Detecting Chrome headless - <AUTHOR> http://antoinevastel.github.io/bot%20detection/2017/08/05/detect-chrome-headless.html <comment><USER2> Your solutions in detecting Chrome headless is good.

But someone who really wants to do web scraping or anything similar will use a real browser like Firefox or Chrome run it through xvfb and control it using webdriver and maybe expose it through an API. I find these to be almost undetectable.. The only way you can mitigate this is to do more interesting mitigation techniques. Liie IP detection, Captchas, etc.

edit: when I say real browser, I mean running the full browser process including extensions etc.

<comment><USER3> Interesting. I've done a lot of scraping and I never did this. Do you have a treatise that explains how it's done? I've actually been experimenting with headless Chrome recently because I like it more than PhantomJS.

Practically speaking I don't think IP detection is useful at all these days, and the only Captcha that can't be bypassed is Google's most recent version. The much more successful anti-scraping tactic is to use a sophisticated reverse proxy that analyzes all requests to identify patterns and unusual behavior, indiscriminate from the IP source (because any large scale scraping will come from many IPs anyway).

<comment><USER4> IP detection, especially IPv4, should still work fine because the cost to get a new IP will often outweigh the benefit of the scraping.

Having said that, just let them scrape?

<comment><USER5> There exists an entire industry that provide rotating IPs across fleets of proxies for very cheap prices. Proxy services like this make it pretty much impossible to prevent scraping.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > ... to automate malicious tasks. The most common cases are web scraping...

I really don't think scraping should fall onto that list.

There isn't even a consensus in the IT world whether or not scraping should be able to be legally restricted.

<comment><USER7> I came here to say that too. Scraping has a great many legitimate uses. Search engines, scientific research, trying to use publicly available data that doesn't have an API. I've had to scrape government websites quite frequently because they often make public information hard to read by other means.

That last one is an interesting one. I think one of the most effective way to deter a scraper might be to just provide an API!

Now if you were using the scraped data to republish (copyright infringement) or use it to gain a competitive advantage (re-pricing in eCommerce comes to mind) that is a different story.

<comment><USER8> This is actually an interesting point. If you implemented an effective scraper-detection API, you'd run risk of locking out search engines too.

(Though I guess the real-life solution would be both simple and depressing: make an exception for googlebot and don't care about anyone else)

<comment><USER9> Yeah I've seen a lot of sites that explicitly state that, as well as in their robots.txt

All robots forbidden, except googlebot

<comment><USER10> ... which rule would be obeyed only by legitimate, robots.txt-honoring crawlers. This reminds me of the anti-piracy messages shown (solely) to viewers of legally-purchased media. Similar "logic", similar (counter- productive) "effectiveness".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> So again someone wants to punish all the legitimate people using a web site to get some marginal benefit from detecting the remaining <1%. The inevitable false positives don't affect the "malicious" users. Only the legitimate ones. And how much will this bloat the page load by? Adding more code to an already overly large page isn't helping anyone.

Just let the web be the web, and stop trying to control it.

<comment><USER12> Mentioned this in another comment, but for some websites, the scraping problem has real costs. Airline, hotel, stock prices,etc. For some spaces, scaling and paying bandwidth for unconstrained scraping is costly. And not restricting it hurts the legitimate users because the performance sucks.

There are also the scrapers blindly looking for vulnerabilities or other unsavory tactics.

<comment><USER13> Also, what I've learned is how little regard for your site your scrapers often have, scraping as aggressively as possible.

You're just not always in a place to scale to the abuse or build something more complex than some simple heuristic filters.

<comment><USER14> > what I've learned is how little regard for your site your scrapers often > have, scraping as aggressively as possible.

Often? Based on what data?

I find it much more likely you only often _notice_ aggressive scrapers. That however tells you nothing about the behavior of the average web scraper or web scrapers in general.

<comment><USER12> The system encourages it. Ingress data is cheap, and so many scrapers just default to high frequency.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This looks like a list of bugs that need fixing; ideally, headless Chrome should be completely indistinguishable from ordinary Chrome, so that it gets an identical view of the web.

<comment><USER16> It depends on the target audience. For Google (and for most people) the goal of Headless Chrome is to offer an easy and feature-complete way of automatically testing websites, e.g. for performance (PWA are all the craze) and bugs. For those folks, it doesn't matter that you _can_ detect the Headless Browser, it only matters that it's working like the regular one 99% of the time. This is a huge step-up from previous technologies like PhantomJS or laborious solutions involving webdriver and many moving components.

In some cases they don't even want it to behave exactly like the regular browser. As soon as your website uses any client-side state (cookies, IndexedDB, HTTP caching, service workers, local storage) you want to have to an easy "give me a clean and isolated browsing session" switch like Headless offers.

People scraping the web are not the target audience of this.

<comment><USER17> But to automate testing, you probably need working locale support, and APIs for images to function. Those items will probably stop working for detection purposes when they fix them.

I wouldn't be that surprised if they added webgl support later as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Leaving aside for a moment that many "malicious" use cases are actually fairly common and totally legitimate.

Headless Chrome is awesome and such a step up from previous automation tools.

The Chromeless project provides a nice abstraction and received 8k start in its first two weeks on Github: [https://github.com/graphcool/chromeless](https://github.com/graphcool/chromeless)

</comment><comment><USER14> > Beyond the two harmless use cases given previously, a headless browser can > also be used to automate malicious tasks. The most common cases are web > scraping

I guess I disagree with the premise of this article.

How is web scraping fundamental malicious?

What rights/expectations can you have that a publicly accessible website you create must be used by humans only?

<comment><USER19> It puts a load on you server when bots go wild on your site which in turn affects the experience of legitimate human users of the site.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Since when is web scraping a "malicious task"?

<comment><USER21> Read the ToS of most websites. :)

<comment><USER22> Most ToS don't forbid scraping for "malicious tasks", they just don't allow it for any task.

<comment><USER23> At what point does a tos stop being enforcable? Would something like by visiting you grant all copyright on any materials the visor has created to this site? Could you demand 10% of yearly revenue for any business that visits and be legally able to retrieve the funds?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> If someone wants to scrape your site he will do it, just find workarounds against your "protection". It is impossible to tell the difference between a real user and an automated scrape request, you can only make their job a bit harder.

<comment><USER16> True. Then again, the cost for the scraper can be raised significantly by changing your obfuscation / anti-scraping methods frequently. All of the sudden a scraper will need close monitoring to ensure his scripts / regexes are still working and he will likely need a person dedicated to implementing new workarounds as soon as the sites-to-be-scraped push out a new obfuscation method.

<comment><USER25> In which case, why not just provide a paid API? The content provider will then make extra revenue that would otherwise go to the endless arms race.

As others have mentioned, there is nothing (that I know of) that can thwart a motivated and resourceful scraper.

<comment><USER16> Some services have actually gone down that exact road. pastebin.com is one of them.

But in other cases you simply don't want anyone to be able to extract your info automatically. A good example would be e-commerce sites which don't want anyone to be able to scrape their pricing information in large scale and real time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wonder how many of these were deliberate, and how many were missed. Google has a vested interest in bot detection.

And by releasing headless chrome, they killed off some of the competition. ([https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phantomjs/9aI5d-LDuN...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/phantomjs/9aI5d-LDuNE))

<comment><USER26> Google also has an interest in making an undetectable bot - for their search engine. Undetectable in the sense that GoogleBot should see the exact same page that humans see. They have been using chromium based code, at least on certain sites, for a while now. I wonder if this person is damaging his rankings with these techniques...

Of course, Google announces itself as GoogleBot. It wouldn't surprise me if they did a second stealthy crawl to detect cloaking. (But I think they are honest when they say they don't, and just throw cheap human labor at it instead by having people browse suspect sites.)

<comment><USER27> > Of course, Google announces itself as GoogleBot. It wouldn't surprise me if > they did a second stealthy crawl to detect cloaking. (But I think they are > honest when they say they don't, and just throw cheap human labor at it > instead by having people browse suspect sites.)

They actually run secondary tests that aren't GoogleBot. They're quite easy to detect on very low traffic sites. If you only have a few hundred users, all of which you know personally, and suddenly over the range of a few hours a few users using Chrome visit the page, while it's not linked or findable in any search engine, just shortly after users using the googlebot UA visited it, and with certain usage patterns – it's quite obvious.

Detecting the Android Bouncer's VM is equally easy, although that only happened by accident because, due to an automated action, my app crashed in that and submitted a crash report that was unusual, and I managed to extract parameters that'd allow detecting it (similar with other android virus scanners), but I only cared about that to be able to split those "devices" into a separate category in the crash tracker (all my apps are GPL licensed, and don't do anything evil anyway)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I don't want to start an argument here, but can someone explain why web scraping is considered malicious?

<comment><USER29> I don't believe that responsible web scraping is malicious, but my belief relies on the assumption that the web is meant to be open. That is, information put on the internet that is publicly available is considered free to access, store, and later retransmit. The original web was designed for researchers to share their work, while the modern internet built on top of that platform has other moral systems that don't necessarily agree.

Anyway, on a purely technical level, scraping of publicly available content isn't inherently bad unless you're asked to stop, or are scraping so quickly as to cause a service disruption by tying up the target systems. There is nothing malicious about generating normal traffic at the rate of a regular user. The animosity arises from what you plan to do with the data, and whether the entity you're scraping agrees with your usage.

<comment><USER28> Thanks, that's what seems obvious to me too that it's just public data and it's possible to collect it without overwhelming the server with requests. I just don't get why someone wouldn't want you to look at their website.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> How many of these can be faked with some additional code with Chrome headless?

Regardless as others are saying, using complete Chrome or Firefox with webdriver solves all these, right? Is there a way to detect the webdriver extension? That's the only difference I think from a normal browser.

<comment><USER31> > How many of these can be faked with some additional code with Chrome > headless?

All of them. As soon as you can run some JS code before the page does, every single difference can be monkey-patched. There's no way to distinguish native APIs from fake APIs made by someone that knows all ways of detecting them.

<comment><USER30> Right yeah, of course.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> > _var body = document.getElementsByTagName( "body")[0];_

You can just use document.body.

I also suggest to use a data URL instead. E.g. "data:," is an empty plain text file, which, as you can imagine, won't be interpreted as a valid image.

      let image = new Image();
      image.onerror = () => {
        console.log(image.width); // 0 -> headless
      };
      document.body.appendChild(image);
      image.src = 'data:,';

> _In case of a vanilla Chrome, the image has a width and height that depends > on the zoom of the browser_

The zoom doesn't affect this. It's always in CSS "pixels".

</comment><comment><USER33> Shouldn't the first block of code have "HeadlessChrome" instead of just "Chrome" as the search term?

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right, I changed the code.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I do hope that these methods get patched, I tend to archive my bookmark collection with chrome headless to prevent loosing content when such a site goes offline. I hate it when a website requires me to play special snowflake to scrape them for this purpose.

</comment><comment><USER35> dumb question from someone who's written a ton of scrapers and scraping based "products" for fun:

at what point does it make more sense for companies to just start offering open APIs or data exports? Obviously it would never make sense for a company who's value IS their data, but for retail platforms, auction sites, forum platforms, etc... that have a scraper problem, it seems like just providing their useful data through a more controlled, and optimized, avenue could be worth it.

The answer is probably "never", it's just something that comes to mind sometimes.

</comment><comment><USER36> The irony of using JavaScript to detect scraping or bots when the majority of them _not used to trick ads_ don't ever execute any of it because they are a better curl.

<comment><USER8> Well, if you're determined to prevent scraping, it's rather easy to hide content from non-JS bots: simply pull in the content via Ajax or "encrypt" is and perform the decryption via JS.

So thinking about how to ward off bots that _do_ go the extra mile makes sense. (From a scrape-protection POV at least)

<comment><USER16> And it's actually getting easier with every new shiny web API. Want to make sure only the latest Chrome can retrieve the content of your website? Why not run a Webassembly computation that will yield the correct URL to fetch. Or what about a Web Worker? There are endless possibilities, and the only sane way to scrape / index the web in 2017 is a full-fledged browser.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> All of these could quite easily be overcome by compiling your own headless chrome. It wouldn't surprise me if there is a fork to this effect soon.

</comment><comment><USER38> Those who want a more "authentic" experience would do better to use a real normal browser, and control it from outside.

</comment><comment><USER39> I'd be willing to bet that missing image size variance is more of a bug or oversight, and is something that will be fixed.

</comment><comment><USER40> "Beyond the two harmless use cases given previously, a headless browser can also be used to automate malicious tasks. The most common cases are web scraping, increase advertisement impressions or look for vulnerabilities on a website."

Cheating an advertiser I'll grant you, but the other two are 100% legitimate.

</comment><comment><USER41> "... a headless browser can also be used to automate malicious tasks. The most common cases are web scraping... "

Since when web scraping considered malicious? Companies like Google are doing billions because they use web scraping.

</comment><comment><USER42> What about mining cryptocurrency on a page load as a solution against scrapers?

<comment><USER16> That's like the people pushing Github PRs which will mine $coin in the CI process. But seriously, you can do that, but scrapers will have short timeouts anyway before they abandon the page or consider it loaded, so there's probably not much to be made in terms of profit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Isn't it possible to detect a bot by tracking some events like random mouse moving, scrolling, clicking etc.? Why weren't these kinds of detection tried in place of captchas, for example?

<comment><USER27> Because they are easily faked.

Google's current captcha system does track a few of these, but it mostly takes your browsing history, and, if that seems normal, will accept you.

I've run a few IRC bots that allowed people to submit Google searches, and would return the first resulting link. They also fetch any link mentioned in IRC channels, execute the JS, and after a timeout of 400ms respond with the current page title.

Both combined – a normal search history, reading a few hundred pages and videos a day per user – apparently are enough that they seem "human", and can pass NoCaptcha.

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> Can you guys shut up already?</comment>


Confidence-Building Technique That Doesn't Feel Like You're Lying to Yourself - <AUTHOR> https://bulletproofmusician.com/having-difficulty-believing-in-yourself-heres-a-confidence-building-technique-that-doesnt-feel-like-youre-lying-to-yourself/ <comment><AUTHOR> Title shorten because of HN size limitation.

tl;dr: Explaining to yourself why you will be successful at an exam or performance boosts your actual performance.

"Participants who provided reasons for future success performed better on the test than participants in either the failure-explanation or control groups – successfully solving 17.80 puzzles (out of 25) vs. 15.15 and 15.22, respectively."</comment>


Ask HN: What site has the best design right now? - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> Adam Cadre's calendar blog, solely due to the inline footnotes and asides (example: <http://adamcadre.ac/calendar/13/13956.html>). It's a convenience even Gruber and PG don't utilize.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Curious what everyone is interested in at the moment, design wise.</comment>


Hacking Portable Air Conditioners - <AUTHOR> https://pmarks.net/ac/ <comment><USER5> Very interesting video from Technology Connections <[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc>](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc>) "Portable Air Conditioners - Why you shouldn't like them".

<comment><USER6> >Very interesting video

The content might be interesting, but it's way too long. The guy goes on way too many tangents and adds way too much filler. You probably can boil the whole video down to a few bullet points, yet it's 16 minutes long.

<comment><USER7> On the other hand, I like his long-form video entertainment. I'll eat lunch while watching one maybe. Not everything needs to be optimized into bulletpoints.

<comment><USER8> I had a deja-vu, I thought I had read this exact comment before in HN. Have you used the same words before?

<comment><USER6> [https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=Not%20everything%20needs%20to%20be%20optimized%20into%20bulletpoints&sort=byPopularity&type=comment)

Seems to be unique

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm impressed as hell that the customer service guy and engineers at the company were so willing to answer technical questions!

<comment><USER10> It looks like Edgestar is a company that makes a pretty wide variety of HVAC equipment and prioritizes support. That makes a lot of sense for larger orders, especially for a design/build company. I love finding these kinds of companies, that focus on customer service. It's what made Amazon so special, at least back in the day.

Anyone else know of other companies in this vein?

<comment><USER11> A few that I go out of my way to recommend: Logitech, Fellows, Dyson and Breville.

Each has just straight up sent me a new unit or full replacement part when the previous one failed with no rma or warranty check - none of that nonsense just great service. Dyson support even sent me full factory service manual for the unit 5 years after it was discontinued (and 7+ out of warranty) since I wanted to troubleshoot a power supply issue which ended up working fine after resoldering the main power cord to the power board.

These companies are increasingly rare.

<comment><USER12> I had the opposite experience with Dyson. A $350 Dyson vacuum I bought stopped working a month after I bought it. I determined that a faulty battery was to blame. When I called customer support, they tried to sell me a new battery (I forget the price they quoted me, I think it was at least $50). It was only after I protested that they agree to send me a new battery for free. I got the strong impression that their company policy was to first try to sell a replacement part to take advantage of rubes; only if the customer refused to pay would they offer a new battery for free. Really disappointing quality and service from such an intensively marketed brand. It was especially annoying since the vacuum came with this pompous little booklet about "the Dyson story", how Dyson represents British engineering at it's finest, etc.

<comment><USER11> That's really too bad - my own experience was with a dyson DC21 canister that I bought in 2008 - after 6 years the power head started intermittently turning off while cleaning. They sent an entirely new power head no questions asked. It kept working for another 6 years without any other issues, then it just refused to turn on one day. I called and asked if they could service it and they said sadly the unit was discontinued several years ago but that they could send me the factory service manual and that the issue was likely with the connection between the reeling cord assembly and the main board. Sure enough, I guess reefing on that cord for 12 years caused it to come loose - <USER2> minutes later it was back up and running and I still use it to this day. Worth noting that this thing still cleans as strong today as it did back then. Perhaps Dyson Canada is different than US - I've seen a LOT of refurbished dysons on various marketplaces so I'm guessing they are not flawless - <USER3> fact there are so many refurbs however leads me to believe they are exchanging them without asking questions and that they are quite serviceable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is interesting. We collectively spend _so much_ of our energy on heating and cooling buildings, and there's very little change happening.

The problems identified in the article are such low hanging fruit. Everywhere you look in residential housing there's huge efficieny gains to be made, but very little effort is going in to making them.

I'd love to find ways we can use technology to make housing more efficient. We need to - it's such a crucial pillar in dealing with climate change, and the vast majority of housing is so comically inefficient. The single tube air conditioners mentioned in the article are just the icing on the cake of all these massive energy wastes we accept because they're marginally more convenient. Does anyone know how to fix this?

<comment><USER14> >and there's very little change happening.

There's honestly a lot happening and changing. Obviously you won't see it by buying "HVAC" junk from a box store. What this person should have done is paid an actual HVAC tech to install a ductless mini-split [0]. It would have been a heck of a lot more efficient. He states his one unit is drawing 10 amps (110 volt I assume). Whereas my american standard 4 ton (48,000 btu) unit draws 10 amps as well (240 volt) and cools a 2200 square ft house in 100+ degree texas weather with an electric bill usually not higher than $120 per month (1200 - 1400 kwh or so).

By comparison, at my old house (which was half the size, 1100 sq ft) with a much older 12 Seer unit, my electric bill was regularly over $200. I measured that unit at drawing 18 amps (at 240 volt) and it was only a 3 ton 36,000 btu out door unit. The latest and greatest 21/22 seer units are even more efficient than my current one mentioned above (which is probably only 17 seer).

[0]: [https://www.americanstandardair.com/products/heating-and- coo...](https://www.americanstandardair.com/products/heating-and- cooling/ductless/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Installing a mini-split would be a year-long project, including HOA negotiations, architectural design, electrical load calculations, city permits, and invasive construction. It's not the sort of thing you'd want to attempt at the beginning of a pandemic (or ever, for most people.)

Given the orders of magnitude less work required to find a product and click "Buy", it'd greatly benefit society for portable A/C manufacturers to compete on efficiency.

<comment><USER15> > a year-long project, including HOA negotiations, architectural design, > electrical load calculations, city permits, and invasive construction

Obviously only you know your situation, but just in case any other readers are considering a mini-split: it doesn't have to be this way and it typically isn't.

From firsthand experience installing Mitsubishi mini-splits in multi-unit buildings in very regulated cities, a typical condo installation takes 2 days, including running power from an electrical panel that's not in the unit. A reasonable HOA can often answer in a week or two unless you're the first person to install a mini-split in the building. Larger buildings often recommend specific HVAC contractors. Your contractor will apply for HVAC and/or electrical permits online with very basic drawings; they're often issued immediately ("over-the-counter"), subject to field inspection. There's generally one inspection after it's installed. A good contractor will handle almost all of this.

Basically, it can be complicated but it doesn't need to take a ton of calendar time. Other than cost and needing outdoor space for the condenser, the hardest challenges you & your contractor will encounter are running new electrical circuits from the panel and draining condensate from the indoor head.

<comment><USER16> > are running new electrical circuits

Why is this needed? Is it because the electricity in the US is at 120V? Over here (Europe) you can just plug the cable from the indoor unit into the electrical outlet.

<comment><USER17> I learned recently that US housing generally gets 240V, but most circuits use neutral and a single hot to get 120V which is the standard mains in the country, and you'd run dedicated 240V for large appliances e.g. furnaces, dryers, electric oven, induction cooktop.

The AC would not have been planned for when designing the original circuits, so you would need to add a 240V circuit for it unless you put it in a room which already had one.

As the others have noted, since it's a high-power unit anyway you'd really want to have it on its own circuit to avoid adding too much load on the circuit. So even in europe you probably want a circuit exclusive to the AC, meaning you may have to run a new one unless an AC circuit had originally been run "just in case" (and even then it might not have been run to the room you wanted it in e.g. maybe the original builders put the circuit for an eventual AC in the living room but you want it in the bedroom you converted to a study).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The minimum standards for a portable AC should be a dual-hose one. Single hose ACs make no sense; it is like throwing a lot of efficiency away, just to look a bit sleeker and a very slight increase in installability and mobility.

Also who in their right minds in Europe decided to rate single hose AC at A+, or A efficiency levels; the same as a good split AC? Single hose portables should all start with an F to educate a potential customer as to how dumb this device design is.

[https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s2/producttype/air- conditioners-28...](https://www.galaxus.ch/en/s2/producttype/air- conditioners-280?tagIds=40-62)

<comment><USER19> I want to buy dual hose, but no luck so far. They are just not sold...

<comment><USER20> I'm pretty sure the ones listed in the article are on Amazon. I bought my Whynter ARC-14S from Amazon. It's very loud, but it gets things cold. They're not cheap.

edit: loud like air-whooshing loud, not like vibrating compressor loud.

<comment><USER19> Not in germany :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I have spent a LOT of time researching using a small window AC unit converted to work in a camper van without cutting a giant hole in a wall. There's a fellow on Youtube[1] that did this successfully, and he's the only known example of it that I've seen, and he was only able to because was he a professional HVAC technician and had several unique tools you'd never own if you weren't an HVAC tech.

Essentially what I'm aiming for is this: [https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hd- series](https://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hd-series)

which is a perfect product, except that it costs $4000 and still uses 20% more power than some of the smallest window units. It's ridiculous that the major difference between this $4000 unit and a $150 window AC is that the $4k version has a rubber hose connecting the compressor to the condenser coils instead of the typical thin copper pipe. I am sure there are other differences - it uses better components that are more suited to a moving vehicle with shocks and vibrations, has a strong compressor to deal with the longer hose length, and is already adapted to run off of 12V. But a $3850 price difference is ridiculous.

As the fellow on Youtube has shown (it's been in his camper van for years without a problem) there's really no reason the components from a $150 window unit won't work.

Whenever I finally do a camper van build I'm going to find an HVAC tech who can help me with a couple steps (mostly removing and then re-adding refrigerant) and convert the copper pipes to PTFE lined stainless braided hoses attached to SAE fittings. It may not work, and I've heard finding an HVAC tech to work on weird projects is very difficult, but I want to give it a try.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXgHIrFqm9o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXgHIrFqm9o)

<comment><USER22> What about the mayor bloomberg route? [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5vJWHMlHHg](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P5vJWHMlHHg)

<comment><USER21> A lot of camper vans do this - it just looks awful, destroys any stealth value, has to be moved in and out of the opening any time you start driving, and takes up a ton of internal room when not deployed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The magic product the writer is looking for does exist — somewhat. It's those Euro style mini-split heat pumps, that pump coolant through an external unit.

Up front cost is higher, but the efficiency gains are huge, and they can cool/heat much faster.

<comment><USER24> > Euro style

The only place in this wide world I've seen anything other than split units is North America, so "Euro style" seems an odd description.

<comment><USER23> That's accurate: they're the standard in much of the rest of the world due to their lower operating costs.

I was using "Euro" only to help people picture the things, it's a common way I've heard them described.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Years ago I bought a used (portable) evaporative cooler for $25. When the temperature is not higher than, say, 85F, it is very effective in the day. I do not live in a dry climate. During the day it's 20-50% humidity, and gets high at night. It's clearly a lot less effective at night, but it's usually cool anyway at night.

Window air conditioners work great, but if you can't have that, consider an evaporative cooler if you can get one at a decent price. Do make sure you get one with a decent air flow as well as a decent sized tank (e.g. one where you can run it all night without the water running out in the middle).

Probably won't work well in humid Midwest or South/East.

<comment><USER26> Yeah, swamp coolers are great in theory, but they do nothing at all in areas that most desperately need cooling.

<comment><USER27> They work brilliantly in places with low humidity by high temps - i.e. Arizona, California and my personal experience - towards the middle of Australia.

<comment><USER17> Yeah they will work nicely in any "dry" desert. They do require access to significant amounts of water, though with the nice side-effect (for the context) that they also act as humidifiers,.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> The temp vs run duration doesn't seem that meaningful. It shows the first 3 minutes of runtime, and doesn't show if all configurations reach equilibrium performance after that. It looks like they might. These things are usually run for _hours_ , is there a chance they'd have similar cooling performance at that length?

The insulated hose is something I'm exploring myself. There's insulated ducting like this: [https://www.homedepot.com/p/Speedi-Products-6-in-x-12-ft- Ins...](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Speedi-Products-6-in-x-12-ft-Insulated- Flexible-Duct-with-Metalized-Jacket-R8-FD-12R8-06/203393272?MERCH=REC-_- pipsem-_-203393287-_-203393272-_-N) but it looks terrible. I'm kind of worried about having fiberglass being in my living space like that, the PPE is significant [https://homeguides.sfgate.com/safe-ways-handle-fiberglass- in...](https://homeguides.sfgate.com/safe-ways-handle-fiberglass- insulation-82010.html) and I'm pretty sure my cats would shred it up. I'm leaning toward adding reflectix sleeves with gaps so that the hose is flexible.

<comment><USER29> It seems to not be considering "can it reach a temperature", but "how much heat can it remove in 3 minutes", which, IMO, considering constant power usage, is more valuable for "how efficient is this"

<comment><USER30> For that short a period, it seems like the mass of the condenser would be relevant and disturb any extrapolation to efficiency from a run time which is not largely steady-state.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Anyone else "back in the day" would buy portable air conditioners from the hardware store and sling them into your server broom cupboard in an attempt to keep things from overheating.

It got so boring when we rebuilt with proper falso floors ceilings and real racks.

<comment><USER32> There's still a number of small ISP and telecom infrastructure sites cooled by setups like a pair of Haier consumer grade, ductless split 18000 to 24000btu/h units. Not an uncommon setup for places like small shelters at hilltop and mountaintop radio sites.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> It's not really a hack is it? More like a fix or an optimization. I was excited for a second cause I have a single hose portable AC and I've been thinking about "hacking" it with an intake hose.

However, the more I use the thing the more I realize that there's nothing wrong with it. Since the rest of the house isn't air conditioned there are open windows and fans throughout. Air is more likely to be drawn in from the rest of the house than through the cracks to the outdoors. Might be an issue in a sealed studio apt, but in our leaky shoebox of a ranch style home, it's hardly the biggest inefficiency.

</comment><comment><USER34> Hooking it up to the Nest was really clever. I've dabbled a bit with IR control of similar units, but that really takes it to the next level

<comment><AUTHOR> There's really nothing Nest-specific in the design. It just takes two components (AC input optocoupler and resistor) to sense the 24VAC output from any standard thermostat.

Connecting to the Nest was probably easier than turning an ESP32 into a proper thermostat.

The hardest part of the whole project was figuring out how to read a clean signal from a photodiode.

<comment><USER35> Just read your post and just wanted to say I'm in absolute awe!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> This is really cool. Maybe there is a market opening for an open, hackable aircon unit?

One thing I've long wanted to try with mine is use 'heating mode' as a quieter version of cooling mode. They work the same - the unit just runs backwards, with the cold air coming out of the tube instead of the vents - so in theory you can cool your bedroom without having the noisy aircon in the same room. But the thermostat doesn't work properly in this case, because it thinks it's trying to raise the temperature of whatever room you put it in, not cool the other end of the tube, so for this to work properly you need to hack the control board.

<comment><USER37> _Maybe there is a market opening for an open, hackable aircon unit?_

In the US, I think the EPA would not let you...

...not that it stops people all that much, as a YouTube search for "DIY AC" will show.

<comment><USER38> > In the US, I think the EPA would not let you

In Canada, you need to be a licensed something-or-other to purchase or own compressed CO2 canisters. This put SodaStream in an awkward position when entering the Canadian market, since their whole business model is built on selling people CO2. But they figured out a workaround: in Canada, you don't _buy_ their CO2 canisters; instead, you "join a club" that allows you to _borrow_ CO2 canisters (and/or refills the ones you have), and then _charges_ servicing fees for "their" canister equipment. (Sort of like how a catering company would rent a helium tank.)

I wonder if something similar could be done for refrigerant-supply licensing in the US.

<comment><USER39> Wait, what? I am in Canada and I have a couple of 5pound CO2 canister for home brewing and a modded sodastream to accept any CO2 canister. Where did you find this information?

I even get it filled up at the corner store lol.

<comment><USER38> I don't know if it's true today, but back when I had a SodaStream (~5 years ago), a "purchased" SodaStream CO2 canister came with a printed copy of this: [https://www.sodastream.ca/en/assets/ulc.jpg](https://www.sodastream.ca/en/assets/ulc.jpg)

<comment><USER40> Yeah I don't think that has anything to do with the government. That's just them trying to prevent you/scare you away from refilling the containers yourself.

Paintball guns run on CO2. You don't need a special permit to own a paintball gun. You can pick up a paintball tank on eBay and run down to Canadian Tire or any paintball field and they'll happily fill it up for you. Or at least they used to — it's been a while for me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Tangentially related, but how do you find portable ACs that work reasonably and reliably? I always found it so hard to search for them because it always seems like the reviews on these are difficult to trust. I've had at least one bad experience with one of them (single-hose) where it would just blow warm humid air sometimes, which was strictly worse than not running it at all. (At least something that might cool the air nearby consistently would be something useful, even if it can't cool the whole room.) I realize single-hose is probably a bad idea but somehow I don't have much faith in dual-hose either.

<comment><USER28> Wirecutter has never let me down: [https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best- portable...](https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-portable-air- conditioner/)

Interestingly, in their tests, they didn't find dual-hose models to work much better than single-hose, unless it's extremely hot.

<comment><USER41> Thanks! I did look at Wirecutter actually, but for example the Amazon reviews for LG LP1419IVSM appear a little scary -- average 3.5/5, with 20% of them being 1/5\. Have you actually had good experience with portable ACs from Wirecutter recommendations, or did you just recommend them in general?

<comment><USER42> I don't know about portable, but FWIW the Wirecutter window AC reviews don't match my experience at all. They say that Friedrich is louder than LG, which I know to be false because I have one of each running in adjacent rooms.

<comment><USER43> Wirecutter reviewed the same models that you have?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> > The point of connecting portable A/Cs to a Nest is:

> The usual "smart" stuff that Nest provides

Reminder: [https://michaelblume.tumblr.com/post/169525456166/tech- enthu...](https://michaelblume.tumblr.com/post/169525456166/tech-enthusiasts- everything-in-my-house-is-wired)

> Tech Enthusiasts: Everything in my house is wired to the Internet of Things! > I control it all from my smartphone! My smart-house is bluetooth enabled and > I can give it voice commands via alexa! I love the future!

> Programmers / Engineers: The most recent piece of technology I own is a > printer from 2004 and I keep a loaded gun ready to shoot it if it ever makes > an unexpected noise.

> Security technicians: _takes a deep swig of whiskey_ I wish I had been born > in the neolithic.

</comment><comment><USER45> One thing with dual hose ACs that I would also like to see improved is an extension of the exhaust hose. For me often the hot air will heat up the window which then radiates heat back into the room. We do have 1980s aluminum framed windows, which really makes that problem worse.

I did find a big improvement in getting duct insulation and wrapping the exhaust hose in that. For the window portion, I cut out an insulating foam board to mount the hoses, and taped the outside edge with reflecting tape. It's keeping my large bedroom around 76, unless it gets above 95 and will start creeping to low 80s.

</comment><comment><USER46> There's some pretty basic form factor changes that can go a long way to just eliminating portable units, i.e. these new U shaped designs.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NELPBxrgsE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NELPBxrgsE)

Wonder why there's no "n" designs for obstructive light. Regardless, there's no reason for portable AC, even duo hose ones due to length limitations on hose before inefficiencies. More effort into easy to install window / split units please.

</comment><comment><USER47> With WFH widely accepted, I wonder if transhumance will regain popularity?

(In my area, the herds would move between valley floor, mid-mountain, and alps. Most people would move between valley floor and mid-mountain. Peasant banking started here when everyone sent their cows up to the same alp, and the resulting cheese had to be divvied up between the owners and the alp crew.)

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

</comment><comment><USER43> Dual hose units are increasingly hard to find. Hardly anybody makes them anymore. I've read in a couple places that they don't work great, despite that window units do.

<comment><AUTHOR> The thing is, dual-hose units _could_ work great. The concept is theoretically sound, but nobody's trying to engineer them properly.

<comment><USER48> I really doubt that. Most likely the vacuum efect is overrated as hell compared to the other various inefficiencies (e.g. not all the compressor's heat being vented outside)

I paid extra for a dual hose unit and find myself almost never using the second hose at all. The effect is negligible and not worth the small effort of picking up the second duct from the closet.

And on my unit (trotec) you _can_ close the intake vents with a simple switch if you install the 2nd hose, so its not like all manufacturers are idiots.

<comment><AUTHOR> > The [vacuum] effect is negligible

How did you determine that the effect is negligible? A single-hose A/C should actually _blow colder air_ locally, because it's using cool interior air to cool its condenser. The problem is, it's also throwing cool interior air out the window, which is thermodynamically insane. Every unit of air it expels must be replaced by hot air somewhere else in the building.

> e.g. not all the compressor's heat being vented outside

This is an engineering problem; the compressor should be well-insulated from the room (thermally and acoustically), and cooled using outdoor air.

<comment><USER48> (I can no longer edit at this point)

> How did you determine that the effect is negligible?

The power bill measures overall how much time the compressor spent running for the same preset, and there's little difference between two hose and one hose mode. I'd presume this is the most effective efficiency measurement I have.

> A single-hose A/C should actually blow colder air locally, because it's > using cool interior air to cool its condenser.

Usually it feels as if the air _around_ the ducts/behind the compressor is warmest, rather than around the room's ventilation grills which is where I suspect you would notice warmness if there was a significant negative pressure issue (yes, this is modern France building so I'm forced to keep an aperture to the outside for air renewal, even though otherwise the isolation is topnotch).

> the compressor should be well-insulated from the room (thermally and > acoustically),

This obviously makes sense, but it is much easier said that done. People still want to carry the thing between rooms (and/or carry it themselves to their homes) which is why it is a mobile air conditioner in the first place.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> I attempted something similar, at least on the nest side of things. I quickly realized the nest wouldn't recognize any attached equipment unless connected to a 24vac line. I always wondered how the nest derived DC power to charge its internal battery when a common line was not used. Maybe I'll research this some more and try again.

<comment><AUTHOR> The Nest can sort of trickle charge itself through its relay outputs, but for reliability you really want to provide 24VAC between R<->C.

To attach equipment, you can connect a 24VAC-friendly load between (e.g.) Y<->C or W<->C.

<comment><USER49> Didn't know about the trickle charging, neat!

Problem with attaching a load is that if you want to build a standalone unit with the nest, you'll need some type of inverter when powered off DC, or perhaps a simple sine wave generator? I'm more of a digital, DC power guy.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, you need a sine inverter, either 24VAC, or 120VAC with a 24VAC transformer.

There might be a way to trick the Nest into running on something closer to DC, but I could only guess.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Just get a mini split and save yourself a few hundred man hours - this being the engineering equivalent of polishing a turd.

Even a poor mini split will outperform these in terms of efficiency and silence - and they can be wired directly to a nest or simple thermostat.

<comment><USER50> Just installed a Carrier (40MAQB12B1 / 38MAQB12R1) mini-split in the shed, which I had spray-foam insulated (and then I installed drywall) beforehand. This for the work-at-home thing which we're doing for at least another 6 months...

The difference between the loud portable unit and the blessed silence and efficiency of the mini-split is chalk and cheese. There really is no comparison.

The mini-split cools the shed down to 72, where I have to increase the temperature to stay comfortable, in about 4 minutes. It's even silent outside, and these units will provide 12k BTU of heating or cooling, so it'll be useful in winter too.

<comment><USER11> Yep. Had a Fujitsu halcyon 18,000btu and you could not tell it was on. Prior to that I had a delonghi "penguino" 13,000btu portable AC (it cascades water over the hot side of the condenser and ejects it out of the exhaust line) which is light-years ahead of these models in terms of efficiency and quality and it struggled to cool 500sqft while the mini split can easily sustain temperatures in 1200sqft. This particular model can also heat with exterior temperatures as low as -26C (~ -15f) which cuts a ton of heating costs - <USER4> pumps provide ~3x more heat per watt than baseboard heaters. Add to this the fact it's nearly inaudible inside or out and I can't imagine why someone would choose portable ACs over this - even high end ones. The installation is quite straightforward despite requiring a technician to do the refrigerant part and confirm the electrical setup.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> Air conditioner's compressor without PWM inverter is less controllable so makes it inefficient. Here in Japan only mini-split type air conditioner features PWM inverter and it's dominant.

</comment><comment><USER52> If you have been getting Whole Foods deliveries, you may have quite a few insulated bags that could be repurposed, with some gaffer tape, to insulating cabinets and ducts.

</comment><comment><USER53> Could you use one of these units to many a diy fridge? Freezer? Or are they somewhat tied to reducing the air temperature to only room temperature?

<comment><AUTHOR> This particular model will not cool below 60F/16C. Even if it could, the point of a portable A/C is to avoid cutting holes in the wall, which is not relevant if you're building a custom enclosure.

In theory, you could build an insulated box with a mini-split or window/wall unit, but they're probably all optimized for cooling a large space, not freezing a small space.

Tech Ingredients made a DIY fridge (and a freezer in later videos) using peltier coolers: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWUhwmmZa7A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWUhwmmZa7A)

<comment><USER53> That was a super interesting video, thanks!

<comment><USER54> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4rg3UcsgI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w4rg3UcsgI) also worth a watch, trying to devise a different type of AC system

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER55> Author mentions Climax-Air as having decent units but out of stock. I think the Toyotomis are also pretty good in this class of A/C.

</comment><comment><USER56> What I always wondered is why these units don't come with heat recovery ventilation system inside. Seems obvious.

</comment><comment><USER57> There are inexpensive minisplits available, they're often a much better choice than two-hose portable ACs.

</comment><comment><USER58> That would be a great aftermarket product to hook up Nest to portable air conditioners.

<comment><USER59> I tried to look for something equivalent for those in-wall space heater units. They run on a different voltage, because of course they do.

I think the boxes were like $40, but they looked like electrical junction boxes. Clearly meant to be buried in a wall cavity.

<comment><USER60> Junction boxes are not meant to be buried in a wall. In fact, any junction box containing wire (not just connections/splices) is required to be accessible without removing any part of the building per the National Electrical Code.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER61> Whoa is this Paul Marks from Purdue? Haha, long time, I miss the Dtella days!

</comment><comment><USER62> Love the "plant growing forum" reference

</comment><comment><USER63> What kind of toxic VOCs do these indoor units leak out?

</comment><comment><USER64> These things should be banned in my opinion. They're so inefficient and never get the room down to a decent temperature.

<comment><USER65> Unfortunately I guess they're the only solution when it comes to portable AC units. Not everyone is living in a house they own: otherwise I agree</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What After Software Development Manager Role? - <AUTHOR> I'm at the crossroads. In my current role as software development manager, I wear different hats - sometimes I am project manager, sometimes Business Analyst, sometimes programmer, scrum master, product owner, or just a support guy.
What is the next role or progression after Software Development Manager role? How have you all progressed? <comment><USER2> The way to progress as a manager is to develop the vision to grow the scope of your team, justify additional headcount, and groom some of your tech leads to become managers under you.

If done well, the optics are that you have a strong upwards trajectory as a leader and are well respected by your teams and executive leadership. From here, it's fairly easy to continue to move upwards toward an upper management role.

If done poorly, the optics are that you are an empire builder and not capable of actually moving the company forward, or supporting your people effectively. You will be not be respected and many people, including your own reports, will talk behind your back end eventually you will be pushed out.

Another path up requires a patron or sponsor. This might be your direct boss who moves up and takes you with them.

The last option is waiting for your boss to quit and be given the opportunity to take their job by your boss's boss. The best bosses will groom you for this.

</comment><comment><USER3> The fact that you wear different hats suggests that you are more hands-on than the typical manager in a mid/large company. In order to progress you might need to show leadership, P&L accountability, business knowledge. Technical prowess is rarely the path to upper management levels.

If advancing your career is your ambition, then you might need to side-shuffle into a role where you do more management and direct others to perform the roles that you current perform from time to time.

</comment><comment><USER4> I went back to IC at a bigger company, make more money, and spend a lot more time with my family. The perspective from being a manager helps me understand how to work with my management. I have turned down a couple of manager roles in my current company since then.

<comment> q-base Yeah I am not sure of the advantages of going the manager-path either. Unless perhaps you break above a certain threshold after some years. Because at a lot of managerial roles you get to work a hell of a lot more, without much more compensation and perhaps even less. So it seems like a tough sell unless you are really more interested in the managerial work.

<comment> UK-Al05 I would imagine the advantages of manager roles are highly context dependent.

Being a manager when everything works well is great. When everythings falling apart, awful.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Depends on the org. At mine, you go from manager to sr. manager (maybe that means another team under your belt, but still keeping your total reports manageable). From there, the next level up is Director, then VP, then CTO.

I recommend The Manager's Path by Camille Fournier. It takes you all the way from individual contributor to CTO. [https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path- Leaders-Navigating-Grow...](https://www.amazon.com/Managers-Path-Leaders- Navigating-Growth/dp/1491973897)

</comment><comment><USER6> I am adjusted my scope for only project management and its roles, kinda of like niching my responsibilities away from those other roles you have mentioned. It allowed me to enjoy my work a great deal more and I am learning as well.

I have found the book "The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change" by Camille Fournier thought provoking for me.

</comment><comment><USER7> VP Engineering / Head of Software is probably a good next step - some orgs have different paths but I would say seeing as you are focusing more on the actual engineering & product processes rather than tech strategy this is a senior management / exec role to move up to!</comment>


Ask HN: What are the best sources for inspiration for website designs? - <AUTHOR>

e.g. codrops: http://tympanus.net/codrops/ <comment><USER2> These are some design resource pools I visit: [http://www.awwwards.com/](http://www.awwwards.com/) (all website design) [https://news.layervault.com/](https://news.layervault.com/) (Site Designs) [http://sidebar.io/](http://sidebar.io/) (UI+UX too)

</comment><comment><USER3> I know it's probably a common one, but I tend to hang out on [http://dribbble.com](http://dribbble.com)

<comment><USER4> I didn't know about that one, thanks :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Did you take a look at [http://www.smashingmagazine.com](http://www.smashingmagazine.com) ?

</comment><comment><USER6> CSS Zen Garden is good, focuses on design not content. As all the examples use the same HTML.

[http://www.csszengarden.com](http://www.csszengarden.com)

<comment><USER6> I should have posted the all designs link to make it more understandable:

[http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/](http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> [http://line25.com/category/inspiration](http://line25.com/category/inspiration)

</comment><comment><USER8> I like Behance - [http://www.behance.net/](http://www.behance.net/)

</comment><comment><USER7> [http://www.designedthought.com/](http://www.designedthought.com/)

</comment><comment><USER9> [http://cssline.com/](http://cssline.com/)</comment>


Reverse Debugging with GDB - <AUTHOR> http://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ReverseDebug

<comment><USER2> Reverse debugging sounds like putting bugs in. We do that every day already.

</comment><comment><USER3> We (PyPy developers) tried this and it's unusably slow. I don't know how they got that slow, but it takes a bit forever to execute 10mln instructions. We ended up using UndoDB gdb wrapper, which runs slower than they advertise (+- the same speed as valgrind so say 30x give or take), but is a lot more usable. They had stability problems in the past, but with the recent versions, we're able to run stuff like complex python programs on top of pypy on top of UndoDB, which is very impressive. Very useful for hard GC bugs.

</comment><comment><USER4> I have a more modest request:

Could debuggers please store the code paths and variable values, over the last 50 executions or perhaps the test suite (deterministic)? This is particularly useful for understanding someone else's code.

[edit: a context-free version of reverse debugging]

I've recently been enjoying using IntelliJ for Scala, because it can show me types, and jump to type declarations, and usages.

However, I still have to do a bunch of print debugging when trying to understand someone else's code, because I want to understand what values certain variables take. This is a pain using a compiler as slow as Scala.

Something that captured relevant information, so that it would be easier + faster to do print debugging against previous code runs or the test suite, would be awesome.

<comment><USER5> It looks like the underlying feature which enables reverse debugging, Process Recording, could do what you describe:

[https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord](https://sourceware.org/gdb/wiki/ProcessRecord)

the data may only be in-process, if so it would need to be save-able and load- able.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I tried it. Unfortunately, it is very slow.

<comment><USER7> It is. But that one time when you will be dealing with a Heisenbug, you will be thankful for it.

<comment><USER8> The thing with Heisenbugs is that they usually don't happen when you attach a debugger.

<comment><USER7> That kind of depends. They can also happen not because you attached a debugger but because you set a break point in a particularly unfortunate location.

<comment><USER9> Oh man. I spent a couple of days tracking one of those down. When the light went on in my head I felt like such an idiot.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> For Java, if it still runs: [http://www.lambdacs.com/debugger/](http://www.lambdacs.com/debugger/)

I really like the idea. Never knew GDB had implemented it (thanks for the link!). I'll _definitely_ try this out :)

</comment><comment><USER11> I'm assuming this wasn't a big hit as little as been mentioned about it since its release in 2009?

<comment><USER12> IME it's not only slow, but also very memory-hungry. As a result it's hard to use it to debug heisenbugs, because you have to have a decent idea of where the bug is, so you can start recording at that point. But of course if you know even roughly where the bug was, debugging isn't nearly as hard...

VMWare had record-and-replay debugging functionality which was functionally similar to gdb's backwards debugging, although its implementation was a lot different, which allowed it to scale to recording much longer threads of execution. We used this at Mozilla to find a number of super-tricky bugs; it was pretty awesome. Unfortunately this feature was nixed in vmware workstation 8 [1].

[1] [http://www.replaydebugging.com/](http://www.replaydebugging.com/)

<comment><USER11> That's very interesting! Why did they remove that feature if it was so awesome?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Cool! Does `lldb` have similar functionality?</comment>


Is Steve Jobs Big Brother? - <AUTHOR> http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/is-steve-jobs-big-brother

<comment><USER2> Superbowl Ad was about IBM, not IBM/Microsoft.</comment>


Study shows stronger links between entrepreneurs and dyslexia  - <AUTHOR> http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/05/business/dyslexia.php?sid13 <comment><USER2> I am an entrepreneur and I am dyslexic and I have ADHD. It's way worse with numbers than words though. Basically I just have to be really careful copying numbers by hand. It made proofs in E school a nightmare. For a few days I even had numbers reversed on my own phone number for my answering machine message!

I agree with this article completely. As a matter of fact I have never read an article from new.yc that hits home more than this one.

"If you have a healthy dose of rejection in your life, you are going to have to figure out how to do it your way."

I like this a lot. Living in the bowels of the the academic system taught me to think fast. I was constantly one step away from total academic destruction and I had to think on my feet to beat the system. Often that meant talking parents out of punishments and teachers out of giving me bad grades. Great training for startups. Everything is always on fire and your company depends on convincing clients, investors, employees and customers to keep cool in the midst of a blaze. Only now we get to do what we're good at and hire people to do what we're bad at.

I also like the parts about verbal communication, delegation and trust. All apply to me in spades. My co-founder is hyper-organized and hyper-systematic. He's the tortoise and I'm the hare. He is very good at keeping us on track and not forgetting details and I'm really good at game time decisions during sales and VC meetings.

I also think hacking is great for the dyslexic. You can write code that masks your weaknesses. Also ADHD people fear repetition above all else. Some say we descend from hunters who thrive in dynamic environments, while most "normal people" descend from farmers and thrive in more predictable environments. It means that hacking is our natural ally in the fight against repetition.

Whatever the case, I don't think kids should be put on drugs to solve these so called problems. They need HEAVY exercise and an some recognition that they have something offer even if it doesn't happen in school. Though perhaps with that recognition they might no longer be outside the system and they may not develop the strengths that this article suggest. That is something I've thought about a lot...

Sorry for the ramble, like I said, that hit home.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm not dyslexic, but my healthy doses of rejection occurred because I was nerdy, poor, and liked talking about things like robots, space, and role- playing games.

It's helped quite a lot when dealing with rejection in the business world. Paul Graham is just like Charleen from middle school.

</comment><comment><USER4> Lex-dysics untie!</comment>


Ask HN: What are best documentaries you have watched this year? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> The World at War ([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071075](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071075)). 26 hour-long episodes; one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks a lot! Where can I find it?

<comment><USER2> Unfortunately it's not on any paid streaming services. Either you buy the Blu- ray discs or use illicit means.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Chernobyl.

[https://www.amazon.com/Chernobyl- Season-1/dp/B07PLM1ZKM](https://www.amazon.com/Chernobyl- Season-1/dp/B07PLM1ZKM)

</comment><comment><USER4> The one where Bill Gates talks about toilets the whole time

Jk

Unacknowledged on Netflix was a trip and a half</comment>


Introducing SproutCore Touch - <AUTHOR> http://blog.sproutcore.com/post/531215199/introducing-sproutcore-touch

<comment><USER2> They demoed this at jsconf this morning and it was quite impressive. They did a side-by-side comparison between the NPR iPad app and a sproutcore-powered equivalent in mobile Safari. The browser clone looked and ran great, and actually had much smoother scrolling animation.

</comment><comment><USER3> The example documentation @ <http://touch.sproutcore.com/hedwig> is quite fun (On Safari, desktop)...

Screengrab: <http://imgur.com/V4z3R.png>

What's with the RTL text?

<comment><USER4> that's how it looks to me on Safari, but it works on latest version of chromium.</comment></comment>


Clever reforms can reduce the power of NIMBYs and cut housing costs - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/node/21696949 <comment><USER2> The chief problem with the idea of NIMBY is that it is not really the concerned party's back yard. A more accurate term for the concept might be NIMNBY (Not In My Neighbors' Back Yard).

NIMBY is an affront to the concept of property rights. But, some say, the concerned party has the legitimate concern that development on a neighboring property will negatively impact the value of their own property. While an understandable concern to have, it does not justify the prevention of allowing the neighbor to develop on their rightfully owned property; just as company A should not be allowed to prevent company B from creating widgets because the extra competition will impact company A's bottom line.

<comment><USER3> Backyard in this context means something more akin to neighborhood/city/etc. as opposed to patch of green behoind hous

Many property rights are limited in various ways--often by zoning in the case of land. And, typically, those limitations would be known at the time of purchase. Most would agree some level of zoning is reasonable; no incinerators or drilling for oil in residential neighborhoods for example.

I actually agree that excessive permitting processes that block otherwise allowed development are often a problem. But some level of zoning (whatever you call it) is effectively required for a functioning city or other community.

<comment><USER4> Zoning is a wide topic. Requiring buildings to be safe for the area is one thing. Forcing Residential and Commercial property to widely different areas is a common if terrible idea.

Central planning rarely works well. At best zoning could penalize some types of development to cover very real external costs, but not outlaw them.

<comment><USER5> I think most of us have some fuzzy concepts about some things being 'a step too far', but I'll admit to not having a great idea where or how to draw the line.

It would suck to have an outdoor, late night heavy metal venue open up in an adjacent property, for instance.

OTOH, a lot of the limits on housing height and density and car requirements seem like bunk to me. And I'd rather live closer than farther to basic amenities like a grocery store, some restaurants, a small bar... stuff like that. I loved that about life in Italy.

<comment><USER2> Your example is already a solved problem with the theory of homesteading. Whoever homesteaded the property first has the right to enjoy their property in the manner they originally possessed it. In this case, the outdoor, heavy metal music would be a trespass upon adjacent properties (unless they received an easement). Conversely in homesteading theory, if the outdoor, late night heavy metal venue was there first, you could not move in adjacently and expect to shut them down for excessive noise.

<comment><USER5> Ok, but what about...

Someone:

* buys an apartment and decides to turn it into an office for a few accountants.

* buys a house and decides to build a corner store, like this: [https://goo.gl/maps/jcHex9ndsFv](https://goo.gl/maps/jcHex9ndsFv)

* buys a house and tears it down to create a small used clothing store.

* buys a house and turns it into a small restaurant.

* buys a house and turns it into a bar.

My guess is that people are going to complain about some of these things, but not others. However, if you don't allow anyone to change things ever, you get a very rigid and brittle city. What would we do with the stables if they had never been allowed to change into something else?

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure what the issue is with any of those scenarios. If someone rightfully obtains a property they are in the same position as the original homesteader.

<comment><USER5> So... the original homesteader builds a house somewhere.

Other houses are built nearby. It's a quiet neighborhood.

I buy the original homesteader house and open my heavy metal venue? And that's ok? I bet the neighbors won't be happy.

I get the concept of "you _chose_ to build your house next to a heavy metal venue and they were there first, so you can put a sock in it", but it's kind of incomplete.

<comment><USER2> >I buy the original homesteader house and open my heavy metal venue? And that's ok? I bet the neighbors won't be happy.

No, that's not ok. The neighbor's have homesteaded their property (or obtained it from the original homesteaders) and the noise would be a trespass on their properties.

<comment><USER5> How about a punk music bar that sees people coming and going at all hours. It's soundproofed, though and let's say the patrons are fairly quiet outside, although they sure look out of place in the neighborhood.

The neighbors would not be happy.

<comment><USER2> It's ok for neighbors to not be happy. I can be unhappy if my neighbor paints their house chartreuse, but it doesn't mean I should have any say on what color my neighbor's house should be. For those who want to ensure their neighbor's home is not turned into a punk music bar, they can either buy the neighbor's home and rent it out (kind of like Mark Zuckerberg does), form some sort of HOA, or move into a neighborhood with an existing HOA.

<comment><USER5> Fine, but that's pretty far outside of the mainstream these days, so if the neighbors don't like it, they can and will block it, unfortunately.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> TILT sounds like an interesting idea. In San Francisco I suspect our best bet is through California State laws offering density bonuses or provide as-of- right building in some form, that overrides local planning constraints. For example, AB 2501 is currently in the local government committee but is being voted on this Wednesday: [http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?...](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB2501)

If you feel compelled like me to support more housing in the bay area, please write or call these Assemblymembers in the local government committee and ask them to support it before Wednesday at 1:30 pm Pacific, even if you're not in their district:

Susan Talamantes Eggman (Chair) - [http://asmdc.org/members/a13](http://asmdc.org/members/a13) Marie Waldron (Vice-Chair) - [https://ad75.asmrc.org/](https://ad75.asmrc.org/) Luis A. Alejo - [http://asmdc.org/members/a30/](http://asmdc.org/members/a30/) Susan A. Bonilla - [http://asmdc.org/members/a14/](http://asmdc.org/members/a14/) David Chiu - [http://asmdc.org/members/a17/](http://asmdc.org/members/a17/) Ken Cooley - [http://asmdc.org/members/a08/](http://asmdc.org/members/a08/) Beth Gaines - [https://ad06.asmrc.org/](https://ad06.asmrc.org/) Richard S. Gordon - [http://asmdc.org/members/a24/](http://asmdc.org/members/a24/) Eric Linder - [https://ad60.asmrc.org/](https://ad60.asmrc.org/)

</comment><comment><USER7> The article seems to have it arse backwards. Yes, a lot of times this is a situation of "Distributed Costs and Concentrated Benefits", but with the benefits going to the property developer, and the costs to the impacted community. NIMBY is the catchy phrase constructed by marketing to discredit serious concerns people have when they are on the receiving end of someone's 'unacounted externality'. Technology has made it marginally cheaper to organize a resistance, but it is still an uphill battle because of the natural imbalance in the cost/benefits situation.

<comment><USER8> I completely agree that development creates negative externalities which are legitimate complaints for neighbors. However, restrictions on development create a regressive tax in the form of high rents, which is, as the article describes, distributed broadly. What's needed is some sort of cost-benefit balance between the two.

For example, I rent a 400 sq foot apartment in SF for $3k. The operating and capital cost of the physical apartment is probably on the order of $1000 (I have rented similar places in Montreal, which has ample housing, for <$1000). That means that the other $2000, or about 2/3 of my rent, is the result of apartment scarcity caused by development restrictions. If new development is more costly, we could imagine my rent would be $1500 at market equilibrium if there were no barriers to development and the city was covered in high rises from bay to ocean, so I am effectively paying $1500/mo for restrictions on development.

Those restrictions have value in the form of reducing community impacts, so the question becomes, should the community as a whole pay a 100% "tax" on its rents to avoid additional development? The policy also closes off market rate housing in the city to any who can't afford the rents, which could be a feature or a bug depending on your outlook.

I believe there is a goldilocks regime between the two extremes that we should strive for, but our current system doesn't provide a mechanism for us as a society to make a balanced cost/benefit tradeoff.

<comment><USER9> Do you happen to have another example of an city with a similar weather and employment profile that is significantly cheaper? Regardless of development?

Is there unanimous agreement that high rents(which are occurring throughout the US and abroad right now) are solely due to lack of development?

<comment><USER10> You shouldn't be concerned about unanimity. You should be concerned if it is true or not.

[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgXjY3cWIAAVfCM.jpg:large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgXjY3cWIAAVfCM.jpg:large)

Unfortunately we can't run experiments on this question. Every city is unique, and people tend to think very special.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Everyone likes the idea of carrots. But I prefer sticks.

Landowners get windfall gains from surrounding development and government services. We should have a high land value tax, to tax these unearned gains, which would ensure that only people able to make productive use of prime land will hold onto it.

For instance, a subway stop will boost the surrounding land value of every property by hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet everyone else is footing the bill for it. And worse, if the taxes are low enough, landowners can, in effect, hold that prime land for ransom, and do nothing with it. [https://vimeo.com/32548658](https://vimeo.com/32548658)

<comment><USER12> Excepting that in SF the "everyone" does not want the land owners to make productive use of it: they want the status quo. (Well, the status quo of what the remember as being the "high point".)

Having witnessed protests that occurred midway through the reconstruction of offramps, (meaning an existing ramp was torn down, and they were half done rebuilding it), it's not so much NIMBY, but NBAA: Never Build Anything, Anywhere.

The only way that higher taxes would be beneficial is if SF landowners were actually allowed the freedom to upgrade their properties. Zoning, especially height restrictions (40' max over most of SF), as well as endless red tape, make it really hard to make productive use of prime land. Regardless if it's the original owner or new buyer _.

(_ A new buyer is granted some _slight_ advantage, but not enough to be meaningful.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> "Everyone in the city stands to gain from growth; productivity in skilled cities rises with population, so when more people move in, all workers' incomes should rise. But the gains from any particular property development are relatively small and thinly spread, whereas the costs are highly concentrated."

This sounds like yet another case of public choice theory: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_choice)

</comment><comment><USER14> We have planning at the county level. All that does is place power in the hands of the powerful realtor/developer group.

As a result, local imbalances abound. If you live in an area where those sorts of folks also live, it's really nice. If not, you get prison, dumps, subsidized housing, etc built right next to you.

I can only imagine what this would look like if this was done at the state level. Our state is solidly one party...

<comment><USER15> To some extent I believe that clustering of good (and bad) things is inevitable when there is a central decision marker (or decision making body).

What I mena to say is once an area is nice (or has been designated as the next "growth" area), then nice properties/malls/services etc are going to go there. Industry buildings will cluster somewhere else, office buildings will cluster in a 3rd area.

Of course, it sucks to be a resident in area that ends up being the low-value one, but someone will end up having to get the short stick.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> You could just do more to encourage development of balanced countries by deliberately skewing infrastructure investment to other places, and watching people move out when large cities grind to a halt. Just because all the money feels it wants to stay in London you don't have to _encourage_ it to

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm skeptical that the bribes will be big enough to affect most land owners in San Francisco, but I don't have any numbers handy about the average income of the NIMBY's in that city. Just an intuition that they stand to lose far more in property value than it is practical to pay them. Side note - Does anyone know of a place to get that kind of information? Maybe it can be triangulated from census data + some other source?

<comment><USER18> The idea that upzoning decreases property values is a pernicious myth that keeps being used to bludgeon these people as greedy NIMBYs.

Upzoning in response to demand increases property values. It's very simple: you can charge more people high rent on the same plot.

This isn't guesswork, we have the numbers. Upzoning is financially beneficial to existing home owners.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'm dubious that a few bribes will give pause to people who consider their homes in jeopardy.

<comment><USER20> I think the objective is to wash-out the casually-opposed with the bribe of reduced property taxes, leaving the smaller hard-core opposition to be tackled.

However they don't offer any novel ideas to address the often-genuine concerns of that hard-core of 'NIMBYs'. Those are the ones opposed on principles or personal experience.

For example in my neighbourhood the building of new developments had resulted in hugely increased road-noise [0], to the extent that it's no longer pleasant to sit in in the front garden. So naturally I'll oppose any further development. No amount of trivial-tax-tinkering will convince me otherwise, since it's my quality-of-life being affected.

[0] multiplied more-so by the fact that modern car tyres are much noisier, but planning permission only considers the number of cars and not their cumulative noise

<comment><USER21> That's a good example of where orthodox economics breaks down; Money doesn't substitute for a quiet garden.

<comment><USER22> The problem is more that it could, but necessary amount of money isn't feasible to pay.

Though on the other hand, that sort of problem _is_ solved by building taller buildings, because then if you don't want to hear the traffic you can live on the 20th floor.

<comment><USER18> At which point you have a whole bunch of other problems, including not having a garden in the first place.

That said, money does solve that problem too -- if a home owner accepts that they're being pushed out by development, there's a pretty penny to be made in selling out to developers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Talk about your clickbait headlines.

<comment><USER15> That's...the title of the Economist article.

Well, the subtitle, but the real title is "Terms of enlargement", which is not really self-explanatory, is it?

<comment><USER24> It's not even clickbait. It's not sensationalist in any way really. It actually captures in a one sentence summary exactly what the article is about.

I honestly think that there should be a reporting mechanism for folks to complain about submarine articles, or click-bait headlines. So often I find that they aren't the case and it adds zero to any actual discourse around the subject matter itself.

I think if you have an issue with clickbait headlines you really should email the site admins/moderators. They are pretty good about getting back to you, mostly.

<comment><USER3> "Click-bait" is another one of those terms that gets thrown around too far regularly these days. MOST headlines are "click-bait" both online and in print. Headlines are supposed to grab your interest whether because of the topic itself, through clever wordplay (as the Economist tends to do), or through perhaps less scrupulous means. If a headline is deceptive or otherwise is misleading people (subject to the limitations of a short headline), say so explicitly--don't default to click-bait.

<comment><USER24> Agreed. Even better than just saying so, it would be far more edifying for all if the person making the claim would justify it with reasoning as to why the headline is misleading!

Just using the words "click-bait" is even worse than a click-bait headline. In fact, it just becomes forum-spam.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> The article also completely ignores the effects of "easy money" in the price inflation of housing costs.

By "easy money" I mean the period there where the banks would give almost anyone with a pulse a huge size loan for a house purchase. Because everyone was running around with an outsized "money press" in the form of their approved bank loan value, they were quite capable of bidding prices up, which is exactly what they did. Therefore, as to this cause of the price inflation, it somewhat inverted the supply/demand curve in that prices rose to accommodate greater supply of money in the hands of prospective purchasers.

Yes, building restrictions do play a part, but fully ignoring the effects of using very cheap "other peoples money" for bidding on houses ignores another significant factor in the inflation effect.</comment>


A New Clue to How Life Originated - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/08/interlocking-puzzle-allowed-life-emerge/595945/ <comment> rough-sea I highly recommend this related podcast discussing the project to build a synthetic cell [https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/07/22/56-k...](https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2019/07/22/56-kate- adamala-on-creating-synthetic-life/)

</comment><comment><USER2> Markov blankets!

</comment><comment><USER3> tldr; cell membranes won't get destroyed by ocean salt if there are amino acids around to protect them.</comment>


Yet Again, the Actual Deficit Is as Big as the Entire Discretionary Budget - <AUTHOR> https://thesoundingline.com/yet-again-the-actual-deficit-is-as-big-as-the-entire-discretionary-budget/ <comment><USER2> This is why I think people's obsession with taxes as a means for supporting public services makes 0 sense.

<comment><USER3> It sounds like you're saying, "We keep getting away with it, so we'll get away with it forever." That seems unlikely to be true. Real, sustainable prosperity cannot come from the government printing money to buy stuff.

<comment><USER2> We are by far the prettiest horse in the glue factory. Our biggest problem is too much taxes for middle class.</comment></comment></comment>


HTML5 Forms Are Coming - <AUTHOR> http://snook.ca/archives/html_and_css/html5-forms-are-coming

<comment><USER2> I ran into an issue in 2006 because a coworker was clever and used a "date" input for a date. Most browsers just ignored it, but I was using Opera which implemented Web Forms 2.0. While I got a better experience (with a nice pop-up date picker), the form put the date in using the wrong format and his code couldn't read it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Placeholder is great. Found this for Django: [http://github.com/rhec/django- html5/blob/master/html5/forms/...](http://github.com/rhec/django- html5/blob/master/html5/forms/widgets.py) (however it looks shallow; I already spot that EmailField doesn't subclass the old EmailField which as server side validation). Would like to see these with their respective server side validators.

<comment><USER4> Dive Into HTML5 [1] demonstrates how one can detect placeholder support; the obvious use case is to use the focus and blur events to mimic the functionality if native support isn't present.

Here's some example code, using Ojay [2].

        /**
         * Places the label for a text field within that field, for a simpler
         * and more intuitive interface to e.g. search forms.
         */
        var labelInField = function(field) {
            var input = Ojay(field), label = Ojay.Forms.getLabel(field).hide();
            if (!label.node || !input.node) return;

            var labelText = label.node.innerHTML.stripTags(),
                inputType = input.node.type || 'text';

            // Don't bother setting up the event handlers if the browser can detect
            // the HTML5 placeholder text.
            if ('placeholder' in document.createElement('input') && input.node.placeholder.length > 1) return;

            var focus = function() {
                input.removeClass('empty');
                if (input.node.value == labelText) input.node.value = '';
            };

            var blur = function() {
                if (input.node.value && input.node.value != labelText) return;
                input.addClass('empty');
                if (inputType == 'text') input.node.value = labelText;
            };

            blur();

            input.on('focus', focus);
            input.on('blur', blur);
        };

[1] <http://diveintohtml5.org/forms.html#placeholder>

[2] <http://ojay.othermedia.org/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> A colleague of mine (Eli Van Zoeren) wrote a jQuery plugin that lets you use these new capabilities:

<http://www.newmediacampaigns.com/page/nmcformhelper>

In browsers that don't support features, they are emulated in javascript.

<comment><USER6> There's also <http://www.modernizr.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> There is also an experimental version of datalist in Opera (and possibly other browsers). Demo at <http://html5.org/demos/dev.opera.com/article- examples.html> (only the first one seems to work in latest Opera).

Full article at [http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/an-html5-style-google- sug...](http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/an-html5-style-google-suggest/)

</comment><comment><USER8> Minor internet correction, the placeholder attribute has actually been in Safari since 2003. Also, Safari has supported range inputs for quite some time to.</comment>


Go 1.7 Release Candidate 6 is released - <AUTHOR> https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_source=golangweekly&utm_medium=email#!msg/golang-nuts/veQCER89M8c/44nryIM1EAAJ <comment><USER2> Direct link to release notes / changelog for 1.7:

[https://tip.golang.org/doc/go1.7](https://tip.golang.org/doc/go1.7)

Summary from the source:

"The release adds a port to IBM LinuxOne; updates the x86-64 compiler back end to generate more efficient code; includes the context package, promoted from the x/net subrepository and now used in the standard library; and adds support in the testing package for creating hierarchies of tests and benchmarks. The release also finalizes the vendoring support started in Go 1.5, making it a standard feature."

</comment><comment><USER3> My code ran 20%+ faster on a recent 1.7RC candidate, it's a big win for a wide variety of use cases.

</comment><comment><USER4> Anyone know why no mips32? I'm wondering if those environments are too lean, or going away soon, or both.

<comment> ainar-g From what I've seen, the answer to questions like "Why is platform X not supported" is "Because nobody works on supporting it". Take IBM as an example. They wanted a Go version for their machines, so they created one, and now it's in the standard Go distribution. If there were people interested in adding MIPS32, it'd be halfway there already.

<comment><USER5> This is 100% correct.

Ports exist because people were willing to implement them, and are willing to maintain them.

A MIPS32 port would be very simple, almost all the MIPS backend is 32/64-size agnostic, and the runtime MIPS64 assembly is pretty portable to MIPS32 too.

Someone has to step in and do the work if he is interested.

<comment><USER4> He is. Any clue where to start?

Edit: maybe here? [https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/PortingPolicy](https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/PortingPolicy)

<comment> ainar-g Yes, there and mailing the go-dev mailing list [1] if you are serious about it.

[1]: [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang- dev](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/golang-dev)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Run your android apps on windows via bluestacks app player - <AUTHOR>

A walk-through of BlueStacks' Android App Player for PC, beta version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffFxnnGqFLk.
Download now at http://BlueStacks.com <comment><USER2> Tried it. It broke my virtualbox machines and I had to do some major registry hacking to get my vms working again! Also, there was no integration for google accounts, making it useless for using google currents, Gmail or the likes</comment>


Computer beats Jeopardy champs - <AUTHOR> http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2011/01/14/computer-jeopardy.html

<comment><USER2> Anyone know how the buzzers work? It's my impression that they are disabled until a moment after the question has been read completely, and then the first to buzz in gets a chance to answer. I wonder if they took steps to ensure that the computer doesn't have an edge in buzzing in first.

<comment><USER3> I think that's how it works (they only get enabled after the question has been read, while you get penalised somehow if you buzz in too early. I imagine they built in some random delays so the computer didn't always buzz in at the millisecond.

<comment><USER4> That would have been very sporting of them as I recall seeing an interview with Jeopardy winners where they mentioned the crucial role the buzzer plays in the game and how skill with it provides a competitive advantage.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Engadget has a video of the actual contest, and an interview with the IBM guys:

[http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/13/ibms-watson- supercomputer...](http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/13/ibms-watson- supercomputer-destroys-all-humans-in-jeopardy-pract/)

</comment><comment><USER6> Hardly amazing that a computer with access to billions of pages of information can out-trivia humans.

I suppose the story here is supposed to be the natural language processing, but really the space which is covered by Jeopardy questions is pretty confined. Color me unimpressed.

<comment><USER7> Have you watched Jeopardy ever? The 'questions' are often pretty obscurely worded, and the IBM computer often comes to completely bonkers conclusions despite your supposed 'confined question space'.

<comment><USER8> I want to see it go on 'are you smarter than a fifth grader'. The sorts of questions they should ask aren't ones that require knowledge but creativity, understanding, and elision of concepts. For example:

If Dog is three and elephant is eight then what is ostrich?

Guarantee a fifth grader gets seven, but Watson is stumped.

<comment><USER8> Or: "Take the first letter of the color of an eggplant. What zodiac sign also starts with that letter?"</comment></comment></comment></comment>