Man analyses cause of bad TV reception, finds his TV is de facto radar - <AUTHOR> http://www.frisnit.com/radar/ <comment><USER2> He could have saved himself some time by looking at two different channels -- assuming the transmitters were in different locations, this would have given him two different ellipses which only intersected at a few points.

<comment><USER3> In the UK, all channels are typically transmitted from all transmitters (with some regional programming on some channels) and except for some locations where there's too much spectrum overlap and some channels are missing. Right now, they're in transition to digital (DVB-T) so that's probably not quite true anymore, as some transmitters don't have analog channels anymore. Transmitters are usually also too far apart to be able to receive a good enough signal from more than one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Google "Canary Wharf TV reception" and you'll see that this is not unusual. Those buildings really messed up reception.

Is digital TV immune to these analogue problems?

We actually have it worse in the part of North London where I live - we're in a dip, behind a hill, and don't have line of sight on the digital/freeview transmitters. Everyone has cable.

<comment><USER3> _Is digital TV immune to these analogue problems?_

DVB-T uses QAM, which _is_ susceptible to phase problems. However, given that the information is digital, a decent tuner stands a much better chance of filtering out the weaker component. You _definitely_ won't see ghost images: either your bit-error rate is too high for the built-in redundant coding, or it isn't. So either you get MPEG decoding errors, or you don't.

<comment><USER5> Digital TV streams have error correction so you are likely to experience either a normal picture or none at all. When I was growing up, even a slightly fuzzy ghosted Analog picture was better than no picture at all.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I love the subtle british humour. I wish some of my professors had been like this.

<comment><USER7> "So there it is. My television is now an effective Canary Wharf detecting radar. Probably the most interesting thing I've seen on TV for a long time." :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I didn't like the reddit-style title but really enjoyed the explanation from that guy.

The explanation and method are actually pretty simple but I just wouldn't have thought about it.

<comment><USER9> TV is my new radar. Such a nice title. I'm expecting some downmods. :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> The physical phenomenon is called multipath and can become an incredibly difficult and important problem in many applications (e.g. radar guided missiles).

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipath>

</comment><comment><USER11> Actually, passive radar's getting popular for those who don't want their radar systems bombed out in the first attack run. Specifically, if you don't want stealths coming in & bombing out your radar installations, hide sensitive receivers throughout your city and let the cell towers, tv stations, etc. do the transmission for you.

Donno anything about the signal analysis part of this, but that's the gist of what I heard.

</comment><comment><USER12> Isn't analog TV transmitted on an FM carrier signal? An FM receiver receiving two signals of the same frequency should synchronize on one, or possibly oscillate between the two. So it seems like his antenna is placed exactly where the two signals are in phase, making them indistinguishable to the receiver. Maybe he could put the signals out of phase by moving his antenna to the other end of the roof?

</comment><comment><USER13> Now, the next step... adapt his aerial to have minimal gain in the direction of Canary Wharf!

<comment><USER3> Or just upgrade to digital. (DVB-T) The Crystal Palace transmitter even transmits BBC HD (1080i).

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> There is also a handy pub density map of mainland Britain on that site: <http://www.frisnit.com/pubs/index.html>

<comment><USER15> In that he says "If you stand at this point(<http://maps.google.com/maps?q=51.513412,-0.128170>) you will be in the centre of a 1km diameter circle containing a staggering 167 pubs!"

Which is probably I enjoyed living about 30 yards from that point so much :) Coincidentally, my apartment (flat) was directly above a Sam Smiths pub. Happy days ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> The punchline's very good: "My television is now an effective Canary Wharf detecting radar. Probably the most interesting thing I've seen on TV for a long time."

</comment><comment><USER17> Are our UK friends going digital next year too?

<comment><USER18> Most people already have a digital TV receiver, either via terrestrial (Freeview) or satellite (Sky). There's also cable in some areas.

The old analogue terrestrial signals are being turned off region-by-region. Part of the Scottish Borders is already off, with the next switchovers being in August and November in Wales and "Granada", the anachronistic name for the TV region roughly covering the North West of England. Everywhere will be changed over by 2012.

Our system is quite different to that in the US; the four main channels (BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4) are carried universally by every transmitter, even on relays covering tiny villages of a few tens of people. Rather than getting multiple independent TV stations to change over by a certain date, we just need to go round each region and upgrade all the transmitters to carry four digital multiplexes rather than four analogue channels. (Of course, it's more complicated than this, but that's the gist of what's happening.)

There's a lot of information here: <http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/when_do_i_switch>

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Why do you need a tv license?

<comment><USER20> To get TV without adverts and programs that don't depend on being popular to be shown.

Alternately, because the law says you have to have one if you have a device capable of receiving TV signals (in the UK).

<comment><USER21> And Germany, too. And they have a really self-righteous collection agency for the fees.</comment></comment></comment>


Software-defined far memory in warehouse scale computers - <AUTHOR> https://blog.acolyer.org/2019/05/22/sw-far-memory/ <comment><USER2> Why isn't this just called "compressed pages"? Software-defined far memory isn't really needed, is it?

<comment><USER3> I think the interesting part here is that it's not just some 'compressed pages' taking up an arbitrary fraction of RAM (regardless of how much more efficient their reimplementation of zswap is), but being dynamically tuned based on machine learning (Gaussian processes) to balance savings with performance objectives in the real world. If you have that framework, I could see this being extended to forms of memory other than local on-mobo RAM, like Flash drives, or actual RAM elsewhere in the datacenter: they just have worse performance characteristics than local RAM and get used less, is all.</comment></comment>


Collection of Free Programming and Technology Related Books  - <AUTHOR> http://www.devcurry.com/2010/06/collection-of-free-programming-and.html

<comment><USER2> Interesting assortment, but quite a few items are out of date, and there's nothing to indicate quality.

For example, I took a look at the online "Ruby Essentials". Horrible. The section n variables is just wrong, and will leave people extremely puzzled about program behavior.

</comment><comment><USER3> So much knowledge freely available. There's so much it's hard to know where to start looking. Anyone care to point out any books available through these links that they've found helpful? Aside from MIT's open courseware (which is generally awesome, esp. Intro to Algorithms), I'm not sure I've used any of these resources.

<comment><USER4> I just dug up a chapter on Bash scripting from an OReilly Open Book: <http://oreilly.com/catalog/debian/chapter/book/ch13_01.html>

GNU Make: <http://oreilly.com/catalog/make3/book/index.csp>

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just wanted to say thanks for the link--I've been searching for a legitimate ebook directory.

</comment><comment><USER6> The MIT courseware and cheat sheets look very useful!

<comment><USER7> check out your local city and college library resources: e.g. Oreilly safari service in the San Francisco public libraries:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1327953>

<comment><USER2> The Phoenix, AZ library gives access to books24x7.com.</comment></comment></comment>


People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish - <AUTHOR> http://www.livescience.com/18706-people-smart-democracy.html

<comment><USER2> "Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." --Winston Churchill

In other words, beats the alternatives at the scale required for a nation- state.</comment>


Gokrazy – a pure-Go userland for Raspberry Pi 3 appliances - <AUTHOR> https://gokrazy.github.io/ <comment> tony-allan Cool idea.

I wonder if its possible to support C.H.I.P ([https://getchip.com](https://getchip.com)) or 32-bit Raspberry Pi's?</comment>


Legal Applications of Artificial Intelligence - <AUTHOR> http://www.gslis.utexas.edu/~palmquis/courses/project98/ailaw/ailaw.htm

<comment><USER2>
        Expert systems will one day be able to predict
        the outcome of litigation with a good degree of accuracy.

Objection, Your Honor. Move to strike. Speculation.

<comment><USER3> Shouldn't be too hard.

if ( SkinReflectivity(defendent) < SkinReflectivity(victim) && NetWorth(defendent) < NetWorth(victim) ) { }

<comment><USER4> It would be funny if it wasn't possibly quite true.</comment></comment></comment>


Legal Stuff They Don't Tell You About Remote Work - <AUTHOR> https://www.jitbit.com/news/3308-legal-stuff-they-dont-tell-you-about-remote-work/ <comment><USER2> Both sides really need to know what they are doing, and that depends on the jurisdiction.

For example, if you were a UK resident 'employed' by a foreign company you would likely still be deemed a "worker", not "self-employed", subject to minimum wage and statutory annual leave unless the contract is very specific on paper and in facts, and it is unlikely that the employer really wants a "self-employed" contractor.

<comment><AUTHOR> "subject to minimum wage and statutory annual leave" \- even for overseas work? The article specifically covers international hires.

<comment><USER2> "In the UK" as in "the person works in the UK". Edited my previous comment.

This is indeed very dependent on the jurisdiction and that's why both employers and employees need to understand the law on both sides.</comment></comment></comment>


Senator Seeks Inquiry into Visa Program Used at Disney - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/us/politics/senator-bill-nelson-seeks-inquiry-into-disney-world-immigrant-hiring.html?_r=0

<comment><USER2> Laying off American workers and replacing with H1-B seems outrageous.

If this is accurate, and there is not some bigger performance issue with the 250 displaced workers, then IMO it's a direct flaunting of the intent of H1-B.</comment>


AT&T iPad Hidden Fees - <AUTHOR>

So I just got off the phone with AT&T and found out that if you own an AT&T iPad and you use the AT&T service once, from that point on you need to activate the service at least once every 60 days, or else they will disable your SIM card.
Now here's the kicker. If you do want to activate your account after 60 days of inactivity, you need to get a brand new SIM card from them for $25!!!
So much for an on-demand internet service. <comment><USER2> Jailbroken tethering my friend, it's a godsend (not that I condone it or anything)</comment>


Network topologies for large-scale compute centers: It's the diameter (2016) - <AUTHOR> http://htor.inf.ethz.ch/publications/index.php?pub=251 <comment><USER2> PSA: in graph theory, the diameter of a network is the length of the longest shortest-path between any pair of nodes. (i.e., out of all the shortest paths between any pair of nodes, return the longest.)

It's a natural generalization of its definition for circles because, if you modeled a disk as abitrarily many nodes that connect to their immediate neighbors, the definitions would be equivalent.

Not sure if this is too well known to post.

</comment><comment><USER3> For some reason the above URL doesn't include a link to the paper [1], just the embedded video [2] of Torsten's talk MSR posted a few days ago and a link to the slides; however, this URL includes everything (slides, video, and paper too): [https://htor.inf.ethz.ch/publications/index.php?pub=187](https://htor.inf.ethz.ch/publications/index.php?pub=187)

[1] Slim Fly: A Cost Effective Low-Diameter Network Topology (2014) [pdf] [https://htor.inf.ethz.ch/publications/img/sf_sc_2014.pdf](https://htor.inf.ethz.ch/publications/img/sf_sc_2014.pdf)

[2] Network Topologies for Large-scale Datacenters: It's the Diameter, Stupid! (2016) [video] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8F0JN6X0fE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8F0JN6X0fE)

</comment><comment><USER4> What is really missing here is that you can build modular switches out of multiple chips that are a lot more cost effective than connecting single chip boxes mostly because the internal links in a modular chassis in connectors are a lot more cost effective than any cable or optics. This makes the Clos topology with Top or Rack using copper cables and spines out of modular switches with up to 576x100G ports in today's technology winners every time for datacenters. The supercomputing world is still stuck in requirements of extreme low latency and hence hitched to Infiniband or other specialty networks with devices with low number of ports.

<comment><USER5> Working from the 10K end-host number in the paper with a radix of 43 and 722 total router nodes, it's the case that a given switch connects ~15 end-hosts. Fifteen downlinks to 43 uplinks seems pretty wasteful in its own right.

The numbers you cite are closer to realistic: a modified Clos fabric consisting of a four-way spine of 8-slot chassis with 36 100G blades connecting a full complement of 288 leaves, each with 4x100G up and 40x10G down (no oversubscription, at least nominally) leaves us with 11.5K hosts connected by a total of 292 switches. Even if the modular switches are 10X the cost of the ToR this is still markedly cheaper than 700+ ToR's (and this doesn't include actual power/cooling costs and the opportunity cost of space lost).

This also doesn't include cabling/transceiver cost differences: 722 * 43 * 2 (62K) vs 288 * 4 * 2 (2.3K). That's literally an order of magnitude difference.

Even if the design were approached using single-speed connections (ex: 48x10G up divided over 16 spines, 48x10G down locally) there's still a pretty compelling numerical advantage to Clos: ~210 96x10G ToR's and 16 16-slot chassis for 10K hosts is 226 devices and ~20K transceivers. If we assume the spines cost 10X the leaves then 370X is still almost half of 722X.

<comment><USER6> more clos advantages:

\- simplified operations: can service/remove/add ToRs without affecting global routing or the forwarding capacity of the fabric.

\- tor uplink flexibility: if a rack has higher bandwidth needs then double up the links (4 vs 8 in your example)

\- tor location mobility: it's a lot easier to manage 4 fiber runs per tor than it is to manage 43 different fiber runs... backhaul to 4 spine blocks vs. a complex web of interconnect spreading all over the datacenter floor. with the fly network it's unlikely you can move a rack once it has been placed, at least not until you're ready to tear down the whole fabric and build something new. so you better get your rack density and layout just right. with tor you're stuck with your spine locations, but everything else can be moved around.

the fly advantages for homogeneous supercomputers built and decom'd N years later are clear... but for datacenters which grow and evolve with heterogeneous devices, fly doesn't seem to really hold up well compared to clos.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> AFAIU one major advantage of Clos/fat tree networks is that you'll do quite fine even with relatively dumb static routing protocols.

Slim Fly, Dragonfly, and other fancy network topologies tend to require adaptive non-minimal routing to handle adversarial traffic patterns, which Infiniband (or ethernet, for that matter) doesn't support.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'll just leave this here [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_network](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_network)

<comment><USER9> Not that useful of a comment. The paper/video explains a new topology called SlimFly that is more efficient than Butterfly.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why is Python so popular for ML/DS? - <AUTHOR> I'd like to start learning ML and it seems like Python (and R) is the default choice. But why? Why aren't languages like C#/Go/Java relevant in that area, or at least a compelling option? <comment><USER2> Java, R, Python, C and C++ are massive in machine learning and Data Science. The reason Python is at the top is because it has the largest set of machine learning and data analysis tools, tutorials, easy setup and easiest use- ability and extremely minimal to no boiler plate needed to get results.

</comment><comment><USER3> Python was big in scientific computing before ML went mainstream. In college we were taught using matlab Mathematica and sci-py. So there were a lot of stats and science libraries available in python. Academics typically don't care about software engineering or typing so python is an easy approachable choice.

<comment><USER4> Add ipython (now Jupiter) notebooks to this for easy to publish analyses.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Prototyping is what you usually do in ML/DS. You code incrementally and break things really fast.

Python (IPython/Jupyter) and R's interactive mode is really indispensable for this. Without restarting/re-initialize every variables and modules from beginning, you can run code snippet, run, edit part of code, run, add some code, plot something, run, repeat...

<comment><USER6> This + gazillion of optimized math functions and algos are available right out of the box for all platforms.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Anecdotally, I have programmed in python, js, java, c#, go, C, C++, ruby, and php all in a professional environment and I'd have to say I prefer python the most. It is a very logically made language with a nice balance of abstraction and expressibility. My general language choosing path is: can I do it in python? If so, use python. Obviously you need to drop down to lower level languages for certain cases, but why work with memory management for application code if you can help it? I guess my point is that if you're going to be learning ML, you should be thrilled that you have the option of using python. That said if other languages float your boat, I've certainly done some ML in c++ with openCV and it was a positive experience. Use whatever you want.

<comment><USER8> Python also gives you the advantage to write faster code in C for smaller more computationally intensive parts of the code and use the C code with python. This allows you to dip into low level languages like you stated but also keep all the main functionality in python.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> It's just where a lot of the tools are. And why all the tool are in the python camp is probably b/c the academic/scientific community adopted the python ecosystem at a high rate.

<comment><USER10> And many in scientific industries came from tools like Matlab backed by heavy enterprise support contracts. Python was the first real foray into open source (FOSS) for many of them.

Some adopted R as well but it just didn't take off the same way even though it really was/is a better fit for some use cases.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> If the question is historical, it is because Python is easy to learn, easy to read, interfacing with C/C++ is easy to get existing ML/DS code, and it was one of the first scripting languages to handle huge numbers which is important in science.

If the question is about now, Python has lots of libraries to help in addition to the previously mentioned reasons. However Java still has better library support for NLP overall such as OpenNLP, Stanford CoreNLP, etc. NLP in Python is catching up though thanks to gensim, spacy, etc.

</comment><comment><USER10> The main reasons Python is so popular in science (ML and before) is:

1\. It's easier to get started than Java, Go, etc.

2\. It's faster to write/prototype. (The IPython REPL and Jupyter notebooks are awesome.)

3\. The Python community is also very open source friendly and has significant momentum in third party packages like pandas, numpy, scipy, etc.

Check out some talks from past PyCons and you will see a very strong scientific presence more so than the other languages you mentioned.

</comment><comment><USER12> Python stands on the shoulders of the giants, namely MPI/MKL/BLAS/LAPACK, which was the core of numpy, scipy and sympy. Maybe even SageMath.

If you are developing ML/DS models, a REPL environment comes very handy, there is IPython.

You'll find a large chunk of your time is spent on gathering, cleaning data, which Python really excels.

Make a website that integrates or visualize the data with Python? Sure

You can not find a second language this versatile and has a well supported ecosystem.

</comment><comment><USER13> It's the easiest language to learn from the list you described. C#/Go/Java are statically typed and compiled, which creates a barrier for learning. R is too complicated and showing it's age. Python is a sweet spot.

Data scientists aren't interested in learning industrial programming languages (C#, Java and maybe Go), they just want to do their job, and it doesn't require industrial language.

</comment><comment><USER14> I'd say because Python is a good prototyping language that has easy interfacing to the underlying C/C++ code used for fast numeric computation.

</comment><comment><USER15> Going from raw data to pandas driven analysis is pretty seamless.

I can use our production code for heavy analytics or modeling, and just as easily take the data to my laptop Python interpreter in memory.

</comment><comment><USER16> To be honest, I don't understand its popularity.

For example, I was trying to understand a batch normalization function defined as

def batchnorm_forward(x, gamma, beta, eps):

I can't tell if gamma/beta are scalar or vector?

<comment><USER10> We have type annotations in python now which can be used to clarify data types in function signatures.

[https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html)</comment></comment>


U.S. Will Be Hard-Pressed to Meet Its Biofuel Mandates - <AUTHOR> http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/40380/?p1=A2 <comment><USER2> I'm pretty sure the point of the penalties is so the fuel suppliers secure a source of biofuel. Financially, they should be willing to pay up to the amount of the fine to encourage biofuel production.</comment>


Why .com will probably get Netflixed by New TLDs - <AUTHOR> http://www.alexkehr.com/2015/04/why-com-will-probably-get-netflixed-by-new-tlds/

<comment><USER2> The big change since the original days of the dotcom boom is that most people no longer find websites for the first time by typing "[http://www.$FOO.com"](http://www.$FOO.com") in the address bar of their browser. It is an increasingly marginal means by which valuable new traffic is driven to domains. It goes beyond just web search; a large percentage of people "find" sites by clicking on links they see in their social media or their browsers automagically remembering the actual domain for them based on a few letters of the associated brand name. The app-ification of the Internet is also devaluing domain names as a branding vehicle.

This is analogous to why no one remembers phone numbers (or email addresses) anymore. Our phones and computers abstract that away for us so that we only need to know _who_ we want to call. This has a lot of economy in every day usage.

<comment><USER3> I believe it's still .com, then everything else, even if people typically find sites through search.

Why? If I write on a poster john.com, or on a cereal box, or on my business card, or I say 'visit us at john.com' on the radio, or my tv commercial says john.com at the end, people know exactly what to do. They recognize the words john.com as a website they can visit or search.

Now, if I say, 'visit us at john.ninja' on the radio, people have no idea what I'm even referring towards. If it's on my business card, people are wondering if my last name is ninja, or maybe this is just a fun play on words, and I refer to myself as john.ninja and the dot in-between the words is for design purposes. To fix that, you need to write more, www.john.ninja. However, it's still difficult for people to digest. Most people would probably ask, 'that's a website?', and then they would just visit google and type in 'john ninja', which may or may not get them to my site.

<comment><USER4> If you put [http://john.ninja](http://john.ninja), I'd bet most people would figure it out.

As a side note, that's a real address :)

<comment><USER5> Since most modern browsers hide the [http://](http://), I'm sure a lot of people would still have no idea.

<comment><USER6> Only recently. Most people have seen [http://](http://) for years.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The problem with this whole argument is that the person purchasing the domain isn't the consumer.

The end user is the consumer, and the .COM TLD isn't failing them in any perceptible way whatsoever. The higher prices actually __serve __their needs, because they lend greater credibility to the .COMs. The consumer can trust them more, the consumer can expect greater investment in the product they serve, and the consumer can easily recognize and remember the domain name.

<comment><AUTHOR> There is something insanely useful about New TLDs though that also lends credibility to a site. For example, I have the domain alex.social as sort of a social hub for myself. I believe that that makes my site almost more credible than my blog domain, alexkehr.com. A domain that firmly says who you are and what you do seems like it should/does have a lot of value.

<comment><USER8> If you tell the average consumer your site is at "alex.social" they will type in alex.social.com.

<comment><USER4> It's funny, but our main site now uses a .solutions domain, and our existing users adapted pretty well, even those who have trouble with basic computer tasks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> In what way is .com expensive compared to the new tlds? It isn't verisign, it's the squatters who are demanding outrageous prices... Unless the new TLDs have specific content requirements, (like .sucks has... though their pricing is the topic for a separate thread)

The squatters have already moved on to the new tlds. I recently looked up my first name, and while every tld I could find is registered, there isn't content up on any of them, it's all "this domain is for sale". I contacted one to see what price they're asking... negotiated them down to $3000. They're playing the long game.

And this is the 'innovation'?

<comment><USER10> Re: squatters...how many websites do you (reader) use when looking for X where X is even in the domain? For hosting, I use digitalocean, not hosting.com. For shopping, I use Amazon or overstock or some named store, not name-of-thing.com

When I'm searching for reviews of something and get results for "exact-thing- I-searched-reviews.com" or "best-name-of-thing.com", I immediately know those are spam and not worth visiting, since no business / forum / self-respecting personal site would call themselves something so ridiculously specific.

TL;DR generic name domains are useless since no established reputable companies use them. Look at the top Alexa 500 and consider how many related to X even have X in the domain name.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> There might be some points here about the economics of namesquatting, but it's a mistake to talk about any sort of "disruptive innovation" happening here. There's nothing innovative about the new TLDs... they're just names.

The biggest problem I see with the new gTLDs is the fact that I know very little about the the companies that own them. Did they set up shop to try and sell flashy new names to suckers who don't know any better, or are they trying to build a long-term, sustainable domain business? Should I be wary of the ones that charge more, or the ones that charge less (balancing opportunistic price gouging vs making sure the business earns enough to continue to operate long-term)?

Until I have good answers to these questions, I'm avoiding gTLDs. Public acceptance of gTLDs will come eventually if it needs to, but the dearth of sleazy, extortionate gTLD companies suggests to me that ICANN has not set these up to succeed.

</comment><comment><USER12> I can't see the Blockbuster analogy fully working here. It seems that a big reason why the old video rental model died was simply convenience. .com is the more convenient choice due to inertia.

It seems to me that a better analogy is that the new TLDs seem more like suburbs to a city. .com still lies at the city core, but the suburbs provide for a new type of Internet resident -- those who are willing to trade convenience and location for price and value.

Like Detroit, or the rust-belt in the 80's it's possible that the core becomes rotten, but it seems in those cases, the nexus still remains, but becomes depreciated. It will be interesting to see how domain real-estate follows the patterns exhibited in real-estate as the new TLDs become more ubiquitous; will there eventually be a revival of .com similar to the urban revivals we've seen? Or maybe that's just stretching the analogy a bit too far :)

</comment><comment><USER13> I bought c.how recently... there are now 4 letter domains that make words that you can just register. shit is awesome.

</comment><comment><USER14> Really though? .com is ubiquitous in culture so I doubt any of this will come to fruition.

<comment><USER15> Domain names are mattering somewhat less lately - it just has to show up high on google/bing, and be short and recognizable.

I still like mine though.

<comment><USER16> As long as they are used in email adresses, they're still pretty significant.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I think it is hard to say how this will play out. Maybe the author is right and people will care less about their domain name, or it could be become one of several presence items that companies use to reach customers.

For instance, the US toll-free numbers continue to increase (now 6 exchanges) despite the decline of metered toll service and payphones.

</comment><comment><USER18> Has anyone found that the registrars for the new TLDs seem very shady? I was trying to register a domain with a new TLD and I could not find a single registrar for this particular TLD that I trusted with my credit card. Some of them had barely working websites with broken links and bad info.

<comment><USER19> Hover has a ton of TLDs.

<comment><USER10> So does name.com, iwantmyname, namecheap, etc. Just visit your favorite registrar in most cases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Is the author trying to make "netflix" a verb with the same meaning as "obviate"?

</comment><comment><USER21> the only good about the arbitrary tlds is that icann has now run out of shitty ideas

</comment><comment><USER22> It´s password protected, why is that? anybody got the password? I would like to read the article.

<comment><USER23> [https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.alexkehr.com%2F2015%2F04%2Fwhy- com-will-probably-get-netflixed-by-new- tlds%2F&oq=cache%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.alexkehr.com%2F2015%2F04%2Fwhy-com-will- probably-get-netflixed-by-new- tlds%2F&ie=UTF-8&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i58.2089j0j7&sourceid=chrome- instant&ion=1&es_th=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.&bvm=bv.90491159,d.bGg&biw=1920&bih=995&dpr=1&ech=1&psi=nZsrVcunMomMsAGH3IGwDA.1428921246963.3&ei=nZsrVcunMomMsAGH3IGwDA&emsg=NCSR&noj=1)

<comment><USER22> Thank you :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Happened to us. Found a great name for our bootstrapped product. The .com- domain was already snatched from a re-seller. They wanted 28.000 USD for it. So we went with .io like so many other tech products before.

<comment><USER10> IMO .io is a little different, since it has quite a bit of momentum now and broadly speaking, stuff at .io domains is for the tech-savvy who are likely aware that there are things aside from .com out there.

If a layperson heard "visit us on the web at foo.io !" On the radio / TV, I think many would either search "foo.io" or "foo", or try foo.io.com , then get frustrated that it wasn't what they expected.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> There are all kinds of predictions flying around on how the introduction of new gTLDs is going to effect the economics of older TLDs. No one knows what's going to happen.</comment>


Ask HN: Do you use your hacker skills to be 'creepy'? - <AUTHOR>

These "creepy" Assange emails got me thinking.
I'm sure most or all of us are experts at using google, web scraping skills, and knowledge about online habits to find nearly anything about anyone online.  I'm more than guilty at doing this.
Most people would find this creepy, and even an invasion of their privacy in and of itself, no matter how easy it is using publicly accessible data, they'd probably even call it stalking.
As an example, I've been able to find out almost everything about people on okcupid just by unique enough words, or even the sequence of words, they've had in their profiles using smart guesstimates about online habits and usually physical location.  On some level, I used these same skills to get the job I have now (knowing your audience is a huge advantage when writing a cover letter)
Do you do this? Do you ever refrain/limit yourself from doing it (Is ignorance bliss?) How far have you gone/typically go? <comment><USER2> I do when I need/want to find out more about a person of interest.

</comment><comment><USER3> another fun thing to do is to look at exif data in jpegs. :-)</comment>


'Made in India' iPhone 12 Reportedly Coming Mid-2021 - <AUTHOR> https://www.macrumors.com/2020/08/19/made-in-india-iphone-12-coming-mid-2021/#:~:text=iOS%2014-,%27Made%20in%20India%27%20iPhone%2012%20Reportedly%20Coming%20Mid%2D,2021%2C%20Trial%20Production%20Already%20Underway&text=Apple%20plans%20to%20roll%20out,year%2C%20according%20to%20Business%20Standard. <comment><USER2> "Apple is aggressively stepping up its India-based manufacturing efforts as it seeks to move away from supply chain concentration in China".

The keyword here is "concentration" ( I am ignoring the whole anti-China rhetoric) but concentration risk of any kind is what most businesses try to avoid. That is why your friendly tax department has a dozen different software vendors and so on.

</comment><comment><USER3> Amazing how they can just "hire 10,000 people". Impossible to wrap my head around that.

<comment><USER4> What's so amazing about it?

<comment><USER3> I agonize over hiring one person. Also, it's not like hiring extras in a movie. These are skilled workers.

<comment><USER5> The higher level organization required for an effort like this isn't comprehensible to me. Like you say, hiring a single person is hard enough... how do you get it right ten thousand times over? This is mission critical stuff, too.

Honest question - do companies tend to over hire in scenarios like this, then design with loads to distribute well so if say... 25% of hires don't work well, the job can still be done? Is that absurd?

<comment><USER6> Most high skilled jobs in the world like your neurosurgeon or the engineers at your local nuclear power station assume your skillset based on educational qualifications. Only IT conducts a tech interview on a whiteboard and hires people without proper education.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


A Weightlifting Routine for Software Engineers - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/marcpare/weightlifting-for-engineers <comment><USER2> I've always tried to sit with better posture but I found that if you don't have strength in the right places, a conscious attempt at better posture can sometimes make things worse. In my case, I tried to follow the advice of "sit up straight" by curving my spine back to make up for inwardly rotated shoulders.

The "face pull" exercises in this routine improved my default sitting posture, and I never have to think about it or try to change it. My shoulders and upper back feel a lot better throughout the day after doing these for about two weeks.</comment>


Guesses and Hype Give Way to Data in Study of Education - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/03/science/applying-new-rigor-in-studying-education.html

<comment><AUTHOR> It's good to see some of the first findings out from new, more research-based studies of primary and secondary education in the United States.

"The findings could be transformative, researchers say. For example, one conclusion from the new research is that the choice of instructional materials — textbooks, curriculum guides, homework, quizzes — can affect achievement as profoundly as teachers themselves; a poor choice of materials is at least as bad as a terrible teacher, and a good choice can help offset a bad teacher's deficiencies."

The idea that instructional materials are important is intuitive to a lot of homeschooling families who homeschool so that their children can receive more academic challenge. (I know a large support network of such families here in Minnesota, and have online interaction with a national network of such families, who met one another through the Young Scholars program[1] of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development.) Certainly, our oldest son far exceeds in mathematics achievement what either of his two parents can provide in mathematics teaching, but we used good programs as homeschooling parents to start him out in his mathematics instruction. We begin with Miquon Math[2], then transition to the Singapore Primary Mathematics series[3], then to a mixture of EPGY online mathematics[4], ALEKS[5], Khan Academy[6], the Art of Problem Solving[7], and other programs. There is probably a lot of "ceiling" above what is currently achieved by instruction in United States K-12 schools that could be more closely approached if only United States schools used better instructional materials.

[1] [http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/](http://www.davidsongifted.org/youngscholars/)

[2] [http://miquonmath.com/](http://miquonmath.com/)

[3] [http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/1...](http://www.singaporemath.com/Primary_Mathematics_Stds_Ed_s/134.htm)

[4] [http://ecae.net/epgy/](http://ecae.net/epgy/)

[5] [http://www.aleks.com/](http://www.aleks.com/)

[6] [https://www.khanacademy.org/](https://www.khanacademy.org/)

[7] [http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php](http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/School/index.php)?</comment>


Senate launches bill to remove immunity for websites hosting illegal content - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/true-crime/wp/2017/08/01/senate-launches-bill-to-remove-immunity-for-websites-hosting-illegal-content-spurred-by-backpage-com/ <comment><USER2> AKA How to destroy Silicon Valley overnight.</comment>


What the Touch Bar will be - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@kindofone/what-the-touch-bar-will-be-d3f9f01ed404#.gp142e3ch <comment><USER2> One of the issues that is never talked about when dealing with substitutes of well-stablished interfaces is if the new standard covers all the other use cases.

In particular, I doubt of the usefulness of the Touch Bar in a low level environment, e.g. if you are dropped to bootloader.</comment>


Amazon kindle source code - <AUTHOR> http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200203720

<comment><USER2> I thought it was kind of neat to that a library I'd written was one of the 45 included. I was kind of curious to see what they'd changed, but it ended up being a little boring:

<https://gist.github.com/1289293>

It's a library for reading / writing audio meta data (tags) and they basically just removed support for several formats. What's perhaps more interesting is what they didn't remove: I don't have a Kindle, but from the code this would seem to imply that it supports Ogg Vorbis and FLAC in some capacity.

Also noted that they're using a version from early 2008, even though there have been 5 more recent releases since.

Edit: I also went back and grabbed the very first Kindle release, which contained only 22 packages (TagLib still being one of them), and there they used an even older version (meaning they do at least sometimes grab newer versions of the libs).

<comment><USER3> > I don't have a Kindle, but from the code this would seem to imply that it > supports Ogg Vorbis and FLAC in some capacity.

Haven't tried with .ogg and .flac, but new Kindles have capacity to play .mp3 files. It's more of an experiment from on their part, and the player supports only _play_ and _pause_ operations.

<comment><USER4> I have the 1st gen Kindle and it always had the capability to play mp3s, as well as a removable memory card slot.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Like Palm's WebOS open source releases [0], this is the code of the modifications they made to open-source projects, some of which they are supposed to release under GPL.

The title should be updated to reflect this.

[0]: <http://opensource.palm.com/packages.html>

<comment><USER6> This is why, in my opinion, having the GPL force code sharing may sound nice in theory, but in practice it isn't very interesting.

Amazon are just providing the bare essentials, there is no development community here, no way for them to take back any changes, no user or developer feedback, no documentation, build instructions, etc. - just a site that reads and looks like a legal obligation (and it is in the legal section of the Kindle docs).

Compare this to Webkit - where there is no requirement to share code, but you have a number of companies that have setup very successful developer communities around the code base and a lot of products taking advantage of the work with both the rendering engine and the Javascript interpreters.

You can require somebody to release code, but you can't force them to actively support it.

<comment><USER7> The point (of GPL) is not that new community has to form around this released source, nor that the consumers having bought devices using GPL software would be able to recreate them with their own software modifications. The point is that for example Linux developers get to utilize possibly useful modifications made by product vendors, say bug fixes.

<comment><USER8> > _The point is […] utilize possibly useful modifications […]_

The ideology which spawned the GPL is that systems should be open. When a consumer buys something like the Kindle, he or she should be able to make changes to the system, i.e. rebuild a modified version of the OS and use that instead of Amazon's original version.

The GPL is an ingenious way to transform the world of closed software to one where instead it is open, case in point being the Kindle, where Amazon decided to build on source already out there, and due to the license (GPL) in turn has to make their device more open than had they e.g. used BSD licensed software.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> For some reason I thought it would be the source code for the reader component but it looks like it's just conforming to the GPL license requirements for things they've modified.

Kindle_src_3.2.1_576290015.tar.gz contains: <http://pastie.org/2699524>

</comment><comment><USER10> Why did this get upvoted so many times? It has been available for years now.

I'm afarid to say that I think people upvoted this without even reading the link. I'd bet that 200+ people who voted for this thought it was the source to amazon's proprietary components. Its not, its gpl'ed code that has been available for as long as amazon has sold the kindle.

<comment><USER11> I'm not aware of any rules or customs around voting submissions based on publish date. I suspect the current interest is driven by the recent release of the Kindle Fire as well as questions about Amazon's duty to publish changes of certain licensed code.

<comment><USER10> What questions are there related to changes to GPLd code?

I don't think a 3 or 4 year old link is neccessarily newsworthy but you are right there is no rule against old content being relevant. That being said my real complaint is who cares? Linksys, Apple, Brother Printing; all these companies publish their mods to GPLd code. But people did not upvote this because they were interested in GPL mods they upvoted it because they assumed it was something else entirely and never read the link...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Unfortunately, still no SDK and no sign of movement. This is really sad, as I'd love access to the Kindle's market.

<comment><AUTHOR> I registered for an SDK and i hope i get it soon. It does not look like its coming.

<comment><USER13> I registered ages ago and didn't even received an email back!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> For a split second there I understood that as "Kindle SDK being released today".

</comment><comment><USER15> I'm really surprised to see so much GPL and LGPLed code in here. Doesn't the license require that, in addition to having the source code, that it be possible for the user be able to re-compile and re-link the binaries? Isn't this impossible with the Kindle hardware?

<comment><USER16> The GPLv3 tries to enforce that, earlier versions failed to do so.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> yup, they have to release the code due to the license..

</comment><comment><USER18> Will the Fire be on here when it launches?

<comment><USER7> Mostly no, I think, because most of Android source code is licensed under Apache license, so they don't need to publish their modifications.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Does this mean the community can finally add support to epub books?

<comment><USER20> The community has had that option ever since the Kindle v1. Amazon has honored the license ever since they launched.</comment></comment>


Fairphone: creating the world's first completely fair smartphone - <AUTHOR> https://fairphone.webshopapp.com/fairphone.html

<comment><USER2> sounds great, a phone without blood minerals.

 _Pre-orders limited to Europe. We ship in Fall. We need 5,000 orders to start production!_</comment>


OrientDB? - <AUTHOR> Any advice from folks who have deployed OrientDB alongside MongoDB for networked document search? <comment><USER2> OrientDB is snakeoil and anyone deploying it has not done their due diligence. The real world performance is very different to their claims and many features just don't work. Do yourself a favor and read through their bug tracker some time, you'll be scared.

<comment><USER3> An account created 3 hours ago with just this comment? Smell like a troll.

<comment><USER2> Not trolling, but for various reasons I don't want my employer linking these comments to my real account.

We spent a lot of time and money trying to get OrientDB working and we ran into so many problems that it was impossible for us to continue with it. It is buggy beyond belief, distributed mode is deeply flawed, transactions are not transactional, it's super easy to hang the database and the explain keyword straight up lies, the backup strategy is non-existent, the documentation incredibly poor and riddled with typos and outright mistakes. When we finally thought we'd got over these issues, we imported our data and the system ground to a halt, just weeks before a major product launch.

Luckily we were able to move to Postgres pretty quickly, but choosing OrientDB nearly sank the company, choosing it was an inaffordable mistake.

Also, look at this list of issues closed as "invalid/wontfix", it seems like you're a lot keener to close issues than to actually fix them - [https://github.com/orientechnologies/orientdb/issues?utf8=%E...](https://github.com/orientechnologies/orientdb/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+label%3Ainvalid)

<comment><USER3> Your angry comments remain anonymous. I'd like to know more about your experience and why it has been a so big failure, if this is really true.

Also generic comments like "backup strategy is not existent" when OrientDB supports backup/restore and export/import let me think you want just trolling this topic. Seriously, if you had a real bad experience on using OrientDB, please let us know by motivating all the statements above. Just drop an email to info at the company web site. Thanks.

<comment><USER2> I think you already know about this situation because the CTO was in contact with you about it. And it's not really anger, more disappointment.

About backups - OrientDB does not backup indexes, it recreates them on restore - but creating indexes is the most expensive operation! For us it meant an unacceptable level of downtime during a restore.

The impression I got when I was working with OrientDB is that you focus a lot on features, and OrientDB definitely has a lot of them. So anyone that does a naive point by point comparison with other products will naturally be blown away by OrientDB. But many of these features are not well thought out, or are broken in obvious or subtle ways - e.g. you support Lucene for full text search but it's unusable for anything but the most simple use case.

It takes a lot of development time before it becomes apparent just how broken the product is, and that is the problem - if it'd let us down in the first few weeks I wouldn't be writing this. Instead we encountered a constant stream of strange bugs and edge cases, and to be fair to you, you fixed a lot of these problems quickly, but we'd always find new ones, and it became a case of death by a thousand tiny cuts. Nevertheless, because of launch pressure we got into a position where we thought we had something that would suffice, but when we tested it with real world data we got constant lockups and OOM problems. When we realised that one of the most fundamental features - transaction support - was broken, we decided we had no choice but to change data stores and rethink our entire architecture, and to have to do that so late in the game was extremely painful and risky.

<comment><USER3> Ok, I understand who you are, but it's not fair saying the problems was on OrientDB product: we have a lot of clients running in production without such problems.

You used experimental parts like ETL (was still in development) and you guys were aware of this. Furthermore your roadmap was completely unreal, specially managing a new technology that nobody in your company was skilled on. If I was the CTO of your company I'd hire somebody skilled on OrientDB if this would become the foundation of my infrastructure. And you guys didn't model a Graph, but just kept the old model trying hard to let it working with OrientDB.

Last but not least, you never paid the renewal and in order to help you we provided support for FREE for 2 months. Sorry, but the main problem there wasn't the product, but the person that worked on this migration.

Maybe you lost your job because you wasn't able to do this migration, but please don't put mud on OrientDB.

<comment><USER2> We didn't use the ETL, we rolled our own, and I'm still with the company, so I think you have me confused with someone else. We hired someone who's an OrientDB expert to solve these problems because we assumed that the problem was a lack of skills on our part. Since they were also unable to fix the problems, and since we did run into very real bugs virtually every day, I'm confident that the problem is with the product and not ourselves. We did everything we could to make this work because OrientDB should have been an exact fit for our use case.

<comment><USER3> Ok, so at this point you wasn't a client and you never hire a real expert?

1) I don't know where did you find this expert. Plugin/driver authors couldn't be certified. Was this expert certified? And why didn't you ask for a certified guy to the Orient Technologies company?

2) Did you ever purchased any professional support from Orient Technologies company?

<comment><USER2> I think you're more interested in finding out who I am or who I work for and trying to discredit my claims than you are with addressing the issues I raised, so I'm going to decline to answer your questions. This was not an attack on you, although you've taken it as such, I was relating my experiences with your product.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> OrientDB can do documents, why do you need mongo for

<comment><AUTHOR> OrientDB (apparently, though I'm now skeptical considering above comments) does a good job of storing relationships between disparate documents. When you're searching for relationships (and not meta on the doc itself) we're curious if OrientDB provides a better solution.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Use the force, Luke.</comment>


Ask HN: Where to find freelance web developers in Germany? - <AUTHOR>

Everyday we read that Berlin is the next SV of Europe, there are many startups opportunities. It's already 3 hours I search a freelance web-developer in Baden-Württemberg region (to be able to contact him if needed) in Germany but could't find anyone!! Please share some freelance job portals in Germany if you know them. <comment><USER2> I'm a freelance web developer and I'm moving to Berlin this week. I graduated Oxford and I specialize in Ruby on Rails web applications and have experience in everything from NLP to compilers and Facebook applications.

www.jackkinsella.ie

</comment><comment><USER3> Serbia has great potential for freelance jobs. There are a number of good engineers who work for wages less than those in the European Union. I can place ads in local forums if you're interested.

</comment><comment><USER4> heurekalab.com</comment>


4chan helps Kim Jong Un win Time's Person of the Year poll - <AUTHOR> http://betabeat.com/2012/12/kim-jong-un-wins-times-person-of-the-year-reader-poll-with-a-little-help-from-4chan/ <comment><USER2> If i recall right, it is sort of a tradition to manipulate the Person of the Year polls by 4chan...

Once, they voted moot to the top and made the first names (?) spell a phrase (Marblecake, also the game) when read from top to bottom...

<http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1894028,00.html> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Poole>

<comment><USER3> "The same problem exists with polls on the Internet as with quotes on the internet." — Abraham Lincoln

<comment><USER4> Abraham Lincoln was misquoted, or least he said so in his Geocities page.

Anyway, how stupid is Time to fall for this, unless they are doing it for the traffic and clicks?

<comment><USER5> Are you sure? His Wikipedia page has that quote on it.

<comment><USER6> It's in bad taste to edit one's own Wikipedia page, even if there is an error.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> He is a very legitimate contender for person of the year. A thirty-something we know nothing about in charge of a failing state with nuclear weapons. 4chan may be trolling, but the levity about north korea and their slave labor camps isn't funny because it is a real tragedy that noone can do anything about it.

<comment><USER8> Yes, exactly. I don't understand the purpose of this. 4chan is trolling nobody. The person of the year award is not meant to mean the most likeable or best person. That's why Hitler, Stalin (twice), Khomeini had the title in the past.

Of course one can question whether Kim Jong Un had really such a huge impact on events.

<comment><USER9> _4chan is trolling nobody._

I think you and amalag are misunderstanding 4chan's motives.

<comment><USER10> So am I, care to explain?

<comment><USER11> They are doing it "for the lulz".

<comment><USER12> but there is no lul if during the war Hitler was person of the year. it's not a popularity contest.

<comment><USER13> > _if during the war Hitler was person of the year_

It was before the war, but whatever... your point is still good.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> A Chinese daily reported as a real story an Onion spoof about Kim Jong Un being 'sexiest man'. <http://rt.com/news/kim-korea-sexiest-onion-700/>

"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true. Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile."

<comment><USER15> It happened with Indian media as well: <http://imgur.com/a/ZweD5>

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> One would think another Korean, a gentleman from the south, also of boyish chubby looks, and surprisingly anti-American as well, would be a greater contender this year.

<comment><USER17> I think another Korean gentleman from the south who's the secretary-general of a certain important organization is a great contender along with his Ghanaian predecessor and colleague.

<comment><USER18> I thought you might be alluding to the UN, but then you said the organization was "important".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> No doubt this will be publicized greatly in NK but without the details.

</comment><comment><USER20> Given the recent successful N Korean satellite launch (though some say it's falling out of orbit now), I'd say this could become reality. Hitler won once.

<comment><USER21> I think there's a common misconception that Time is anointing their "best person of the year" when in reality they're looking for:

> Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the > United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, group, > idea or object that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to > influence the events of the year."

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year>

<comment><USER20> > has done the most to influence the events of the year."

That's exactly what I was referring to when I said it could become reality.

<comment><USER22> Why? What has he done? What has he influenced? North Korea is in the same situation as it was before. The worlds position to North Korea is the same as it was before.

<comment><USER20> Have you been keeping up with the news lately? Their latest rocket test shows that they have the ability to launch a nuclear missile that could hit the Western US.

<comment><USER22> First off, what did Kim Jong Un have to do with that? I mean, other then having his father die while the military was working on this.

Secondly, I assume you mean 'hit the western US' in the same way a blind hog finds an acorn. That rocket couldn't put a satellite into a stable orbit for the same reason NK's rocket program is described as a long list of failures - they can't reliably put anything anywhere after lighting the fuse.

[http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of- cont...](http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of-control-why- this-is-very-bad-news)

So even after this, they're still not any more or less a danger then they were.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The first rule of Magic should perhaps become the first rule of 4Chan - "never do the same trick twice"

<comment><USER24> Pretty sure that's isomorphic to rule 17: Every win fails eventually

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> My favorite thing about this is that the commenters all seem to be so angry at Time. They clearly did not read the article. I would put Time commenters ever so slightly above Youtube commenters on the intelligence scale.

<comment><USER26> The comment section is a place for people to work out their anger management issues. If you're not suffering from anger management issues, there's nothing there for you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> With the Israel attacks and this maybe the person of the year should be "Anonymous"

<comment><USER28> Which one? The one that manipulated the poll to read "marblecake..." or the one that imitated the same trick this year? I would be interested to know if they are the same and doubt it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Does this mean that 4chan is Person of the Year?

</comment><comment><USER30> You know what, if EU can get Nobel, why can't this guy be selected for person of the year, just look at that lovely round face :)

<comment><USER31> or Captain Euro:

<http://www.captaineuro.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> At least it wasn't the Mars Rover!

<comment><USER33> Why didn't they call it by its actual name? Were they afraid people wouldn't know what "Curiosity" is?

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Humans in the future will look back at this year, if they ever chronicle TIME magazine, and find it either confusing or hilarious.</comment>


Ask YC: Widgets vs Plugins ? - <AUTHOR>

If you're developing a blog add-on, how would you choose between a widget (client side js/flash) and a plugin (server side, powerful) ?
A lot of blog widgets have done very well lately - Mybloglog, Addthis, Feedjit, Whos Amung Us, Entrecard ...
I struggle to recall a plugin which has done as well (Akismet perhaps).
A case in point would be Gravatar (plugin) vs Mybloglog (widget).  Gravatar never really took off, Mybloglog is ubiquitous as a sidebar property. <comment><USER2> I think you should choose based on what the function of the add-on is.

I'm not sure if your options cover this, but some add-ons would be a centralized service (Google Analytics) which you may want to consider as well.</comment>


"Theoretical Framework" (comic strip) - <AUTHOR> http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1762

<comment><AUTHOR> I thought this might go over okay here because this particular strip reminds me of some of the stuff on XKCD. Tried to not give away the punch line, so just stuck to the comic's title.</comment>


Ask HN: Sell Your Daily Deals - <AUTHOR>

Is there a website where you can sell your daily or any deals?<p>If not, someone should start one. There are some people that get really good deals that probably wish they an monetize them other than ebay or craigslist. <comment><USER2> <http://www.dealsgoround.com/>

<http://www.dealigee.com/>

<http://couprecoup.com>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!</comment></comment>


Thesis theme vs Wordpress and the GPL - <AUTHOR> http://www.justin.tv/mixergy/b/266753530

<comment><USER2> The guy at perpetualbeta.com delved into this a few months ago with a couple of posts:

[http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/12/why-the- gplderivati...](http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/12/why-the- gplderivative-work-debate-doesnt-matter-for-wordpress-themes/)

[http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/11/why-the-gpl-does- no...](http://perpetualbeta.com/release/2009/11/why-the-gpl-does-not-apply-to- premium-wordpress-themes/)

From what I understand, he -is- a lawyer, and he has done intellectual property work, so his opinion, at least on the surface, seems insightful.

s

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Matt Mullenweg comes on just after 27 minutes.

On Twitter: <http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23thesiswp>

</comment><comment><USER3> This is the reason you don't use any GPL code if you want to:

1) distribute a commercial product 2) actually want to make a profit

I've steered clear of the GPL for years.</comment>


For a startup company, "every day has meaning" - <AUTHOR> http://tomchikoore.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/for-a-startup-company-every-day-has-meaning/

<comment><USER2> Also, you're in control of every day, so if it _doesn't_ have meaning, you can find a way to make it have meaning...

<comment><USER3> ... and you feel bad if you had a bad day and didn't squeeze any meaning out of it. Much more so than whilst working for someone else.</comment></comment>


Google Glass: Apple Granted Patent for Head-Mounted Display - <AUTHOR> http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/07/apple-patent-hud-display/

<comment><USER2> This is poor from Wired, there's nothing in this patent that would seem to represent a threat to Google Glass. After all, this is not in any way a patent on Head-Mounted Displays as a concept, as those have been in use in militaries since the 1980s, which Apple's patent references.

The patent actually refers to an apparently novel method of handling peripheral vision in stereoscopic HMDs, in order to remove the 'tunnel' or 'box' effect and increase the comfort of wearing HMDs for a long period of time. At present this is something which no existing stereoscopic HMD (or indeed, Google Glass) handles to my knowledge.

It's also worth noting that existing stereoscopic HMDs, while impressive, have been known to cause discomfort such as headaches in some people when worn for more than a few hours.

So there doesn't appear to be any link to Project Glass which, it should be noted, has also been patented by Google. This is just linkbait.

<comment><USER3> I agree. The title of the patent, at least how it's being picked up in the press, makes it sound threatening to the Google Glass, but I doubt the actual description of the patent would describe Google Glass. I think Google already has a bunch of patents like these:

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57434403-76/google- patents...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57434403-76/google-patents- project-glass-wearable-display/)

I remember reading a few posts like these about Google's new patents for Google Glass.

<comment><USER4> > _"I doubt the actual description of the patent would describe Google Glass"_

The independent claims of the '859 patent (1 and 17) both specify stereoscopic displays. Inventions can only infringe a patent if they, at a minimum, include all the elements specified in a patent's claim.

Google Glass has a single display. It can't possibly infringe.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The actual problem that the patent is intended to solve, for those who'd rather comment than RTFA:

"A problem with HMDs, primarily HMDs that are not of the see-through kind, is that the image on the display in front of each eye fills the central but not the peripheral field of view of the user. Consequently, the visual experience is similar to looking into a box or tunnel having a small screen at a distance. Peripheral vision is good at detecting motion and as a result, occluded peripheral vision in HMDs can cause a user to experience motion sickness symptoms after some time. Thus, whereas existing HMDs may work well for their intended purposes for short periods of time, there is a continuing need for improved HMDs that provide enhanced long-time visual experience for the user."

<comment><USER6> Their solution also only involves projecting a solid colour into the peripheral view. Actual peripheral view for our eyes can make out details and shapes, so it is not to emulate vision but to "reduce fatigue."

<comment><USER2> Not so, the patent describes various options for dealing with peripheral vision, including projecting blurred shapes corresponding with the environment, 'frames' and solid colours.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is very awesome. I think Apple has the capability of kickstarting the HUD market and taking it mainstream better than Google can. Hopefully Apple can produce a product that looks like regular sunglasses that the mainstream would consider wearing daily. The biggest problem with Google Glass is that only geeks will wear them and they'll never be considered 'cool' until they can miniaturize the tech to fit into normal frames.

</comment><comment><USER8> The fact that wired chose to link this to Google glass (which it only is in the way that they deal with video/pictures in a head-mounted-way) seems to confuse a lot of prople who CBA to read the article -.-

</comment><comment><USER9> Maybe what Apple really is doing is secretly undermining patent law. Perhaps there is a master plan behind it, and one day, _bang_ , Apple will revolutionize the patent industry and make it user friendly.

</comment><comment><USER10> It's just one patent in a field that has been producing patents for a long time. Take the example of Microvision that is on the top 20 of patent receivers in America and has been doing HUD for the military for a long time. They also have done research for projection directly on the eye retina, i guess that's hard to top.

</comment><comment><USER11> No one can expect this to stand. A cursory glance at the Wiki gave me "In 2005, the Liteye HMD was introduced for ground combat troops as a rugged, waterproof lightweight display that clips into a standard US PVS-14 military helmet mount." That's actually on the field a year before Apple even applied for this patent.

<comment><USER12> Looking further back for potential sources of prior art, I seem to remember seeing a picture of and/or reading about a very early stereoscopic head- mounted display that used two ultracompact CRT displays. However, given the mixed bag of Apple's recent successes and failures, combined with the general ham-handedness of the patent system, anything is possible.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I have hope both that Apple is secretly working on an amazing set of augmented reality glasses and that the patent will be somehow overturned.

</comment><comment><USER14> If Apple turns around and sues Google using this patent, I think it will be time to unplug completely and join the people in the mountains looking to escape EM radiation.

And really, they had to add CRT displays to the patent? Seriously Apple, CRT? Did Apple figure out a magical new way of getting "retina" resolution with a millimeter-long tube that can somehow feed the entire field-of-vision of the person wearing it? Come on.

<comment><USER15> > If Apple turns around and sues Google using this patent, I think it will be > time to unplug completely and join the people in the mountains looking to > escape EM radiation.

Or you could just get rid of your Apple crap and get a nice Linux machine (if indeed, you haven't already). It's a pretty good system for hackers and the inquisitive.

<comment><USER16> I believe part of the point is that if Apple's patent abuse continues unchecked, there won't be options like nice Linux machines...

<comment><USER17> Yes because Linux only come onto the market this week and hasn't been around for 20+ years without a lawsuit from Apple. Or how about the fact that at one stage Apple had their own Linux distribution (MkLinux) and contributes a lot of core technologies used in Linux e.g. CUPS, WebKit.

<comment><USER16> Motorola, HTC and Samsung were all making smartphones long before Apple was. IIRC, they are all now being sued by Apple over, among other things, at least one feature that their smartphones had before the iPhone was even announced. So how's that previous history working out for them?

I'll also highlight my assumption: Apple's patent abuse continues unchecked. In other words, Apple's software patent assaults are delivering positive results without blowback. If that continues, why wouldn't they extend that to new areas? Wouldn't you expect them to attempt to maximize the return on their patents? If not, why not?

Now I'll admit I don't think it is likely that Apple's abuse will continue unchecked. I expect Apple's competitors to build their patent arsenal (e.g. notifications) and successfully hit back and eventually create a stalemate. But if they can't or don't, I'd expect Apple to see how far they can push things (just like any other corporation).

<comment><USER17> What are you talking about ? I was talking about Apple going after Linux.

<comment><USER16> So was I. You're asserting that vendors selling "nice Linux machines" (or at least nice machines that run Linux well once you install it) aren't among Apple's competitors? Since when?

To take just one example: the ultrabooks that Apple could easily try to go after with their "wedge" design patent, can run Linux, too, not just Windows. And that's clearly a form factor many people consider nice. Granted, this is a different area of competition than smartphones, but I specifically talked about Apple extending their patent assaults to new areas if their patent abuse remained unchecked.

Do you think Apple extending their legal strategy like that wouldn't have an impact on the availability of nice hardware to run Linux on? It seems obvious to me that it would. After all, there's more than one way to go after Linux.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> It looks like Google should have spent a little less money on skydivers and a little more on lawyers :(</comment>


The problem is not HTTP over TCP - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/11/the-next-version-of-http-wont-be-using-tcp/?comments=1&post=36350073 <comment><USER2> pretty much.

and as an 80s kid, ive been seeing it happen. facebook is partially to blame too.

they pushed trackers, metrics and localization, in such ways that i feel that the internet had become compartmentalized, and is laiden with dark patterns.

google is a counter productive force on the internet.

its is a lack of proper engineering and design, maybe even over engineering.

and as "pretty" as it all seems these days, its all less usable, and less enjoyable, especially on mobile.

edit: i also trust the web less these days, i wonder if im alone on this?</comment>


North Korea Learned from Libya War to Never Give Up Nukes - <AUTHOR> https://theintercept.com/2017/07/29/dan-coats-north-korea-nukes-nuclear-libya-regime-change/ <comment><USER2> And they are correct. We encouraged quddafi to give up his program, lifted sanctions, and then pushed him into a corner at the first opportunity. He had no viable way to abdicate without being tried for war crimes.

The same policy has occurred in Syria. We need to encourage dictators to leave office, not indicate that they will be tried and imprisoned.

This isn't a humanitarian argument, it is game theory. But it will save lives and reduce conflicts. The outcome is superior. I'll take a horrible person escaping justice over thousands of human casualties any day.

<comment><USER3> I always say, just like revolvers are equalizers for humans, nukes are equalizers for countries. I think nuclear proliferation is a good thing.

<comment><USER4> Do you also always wear a suicide vest in case anyone wants fight you?

<comment><USER5> Nice strawman, but in reality you can punch back at someone who wants to fight or run away. When all you have is one planet and there exists a few cunning and belligerent actors with immense resources and oversized military budgets, you don't have the same options when you're cornered.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Actually the Ukraine is a much better example. When they gave up their nukes they got promises from other nations to come to their defense if Russia attacked. When it happened not only didn't they get help the other nations refused to even sell them weapons!

<comment><USER7> Sadly, there was no such promise of defense if the treaty was breached:

Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Securit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances)

According to the memorandum, Russia, the U.S., and the UK confirmed, in recognition of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine becoming parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and in effect abandoning its nuclear arsenal to Russia, that they would:

1\. Respect Belarusian, Kazakh and Ukrainian independence and sovereignty and the existing borders.

2\. Refrain from the threat or use of force against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

3\. Refrain from using economic pressure on Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine in order to influence its politics.

4\. Seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, "if Belarus/Kazakhstan/Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used".

5\. Refrain from the use of nuclear arms against Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

6\. Consult with one another if questions arise regarding these commitments.

<comment><USER8> by your (flawed) logic, US and UK should return all (or 1/3 to be extra fair in your twisted analysis) nukes to Ukraine after the russian invasion.

the more sane interpretation is that they should help them against the party gone rogue on the treaty. otherwise all their other treaties will be assumed to be void by other nations. which is what is happening, and every state in those areas are already siding up with either russia or china, who they fell have more skin in the game to uphold their word later on. dependable terms are better than good terms on those things.

<comment><USER9> What do you mean, "by your logic"? The agreement clearly lays out the obligations of all the parties involved, and nothing says they have to help Ukraine defend itself against a non-nuclear attack. That's not logic, just reading.

<comment><USER8> if we agree to sell my house for you and another party, and the other party fails to come up with their 50%, then you can't expect to live in the house. and that's exactly what US and UK just did.

either they help uphold the sovereignty over russia actions, or return the nukes. it's also basic reading.

your flawed logic is thinking that two other parties can benefit fully from a contract where one of the parties failed to uphold the agreements.

<comment><USER9> "Return the nukes"? Like, somehow convince Russia to give them back?

<comment><USER8> exactly. since that outcome B (well actually the other parties returning the nukes), is batshit insane and completely crazy to even think about. that's why everyone assumed the other option was implied (the protection against the rogue Party).

option C, not doing anything, is equivalent to stealing.

<comment><USER9> So wait, if I agree not to invade you, and then later on you get invaded by someone else and I do nothing, that's equivalent to stealing? What did I steal?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Libya, Iraq and Ukraine are all good examples of places where possession of WMD would have kept wolves at bay.

<comment><USER11> Yeah if keeping a dictator in power is what you desire, then by all means let dictators have nuclear weapons. If not, it should be of global interest to crush the dictators.

The problem with Libya and Iraq (as well as Afghanistan!) is that there never has been a coherent post-war plan. Which means: what is to be done after the troops are finished?

There has been no plan about

\- how to disarm the various militias enlisted to fight

\- how to transition countries to democracy without kleptocrats and other opportunists abusing and hijacking the system

\- how to actually _rebuild_ all the destroyed infrastructure (roads, bridges, water, electricity, communication)

\- how to actually unite and pacify the various ethnic/religious communities and prevent them from fighting each other: this is what fucked up former Yugoslavia, and now Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, and will likely drag out the Syria conflict.

<comment><USER12> >how to actually unite and pacify the various ethnic/religious communities and prevent them from fighting each other

That is exactly what dictators do! Not perfectly, but a lot better than what has happened in the countries you've noted where the dictators were ousted or attempted to be ousted. So, I'd disagree that it should be a global interest to crush dictators. So far, this has caused much greater harm than good.

<comment><USER11> > So, I'd disagree that it should be a global interest to crush dictators.

Dictators usually enrich themselves and defraud incoming money (and food aid) by pocketing it in their personal or their families' coffers, also most dictators resort to brutal violence to maintain their rule; as a result people will attempt to flee these countries. And this causes harm - first of all for the fleeing people who are often enough abused as slaves or prostitutes, but also by funding criminal networks (e.g. the Mafia, which has discovered that people-smuggling and involvement in refugee operations is way more profitable and riskless than drug trading).

Also, when we as the Western world fail to provide basic human rights to any person on this planet, when we fail to even TRY and instead make "deals" with those violating human rights, what are the human rights then worth?

I agree that the last few ousted dictators went badly, but more because the Western countries failed to provide an exit strategy, not because they attempted to oust the dictators.

<comment><USER13> Perhaps the best refutation of your argument is none other than South Korea, once a pathetic half-country saved by America, at the cost of many American lives.

The first South Korean leader, propped up by America, wasn't your average local warlord: Rhee Syngman was a prominent figure in the independence movement, and had a PhD in International Politics from Princeton.

He went on to kill some 200 thousand Koreans for being communist, terrorized the country for twelve years, and finally ousted by Koreans and fled to Hawaii, where he died later. His reign is remembered by corruption, blanket pardon to national traitors, and mass execution of people accused of being communists.

If you think you "only" need an exit strategy to liberate a country from bad dictators, you don't understand how much luck you need.

<comment><USER11> > If you think you "only" need an exit strategy to liberate a country from bad > dictators, you don't understand how much luck you need.

I'm German. Germany is only at it's current position as European power house and "leader of the free world" (at least many people name Angela Merkel als such, since Trump became president) due to the incredible efforts of the US, UK and France (and to a lesser extent the Soviets) after WW2. And Germany was bombed to shreds basically.

You don't need "luck" to succeed. You need political will, power and the ability to look further in the future than $time_until_next_election. Not very many politicians (no matter if in the US or in the EU) seem to possess these traits any more.

> He went on to kill some 200 thousand Koreans for being communist

Then, he IS a typical result of US intervention: everyone who is against "communists" is good.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The artillery that can reach Seoul and the buffer the nation offers China from the U.S. military there is all they need to prevent invasion. Then they can do what they want.

</comment><comment><USER15> Also quite possibly from the Russian aggression against Ukraine (see Budapest Memorandum).

</comment><comment><USER16> And from Ukraine, as a prominent Ukrainian was saying just the other day, on WBEZ's "Worldview" radio show.

P.S. I took a quick glance at their programming list, and I'm guessing it was this interview. I was listening a bit out of one ear while about other stuff:

[https://www.wbez.org/shows/worldview/legislating-peace- and-r...](https://www.wbez.org/shows/worldview/legislating-peace-and-reform- in-ukraine/8d68ba61-3dcb-4247-a0ac-8e58ffd7f1ea)

 _Legislating Peace And Reform In Ukraine

July 24, 2017

20 min

To discuss how Ukraine is inspired by Western Europe to reform, and how the war in Eastern Ukraine is holding, Worldview joined by Ostap Kryvdyk, a senior foreign policy advisor to the Speaker of Ukraine's parliament._

</comment><comment><USER17> Crazy how humanity's "advancement" involves a world-wide practice of game theory with nuclear bombs. We're all complicit...

<comment><USER18> Only as long as all actors in play are rational.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Not exactly. NK is protectorate of China and has zillions of conventional weapons aimed directly at Seoul. Nuclear wasn't necessary.

<comment><USER20> They don't want to rely on China to secure their regime, they know how precarious that position can be.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> yeah, Ukraine learned that hard way too, you know... after Russian invasion</comment>