So, my Coinbase account was hacked, bitcoin stolen, now what? - <AUTHOR> I check my email to find a message from Coinbase saying "You just sent 0.136 BTC to 12aW81234567890abcdefg..". I never initiated such a transaction. Obviously, I started freaking out a little bit. I log into my Coinbase account (which I felt had a strong password btw), to find my balance near zero. Just great. Thank goodness I hadn't linked a bank account in Coinbase yet, and that the stolen balance was less than $100, who knows what else may have been stolen. I filed a support ticket with Coinbase just hours after this occurred last night, but no response yet.<p>I'm distraught over this. A hacker can simply break into your account, steal your bitcoin by sending it off to his own account, and no one has to hold any type of accountability? Is there no way to trace, cancel, or reverse a transaction? Is there anything at all I can do? <comment><USER3> Hilarious. The reason for bitcoin is lack of regulation. You know that right? You're using bitcoins and not dollars because it's not regulated and subject to the same oversights and related fees.

So basically you want the government to have no ability to lock down funds or regulate transfers, yet you also want the ability for the government to step in and stop people who have stolen your bitcoins.

Can people really be this oblivious? If you have bitcoins, do not just put them on random websites with zero auditing and expect them to be in any way secure. If you don't know how to secure a computer, you need to stay far away from bitcoins, they are not for you.

<comment><USER4> What do you mean "random websites"? It's Coinbase, the most reputable bitcoin wallet that exists. (Though they have had a few troubles as of late.)

<comment><USER5> Until you can verify Coinbase's internal security and practices, trust every employee with access to your account info, and verify their honest intentions, it's still pretty much a "random website". Until then, you're effectively driving your Ferrari across the border into Tijuana and tossing the keys to a random barkeep.

<comment><USER4> So... any bank website is also 'random'?

<comment><USER6> No, bank websites are bank websites.

And bank websites are operated by banks.

And banks are regulated by governments.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How does this happen with two factor SMS verification? Did you enable your API key?

What is the whole address and transaction id just to trace and see where it went? There is no way to cancel the transaction.

[edit]

Here is the info[1] about the transaction. It _seems_ the transaction way relayed by IP address 220.127.116.11, somewhere in Florida (Comcast customer). It also seems the address[2] only holds your balance for now. You can call Comcast and let them know.

[1][https://blockchain.info/tx/d3f6547f901b45b3c79315e78a1bbcc98...](https://blockchain.info/tx/d3f6547f901b45b3c79315e78a1bbcc988e27e6b98feab321f5628e2312b5377)

[2][https://blockchain.info/address/12aW8jPeEc9iQa5ocXCDReJ6Nij4...](https://blockchain.info/address/12aW8jPeEc9iQa5ocXCDReJ6Nij4c9xHtX)

<comment><AUTHOR> I didn't have two-factor enabled (it's enabled now though). API was disabled. No malware installed.

Transferred to: 12aW8jPeEc9iQa5ocXCDReJ6Nij4c9xHtX

Transaction: d3f6547f901b45b3c79315e78a1bbcc988e27e6b98feab321f5628e2312b5377

I think this might be related to a recent Twitter account hack that happened a month or so ago, where a fake tweet was posted on the account. I had used the same email and pw on that account. Maybe they were scanning the stolen Twitter accounts against Coinbase.

<comment><USER8> > I had used the same email and pw on that account.

You used the same credentials for a social networking site as for your Bitcoin account with Coinbase? And you didn't change them once your Twitter account was hacked?

You should probably call it a relatively cheap lesson in not reusing passwords.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> > A hacker can simply break into your account, steal your bitcoin by sending > it off to his own account, and no one has to hold any type of > accountability?

I thought lack of regulation was one of the features of Bitcoin.

<comment><USER10> Why are you comparing Coinbase features with Bitcoin features?

<comment><USER11> Why wouldn't he? I don't know of any online _anything_ that refunds you from their own pocket, so, that he can't get the transaction back (like some bank account transactions can be, or, they can be traced to a person) is a feature inherent to Bitcoin and not so much Coinbase.

EDIT: spelling correction.

<comment><USER10> > Why wouldn't he?

Because it's colluding topics. "break into your account" refers to a Coinbase account. "lack of regulation" refers to the Bitcoin methods. Using both of those in a sentence or quoting that sentence in another comment creates implied blame.

The original comment could be assumed to say two different things: 1. If Coinbase security was compromised, then Coinbase is accountable for the transfer of Bitcoin from op's account. 2. If the op 'allowed' access to his account through malware or unsecure API keys, then the op is accountable.

I believe the second assumption is what chasing was referring to. I should have been clearer in my questioning.

Edit: Actually, I shouldn't have even asked the question. I should have said what I said above instead of asking a leading question. My fault.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> > and no one has to hold any type of accountability? Is there no way to trace, > cancel, or reverse a transaction? Is there anything at all I can do?

You can file a police report. If somebody stole your physical cash, what would you do?

Bitcoin advocates claim this is a feature, not a bug. They say bitcoin should be the digital equivalent of cash.

</comment><comment><USER13> I don't know much about how Bitcoin works. But isn't one of the features of Bitcoin that you can make transfers super cheap? Wouldn't it be best to keep your Bitcoin "wallet" off any internet connected devices and then just make a transfer to Coinbase only when you need to sell Bitcoin to transfer back to your bank? I would think that it would be a bad idea to keep your Bitcoin stored anywhere except in a space you fully control and could keep safe. Though if you have malware on your computer which targets Bitcoin activity then I'm not sure there is much you could do.

Personally, I would probably get something like a Raspberry Pi (if it's beefy enough) with a Linux distro which runs straight from RAM just for Bitcoin transactions. So, every time you boot up, it's a totally new installation. You could make sure that your media that you are loading it from is ready only. Then enter your Bitcoin info, do your transaction and shut off the computer. Next time you boot it up, new installation again. With these distro's, you don't actually have to install Linux every time, they just run from a read only image typically. I use Puppy Linux.

This should do a lot to keep you safe from malware. Just using Linux makes you a little less of a target. Using a fresh install every time you boot up reduces your vulnerability window. I'm sure that if you are connected to the internet, anything could happen. If you use this method, you would probably need to be specifically targeted by someone who really knows what they are doing. There are easier targets out there. ;)

<comment><USER14> >Personally, I would probably get something like a Raspberry Pi (if it's beefy enough) with a Linux distro which runs straight from RAM just for Bitcoin transactions.

This is basically exactly what you're talking about: [http://piperwallet.com](http://piperwallet.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Authy founder here (we do Two-Factor Auth for Coinbase).

Looks like you didn't have Two-Factor enabled [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6947037](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6947037)). Enable it now. We've stopped lots of Coinbase account password compromises. Most of the time we see that the e-mail was hacked.

Do the following:

1\. Enable Two-Factor Authentication on your e-mail.

2\. If you use GMail, go to Settings -> Forwarding POP/Imap. Check that no "weird" addresses are added to your account.

3\. Change your E-mail password.

4\. Change your Coinbase password.

If you have Two-Factor enabled we can also temporarily block your account if you suspect a hacker is trying to get into it. Contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we'll block it.

<comment><USER16> I highly recommend the above advice. 2-factor auth is a simple step that hugely increases security. You must have it on your email at minimum - <USER2> having access to your email typically gives you access to many accounts connected to your email - and probably most of your financial accounts.

I might also encourage Coinbase to limit the maximum dollar value of transfer from an account to, say, $100 per day until someone enables two-factor auth. Typically people have very poor security habits, and strongly encouraging them to improve them will help both users and Coinbase's reputation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> _A hacker can simply break into your account, steal your bitcoin by sending it off to his own account, and no one has to hold any type of accountability? Is there no way to trace, cancel, or reverse a transaction?_

It would seem that you understand Bitcoin very well.

A review of all of the hacks/breakins/inside jobs since 2011 would have told you this already. You DID research its history, rather than jumping in blind, right?

<comment><USER18> All the theory about currencies and macro- and microeconomy and libertarianism are available in books. But people really like to learn the hard way.

There are a few rules about trustworthiness in economy. Our whole economic system is held together because one rogue actor would be rejected by all its partners if it failed a transaction, and the person wouldn't be able to create a new company if they acted unfairly. This peer-to-peer network is also backed by trade unions, then banks, then governments who vouch for each other.

By trusting Coinbase, a single actor in a very small economy, you have very little leverage, except talking about your mistake on HN and trying to get the consumer's snowball effect. It is not backed by its trade union, nor by its banks, insurances or government.

Don't forget that Bitcoin is a token game which is parallel to your national currency, and allows bypassing taxes. Bitcoins should get what they deserve: As a subversive currency allowing to bypass taxes, it should be fought by governments. Receiving money for a Blizzard account is just as illegal. Because it's a parallel economy which prevents taxes from being duly collected.

I'm not to say that I'm on the governments side, nor on the Bitcoin side. I'm saying they are competing and proponents of one side should be rejected by the other side.

Givn this background, you losing 0.12 BTC is a very mild outcome.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> They have two factor SMS verification available for every login attempt. But you may just have malware on your computer if you had a really strong password.

<comment><USER20> Sounds like there's some pretty nifty malware out there recently [http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1sxcyr/coinbase_acc...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1sxcyr/coinbase_account_was_hacked/) [https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355045.0](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=355045.0)

Perhaps something to do with the API (which is disabled by default but some victims have noticed was enabled) [https://coinbase.com/docs/api/authentication](https://coinbase.com/docs/api/authentication) "If someone obtains your api_key or an access_token with the send or all permission, they will be able to send all the bitcoin out of your account."

(edit: followed the transaction trail on one of those links, ended up with week old address that had received 49,497BTC [https://blockchain.info/address/1Facb8QnikfPUoo8WVFnyai3e1Hc...](https://blockchain.info/address/1Facb8QnikfPUoo8WVFnyai3e1Hcov9y8T))

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> This is a reason why I never leave my BTC in Coinbase. As soon as my purchase goes through, I transfer the BTC to a paper wallet[1] or digital wallet that I control.

[1] [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Paper_wallet)

<comment><USER22> Well, in my view CoinBase with two factor auth is as or more secure than leaving it on my physical computer. If this person had enabled two factor auth this wouldn't have happened.

I was under the impression that 2 factor auth on CoinBase wasn't optional, but I guess not.

CoinBase should also be failbanning any computer trying to brute force the same account with more than one password.

<comment><USER21> Because you can withdraw your coins from Coinbase, that means Coinbase has a copy of the private key associated with the BTC address that your BTC resides in. Two factor auth is not going to prevent a rogue attacker or employee from taking these keys.

By immediately transferring the BTC to a paper wallet address generated on a secure, offline computer, it is simply impossible to withdraw the BTC without possession of the information on that physical piece of paper. This is far more secure than any digital or two factor auth.

Edit: I notice that Coinbase does store the vast majority of their BTC in paper wallets[1]. The problem is, Coinbase still has a copy of the private keys associated with your BTC address. While this may hinder the efforts of outside attackers, there still exists a vulnerability with those employees who have access to the systems that move BTC from cold to warm storage. That's why your BTC should always reside in an address you generated yourself and solely possess the private key to.

[1] [http://blog.coinbase.com/post/33197656699/coinbase-now- stori...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/33197656699/coinbase-now- storing-87-of-customer-funds-offline)

<comment><USER22> I mean, I've given them the ability to withdraw money from my bank account so merely trading on CoinBase requires me to believe they won't do that or anything like that. The fact of the matter is that I don't trust CoinBase, but I know that our interests are somewhat aligned. If they damage their reputation by stealing my BitCoins or my cash they lose money because people don't trust them any more. They are backed by people I consider to be reputable and if CoinBase does something shady all of their reputations will suffer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> If you turned on your API key Coinbase and someone obtains that key, they can transfer coin on your behalf. From a productive paranoia perspective, I think this is a REALLY BAD IDEA for exactly the reasons posted here. People will use that key to 'try out' coinbase, and then end up forgetting to check their code and upload it to Github or Pastebin and then WHAM, you've got two problems: your Bitcoin is gone and Coinbase now has a marketing problem of potentially epic proportions.

The guys at Coinbase need to turn OFF the API key feature as soon as possible. It has the potential of hurting the entire ecosystem.

Edit: One suggestion to Coinbase would be to change the API key feature to only allow the API methods which don't result in sending payments. This allows quick use of their APIs in doing architectural design and ensures protection against key leakage. A second suggestion is to queue up outgoing transactions initiated by the API key into batches and use alerts (like through Pagerduty or similar) to notify the account owner transactions are pending and need approval.

<comment><USER23> I disagree. They shouldn't turn off the API access for payments because some people might use it incorrectly. Let's be honest, it takes a special kind of stupid to upload secret keys of any kind to their repos. And if they do, well, they deserve whatever happens to them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I thought the point of Btc is that there is no "now what".

</comment><comment><USER25> I use the Google Authenticator style of 2-factor auth with Coinbase using the Authy app.

<comment><USER26> Seriously - if you're not using 2FA then you're just looking for trouble.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> @pg: can you please ban off all those Coinbase support threads? It's getting ridiculous, we're not Coinbase customer support here.

</comment><comment><USER28> Did you have the two factor verification activated?

</comment><comment><USER29> There is limited ability to trace transfers by examining the blockchain, but there is no way to cancel or reverse a Bitcoin transaction. Most online wallet services, including Coinbase, offer no explicit insurance against unauthorized transfers.

Welcome to the brave new world!

</comment><comment><USER11> Same happened to me on MtGox (to make it clear, not their fault, was my own carelessness). Was more than likely related to reuse of password and a hack on another site that used the same acc/pass combination.

There is nothing one can do. MtGox can't protect users from getting their account hacked when it's nothing they've done. I filed a police report, but there's not much the police can do in the case of btc...

One learns from ones mistakes, so, now; stopped reusing passwords, and added two-way auth for important/sensitive things, alas, a bit too late (got 9 btc stolen ;_; although at the time, they were only worth ~100$/btc).

</comment><comment><USER30> For less than $100, there is nothing you can do except learn from this. There would probably not be anything you could do if it was a few orders of magnitude larger either, so you are lucky.

Hacking is pervasive, but anonymous currencies are providing a more interesting target than sending spam or renting botnets. Generally, security is very poor everywhere but most people don't really notice. This is going to have to change at some point as more of our lives go online.

</comment><comment><USER31> I've been on the sidelines for BitCoin for the past few years, but it appears to me that it is gaining adoption at least at the early adopter stage and has an insanely long way to go but is becoming increasingly interesting.

I'm researching BitCoin to try to have a really in depth understanding of it. What is the best, even if complex, paper/blog/website on how to properly secure bitcoins?

<comment><USER11> You can take a look at [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet) and maybe less directly relevant, but still good information is [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses) .

Personally, I keep my btc wallet.dat file in a AES encrypted diskimage (sparsebundle on OS X) in my Dropbox, and then symlink that file to the place where it needs to be on the computer. My wallet is always backed up, and secure enough (you need either physical access to my computer and get the password right, or, access to my dropbox account and, again, the password for the wallet diskimage).

Quite content with my setup, I just mount the diskimage before I open my Wallet application...

<comment><USER31> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> "I buried my gold in the forest because I didn't want the government to get their grubby mitts on it. I came back later, after only telling a few folks where it was, and I'm upset to see it gone. Can the government help me?"

</comment><comment><USER33> There are many ways of tracing transactions. There are no ways of canceling or reversing them.

You trusted your valuables to a third party and were careless with your own access credentials to communicate with that third party. Your fault, your consequences.

</comment><comment><USER34> I see this sort of story being the downfall of bitcoin. Once a few of these things happen, trust will be lost in it and the bubble will deflate.

(Out of interest, did you "make money" from bitcoin, when it was going up)

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree, and that's why bitcoin needs accountability. If not bitcoin, then Coinbase. PayPal is a good example of this. For all of the flak they receive, you can trust them to honor reports of unauthorized transactions and feel (mostly) confident making purchases.

I'm very cautious now about considering bitcoin any further. I'm certainly glad I never linked a bank account to Coinbase.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Call the police.

</comment><comment><USER36> Did you have a mac / windows computer?

Do you have any antivirus software installed?

<comment><USER17> It most likely had nothing to do with his computer. I could buy a new computer, use it only to consummate a transaction on Coinbase, and destroy it, and I've done little to minimize my risk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> use 2 factor authentication next time, lesson learned. how about you give us the full bitcoin address where the bitcoin being transfered to.</comment>


An Explanation of Shor's Quantum Factoring Algorithm - <AUTHOR> http://algassert.com/post/1718 <comment><USER2> Good article. Definitely helped fill me in on this stuff, although I still have too many questions about how the underlying physics work to feel like I understand it.

This article contains the sentence, "A good predictor for whether you even slightly understood that last sentence is whether or not your mind just got blown hard." It blew my mind, but mostly because I'm just amazed that there are people who are capable of engineering this kind of chaos into something useful. Not sure if that's what he meant.

I would really like to get a handle on all this, but I'm thinking now that I would have to retire to do so.

</comment><comment><USER3> Maybe relevant: [https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=208](https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=208)

</comment><comment><USER4> I get that these kind of posts can seem interesting to the software engineers that are predominant on HN, but these kind of articles are ultimately "popular science" articles. They only give the illusion of understanding.

I'm tired of people trying to find or make shortcuts to advanced topics. If you want to truly understanding something, put in the work. Shor's actual paper for this is only 25 pages. You need a strong background in advanced linear algebra and quantum theory to understand it. If you don't know quantum theory and linear algebra, you are fundamentally incapable of understanding Shor's algorithm. It's like trying to understand how compound interest works in finance without understanding what multiplication is. There's no point, you shouldn't even try. It's wasted time, and anyone who says otherwise is missing the point.

If you're serious about wanting to understand advanced topics, put in the damn work. Stop trying to find or make shortcuts. Shortcuts only produce a bunch of know-it-all armchair scientists that think they understand something just because they read a blog post about it. People spend their entire lives studying these topics. Are you so presumptuous?

Don't get me wrong, analogies and novel perspectives can be invaluable learning tools. But they can never be a substitute for the fundamentals, only supplement them.

Anyway, I apologize for the rant. The author is clearly interested in QI and has put a lot of effort into his articles. That is to be applauded. But I caution anyone reading this, or any other article on QI, to be aware of the fact that he or she is reading a shortcut and should not believe that he or she has actually understood Shor's algorithm.

<comment><USER5> OP mentions on the post how it's a simplified explanation. I don't think he's trying to write a textbook on Shor's algorithm here.

Also, a subject's complexity is no excuse to not try and explain it in an accessible way. I find it far-fetched that someone would read a blog post on QC and then assume they're a specialist; and if they do it's not the author's fault. Articles like this help present the field to non-specialists, it allows people to have a basic understanding of Shor's without having to go through years of education/training.

Finally, saying "these kind of articles are ultimately "popular science"" makes me question whether you actually put in the work to read this.

<comment><USER4> I agree with your general sentiment regarding making advanced topics accessible. But since you proof-read the article, I hope you are not suggesting that knowledge of Hadamard gates should be considered as "accessible."

In any case, the main reason why I think of this article as "popular science" is because it fails to even attempt to explain quantum fourier transforms in layman's terms. The author even admits that such an explanation is beyond the scope of the article and instead uses the analogy of audio signal processing to draw an analogy between audio signals and QFT, hand-waving at some connection between the two solely by virtue of the fact that both use Fourier transforms. I am sorry, but I have seen this cliche way too many times--that quantum physics and music/audio are somehow intertwined and can be used as analogies for each other, just because of the fact that both can be described as waves? In the end, the most essential part is left unexplained, and only a vague analogy with a more familiar system (audio) is drawn, leaving only an imprint of false understanding. Popular science.

Since QFT is a prerequisite for quantum factoring, in my opinion this article does not explain a thing. Sure, people may become more interested in QI after reading this article, but in that case, let's be honest about what this article is: an advertisement, not an explanation. Show me a macroscopic system that exhibits true wave-particle duality and can be used as an analogy for quantum systems, then I'll take it seriously.

<comment><USER6> >Show me a macroscopic system that exhibits true wave-particle duality and can be used as an analogy for quantum systems, then I'll take it seriously.

With the "true" in that sentence, we might be dealing with some moving goalposts, but this[0] is a well-known classical system which behaves similarly to a Bohmian description of QM and also exhibits interference, etc, on double-slit experiments.

\-----

[0] [https://arxiv.org/pdf/1401.4356.pdf](https://arxiv.org/pdf/1401.4356.pdf)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Google Personalized Search -- A New Challenge for SEO - <AUTHOR> http://wisdomtalks.com/google-personalized-search-a-new-challenge-for-seo/ Google has raised a new bigger challenge for SEO Professionals. Personalized Search. How can we know the behavior of Users? <comment><USER2> Agreed that Social Media Can be used to defeat this Google move. Thanks for your opinion, it really give to fight this Google challenge..

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Google has raised a new bigger challenge for SEO Professionals. Personalized Search. How can we know the behavior of Users?</comment>


Exiv2, performant media metadata library, is looking for a lead maintainer - <AUTHOR> http://dev.exiv2.org/news/3 <comment><AUTHOR> Exiv2 is widely used by KDE Desktop, Dolphin, Konqueror, Darktable, DigiKam, GIMP, GwenView, PhotoFlow, etc. The current core maintainer, Robin Mills, is a very seasoned Adobe computer scientist. He is very active and helpful in mentoring contributors. This is a great opportunity for anyone wishing to work on a major part of graphics software.</comment>


How to build a handwriting reader from scratch with deep learning - <AUTHOR> https://nanonets.com/blog/handwritten-character-recognition/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hey guys, here's the updated URL: [https://nanonets.com/blog/handwritten-form- ocr-handwriting-r...](https://nanonets.com/blog/handwritten-form-ocr- handwriting-recognition/)

</comment><comment><USER2> Hello, I am the author of this article

OCR is considered a solved problem in general but not in entirety

A key component of it, Handwriting recognition is still a challenging problem.

Handwriting Text Recognition(HTR) is the task of recognizing handwritten human text

It involves using both Computer Vision and NLP

Every person has a different style of handwriting, thus solving the task of HTR is much more difficult than OCR

In this article I cover the progress of various techniques involved in solving HTR and all the SOTA models

In addition, I have discussed the way to train your own HTR model on your own dataset

Happy to discuss more if you have any queries about handwritten text recognition

<comment><USER3> Why not use the industry standard acronyms? ICR intelligent character recognition is the term for extracting handwritten characters.

<comment><USER3> Apologies, I see you clarify in the article.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Sort of off-topic, but an interesting angle on handwriting recignition-- The Sony DPT-RP1 digital paper system has a stylus for handwritten notes and highlighting. They do not have handwriting recognition; however, there is a search feature to find occurrences in your document of handwritten characters _star_ and _asterisk_. Personally, I would like to see these two tokens expanded to a customizable set of handwritten search tokens. The Remarkable tablet's SDK was recently discussed [1] here at HN, and this article is inspiring in this regard.

[1]: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295443](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24295443)

<comment><USER5> I don't think it's off topic :) This is a really useful and I suspect under- rated feature. There was a similar feature in an older version of the Livescribe digital pen software. You could search for any text string, without having run the handwriting to text function. This was incredibly useful as you could search for terms not in the dictionary (so for example in my lab book I could search for gene names that handwriting to text would routinely scramble).

Sadly they removed it, and I've never seen anything similar again (with the exception of the DTP-RP1 example you mention).

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> What a great write up! This looks like an amazingly fun topic to work on.</comment>


The Britney Spears Problem - <AUTHOR> http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/the-britney-spears-problem/1

<comment><USER2> I enjoyed this. Would most large scale applications of these ideas happen with Hadoop? Any other software I should be aware of for, e.g., estimating frequencies in a large text stream?

</comment><comment><USER3> Ignore the name - this is a clearly-written introduction to stream processing algorithms.</comment>


What's Obscene? Google Could Have an Answer - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/technology/24obscene.html?_r=1&oref=slogin <comment><AUTHOR> >In the trial of a pornographic Web site operator, the defense plans to show that residents of Pensacola are more likely to use Google to search for terms like "orgy" than for "apple pie" or "watermelon."

Where would you go to get a legally admissible version of that information?

[http://www.google.com/trends?q=orgy&ctab=0&geo=US...](http://www.google.com/trends?q=orgy&ctab=0&geo=US&geor=usa.fl&date=all&sort=0) doesn't seem to do it.</comment>


Ask HN: Do you get most of your karma with submissions or comments? - <AUTHOR> I've had an account for nearly 2 years and I have 180 karma. I comment occasionally and submit very rarely. I find that I've had more luck commenting than submitting. What are your findings? <comment><USER2> helpful comments usually with a link or some kind of fact. although, if you find a great piece of content early you might get a ton of karma.

</comment><comment><USER3> commenting works better for me as well</comment>


Outdated Browser - <AUTHOR> http://outdatedbrowser.com

<comment><USER2> Seems like it has potential. The interesting part is how users will react to the suggestion to update. (If you're at a business where you don't control your PC and you can't update, then it may just be frustrating.)

</comment><comment><USER3> Very nice project. I'm late to the party but here's my upvote! :)</comment>


Do you think Satyendra Nath Bose should get a posthomous Nobel Prize too? - <AUTHOR> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Nath_Bose

<comment><USER2> What do you mean by "too"? The Nobel Prize is not given posthumously. The recent exception with Steinman was made when the Nobel Prize Committee didn't know that the person had died just a few days previous. Bose died many decades ago.

So the answer is a firm and absolute "no."</comment>


The Hercules System/370, ESA/390, and Z/Architecture Emulator - <AUTHOR> http://www.hercules-390.org/ <comment><USER2> Interestingly, the guys who hacked the bank mainframes[1] in Europe used Hercules and bootleg copies of z/os to find the exploits they used.

[1] [https://www.pcworld.com/article/2034733/pirate-bay- cofounder...](https://www.pcworld.com/article/2034733/pirate-bay-cofounder- charged-with-hacking-ibm-mainframes-stealing-money.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> IBM should buy this and offer some modified licensing for their various mainframe OS offerings that would encourage some developer community. Some sort of "unrestricted for non commerical use" clause.

As is, it's a nice emulator that you can't really use legally with anything other than an ancient version of MVS or similar.

<comment><USER4> IBM already has an official Z emulator they could offer for free non- commercial use, if they wanted:

[https://www.ibm.com/us-en/marketplace/z-systems- development-...](https://www.ibm.com/us-en/marketplace/z-systems-development- test-environment)

<comment><USER5> Starting at $4,780.00 USD* per year

Ouch!</comment></comment></comment>


NLRB Dismisses Northwestern University Football Players' Petition to Unionize - <AUTHOR> https://casetext.com/links/mrjg9qy8ytltarma9tz0r95t

<comment><USER2> This isn't a final decision. And it seems partly related to the unique situation where the NLRB doesn't have full jurisdiction over all parties.

If I'm reading it right, the NLRB doesn't want to introduce an unfair scenario where players at some universities have some rights and players at other universities don't have these rights. But of course that could just be redirection.

</comment><comment><USER3> I find this concept of petitioning to be allowed to unionize to be weird. What stops them from just doing it? Form an organization, select some leadership, and go.

<comment><USER4> They essentially did that (hence the petition). This is a federal regulator deciding not to recognize them.

<comment><USER5> > This is a federal regulator deciding not to recognize them.

The downside to this being fewer legal protections in the case of, say, a strike?

<comment><USER6> or arbitration rights

(for example the NFLPA can bring Tom Brady's 'DeflateGate' appeal to a federal judge for an appeal under federal labor relations laws)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I feel that profitable Division 1 athletic teams should pay their athletes the same as top tier internship contracts (GOOG, MSFT, FB, etc). Why is one student allowed to profit from talent and hard work while another is explicitly forbidden to do so?

<comment><USER8> Spin them off as separate companies and you're onto something good ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> In the future when universities no longer exist, college football will be cited as a big reason why.

<comment><USER10> The NFL really needs to start a proper feeder league, like MLB, the NHL or the NBA has started to do with the D League. Most teams already have a sort of "shadow roster," between their practice squad guys and the unemployed veterans and rookie free agents that are on speed-dial for when injuries or suspensions strike.

The NFL is, despite the bone-headed direction by the league office, a money- printing machine, and that's with a season lasting less than half the calendar year. There's a big chunk of the sports year that is a complete waste-land, between the end of the NBA/NHL finals and the start of NFL preseason, and the American public is desperate for football. Just look at how the completely manufactured Deflate-gate "scandal" has pumped up football, for all its ridiculousness. The wear-and-tear on the athletes would be a problem for a late-spring/summer league schedule - particularly for any standouts that continued on to play in the NFL in the fall. But there's more than enough talent that's just at the edges of NFL-levels to provide an entertaining product.

Of course, the bigger issue is that NFL players have probably the rawest deal in pro sports. Mediocre veteran baseball players can command double-digit million, fully guaranteed contracts, while the average veteran NBA player makes something north of 4-5 million, also fully guaranteed. Meanwhile, even star NFL players have the bulk of their contracts non-guaranteed, and can be cut with little liability if their production dips due to bad luck or injury, in possibly the most violent and injury-prone major sport, which leaves many ex-players walking vegetables.

<comment><USER9> _...the bigger issue is that NFL players have probably the rawest deal in pro sports._

...with the possible exception of 4-year D1 college players who don't play "pro" ball. They've still had a decade of wear-and-tear on still-developing joints and brains, and the conferences, channels, and advertisers (not so much the colleges) have made bank off their labor, while they've seen not a cent.</comment></comment></comment>


Twitter is 'ghost' deleting tweets without informing users - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4244648/Twitter-ghost-deleting-tweets-without-informing-users.html <comment><USER2> I thought dailymail would be banned.</comment>


Ask YC: How do you feel about offline press/marketing for your startup? - <AUTHOR>

As we try and focus more on customer acquisition and marketing (my cofounder is working on the product, dont worry!), I'd like to see what the HN community thinks about offline marketing?<p>Our core audience is the mainstream news reading public rather than early adopters or techies. As such, we're starting to reach out to mainstream journalists to try and get press coverage in their respective newspapers or local websites. Have people had success with this approach? I know Weebly has gotten some amazing mainstream press coverage - part of my inspiration was reading their blogposts about it. <comment><USER2> I think getting some good online coverage can lead to traditional press coverage. However, that said, there are a lot of good strategies to get direct PR from traditional outlets. The bulk of it seems to be creating narratives that people can easily pick up on. I'd check out Full-Frontal PR as a good guidebook.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great, will definitely check it out. Agreed on the narrative. You always need a good story to tell, and I feel like traditional press/readers need a different story than the web crowd. I guess thats obvious since our target users probably haven't heard of Digg or NetVibes or any of these popular web 2.0 service.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Many startups have spent millions on such advertising without much success. If you pay for it, it is expensive and often poor ROI.

Instead, I'd try to get organic mentions/articles based on the USPs of your offering or some quirky/funny story the press love to write about. Learn from the early days of milliondollarhomepage (<http://milliondollarhomepage.com/blog-archive.php>), weebly, and other successful startups/ventures that grew mainly due to organic media exposure.

<comment><USER4> Mostly, poor ROI is due to bad targeting. Advertising on NBC and advertising in "Mississippi Dog Breaders" journal are worlds apart.

<comment><USER3> Getting the demographic and targeting right is hard as most of them don't know who their consumers are or are too vague?</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: GUI for Data Modeling with Elasticsearch - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/appbaseio/gem/blob/dev/README.md <comment><USER2> Nice! But not sure GEM is a good idea for a name. Searching for "elasticsearch gem" is going to be dominated by the Ruby client

</comment><comment><USER3> One of the contributers here:

GEM is at the first step towards true data modeling where it makes the mappings process very accessible. For someone coming from a SQL background, mappings in Elasticsearch are interesting because of it's nature of being both a search engine and a data store suited for aggregations.

Would love it to eventually have some intelligence and heuristics built in, like recommending what data types to choose, data normalization patterns.

<comment><USER4> DAMNIT.

Been working on my own spin on this sort of GUI internally for my company. Are you guys actively taking pull requests? I would much rather contribute to a more finished application

<comment><USER3> It's in active development. We would love PRs that are aligned, what areas are you looking to contribute in?

<comment><USER4> Going through the code right now and seeing what you guys have/need.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I am trying to connect ES 2.3.3

Nothing happens, in chrome console I see those errors :

XMLHttpRequest cannot load [http://localhost:9200/myindex/_settings](http://localhost:9200/myindex/_settings). Response to preflight request doesn't pass access control check: A wildcard '*' cannot be used in the 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' header when the credentials flag is true. Origin '[http://opensource.appbase.io'](http://opensource.appbase.io') is therefore not allowed access. The credentials mode of an XMLHttpRequest is controlled by the withCredentials attribute.

I can use elastic-head to connect local elasticsearch service. I did cors settings in elastic configuration file.

<comment><USER3> @serguzest: Updated the instructions for using as an Elasticsearch plugin - [https://github.com/appbaseio/gem/blob/dev/README.md#install-...](https://github.com/appbaseio/gem/blob/dev/README.md#install- as-elasticsearch-plugin). If you still see the error, feel free to file an issue.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> While this thread is still active, I would like to share more context around the project:

GEM is built as an auxiliary app to go along with mirage[0] and dejavu[1]. Together, the three can be used to model data, perform CRUD operations and compose queries.

[0]: [https://github.com/appbaseio/mirage](https://github.com/appbaseio/mirage)

[1]: [https://github.com/appbaseio/dejavu](https://github.com/appbaseio/dejavu)</comment>


OrCam: artifical vision for people with visual disabilities - <AUTHOR> http://www.orcam.com/

<comment><USER2> As someone who is blind this sounds too good to be true and I will not be dropping $2500 on what will most likely be a complete waste. If it can help me find street crossings, tell me when a light changes, and pin point specific entrances in heavily built up areas like strip malls I would pay what they're asking in a minute. What intrigues me about this is using bone conduction to provide the information. My blindness is caused by a significantly underdeveloped optic nerve so the current development in the area of having cameras directly providing visual input to the brain will not work for me. Even if this device is vaporware hopefully the use of bone conduction technology may lead to something more useful in the future beside Bluetooth earphones I can pair with my iPhone.</comment>


Who needs a CPU? Phase change memory acts as an analog computer (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/10/who-needs-a-cpu-phase-change-memory-acts-as-an-analog-computer/ <comment><USER2> I am doing an internship in the lab where the cited paper was produced right now :-D

If anyone has questions, I'll do my best to answer or relay(maybe tomorrow though as it is late here). There also was a related discussion about 2 months ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16894818](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16894818)

<comment><USER3> Is analog computing reproducible? Digital computing is kind of founded on the idea that running the same program twice will give the same results (i.e. determinism), but it seems to me that analog computing might simply fail to make that guarantee. Is that correct? And if so, have the implications and workarounds been investigated at all?

<comment><USER4> I expect within bounds... this already exists in floating point operations. Look up distributed games programming, x86, PPC etc for some meaty details, but the gist of it is to never trust the exact value, rather look for values within a suitable range.

Interesting take though - with analog computing, this problem would be everywhere rather than in certain special cases. There probably is some funky math we can use to describe and talk about on HN in the year 2029?

<comment><USER3> That it would be everywhere was exactly my point; I started listing all the sources of unpredictability in my comment but then I figured that wasn't necessary so I didn't go on that tangent. But yes, threading, floating point, RNGs, cache timing, etc. are all sources of randomness we deal with, but a computer where pretty much /any/ computation has to deal with randomness is a whole new ball game so far as I can tell.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This reminds of me Chris Domas' compiler that always outputs the same text segment:

[https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/reductio](https://github.com/xoreaxeaxeax/reductio)

</comment><comment><USER6> Hacking possibilities increase if even simple devices turn out to be Turing Complete. "Help, my flashlight emptied my bank account!"

<comment><USER7> > if even simple devices turn out to be Turing Complete

It's not hard to find "simple" devices that are turing complete, 2d cellular automata (with the correct rule) are turring complete for example and they are incredibly simple.

This is related to a notion Wolfram has been exploring and trying to explain for some time, which is that contrary to our previous beliefs (or most people's current beliefs especially the engineers perspective), complex devices are not needed to produce complex behaviour, in nature it is very common for simple systems to produce complex behaviour, including the ability of simple systems to compute... to the point that often these systems look like random noise might have been introduced, but in fact they are completely deterministic (think systems exploited by PRNGs).

<comment><USER8> "in nature it is very common for simple systems to produce complex behaviour, including the ability of simple systems to compute"

I'm reminded of another recent HN thread about the "intelligence" of single living cells. Whether or not you think they are actually "intelligent", they are clearly capable of complex behavior without being governed by rigid parameters and yet are obviously molecular machines that seem tantalizingly close to being analyzable by humans.</comment></comment></comment>


Dear Mom, I'm a Techie - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/p/9849fefc9abb

<comment><USER2> P.S., Mom, please buy a Mac. I don't know how to use WindowsXP anymore... :P

<comment><USER3> considering she plastered a massive picture of "ctrl+alt+delete" pillows as her background/herounit I think that's unlikely</comment></comment>


Show HN: HN Mail – A topic-based newsletter service for Hacker News - <AUTHOR> https://hnmail.io/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hello HN,

Hacker News is a wonderful source of information which continues to inspire me to explore and learn. Given tons of posts are created everyday, sometimes it could be difficult to keep up with stories that I'm interested in, wouldn't it be great to be able to collect and digest stories regularly based on my own interests?

To solve this problem, I built a "smart" weekly newsletter service which delivers HN content based on topics/keywords. I find it pretty useful to me, so I want to share it with you guys in case you need it.

<comment><USER2> Great project! The hot topics tags/link are not working.

<comment><AUTHOR> Is it working now? It should open HN Algolia search page.

<comment><USER3> It works

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I have set up an IFTTT recipe that emails me whenever a new content is created on HN, based on the keyword(s) chosen by me. And it mails on the same day.

Worked perfectly so far. But I'll give yours a try too. :)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a clever idea! To check new content, there would be some kind of service checking HN posts repeatedly I suppose?

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Looks interesting. Does the 'hot topics' section list all available tags or are there more?

When choosing tags, it would help if I could see which tags you're giving to specific stories on HN.

<comment><AUTHOR> Only top 50 tags are displayed.

At this moment, a tag/topic is simply the keyword when you do search on HN. I agree it's going to be more helpful to choose tags if it shows related stories.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This might be very helpful. Will subscribing to 'blockchain' get me everything from 'bitcoin'? How are topics identified, seeing as HN doesn't have native tagging?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not necessarily. Currently a topic is simply the keyword when you do search on HN powered by Algolia.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Is there a list of keywords possible or can i input anything?

<comment><AUTHOR> You can input anything you want, but it's recommended to use keywords that show up frequently in HN titles.</comment></comment>


How the oil industry made us doubt climate change - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53640382 <comment><USER2> The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was getting the average person to blame themselves and not corporations for climate change.

The numbers simply don't add up for a consumer oriented solution to make any sense.

<comment><USER3> I mean, who is consuming the products built with these resources? The corporations aren't building them for fun, or each other.

<comment><USER4> corporations are building these products and then paying other corporations to convince people that they need to buy these disposable products made from nonrenewable and unsustainable resources.

We wouldn't buy the dumb shit that we use if we weren't convinced that we needed it by marketers.

<comment><USER5> It seems that you have become quite aware of the people that are trying to convince you to buy all these things. Now that you know this, are there steps you are taking to become less convincable?

<comment><USER6> You're pivoting right back to blaming the individual.

Why is it my responsibility to not be convinced - but if those companies are bombarding me with propaganda each day, backed by state-of-the-art psychology, that's perfectly fine?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> All those tobacco, oil and paint executives retired with their $millions untouched, despite millions of deaths laid right at their doorsteps.

Shoot up a Walmart, though, or crash one plane, and the nation goes on a rampage.

Laws already on the books allow those executives to be charged personally. I want a Justice Department that will use the law to take on the killers of millions.

<comment><USER8> > Shoot up a Walmart ... and the nation goes on a rampage.

And rightly so. The most prominent recent example of that was motivated by racism against Hispanics. It was terrorism.

Using that as a foil for real crimes by those industry executives (whom I agree in a better society should be held to justice for their actions) reads like an apologism of one type of mass murder for another.

There are far lesser crimes - like selling crack - that are far better examples of the unequal application of justice.

<comment><USER7> Stay with me here: killing thousands or millions of people, by slow death from cancer, is _strictly worse_ than killing tens at your local retailer.

Has even a single tobacco or coal executive been arraigned for murder?

Is killing millions for profit less bad than killing tens for bigotry?

<comment><USER8> > Is killing millions for profit less bad than killing tens for bigotry?

I'm saying it's a pointless comparison. They're both horrendous crimes and should both be punished and justice pursued for their victims. I agree with you that it's a crying shame that killing millions for profit does not get punished.

A much better for foil to make your point - which I agree is a valid one - would be the number of people in prisons for nonviolent offenses thanks to things like 3-strikes laws, not bigoted murderers.

<comment><USER7> That is avoiding the issue. Avoiding is exactly how we got here.

<comment><USER8> Are you advocating that we treat bigotry-motivated mass murder as occurred at the El Paso Walmart more leniently (as a society and in the justice system), just because we are failing to hold the even greater crimes accountable? That is the implied subtext of your original comment, at least as I read it.

If that's not what you are advocating, then I'd argue the Walmart shooter is a poorly chosen example, and that we are in agreement about the overall issue (lack of accountability for very wealthy executives whose businesses have caused the death of tons of people).

<comment><USER7> I said not one word about El Paso. Inventing leniency advocacy is not honest.

Still, the whole scene was entirely within the capabilities of the El Paso PD. You know about it only because it was lurid, not because it had any effect on you at all (presuming you don't shop at that Walmart).

A million cancer cases for corporate profit are not lurid enough, evidently.

A national response to cases _like_ El Paso would crack down on right-wing nutjobs, but that (too) is absolutely not happening. That is a problem with the FBI, not the DoJ, and is another worthy topic, but not this one.

The DoJ already have all they need to empanel grand juries and issue indictments.

<comment><USER8> > You know about it only because it was lurid, not because it had any effect > on you at all (presuming you don't shop at that Walmart).

As someone who has on many occasions been the recipient of physical intimidation and harassment by white supremacists, I assure you it affects me when it happens to others, in whatever degree.

> A national response to cases like El Paso would crack down on right-wing > nutjobs, but that (too) is absolutely not happening. That is a problem with > the FBI

The FBI are getting a little bit of pushback on that from DoJ's boss:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/us/politics/fbi- russia.ht...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/us/politics/fbi-russia.html)

There is an active whistleblower complaint from within DHS that the administration-appointed heads of that department are trying to suppress release of assessments of the white supremacist threat:

[https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/homeland-security- whi...](https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/homeland-security- whistleblower/0819ec9ee29306a5/full.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Dupe of [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24535374](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24535374)

</comment><comment><USER10> The number one problem with climate science is that it's not falsifiable in the same way that physics or biology is falsifiable.

<comment><USER11> That seems unsupportable. Climate models make predictions and those predictions can be checked later. In fact the results are in, and despite what deniers claim, the models are not overstating the problem. If you doubt that, watch this video:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwqXKHLrGk&t=2s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwqXKHLrGk&t=2s)

"Gah, just another youtube idiot", I can hear you say. But here is the difference. The guy is a geologist by degree and spent his career as a science reporter. He repeatedly says: don't believe me, just like you shouldn't believe the press reporting on it (which is always prone to simplistic summaries and hyperbole). What sets him apart, besides his level tone, is he reads primary sources (and encourages you to do so too) and cites all of his sources, unlike just about every denialist. If he later finds out he has some fact wrong, he happily admits it and posts the correction prominently in the video description.

As far as physics and biology ... those are very broad fields and some of it is falsifiable and some not.

<comment><USER10> Please read Popper.</comment></comment></comment>


Launch of Sequencing.com: Apps powered by the app user's genes - <AUTHOR> https://sequencing.com <comment><USER2> As having a large DB and a slew of analytics built and tested...just to start with...we are aligned in many ways (competition???, maybe from a surface perception). We are launching our "Core" and various "Interaction Points" sooner than later..but I'd Like to converse one, by asking you, since in general the way one would perceive your company via your site, your a "SILO" for collecting and holding and protecting some of the most valuable data that could exist (We understand the levity of that), so the "ask" is: Opensource? Do you own your entire physical data servers and it's backups and locations in which the reside, and mostly...how do you verify the data to the owner? A 23&ME report and raw data etc...would be easier by some to submit under false identification to "sway" results for a variety of reasons and outcomes. This has been one of our largest targets to nail down and after 3 years of being a brain cancer survivor, genetic tested on many different levels (whole, exome, specific, etc) and ran this along with the 100, we like where we are...

this is purely a curious mind talking here with something very dear to me and after looking at your site I see alot of momentum and great things.

to the gen audience...I believe, bc I too created a company that (in a broader way) has added this component to our project...this @ Sequence.com is a good thing, and in basic principle we all need to contribute (FYI, the world needs a large sample of "Healthy" DNA contributions to have a better end result) - - long winded me today,

what would you need to contribute?: monetization? control? real-time sharing/use of notification? level of security?

what would make you absolutely say no? never!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Sequencing.com apps analyze genes and provide valuable information that can be used to protect your health and longevity.

If you've had any type of genetic testing, including whole genome and exome sequencing or services such as 23andMe, Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA or National Geographic, Sequencing.com now enables you to obtain a lot more value from your genes.

Are you a developer? Sequencing.com's Real-Time Personalization API allows your app to provide each app user with a genetically-tailored user experience.</comment>


Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones - <AUTHOR> http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/08/spat_with_rogers_leaves_canadian_apple_stores_without_iphones.html <comment><USER2> Hopefully whoever wins the wireless spectrum auction (<http://agora.ic.gc.ca/AuctionGCLF_BTS/bidderResults.cfm>) will change the Canadian market by introducing competitive rates. I'm betting on Videotron.

Also, what is the CRTC doing... they should realize something is wrong in the Canadian telco industry.

<comment><USER3> I came to Canada from India. India is experiencing a telecom revolution right now because of the intense competition b/w the telcos. The call rates have dropped 10-30 times in the last 7-8 years. I was appalled at the cell phone rates here in canada.

<comment><USER4> Yes, telecom sucks in canada. Woo, bad publicity for rogers!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> From what I can tell, Canadian Apple Stores were never going to sell the iPhone. They were always going to sell only in Fido/Rogers stores:

\- <http://todmaffin.com/iphonerumours> \- <http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone/buy/> \- [http://126.96.36.199/search?q=cache:5OL_NN1y3BoJ:www.apple....](http://18.104.22.168/search?q=cache:5OL_NN1y3BoJ:www.apple.com/ca/iphone/buy/+http://www.apple.com/ca/iphone/buy/&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=safari)

</comment><comment><USER6> This is really sad.

Unlimited data here in the UK, and that's how it should be. You even get free access to the cloud network of wifi spots which are dotted around most towns/cities. 600 minutes, and 500 sms for £35. 18 month contract.

I really don't know how Rogers can get away with charging so much for so little.

</comment><comment><USER7> Before Rogers announced the rates, I'd even deluded myself into believing that maybe the iPhone would usher in somewhat more reasonable data rates here. Fuckers.

Anyone want to start a Canadian mobile WiMAX company with me?

</comment><comment><USER8> Not like there are many Apple stores in Canada, but does the 10-20 unit sanction apply to each rogers store as well? In that case..the launch is going to be a complete flop, I couldn't be happier.

<comment><USER6> It sold out within a few minutes in the UK. It just depends how good your countries network is I guess.

Rogers certainly seems to be shooting itself in the foot a bit.</comment></comment>


The Substance Found in Pencils will Speed Up our Computers One Thousand Fold - <AUTHOR> http://hplusmagazine.com/articles/toys-tools/graphene-next

<comment><USER2> As it quite often happens it's better to read wikipedia article:

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

than to suffer through things like "substance found in pencils"

<comment><USER3> I hate how science writers get to the part of the article where they have to write about why it is useful. They usually start dipping into their stock cliché material. This one is particularly bad. The whole last half of the article is junk.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Check this out, it sounds like it might be fairly near term stuff, e.g. Fujitsu is depositing it on Si wafers, IBM has preliminary (large and hopefully slow) 30GHz test transistors, which is where Si maxes out according to a linked article at the bottom.</comment>


Ask HN: Good alternative to Gmail? - <AUTHOR>

Looking to drop Google from my life where possible. The big one is email - can anyone suggest a great web based email alternative that is not Hotmail...
CLARIFICATION: Not just any email service, but a feature rich version <comment><USER2> _If_ hosting your own e-mail is OK (or you can get an IMAP account somewhere) but you want a GMail-esque Web interface, <http://roundcube.net/> is worth a look.

Further, a very popular "full service" alternative I've seen recommended a lot and have had recommended to me (yet I haven't used it ;-)) is <http://www.fastmail.fm/> \- worth checking out anyway.

<comment><USER3> FastMail's spam protection is ineffective. I have a secondary account with them, and the amount of spam I receive is unbelievable.

<comment><USER4> That's funny because I have never gotten a single spam email on my fastmail account ever (and yes I do use it on a regular basis).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why not run your own sendmail ( or whatever ) server? It's not difficult, or expensive with most modern hosting plans, and provides great flexibility and learning.

<comment><USER6> When did sendmail become "not difficult"? I thought it was one of the largest and hardest to configure daemons out there.

<comment><USER7> I've heard bad things about sendmail (hard to configure, but had also a ton of vulns in the past); though I have no experience or hard evidence.

However, I have had good experiences with (and have done my due diligence on) Postfix (and Dovecot) for mail services.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I asked myself the same question, and the best fit I found was zimbra. It's ajax-powered and open source. I use it for SMB clients and host it for them on a VPS. If you're looking for something simple for your personal mail there are several places that host it for $4-$5 /month. <http://zimbra.com>

</comment><comment><USER9> I know you said not hotmail, but have you tried the new version? it's pretty feature rich, revamped to compete with Gmail (I use Gmail myself, but it seems good)

If you are willing to pay, you may be able to buy a hosted Microsoft Exchange email? Exchange 2010 has an awesome web interface, and exchange calendar etc support is great.

</comment><comment><USER10> indeed i can please check out MiniG <http://code.google.com/p/minig/> its meant to do what you want exactly. If you have a Duuit! account then its the included email service with smtp, imap, xmpp, and web clients.

<comment><USER11> Not to imply that this makes MiniG any worse, but I love the idea of "I'm making a stand against Google, let's see... ooh look, Google Code!"

<comment><USER10> Well i got a alternative to google code as well, check out indefero <http://www.indefero.net/> I actually spent a good bit of time last year finding all the alternatives for google products and have implemented most of them.

<comment><USER11> Personally I have no problem using Google products, and if I did have then I'd go with github (in fact, I'd go with github over Google Code now, too). Just found it funny that the project offered as a solution to not wanting to use Google was hosted by Google.

<comment><USER10> If github were open source i might consider it as well but as it isnt i am avoiding product lockin by using indefero, setup was easy and its basically a git version of google code so its familiar for most users.

<comment><USER12> The concept of distributed version control makes vendor lockin on a product like GitHub almost a moot point. For instance, see the _why mirror: <http://github.com/whymirror> \- while not the same situation, it is similar.

GitHub's issues and wiki pages are not included in your repository, although I know the issues have a very nice API (I'm not sure about the wiki).

<comment><USER10> Software management via git isnt locked in i am referring to the issues, wiki and project management pieces.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I've had very good success with GMX <[http://gmx.com/>](http://gmx.com/>). GUI is very similar to desktop e-mail clients and spam filters are very good. (I still think Yahoo's spam filters are the best.)

<comment><USER14> I used to have a gmx.net (same folks as gmx.com, but the site only existed in German back then) account a long, looong time back (late 90s, IIRC). It wasn't too popular back then, so I got <firstname>@gmx.net pretty easily.

I didn't know a whit of German, but they had made a half-assed attempt at an English translation, which I actually made do with, because it was so awesome otherwise (superb interface for its time, POP3 access, open SMTP which didn't seem to get raped by script kiddies - and all this for free). The translation was missed out at certain points, but at least it made me look up words like _ubernehmen_ and _abbrechen_.

Then one sad, SAD day, after I'd been a steadfast user for nearly 3 years, they sent an email to everyone saying they were shutting down the half-English site completely, and leaving only the German interface up. It was a really nice email too, in which they hoped the users would take this as an opportunity to learn a bit more German. Sadly I was just about finishing up with high school then and headed off to college, and didn't really have the time or energy to tinker with learning a new language as well, so it was with a heavy heart that I bid farewell to my beloved gmx.net account, after downloading all of my email into (one of the more under-rated Windows email clients of its time) Calypso.

Just created an account there again for old times sake, but I wasn't able to get <firstname>@gmx.com this time :(

</nostalgia>

<comment><USER15> however these days you have to pay even for imap access. also the interface isn't that clean anymore and the whole site is filled up with ads. oh and you get gmx-ad mails all the time.

<comment><USER14> POP3 still seems to be free though :-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Zoho or Zimbra do a good job, I think. Plus will extend your non-gmail ajax-y world beyond just e-mail.

I think a big problem with running your own server is that things can go down! Yes, hosted solutions do too, but I think generally most serious providers have a bigger incentive for uptime than a personal box -- especially if that box is in my garage. I'd use my own machines for FTP and demos, but not for something like e-mail. (Or, if I did, I'd be sure to have a back-up redirect, where something else would forward the mail in and maintain survivability. I do this with my gmail anyway.)

</comment><comment><USER17> If you're at all technically inclined (presumed given your presence here :), getting an ISP that gives shell, email, web is pretty straightforward (and worthwhile). I've been basically happy with PHP Webhosting (<http://www.phpwebhosting.com/>).

</comment><comment><USER18> I just tried zoho with my gmail account... seems pretty good to me.

</comment><comment><USER19> why are you dropping google? e.g. would Yahoo be acceptable if their client was feature-rich enough? or do you need something hosted in your garage... or at prq.se?

</comment><comment><USER20> Duplicate: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1121269>

</comment><comment><USER21> Has anyone tried Rackspace's webmail? I haven't seen a review of their client and was wondering if it's any good?

<comment><USER7> I used it for a while (and I still have accounts with them). It's pretty good, though it's composer can't create rich text/HTML email. (You can still read and view rich text/HTML email).

<comment><USER21> Wow! that's pretty shitty if it can't create rich text/html e-mail! How hard could that functionality be to add?

Do they have conversations like Gmail? So far no other e-mail client can match Gmail's and I like Outlook but no conversation threading is really a killer (and no 2010's version is no where near as good as Gmails).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> sup mail. <http://sup.rubyforge.org/>

<comment><USER23> Warning: is written in ruby, so might not handle unicode (at least on ruby 1.9) very well. It's reasonably fast these days, however.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> yahoo. Or your ISP.

</comment><comment><USER25> www.google.com/mail

This is great email that i have found .... Give it a gooooooooooooooooo</comment>


Ecuador to Expel Assange Within 'Hours to Days,' WikiLeaks Says - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-05/ecuador-to-expel-assange-within-hours-to-days-wikileaks-says <comment><USER2> > WikiLeaks cited the unidentified person as saying the planned expulsion is a > response to the organization's recent tweet linking to a website that > alleged money laundering and corruption during Ecuadorian President Lenin > Moreno's time as United Nations special envoy for the disabled in Geneva. > Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said last month that the government was "very > surprised" by that and other actions by Assange and his lawyers.

It's generally a bad idea to insult your hosts, and expect to remain in their home.

<comment><USER3> There were all sorts of reports that he was a pretty taxing guest as well. Cleaning, hygiene, etc.

<comment><USER4> As Eric Weinstein put it, "we are standing on shoulders of jerks"[1]. I posted it already here once, but it is such a valuable insight that I think it's worth repeating.

1\. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMIWVOnbo&feature=youtu.be...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeMIWVOnbo&feature=youtu.be&t=553)

<comment><USER5> Thanks for posting this, I hadn't given that thought much time and it was interesting to hear it put so succinctly. In my opinion it's a pretty valid perspective, however, it does create a very narrow definition of genius. I'd suggest that the loud stomps unsavory genius in their sensibilities may very well create a lack of space for the quite, introverted, polite, snowflake philosophical or artistic genius, and that this to me would be equally disappointing. I think a good underlying lens is meeting people where they are, whoever they are.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Free Manning, free Assange and free Snowden.

These 3 individuals have shown the world the corruption and criminal activity our governments engage in and no matter how hard they try to silence them, eventually the truth will show through.

<comment><USER7> I agree with free Snowden. But Manning and Assange had a history of leaking unredacted personal information that is indefensible. In the case of Manning, I might add that the leak didn't show any major wrong doing. It illustrated some case of collateral damage, which we always knew (and the US military keeps public records of). It showed the underbelly of the US diplomacy, which turns out to be rather clean (some ambassadors commenting that the memos look generally very insightful and professional). And it caused some red faces of people who shared thoughts with US diplomats in confidence, and I don't see how that could possibly be a good thing. Assange and Manning is really leaking for the sole purpose of leaking.

<comment><USER8> Manning revealed war crimes, yet the only person who went to prison was Manning.

That's all we need to know really. The system is broken und unable to fix itself.

Edit: Free Reality Winner

<comment><USER9> The system is not perfect, but the reason Manning went to jail is because she made an indiscriminate leak of secrets of which she did not review before she released them.

Had she only released material on stuff she had thought to be a crime, then there would have been a much stronger case to be made as a whistle blower.

It would be like if someone working at a hospital exposed a medical fraud scheme but leaked all the patient records of thousands of people who had nothing to do with scheme. They'd probably get hit with criminal HIPAA violations.

The reason Manning is in jail right now is because she refused to testify to a grand jury about WikiLeaks and got hit with contempt of court. She had been given immunity to testify so the jail time is purely on her.

<comment><USER10> > _The system is not perfect, but the reason Manning went to jail is because > she made an indiscriminate leak of secrets of which she did not review > before she released them._

And what gives a government a right to have secrets in the first place? Except itself of course...

<comment><USER11> Normal operation of government is going to require some secrets.

One of the things leaked by Manning was blunt assessments of foreign figures by diplomatic staff. That's exactly the sort of thing that needs to be kept secret for international relations to function.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I still can't believe he has been there for 7 years.

<comment><USER13> If nothing else, his persistence has been fairly impressive.

I'm still bitter that he became so thoroughly partisan, though. Especially since his organization has or had the motto: "to publish fact-based stories without fear or favour".

<comment> black-tea I mean, it's possible that he's lost his mind during the 7 years of imprisonment without trial.

<comment><USER14> He lives in a diplomatic compound that he is free to leave at any moment. He's gone without trial by choice. The real victims here are the poor Ecuadoran diplomatic staff, and his ex-cat.

Oh, and his victims, of course.

<comment><USER15> What victims?

<comment><USER16> His rape victims.

<comment><USER17> This has been disproven, so: citation needed, please...

<comment><USER18> No it hasn't, there hasn't been a trial. That's kinda the whole point of him being in the embassy.

<comment><USER19> Well, the _recent_ immediate point of him being in the trial is avoiding the British bail jumping charges from his flight to the embassy to evade the extradition on the rape charges; the extradition is no longer active.

<comment><USER20> But it could become active again very quickly while he is held by the UK authorities. The rape case is still open afaik.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Free Manning, Free Snowden. these two individuals I support whole heatedly. Snowden needs to come home.

</comment><comment><USER22> There's a live feed of the Ecuadorian Embassy -- I don't remember this happening in the last few expel "scares" (for lack of a better word).

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6a9fgsTfBk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6a9fgsTfBk)

<comment><USER23> This is the actual live HD feed with audio, helpfully provided by our Russian friends from Ruptly: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlqmKcPS0I8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlqmKcPS0I8)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Haven't there been rumors along these lines published on multiple instances in the past? I'll believe it when it happens.

<comment><USER25> In July 2018 he was going to be kicked out "within the next several weeks". Now it's "hours to days", so it's closer.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17582652](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17582652)

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> If you're interested in Assange, check out Andrew O'Hagan's piece 'Ghosting' about being hired to ghost write Assange's autobiography. It's in his collection 'The Secret Life.'

</comment><comment><USER27> How many years holed up in the embassy?

If he ends up serving jail time he won't get his sentence reduced for time spent in the embassy..

Perhaps would have been better off going to jail at the start.

<comment><USER28> >his sentence reduced for time spent

You think they do that in gitmo?

</comment></comment><comment> g-mc dupe? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19578706](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19578706)

<comment><USER29> Considering the other links express.co.uk, it's probably best to let it die...

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> So much pro-western sentiment in the comments, a little shocked, but not surprised

</comment><comment><USER31> Well everyone knows and should accept that you cannot indiscriminately reveal information, to the public (that pays for it with increasing debt loads and taxation on income) for all to know, regarding people who empower an industrial complex that kills and maims people around the world for any classified reason of the day, because god forbid people working in a back- office somewhere for the DOD/State Dept/etc get exposed and face some kind of repercussions for their banal participation in the war circus, the unmourned innocents killed in the wake are just collateral damage and we as citizens already know it happens, just the price of democracy.

Might as well put John Kiriakou, Thomas Drake, and William Binney back in a cell while we're at it.

</comment><comment><USER32> Of all places I don't expect to get the truth about WikiLeaks from WikiLeaks.

I don't find them credible about much, certainly not their own story.

</comment><comment><USER33> His development from a someone with a idea that could have made whistle blowing a trend, to a FSB asset and annoying twitter troll is really...unfortunate. I wonder what his right wing followers in the US will say when US agents pick him up in the UK.

<comment><USER34> The only unfortunate thing is how many people turned on him when he started exposing people who they liked. Turns out that all the people who I thought were on the side of truth in the Bush years were just on the side of Democrats.

<comment><USER33> The guy considered himself some kind of anarchist once. I remember some big speech he had about his independence etc. Now after becoming a cheap tool for the FSB he turned into just another right-wing conspiracy troll on twitter and it's not just "US Democrats" who don't bother about him and his platform anymore. He's just not trustworthy. His platform is not trustworthy. His independence is broken. So why should Democrats side with him?

<comment><USER34> Clinton was predicted to be the next president by everyone. If you had to choose the target of your limited efforts the person who was projected at winning with 70% by the most conservative estimates, and had already turned the middle east into a charnel house, she would have been the one you should spend all your efforts on by any sane calculus.

There should be a name for the mental disorder where you see one group of people being behind everything that's gone wrong with the world. It's probably racism, since s/Russians/Jews/g makes you sound like an anti-semite.

<comment><USER33> So you deliberately chose to ignore the personal/conspiracy/bs dirt he was throwing all over the place even after the Clinton show was over?

I have no idea what you want to say with the second paragraph since even the 4-page summary confirms that the Russians did it.

<comment><USER34> The Clinton show isn't over until Sanders gets the Democratic nomination.

<comment><USER33> Yeah sure and the kids are down in the Pizzeria.

<comment><USER34> That to normal people sounds as ridiculous as the idea that Trump and Assange are Russian assets.

<comment><USER33> Special Counsel found that Russian government actors successfully hacked into computers and obtained emails from persons affiliated with the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party organizations, and publicly disseminated those materials through various intermediaries, including WikiLeaks. Based on these activities, the Special Counsel brought criminal charges against a number of Russian military officers for conspiring to hack into computers in the United States for purposes of influencing the election.

[https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house....](https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/AG%20March%2024%202019%20Letter%20to%20House%20and%20Senate%20Judiciary%20Committees.pdf)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> next stop Moscow I assume?

</comment><comment><USER36> Don't shit where you eat!

</comment><comment><USER37> For the US, the ultimate move at this point would be to do absolutely nothing. Imagine how much of a prat he would look if he's been sitting in that embassy for 7 years for absolutely no reason.

</comment><comment><USER38> Well, I suppose he is learning that the world is a nasty place and that outing the truth has its share of consequences.

<comment><USER39> What an ignorant and snarky comment.

The World IS a vile place not because there is any truth to learn but because the system is made with the intention of deception and corruption.

<comment><USER40> Snarky, maybe, but I wouldn't say it's that ignorant. Truth is just facts. If you're someone approaching it rationally it should empower you to make more informed decisions from then on. But I think we can agree that not everybody react to it or perceive it the same, people sometimes behave in ways completely unexpected. So there truly are consequences to laying it bare. Are all truths good to tell? It depends who you ask and it's often only in hindsight that we figure out that something should better have been disclosed or kept hidden.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Could Russia save him ?

<comment><USER35> they already completed their work with him.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> When was Assange last actually seen or hear from? Some people think he isn't actually alive anymore and/or he's been taken away from the embassy for some time. What evidence do we have that he's actually still at the embassy?

<comment><USER43> He's done this many times, disappeared from the internet for a few weeks. This is the normal state of things. Nobody seriously thinks he's left the embassy already.

<comment><USER42> This is not a "few weeks." They took away his internet access years ago and before that he stopped sending his PGP keys. There has been no "proof of life" for a very long time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> Keep up the great Wikileaks!

"In one of the messages, sent at 6:35 p.m. on the day of the election, Wikileaks wrote, "Hi Don if your father 'loses' we think it is much more interesting if he DOES NOT conceed [sic] and spends time CHALLENGING the media and other types of rigging that occurred—as he has implied that he might do." Wikileaks reportedly claimed contesting the election could help his father further delegitimize the mainstream press and build the new media network he seemingly desired"

Also without Wikileaks no one on planet earth would have never discovered that diplomats sometimes engage in diplomacy __AND __that wars are terrible

<comment><USER6> "created: 33 minutes ago" just to post this?

<comment><USER45> It's not the new accounts to watch out for, they are obvious. Military industrial congressional academic think tank complex (as Ray McGovern has been calling it) psyop sockpuppetry is much more subtle and yes, they are here on HN. Hell, the irony is that their plan to deligitimize Assange was leaked... but people are still falling for it.</comment></comment></comment>


What to know before working at a start-up - <AUTHOR> http://www.thedailymuse.com/career/5-things-to-know-about-working-for-a-start-up/ <comment><USER2> I used to really enjoy working for startups. You get to work on a completely open-ended project from a clean sheet of paper, with a bunch of fun people and the energy that comes from building something fast.

The "risk" that this article talks about was actually a bonus in my mind. It meant that, more often than not, the whole company would suddenly evaporate out from under you at some point and you'd find yourself out on the job market again. Since this is an industry where Changing Jobs == Big Fat Raise, having a chance to do so with a perfectly valid excuse ("we rode our $4M straight into the ground, so here I am") was a definite upside.

Not to mention that finding yourself on the street after 6 months coding non- stop while living on somebody's couch will invariably leave a fella with a nice stack of cash. The sort of cash that goes a long way if one were to squeeze in a quick nine month trip to SE Asia before hopping back aboard the next startup for another fun, fast trip into the side of the mountain.

If you're young, unburdened, and looking to get exposed to a lot of cool tech in a short time (and still get paid for it), joining somebody else's startup is totally the way to go.

<comment><USER3> I must be doing it wrong. Somehow coming out of a startup has never left me with a big wad of cash.

<comment><USER2> Was that startup not paying you a salary while you were working there? Were you somehow managing to spend your entire paycheck every week?

These are the most basic of life skills, and if you find you're not rapidly saving lots of money while making any form of salary greater than $50k/year, that's a big red flag.

Seeing as how a dev worth his salt will be making at least double that, I don't have an answer for you as to why you ended up without any savings after working at a software development job.

Care to elaborate?

<comment><USER3> Well, one way to elaborate is that I have never in my life earned more than $50k/year. Or anywhere close to that for that matter.

Then again, I've never had a salary salary either. The only time I've worked anywhere completely full time, was a two month internship that paid mostly with the fact that "Holy cow I'm spending two months in the US for free, this is awesome!"

These days I freelance ten hours a week while finishing my degree. The pay is good, but there just aren't enough hours to build any sort of proper savings.

<comment><USER2> Ah, that explains it then. Since you said "coming out of a startup", I assumed you'd actually been "in" one. Sounds like you've done a bit of freelancing for clients that happened to be startups, which naturally isn't quite the same thing as working full time for one.

Best of luck building up the hours!

<comment><USER3> I did found a startup once. But as the founder of a flop, I was left financially quite devastated. Took a while to bounce back :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Start-ups have their pick of motivated young professionals, and they're > certainly not afraid of personnel shake-ups. Showing that you can easily > roll with the punches is one way to ensure your success.

This seems to be at odds with the constant complaint of a talent shortage, especially when startups have to compete with the offers made by AmaGooBookSoft. Which is to be believed?

<comment><USER5> My first-hand experience is that line the blog is mostly wrong. Startups are _incredibly_ afraid of attrition, while at the same time eager to cut loose dead weight.

If the company values you and you hold the keys to some aspect of the company's operation, the team is far too small for them to practice poor retention.

On the other hand, with a finite runway and the need to move quickly, if you can't keep up, there's little reason why the company needs to have you on board.

So I suppose it cuts both ways... but if you're a competent employee, I see startup hiring as advantageous for the employee at this point in time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Shame about the emphasis on long hours here. Not all start-ups expect them as a matter of course and I'm not convinced that they're a healthy part of start- up culture or crucial to success.

People should be prepared to be flexible of course, but I'd hate to see long hours perpetuated as part of this cargo cult start-up success myth and expected by default by founders.

<comment><USER7> Can you talk a little more on that? The author's stat of 16 hour days for six months sounds inflated

<comment><USER2> Startup _founders_ sometimes convince themselves that they need to work those sort of hours. Startup _employees_ generally have enough sense not to.

Not to say that I'd balk at working 80 hour weeks for your Startup if that's what you want. So long as you're paying me by the hour, you can have as many of them as you'd like. You'll burn through your capital twice as fast, with considerably less than twice as much product to show for it, but hey, it's your money. I just work here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is vital reading for anyone looking to join a startup, especially if you are coming from a corporate background.

</comment><comment><USER9> There is no better way to describe my situation right now working for a startup. it's my second desk in one month.

</comment><comment><USER10> I worry if people don't know this before joining a startup?

For an employee, surely this would come through the interview process?

<comment><USER11> I think you would be surprised at the number of people who apply for jobs at startups without being aware of _any_ of this. Or, just as bad, who hear about this stuff but don't take it seriously.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> A startup's a great place to be if you're "young at heart"

</comment><comment><USER13> I think, personally, that "the startup scene" is tapped and that it's time to move on. I'm not saying "join big companies". I think it's time to forget this social media bubble idiocy and move back to Real Technology, in companies big and small. Joining a startup doing Real Tech can be a good move, but joining some mummer's jape because "it's a startup" is not.

The most important thing, when joining a company, is to enter one with a real engineering culture. Are the most qualified people making important decisions? Is it going to stay that way? Will _you_ be able to make decisions that affect you? (Expecting to make decisions that affect others, in your first 12 months, is asking a big much.) Too many of these hot startups (and almost all of the VC darlings) have shitty MBA culture. Sure, they have free pizza (at 8:00 pm) and engineers can wear jeans, but the major decisions are still made by the wrong sorts of people.

Also, I think the social media bubble is going to embarrass itself just like the last one did, and I think it's going to splotch a lot of resumes. I think it's wiser to make for Real Technology _now_ rather than in 2015 when a large number of people are trying to do the same because Google is no longer acq- hiring IUsedThisToilet apps for $487 million.

Finally, becoming a subordinate employee at a startup is usually a shitty deal. The stock option on 0.01073% of the company isn't real ownership. It's a lottery ticket. And if you don't know what preferences the investors have, you're in absolutely no position to evaluate the equity even if things do go well. (By the way, my friend had an offer at a VC darling, for 60% of the salary he was making but about 0.25% of the company. When he asked if there were preferences against that equity, the offer was rescinded. I don't know if this is normal, but it is telling.)

There are 4 reasons to join a startup. 1. For a promotion. This can be dicey because the startup might hire people above you as it grows, defeating the purpose of that move. If you join a startup as the first programmer and end up answering to an MBA-toting VP before your equity is fully vested, you've been fucked. Startups have good reasons not to make their first programmers CTOs, but if you're the first programmer, you should absolutely insist on investor contact and lock in a VP-level title. 2. You know and trust the people running the operation. I would say that this is the big one. Startups can be amazing opportunities _if_ you trust the people running the show, and if they trust you to make important decisions. 3. Literally no one else is doing that kind of work. Since blue-sky R&D (once funded by large companies and governments) has disappeared or is only available to people with PhDs from top departments, this is not an uncommon case. 4. You're a founder.

<comment><USER4> > By the way, my friend had an offer at a VC darling, for 60% of the salary he > was making but about 0.25% of the company. When he asked if there were > preferences against that equity, the offer was rescinded. I don't know if > this is normal, but it is telling.

This is disturbing, but it does seem like he dodged a bullet there.

I'll corroborate that I had an offer rescinded when I tried to negotiate salary and benefits... but this was not a startup. Do companies that behave like this think that everyone is desperate to work for them?

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> What to know before moving to the US to be in a start-up: health insurance is considered a bonus.

<comment><USER15> > What to know before moving to the US to be in a start-up: health insurance > is considered a bonus

Another thing to know - it's fairly inexpensive if you're young and in decent health.

For the vast majority of you, worrying about health insurance is more silly than worrying about the cost of a car.

<comment><USER16> that's not true.

a friend of mine was 22, she tried to buy individual health insurance with a blank medical history and discovered that no insurer offered polices for her gender and age group in her geographic region (VA)

no one would sell her individual insurance.

as a 26 year old male with a similarly blank medical history in a different geographic region (MD), I recently had exactly the same thing happen. no one would quote me a policy because no one wanted to sell me a policy.

<comment><USER17> Disclosure: I live with a benefits broker.

I'm interested in your friend's story. At 23, male, in VA I had absolutely no trouble buying an individual policy. I have some health issues, but nothing major, but I was able to secure a decent policy for just over 100$/month. MD should be even easier (if more expensive), considering there is no medical underwriting in MD.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Apple Celebrates Steve Jobs at Memorial - <AUTHOR> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204618704576641552976014170.html

<comment><USER2> The Apple stores putting up curtains and temporarily closing is just so lovely and classy. What a beautiful aspect of the memorial.</comment>


GitPod: One-Click Online IDE for GitHub - <AUTHOR> https://www.gitpod.io/ <comment><USER2> I tried to edit my github project expecting to see an editor for my project... but nothing!

[https://www.gitpod.io/#https://github.com/zubairq/yazz](https://www.gitpod.io/#https://github.com/zubairq/yazz)

<comment><USER3> Hi Zubairq,

it dosn't work when you have the `www` before `gitpod.io`.

Please try [https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/zubairq/yazz](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/zubairq/yazz)

That should work.

<comment><USER2> I tried that before, and tried again, but the repo never comes up

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> This is super. Does it support nodejs projects?

<comment> Alex-123 Yes, it does! Try `[https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/theia- ide/theia`](https://gitpod.io/#https://github.com/theia-ide/theia`) for example :-)</comment></comment>


Why tablet market growth has slowed in 2014 - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/why-tablet-market-growth-slow-2014-5

<comment><USER2> Penetration is high, so sales slow. Tablets don't have the replacement rates that phones do which just get lots more wear, tear, damage and loss. Just looking at our App logs confirms this: iPad2s (2nd gen from 2011!) are the most common iOS tablet. Makes sense: iPad2s rise in sales coincided with the huge rise in tablet market penetration.</comment>