Don't invert that matrix - <AUTHOR> http://www.johndcook.com/blog/2010/01/19/dont-invert-that-matrix/ <comment><USER2> Here's another piece of advice that covers a lot more than matrix inversion: don't solve math problems yourself in code if you can in any way avoid it.

Use a library instead, and use the most specific methods that are available: if there are specialized routines to solve Ax=b, use them, don't use the matrix inversion methods (which are probably also there), or even the LU decomposition ones, even if Real Math tells you that the result is equivalent - in numerical computation, mathematical equivalence is an entirely different entity than what "real" mathematicians concern themselves with.

Seriously. I don't care if you're a math PhD, I don't even care if you know a decent amount about numerical methods. Whatever code you're going to put together to do the job will be inferior to what a mature library can do, simply because the library has been put through many iterations and has had a lot more time to get patched up to handle all those special cases (usually related to finite precision or discretization) that Real Math doesn't have to worry about. And it will probably be vastly more optimized than anything you'll put together, because it's spent years of heavy use in some critical research environments.

The only time you should be writing your own math code (beyond simple arithmetic) is if no mature libraries are available to you. In which case you should allocate at the very least twice the amount of time it will take to research and implement the methods, and probably a lot more, because you're going to have a lot of fiddling to do.

<comment><USER3> Another reason would be (self-)education. There's no better way to gain a deeper understanding of a subject or learn the ins-and-outs of optimization than writing some code and then possibly trying to improve it. If you always blindly depend on third party libraries, you will remain ignorant and dumb.

Then, you can go on and use third party libraries in production while feeling satisfied that you know what's going on inside the library.

<comment><USER4> _If you always blindly depend on third party libraries, you will remain ignorant and dumb._

Depends if your goal is to become an aeronautical engineer or an assembly language hacker, really. Neither one's "better" than the other, but the the former won't benefit much from understanding exactly how to optimize on SPARC vs x64... Nor will the latter need to worry about his compiler's stalling speed :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Are people interested enough in this for a blog post? I studied numerical analysis and would be happy to post some of the basics if people are interested.

<comment><USER6> What is usually missing from these articles is even a simplified error analysis.

We can all count the floating-point operations, and today caches sometimes influence matrix algorithms more than raw flop counts. The problem gets more interesting when the matrix becomes ill conditioned and different algorithms will produce very different results.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> A Matlab/Octave example of inv being slower and less accurate:

      >> A = randn(100); x = randn(100,1); b = A*x;
      >> tic; x1 = inv(A)*b; toc
      Elapsed time is 0.142381 seconds.
      >> tic; x2 = A\b; toc
      Elapsed time is 0.000736 seconds.
      >> max(abs(x-x1))
      ans =
         7.1054e-14
      >> max(abs(x-x2))
      ans =
         4.8406e-14

Edit: Actually this is a warning about timing stuff. The inv function hadn't "warmed up". On a second run both times drop, and the difference is much smaller:

      >> tic; x1 = inv(A)*b; toc
      Elapsed time is 0.000737 seconds.
      >> tic; x2 = A\b; toc
      Elapsed time is 0.000471 seconds.

<comment><USER8> What happens when you run it 1000 times, skipping the first?

<comment><USER7> If I use this:

[http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/18798-ti...](http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/18798-timeit- benchmarking-function)

which warms up the function, averages over repetitions and tries to account for various overheads, the ratio states about the same (1:1.5 ish). I would normally use timeit(), but for a quick post, I was being sloppy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Does anyone trying to solve problems involving matrices with millions of entries not have some idea of the computational complexity of various operations they can do on them, given the nature of their matrices, etc.? I'd expect that either (a) someone has a small enough problem that the computational time is irrelevant and they should just arrive at the solution in whatever manner is conceptually clearest, given their current mathematical knowledge, or (b) the problem is going to take a lot of computation time, in which case it's worth exploring to learn exactly what the fastest method will be.

<comment><USER10> You can solve amazingly large problems with a sparse matrix with out understanding what you are doing, as long as you use direct (factorization) methods. If you type A\b with some gigantic sparse A, matlab will apply reordering heuristics that often just work, and are actually incredibly hard to improve upon by manual fiddling. When you get to really, _really_ big problems, you need to use iterative methods (like conjugate gradient), and for those you have to have a _very_ firm understanding of everything. The gap between direct and indirect methods is huge.

<comment><USER11> Matlab's backslash is the GPL'd Umfpack (relicensed from the author). The most important thing to know about iterative solvers is that the Krylov method is a minor component, preconditioning is the hard part.

<comment><USER12> You need to have a basic understanding of the different Krylov subspace methods to be able to use them. If you are using CG on a matrix that isn't SPD, then you are doing something very wrong. Same goes for the other methods -- they all have their strengths, weaknesses and gotchas, and it's pretty important to know what they are if you are going to use them! Preconditioning can greatly reduce the number of iterations you have to do once you have chosen a method, but it's not particularly helpful if you are using the wrong method.

<comment><USER11> With CG, the preconditioner also needs to be SPD (or have suitable factors). You can get by pretty well using only GMRES and spend all your time thinking about preconditioners. Once you have some good candidate preconditioners, you can try other Krylov methods, but the gains are rarely very large. I have frequently found SPD systems that are more efficiently solved with GMRES and a non-symmetric preconditioner, and even more so for symmetric indefinite systems where popular wisdom says to use MINRES, CR, or SQMR.

For amusement, it's really worth knowing about

[http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/people/nick.trefethen/publication...](http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/people/nick.trefethen/publication/PDF/1992_52.pdf)

which shows that each of the popular nonsymmetric iterations can beat all others by a huge factor.

But this is all justification that you should use a library like PETSc for your linear solvers. Then all aspects of the solve become run-time (typically command-line) options including an algebra for composing preconditioners and other components, with a plugin architecture for every component.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I'm a bit rusty on my linear algebra. Without inverting the matrix, what's the algorithm for solving Ax=b? Factorization is mentioned but I'm not sure what it means in this case.

<comment><USER14> Gaussian elimination. Remember where you subtract multiples of one row from another, in order to get zeros below the diagonal? That way you can back-solve a system of equations by reading off solutions starting with the bottom-right corner.

The result of carrying out the elimination steps is a triangular matrix with all zeros below the main diagonal. Call it U, for "upper".

The elimination steps themselves can be encoded as a matrix, rather than describing them in words. For instance, "subtract 2 times row 1 from row 2" is the matrix:

[ 1 0 0]

[-2 1 0]

[ 0 0 1]

So, to solve the system, you can perform elimination on A x = b, which gives you two matrices (U, and the elimination steps L). In some sense, you've factored A in to L and U.

Example:

Using Strang's terminology, let's call the matrix that "eliminates (i.e. sets to 0) the (i,j) entry" Eij

So, to solve a 3x3 system A x = b, you want to do elimination as: (E32 E31 E21) A = U

I.e.

1) Take A and subtract some multiple of row 2 from row 1, to put 0 in (2,1)

2) Take the result and subtract some multiple of row 3 from row 1 to put 0 in (3,1)

3) Take the result and subtract some multiple of row 3 from row 2 to put 0 in (3,2)

Now the goal of elimination is to get an uppper-triangular matrix U. I.e. if you were solving some system of equations in x, y, z, then because U is triangular, you could just read off the answer to z. Then plug that into the equation for row 2 to solve for y, then plug that into the equation for row 1 to solve for x. That's back-substitution.

BUT, let's return to our operations. We have:

E32 E31 E21 A = U

(E32 E31 E21) A = U

inverse(E32 E31 E21) (E32 E31 E21) A = inverse(E32 E31 E21) U

I A = inverse(E32 E31 E21) U

Now, it just so happens that the inverse of (E32 E31 E21) is lower-triangular. I.e. all entries above the diagonal are zero, so let's call it L.

I A = L U

A = L U

LU-decomposition. Or "factorization", since we've factored A into two matrices: L, and U.

<comment><USER12> Yes, but it's a little more complicated than that. In most cases you cannot trust the solution of straight Gaussian elimination. You need to take additional measures to avoid excessive error growth, such as using partial pivoting.

see <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivoting> and <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_elimination></comment></comment></comment>


Offer HN:  Friendship in the Valley? - <AUTHOR>

I kind of feel retarded for posting on here, but I'm starting to go out of my mind doing everything by myself, and looking for buddies on CL/okcupid seems weird to me.   I'll try to keep this simple.
I just moved here to work at SLAC from SLC, Utah a month ago, and most of the people I know are physicists twice my age.  In true nerd form, the idea of meeting a ton of new people by myself gives me some anxiety, a bit more than the thought of me trying to sell myself online to a bunch of strangers.
Anyways, I need new friends.  I've got a ton to offer, but the most relevant thing, the reason this is really an offer, is probably the fact that I have a car and I'm not afraid to use it (i.e. driving to the city for whatever).  Also, I'm 100% down for food adventures, beer (first round is on me), live music, movies. <comment><USER2> Can I suggest Dorkbot? <http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotsf/>

Their tagline is "People doing strange things with electricity" - in my experience you end up with a fascinating crowd of people hovering somewhere on the borderline of hardware geeks, software geeks, artists, and pranksters.

They've got a meeting next Wednesdsay in SF - I've made some _great_ friends via Dorkbot in SF as well as Sydney (where I live) and Seattle.

(If you go, find Karen and tell her Big says "Hi!", and there might be an Australian girl named Pia visiting, tell her I say Hi too!)

</comment><comment><USER3> You will probably meet more interesting people here than on okCupid. I like this offer and would go for a beer with you if I was in that area.

</comment><comment><USER4> Lots going on at Noisebridge in SF: <https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge> In particular, you might want to check out Five Minutes of Fame next week (8 p.m., Thursday). Could be a good opportunity to bump into some interesting people.

</comment><comment><USER5> can't help you, but it's absolutely understandable and not at all retarded :)

</comment><comment><USER6> Try posting an intro message on SF Redditors.. it's a very friendly group.

<http://groups.google.com/group/SFredditors/>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I just joined... waiting to be approved.</comment></comment>


Lenovo Statement on Superfish - <AUTHOR> http://news.lenovo.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=1929 <comment><USER2> _> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns._

I try to be measured around here, as hard as I can. I can't formulate a polite way to respond to this claim.

Lenovo, you are full of shit, and maliciously so. There is no excuse, nor forgiveness, for what you've done here.

<comment><USER3> Can you ever imagine Apple pulling a stunt like this? No, because it's astonishingly user hostile: Lenovo should be hanging their head in shame, not making out like it's no big deal.

<comment><USER4> The big difference is you don't mind when Apple does things like this. If you have "Hey, Siri" enabled then your phone's microphone is on all the time listening to everything you say. But I don't see a lot of people crying foul over that.

<comment><USER5> The difference being that only Apple (and the us gov) can listen in, not the entire world.

<comment><USER6> Huh? How so?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> > Users are not tracked nor re-targeted

Have a look at code delivered by Superfish:

[https://www.superfish.com/ws/sf_preloader.jsp](https://www.superfish.com/ws/sf_preloader.jsp)

[https://www.superfish.com/ws/sf_code.jsp](https://www.superfish.com/ws/sf_code.jsp)

And grep for track and retarget. Just two snippets:

        var url = sfDomain + "trackSession.action?userid=" + similarproducts.b.qsObj.userid + "&sessionid=-10&action=ud_host_failed";

and:

        function isRetargetingEnabled(){
            if( similarproducts.b.enableRetargetingUnit && !isRetargetingBlackList()){
                return 1;
            } else{
                return 0;
            }
        }

<comment><USER8> Outstanding. It's like a ridiculous Law & Order episode where the defendant goes "I wasn't even in town that night."

"So what's your face doing on all of these security cameras at the scene of the crime?"

"... uh..."

<comment><USER9> so just to be clear, because I find this hard to believe, they are straight up, 100% lying? Or is this taking some hash generating code out of context or something?

<comment><USER7> It's hard to judge without digging into this spaghetti mess of files. But having the word retarget in your code seems like straight up lying to me.

Tracking is more ambiguous a word and I couldn't find where they define the userid. But however it is generated, it reads like it's unique. And in order to retarget users, you'd have to track which products they've viewed in the first place, that would imply storing browsing history (they deny storing user info as well) and uniquely identifying users across websites.

Given the coding style, I don't think the person(s) who wrote this code is/are doing anything clever other than what it seems.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The absolute best part?

"Superfish will be removed from Program Files and Program Data directories, files in user directory will stay intact for the privacy reason. Registry entry and root certificate will remain as well. The Superfish service will stop working as soon as it is uninstalled via above process, and following reboot."

Per Lenovo's removal instructions [1], the compromised root certificate will still be installed and trusted. This is completely laughable.

[1] [http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Removal-...](http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Removal-Instructions-for-VisualDiscovery-Superfish- application/ta-p/2029206)

</comment><comment><USER11> While this kind of foistware sucks, I'm also a bit dismayed by the seeming domain-specificity of peoples' privacy concerns.

Do a simple tracker on a desktop, and people freak out. But all you have to do is _change the form factor and UI metaphor_ to mobile and people are absolutely fine with constant location tracking, ambient sound being uploaded to the cloud (SIRI, etc.), a camera and a microphone that can be activated by all kinds of apps while the device is in your pocket, and a constant 24/7 Internet connection. You could never even approach that level of invasiveness on a desktop or laptop.

A desktop/laptop is a computer. A smartphone is a computer. Why the different reaction?

I wonder if it's a generation gap thing. Older people tend to use mobile devices less than younger people. Are the younger generation this oblivious?

Same phenomenon holds by the way with regard to jailed devices. Way back when Microsoft tried to introduce something called "trusted computing," which was basically just code signing. Everyone _flipped the hell out_ and they shelved it. But mobile devices can't run software that isn't tethered to their app stores, and everyone is totally fine with that. Different form factor, different universe?

It also seems related to brand. When you sign into Chrome with your Google ID, Google tracks everything you do. But that's Google, not some random little foistware company, so that's okay I guess. Same goes for Safari and iCloud, etc.

<comment><USER12> I would agree with you if this were only about adware. The problem is that the adware opens a massive security hole that is exploitable by _everybody_.

The Lenovo adware wants to hijack SSL connections. To do so, it installs its own CA, and the private key for that CA can be (and has been) extracted. This means that if you own such a laptop and access your bank's SSL website from a random coffee shop, anybody could MitM you, since they can use the publically available "private" key of the rogue CA to impersonate your bank.

Smart phones enable turn-key surveillance-based dictatorships beyond anything we've ever seen in the west, but unlike this Lenovo thing, it is not an _immediate_ threat. Hence people react differently to it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> "We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns."

Seriously?!

<comment><USER14> Anybody can MITM secure connections these computers make, right?

<comment><USER15> And present any HTTPS cert of their choosing to any compromised visitors e.g [https://b4nk0famer1ca.com/](https://b4nk0famer1ca.com/)

<comment><USER16> Hm... I'm pretty sure that if you can actually MITM their connection (i.e. you can intercept and modify the packages, e.g. by setting up a rogue Wi-Fi hotspot), you can also fake the DNS and/or IP addresses, so you shouldn't have a problem compromising visitors of [https://bankofamerica.com](https://bankofamerica.com).

<comment><USER17> you don't need to fake IPs or DNS requests - if you have MITMed their connection then all their traffic flows through your machine and you can present whatever content you desire on any domain.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was > to enhance the experience for users.

I would prefer for this to be a lie than for it to turn out for this statement to be true. Surely nobody at Lenovo honestly belived that ad injection improved user experience?

<comment><USER19> This would SEEM obvious because as techies we hate ads. But you can't extrapolate this to the general population.

There was one time when I visited my mother. We started her instant messaging program, and we were presented with special offers. I recognized it as such within half a second, so I almost automatically checked the 'Do not show this again' checkbox.

My mother alarmed me: "No, do not make it go away! I want to see the offers, they're useful!"

I was mindblown.

Another example: I have snail mail advertisements. But my girlfriend, who's living with me now, asked me to sign up for advertisements such as supermarket special offers. Another mindblown.

<comment><USER20> > supermarket special offers

Why would you _not_ want to sign up to know about what discounts are available at your local grocery store, especially if you frequent it weekly.

<comment><USER21> Keyword there is "snail mail." You're saying you really want this stuff in your mailbox every week? I don't want any snail mail(of _any_ kind), any week but it's something I still have to live with.

<comment><USER16> In contrast, I've been refusing to opt-in to my banks online statements for a long time now, simply because I want to have important stuff (e.g. my money) printed black-on-white. Email can be easily faked.

<comment><USER22> Would it not be easy to print a fake?

I don't really understand why "can be easily faked" is how you're justifying this.

<comment><USER23> It is less likely that someone would send a falsified bank document through the mail, as mail fraud is a federal crime with harsher sentences than most online versions of spam/phishing.

Also records are kept for mail regarding where it was received by the post office (which likely has security cameras), when, who is on the return address and the recipient. There is physical evidence of who has touched a piece of mail such as fingerprints, hair, DNA etc.

This is part of why you don't get 50 letters from nigerian princes each day

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Lenovo is going to lose more through how they handle this than through the fact that they did it in the first place.

<comment><USER25> Sadly no. Businesses will still buy Thinkpads like candies.

<comment><USER26> Yeah and businesses run their own Windows images. Whatever software is preloaded doesn't matter.

<comment><USER27> Unless their Windows image is based on the out-of-the-box OEM install.

<comment><USER28> I would imagine that any company imaging their hardware has their own custom image to coincide with their windows licensing agreement and not on whatever was on the first box.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> They disabled it server-side? What about the CA certificate in all these Lenovo users' trust stores that blackhats can now use to MITM with wild abandon?

<comment><USER30> It enhances the users experience when being MITM'd.

But yeah, the removal instructions mention that the certificate won't be removed, which is quite dangerous.

EDIT: And users removing the cert would be unable to load https pages, which is a tricky situation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> I was considering getting a Lenovo X1 Carbon to run linux on. I'd be installing a clean image, so no Superfish, but I still don't want to give money to Lenovo right now.

What alternative linux laptops are there? (aside from macs)

<comment><USER32> There's System76, which are basically pre-loaded Clevo laptops (which are sold under many different names). I have the Galago Ultrapro and am quite happy with it. Good battery life, fast, user-serviceable and a calibrated IPS screen. On release the keyboard was a little off, but the new one is pretty good.

<comment><USER33> How's battery life? That was always my concern, it seemed to be quite pathetic in comparison to modern 6-12hr competitors.

<comment><USER32> It depends on what you're doing of course. Normal usage (playing music/Youtube, browsing firefox, coding, opening up some PDFs) gives me about 6-8 hours I'd say, I get about 3 hours of (modded) minecraft, which is quite the battery drain. this is on Gentoo (Awesome as WM) so the background drain is pretty low. It's good enough that I never really pay attention to it.

upower says the battery is designed to store up to 48Wh, with a maximum design capacity of 53Wh.

<comment><USER34> Is the battery controller programmable from Linux? E.g. can you set charging thresholds?

Is there any hardware in it that doesn't work in Linux?

<comment><USER32> I don't know about the battery controller, all of it works with Linux (System76 is a Linux retailer after all).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> There's a scene in the movie _The Rum Diary_ where Sanderson says roughly that the way to sell the public on the idea of building a hotel on an untouched island is to start by trying to build 20 hotels. Public outrage will occur, people will write their politicians, and finally a compromise will be reached, in which you get to build only one hotel. But the trick is, that's what you wanted to do in the first place. In the end, this compromise wasn't good enough: the result is still horrible.

This is roughly what Lenovo is trying to pull off here.

 _> Superfish was previously included on some consumer notebook products shipped in a short window between September and December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping._

This is the compromise being offered. They're claiming, "We didn't violate your privacy, we didn't violate your security, we just wanted to help you discover interesting products."

Superfish opens up all sorts of security holes and privacy concerns, but it's probably true that this wasn't Lenovo's intention (not yet, anyway). But to accept this as a compromise would be to give Lenovo the thing they want in the first place: to serve ads into our web searches. _And that in itself is deplorable._ It is not acceptable for companies to force their agendas on us.

Lenovo's only defense here is that they were doing something disgusting. We should not accept this compromise.

</comment><comment><USER36> I'm seeing at least one report dating from September of last year on their forums:

[https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Lenovo-...](https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Lenovo-Pre-instaling-adware-spam-Superfish-powerd-by/td-p/1726839)

<comment><USER37> > We are getting off-topic here. If you have questions pertaining to the > differences between adware, spyware, potentially unwanted applications, and > viruses please post on the Security & Malware Forum. We'll be glad to clear > up any misunderstanding.

Ugh. Patronising, misleading and evading the point all in one answer. This was a horrible thread to read.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> Repeating this from the other thread: people should file complaints with their state consumer protection division. There are probably at least one or two attorneys general in the country who would love to make an example out of Lenovo ("big bad foreign company", etc.).

Here's the complaint form for Massachusetts: [http://www.eform.ago.state.ma.us/ago_eforms/forms/piac_ecomp...](http://www.eform.ago.state.ma.us/ago_eforms/forms/piac_ecomplaint.action)

Some state AGs are active on Twitter too, which might get more direct visibility.

</comment><comment><USER39> We have a Lenovo G710 at work that was purchased less then a month ago and the amount of bloatware installed on that thing is quite amazing really it's almost a type of art.

The Superfish cert is there, however the VisualDiscovery service that injects the adds was at some point disabled as I could only find remnants of it in form of INI files and registry keys.

A quick fun fact, There are two encrypted INI files located in the Windows Folder :

A.) VisualDiscovery.INI

B.) VisualDiscoveryOff.INI

If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about the guy that developed this shit then I don't know what will.

</comment><comment><USER40> The problem with the statement is that Lenovo owners need to be aware of the news to find it.

I'm on Lenovo's mailing list and haven't seen a similar statement in my inbox with remedial instructions.

I was only half-lucky with Superfish. I bought my Y50 before Xmas and removed Superfish and all other non-essential software but didn't know about the certificate, which I deleted today.

Sadly, I don't think the typical non-technical Lenovo user is even going to find out about this or know how to fix it.

<comment><USER41> Return it.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Unfortunately the best response to this is extracting the private key for the cert it installs in the root and publishing it: [http://blog.erratasec.com/2015/02/extracting-superfish- certi...](http://blog.erratasec.com/2015/02/extracting-superfish- certificate.html)

<comment><USER42> OK, thanks for this. I wasn't sure if the signing of stuff was being done locally by the proxy or remotely. i.e. whether the private key was on the machines. So yes, complete security clusterfuck.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Can't say I put a lot of trust in this statement

"It does not profile nor monitor user behavior. It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re- targeted."

from someone who refers to ad-ware as "...to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping".

Barf.

</comment><comment><USER44> Cut the Bullshit Lenovo! Stop Lying to Us!

> We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence > to substantiate security concerns.

A bald-faced lie!

> our goal was to enhance the experience for users

A bald-faced lie! Adding ads to a page cannot enhance user experience!

I'm on, I think, my 4th ThinkPad. A loyal customer.

Stop treating us like shit! This is completely unacceptable.

Issue a _real_ apology and start firing people, or shut the fuck up.

</comment><comment><USER45> Honestly, I wish there was a way to comment on their stupid statement. These bullsh*t companies need to realize that users don't want the stupid bloatware in the first place. I paid you a TON of money for this computer the least you can do is give it to me in its best condition.

You wouldn't buy a car that came painted with advertisements on the side!

<comment><USER46> They are perfectly aware of how people feel about bloatware. Dell at one point offered clean installs but you had to pay something like $30 extra. This probably provides some type of clue that they make about that much more per machine by including all the pre-installed crap.

<comment><USER47> > Dell at one point offered clean installs but you had to pay something like > $30 extra

And I'd hazard a guess (with no evidence) that very few people paid that extra cost. We undervalue our own attention, assuming that we can easily ignore adverts, so ad-supported products are disproportionately successful (preinstalled bloatware is just a special kind of advertising).

Does anyone know how well Amazon Kindles with 'Special offers' are selling?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> > The relationship with Superfish is not financially significant; our goal was > to enhance the experience for users.

I don't believe that for a second.

</comment><comment><USER49> > "We will not preload this software in the future."

I know it is lucrative to preload but I really wish this practice would just die. In the long run, they are just hurting their business.

</comment><comment><USER50> "We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns."

One way to read this is they have not seen any evidence that people have _actually_ been hacked in the wild. They may understand perfectly well that it is now trivial to do this but no one's actually reported _yet_ that they had thousands of dollars stolen due to using online banking on a compromised Lenovo machine on public Wi-Fi.

Roll on the class action lawsuits.

</comment><comment><USER51> I've been a ThinkPad customer for ages, and have recommended them to others many times. I'm fuming mad over this.

What's the best way to tell Lenovo they fucked up? I mean, I can vent over social media all day but will they even pay attention?

<comment><USER52> Stop buying their products. I was already considering moving away from Lenovo after the ruination of the -40 series. I was almost swayed back in by the -50s but this put the final nail in the coffin.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Lenovo is saying exactly what they need to say in order to prevent their statement from being admitted as evidence in a lawsuit or legal proceeding.

In other words, they just acknowledged it without admitting fault or liability.

<comment><USER53> If I base myself on that statement to decide that there's no need to remove the software, then get my bank account emptied, won't that backfire pretty hard on them?

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> I have a Lenovo laptop and had the superfish root cert installed. I also have a "Nuance" trusted root certificate installed. It's a SHA1RSA certificate issued by Nuance, expiring in January 2040 (serial 9e ef 9d f5 9a...), thumbprint (51 2d 19 4d 28 64...). It says it's usable for everything. Does anyone know about this one?

<comment><USER55> Nuance makes Dragon Naturally Speaking, which also comes preinstalled on some Lenovo laptops (including mine, but it was one of the first things I uninstalled). I'd imagine it has something to do with being able to voice control applications/websites/whatever-Dragon-does. If you don't use Dragon, you can probably safely delete it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Even when they disabled server side operations, the malicious root certificate very likely remains on thousands of computers -- and thus a high security risk for all owners of those computers!

In essence, a root certificate with known private key is as dangerous as a worm that infected your computer. Maybe even more dangerous.

</comment><comment><USER57> It's perplexing you still need to put a couple of days work into setting a up a computer. In the 90s it was all about getting all the peripherals to work. Now it's all about removing the bloatwear, data leaks, and security holes.

On a PC I do a Linux install and go through some extra settings.

On Android I install CyanogenMod with an IPtables firewall. The number of apps that try to raid your address book on Android is mind-boggling. When you set Privacy guard to "ask" instead of "deny" you will have so many popups that the phone is bogged down for a couple of minutes after startup.

</comment><comment><USER58> > We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence > to substantiate security concerns.

Apparently a wildcard SSL certificate valid for every domain on the internet installed in a certificate store isn't a security concern.

Apparently said SSL certificate having a extractable private key installed within a user certificate store isn't a security concern

And apparently leaving said certificate behind in the certificate store even after uninstalling the crapware (according to a very reliable InfoSec Taylor Swift) isn't a security concern.

Wow? Wow.

</comment><comment><USER18> Microsoft seems to have a vice like grip over OEM's regarding preloading windows on every product they sell without exception, IMHO this is a terrible thing, but can't they do at least a little good and prevent OEM's from shipping anything other than a pristine image with no preloaded software?

Surely the endless bundled crapware from every OEM just gives Windows a bad reputation in the long term. The popularity of chromebooks now are a testament to that.

<comment><USER59> They tried dictating what vendors could pre-load, and were taken to court by the US Justice Dept, along with a large number of states AGs.

<comment><USER60> Correct. So OEMs can load whatever crapware they like, and Microsoft doesn't even know what they're loading. The idea of a "vice like grip" is nonsense.

What Microsoft does instead is offer Signature editions that are crapware free....

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER61> _" We have thoroughly investigated this technology and do not find any evidence to substantiate security concerns."_

[http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Removal-...](http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-P-Y-and-Z- series/Removal-Instructions-for-VisualDiscovery-Superfish- application/ta-p/2029206)

 _" This article will be updated with additional instructions on clean up of deactivated files and removal of certificate shortly."_

This was just edited in, here is the post before that: [https://web.archive.org/web/20150219151726/http://forums.len...](https://web.archive.org/web/20150219151726/http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo- P-Y-and-Z-series/Removal-Instructions-for-VisualDiscovery-Superfish- application/ta-p/2029206)

So, Lenovo, why should we remove this certificate after all? Any security concerns perhaps?

</comment><comment><USER62> I seriously consider stopping buying Lenovo laptops for the company I work with, I simply cannot go through the trouble of removing all of Lenovo pre- loaded crap each time I replace or buy a new machines.

I used to recommend Lenovo as a good laptop for work, with great quality hardware for the price but since a couple years my vision is shifting towards "Lenovo isn't what it used to be, I think we should stop ordering from them..." I had a lot of problems with defective hardware lately even on Thinkpad...

This news just adds to the pile of deception I had with Lenovo lately.

</comment><comment><USER63> The chief question I have is whether or not a Lenovo PC sold by the Microsoft Store as a Signature Edition (e.g., [1]) would contain this or anything similar. My suspicion is that it would not. If anyone is near a Microsoft Store, and can stop in to run the test, it would be interesting to see the results.

[1] [http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Lenovo-Y...](http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Lenovo-Y50-4K-Ultra- HD-Signature-Edition-Gaming-Laptop/productID.306275000)

</comment><comment><USER64> Well there you go. They investigated and found no security issues.

Can't get any better than that!

Seriously, there were so many different ways they could have gone with this and saved face, but they just decided to hunker down. Sad.

</comment><comment><USER65> "our goal was to enhance the experience for users". I've never needed help finding or discovering products, and I can compare my own prices thank you very much.

The apology always seems to make it worse.

</comment><comment><USER66> \- Lenovo stopped preloading the software in January.

My X1C was ordered on Feb 4th, and shipped Feb 9.

I believe that my machine had this malware installed when I received it. On firefox, websites that would not normally have many ads, were filled with ads to the point where I couldn't use the sites.

I am unable to prove my claims, as I formatted the HD and installed Linux to get rid of all the obvious bloat-ware.

I really enjoy the laptop. But if I was less tech savvy and unable to format/installLinux I would probably have returned the machine (the ads were really really intrusive)

</comment><comment><USER67> It's clearly an adware with backdoor to espionage on user. In many countries creating and distributing that kind of adware is classified as crime. What a nonsense they are talking.

</comment><comment><USER68> Why is a press release undated? You have to go back to the "News releases" page to see that it is dated today. The PDF version doesn't have the date, either.

</comment><comment><USER69> >To be clear, Superfish technology is purely based on contextual/image and not behavioral. It does not profile nor monitor user behavior. It does not record user information. It does not know who the user is. Users are not tracked nor re-targeted. Every session is independent.

We've heard this song and dance before. Excuse my skepticism, but I don't believe you and until we can see some source code, I won't believe you.

</comment><comment><USER70> Lenovo was discounting 30-40% around Black Friday. For weeks! The simple truth is that crapware pays for cheap PCs, and the economics don't work otherwise.

</comment><comment><USER71> > Users are given a choice whether or not to use the product.

What did this choice look like? Were users prompted to remove the cert if they didn't want it?

</comment><comment><USER72> I like my ThinkPad, but between this and the fact that Dell is selling several Linux laptops, I think my next laptop will be a Dell.

</comment><comment><USER73> "Superfish was included [...] to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping".

Wow how thoughtful and helpful of them.

I don't understand the point of bloatware. Are the manufacturers making a ton of money off of them or something? How much could bloatware writers possibly be offering to make it worth uglifying your brand?

<comment><USER74> Yes, "ton of money" meaning a few grand. I think manufacturers are selling their reputation for too cheap.

There of course is a point that each manufacturer would like to provide some added value through software that would set them apart from other vendors - because hardware competition is so fierce - but unfortunately their priorities for selecting the vendors they use are really bad. Much of the crap is just horrible, and I don't recall seeing anything really useful recently.

<comment><USER75> Yup. You know how real value-add looks like? Permanent +50GB of DropBox I got when I bought my Galaxy S4. While I wasn't aware of it until I bought the phone and was just pleasantly surprised, it's a kind of thing that really could influence my choice of phone if I was on the edge of a choice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> I have a ThinkPad T61 that I bought refurbished a couple of years ago. One thing that I really like about it is that it came with a clean Windows 7 installation.

But now, there's no way in hell I'd buy a Lenovo. Trust is not easily regained once broken.

</comment><comment><USER77> >Superfish was previously included on some consumer notebook products shipped in a short window between September and December to help customers potentially discover interesting products while shopping.

It's not adware, it's a feature!

</comment><comment><USER78> Love the claim that their relationship with Superfish "isn't finanncially relevant" and that they were doing it for their users.

</comment><comment><USER79> An example how not to write press release. So much shit talk.. such a shame.

</comment><comment><USER80> Lenovo is just copying their betters at the NSA: Infect the machines of others and when caught, deny it. Sadly, this business model will probably work for them.

</comment><comment><USER81> Now I'm being stalked by Komodia ads!

</comment><comment><USER82> Class-action lawsuit anyone?

</comment><comment><USER83> Lenovo is dead

</comment><comment><USER84> Yeah this is fucking hilarious! Be sure to read the Extracting SuperFish Certificate article first for full affect though lol</comment>


What is the best data visualization tool for Python? - <AUTHOR>

I'm working on mining some data from a few online databases and would like to be able to display the statistics in some sort of nice visual (a graph of some sort, depending on how the data turns out).  Any suggestions for a Python library that allows me to do so?  Thanks! <comment><USER2> How about Matplotlib?

otherwise combine python web interface with javascript libraries, e.g. InfoVis [1].

[1] [http://philogb.github.io/jit/demos.html](http://philogb.github.io/jit/demos.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> matplotlib seems to be excellent for what I'm looking for. Thanks!</comment></comment>


Sharpest bread kitchen knife in the world [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMYKQc-MVIM <comment><USER2> I'm a big fan of this "Just watch me do this thing, the video speaks for itself" style of youtube. No animations, product placement, voice overs. No stupid jokes!

I watch these hypnotically after work.

<comment><USER3> I'd never seen one before but I'm loving this. It really does have something of a hypnotic effect.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why is there that cucumber though?

<comment><USER5> slicing a cucumber is a common feature of youtube videos demonstrating how sharp knives are. (I spent a completely unreasonable amount of time watching knife sharpening videos on youtube a couple months ago)

<comment><USER6> From my own experience slicing slightly overripe tomatoes that have some give to them are much harder to slice with a non serrated knife than a firm cucumber. Wonder why cucumbers became the standard haha.

<comment><USER7> I've seen them also use daikon radishes to demo "sharpness". Maybe it is a true test, but part of me thinks this is like demoing how good wipers are by using window cleaner instead of water to demo how good they are.

<comment><USER8> There are rumors that people in Japan in fact do slice daikon.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


How Teachers Came to Be So Underpaid in America - <AUTHOR> http://time.com/longform/teaching-in-america/ <comment><USER2> Bait click heading.

Nationwide, the estimated average public-school teacher's salary is now $58,950. Not a bad salary I would say, and the salary is 20% lower than similar college degree which is not to bad considering one have more time off than other jobs (summer vacation etc).

Would be more interesting if there was a lack of people wanting to work as teachers but the article didn't say anything about that.

<comment><USER3> If you assume they work only 8 months of the year due to holidays, pro-rata that would be $88,425.

<comment><USER4> If you assume they work only 8 month of the year, then you probably don't know too many teachers.

<comment><USER3> What do they do in the 3-4 months off each year? They're not attending their schools.

<comment><USER5> No teacher in the US is off for 3-4 months (summer break in the US is only ~10 weeks to begin with). During summer breaks teachers take classes, renew certifications, prepare lesson plans, tutor, return early to setup classrooms and otherwise prep for the upcoming school year. During the school year, teachers work before and after the students arrive, meet with parents/school officials and get things ready for the day. They also as work weekends grading papers/projects/etc and otherwise organize the upcoming week ahead. Hours can be long and arduous during the year and the amount of actual vacation time available to be off is equivalent to a typical office worker (3-4 weeks at best). Source: in-laws/wife are all teachers.

<comment><USER3> As I understand it from teachers, creating lesson plans is something you typically do infrequently - certainly less than yearly. Absent major curriculum changes you can re-use your lesson plans for years.

The coming in early and working late, as well as the occasional weekend is something that a lot of other professional jobs do as well, without a ten week summer break.

<comment><USER6> Useless anecdote incoming, but after always reading the many hastily posted defenses posted after anyone claims that teachers get to take summer off, I asked a friend who started teaching a few years ago. He said that you do indeed get most of the summer off. Few conferences you might have to attend, some teachers take second jobs, etc. Granted, he's a really smart guy and probably has less difficulty than others making lesson plans, but seems like a good gig if you have decent time management skills and enjoy the privilege of teaching the next generation.

I'm sure it depends heavily on the district, but the "teachers are the hardest workers!" tagline always seemed like an easy story to tell to (justifiably) ask for wage increases.

" _gasp_ They have to grade homework at home!". Well, yeah, I have to take office work home as well as the United States has no labor laws preventing that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Can't even fathom how many MSc educated people in the sciences would never, ever consider teaching due that laughable pay (even worse when converted to hourly) when compared even to the lowest-paying industry jobs. That's not how you educate a society for the 22nd century.

To catch up with what is common in Western Europe, the pay needs to at least double to 80k USD and more for teachers of upper secondary classes.

<comment> Jian-Yang >To catch up with what is common in Western Europe, the pay needs to at least double to 80k USD and more for teachers of upper secondary classes.

What do you mean by this? It seems that the USA pays very similar to what Western Europe pays their teachers (ignoring outliers)? [https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by- country-...](https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by- country-2017-5?IR=T#elementary-school-teachers-best-and-worst-1)

<comment><USER8> Direct comparison isn't very useful. Teacher salaries in Germany seem to be just above the US when just reading the chart, but in reality it's higher than e.g. most software developers make in Germany. Thus, gets you a lot further than in the US. You should rather compare teacher salaries to local engineer salaries, as the education is similar (assuming Master's is required).

</comment></comment></comment><comment> jorge-d I guess this is what happen when a country spends ~8 times more in its military than in educating its people. ($574bn vs $68bn).

Edit: as noted by a comment bellow, this is only the budget at the Federal Level

<comment><USER9> The military is, for many, vocational training, even though you may disagree with its outcomes (I certainly do).

<comment><USER10> I do not know the numbers but dare to say with great certainty that regular vocational training is orders of magnitude more efficient and thus lower in cost than the military.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> ""I can't tell you how many letters I got this summer that said final notice." Cooke, who makes about $69,000, often skips doctor's appointments to save the co-pay and worries about paying for her eldest daughter's college education."

(a bit up it says she's in Raleigh, N.C.)

Not to question this woman's problems, but can someone shed some light on what the situation there is that would make a salary like that 'low income'? The median house price is 234k according to Zillow, so I would imagine rent being; what; 700 to 1000? I want to feel for these people, and I'm not claiming they are making things up; but when I see articles like this, they usually have examples that make me scratch my head a bit.

<comment><USER12> She's a single mother of two. The article doesn't say how old her children are, but if they're young enough to need child care before and after school (they may go to different schools that start at different times than Cooke, and she has work to do before and after school starts) that will add up very quickly. You also don't know anything about how much money she had to borrow to afford getting her degree (or degrees if she has a Master's). So yeah, $69k can be a low amount of money, even in places like Raleigh with lower costs of living compared to New York or SF.

<comment><USER11> Daughters are teenagers, there's a pic in the article.

If her predicament is because of student loans she had to take out to get this job, then the problem is really 'degrees are too expensive', and not 'teachers don't make enough', right? Or are excessive (relative to income) student loans an especially big problem for teachers?

The median _household_ income in Raleigh is 55k (first Google hit). She's making almost 20% more than that. Sure, she may have a bunch of expenses that others don't, but is the story then that teachers make too little, or is the story that some people have high student loan repayments, or pay a lot in alimony, or have to help out family, or have debts from previous bad marriages or whatever?

My point is: if I was a PR guy, trying to gain public support for the idea that teachers are underpaid, I wouldn't show off someone who makes 20% more than the median _household_ income on her own. If you're looking to make a point, you find some good examples of the problem you're illustrating; not even necessarily the worst cases, but surely not someone who raises questions for even a sympathetic reader like myself. So then I wonder in this case, what else is there 'hidden' in this story we're not being told but that would change the narrative substantially?

<comment><USER13> Yes, that jumped out at me too.

For whatever reason, $69K may not be a livable wage for her and her family. But most people in Raleigh would think, on the face of it, that she's making good money.

But this is an article in Time, not a PR piece. Maybe the author has an agenda, or maybe they're playing it straight. Whatever, maybe Ms. Cooke should have declined the interview.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This reminds me of the fictional character of Walter White in Breaking Bad.

Best advice I can offer in such cases - leave the country. Try your luck elsewhere. Teach internationally. Get paid premium.

<comment> swingline-747 Leaving permanently doesn't solve the underpayment problem. Striking and collective bargaining often does. It sucks but it's vital.

<comment><USER14> As a teacher? In the US? Good luck with that. At least it might solve the personal problem of working off your behind just so you get something to eat.

The profession of a teacher/mentor was once one of the most respected professions that had ever existed. Now look at what is happening to education in the US. Teachers are underpaid, curricula cut and trimmed to the minimum, tuitions in private schools worth a fortune. Public schooling is in danger. How to survive that as a public school teacher? Go on strike? LOL

</comment></comment></comment><comment> swingline-747 My stepsister and her husband are on benefits in order to make ends meet because teaching special ed in America, by the signal of pay, isn't valued enough for livable recompensation.

</comment><comment><USER15> John Stossel did a section on highly paid teachers in South Korea : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxMPfY_YDsE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxMPfY_YDsE)

Some numbers : [http://ncee.org/what-we-do/center-on-international- education...](http://ncee.org/what-we-do/center-on-international-education- benchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/south-korea- teacher-and-principal-quality/)

<comment><USER16> yeah I'm not sure "celebrity teachers" is a great model either

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> One political factor in the US is the belief, which I have heard expressed out loud any number of times, is that if you are good you then become an entrepeneur. So if you are instead a teacher then you must not have real skills, and should not get real pay.

(Not my attitude, very much not, but the reality that there are many who think that way needs to be noted.)

<comment><USER18> The whole "become an entrepreneur" is mostly a Silicon Valley bubble thing.

In the rest of the US, most people aren't expected to start a business, they are expected to go to college and get a job.

<comment><USER17> I have many times heard people say, for example at events for a ham radio club I belong to, that if you are a teacher then it is because you couldn't, or wouldn't, make it in "the real world."

Pointing out that teachers are highly-trained professionals who are often quite skilled, and who are an important part of what it takes to make a better future, in my experience just does not register very much.

<comment><USER18> There is a huge difference between "not making it in the real world" and "starting your own business". Not that I agree with the first sentiment either.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> 10 years ago it was working 2 jobs (Breaking Bad Season 1 reference).

</comment><comment><USER20> If people know they're going to be underpaid, why do they pursue that career path? No one becomes a teacher by accident.

Let's have a shortage of teachers so that they're forced to raise wages.

<comment><USER21> Having a long period of too few teachers could lead to large class sizes and a reduction in education quality. Those that could afford it would switch to private schools and we could end up in a feedback loop of reducing funding, worsening education and less support for public education.

<comment><USER22> Some would argue that's already happening

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Is there a country in the world where are the teachers paid well? I don't know of any. I suspect if there is a reason, it has nothing to do with America per se.

<comment><USER24> In Germany they are paid quite well. At least older, married ones with children as those things give you bonuses. A relative of me had ~4k€ net (after taxes and healthcare) which puts you in the top 15% income earners according to a quick Google search. Not bad for teaching in some random school somewhere in the countryside. Unfortunately most German states are currently trying to lower the wages.

<comment><USER22> The family bonus is a little fascinating. I imagine something like that would be met with outrage if implemented here in the states. It certainly does make sense though, as teachers with children are likely to have more experience with caring for children as well as greater need.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> What about teachers working in outrageous expensive private schools, are they underpaid too?

</comment><comment><USER25> It's truly a calling. My son is a junior in college, studying to become an elementary school teacher. I've talked to him several times about likely future earning prospects, he's well aware.

I have the highest admiration for true teachers.</comment>


Snowden suspected of bypassing electronic logs - o0-0o http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_NSA_SURVEILLANCE_SNOWDEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-08-24-09-41-24

<comment><AUTHOR> The most important thing to note here is that if Snowden can bypass the logs to cover his tracks then so can many of the capable people in the NSA that may want to use those systems for nefarious acts.

A low level analyst using the system as intended probably won't be committing any serious crimes they can get away with, but there are probably many people in the NSA smart enough to use these systems for wrongdoing in a way that effectively covers their tracks.

Compliance departments are a tricky thing. Anyone who has worked in the compliance area is pretty much fully equipped to evade compliance. Just ask the Societe Generale Group.

</comment><comment><USER2> It is ironic that the NSA originally developed SELinux (which has now been in the mainline kernel for just over a decade), which provides the mandatory access controls and multilevel security features that, properly implemented, could have prevented this whole fiasco in the first place.

If only they would have followed their own policies and procedures...</comment>


I just caught Facebook giving Likes from the unwilling. - <AUTHOR>

I live in Midland, Texas and there is this guy running for Mayor, his name is Jerry Morales. I guess he bought some ads or Likes on Facebook, because next thing i know, a friend tells me that I Liked his page, when in fact i never did. I don't even agree or like the guy myself. I don't know if he was aware that his purchase would do this or not. I think is very, very slimy for Facebook to inflate the numbers with people who never approved in the first place. <comment><USER2> This is why once a while I just go here to check my activity [https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source...](https://www.facebook.com/{{USER}}/allactivity?privacy_source=activity_log&log_filter=likes)

</comment><comment><USER3> I have a feeling the OP has a bot/toolbar on their machine and using that, 3rd parties will be able to simulate a like on their behalf.

Take a look at what software you have installed and you may discover the issue.

</comment><comment><USER4> You can't buy "Likes" on Facebook, you can buy ads that prompt people to "Like" your page but you can't buy them outright. There are some cases where you can't really tell whether you're Liking a friend's "Like" or if you're also Liking what your friend Liked. I'm sure it confuses a lot of people since this whole phantom Like issue has come up frequently and reported by a lot of folks.

<comment><AUTHOR> Apparently you can because i saw her newsfeed and it said that I Liked his page when i never had been to his page before.

<comment><USER4> You can like from within your feed without visiting their page. I think this is what happens a lot (misclick or deception) within the in-feed ads.

<comment><AUTHOR> You misunderstand. I never, in the history of ever, clicked Like on any political candidate's page, much less a guy i disagree and dislike.

<comment><USER5> They're not saying you ever went to a candidates page.

They're saying there was an ad in your own newsfeed you didn't know was an ad. Either a story you liked, or something one of your friends "posted" that you liked, but wasn't really a post, was an ad.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> There was an article on a similar phenomenon, which I swear made it to the front page here but I can't find the discussion:

[http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people- liking-s...](http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-stuff- on-facebook)

</comment><comment><USER7> After you found out about this, did you find his page in your Likes list?

If you did, could it have been that you somehow - inadvertently - clicked Like on his page/ad?

If your answers are yes and no respectively, I'd say this is profound indeed!!

<comment><USER8> Or Facebook could just be saying that certain people liked things without putting it in their list of likes. I first had a suspicion that Facebook was doing this when my feed said that several of my friends had like a Mormon based page when I know that none of them are Mormon would have no reason for liking the page. It could have been that they mistakenly liked it I suppose.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Maybe you accidentally clicked on something in the internet, and that led to you liking it.

<comment><USER10> If so, then it's just as slimy as buying/selling likes, and anyone involved should be named, shamed and 'unliked'.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Change your password.

<comment><USER12> Exactly; the OP was likely phished and the people who did this are making money by having these accounts like on their behalf.

I remember seeing in my feed that many of my liberal friends had "liked" Romney prior to the 2012 election. I saw this article come out around that time: [http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt- romney-...](http://thecentristword.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/mitt-romney- starts-buying-hundreds-of-thousands-of-facebook-likes-and-twitter-followers/) and people in the comments described a similar issue.

<comment><AUTHOR> Wow, thank you for this!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Slippery slope fallacy.</comment>


Another winner from Waze acquisition: Israeli charity Tmura - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/06/12/another-winner-from-googles-waze-acquisition-israeli-charity-tmura/ <comment><USER2> I would love to see more coverage of Tmura and how they are creating a perpetual ecosystem of pay it forward charity.</comment>


Ask HN: My idea is already taken. What should I do? - <AUTHOR>

A few months ago a friend of mine and I had an idea for a smartphone oriented social networkish project. We did some research, but it looked like it's unique (it isn't, we just didn't know the right keywords for searching). We started documenting the idea, writing down everything we thought about so that we don't miss any piece of the idea during development, but we didn't wrote any code.
Today I did some more digging, and found out that the idea is far from unique. I found some projects/apps that are mostly the same as our would be, but almost all of them are dead, it seems like no one is using them.
Now, I'm wondering what should we do. Why are these apps dead? Is it the realization or the idea? If the first, there might be chances that we can create something good that people will love, but if it's the idea, then maybe there is no market for that and we should abandon it too. <comment><USER2> It's an interesting situation to be in and it takes deep thinking.

Before 2000 a large number of services that offered bookmarks on the server- side had failed, up to the point where it was on everybody's list of "ideas that don't work".

Then delicious came along and it did work. (Then Yahoo got involved, and...)

If these apps are dead, the people behind them might be interested in talking about their experience and you might learn something. It is worth a shot.

</comment><comment><USER3> I had a boss who was fond of saying: "If you have (only) one idea, you deserve to have it taken from you", (he also had other similar cheery pronouncements). That being said, if you're confident of the "almost all of [the others] are dead" then _full steam ahead_ while trying to advertise why _" this time it's different."_

</comment><comment><USER4> Most of the time it is not the idea it is the implementation and follow through to make something successful. Most give up or do not have the proper base to follow through for the long term in nurturing and building the idea into a production ready product, market, advertise and get users engaged into it. The worst part about implementation is normally adding too many features cutting quality for quantity.

</comment><comment><USER5> Try the apps out and use them for a while. You will soon know what is wrong.

But sometimes, it's just about timing and luck. As an example, articles on HN often get reposted. And the amount of up-votes they receive can vary a lot. Some times front news articles are re-posts from last month that didn't receive any up-votes.

</comment><comment><USER6> Co-sign to what everyone said to try the apps.

After you get the feedback, create a small tweak in your iteration of the idea and analyze the potential.

Here I'll throw out an idea I had in a while, keep in mind I barely know how to code or even develop a tech start-up in the first place.

Privatized URL Analytics, yes there's Google and Bit.ly but what I'm saying is take Bit.ly's platform and integrate it with Google Analytics and you'll get one hell of a URL tracker. Sadly, nothing exists (as far as I know of). Would love to help develop and extrapolate the idea but that's as far as I could take it.

If there's such a URL platform, can anyone share what that is, so I may test it? Thanks and good luck with the idea.

<comment><USER7> Doesn't Bitly do this already? They give some (light) analytics for each short url.

<comment><USER6> Bit.ly does give analytics but it isn't as insightful as Google's.

It's sort of the same reason why, people love Kiss Metrics as opposed to using the internal analytics on a CMS like Wordpress.

Whereas Google's downfall is when you use their service, all URLs are public and can be traced to the source.

Hope this clarifies my preference.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Ideas are worth $0

Find out why the other apps failed. Firstly just the two of you thinking, then perhaps try contacting the previous builders (though initially, maybe not from the angle of "we're going to make it work better this time"). You might think of things they didn't.

</comment><comment><USER9> Have you actually spoken to any users that would use this app? Would you use this app yourself?

I only ask because generally competition in a market is never a bad thing, rather, it means that there is a true user need.

Why are these previously release apps now dead?

</comment><comment><USER10> Simple answer. Download the apps from your top competitors and start using them. When you get bored of them and quit in an hour, or a week, you'll know why they're dead.

</comment><comment><USER11> Almost every idea is taken. Do it better than the people who have done it before

</comment><comment><USER12> If you can find the contact information for the app owners, you could maybe email them directly and find out what went wrong. There could be some pitfalls that you only get to see once you execute the idea.</comment>


Ask HN: One website multiple topics or multiple domains with one topic each? - <AUTHOR> Which one do you think is better (for you, your clients, looking at traffic, conversion, SEO...)?
1) Consolidate all of your writing on a single website on a single domain?
Pros: Single infrastructure. Single SEO target, with all of the link juice going to a single domain.
Cons: Personas, writing style and frequency is intermixed among topics. It is hard to communicate a consistent message in a single newsletter.
2) Spin off a new domain for each new distinct topic, and keep one central hub (e.g. where you can list all of your interests and point towards them).
Pros: Easier to compartmentalize.
Cons: Increased costs (multiple domains, multiple infrastructure). May not give enough cross-site SEO juice. <comment><USER2> It is hard to tell. Google is always changing the rules. Historically keywords in the domain name have been very good but I would not promise anything.

The blue hat answer is that you want to be all over the place with not quite duplicate content. Each site and each page is like buying another lottery ticket. The only thing better than being #1 is to be #1 and #2 and #3, etc.

A local Thai restaurant has brilliant SEO in that they have gotten themselves on many restaurant directories and grubhub and taken every chance they can to appear in as many hits as possible.

</comment><comment><USER3> If you read google guidelines you can read (better 1 domain with many topics) But if topics in 1 niche.

If you want free analysis of your problem just fill the form on my website [https://masterseo.ca/](https://masterseo.ca/)</comment>


Ask HN: YC Application – 0 Video Views - <AUTHOR>

Our application still has 0 views in the introduction video. With just 6 days away from the results, I am inclined to think we are not gonna be in the shortlist.
If you were rejected in one of the previous application cycles, did you also have 0 views? If yes, this could be a good way of "getting the result before its announced" :)
All the best to everyone who applied! <comment><USER2> There are few other good incubators around. It does not hurt to apply other places as well. However, continue to focus on your product development.

This is my first time applying at YC, but in past I have helped raised funds for other companies outside. Last year I started my company and tried to raise funds.

After a while, instead of raising funds or spending too much time in hoping to get on incubators or VCs' list I started to stay focus on the product development. So not raised any outside funds so far however my product 1.0, then 1.3 and now 1.5 is out in the market and getting real users' feedback and polishing the product.

The bottom line is don't lose attention and focus from your product and plan out for 6, 12 and 18 months out with plan A and B, in my case, also plan C.

</comment><comment><USER3> I had applied last cycle, We were rejected and had 0 views on video. But I guess it's a waste of time to keep checking views and trying to guess the result. You will be waiting till 15th anyway.

So rather do something more useful?

</comment><comment><USER4> I was reading about one of the previous members of the Y comb. and they applied 6 times before being accepted.

So, If not this time there's always next time bud. Good luck!</comment>


Webkit has 3D CSS transforms - <AUTHOR> http://www.webkit.org/blog-files/3d-transforms/poster-circle.html

<comment><USER2> WebKit has had 3D CSS transformation for some time now: that example is linked from <http://www.webkit.org/blog/386/3d-transforms/> from two years ago.

Title here ("is that 3d css?") is a bit linkbait: "3d css transform [demo]" would be more descriptive, IMHO.

<comment><AUTHOR> Let's try "Webkit has 3D CSS transforms". Which, jeez!

See also (from the comments on the blog post): <http://esquevin.com/starwars.html></comment></comment>


A Moment Before Dying - <AUTHOR> http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying

<comment><USER2> In its original version, 'Alex' used to read 'Aaron'[1].

[1]: [http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cof...](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1oezk)

<comment><USER3> Wow. It's also worth reading the comments below the original article.

"You're scaring me here. Please sick around and talk to us. You can always die later. There's no rush."

"Jeez, Aaron - get some help. Now. Suicides talk about it before they do it."

etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> You guys are getting creepy with all the Aaron Swartz stuff.

<comment><USER5> My work ethic sucks compared to Aaron. My politics are the opposite as Aaron. My views on God are the opposite as Aaron's.

But, damn it, I recognize the pain that Aaron has gone as the same pain that we all go though. There's a lesson here for each of us, somewhere, in Aaron's life and indeed his death.

Frankly, let people mourn the best they can, and even if you don't understand their grief, let them alone for a few days.

<comment><USER4> Aaron did impressive things, and it sucks that he killed himself. If talking about his suicide prevents others from doing the same thing, then that's a positive thing.

That doesn't make it a non-creepy thing to do for an entire community to trawl through his website and post everything he ever wrote.

<comment><USER6> When people die, their friends (or in this case, never-met Internet supporters) share their fond memories of the dead, go through old photos, etc. Posting old things from Aaron's web site is a natural extension of this.

<comment><USER4> Over 90% of the HN front page was aaronsw stuff. It seemed a little excessive.

<comment><USER6> Far less than when Steve Jobs died, and for a shorter duration.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In the comments...

"It needn't be this way, for there is a cure: the joy of life. Sanity can be restored through attempts at music, channeling the fundamental disorder into form and elegance, focusing the energy toward good. Art, especially the art of nature, as Alexander suggested, is likely another cure." —Aaron Swartz

</comment><comment><USER8> Interesting that he uses the term "objects in space" on this text. I wonder if it was inspired by the Firefly episode with the same name, which itself reflects the directors reading of Nausea[1].

[1]: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea_(novel)>

</comment><comment><USER9> Am I strange for not understanding it?

<comment><USER10> No, I don't understand either

<comment><USER11> I feel like I understood it, but it is hard to put into words. I find that strange.

Emotionally it is easier to explain: It makes me feel like I did after the first time I watched American Beauty, read The Yellow Wallpaper, or listened to Bush's Razorblade Suitcase start to finish. Surreal maybe.

Perhaps in this case understanding is more emotion than cognition?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Sounds like a lot of people tried to help him and that this wasn't a full surprise.

</comment><comment><USER13> Wow that was intense. I have goosebumps all over...

</comment><comment><USER14> wtf this is exactly what happened to me at exactly that time wtf</comment>


The Startup Stock Tracker - <AUTHOR> http://graphics.wsj.com/tech-startup-stocks-to-watch/ <comment><USER2> While this is certainly interesting and useful, mutual funds change their valuations so infrequently that it still doesn't give us a good read on the current valuation. I would love some someone to take the much harder step of tracking the secondary market for these shares.

<comment><USER3> I'll take the devil's advocate here and claim that it won't be near as useful as you'd think.

For 4 reasons:

1) Most of the mutual funds that hold these shares allow redemption's on a monthly basis so they'll evaluate their holdings on a monthly basis. Since companies like Fidelity do get to see the books for these companies these valuations are likely to be as accurate as you can get

2) It's very hard to evaluate the common stock for the reasons that everyone has talked about over the past year. Liquidation preferences. It's extremely hard to evaluate a private company as you have to evaluate 3 things.

      - The value of the company itself

      - Tease out the common shares value vs preferred shares vs liquidity preferences( this is the hardest step in my experience)

      -  Figure out what someone will pay for an illiquid name that they may not ever be able to sell

3) Even if you can evaluate what the common shares are worth, then what? You probably can't buy them, and once they go public your evaluation is worthless as the whole game changes, Liquidity preferences are gone, preferred share are rolled into public creating a new unknown number of common shares in the float.

You essentially start at zero in the evaluation process once it goes public and IPO prices are, as history has shown, often divorced from any fundamental values.

4) Even if you can buy share on the secondary markets, those prices are often moved by non fundamental elements. ie an employee who has been at the company for 8 years want's to sell some shares on the private market to buy a house may take less than full value just to get some money out as they'll view it as free money. On the flip side speculators may over pay to get into a startup that they view as being huge, like a snapchat.

The secondary markets are so illiquid that its' almost impossible to arb prices to make money, we've looked at it and tried. I'll let someone else try:)

<comment><USER4> > Since companies like Fidelity do get to see the books

How so?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think this is a very fun idea for a piece of content, but it's important to add context when talking about how mutual funds value private companies, specifically regarding markdowns. I highly recommend anyone interested read this:

[http://pitchbook.com/news/articles/mutual-funds-mark-down- un...](http://pitchbook.com/news/articles/mutual-funds-mark-down-unicorns-so- what)

 _" While these markdowns have caused a big reaction from much of the media, the valuation write-offs aren't as overly indicative of an actual decline in the performance of these privately held companies—rather simply an accounting measure these funds have to abide by. Sure, some of these companies likely have their own business issues but the story is a bit overblown, so let's provide some context."_

<comment><USER6> Wouldn't quite discount the markdown as some mere accounting formality. While I agree that markdowns, in many cases, are not indicative of fundamental company performance issues, they are clearly indicative of changing market sentiment (i.e. contraction of valuation multiples). Look, these are all clearly viewed as close to IPOs (otherwise, mutual funds would have no business investing in them), and it is only natural that they dip a bit when the overall market dips a bit (NASDAQ was recently ~20% off the highs in July last year). If you look at high quality public comps (e.g. WDAY), they are still ~20% off the highs, so it makes sense that private "unicorns" are marked down just about the same amount. Basically, these mutual fund valuations are as close as you get to how public markets would value these companies, simply because these mutual funds will be the top holders and buyers when the companies hit IPO.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> 54% chance to have made money if you bet on any of these exclusively from IPO. That's a good reason to diversify over everything, or better yet, wait and then go with the ones who've increased investor value over the past two years. Investment in individual stocks, especially startups, is significantly risky otherwise. It's good that some gamble enough to support on an individual basis though- without them putting their necks out on the line, very few would be in this list.

<comment><USER8> > wait and then go with the ones who've increased investor value over the past > two years

Is there a specific reason you think trend following will be an effective strategy for that subset of companies (tech startups that IPOed 2 years ago)?

<comment><USER7> A large organization I'm very aware of used such a strategy for their investments.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Wow, MongoDB is worth more than 23andme, Cloudflare or New Relic?

<comment><USER10> Are 23andme, Cloudflare and New Relic web-scale?

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Does not include 37signals valuation of 100$ billions: [https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1941-press- release-37signals-...](https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1941-press- release-37signals-valuation-tops-100-billion-after-bold-vc-investment)</comment>


Amazon Is Ready to Take on Apple and Spotify in Streaming Music - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-17/amazon-is-ready-to-take-on-apple-and-spotify-in-streaming-music <comment><USER2> "Taking on Apple and Spotify" is an overstatement; they're specifically targeting speakers, where the lock-in is a lot weaker.

At least they've found another area to expand into that won't be hamstrung by their delightfully mediocre UI.

</comment><comment><USER3> I have Apple Music but I definitely listen to a lot of music on my Amazon Echo.</comment>


Ask HN: Going freelance. What are your best advice to new consultant? - <AUTHOR>

I am going freelance consultant as of 6/1 -- I am excited yet nervous.
What are your best tools for keeping your self organized, managing client info/time/data/etc?
I am a health care systems design consultant - not a developer. Ill need to track time spent, just found Toggl. and invoice etc..
What do you do as a consultant? <comment><USER2> Read these Alan Weiss books _immediately_ :

"Getting Started in Consulting" - <http://personalmba.com/review/getting- started-in-consulting/>

"Value-Based Fees" - <http://personalmba.com/review/value-based-fees/>

(Links are my short reviews / overviews.)

</comment><comment><USER3> A tool won't keep you managed, only you can keep you managed. So I wouldn't go crazy with trying to find the perfect tool, aim for something that's simple and easy to maintain so you can focus on billable time and marketing.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, that sounds like sensible advice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Never "loan" the client more than 2 weeks salary. If they can't do 10 days net then offer to work off a retainer.</comment>


I have forgotten how to read - <AUTHOR> https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/i-have-forgotten-how-toread/article37921379/ <comment><USER2> As a non-developer every now and then I see an article on HN that really hits home. This was one of them.

I find I have to "set the mood" in order to be able to even start reading a book, which involves a bunch of prep work that I never used to have to do.

It's...embarrassing to talk about. You can't talk about it with colleagues because the assumption is always that reading is easy, and admitting that it's not something you can do is like admitting lack focus and intelligence.

So many times I see really interesting book recommendations on HN and I immediately add them to an ever growing list on Amazon that I tell myself I'll buy "when I finish the 3 books I've been meaning to finish".

\--

My more cynical side wonders if there's a service that provides in depth book- report style articles.

Part of the allure of an article over, say, a chapter of a book is the sense of progress you get while reading the article. And ultimately knowing that you'll be able to finish it in a reasonable amount of time. A chapter in a book is more ambiguous and that leads to an uncomfortable uncertainty while reading.</comment>


Engine Yard acquires OpDemand, the company behind Deis - <AUTHOR> http://deis.io/deis-meet-engine-yard/

<comment><USER2> Amazing team with a fantastic outcome. Congratulations, Gabriel and team!

</comment><comment><USER3> Congrats to both EY and the Deis team. This, along with the news of the round of funding for Docker, continues to solidify the case for using the platform and ecosystem!</comment>


Ask HN: For a UX heavy webapp, JS or Python?  - <AUTHOR>

As I venture out into the maze of options for coding a webapp I am totally baffled as to which direction to begin. I am learning both Python and JS, but the frameworks are numerous and increasing daily. Either will work for the logic and data part, but which is easier to create a decent UX (which frameworks). It doesn't have to be the newest and hippest, but stable and not likely to disappear. Any advice would be much appreciated. <comment><USER2> "Create a decent UX" is pretty vague. You need a framework for doing what? MVC? UI?

On the server-side, python is more mature/well-supported. On the client-side, javascript is currently the only serious option.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for responding. I need a framework for UI, but MVC would be a bonus and is what I am used to through Obj-C. The app will be light enough to run client side so it could be JS with JQueryUI maybe. On the other hand GAE seems like it would make the administration end very easy but how good is Django for UI? The app will have several mini-apps that popup and will be essentially different instances of the same class so MVC would be nice but UI is the priority.

<comment><USER2> Django et al won't do a whole lot for you in terms of complex UI - server-side frameworks are mostly for keeping development organized. They will usually include (or allow you to include) javascript libraries like jQuery to ease the UI development, though.

The choice of framework/library on the client-side depends on what you need to do. If your UI is really heavy on complicated form elements, Ext.js might just do the trick. For things that require very complex drawing, you might want to look at Raphael. If you want an all-purpose middle-ground library, jQuery and its ecosystem are a good choice.

<comment><USER3> _If your UI is really heavy on complicated form elements, Ext.js might just do the trick._

I tend to recommend Dojo over Ext. Due to the licensing issues with Ext and the fact that Dojo has significant backing in the industry. As far as feature set they are similar and would be considered full client side UI development toolkits. They are good if you are building Web Apps. If you just want to sprinkle in some elements on a web page stick with jQuery.

<comment><USER2> I have indeed heard good things about Dojo; I just didn't want to recommend something I haven't used.

<comment><USER3> Sure that is very pragmatic and a good policy. I started on ext. But after Dojo gained industry backing and the licensing finagling with ext I switched. I have never looked back since. The nice thing about Dojo is it offer the robust web app framework like ext. It also can be used minimally with the selectors like jQuery but if people are going to just use selectors and a few other helper functions I tend to point them towards jQuery.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>