Ask HN: Is Edge any better or worse than Chrome on privacy? - <AUTHOR> I primarily use Firefox, but occasionally I have to resort to Chrome for certain poorly-designed websites.<p>Now that Microsoft Edge is Chromium-based, is it any better as an alternative?  Is the privacy any more respectable, or does it simply replace all the Google phone-homing with the same level of Microsoft phone-homing? <comment><USER2> Edge does not (e2e) encrypt your synced browsing history and your bookmarks. In the help pages Microsoft tries to weasel itself out of it by talking about TLS or encryption "at rest".

Chrome on the other hand can do end to end encryption by providing your own password.

Windows 10 has an advertising ID that is passed via Edge to Bing Ads. Chrome does the same thing with a low entropy ID passed to DoubleClick. In both cases this is used to track you. The difference is that Microsoft can potentially track your behavior in other apps as well.

Google is also very transparent about what they collect about you. You can also opt out of any collection or personalization. Do you know what Microsoft collects about you? They sure collect a ton of telemetry, with no way to opt out in some cases. The terms of Windows Insiders for example are ridiculous.

And Bing Ads is generating about $8 billion per year which isn't pocket change. If you think Microsoft isn't making a shitload of money from ads, you're wrong.

In other words they are very equivalent, but due to lacking end to end encryption for synchronized data, I can't touch Edge.

Note that I don't use Chrome either, only for testing like you. Firefox is better than both if concerned about privacy.

<comment><USER3> Is it naive to assume that the advertising ID, etc. are left out of plain Chromium?

<comment><USER4> Indeed, it is. That's why this exists: [https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled- chromium](https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium)

<comment><USER5> for those that care so much about privacy but figure it's still ok to download ungoogled-chromium

> NOTE: These binaries are provided by anyone who are willing to build and > submit them. Because these binaries are not necessarily reproducible, > authenticity cannot be guaranteed; In other words, there is always a non- > zero probability that these binaries may have been tampered with. In the > unlikely event that this has happened to you, please report it in a new > issue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I believe it's a better alternative to Chrome if you are already using Windows.

Edge Chromium still has telemetry data sent to MS but it respects the privacy control and group policy in Windows, so if you have already set Windows telemetry to low, it sent almost nothing. I recommends usage of "O&O ShutUp10" to disable all Windows and Edge telemetry.

It doesn't have telemetry data sent to Google (no contact with Google owned domain).

It also has a third party tracking blocker included and enabled by default which makes it way better than Chrome on that point. On my installation, it even blocks Microsoft tracking...

I use Pi-Hole to keep track of the domains reached by Edge and so far, there are nothing really worrying me (I already use Windows so my expectations are relative).

<comment><USER7> What a time to br alive. I love it that MS now is the do no evil entity. Support linux? Own github? Respects privacy settings?

I respectfully carefully celebrate this information and hope to see more!

<comment><USER8> No for-profit company is your friend. Only as long as they can extract value. Not a cynical view. There is plenty of evidence.

<comment><USER9> Or... It's easy to altruistic when shareholders are happy with stock performance. When the stock be a tankin', altruism gets a spankin' (best rhyme I could come up with).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's significantly better. Basically, Microsoft added the tracking protection features[1] Firefox and legacy Edge have to Chrome. Yeah, in terms of sending data to Google vs. Microsoft, that footprint is _similar_ , but third party tracking differences are _huge_. Edge sends a fraction of the requests to third party services while web browsing as Chrome does.

Google has decided to implement third party cookie blocking in Chrome recently... solely in incognito mode[2]. Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc. all do it all the time in normal mode too. This renders Chrome the least privacy-minded browser, primarily because Google heavily values ad tracking as a business practice.

[1] [https://www.zdnet.com/article/with-its-new-edge-browser- micr...](https://www.zdnet.com/article/with-its-new-edge-browser-microsoft- takes-dead-aim-at-google/) [2] [https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/19/google- chrome-83/](https://venturebeat.com/2020/05/19/google-chrome-83/)

<comment><USER11> Is it different than using ublock origin

<comment><USER10> Generally ad blockers end up blocking ads whether they track or not: There are people out there who believe they are entitled to not see advertising or something. Tracking protection is generally close to an add blocker, but won't do anything to prevent display of first party ads or ads that do not attempt to track you.

Generally, I'd argue the latter is better than the former, as it encourages websites and the ad industry to behave better: Stop invading my privacy and your ads stop getting blocked.

<comment><USER12> I would agree. I use Privacy Badger (always) and NoScript (most of the time). If an add happens to not get blocked by these, great!

I'm perfectly fine with viewing an add that is not doing bad things.

<comment><USER10> Indeed. I'm a big fan of Firefox + Privacy Badger. It predated most browser tracking prevention features, and I've found more and more is getting caught by the browser before it even makes it to Privacy Badger. I suspect eventually Firefox will be good enough at it to render the extension mostly obsolete.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> From a study conducted by Douglas J Leith from the School of Computer Science & Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, they found that the new chromium based Edge is sending hardware UUID's back to Microsoft and there isn't an option to turn it off.

"From a privacy perspective Microsoft Edge and Yandex are much more worrisome than the other browsers studied. Both send identifiers that are linked to the device hardware and so persist across fresh browser installs and can also be used to link different apps running on the same device. Edge sends the hardware UUID of the device to Microsoft, a strong and enduring identifier than cannot be easily changed or deleted. Similarly, Yandex transmits a hash of the hardware serial number and MAC address to back end servers. As far as we can tell this behaviour cannot be disabled by users. In addition to the search autocomplete functionality (which can be disabled by users) that shares details of web pages visited, both transmit web page information to servers that appear unrelated to search autocomplete."

[https://bgr.com/2020/03/11/microsoft-edge-browser-privacy- is...](https://bgr.com/2020/03/11/microsoft-edge-browser-privacy-issues- performance/)

</comment><comment><USER14> It's currently worse due to the lack of E2EE history/password sync and increased metrics collection (even the new tab page tracks you).

Chrome has E2EE history/password sync, which allows you to specify a sync encryption password that is different from your Google password.

<comment><USER15> You can use a 3rd party service like dashlane or bitwarden

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> It should be better, but you might as well use Vivaldi, if you need a chrome- based browser. It comes with tracker blockers included and has a lot of privacy and power user features.

<comment><USER17> How does Vivaldi compare to Brave, which is also Chromium-based and privacy focused?

Is there a compelling reason to use one over the other, such as the organizations behind them or power user features?

<comment><USER18> Over the past few weeks I've been using both, Brave is a little more polished and the built in blockers are great.

However, they've been caught a couple of times doing naughty things:

[https://decrypt.co/31522/crypto-brave-browser- redirect](https://decrypt.co/31522/crypto-brave-browser-redirect)

Combine that with a CEO who had a _my way or die_ reputation for not admitting something's wrong and you've got a browser I removed from my system. Trust is huge and makes me wonder what else is happening in the background nobody has caught.

Vivaldi's got all kinds of tweaks exposed you'd need to dig into flags for. I like that. I think my biggest gripe is dragging and dropping links out doesn't work. Pretty small potatoes.

Daily driver is still Firefox + uMatrix + uBlock Origin and hoping for Mozilla email + calendaring at some point soon (take my money!).

<comment><USER19> > Mozilla email + calendaring

So Thunderbird with Lightning?

<comment><USER18> Great for the last mile. Thinking more of storage and server management.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> The full readme is worth the read about chromium/chrome. But this highlights edge differences. No browser is perfect, but you can always be able to restrict things or use GPo baselines to limit browser use.

[https://github.com/CHEF-KOCH/Chromium-hardening#chrome-vs- ms...](https://github.com/CHEF-KOCH/Chromium-hardening#chrome-vs-ms-edge- chromium)

</comment><comment><USER21> You can read their respective privacy policies to understand what data they collect and how it is used.

If you're skeptical of their legal terms, then you're better off with Chromium as it remains open-source. Edge unfortunately is a closed-source product.

<comment><USER22> Not sure what your point is. The new Edge is also based on Chromium, and Chrome has parts which aren't open source.

<comment><USER21> I never mentioned Chrome at all. I said if you don't trust the privacy policy, then you should use Chromium which is open-source.

<comment><USER22> Oh I misread your comment. That makes sense. My bad!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> If you are concerned about privacy of chromium-based browsers, I don't think anything would beat just straight chromium.

However, on my machines I just main firefox with edge as a backup. Mainly because edge is already pre-installed on my Windows machines so there isn't really much point downloading and installing an alternative which does the exact same thing. Especially if it's only for use on chromium specific websites.

It's not like you can remove edge from Windows 10. Why would I install Vivaldi, Google Chrome or Brave?

<comment><USER24> Wouldn't Firefox with all the inbuilt tracking protection, etc be better than Chromium? I seem to remember some bug reports of Chromium sending requests to Google servers too.

<comment><USER25> Some things like Facebook multi/group (2+) user video chat or google stadia require some form of chromium. I use Firefox for everything else.

<comment><USER26> Do you actually use Stadia? If so, how do you like it ?

<comment><USER25> Thumper is unplayable on my flex 14 and Comcast WiFi but it is very YMMV.

Thumper is a simple game but it requires you to basically turn left, turn right, or shields up very quickly. It is basically a reaction time test so very susceptible to latency.

I had earlier played assassin's creed in the private beta thing on an older laptop on Verizon FiOS. I did reach for the Ethernet cable most of the time but iirc it was serviceable even on WiFi because assassin's creed is less affected by the occasional latency spike. That or maybe Verizon FiOS where I was before in the city area has fewer connection problems than Comcast further out of a town.

<comment><USER26> I tend not to play shooters, so latency (hopefully) wouldn't be that critical for me...

I do worry about how fast it would eat up bandwidth though...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> You're looking for Ungoogled-Chromium. Or honestly. Just mitigated Chromium.

Privacy is not as important as security, because without security you potentially lose both.

</comment><comment><USER28> It's worse,plus it does shady crap like sniff browsing history on other browsers.

</comment><comment><USER29> I use Edge when using Google services such as Gmail and Chrome when using Microsoft services such as Office 365. That way they can't log me into the browser when I log into the service.

<comment><USER30> Why not just use Firefox?

<comment><USER31> I've recently switched from Chrome to FF on Android. It's better in many ways, but it's noticeably and frustratingly slower on nearly all websites. For example, trying to minimize a comment on HN is now very frustrating as there's a >1 second delay which frequently results in me tap the target multiple times causing all kinds of weirdness.

<comment><USER4> Are you running Firefox Preview/Nightly? I've found them to be even faster than Chrome on my device.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> in terms of privacy, Edge has the edge (badum-tss) over Chrome because of the built-in tracking prevention, and telemetry disabled by default. That's it.

your privacy really depends on how many "sweeties" do you use. If you let all those "helper services" enabled by default, your privacy is more compromised that if you take 3 minutes to go through the settings and enable only what you want.

If you're concerned about your privacy, just read their privacy policy. In general terms, it comes down to Google wanting to get as much information about you as possible, and Microsoft is rather interested in how you interact with their services. In either case, you have access in your account dashboard to what information has been collected, and check how in Google's case it's up to the minimum detail, whereas in Microsoft is like "yesterday you used Outlook, Edge and OneDrive...". Also, in either case, which is something many people fail to understand, the collected information is actually anonymous. They don't care if you are John Doe or Alice, Bob's wife... they care that UUID likes this and that, and do this and that.

</comment><comment><USER33> I have been testing Edge on iOS for Privacy practices. I think there are lot of things to improve. Also, it would be great for Edge to make it easier way to report and have discussions. Currently it's a black box.

\- [https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258163915319640071](https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258163915319640071)

\- [https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258185278168223746](https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258185278168223746)

\- [https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1262019416914644994](https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1262019416914644994)

\- [https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258338835722887171](https://twitter.com/konarkmodi/status/1258338835722887171)

<comment><USER34> Doesn't edge on iOS just use an UI only top of Safari Webview?

<comment><USER35> Yes, Apple doesn't allow 3rd party browsers on IOS.

<comment><USER36> So iOS Chrome/Firefox is just Safari wrapped in a GUI?

<comment><USER37> Yes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Not privacy related but on Windows 10 I find Edge to be performing a little better compared to Chrome under the same tabs / workload / extensions. Its anecdotal though so I can't be certain, anyone else has similar experience?

</comment><comment><USER39> Privacy is such a vague and useless term nowadays that it is very difficult to say what is better unequivocally. So it would be useful if you define what you consider to be 'privacy' and what matters more vs less.

</comment><comment><USER40> If you care at all about privacy, I don't see how you could stomach either. Firefox is the only reasonable choice when it comes to privacy, and even that isn't perfect.

<comment><USER12> I mean, there is Tor. If you don't care that much about latency, that could be a reasonable option as long as you aren't streaming something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> as a rule of thumb no proprietary browser is good on privacy.

</comment><comment><USER42> Edge isn't great. Why not look at de googled chromium or brave instead?

I have maybe one website that I like to use brave for and the rest all work with Firefox 100%

</comment><comment><USER43> On MacOS, I was rather surprised to find the truly extraordinary amount of locations Edge installs stuff, which aren't removed when deleting the app.

My impression was they we're trying to survive all uninstall attempts by using two dozen different methods to autostart various services and updaters?

</comment><comment><USER44> With Google's practices of gathering your personal data, why is Chrome even in the running in any of the discussions about browsers? I mean, Firefox and Safari exist, people. But maybe it's me. What am I missing here?

<comment><USER44> Thanks for the downvote but really, what am I missing?

<comment><USER12> Like the sibling comment said, Chrome has a massive market share. This leads companies to only test their sites on Chrome, leading to the sites not working properly elsewhere, leading to the gamerbros and many powerusers to refuse to use something else.

Sadly, tracking doesn't seem to worry most people as much as it does me and you.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> Somewhat unrelated, but I started having many websites that don't work properly in Firefox in the last couple of weeks...

</comment><comment><USER46> Might be _very slightly_ better in itself, but combine this with all the other telemetry Windows 10 collects and overall I'd say the amount of telemetry collected on you by MS is about the same.

<comment><USER47> I was thinking: of your already using MS Windows then Edge at least send to reduce the companies you're sending the data to. The reverse might be true if you use Google Search/Mail/other apps.

<comment><USER46> Interesting point; that could be both good and bad; good in the sense of reducing the number of parties collecting telemetry. Bad in that it makes it conveniently centralized for any malicious actor.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> The whole reason that Microsoft creates this product is for tracking.

<comment><USER49> Even if that was true, it doesn't mean that their browser does more tracking than Chrome.

Sad, that that is the situation.

Though the OP's question is a little odd to me - if you know enough to ask, why would you use either?

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> Not based on actual research, but my guess is that with Edge, you'll now have Google phone-homing combined with Microsoft phone-homing. Unless Microsoft actively went out of their way to remove calls to Google, there may still be many present, as found in many reports about Chromium.

<comment><USER51> [https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300772/microsoft- google-...](https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300772/microsoft-google- services-removed-changed-chromium-edge-browser)</comment></comment>


Cool Geek Jobs - <AUTHOR> http://www.coolgeekjobs.com/

<comment><USER2> "This Google App Engine application is temporarily over its serving quota. Please try again later."</comment>


Show HN: Getting fit in virtual reality with open source and Godot - <AUTHOR> https://vrworkout.at <comment><AUTHOR> This is best described as a fitness rhythm game closely losely a circle gym or a calisthenics workout.

During the last months, and due to the need to find a way to motivate myself to exercise more while staying at home, I developed my hand tracking fitness experiment for the Oculus Quest into a relatively feature complete (at least for a v1.0) workout game with exercises for the core, legs and arms and custom song support.

For PC VR it supports VIVE trackers or otherwise "simply" strapping the controllers to the wrists

It is developed with the Godot engine which has come quite a long way since the VR support has been introduced.

Kudos to the Godot developers and especially Holger Dammertz for his relentless work on the Godot Oculus Mobile plugin

The game is opensource (although the code is still a mess) and also free on Steam or Sidequest

The best part of writing this was and is the feedback of others who are using it and getting a health benefit out of it.

<comment><USER2> This is cool. I own a older rift 2 (the kind with the actual trackers).

I was wondering if anyone has figured out how to put some sort of stickers on kettlebells or dumbbells that would allow for outside tracking? I think it would be pretty nice if it could show me a guided line of how I should move a weight through space, and then just let me attempt to move it through said line.

I think it would also be neat for tracking your actual sets and reps and basically acting as a personal instructor in terms of keeping you focused.

<comment><USER3> For the Vive series, there are external trackers that can simply be attached to any object:

[https://www.vive.com/us/accessory/vive- tracker/](https://www.vive.com/us/accessory/vive-tracker/)

These obviously require some way to fix the tracker to the object, but otherwise I don't see any technical reason it couldn't be done.

The more practical issue is simply that you're now moving a heavy object without being able to visibly see where it is relative to yourself, the real floor, or any stationary objects in the room. If you drop it, or anything at all glitches with the tracking, it's a safety risk. I agree with the other commenters here; I'd wait to even attempt this until we have something closer to real consumer AR. The restricted visibility in current VR is not worth taking that chance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It's a shame that playstation tries to wall off their development support. This would be great on the PSVR.

</comment><comment><USER5> Awesome! I've seen hackathon implementations of this idea, but yours is the best I've found so far. I'm curious about automatic activity recognition. Will be interesting to train a classifier on head and hand pose to count sit ups or pushups automatically. Might hack around with this later in the month. Thanks for MIT licensing it!!!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you, I am glad that you like it. In the beginning I was thinking about recognizing the exercises but after a while I got comfortable with the motion being driven by the hand and head cues and it being just in between a game and a plain exercise. The cues that are flying at you are just enough distraction from the work you are doing that it pushes the motivation a bit but not enough to be too distracting since you still have to focus on the motions to not hurt yourself.

I do still intend to add some "intelligence" into it to at least track the form of the exercise but that is far down the roadmap

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Great work! I always think how we can help senior citizens to simple stretching and fitness exercises at home.

One challenge for them would be to wear the headset, because it may be heavy or cumbersome.

I am sure something can be worked out ...

<comment><USER7> Some food for thought here!

I feel that the biggest challenge is this: What question is VR trying to answer in this regard? What problem does this solve?

What are the impediments that keep seniors from exercising? Is the fitness market too much geared towards young bodies? Is it solving a mental hurdle to get them to exercise? Which hurdle is this? A fear of confronting the increased risk of injury? Re-connecting with (younger) people? Is it about the cost of entry? What kind of senior are you targetting? At 70, you'll have very fit seniors, and you'll have people dealing with a wide variety of health issues. What about price and affordability? What are alternatives that don't involve complex technology?

So, what does VR do? It's a medium. But like any medium, the real value is in the content you offer, and you need to keep that content fresh and engaging. How are you going to differentiate from personal trainers on DVD, television, YouTube,...?

My PT taught me a ton of simple exercises after a bad injury. There's a ton you can do with a simple elastic band and your own body weight. The most important part is to get into a routine and turn it into a habit. So, the technology shouldn't be detracting attention away from the exercise itself.

Motivation is the biggest challenge. You remember Nintendo's Wii Fit? It was awesome! Nobody uses it / talks about it anymore. That's part of the problem: there's always current tech and the expectation of the "next big thing" that draws attention away. Whereas doing exercises in later life is a sustained habit you hope to teach people across multiple years, exceeding the shelf life of technology.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Tracks your running speed in a 4 square meter area? Running in place?

<comment><AUTHOR> Ah, yes. While the Quest is wireless it still would be a short run :) It's similar to the knee high running exercise one can do when running in place but I can't track that yet.

<comment><USER9> Running with VR would be horrible with current tech. You have the headset bouncing around and getting full of sweat. Not to mention tripping over the real world. If you want to go for a run, go for a real run. VR is better for light exercise, beatsaber is as far as you would want to go.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I have been doing my workout in VR for the past 6 months. So far I am quite happy with it, which is why I continued developing this. It definitely might not be for everyone but the feedback I have gotten so far is really positive.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: US Visa for foreign founders after first seed - <AUTHOR> Hi guys,
I'm working on a project and I'm raising about $ 100k from some friends and angels(some are based in US)
I'm a european citizen and some investors want that I move to silicon valley(and I'm ok with that), but how can I legally do ? what visa options do I have ?
I've heard of E-2 Visa[1] but I don't have any money in cash that I can invest into my business.
I know that i should hear a lawyer but I want first understand what my options are(and if I can use my startup IP as asset)
How do you have done ?
Thank you.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-2_visa <comment><USER2> I'm a European founder as well. You certainly have extra options with your status; however, one option you seem to be dismissing is simply _not_ to move.

Silicon Valley is extremely expensive. You'll burn through a large chunk of your $100k on moving costs and rent and waste a ton of time -- Changing your home continent takes several weeks of preparation and can take several more weeks of toll in energy and post-move management).

IMHO, from your post it doesn't sound like you have the cash to afford this _and_ found your startup. Don't do it; you don't have to, that'll give you a huge advantage.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is not an option...investors want that I move

<comment><USER3> My advice, FWIW, is to really think hard about what others here are saying as well - don't move just now. Do your investors have a really good reason for you to go there that is provably critical to the success of your startup? Many of these people just want to keep their investment where they can see it. As someone who has moved countries frequently (now on my 8th) I can tell you that it is _massive_ investment in terms of time and money, both of which you are probably better off putting in your business. The USA and SV aren't going anywhere, they will still be here in another year or so (at least, i'd like to think so) when you are past the helter-skelter startup days, and will be in a position to create some more breathing room. In the meantime, nothing stopping you from popping over when it is absolutely required.

<comment><AUTHOR> Guys as I've said: my customers are there.

<comment><USER3> didn't see that. In that case, get a really really good immigration lawyer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have read the many fine suggestions and comments to this thread.

If I were in this situation I would approach it from a somewhat different angle. Taking three steps:

1\. Stay where you are and use the funding to create a demonstrable MVP.

2\. Once the MVP is ready for demonstrations, then visit SV/USA on a B1 visa. Conduct the meetings, demo the MVP AND negotiate next round funding. As required for a B1 do not actually work on the product whilst in the USA.

3\. Assuming you get $2m+ for round 2, then you return home, get the appropriate visa lined up and then make the move. While waiting for the wheels of bureaucrazy to grind by, you would do further work on your product.

As many comments suggest, $100k won't last long in SV. Immigration legal services don't come cheap either. Immigration process takes a long time to complete appropriately. You will waste a lot of time and money relocating. If you don't get a substantial second round of funding you will have to pack up and go back to EU.

<comment><AUTHOR> The MVP is already done and I've customers (sv companies) already.

The 100k will be used only for cover immigration costs/living costs/server costs/ some freelancers(design,copywrite etc...) until I raise another round from sv investors.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm also a European founder who initially came out to Berkeley for school. Before my student visa expired I put together an E-2 application that ultimately got denied. It's a complex visa that requires a lot of documentation, so highly recommend you get an experienced immigration lawyer who can guide you through the process, understands the business side of things and can help you avoid any pitfalls. Some things to consider for the E-2 from my experience:

\- You need to own >50% of the company at the time of application or if you have co-founders from the same country, collectively you need to own >50%.

\- You do need to invest your own money in the company - there isn't a defined amount but your company needs to have a plausible path to financial sustainability, generating profits and ideally hiring US workers. Like you say, IP can count toward this investment. I invested my savings in the company, but they weren't convinced it was irrevocably committed because most of it hadn't been spent (!)

\- If you're investing money, make sure you show where the money came from and how it was earned (in my case, some was gifted by family through inheritance and it got super messy especially as we hadn't been clear from the outset)

\- The E-2 is time limited and doesn't have a path to residence - meaning it is either issued for a 2 or 5 year period and has to be renewed. At renewal you'll need to show that your company is still going strong, otherwise it could be denied. You'll need to find other options for a Green Card / Citizenship.

\- You can apply in your home country or in the US as a change of status. Better to apply in your country as this gives you a physical visa that allows you to come and go. If you only have a change of status, if you leave you'll have to apply for the E-2 in your home country all over again.

\- US Embassies in different countries have slightly different approaches around the E-2 or requirements in how the documents are filed. Take a close look at their website and ideally get a lawyer who is familiar with the embassy that you intend to apply through.

Get some good advice, most lawyers will give you a short initial consultation for free. Avvo.com was a life-saver. Peter Roberts who advises a lot of YC companies is also highly recommended.

Thankfully my wife ended up getting us green cards through her own employment... I think there's some truth to the other comment about not moving. Living costs are very high in the SF Bay Area, talent comes at a premium and it's increasingly difficult for smaller startups to recruit great people.

</comment><comment><USER6> Have you considered O-1 visa?

It sounds intimidating, but many of the requirements are rather easy, i.e. "international prize" can mean getting an app in App Store or Google Play selections, "being a member of professional organizations" can be having an account on Dribbble or Scoutzie, publications online count as "having media publications", etc.

<comment><USER7> Be aware, what I've heard if you file for O1 or any other visa by yourself as an individual (and not through a company), and it is denied you will be banned from getting any other visa for life.

<comment><USER8> This sounds like an urban legend.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I haven't done it, but you can get a B1 visa which gives you 6 months entry into the United States. [http://www.ustraveldocs.com/au/au-niv- typeb1b2.asp](http://www.ustraveldocs.com/au/au-niv-typeb1b2.asp)

This gives you some time to figure out if Silicon Valley is the right move for you, and to help you grow your business in the US. However, it is a temporary visa, so the expectation is that you would return to the EU after it expires. I'm sure many people use the 6 months to find a way to stay in the US.

<comment><USER10> Not good advice, a B1 does not allow you to operate a business (though you can do sales or take meetings). You need to speak with a lawyer to determine what counts as working on your business. Also it's very hard to get a B1 as a European due to the visa waiver program which gives you 90 days - you need a very good excuse why those 90 days aren't enough (remember you aren't allowed to operate a business), and if they reject you then for ever after you have to click the button on the immigration form saying 'have you ever been denied a US visa'.

Your best options are the O1, if you think you can meet three of the eight criteria, or the E-2 visa. Both will cost $5-10k in legal fees and distract from building your business. Eligibility for E-2 with $100k in investment (must be from your home country does not have to be from you) will depend on your business plan.

Either way, you have to talk to a lawyer not an internet forum. Most lawyers will give you advice for free on the expectation that you will pay them to do the work.

<comment><USER11> afair what you say is not correct - please correct me if i am wrong

* getting a B1 is very easy (you essentially just need to provide a valid reason - eg fundraising or sales for your company)

* everyone can own US businesses afair - you are just not allowed to start a individual business or receive salary from it

* s/he might just get employed at the european entity

b1 is afair even suggested for this kind of case - get an b1 - see if you can get more funding - if yes go for long term e1/e2

afair the e1/e2 is issued by your local embassy directly - so you can discuss w/ them your actual investment - might be easier than O1 for your own company

PS: most importantly: as seen in this thread and mention by comment above: rely on lawyers not on contradicting forums posts

<comment><USER12> "afair" is not good enough if you are dealing with US immigration.

B1 is very easy. So much so that there's no reason to not apply to a B1/B2 at the same time even you are just going to visit on vacation. Who knows, you might find that there will be a conference near your hotel, which you wouldn't be able to attend as a tourist.

Now, let's get some info from UCSIS:

[https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/b-1-business- visitor/un...](https://www.uscis.gov/eir/visa-guide/b-1-business- visitor/understanding-b-1-requirements)

"\+ How do I demonstrate that the purpose of my trip is to explore starting a business?"

" A written statement detailing the purpose of your visit, the activities you will participate in, and the intended duration of your stay Meeting confirmations (letters, emails, etc.) Meeting agendas/outlines/read-aheads Invitations for trade shows, conferences, meetings, etc. Evidence of acceptance into an incubator or accelerator program, including a description of the program activities and duration Evidence of the source of payment or other compensation, if any, you will be receiving while in the United States"

So, B1 seems to allow what the OP wants to do.

But then again, I'm not a lawyer. OP should get one.

<comment><USER10> yeah, but for a European who has ESTA you have to explain why you need 180 days not 90 days. They are very suspicious of why you need longer, I know because I tried and got rejected and then had to tick that box while getting my O1 and EB1. You are depending on the whim of the guy you meet on the day. Best to stick to ESTA and avoid B1.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes this is exactly my experience too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> > I'm working on a project and I'm raising about $ 100k from some friends and > angels(some are based in US)

The question is, why do they want you to move? Do you really have to? If so, you'll probably have to change your strategy.

If the investors want you to move so much, get them to foot your extra expenses, or at the very least your rental bills (so, additional funding). Otherwise you'll burn through your runway way too quickly.

I do think the runway analogy is a very apt one. Except that, in Silicon Valley, the runway is made out of acid.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's just a pre-seed and investors want that I move because all my customers are in sv.

<comment><USER13> This is an excellent reason to move. I'd recommend finding a lawyer for real advice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> have you considered just coming illegally and dealing with this later? SF is a sanctuary city.

"SF declared itself a sanctuary city in 1989, and city officials strengthened the stance in 2013 with its 'Due Process for All' ordinance. The law declared local authorities could not hold immigrants for immigration officials if they had no violent felonies on their records and did not currently face charges.""

Also in January 2017 a bill was proposed in the California State Legislature to make California a "sanctuary state."

<comment><USER15> As someone from outside the US, this is a crazy suggestion.

It would be an immediate red flag for future investors and would also scupper legal access to other countries like UK, Australia, Canada in the future. Don't do this.</comment></comment>


Why I switched sides: From bootstrapping to VC - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/swlh/why-i-switched-sides-from-bootstrapping-to-vc-73e8ff08c649 <comment><USER2> Having bootstrapped and taken VC funding, none of the issues described in the article go away with VC funding. You will be just as overworked and just as underpaid with VC funding. What does change is you now have all those negatives plus a ticking clock.

VC funding can solve many problems, but not those.

<comment><USER3> I was thinking the same things as I was reading the article. Bootstrapping to me has never been about more or less work, focus etc - but about building the business on its own revenues with the the sole focus and interests of the business owner and customers in mind.

So.. there is certainly a key element of control and motivation in a bootstrapped business vs a business with outside investors. But AFAICT, nothing fundamental about level of difficulty or quality of life.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Autonomy is the need to have control [...] and not be dictated to by someone > or something else

When you take VC, you've just hired yourself a board full of bosses.

> you're often left at the whims of your customer base

When does that ever stop being true?

<comment><AUTHOR> > When you take VC, you've just hired yourself a board full of bosses.

Agree taking funding brings back an element of having a boss again Alan. It's certainly a trade-off of the VC route, and one of the main reasons I haven't taken funding before.

That said, I still think you get a good amount of autonomy by (co-)founding a startup, as you're often free to execute how you choose, but with the agreement that you'll pursue a path that can give an outsized return for your investors. Investors rarely want to dictate what and how you do things, in my experience.

> When does that ever stop being true?

Again I agree it doesn't, but it's something many bootstrappers don't quite understand when starting out (I didn't way back when), and I think is a point worth noting.

\---

Happy to make edits if there's ways I can clarify this better. Gotta ship something before EOP today but will revisit the article tonight.

<comment><USER5> > Investors rarely want to dictate what and how you do things, in my > experience.

West coast capital is significantly less interested in the what and how than other sources of capital in my experience.

<comment><USER4> > significantly less interested in the what and how

I'm a long way from the West Coast so correct me if I'm wrong here, but I've always had the impression that they are very interested in the who even if not so much in the what and how. Stories of founders of profitable businesses being replaced for less-than-hyper growth abound.

<comment><USER5> I agree with everything you are saying.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think this is related to two distinct philosophies, namely what I guess you could call the "Basecamp" philosophy and everybody else (the more popular one in the world today).

One thing that is undeniable is that a bootstrap will always leave you in control at the end of the day. You could argue then that as the author says the customers are your "bosses" but I think it is a good idea to listen to your customers, but that's just me. I think a product should not be made for the potential profit it could amass but to fill a need for these users, listening to them feels like the next logical step to take (and most companies, even tremendously giant ones, still fail to do this I feel like).

Even more important than that is that it might not be the next unicorn, but that is absolutely fine for some people. They just want enough to feed themselves and their families while having a sane work life/rhythm of say 4-5 hours a day once you get it rolling.

I feel like the author used to somewhat adhere to this moto but somewhere along the way got lost and is now simply after the money for the sake of it. I might be making a deductive stretch here but it's what reading this post felt like...

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey kjullien, thanks for the thoughtful comments here.

> One thing that is undeniable is that a bootstrap will always leave you in > control at the end of the day.

I agree bootstrapping gives you more say over which way you take the business, and hopefully that came across in my post (although I only mentioned it briefly).

> I think a product should not be made for the potential profit it could amass > but to fill a need for these users, listening to them feels like the next > logical step to take (and most companies, even tremendously giant ones, > still fail to do this I feel like).

I agree we should be motivated by more than money. As I mention in the post, money is a bad master but a great servant. We need money to serve us, so we can feed our families and keep the lights on, but money itself shouldn't be the goal. I realise when taking funding this confuses the matter, as now you're not just responsible for your family, but for providing a return to your investors. I still believe it's possible to be mission-driven having taken funding, but understand it can complicate the matter.

> Even more important than that is that it might not be the next unicorn, but > that is absolutely fine for some people. They just want enough to feed > themselves and their families while having a sane work life/rhythm of say > 4-5 hours a day once you get it rolling.

I agree the end goal for us is often spending time with those we love, whilst having that sense of purpose I mentioned in the post. We all want to leave some impact on the world, maybe that's a partner or children who know we loved them, maybe it's a few hundred paying customers who love your product, maybe it's some big swing towards a big dent in the world.

My co-founder and I are relatively counter-cultural in the startup world, admittedly it's early days, but we don't work crazy hours as our belief is that the long hours are often busy work, not important work. If we can look after ourselves, not get burnt out, make wise decisions from a place of rest and do important deep work regularly, we believe we can outcompete any startup bro culture that works 80+ hour weeks.

> I feel like the author used to somewhat adhere to this moto but somewhere > along the way got lost and is now simply after the money for the sake of it.

I don't believe that's the case, personally. My current wage is half that of 2 other contracting roles I was offered at the same time as this gig. I'm fully aware the vast majority of startups fail, so I'll very likely be out of pocket. I took the role as I admire my co-founder and wanted to learn from his product skills, an area I realised I needed to grow in.

Before taking this role I used to work a full-time job, come home in the evenings and work on my side-hustle. For 3 years it meant I didn't really have a life outside of the day job and the side hustle. Now I normally work 8-4, home by 5 and have the evening to meet friends or relax. People often think taking funding means having less work/life balance, right now for me it's the opposite (again, caveat we're early days).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > The main reason behind it all, was realising I'd been too narrowly focussed > on one part of my life, work and building a business, and that I'd neglected > other areas.

Building a successful business from scratch is incredibly hard, and therefore requires sacrifice in other areas of your life. Doing a startup is never an optimization for personal happiness.

I think raising VC will only make the problem worse. They're expecting a unicorn, which requires significantly more personal sacrifice than a (potentially) less ambitious bootstrapped business.

Fred, you mentioned that you felt unhappy while abroad. Maybe the problem isn't with bootstrapping, but it's with being away from friends/family? After a year of traveling I felt similarly, and we've been spending several months back home with friends/family. Still bootstrapping – doing better now. Just an idea.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey Andrew, appreciate your perspective here.

I agree bootstrapping itself wasn't the problem. The problem was that I felt my focus on building a business on the side of my day job limiting to what I could do next. At the start of the year I decided the healthiest thing for me to do was to start from a clean slate and bed down somewhere. I wasn't sure where, but London is where I ended up.

I realise there are much more sane ways to live our lives than a startup, bootstrapped or funded. I agree it takes a lot of personal sacrifice too, mentally more than anything.

I realise my path looks strange, going from "I need more time to focus on things outside of work" to "I'm starting a startup", and it was never my plan when I came back. It was only 4 months after returning that the opportunity came up and it was the best fit for me at the time.

I may be too naive, but both myself and my co-founder believe that working excessive hours isn't a necessity to make a startup succeed. Sure there are times when you need to work longer in short periods to get something over the line, but the idea that being on the brink of burnout gives the best odds of success goes against what I've read about how the human mind works, and my experience too.

Maybe in a year or two I'll do a follow up post.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> None of the things the author talks about have anything to do with when or why it makes sense to take VC money.

In one sentence:

You should consider going to VCs when you already have a business that works, when money is the limiting factor to growth, and when there is a land-grab- like advantage to growing faster than your competitors.

It has nothing to do with the kind of lifestyle you want, or feeling overworked, or personal autonomy, or mastery, or wanting to create a fun work environment. All of that gets more stressful after you raise money, not less.

It sounds like the author was feeling frustrated after having tried a bunch of things that didn't end up being profitable. That's totally understandable, but it's a terrible reason to raise money. You don't raise money and then figure out the business later -- you figure out the business first, demonstrate that it works, and convince people that it would work better/faster with access to more capital.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey ohazi, thanks for sharing your thoughts here.

A point of clarification that didn't make the article: we've not technically raised VC funding yet, we're in an incubator. But we've effectively raised an initial round via our budget, and are on the path to raise our first round proper.

I agree with the rough sentiment of what you're saying but think it's a slightly too narrow point of view. Joining an incubator or accelerator helps minimise downside whilst in the process of figuring out the problem space and whether your hypothesis have legs. Sure, you can do this as a side hustle first and that's great too, but as I say in the article, it depends on your circumstances.

I'm not raising money specifically because of personal life challenges, deciding to raise only came after making the big life adjustments. It's my belief that raising can sometimes be less pressurised than bootstrapping, though admittedly most startup founders don't live it out that way. We've got our beliefs based on what we know and our experience so far, I look forward to walking it all out and reporting back on what I learn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> What happens when the honeymoon phase with your VC backers is over?

<comment><USER9> Seriously though, you should read "Lost and Founder"[0] by Rand Fishkin of Moz for some insight on what's in store. VC's expect very high multiples on their return 10x is not even close, even small seed funds look for 40x+. That said I am not totally convinced of either model something like TinySeed[1] looks like a step in the right direction. At the end of the day it's about the fit for your business you're not going to escape burnout based on how you are funded.

[0] [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35957156-lost-and- founde...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35957156-lost-and-founder) [1] [https://tinyseedfund.com](https://tinyseedfund.com)

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right on the 10x being low asprouse, I probably shouldn't have included that.

Agree Tiny Seed looks interesting, I actually recommended someone that earlier this afternoon. Great to see new takes on funding businesses and I'm excited to see what it can unlock for those who need a little boost but don't want to chase the unicorn.

Lost and founder is already on my Audible wishlist, expect to get to it in the next month after finishing Scott Belsky's Messy Middle.[0]

[https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through- Hardest/...](https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through- Hardest/dp/0735218072)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I have been bootstrapping for 4 years, it's getting harder. I know what to build and I'm a solo founder for a software network-security-related product.

I'm advised to hire contractors from elance.com and such and pay them to speed up the development, in the meantime someone mentioned the code will be difficult to maintain, or you can not really control the schedule, or the time you spent on managing the contractors will distract you from what you are doing badly...

Someone else suggested the VC route, which I have not tried, I'm essentially the only developer with 20+ years of network security experience and know what I am doing. However getting involved in VC is another huge distraction to say the least for me, plus all the negatives coming with it as others stated on the internet.

I don't really need VC's money for the status quo, I can afford a few overseas contractors(cheaper), I can self-sustain just fine for yet another two years. But it's slow and making me a bit exhausted. If I hire local engineers or contractors in US, I do need financial help from VC or somewhere else.

And, I tried to find partners, so far no success, in the end I'm fine with sole founder for the moment.

YC etc does not help as I can not go there for 6 months for family reasons. I live in Austin,TX.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey ausjke. Sounds tough, but congrats on getting this far. I'm not best placed to give advice here, and might need more context to do so properly anyway. I know a good group for bootstrappers, if you want the details my DM's are open on twitter ([https://twitter.com/fredrivett](https://twitter.com/fredrivett)).

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The Venn diagram of business models that lend well to VC and those that are possible to bootstrap has a pretty thin overlap. Generating cash early isn't often possible with products that have an enormous market potential. It's rare for an SMB to break through to a major market without outside capital as well.

</comment><comment><USER12> This is presented as though it's some kind of choice whether to take VC money or not. Unfortunately that's not under your control.

Most startups will not be able to raise outside capital from a VC even if they want to.

</comment><comment><USER3> related to this, a very interesting podcast ep on "How I built This" w/ Guy Raz - the interview with Wayfair founders: [https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?stor...](https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=601985854)

There was an interesting discussion of when and why they took investment for the new Wayfair brand vs not taking it for the other businesses they built. As I was listening it occurred to me they had stumbled upon a good recipe for bootstrapping and/vs VC:

<snip snip>

RAZ: Yeah. In 2011, I guess, was when you decided that you needed to scale this even bigger. And this was the first time you actually took in outside investment. Why did you allow venture capitalists to get involved in this company?

SHAH: We're definitely ones who would rather just fund it ourselves or self- fund the business and have it fund itself. The challenge became - in 2011, we believed the big opportunity - to continue the trajectory and to really capture the big opportunity, we needed to build a brand. And the amount of capital we thought to go through that migration and to build a brand that it would take was not an amount we could self-fund.

RAZ: Because you did not have a brand. CSN was not enough of a brand.

SHAH: Right. You know, consumers didn't know that brand. It wasn't - you want a brand that when, you know, you think, hey, I need to shop; I want to redo my living room - you want someone to think, oh, I go to Wayfair. You want it to be a top-of-mind brand for a category, right? And that is not - that's not easy to do. And even if you figure out how to do it, it's not inexpensive by any stretch, right? So there - we wanted to be able to do that.

</snip snip>

</comment><comment><USER13> If you can get it (at a fair price) and you have a plan, taking VC money will almost always be +lifeEV. It's much better to fail big than fail small.

<comment><USER14> Why?

<comment><USER5> You gain more valuable experiences. It looks better on your resume.

<comment><USER15> if you are the founder of Juicero, who burned through $118 million with nothing to show for it, would that look better on your resume?

<comment><USER16> Someone who figured out how to raise $118 mln is worth something. I wouldn't let them near the engineering team, but they definitely have something to offer.

<comment><USER15> I am not sure what is valuable here though. It sounds like you think fundraising skills in and of itself is valuable. I guess that kind of makes sense

But still, at best he can be a mentor for when you fundraise. But would you hire him or pay him, to be a fundraising consultant?</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Net neutrality supporters plan nationwide protests on December 7 - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/net-neutrality-supporters-plan-nationwide-protests-on-december-7/ <comment><USER2> Write your representatives and ask them to repeal the FCC</comment>


Heart Disease Risk Calculator - <AUTHOR> http://www.cvriskcalculator.com/

<comment><USER2> Cheers - I'm a big fan of providing these sort of lightweight applications in conjunction with a research publication. There's a real issue with reproducible research (particularly, though not limited to, the medical field) and this type of thing is a step in the right direction.

Could you provide a link to the code for the algorithm you're implementing? (If I were a better developer, I'd probably be able to find it through your source code, but alas...)

Also, I'd suggest you limit the input fields to numbers within the allowable range. Or, at the very least, to positive numbers.

<comment><USER3> Completely agree with reproducibility of research. Would be great to further improve such algorithms using data collected from the public--selection issues and inaccuracies aside.

The algorithm is in the appendix of the article the tool links to.

Input fields are limited via javascript so may not have worked if you have it disabled. You're right we should do it server side as well.

Thanks for the feedback.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Seriously, thank you for this. I have a huge amount of anxiety over heart disease. All of my grandparents' brothers and sisters on bot sides died of stroke or heart attack in their mid-30s.

I am 27.

I keep a good eye on all of my cholesterol stats and my blood pressure. I can see myself using this tool a lot.

<comment><USER3> Glad you found it useful. Stay tuned for similar tools.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Not to rain on your parade, but who has their cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure measurements at hand?

<comment><AUTHOR> Fair enough, but some people do and more people should. If you are being granted access to your records, electronically, by your physician, then you should know (it's a part of the second phase meaningful use requirement for emr).

If I get bloodwork done I go to Quest, so I can access my results using their Gazelle app on the iphone - it's not the greatest but it works.</comment></comment>


Installing R Packages in SQL Server Machine Learning Services via RevoScaleR - <AUTHOR> http://www.nielsberglund.com/2018/06/30/installing-r-packages-in-sql-server-machine-learning-services---ii/ <comment><AUTHOR> We look at how we can install R packages into SQL Server Machine Learning Services using RevoScaleR functionality.</comment>


Should Developers estimate project time & cost? - <AUTHOR>

How realistic is it to expect a team of developers to estimate the time & cost of a project? <comment><USER2> Depends on the project.

If it's something common and done to death, it makes sense to expect a timeline and cost.

If you're trying to innovate, such estimates are a kiss of death.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I understand. I'm referencing a game dev project & wishing "innovation" could be loosely parsed into definable stages with cost-estimates.</comment>


Notepad++ repository is being spammed after "Free Uyghur" release - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus <comment> amiga-workbench [https://web.archive.org/web/20191030102751/https://github.co...](https://web.archive.org/web/20191030102751/https://github.com/notepad- plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues/6484)

A pretty funny suggestion. I notice a lot of anti China copypasta spam in the issues also.

<comment><USER2> There are some government-backed propaganda, but from my observation, the vast majority of them in incidents like this one is a true grassroot phenomenon. Usually it's the result of a bunch of pro-governments activists and anti- government activists organizing themselves on social networks and raid their targets, believe they are fighting for a righteous cause, similar to 4chan's modus operandi.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There was a time when I thought China would eventually _open up_ and be more democratic like the rest of the world. I really thought it was inevitable.

<comment><USER4> Well, it's not unique to China.

Authoritarianism is rising all around the world. Turns out there's lots of people in current majority populations that really feel threatened when minorities start getting rights, and their anxiety about having to compete in a meritocracy means they will throw democracy under the bus as long as they can keep their majority status.

<comment><USER5> "compete in a meritocracy"

You're clearly behind on the times. Nobody wants meritocracy. People want what they consider fair and that's usually a leg up over everyone around them. Big 4 have started giving points for diversity when hiring. This is the new normal.

<comment><USER4> youre just restating my point

<comment><USER5> I didn't mean to restate your point. I think you did not understand me at all.

I was saying that the people you think want everything to be a meritocracy, do not. The minorities that want equality do not want equality at all and the system is starting to give them preferential treatment.

<comment><USER4> oh I see now, you're one of those people I was talking about.

<comment><USER5> Of course just dismiss my actual experiences because it doesn't match your political bias. I had a hiring manager LITERALLY say he liked me but has to hire a woman to balance out the team.

I was LITERALLY told to give minority candidates 5 extra points on CV scoring when I was a senior manager at Deloitte.

We now have management programs and other trainings available exclusively as part of women's networks where the same training is not available to men. I know plenty of people that could do with presentation training, why did only the women get it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What a mess. It looks like a mix of government propagandists and anti- government activists.

The lead dev of Notepad++ does this political stuff a lot and should understand what the results will be. I guess that's what he's decided to do with his time.

<comment><USER6> I think you're underestimating the dev if you think he didn't know what could happen.

<comment><USER4> I think he would already know from experience. He's dealt with controversy before. [https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/apology-for-sexist- jokes/](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/apology-for-sexist-jokes/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I love the China shills suggesting that he make a yellow west release (a suggestion meant as an attack), misunderstanding that political controversy in the West is not a forbidden topic

and then as is turns out, almost a year ago, this

[https://notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/v7.6.2/](https://notepad-plus- plus.org/downloads/v7.6.2/)

haha

</comment><comment><USER8> The issues page is [https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus- plus/issue...](https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues). Spam started 16 hours ago with issue #6286. The issue count stands at #7480 at the moment. ~1200 issues in 16 hours!

</comment><comment><USER9> It appears his site is being DDOSed, too; I'm getting the cloudflare, "Checking your browser". Can anyone else confirm?

<comment><USER10> Yes. I can't download the installer as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Their poor issue tracker

[https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus- plus/issue...](https://github.com/notepad-plus-plus/notepad-plus-plus/issues)

after they published this:

[https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v781-free-uyghur- edition/](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/v781-free-uyghur-edition/)

</comment><comment><USER12> Why have so many threads discussing this issue been removed from this site today?</comment>


T Mobile G1 Phone: a new buzzword or a real improvement? - <AUTHOR> http://dev.emcelettronica.com/t-mobile-g1-phone-new-buzzword-or-real-improvement <comment><AUTHOR> T-Mobile G1 phone was finally launched!

<comment><USER2> Did you miss the 9000 posts _yesterday_ on the subject?</comment></comment>


Please beta test my app - <AUTHOR> Hey guys, long time member here. I would like you guys to beta test an app I built (iOS only). Playhouse is a live streaming app where you can host your own show and invite guest speakers. Think long-form free flowing conversation on face-time, but anyone can join and/or watch. Or: clubhouse but with video :) <comment><AUTHOR> [https://testflight.apple.com/join/eyfCj4JQ](https://testflight.apple.com/join/eyfCj4JQ)</comment>


APPLY HN – Let over 7B people unleash their potential, with InLearnity - <AUTHOR> InLearnity - THE online access to education.
Why => The potentials of billions of people worldwide are restricted, because of bad conditions. This is not (anymore) unchangeable. Using the internet we revolutionized how billions of people worldwide communicate with each other. Now let us revolutionize the education system and enable everyone to unleash their full potential - with the power of the internet and InLearnity.
How => With InLearnity we make education online accessible for everyone: - individual - inspiring - easy - explorable
What => We aggregate and connect ALL inspiring and education content from ALL the different sources on ONE single site.
Talks from TED, MOOCs from Coursera, video tutorials from Lynda, books and documentaries from Amazon and iTunes and so much more - yes, including events, like lectures and workshops. Explore them all the easiest way possible, communicate with other people about them - get inspired and extend your knowledge.
The current market => The are a lot of sources for inspiring and educational content out there (most of them unknown for most people ), but they are all separated from each other. They all concentrate on just a few kinds of categories of content, making it impossible to address everyones individuality. People are diverse in interested topics, but in preferred ways of learning as well.
Our current situation => - MVP / preview online (http://inlearnity.com/favorites)
- Pitchdeck online (http://inlearnity.com/info/investors#explore) - looking for additional team members (http://inlearnity.com/jobs) - focus has changed drastically, since the first ideas about InLearnity (http://bit.ly/1TKf41L)
Start exploring => TED - Talk => Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! http://bit.ly/22mcWO5
Documentary => Particle Fever http://bit.ly/1VK6iRp
Inspiring movie => The Imitation Game http://bit.ly/1qGPeAA
Your opinion? <comment><USER2> What's to stop someone just like you from coming along in a year and aggregating YOUR aggregation into a new site? Are you going to have world class branding or some magical recommendation engine?

<comment><AUTHOR> InLearnity is going way beyond aggregating & connecting all the content from all the sources to make them explorable all on one site. A small preview of the feature list: \- individual recommendations (considering topics & ways of learning you like) \- add your own events / meetups on InLearnity, including your recommendations to interesting books and more \- discuss with other users about lectures, meetups, books, documentaries and all the other content (and tags / topics as well) on InLearnity \- create and share playlists of results on InLearnity

and much more...

So we concentrate on creating the best possible platform for learning, getting inspired and get in contact with other interesting people.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> whats the difference between this and other existing MOOC type aggregators?</comment>


Show HN: Filter and read Hacker News by category - <AUTHOR> https://blog.monkeylearn.com/hacker-news-categorizer-with-monkeylearn/ <comment><USER2> Direct link: [http://hackernews.demos.monkeylearn.com/](http://hackernews.demos.monkeylearn.com/)

Personally, I don't really see a reason for the chart. It would be nice to have a way to disable it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great idea! We will add a way to disable the chart today! Will let you know when its ready

<comment><AUTHOR> Done! We added a button to hide / show the chart. It will remember your settings for future sessions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> This would be fantastic if there was just a filter to hide all of the political posts here yet still show everything else.

<comment><AUTHOR> Fantastic idea! Will implement this today too! Will let you know when its ready :)

<comment><USER3> Awesome :]

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Just curious, why did you decide to use a supervised learning approach for this? You're hard-coding the categories in this manner.

You could try using clustering instead (K-means) to group the posts together into their own categories. This is similar to a "trending topics" approach, where the categories could change each day.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'd like to be able to select multiple categories (for example, "programming" AND "science" AND "security").

Also, there's no obvious way to indicate an incorrect categorization (like the one about Ripple being fined; that fits better in "business" or even "politics", yet is the top result in "science" right now). If it's machine- learning-based, it's probably much more useful to be continuously learning based on user feedback rather than generating a model and sticking with it forever (especially when the model is visibly inaccurate in some circumstances).

Also, the job postings should probably be a separate category instead of being lumped into business.

</comment><comment><USER6> Would it be possible to add RSS feeds for each category page? I currently read HN via an RSS reader and filter out any articles with less than 10 points. I would much rather filter out categories I don't care too much about.

<comment><AUTHOR> Cool idea! We will work on adding RSS feeds for each category page. Probably between today and tomorrow we will have it ready. Will let you know :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Done! We added RSS feeds for each category. You can see the different feeds at the right of each category. For example programming feed: [http://hackernews.demos.monkeylearn.com/feed.xml?c=programmi...](http://hackernews.demos.monkeylearn.com/feed.xml?c=programming)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I found that I disagree with about 25% of the categorisations.

<comment><AUTHOR> We agree with you that there is room for improvement. We can make it more accurate by adding more training samples to the MonkeyLearn classifier. We plan to keep working on this to make it better.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> One category has a typo: 'entertaiment'

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Will fix it!

<comment><AUTHOR> fixed

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> What is the X-axis in the graph?

<comment><AUTHOR> The X-axis is the hour of the day. The graph is to see which categories are the most popular today, according to the hour published. We have added this legend to the graph.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's reassuring to see that HN has had ten design articles... ever :)

<comment><USER11> It has a limited time range.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Any ideas on how to make My Hacker News better? Please let us know!

</comment><comment><USER12> what an amazing way to pitch your service! Big thumbs up!

</comment><comment><USER13> You reinvented subreddits.

<comment><USER14> Subreddits are a way to form communities centred around a theme or concept; this is a way to filter out the noise that you're not interested in. Very very different.</comment></comment>