (HN too specific)

<comment><USER6> Theres a new Reddit alternative that's open source, Tildes.

[https://blog.tildes.net/announcing- tildes](https://blog.tildes.net/announcing-tildes)

I've been on it for a few months and would recommend it.

<comment><USER7> Sounds good. But how will they reach critical mass? How to avoid being popular driving it into trash like most other aggregators?

<comment><USER8> > But how will they reach critical mass?

Tildes prioritizes quality over quantity.

> How to avoid being popular driving it into trash like most other > aggregators?

It's currently invite-only to limit its growth and keep its userbase from being polluted. Later, a trust system will be added for active and trusted users to help moderate it. When it gets opened to the public, it might also limit signups to prevent overwhelming floods of users taking over.

Also see [https://docs.tildes.net/overall- goals](https://docs.tildes.net/overall-goals).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I found the ad they were talking about on multiple websites and they don't have advertising disclosures: [https://www.vt-world.com/americas-smartphone- obsession-exten...](https://www.vt-world.com/americas-smartphone-obsession- extends-to-mobile-banking.html) This one says it's from AP: [https://newsok.com/article/feed/865832/americas- smartphone-o...](https://newsok.com/article/feed/865832/americas-smartphone- obsession-extends-to-mobile-banking) this one is similar (probably same campaign): [https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150629005126/en/Per...](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150629005126/en/Perpetually- Plugged-America%E2%80%99s-Smartphone-Obsession-Continues-Admit)

<comment><USER10> After reading both the article and that ad, I suspect the reason is because it doesn't resemble any sort of "ad" in the traditional sense --- yes, it's "sponsored content", but I don't see it trying to actually _sell_ me anything.

<comment><USER9> I just thought it was weird because the HN article says that a disclosure is required by the FTC. The BoA article has the same title so I assume it's the article they were talking about.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Not overly surprising, these media outlets aren't trying to make it easy to tell the difference. Rather they are doing the bare minimum so they can claim they're trying, to stave off regulation.

<comment><USER12> In my opinion, things like this ought to be major scandals that undermine the newspaper as legitimate news source, especially if 90% of people can't tell the difference.

<comment><USER11> What? You means ads aren't news? </sarcasm>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The Shell example is a clear example of deliberately concealing the fact that it is advertising/sponsored content. If a print newspaper did the same there would be an outcry (in some parts of the world at least).

</comment><comment><USER6> This is great news for corporate sponsors and bad news for the average consumer.

It used to be easy to block ads when they were simple banner ads. Nowadays, these ads are injected directly into the newsfeeds of these newspapers.

<comment><USER14> I'm quickly arriving at the conclusion that there is no longer anything that resembles "news" anymore.

Media is so mutated by technology, and unrepentantly and blatantly biased, that we've reached a point of inversion where technology now more frequently obscures information, instead of surfacing it.

It's funny that we're reaching a moment where a tool invented to solve a problem plays an active role in creating the problem. Initially we solved informtion overload with search indexing, but it's not about overload anymore. Now it's about poisoning all sources.

<comment><USER15> > _Media is so mutated by technology, and unrepentantly and blatantly biased, > that we've reached a point of inversion where technology now more frequently > obscures information, instead of surfacing it._

There's no clear evidence that the media was better before the internet. If anything, the internet has connected people together so that they can _realize_ that the media isn't working for them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Whats more insidious is the articles that dont get written or editorials that dont appear due to the influence of advertisers. (ie Manufacturing Consent)

</comment><comment><USER17> "under 1 in 10?" What kind of metric is that? Why not say the number out of 100? Or in a percentage? And what is it? 1 in a hundred? 9 in a hundred? 1 in a thousand?

</comment><comment><USER18> Does anyone else feel like Google search is now at least 60% sponsored content within the first 50 entries?

And that's _with_ adblock enabled. Now I don't mind being targeted with relevant stuff when it's appropriate, but when I'm looking for DIY tutorials, the last thing I want is sponsored content peddling cheaply made Chinese goods to me.

</comment><comment><USER19> I realized halfway through reading the article that I had not checked for a 'sponsored by' disclaimer. I rarely do unless an article feels 'off'. Hmm...

</comment><comment><USER20> I doubt there as a clear line between ad and non-ad so it makes sense that for some sample you get these numbers.

</comment><comment><USER21> I actually wrote a little application which mitigates this:

[https://lettergram.net/](https://lettergram.net/)

Basically, you follow topics and it sends you relevant material that has been vetted. You can get it on a monthly, weeekly, daily, or real-time basis.

Overall, I think this is essentially the "end" (if there ever was a beginning) of an informed population.

<comment><USER19> How is it vetted?

<comment><USER21> It's auto curated, but we use the metacortex platform our company built. That works by ranking experts in related fields and then ranking content they discuss accordingly.

It works extremely well, and some of our data sources include hacker news and reddit.

As such you can see it in action:

[https://hnprofile.com/](https://hnprofile.com/)

<comment><USER19> Reasonable results from a few queries, well done!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Isn't this just native advertising working as designed?

</comment><comment><USER2> Plot twist: The article is sponsored content, too.

\--- Thank you, dear Hacker News customer, for reading this comment. This comment has been presented to you by MyGoogleBookAmazonPlusSpaceCloud (TM)(C)(R).</comment>


How to evaluate a Startup idea? - <AUTHOR> http://www.sergiutruta.com/2007/05/06/how-to-evaluate-a-startup-idea/ <comment><USER2> At the very end of this address to Stanford students in the Q & A section, Janice Fraser of Adaptive Path talks about "Intrapreneurial" ventures, where she and her partners of an existing company evaluate ideas for a new business direction.

She and her partners created a list of gating criteria, by which she means "how will we know if this is the right venture for us?"

Their list included:

\- something that would catch on virally

\- redefining a category based on a user experience challenge, because we are a user experience firm

\- solid revenue model

\- relevance to our ecosystem

<http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1561>

I think the gating criteria themselves are probably specific to the partners and their skills and passions, but the concept that you get the team first, come up with a whole bunch of ideas and throw out 95% of them based on specific, well-thought-out criteria, is a good one.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> When you come-up with an idea for a startup, how do you evaluate it? How do you conclude that it's good, that it has potential to become a good service? Let me know what you think about the criteria I've described into this short article.

</comment><comment><USER3> Here is a previous news.yc post on a related subject: <http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=13035>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> thanks for the link. felipe wrote down a criteria, but he only refers to new ideas. not all businesses start from new ideas. hey, when Google started, there were a lot of search engines available, right? :)</comment>


Hyperland (1990) [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAJPoc23-M <comment><USER2> Watching this was slightly bittersweet. It reminded me of just how exciting technology was when multimedia computing and the web were taking off.

Maybe I've become cynical with age, but I miss the optimism and feeling of limitless potential that existed around technology at the time.

The four things that come closest to the utopia I imagined are Wikipedia, the Internet Archive and NCBI for information, and HN for discourse; but the vast majority of everything else on the web feels like a cesspool of disinformation, arguments, or profiteering.

I find it hard not to despair when I am reminded of the optimism that used to exist. Has anyone else here experienced this? I would be interested to hear how others have dealt with developing cynical attitudes towards technology.

<comment><USER3> > I miss the optimism and feeling of limitless potential that existed around > technology

Having grown up along with the Internet, I feel this is a common sentiment among those who experienced the early days when things were just getting started. It seems we're losing touch with the vision and culture that gave birth to this technology and made it seem magical, like participating in a collective evolution.

The commercialization of the Internet and the shared space it enables is a symptom of modern social priorities (as a sibling comment pointed out). It's part of the history of colonization of all public space and the public themselves. As one of the "natives", it's hard not to feel cynical about the transformation - but that, at least for me, ties in with a deeper cynicism about society and its values, the direction of culture and civilization.

On a more positive note, there's a kind of generational knowledge transfer, passing the torch: the history, the set of values, the original insights that formed the foundation are all (or much of it) still there, being taught/learned, carried on, elaborated and pursued further. As I get older, I feel more responsibility to play my part, to do what I can in my local sphere of influence. That also opens my eyes to what others are doing in terms of activism and education.

<comment><USER4> These greener pastures do exist, only they require a bit of knowledge to find and then operate. Places like Diaspora, Friendica, and Mastodon, just to name a few. Interestingly, the same barrier to entry serves as a filter to everyone looking for low hanging fruit... so to folks who are generally capitalists in other ways as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I just discovered this amazing documentary about hypertext from 1990, written by Douglas Adams, with Tom Baker (The Fourth Doctor Who!) as a Software Agent, and featuring many other amazing people, like Ted Nelson!

Douglas Adams Hyperland

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAJPoc23-M&t=4m16s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iAJPoc23-M&t=4m16s)

>Douglas Adams: Are you sure you mean Agent?

>Software Agent: I mean that I'm a Software Agent. I am merely a simulacrum. An artificial and completely customizable personality. And I only exist as what we call an "Application" in your computer. I have the honor to provide instant access to every piece of information stored digitally anywhere in the world. Any picture, or film, any sound, any book, any statistic, any fact. Any connection between anything you care to think of, you have only to tell me, and it will be my humble duty to find it for you and to present it to you for your interactive pleasure. Is there anything I can do for you now, Mister Adams, sir?

>Douglas Adams: Well yes, you can stop being so obsequious, for a start.

>Software Agent: It will be my very great and profound pleasure to be less obsequious, oh Master. I am, as I humbly mentioned to you a moment ago, Fully Customizable. Allow me to present you with my Control Panel.

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

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

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

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

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

</comment><comment><USER5> Love this, still holds a special place for me, we have a long way to go yet.

</comment><comment><USER6> Produced by Max Whitby, also of BBC _Horizon_ fame in its glory years of the 80s and early 90s. Brilliant stuff.

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_(British_TV_series)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizon_\(British_TV_series\))

</comment><comment><USER7> This is wonderful, so far. Except the quality… does anyone know if there's a higher quality version available?

<comment><USER8> I can't test right now, but there's a torrent at [https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams- Hyperland](https://archive.org/details/DouglasAdams-Hyperland)

Maybe it's quality is better.

<comment><USER9> Oh thanks! Yes, it's quite a bit better quality. The mp4 at that archive.org link[0] is 295 MB, 640x480. The best youtube version (with the given link anyway) is 139 MB, 352x288.

[0] [https://archive.org/download/DouglasAdams- Hyperland/DouglasA...](https://archive.org/download/DouglasAdams- Hyperland/DouglasAdams-Hyperland.mp4)

The version on vimeo appears similar. (265 MB, 480p)

[https://vimeo.com/72501076](https://vimeo.com/72501076)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Despite being unable to play it for I don't know how long, my VHS copy of this is still a prized possession. It was my introduction to Ted Nelson's ideas as well as a raft of other things and is also a beautiful creation in its own right.</comment>


Show HN: India News Digest [ Android ] - <AUTHOR> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.timesbuzz.news

<comment><AUTHOR> I am not much active on Hacker News. I have mostly been a non registered casual reader of this community. So pardon me if I break any rules.

I have built this app in 3 weeks flat. The development includes the API implementation as well.

I wanted to learn Android, but I did not want to start learning with small hello world programs.

Moreover I have distress for crapware published in Play Store. So I begun my Android Learning on a serious footing.

I would love to have a discussion with HN Peers about the app Design, Content marketing techniques, App SEO and Growth of mobile and android in India.

I will be glad if someone hunts this out on ProductHunt, People seem to be more feedback savvy there. It seems subset of people interacting here would be there as well :)

Basically I am learning many many things at once. Addressing N + 1 problem in the field of idea execution !!! Begun with idea and ended up having many tasks than just App development !!

Android Development, API Development, App SEO, Content Marketing ! It is very tiresome yet joyful activity :)</comment>


Show HN: Send handwritten greeting cards online - <AUTHOR> http://www.ccmoi.com

<comment><USER2> Pretty cool - the only people I send letters to are my family so I'd be a little afraid of them recognizing that the letter wasn't written in my (chicken scratch) handwriting. Do you write the letters yourself? I'd recommend adding a screenshot of some sample letters so we can see what the writing looks like.

I'd also recommend letting someone select the letter, enter the message, delivery date, recipient address, etc. before asking for their billing info. It takes too many clicks right now to actually see how the process works.

Good luck!

<comment><USER3> Agreed. Once they have created something they like and want, its much more likely they won't mind signing up and your conversion rates will be higher overall.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Very cool.

One of the first websites I ever made was doing a similar thing, and I stumbled across it in my backups the other day so I relaunched it just the other week. Www.sendachristmascard.com

Your site looks very good, I agree with the jcbmilgn that it would be good if you could make your order before having to register</comment>


The Crypto-Keepers: Apps promise to keep our conversations secret. But do they? - <AUTHOR> https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-crypto-keepers-levine <comment><USER2> More appropriate title: Pavel Durov tells about FBI pressing him to hand over Telegram users' data.

<comment><USER3> Well, not really. That's the germ of the story, which goes on to talk about how various US government agencies are funding various encrypted discussion apps and calling into question the idea that we should trust them, to talk about how the OS the phone runs on itself is likely unsafe from government eyes (allowing an endrun around the apps anyway), and, in general, how encrypted chat apps are a poor substitute for actually reining in government surveillance.</comment></comment>


Hydroponics for Dummies: A Step-By-Step Guide to Get Anyone Started - <AUTHOR> https://www.greenrushdaily.com/2016/03/04/hydroponics-for-dummies-guide/ <comment><USER2> I wonder if the pot hydroponics craze will be a gateway drug to growing useful things like food plants hydroponically in the home.</comment>


Databricks acquires Redash - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/24/databricks-acquires-redash-a-visualizations-service-for-data-scientists/ <comment><USER2> Can't say enough nice things about redash. It's become a staple in our data program.

What I've found is for our product data, traditional BI tools make certain queries easy but many other queries really hard (Tableau, QuickSight). You end up second guessing the results and checking yourself in SQL anyways.

SQL is the lingua franca of data, and Redash lets us stay in that mindset.

I've also been able to submit PR back to Redash with ease, great team. With the acquisition I am a tiny bit concerned about the future, but also hopeful.

</comment><comment><USER3> Since arikfr is on this thread – thank you so much for Redash. Our internal instance is at query ID 8500+ and everyone on the team relies on it for querying and alerting. Can't wait to see what happens with the resources to take on some of your more ambitious ideas!

</comment><comment><USER4> recently brought Redash over to my new company, installation was easy and it ran as fast as I remembered. Love low-frills workhorse sql clients like this

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> What other SQL UIs are people using? There are so many out there: Redash, Metabase, DBeaver, SQLPad, Superset (kinda).

<comment><USER5> We are using DataGrip and DBeaver to develop any non trivial SQL and investigations.

Metabase we use for building dashboards, and we taught non technical people to use it so they can answer ~70% of questions they have about the data themselves.

<comment><USER6> If you use DataGrip, make sure you try out the new (to me as an IDEA user, anyway) "Show output results in editor" function.

It's disabled in IDEA by default, so go switch it on and try it.

It's my most recent example of a feature I didn't even know I wanted and now can't imagine not having.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> We went from Periscope to Redash for the cost savings but haven't missed a thing. It's fast and has an intuitive UI. I hope it continues on.

</comment><comment><USER8> I evaluated on-premise Redash as an alternative for engineers and analysts who don't want to learn tableau. It's harder to setup than Metabase but more intuitive to use (for someone with SQL expertise).

However, their feature-set was fairly lacking and the company as a whole seemed directionless.

It's a tough space to be in, and I'm disappointed they couldn't find their footing.

<comment><USER9> OTOH, I've evaluated Metabase a number of times and never manage to get more than 10 minutes in before running into some staggering flaw that convinces me that I can't put this in front of other people in the business and expect them to use it. I ended up deploying Redash instead - it is unquestionably a much less ambitious project, but it mostly achieves its aims.

<comment><USER10> Not excited about the "less ambitious project", but still better than being something that can't be put in front of people. Glad you found Redash useful. :-)

<comment><USER11> @arikfr I've learned a lot from redash. Firstly, after knowing redash, I decided to go open-source with my service. I learned a lot from reading redash source-code/repository. Your project is amazing and was inspiration for me! Thank you!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Really excited about this.

I evaluated Redash unfortunately it didn't have as robust a feature set as we needed. I am hopeful that they will continue to develop it and support on-prem deployment a before Mode does anyway.

</comment><comment><USER13> We changed the URL from [https://blog.redash.io/redash-joins- databricks/](https://blog.redash.io/redash-joins-databricks/) to something that isn't a corporate press release.

[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=by%3Adang%20corporate%20press%20release&sort=byDate&type=comment)</comment>


Blockchain – what is it good for? - <AUTHOR> https://techblog.bozho.net/blockchain-what-is-it-good-for-slides/ <comment><USER2> Reminded me of a song

<comment><AUTHOR> it was a deliberate reference :)</comment></comment>


Emergency Elisp - <AUTHOR> http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html

<comment><USER2> The LOOP macro is the thing I always miss from Common Lisp when I'm using some other language. It's a controversial feature, but amazingly powerful, flexible, and easy to use.

If you're interested in some examples, here's a chapter from Practical Common Lisp on the subject:

<http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/loop-for-black-belts.html>

<comment><USER3> The thing that most amazed me about Common Lisp was not LOOP, but ITERATE. Specifically, "bill a"'s comments in this article (linking to the first one, there are several more down the page):

[http://www.randomhacks.net/articles/2005/12/03/why-ruby- is-a...](http://www.randomhacks.net/articles/2005/12/03/why-ruby-is-an- acceptable-lisp#comment-113)

<comment><USER4> Iterate is pretty sweet. Also, you can extend it by using macros:

<http://items.sjbach.com/280/extending-the-iterate-macro>

And iterate has good documentation:

<http://common-lisp.net/project/iterate/></comment></comment></comment>


How much equity for a Super Advisor? - <AUTHOR>

I'm in the process of starting a company dealing with social media and marketing.  I've been working with a marketing advisor on a trial basis for several months.  He has turned out to be an extraordinary asset to my efforts. Unfortunately he isn't available for hire, but he would like to continue in an advisory role giving me about 10 hours per month.  Besides his advice and research, he will be able to make some key introductions to potential customers and investors.
How much equity should I offer him, presumably vested over 4 years?
More background: I am currently a single person operation, not yet incorporated (soon) or funded.
Thanks for any advice you can offer. <comment><USER2> Consider finding an alternative that you can hire instead of offering equity.

Alternatively allow him to put his money on the table to buy in as a founder.

Just advice and contacts unless they're really extraordinary (which you're in a position to evaluate, you say they are but based on how large a sample is that ?), make-or-break is best hired.

If he's willing to become a co-founder that means he's in for the long haul, that changes things considerably.

Equity should be exchanged for funding or a very strong commitment. 10 hours per month puts him compared to a full-timer that brings money to the table in the much-less-than-1% bracket, and likely he won't be interested in that.

<comment><USER3> Jacques, have you read "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis? Between this comment and the one where you mentioned using the equity on your house to buy out your partners from ww.com it seems like you hold a similar philosophy to his. Which is to say, "keep as much of the pie as possible".

If so, I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

<comment><USER2> I haven't read that book, but I believe in partners that are 100% committed. Having a part-time commitment means that you have a partner that you will not be able to rely on when you really need them, and that's best reserved for people that bring a one-time effect, such as investors.

Their role is money + advice, someone that just gives advice can be hired or an alternative can be found.

I think plenty of people look at equity as a way to get off the ground without any costs at all, but long term that may turn out to be very expensive, it may in fact create trouble between other people that would like to commit full- time that you'll have to convince of the value this guy is bringing to the table.

Keeping as much of the pie as long as possible is probably closer to my philosophy, and buy back when you feel that commitment is flagging.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Out of curiosity, did he ask for equity? I didn't catch that in your summary, it seemed like he's willing to give you ~10 hours a month.

Either way I'd see if he could make those introductions first, proving that he's good partner. If he can't make the introductions or won't until he has equity, then I would be apprehensive about a partnership.

</comment><comment><USER5> Good advisors are worth 0.5-1.0% of the company. Much more would dilute your option pool (if you're going to end up raising VC eventually.)</comment>


How to Receive SMS Messages into Google Sheets with Apps Script and Twilio - <AUTHOR> https://www.twilio.com/blog/2018/05/receive-sms-messages-google-sheets-apps-script.html <comment><USER2> i think we can do that already in IFTTT.</comment>


RSS-Bridge: the RSS feed for websites missing it - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/RSS-Bridge/rss-bridge <comment><USER2> YouTube has RSS for channels: [https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6224202?hl=en](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6224202?hl=en)

RSS for Twitter sounds good. I don't have a Twitter account and used to follow a bunch of accounts via RSS but they shut that down a while ago. PHP is a turn-off though.

</comment><comment><USER3> Does anyone know a tool, which would "convert" changes on the webpage into RSS stream?

I get, that is exactly what RSS-Bridge does, but it supports limited number of bridges. I'm looking for a way to track for HTML changes on ANY page.

Prevously, I used page2rss for that, but it shutdown few years ago.</comment>


Quora - Programming Challenges - <AUTHOR> http://www.quora.com/challenges <comment><USER2> Smart people, have bad ideas.<http://paulgraham.com/bronze.html>

I'm not saying this app is entirely a bad idea. I had Zuckerberg telling me for 20 minutes that this site is awesome. I just became ridiculously bored after the first week of using it and I'm concerned the founding team isn't gaining real-life perspective as to whether or not the idea is any good.

Perfect example: Someone asked a question the other day "What does Max Levchin look for when hiring", and guess who responded to the question? You guessed it, Max Levchin himself. In the real world, this wouldn't happen and as the user population grows, the celebs roll out and the people looking for questions about brushing their dog's teeth roll in. I don't see the value beyond it's current elitist state.

<comment><USER3> I disagree that this is a bad idea. I think it's a good idea that hasn't been done well and it remains to be seen whether quora is up to the challenge. (btw, if anyone has an invite, i'd love to check out the site: firstname.lastname@example.com).

<comment><USER2> You challenge my point and you don't even have an account. Argument Fail

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> so, did anyone try this, this evening? i need to go out for a run, and then get some sleep, but i've got an initial result for the "duct" question that's taking 6s on my laptop, but it's quite possible i have some bugs (ie i may be completely wrong). i should have written some tests on the way... :o)

and if anyone is thinking of trying, i'd recommend it - it's not a huge amount of code and requires at least one smart idea (i think - had me bashing my head against a wall for a while...).

[if anyone wants to compare results - just the final number, no spoilers please - then drop me an email]

<comment><USER5> Gave it a brief thought. What I see is a TSP on a grid graph. Maybe I missed some detail. Do you see a better idea?

<comment><USER4> yes, i think that's a valid way of looking at it - the grid adds some extra properties to a general graph which you might be able to exploit to get better efficiency.

[but i don't really want to spoil things for quora by discussing a solution here, i was more interested in swapping final results so that people could check they have the right answer]

ps i believe my solution is ok, now, after checking it at lunch time, but it's a little slower than theirs, which is making me think i have missed something.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Python seems to be the preferred programming language, I find it interesting given that the founding team is from Facebook which I hear was originally built using a lot of PHP.

</comment><comment><USER7> I see some of you have accounts. Anybody willing to explain how this is different from Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers? I didn't find the About page enlightening. Thanks!

<comment><USER8> Funny enough, there's a whole category called How Quora is different from X? [http://www.quora.com/t/2410/How_is_Quora_different_from_X?q=...](http://www.quora.com/t/2410/How_is_Quora_different_from_X?q=how+is+quora+)

It's a good rundown. What's your email? I'll send you an invite.

<comment><USER7> email@example.com

Thanks!

<comment><USER8> cool, sent! :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I guess when tiny unknown Yahoo Answer clone based startups with nothing to offer except a lot of worthless stock options that will probably never be worth anything put up an interesting programming puzzle, talented engineers will magically fall out of the sky and beg on their hands and knees to get a chance to work there.

<comment><USER8> Have you used Quora? And/or seen who is using Quora? :) They have built what is simply the most addictive Q&A site. It remains to be seen if the usefulness persists once users start coming en masse. However, the potential is definitely there.

Also the team is very well-respected (previously at Facebook) and I think A LOT of people would love to work and learn from them. Maybe even for free for a limited time.

<comment><USER10> Just started using it, and it is among the snappiest (latency-wise) web applications I've tried.

<comment><USER11> It appears to be running on Amazon EC2 with Cloudfront for a CDN.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


IP Innovation v. Red Hat/Novell - The Prior Art They Used at Trial - <AUTHOR> http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100513121121635

<comment><USER2> And here is some more coverage of it - <http://opensource.com/law/10/5/standing-up-patent-bully></comment>


Mandatory Access Control in PostgreSQL – Giving users ownership of their data - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvJIam7SybI <comment><AUTHOR> Leon Charl du Toit introduces a Mandatory Access Control system for PostgreSQL, using Row Level Security, which makes good on the promises of the GDPR: strong conditions for collecting data only based on consent, right to access, right to be forgotten, and data portability.</comment>


Parents are exhausting their children. An eighth-grade boy explains how - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/10/20/parents-are-exhausting-their-children-an-eighth-grade-boy-explains-how/ <comment><USER3> One of my kids' guidance cousellors once said a very wise things to me:

"You know what makes me really excited about a job? Knowing that after spending eight hours a day at work, I have another three hours of overtime after dinner."

Homework has generally been shown to not aid in learning. And as a parent I can guarantee that 90% of both of my childrens' homework assignments aren't really even intended to aid in learning. As far as I can tell, they're mostly useful as a way to sort top performers - being kids who not only understand the material, but who are both willing and able to jump through the necessary hoops - from everyone else.

I went to high school in a small rural area in the late 1980's. I had a maximum of one hour of homework a night. Often I was able to finish my homework on the bus home. I spent my free time teaching myself to code, something I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise.

I earned a PhD in aerospace engineering; I think I turned out OK, educationally.

<comment><USER4> I believe it's purpose is to reinforce the material. Having said that, our kid has 8-12 pages of worksheets to complete a week, and we have to fight her every night to get her to do it. It seems excessive to me for an elementary student. It reminds me of the saying, "kids are naturally curious and eager to learn until school beats it out of them."

<comment><USER3> I believe the teachers think it's to reinforce the material. But much of the research says it's ineffective. AFAIK the research doesn't say why, exactly; but I would guess it has something to do with not being able to effectively engage in demanding intellectual pursuits for more than a few hours a day.

<comment><USER5> It's not just that it's mentally tiring. The bigger problem is that the work is dreadfully boring and trivial and disconnected, there's little feeling of accomplishment when finished (just sometimes relief), the kids aren't allowed to choose what to work on, there are few chances for them to work at their own pace or level of ability, the feedback is delayed (often by a week or more), mistakes are punished instead of celebrated as learning opportunities, and there is a huge weight of parental and societal expectation hanging over grades and exam scores.

<comment><USER6> When I was young, I just had one or two things of homework a day in third grade. The assignment was either in math, english, science, or social studies/history and you could choose which you wanted to do based off of buckets by subject. You then took home a big fold-up of an assignment. It was fun unwrapping it, doing the work, and then giving it back. You never knew exactly what you would have to do until you opened your big sheet of paper at home.

The point was that at the end of the semester everyone did every assignment, but everyone does it in a "fun" order. This was in Canada and I don't know if it's acceptably done anymore.

I certainly wouldn't have handled multiple sheets of hard work at that age.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Its all about a balancing act. My 14 year old son spends an inordinate amount of time gaming on his PC. We don't often chew him out for that, but when he ignores routine chores or homework assignments in preference for gaming, then we bring the hammer down.

The fact is, a lot of kids are terrible at time management and prioritisation. It is our job as parents to try and teach those skills. Quite often, that ends up with us having to excessively be the 'bad cop'.

As much as the kid in the OP's story eloquently described his pent up feelings, I can say that I experience the same sort of rage (complete with balled up fist) when I walk into the house to see an overflowing trash bin in the kitchen, dirty laundry scattered around the living room, front driveway still full of leaves (all my younger son's designated daily chores) and I hear the steady gunfire of CoD coming from his room.

<comment><USER8> The issue here might be overload of homework that kids have these days. Teachers are often literally going insane; you can see this at top universities and it's trickling down to elementary schools. Work like crazy, dread finals, do this till you die.

<comment><USER9> Back when I was in middle school (11-13 years old) in the early 2000's our public school got tons of state funds for our "great performance". This led to teachers compensation being tied to said performance.

That meant each teacher would try and assign at least an hour of homework to stuff more and more into their students heads. The school had to implement a "maximum 4 hours of homework" policy. It didn't really do anything - <USER2> in different departments didn't coordinate. The next year they chose specific days teachers could assign homework...

Two years ago my younger cousin went to the same school - he caught mono and pneumonia, requiring a long stay at home. As a 13 year old he started getting anxiety attacks for fear of the compounding work.

Public schools are broken, and I don't think most parents realize the pressure put upon their children by teachers trying to get a bonus. All around a mess

<comment><USER10> When teachers are so poor those piddling bonuses overrule putting childrens' needs first--and when bonuses encourage things other than putting childrens' needs first--there are far greater problems.

<comment><USER9> Probably about 40-60% of the problem right there

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The thing that leapt out at me here was not the amount of work, but the feeling of being harassed, ambushed, denied even a chance to take a breath before the next demand is made.

Go read the "you know what would be awesome" part again, but instead of a parent saying it to a child imagine you're on the receiving end and it's your child or your spouse or your boss saying "wouldn't it be awesome" to you. No, it's not awesome. What would be awesome would be a shred of empathy, but none of that is evident.

Would you handle that situation with grace or equanimity? Could you have when you were 13? Doubtful. I know I didn't, and don't. Maybe some children are being worn out by the actual workload we give them, but AFAICT the article's real point is that they're _also_ worn out by the emotional labor of being a repository for all of their parents' expectations and insecurities and frustrations. Parents should be responsible for their kids' mental health, not the other way around.

<comment><USER12> > the article's real point is that they're also worn out by the emotional > labor of being a repository for all of their parents' expectations and > insecurities and frustrations

Stunningly well said.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The language used in the letter seems to be written by an exceptionally gifted 8th grader. I'm from the UK, so I'm not sure what the standards are like in the US, but I would be surprised if many 14 year olds in the UK could write a letter of that quality - it makes me a little suspicious as to whether the letter is in fact genuine. Either way, pushy parents are creating unreasonable expectations and anxiety for their children. Kids in large developing countries seem to get the worst of it, where competition and expectations are both off the charts.

<comment><USER14> The boy really spends all day studying, so in the end he got good at writing.

<comment><USER15> If they're suitably motivated opportunities exist for early escape.

<comment><USER9> Not without support of their parents.

<comment><USER15> You'd be surprised.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> In high school, I looked at the beginning of each class to see how much homework counted. If it was about 5-6% or less, I didn't do it.

To this day, don't regret it even a little. The big projects I did. The busy work I skipped.

In college I actually dropped the same English class 4 times after the first day because the teacher insisted we write a daily journal. Finally got one that didn't do that.

If the work is pointless busywork, I've never gotten along well with it. Probably one really good reason I'm a programmer is because if I have to do the same thing more than once...I automate it.

</comment><comment><USER17> Five comments so far and the opinions are on both ends. Do keep in mind that there have been many articles touting how man X hours one can be productive. It is not only, what, 7 hours or so at school doing work, but the time before to wake up, get ready, commute, school, commute back. Then home, homework and chores. They are children. If we are "complaining" as adults about about workload.... you get the idea.

<comment><USER18> Teenagers are minors, but not "children". Painting them as "children" leads to silly things like a 16-year-old being considered a child right up until birthday 17, at which point they can join the army.

Holes appear in the story in the article when things like "seven straight hours" \- do kids not get lunch or recess breaks anymore? It's clear the teen is overstating the case to make it sound worse. That doesn't mean there's no problem to address, but I wouldn't take the statement on face value. I'm also not sure I'd take that letter as typical (for an adult, let alone a young teen), given the quality of the prose.

<comment><USER9> Recess isn't a thing in high school. Most lunches are squeezed in 30-45 minute periods where they often are studying or doing homework. At my high school we got 25 minutes of lunch, including time to get to the cafeteria and back to class

<comment><USER3> And also, the classes are so short - the amount of homework the teachers assign sort of makes sense, in that they only see the kids for maybe 45 minutes a day. Which means the kids are being jolted from one intellectual pursuit to another every 45 minutes. How do you teach _anything_ in 45 minutes? How do you learn 7 or 8 different topics in 45 minute chunks, one after the other?

<comment><USER9> I have trouble context shifting between three tasks a day. Sucks to think kids have to do this 5-8 times a day

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> > Of course our kids need to do their chores and homework.

Citation needed.

<comment><USER20> I upvoted this comment because it was the first thing today ( a stressful day, I might add) that has made me laugh.

<comment><USER21> I think it's also a legit question.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> A mnemonic device I try to remember as a divorced parent is "SOS":

Self-awareness: What are my issues.

Objectivity: Am I projecting them on my kid.

Selflessness: Its tough being a child of divorce, what sacrifices can I reasonably make to give them as normal a life as possible?

But none of this impacts homework, which is mountains higher than I had as a child.

<comment><USER23> Why can't you just go through the assignments and decide which half your child doesn't have to do?

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> As a kid I spend my weekends and my summers doing nothing.

"Nothing" was in the perspective of adults of course. Nothing they wanted me to do.

To me, doing nothing meant reading all the books I could find, exploring some random subject and if it was fun, experimenting with it, randomly.

One year I found a chemistry book. I started reading it and wondering what happens when I mix this and this chemicals? And I did, and oh what a pretty color! But why? Can I predict the outcome of mixing these chemicals? If I let the residue dry, does it burn? It doesn't, but then why is the flame blue when I use copper, red when I use iron?

Another year I found an electronic book. Yet another, it was an old book about Basic. After that, many of my summers were spent learning about computers and programming languages, which lead me to where I am now.

I don't think I would have done any of this if I had been exhausted by exams, chores etc.

<comment><USER25> This is not the typical behavior of a teenager.

<comment><USER24> Behavior is influenced by environments. Kids have a natural proclivity to experiment with things -- innovate, regardless of the circumstances. Have you never noticed? However, they are not very often left free to innovate.

Someone mentioned their kid spent too much time playing videogames. I did too. After I finally got a computer, someday I found this old game called Doom 2. I spent months with it, as it was so smooth on my low end computer. Then I got bored, but I discovered I could create my own levels! I had nothing to model, so I created a level based on my school. I didn't have maps of anything, but my school was easy to remember as I went there every day.

Now imagine any of this is a modern context - a teenager doing nothing, mixing and burning random chemicals to see what happens, and finally not just playing "violent" videogames, but making one replicating the school floor plan!! I would be certainly labelled a menace to society!!

The environment influences behavior of kids and most of the time, I think it exerts a negative influence. I believe in free time, and being non judgemental. Everyone has to figure out their own path in life.

<comment><USER26> As you probably know, the Columbine shooters had ostensibly made a Doom map of their school and indeed a big deal was made about it by people who didn't know anything about Doom or map editors or videogames.

Of course just about everyone who's made maps for any sort of game has tried to make their house or their school. It's just fun to put the real-life places you know into a game.

<comment><USER24> I know that in retrospect. I didn't know it back then, or I wouldn't have done the level. Kids do things just randomly, to experiment in various domains. We project our fears onto them. In doing so, we influence them.

I am very surprised by most of the reactions to this article, on HN of all places.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> The letter from the kid is full of manipulations. "Seven straight houses of cognitive exercises"? Is that supposed to be code for SCHOOL?

Sorry, maybe the parents are putting too much stress on him for the test, but otherwise do your chores and homework before you play video games (which is what he really wants the hour for).

<comment><USER28> If someone told me I had to clock a 8 hour day, come home and do several hours more work, and then do a bunch of menial labor five days a week I would be annoyed too. It is totally reasonable for someone to be irked when they are given no autonomy at any point during a day.

<comment><USER29> Don't be a parent. :)

You have to cook, wash dishes, wash clothes, make sure everyone gets baths, etc, etc. Help with homework, etc. A whole bunch of post 8 hour work day labor.

<comment><USER30> Yeah, but you chose that.

<comment><USER31> This is a huge part of the problem IMO. Plenty of people have busy schedules, but they also have autonomy, and they get to make decisions about what is important to them and what isn't. Kids have none of that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> I don't get how this one anecdotal example of bad parenting is suddenly worthy of broad attention.

Is there a tie to this being common or widespread that I missed?

<comment><USER33> ''While this scenario obviously doesn't apply to all kids, it does to plenty of them, and Wiseman wants parents who see themselves in this to take note''

I think the pressure kids and teenagers feel in modern society is worthy of discussion

<comment><USER34> I think everyone feels pressured, and not in the same ways. Not just teens or adults.

My personal experience growing up and living in a 'Western' society is that we're collectively very bad at empathy and empathizing. It is not obvious that people understand each other; lacking the full context of knowing the ambitions, desires, loathings and fears an individual has. There is no time, common social etiquette, or polite way of limiting parts of interactions that are too sensitive in that moment.

It is so pervasive that many movies have these issues as critical dependencies that enable the actual plot. (Often in the form of; keep a secret from family/loved ones to protect them)

<comment><USER5> To be fair, the families of people I know from most other parts of the world also are often pretty bad at empathy. I'm not convinced that "Western" society is particularly special in that regard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I work at an education company doing tech. Our main product is an education system that goes from prefirst to high school (we're in Mexico so it's different here).

One of the principles of this system is that there should be as little homework as possible. We focus more on building cognitive skills.

Since this is radically different from classic education our biggest challenge is actually coaching and training the teachers.

<comment><USER36> How do you build cognitive skills without doing work?

<comment><USER37> Feedback. Speed and clarity of feedback trumps effort in honing a skill. Note that parent didn't say "no work" but "no homework". Most forms of homework give unclear feedback to the student with few ways to check work before turning it in. I cannot count the number of times in middle and high school that I got a homework assignment with poor directions that was assigned the day before it was due, leaving no opportunity to correct course - just a lot of nervous "I guess this is what they want?" Hours and hours of time wasted on a concept that I might have actually understood how to apply but not how to present in the way they wanted.

<comment><USER36> There is value in going down the deadends and figuring things out without being constantly pushed back onto the road. After all, once out of school there isn't someone to correct your course for you.

<comment><USER35> This is totally true, but to be able to do that effectively you need a set of basic skills.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Most of what I understand is just parents venting their frustration and despair in life through their kids. Because that is the only thing they have control over. Because they are unhappy and unsuccessful in their life they will force their kids to study continuously so that the kid fails and they get to scold him/her again.

Just my personal experience.

</comment><comment><USER39> children tend to become their parents.

you get less than 10 years to raise your child, then most of the big blocks are carved. a lot of human learning is imitation play. pushback naturally occurs for all parents because civilisation extends by destroying it's foundations. the child's naive critique is sound, most people have never stopped to question their own motivations and have no refutation to certain truisms except to feel frustration at cliches. explaining to your child that what they are doing is perpetuating the cycle they are unconsciously criticizing is pointless.

instead if you ever get into an argument with your teenager, take their hand, show them its shadow then say this

"there are five things you can become in life: a shadow, a hand, or a light..."

"i'll tell you about the other two when you're older."

(the other two are patient when they become parents, and

</comment><comment><USER40> A wonderful related read that has stuck with me ever since I read it (and hope to apply when my 1yr old grows up a bit more): [http://carolblack.org/on-the- wildness-of-children/](http://carolblack.org/on-the-wildness-of-children/)

</comment><comment><USER25> The way that 8th grader writes, I'd say his parents are giving him a gift he yet realizes the value of.

<comment><USER41> I don't think the gift is worth the tradeoff. There are many ways to help your child become a better writer without selfishly burdening them with chores and more stress.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> This kid has an anger problem, not necessarily a parent problem. Phrases such as "you want to throw something at them, to yell at them to simply leave you alone" and "hands curl into fists" are angry words. I find them shocking compared to how I felt about my parents. He speaks of "...parent[s] tell[ing] you to get off your ass and start doing something productive..." but both the manner and content of that phrase are over the top.

This child needs to learn to communicate how one feels and what has transpired during the day. Now if, when this happens, the parents respond with physical punishment, that is another story.

BTW he doesn't write particularly well.

<comment><USER43> This is how 8th graders communicate. They really don't think or speak like adults.

It's very common for young males to be either have violent thoughts or be at least mildly depressed.

As to writing this representative of fairly average writing. [http://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator- resources/assessment/Writ...](http://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator- resources/assessment/Writing38/wrigr8nm-mygrandfather.pdf)

<comment><USER44> You're right that he's still just a kid, though I think he's in eighth grade, so roughly 13 years old rather than 8.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: good startup internal wiki / info repository? - <AUTHOR>

Hello folks,
my team and I have been struggling since day 1 with keeping information all in one place and formatting it in such a way that it would be accessible to every developer and the important parts were immediately obvious. We started with a shared OneNote notebook hosted on SkyDrive, and that's been somewhat painful so far (especially given having to pay for Office), even though I realize it can be made to work.
What we really need is some sort of team dashboard where all of the team's progress is visibly shown, questions are asked, deadlines are made clear and links to guides are placed (stuff like "Start here if you're new to the project"). We're considering moving to Evernote simply because it's free and available on all platforms, but that's still a very OneNote-like experience.
I wonder if we wouldn't benefit from a real wiki.. We're all GitHub users and thus perhaps we should use their embedded wiki, but I'm somewhat concerned with having all of our knowledge stuck there with possibly no way of easily pulling it out. Also mediawiki is cool, but it'd have to be hosted somewhere and its setup is manpower we might not have at this stage.
What would you recommend? What has worked great for your teams?
Thanks! <comment><USER2> I set up a simple wordpress blog in my old job. It was quite easy to use and I could find anything I wanted using the search. If I had to do it again, I'd probably use a Wiki for canonical info, and the blog for more casual comments and long-form writing about why we did stuff the way we did it.

</comment><comment><USER3> 37signals's suite of products (<http://37signals.com>) is pretty good for what you need. Basecamp can handle the progress/deadlines and questions, and Backpack's a pretty good solution for sharing documents and such internally.</comment>


Startup School 4: Office Hours - <AUTHOR> https://www.startupschool.org/videos/4 <comment><USER2> One of the key takeaways, and one that was really obvious in the last interview is that you should do things that don't scale. It's hard to distinguish between actual roadblocks to your business as compared to itches that you just need to scratch, especially when you are a developer and your itch can be solved through a technical solution. Developing a solution for that non-critical problem allows you to feel like you are making progress when, in fact, you aren't actually moving your business forward at the pace you should be. Having someone question your roadmap with an external viewpoint really makes it clear when you are going down a rabbit hole and that is where the value of these office hours seem to lie.

<comment><USER3> > Developing a solution for that non-critical problem allows you to feel like > you are making progress when, in fact, you aren't actually moving your > business forward at the pace you should be. Having someone question your > roadmap with an external viewpoint really makes it clear when you are going > down a rabbit hole and that is where the value of these office hours seem to > lie.

It's all about balance. In the first year or so you can afford this but later on you _definitely_ should make room for non-user visible items on your roadmap otherwise sooner rather than later you'll find your development stagnating due to mounting technical debt. And just like real debt there is an escape velocity element there: too much technical debt and your progress will slow down to nothing while your competitors are still moving forward (provided they do a better job).

This is a real risk, one I've witnessed in several start-ups over the last couple of years. Fortunately, once identified it is relatively easy to get moving again but it can really creep in unseen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Hey guys, I'm Andrew from Canny, the team who went first. We help teams keep track of feedback from their users.

See a live example here: [https://kitsu.canny.io/feature- requests](https://kitsu.canny.io/feature-requests)

Homepage: [https://canny.io](https://canny.io)

The office hours was a great experience! We got valuable advice, learned where we were weakest, got experience with public speaking, and it was free marketing. Would love to hear what y'all think.

<comment><USER5> Looks, pretty cool. Kinda reminded me of uservoice [1], how do you think it compares?

[1] [https://writt.uservoice.com/forums/260510-general](https://writt.uservoice.com/forums/260510-general)

<comment><USER4> Good question. I actually wrote a pretty detailed answer of this on Product Hunt: [https://www.producthunt.com/posts/canny-3#comment-438623](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/canny-3#comment-438623)

<comment><USER5> Thanks, I had no idea uservoice was that expensive. yours definitely does look better as well!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Philip here from MoonlightWork.com (the last team in the video). The advice from Sam and Yuri was great. In our startup school office hours after this on Friday, we were also advised to take a more depth-first approach.

So, takeaways:

1) We found an invoicing system that's compatible with Stripe Connect, so we're working on completing a first project this week.

2) We're focusing just on code for now, rather than design and code at the same time. We want to partner with some open-source project maintainers with the goal of helping them earn money and build a job ecosystem. Our first Moonlight projects have been through my own open-source projects (github.com/staffjoy). If you maintain an open-source project, we'd love to talk about how we can help you create jobs around your project - please shoot me an email philip at moonlightwork.com.

<comment><USER7> As a fellow participant of StartupSchool, I'm curious how you guys were picked for the office hours?

BTW, all 3 interviews were great. Lot to take in - you guys probably have had butterflies in your stomachs.

<comment><USER8> Hey Laktek! I reached out to Philip and Emma because they were Startup School founders in the Bay Area. That made it a lot easier to have them come by.

<comment><USER7> Nice! Would be great if you can do a similar session but involving the remote teams - maybe outside of Standford class.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Several years ago some YC partners noted that the startups that did poorly had a common attribute: they tend to ignore advice given during office hours.

The interviewers are experts at office hours, but the interviewees are not. I think it would be interesting to see a) startups ask more questions in their responses rather than make assertions, regardless of whether they are "sure" they have the answer b) have a mechanism of action; for example, stop developing x and start getting revenue -- because otherwise nothing will be learned. Then follow up in a couple weeks to see results iff they decided to act on the advice.

</comment><comment><USER10> Is it possible to get the URLs to the actual products just to try them out?

As I'm watching it, Canny seems neat, but can't seem to find the product anywhere.

<comment><USER6> [https://moonlightwork.com](https://moonlightwork.com)

[http://tuml.co/](http://tuml.co/)

[http://canny.io](http://canny.io)</comment></comment>


How to Interview a Software Developer (link fixed) - <AUTHOR> http://www.jaynathan.org/2011/02/how-to-interview-a-software-developer/ <comment><USER2> Thanks @ghurlman</comment>


Ask YC: Auction-based pricing? - <AUTHOR>

We are organizing a coworking office space in Sofia, Bulgaria. One of our biggest problems is finding the right price to ask for rent, as the difference in income for freelancers here can be as big as 15 times.
Therefore, we are leaning towards auctioning off the 30 office spaces one by one. (Technically, the 30 best bids will win, with the minimal bid being the cost of electricity and water for the person.)
Pros:
- Maximal usage of office space. We better have 1 person pay $5/mo instead of leaving the workspace empty.
- If this is a blind auction, the best bid could be as much as twice the average.
- We can accommodate people from different levels of income (e.g., underpaid artists).
Cons:
- Confusion on behalf of people wanting to sign up.
- If the auction is open (everyone can see the bids) we won't get such a good price, because we don't think there will be more than 100 people bidding for the 30 places.
- Winner's curse. People may feel tricked if they pay more than their peers.
- We won't require a contract from renters, so at the end of each newly open space will be auctioned off. People that pay a price too high could leave and immediately make a lower bid for next month.
- Cartels. Given the relatively small number of people bidding, we can have groups of people agreeing not to outbid each other and thus driving our average price down.
- If the average price falls under our total expenses we are in for cash flow problems. However, this could also happen with a fixed price - if 1/3 of the people leave we are screwed.
Thoughts? Ideas? Should we go with a blind auction? <comment><USER2> Look into a dutch auction - multiply the various bid amounts by the number of people that will pay that, and take the highest product - which all successful bidders pay. For example, it's better to fill 25 offices at $10 per month than 30 at $5. From a fairness perspective all winners are paying the same amount too, and any empty space can be rented out shorter term for larger amounts for inevitable short-term overflow needs.

<comment><USER3> Does anyone use dutch auctions in practice? They are more complicated, and if you have small increments there is no difference from what I suggested (a 31st-price auction). With big increments there is just rounding error. Or do I miss something?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The economically fair way to do it would be to auction all seats at once, on a blind auction. Have the top 30 offers win, everyone paying the price of the 31st offer (the first that doesn't win).

You could probably do it in an open auction too. Count the people who want to participate at the minimum price, start incrementing the price at predefined steps and count the people who are still in. Once you have less than 30 people, you have a price. An open auction every month may be too much of a hassle, though.

I live in Sofia too, drop me a mail if you like.

</comment><comment><USER4> We considered a similar approach with our coworking space in Brighton, UK (<http://theSkiff.org>). We were going try an airline ticket model. eg First people to commit to paying for a particular month get it at the cheapest price with the last desk to be filled going at a premium.

However, while we felt this might work well if we were simply selling serviced office space, we didn't think it would help create a nice coworking environment. In a coworking space the individuals that come to the space are far more important than anything else. If we made a big deal out of the pricing structure, we might end up with people that are their primarily because they see it as cheap and not because they want somewhere to cowork. We choose to just keep it simple and replicate Citizen Space's approach: <http://coworking.pbwiki.com/PricingExamples>

</comment><comment><USER5> Pricing is very hard to get right especially when you have a conflicting values and aims to balance. Like you we are a larger coworking space and therefor are not just supplementing our office with some additional coworking. We built The Werks <http://thewerks.org.uk> purely for coworking. We have a capacity of ~70 people so had to balance the aims of;

1\. Covering our rent and the large financial risk 2\. Creating an environment that brings interesting people into the space, as madmotive implies the people are what makes the space work 3\. Being open and flexible to suit people with different incomes, often the most interesting people are not the ones with the largest budget but can contribute more in other ways

What has worked for us is to do some of what tstegart suggests and create different products for different people so we have a percentage of the space as small offices who pay a higher rate plus a number of serviced desks... these create financial stability and provide products that suite those with a better income. We then have all the rest of the space for coworking and offer a range of options that give people choice depending on their need and budget. Some pay £100 per month and less frequent coworkers pay £60. We also have drop-ins with no fixed price. This is important to get right, no fixed price doesn't mean free as free implies no value. It is up to the individual how they pay and it may not be entirely a financial arrangement, we have people do workshops or help out in other ways. If you were to do this, I would encourage you to make it very easy for people to understand value from your perspective so they can make a decision based on facts, most people have no idea what it costs to provide a bit of space so give examples.

There is a delicate balance that we had to work at and still haven't made it perfect, but having such a mixed range of offerings means we are able to balance the financial risk whilst removing barriers to entry for cool people.

</comment><comment><USER6> How about just setting a fair rent and leaving it at that? Simpler, humane and with only a minor risk of less than 100% occupancy if your rent reflects the income of your target customers. If you are worried then you might set it on the high side to start off with and then reduce it (for everyone) to increase occupancy - as required.

<comment><AUTHOR> The problem is the wide income distribution. One freelancer can make as many as 15 times the other one, so what's a fair price for one would be ridiculous for the other, and what's a fair price for the poor one would be under our break-even price. When it comes to apartments, 95% of the households fall within an x to 2x income range.

<comment><USER7> However, the way you suggested is automatically unfair. You're assuming that a richer person will want to pay more (and they will) but that they won't feel unfairness when poorer people get a better deal. Unfortunately, even if I was rich, knowing the person next to me was getting cheaper rent just because they were poor (or less successful or less hardworking) would seem unfair.

You might want to offer different services or spaces for different amounts, cutting back costs and offering cheaper/smaller space to make the inequities real, and therefore justifiable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> What you're actually trying to do is known as price discrimination. In other words, you want people who value the spaces more to pay more. Airlines, for example, do this by charging more if your trip doesn't span a Saturday (since that means it's likely a business trip and business travelers tend to be willing to pay more). Grocery stores do it with coupons (by your willingness to cut out coupons you reveal yourself to be more price sensitive). More generally, companies often do price discrimination by offering two tiers of service (like Windows Professional Edition vs Windows Home Edition, or whatever).

So you'll have to come up with something like that. None of the auction proposals (Dutch, M+1st price, whatever) will do it because everyone will pretend to be poor.

PS: Student/senior discounts are another classic form of price discrimination (the assumption being that students and seniors tend to be more price sensitive).

</comment><comment><USER9> You're making this harder than it needs to be. Your tenant market isn't "freelancers," it's "freelancers who can afford $x/month." You just need to decide how much "x" is based on the desirability of the space.

Basing rent on what it costs you to service the place is OK if you just want to keep the space occupied, but not if you intend to make money. So make the decision: which is it? Profit or occupancy?

I was a landlord for a few years and had to deal with this every time a lease expired; it isn't rocket science.</comment>


Power of free - <AUTHOR> http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/the-power-of-free.htm

<comment><AUTHOR> Had a tiff with my co-founder couple of months back. We argued if we should specify that our service is free and how much importance we should give to that word on the site.

What do you think? Does a word 'free' on a site makes any difference?</comment>


Why talking to yourself might be the highest form of intelligence. - <AUTHOR> http://justseventhings.com/2009/01/25/why-talking-to-yourself-might-be-the-highest-form-of-intelligence/?

<comment><USER2> Much discussion already: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1471300>

<comment><AUTHOR> Oh, thanks!

That's weird though. When I submitted it at first, it did show a submission to the same URL, but from ~160 days ago with only 2 upvotes (hence the ? at the end.)</comment></comment>


Reminder: Last Day of Submitting Y Combinator Application for new Batch.. - <AUTHOR>

Today is the Last Day of Submitting Y Combinator Application for new Batch..! <comment><USER2> I submitted my application within the first week. However, this link (<http://news.ycombinator.com/susrsvp>) is saying that YC has no record of my application. Yet, the another page says that it has been submitted. What's going on?</comment>


Ask HN: How common is data loss due to migration errors? - <AUTHOR> I'm currently researching this very question. Do you have stories or statistics to share? <comment><USER2> I have worked on very large datasets of different types and honestly true data loss was extremely rare for us. From my experience at least I'd say your question is missing two key components, the permanency of data loss and in- place versus a shadow (or copied) migration.

We had many projects that we would do some data migration and find something missing, go back and have to reprocess, this is because we generally always used shadow migrations (not in place). Or sometimes it was a calculated value so we could recalculate it. But in terms of a true, oh crap we lost this data forever, super rare in my experience. It has happened, but if I had to put a guess to it I'd say it is a very small (low single digit) percentage of the time. This is all especially important when your migrations might take 1+ weeks to complete and you have to keep the business running etc.

Migrations in place (e.g. replacing existing data during a migration) is exceedingly dangerous and more likely to result in data loss. Yet I have still seen companies do this to just try and save on costs, in those cases obviously I would say the likelihood goes up significantly.

</comment><comment><USER3> Data loss in what sense? If you are using NoSQL, you'll have multiple replicas and data loss can often be reconstructed from Write Ahead Log. Even then due to network or memory corruption you might lose some data. But most startups who are using experimental database solution purely for performance/easy of use reasons often use Kafka and replay events when they lose data.

Big companies like Google use replicated filesystem (GFS), Write Ahead Log to ensure migration/rebalancing are painless.

</comment><comment><USER4> Usually all migration are prepared and test/exepriment a lot so the risks are reduce.

I would say lot of my data loss are due to bug in code :(, sadly. We sometimes able to recover by using point in time recover.

That's why nowsaday I opt for soft-delete and some kind of audit log so I can re-build the data.

</comment><comment><USER5> Just a random thought but maybe you are more interested in data loss from the customer perspective? If a value is wrong it might be considered "loss"</comment>


Turkey asks Germany to prosecute comedian for insulting Erdogan - <AUTHOR> http://www.dw.com/en/turkey-asks-germany-to-prosecute-comedian-for-insulting-erdogan/a-19177479 <comment><USER2> Sad that German prosecutors are serious about investigating if they can prosecute satire. This tells so much about lack of humor (even if the satire is in bad taste) by authoritarians.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not Turkey - Anatolia asks for this!</comment>


The extraordinary case of the Guevedoces - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34290981 <comment><USER2> These examples are a great way to raise questions about what "gender" is!

Quite often arguments are raised that XY means man and XX means woman, or having a penis makes a man or having a vagina makes a woman.

It is edge cases like these that illustrate the situation is a bit more complex than that. There are plenty more.</comment>


Morphing Schumann Resonance and Brainwave Entrainment - Cloud-services https://earthpulse.net/schumann-resonance-brain-entrainment/#a_aid=psysid <comment><AUTHOR> Thusly the tin foil hat has a use afterall</comment>


Ask HN: I feel stuck in my career. How can I find a (good) mentor? - <AUTHOR> I feel stuck. I don't even know if I want to continue working with tech. The more I read and research, the more useless I feel. It may be some sort of "impostor's syndrome", I don't know, but I just feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over again and that I'm not growing as a professional.
I've tried doing 1:1 with my managers over time, but it didn't help. I've also tried signing up for Career Advices on LinkedIn but it also didn't help (it was mostly showing up managers from fields other than tech).
How can I find a good mentor? I think I need someone with a similar background and more experience to talk and (may) help me find goals I want to pursue.
I can give more details if needed. <comment><USER2> check out sharpestminds.com</comment>


Chat app Kato will shut down on Aug. 31 – because 'Slack ate the world' - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/13/chat-app-kato-will-shut-down-on-aug-31-because-slack/

<comment><AUTHOR> We examined both Kato and Slack for internal use at our company a while ago. I personally preferred Kato's split pane chat windows and handling of multiple team (which Slack still doesn't do right). We also thought it was more competitively priced. After we had made a case internally for team chat, we started a full department trial of Slack, at which point point our users became fairly enamoured with it, and probably unwilling to uproot and change to a new service.

I have a feeling this matches the world at large for Slack. By implementing a very personable interface users seem to grow a positive emotional connection to the service. This reflects in their usage which is also positive and casual, encouraged by features like custom emoji. All this comes together into not the most practical and functional features on paper, but definitely the most enrapturing user experience.

A good read if you want to learn more about Slack's on going world domination: [https://medium.com/@awilkinson/slack-s-2-8-billion-dollar- se...](https://medium.com/@awilkinson/slack-s-2-8-billion-dollar-secret- sauce-5c5ec7117908)

</comment><comment><USER2> Kato (or their previous better name lechat) was a great product. I still miss some features Kato had although we moved to hipchat then to Slack.</comment>