An Amazonian's Response to the NYT's "Inside Amazon" Article - <AUTHOR> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu <comment><USER2> If we're comparing anecdotes, I know maybe eight people who work at Amazon or have worked there in the last few years. Here are some stats on those eight people:

\- Two of them liked it. Six disliked it.

\- The two that liked it said that their teams were unusual in that they worked a 40-hour work week.

\- Everyone agreed that most people they interacted with were overworked, sometimes dramatically so. In most cases, the people themselves were overworked. Midnight emails are a thing.

\- All of them left within 18 months, or plan to. Most left within one year. The ones that currently work there are biding their time.

<comment><USER3> This happened to me: October, we notice an issue when our boss gives us bad specs. Boss insists it came "directly from Bezos." We push back because we know it's wrong. Boss is a wimp and knows nothing about technology. We talk to peers of bosses boss and boss, and get word to Bezos who confirms he wants to make the change.

So we make the change.

The change exists on the site for weeks. Then the early hours of the day before Thanksgiving, at 2am I am awoken by a page. I check the ticket, Bezos discovered the change. He is livid. Thanksgiving is important. We much fix it. Right then. around 70 people are on the ticket, most of the management above my boss (who is asleep) is weight in and constantly making demands... which means fixing it is hard to do while being bombarded by these people with big titles (and no understanding of engineering. This is a retailer, not a tech company.)

Finally, after around 4 hours I push the fix to production. I managed to get to sleep at around 8:30am.

Then roll into work at 10:05am!

5 minutes late for the daily standup! (Which were always 30 minutes because some useless PM liked to drone on for 25 minutes telling us things we already knew. BTW, she became a rising star- because she was excellent at kissing ass and manipulating people, but I never saw her contribute anything of actual value.)[1]

The DAY before thanksgiving!

To get CHEWED OUT BY MY BOSS for being late!

Because I was up all night fixing something that I had raised as an issue months ago (whole team raised it) and Bezos had changed his mind.

I've been working as an engineer for 25+ years. Amazon was the worst job I ever had. Period. Full stop.

Absolutely incompetent management, and that went from my boss (Who was dealing drugs to employees in the pacmed parking garage on the side) to Bezos himself.

I sincerely hope Blue Origin's first flight ends in disaster and Bezos is aboard. I would consider that justice.

I don't feel that way about any other place I worked. I worked from some jerks, I worked for a lot fop people out of their element, and in a lot of startups that were poorly run... but circumstances. It's understandable.

Amazon is the only truly evil company I worked for, ever. (and that includes Microsoft in the 1990s!)

[1] And since I know we live in the age of SJWs, this isn't misogyny. Most of the women I worked with at Amazon were competent, including one with a significant handicap who was a fantastic engineer despite it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Here's some data: Amazon has an ungodly high turnover rate despite employing tons of H1-Bs (who can't leave realistically without returning to their country).

If the article is not valid, then what is rotten about Amazon?

<comment><USER5> I found it intriguing that the experiences of the white collar employees speaking out in the NYT piece mirror the experiences[1] of the blue collar Amazon employees toiling away in their warehouses: Pushed to give as much as they can to the point of physical illness, burning out after just a few short years or even months in some cases.

And then along comes a dude who has been at Amazon for less than two years, and holds a management position higher than anyone interviewed for the NYT article, attempting to whitewash the story.

"Rotten" is an apt description.

[1] [http://www.mcall.com/news/local/amazon/mc-allentown- amazon-c...](http://www.mcall.com/news/local/amazon/mc-allentown-amazon- complaints-20110917-story.html)

<comment><USER3> Amazon's culture, and this goes from the top and permeates the executive ranks and middle management, has absolutely zero respect for employees. Employees are seen as sheep to be herded and manipulated and as a cost center, not a valuable resource.

Amazon is run by retailers, not tech people. They literally see no difference between engineers and warehouse packers-- which would be good if they treated both well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The data that I keep coming back to is this: the median employee tenure at Amazon is one year (2013 data). This must mean something is seriously, chronically wrong. A LOT of people are leaving after just months of work.

<comment><USER7> This does sound bad.

Does this include warehouse employees? (seasonal work, and generally shorter length than desk jobs?) Do you have this data separated to warehouse and desk jobs? (Are there other distinctly different job types in Amazon?)

Do you have such a number for comparable jobs?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I feel that the NYT article may have probably cherry-picked support for their arguments due to the fact that it seemed fairly one-sided. It would have been nice to see more balance in the story. Who knows, maybe they actually are very accurate about what it's like to work there.

On the other hand I've worked for big companies in the past and there are some tells about what they described that are familiar. The concept of having stack ranking and "managing out" the X% of the bottom performers. A tacit expectation of answering emails and texts outside of normal working hours. Lots of politics and unsolicited feedback going on.

The way this rebuttal goes it's a lot of "I've never seen this so it's obviously not true" and "If it is true then shame on that manager". What I suspect that's going on here is that he's only been there for 1.5 years and that's not enough time to evaluate the culture of a big company. There are lots of times when I heard how things were run in a different part of the company and I thought "Do we work at the same place?"

I say we ask him his opinion again in 5 years. If he's around for that long.

<comment><USER9> > he's only been there for 1.5 years and that's not enough time to evaluate > the culture of a big company

It's also questionable to what extent giant companies "have" a culture. Different parts of these vast organizations can have very different cultures.

<comment><USER10> For what its worth, it is accepted in academia that large companies do have cultures. I would think aspects of those cultures cross geographic boundaries.

The US Army and US Navy might have different cultures, being two very large and very different sub-organizations, but they retain many aspects of the same overarching culture.

I worked for one company that had two vastly different workforces, non- unionized white collar and highly unionized blue collar. Despite the head office (where the white collars worked) being a different parts of the city and country as where the blue collars worked, the same rotten, thieving and sexist culture was evident in both.

<comment><USER9> I don't disagree that large organizations have distinct cultures. I'm saying that there can also be substantial variations within them.

My experience at Google was possibly extreme, but my team and other teams I knew people at were _very_ different.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Disappointing. He asserts in the beginning of the blog post that he'll debunk the original piece using "data," and then proceeds to provide mostly personal anecdotes.

Much of his so-called rebuttal goes along the lines of "The original article claims many employees experienced X or heard Y, but I have never experienced X or heard Y in my team!"

<comment><USER12> I agree. I read the entire thing looking for data and found none. He repeatedly produced quotes from certain internal pages, but there is no way for any reader to verify them, nor does that make it data.

<comment><USER13> Quoting the official text is data. Summarizing internal data sources is data. In contrast to the interpretive dance that were the quotes from third-parties, this was dripping with data.

<comment><USER14> Both are primary sources of data for an article.

<comment><USER13> This author is a primary source.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> > Last year, during all-hands, a very high ranking Executive said

> My mentor, an Executive

> most Amazonians and especially Executives

Who capitalizes "Executive" in the middle of a sentence? A middle manager who idolizes Executives, apparently.

It reads like the author has drunk the company kool-aid.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> ____My comments __ __

First, thanks for taking the time to read the article.

1) No - no one asked me to write it. I wrote it because the NYT article is a complete hatchet piece full of false assertions, and the record needed to be set straight 2) All the data I provided is 100% true and above reproach 3) So much of the NYT article is junk it's laughable. A company that doesn't reimburse travel expenses, for instance -how do people even make this stuff up? 4) If Amazon was a fraction of what this article described, no one would work here, myself included 5) What you got from the LinkedIn article is what _actually_ happens at Amazon. It doesn't sell as well as sensationalism. Sorry to disappoint

I appreciate your time in reading the article, as well as your opinions. I make it a point not to "argue on the Internet" \- you have my apologies for not responding to you personally

Respectfully,

-Nick

<comment><USER16> "I receive anytime feedback, both positive and constructive, for the folks that work for me."

It saddens me that you can't say "negative" here as the obvious counter-point to positive, instead opting for kool-aid management speak. Up to this point I hadn't looked at your job title, but this sentence made me do just that as it reeked of feigned management behavior. Suspicion confirmed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> The NYT article calls out what everyone in the tech industry in Seattle knows full well - that Amazon chews up its people and spits them out. The Seattle tech community is only so big - we've hired numerous people from Amazon, and the stories we hear align pretty well with the NYT article. The rebuttal doesn't really do much to change any of this.

</comment><comment><USER18> AMZN PR is having a bad day. Headline in the Seattle Times print edition is the lack of diversity among professional ranks.

[http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-more- dive...](http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-more-diverse-at- its-warehouses-than-among-white-collar-ranks/)

<comment><USER19> I am not a fan of Amazon, but this article is straight yellow journalism.

<comment><USER13> It's not journalism. This guy is writing a personal account. He is not a paid writer, and this work was unsanctioned.

<comment><USER20> Unsanctioned by Amazon? You'd get in serious trouble for that.

<comment><USER13> Well, he's not.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Not a convincing article. Although the writer of the post is in good standing, I doubt the motives.

<comment><USER21> I agree. He manages other managers and so has a vested interest in maintaining the content of his employees.

What really struck me as cool-aidy is that he tosses out statements like "Amazon is, without question, the most innovative technology company in the world. The hardest problems in technology, bar none, are solved at Amazon." That's a cool-aidy statement for any company (google, tesla, amazon) and pretty much irrelevant to the main topic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Maybe the engineering culture is less like what was described then the marketing and executive cultures?

I'd also appreciate a female Amazon employee's perspective on gender, since they are more likely to notice issues that Nick wouldn't see, or have experiences Nick wouldn't have.

</comment><comment><USER23> Stories like these point to a need for a union for workers of such companies, both blue collar and white collar. This is exactly the sort of thing unions have addressed in the past. Most bozos understood not to do these sort of things because they would lead to unionizing actions.

</comment><comment><USER14> > As I cracked open my laptop to write this article, people were already > discussing its existence on certain email distribution lists, and the > expressions were mostly of disbelief at how uninformed the article was

Company email lists? Why would those do anything but praise Amazon?

or you know, people would complain and someone would shut down the discussion. "Let's take it offline" was a pretty common trick. "This isn't the right forum" is another.

> I sit on the floor, in a desk, not an office, because I like to be close to > my folks

Also because you aren't a high enough level to be given an office.

> which means I'm part of a select group of people at Amazon who not only has > visibility into our hiring standards and practices, but has the direct > responsibility of ensuring they are always met.

True, and you can give insight into how the process works. Consider though, can you actually give good insight into how and why candidates might think it is broken?

> As long as Amazon is around, and I'm here, we'll continue to be customer- > obsessed

I really can't go into details, but Amazon is at best inconsistent with this ideal. They do a lot of things right, especially in retail, but they get a lot wrong. I have seen decisions made that were decidedly anti-customer.

This also cuts the other way, if something doesn't have customer impact it becomes hard to get it done. Shortsighted engineering practices.

> No one, I repeat, no one is encouraged to "toil long and late." As a matter > of fact, I'll take a bit of time to expand on this:

of course not, you just get a deadline dropped on you instead.

> Yes. Amazon is, without question, the most innovative technology company in > the world. The hardest problems in technology, bar none, are solved at > Amazon.

okay.

> Our cafeterias are subsidized,

you mean the ones that serve mediocre sandwiches at mediocre prices?

> Executive mandates don't fly around here

we had so many "drop everything and do this" moments because some exec found a problem. Sometimes it was justified. Sometimes it would not have happened if it was anyone but the boss.

Besides, the situation would probably go something like this for a mandate...

Manager: We are doing X Engineer 1: I think X is a bad idea because of Y. Engineer 2: I agree, and I wonder if we should do Z instead. Manager: Lets discuss this offline.

Then nothing happens.

> I've never been called an Amhole, and I'm completely certain this is made > up, as I've never heard anyone say this, and as an insult, it wouldn't make > a very good one, in my opinion.

It's used by people complaining about Amazon "ruining" seattle.

> I won't discuss Organizational Level Ranking, or OLR. Some companies, such > as Microsoft and Accenture, no longer use it

Gee, I wonder why. The defender of the company won't discuss one of their more criticized practices. Despite being in a good position to do so.

> To assert otherwise without a single shred of data is irresponsible and just > plain wrong.

So he said/she said basically. Both sides have bias, but considering what you hear about the process while inside the company I'd go with the idea that it is pretty harsh.

> I have seen Amazon do more to encourage diversity than any other company > I've worked for.

Like having a joke of a maternity leave policy and refusing to discuss diversity figures for engineering roles?

> How could being an attentive, respective leader, who is vocally self- > critical and candid be a bad thing??

It's not really an amazon issue, but data shows that women who are more vocal and disagree (i.e. disagree and commit) tend to get labelled as more difficult to work with, relative to males who do the same. That's a tough issue since it probably involves unconscious bias.

> This part of the articlea deals with attrition

Unlike you who immediately pivots to how people want to work at amazon and how innovative and awesome the company is. Fact is, attrition is a known problem at Amazon and from personal experience it doesn't seem to be one that is dealt with well. Excuses are made, new people are hired, everything continues as normal.

</comment><comment><USER24> One of the pull quotes in the article states that Amazon reminds the customer if they've purchased the same book twice. Oddly enough, about an hour prior to reading the article, I repurchased a book deliberately. I'd given one as a gift, and I wanted to read it myself. There was about a 4 day interval between the two purchases.

I wondered if Amazon would alert me about it, because that's how I'd design the system. They didn't.

Does that have any implications for the article's accuracy?

<comment><USER25> Took it as referring to the text box that appears at the top of the item page on the site that says something like "you purchased this item on <date>."

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Also, to the extent that this article exists and people hear about working at Amazon being punishing and stressful or horrible warehouse jobs, if things have really changed, Amazon has a marketing/PR problem.

</comment><comment><USER26> Anyone bothered by how all companies are using Pride commercially?

<comment><USER13> You're bothered that Amazon employees (I'm assuming that they are not paid actors) that were celebrating pride were captured in a photo, and that photo shared?

<comment><USER26> I believe a lot of employees participate in Pride because we are celebrating the gay rights movement. But I am more skeptical when official twitter accounts, high level managers, recruiting, etc use these photos.

Edit: here's a prime example: [https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse](https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse)

Obama never voiced support until half of the nation polled in favor of gay marriage.</comment></comment></comment>


Libreboot Screwup – 18 Sept 2016 - <AUTHOR> http://zammit.org/libreboot-screwup.html <comment><USER2> Unless someone else forks it and takes on the weight of doing most of the work (including coordination, interactions with other developers, support), nothing can change. But the beauty of this being open source is that it's possible, if someone is so inclined and can spend the time and energy on the project.

</comment><comment><USER3> From Leah Rowe's page on libreboot about cutting ties with FSF[1]:

>She would also like the $6120 USD that she donated to the FSF since 2015 to be refunded to her by the FSF.

[1] [http://archive.is/C07AP](http://archive.is/C07AP)

<comment><USER4> I wonder if someone has told her that's not how donations work.</comment></comment>


Watson goes to college: How world's smartest PC will revolutionize AI - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2013/03/02/watson-goes-to-college-how-the-worlds-smartest-pc-will-revolutionize-ai/ <comment><USER2> There are going to be some revolutions in AI in coming years, but I don't think they will come from IBM (or google or msft or any other similarly established company)

In the history of major technological advances, when has a big established player gotten it right? IBM _invented_ the relational database, but Oracle (a tiny startup at the time) still ate their lunch for years. Why? Because IBM had already invested too much in non-relational databases and would have been cannibalizing their own business. Watch the exact same thing happen to Watson, the software powering Google's self driving cars, whatever Kurzweil is working on, etc. Not to mention, many of the current AI luminaries heading research at these companies are near retirement age--not to be ageist, but Einstein did not develop the theory of relativity near retirement, he did it when he was 26. Why would the biggest advances in AI be different?

The company that really gets AI right--the company that can call itself "the AI company" like google can call itself "the search company" and facebook can call itself "the social company"--you probably haven't heard of it yet.

</comment><comment><USER3> Watson is a great example of the graduation evolution of weak AI. It succeeds beautifully in its narrowly defined goals, but is still just a glorified statistical search engine. It will not revolutionize AI anymore than Deep Blue did with Chess or the speech recognition software of the 90s did.

To quote Jeff Halwkings "As Searle showed with the Chinese Room, behavioral equivalence is not enough. Since intelligence is an internal property of a brain, we have to look inside the brain to understand what intelligence is. As we'll soon see, there is an underlying elegance of great power, one that surpasses our best computers, waiting to be extracted from these neural circuits. ... For half a century we've been bringing the full force of our species' considerable cleverness to trying to program intelligence into computers. In the process we've come up with word processors, databases, video games, the Internet, mobile phones, and convincing computer-animated dinosaurs. But intelligent machines still aren't anywhere in the picture. To succeed, we will need to crib heavily from nature's engine of intelligence, the neocortex. We have to extract intelligence from within the brain. No other road will get us there. "

I'd put my money on Deep Neural Networks or Hawkings' Hierarchical Temporal Memory approach to "revolutionize AI".

<comment><USER4> Searle didn't show anything of the sort. There have been many responses to it, such as pointing out that it is the whole system, rather than the man, that understands Chinese, or that it is begging the question in terms of the uniqueness of human intelligence.

E.g. a fun response which reverses it to be AI talking about humans <http://lesswrong.com/lw/ghj/searles_cobol_room/>

<comment><USER5> His thought experiments give a good illustration of the "hard problem" of consciousness.

A) It's not rationally possible to explain qualia in terms of quantitative phenomena. We can draw correlations using empiricism but they are ontologies fundamentally inconsistent with one another.

B) Intelligence does not imply experience. One of the biggest problems here is conflation of the two. An amoeba has intelligence with basic consciousness of its surroundings. That does not mean it has experiences.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I don't know much about AI, but I highly doubt Watson will revolutionize anything. Significant advances in AI will most likely come from better software and algorithms and while IBM is great at doing hardware, they are not so good when it comes to software. The way I see it, Watson is just IBM doing PR work to get people to know their brand since they don't really offer any consumer products anymore.

<comment><USER7> I wouldn't discount IBM so quickly- to my understanding IBM's been partnering with a lot of institutions to beef up Watson. I know Carnegie Mellon was quite involved through the whole Jeopardy showcase (I even got to watch him school contestants from local universities in Pittsburgh).

What's to say better software and algorithms won't be developed as a result of IBM's push to find new use cases for Watson? The article goes into great detail about how Watson has already contributed to the current AI landscape. I for one love that IBM's relocating Watson to a university where students will get to interface with the machine.

Haters gonna hate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> "PC"? Watson's hardware weighs in at around 40 tons total.

</comment><comment><USER9> Watson's strongest and most unique advantage may be IBM's PR department.</comment>


A Walk Through Druid Heights (2018) - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@savedruidheights/a-first-visit-to-druid-heights-5956d613110c <comment><USER2> What is it being saved from?</comment>


Michigan Central and the Rebirth of Detroit - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/KnxBMVGAcn/michigan_central_detroit <comment><USER3> This is a great article - maybe the best that I've seen in terms of depth and balance about Detroit (I'm from there.)

Both Detroit and Oakland allowed rain and rodents to heavily damage their showcase train stations.

They are trying to restore them now, but a tarp would have saved tens of millions of dollars and years in restoration costs.

The world-class DIA art museum was mentioned. Note that Toledo, Ohio, another ruined city, has the fantastic Libby Glass Museum.

> For some years he has been buying lots in the area

Forward-thinking business owners with cash flow have a unique opportunity to buy downtown real estate.

A trucking company bought hundreds of abandoned homes near swanky Belle Isle(!) and paved an urban parking lot of around 50 acres for trans-shipping between USA and Canada.

Detroit is one of the few cities in the world where you can buy a block-long brick factory and launch a new mfg. business for essentially just the back taxes.

[https://www.mobsteel.com/detroit-steel-wheel- co](https://www.mobsteel.com/detroit-steel-wheel-co)

<comment><USER4> Friend of a friend owns mobsteel. It's not manufacturing in the sense of "big production lines" ... but more crafting new cars out of old ones. You'll see lots of Adam's cars right at home on the woodward dream cruise.

While the article focuses on the Central, I wish there was a bit of something on the failure that is the people mover.

That being said I wish Ford and Gilbert and everyone trying to revitalize things the best of luck. It's an uphill battle which requires fixing the educational system and essentially the community.

<comment><USER5> I see this differently. I grew up in Chicago in the era of decline. Economic decline begets social decline. Much is made of the pathology of poor communities, and I've heard it before: for jobs to come, you need to 'fix' the people, the schools, the community. But funny thing, if the jobs are stripped away, the people sink into despair and dysfunction. You see it today, in white working class communities where it seems nearly everyone has succumbed to opiates. When I was growing up it was called the pathology of the Black family. In my area, jobs fled because the companies didn't want to pay union wages. Then gangs took over. The people were blamed for the dysfunction. What happens when the jobs disappear is the real problem.

<comment><USER6> The problem is people don't want to admit what needs to be done before it's too late.

When the gas crisis hit, it put enough money into the Japanese car makers that their next generation of cars weren't just more fuel efficient than what Detroit was producing, they were actually competitive on multiple levels.

Suddenly the Big Three had to compete, but there was a problem. They had promised their workers wages and benefits they could only provide when they _didn 't_ have viable foreign competition. More competition meant lower volumes and lower margins.

There are only two options in that circumstance. Either everyone tightens their belt or the companies fail. But nobody wanted to tighten their belt. The unions wouldn't give back what they negotiated during the time when the American automakers had no competition. So the companies slowly failed, and with them the region.

The alternative might have been that most cars were still made in Detroit, and people there made middle class wages, just not upper middle class wages. But they chose bankruptcy and unemployment over accepting that, and that's what they got.

<comment><USER7> The promises to workers were certainly a contributing factor, but incompetent and apathetic management was a far larger problem. If management had decided to make efficient, high-quality cars the workers were capable of building them as perhaps only slightly higher cost than the competition. Union assembly line workers didn't design the Ford Pinto.

<comment><USER6> Management decisions did them no favors, but it was a fundamental shift no matter how well they would have executed. If they had made better cars they would have done better, but there was still no way to maintain their previous revenues when they had new competitors selling good cars for less money, and those revenues were what paid for those benefits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> After years of looking at Detroit "ruin porn", I finally got to visit in person last month with a friend from the area as my guide. Photos don't do it justice! The station is enormous and very imposing.

(Also 4 minutes away is an amazing ramen place - Johnny Noodle King).

<comment><USER9> Haha, small world! Johnny Noodle King is indeed amazing, I have some distant relatives who built the countertops for the restaurant.

Oh Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynfVGyMrvz8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynfVGyMrvz8)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> That station first represented the greatness of Detroit. Then it represented what locals call 'ruin porn' and I've got at least three coffee table books where it was the cover subject.

I grew up in Detroit and visit it often. I remember as a little kid visiting the depot with my dad where he'd use one of the few nickel phones that still remained in the city. As a teenager I took trains to and from the station.

I think what Ford is doing is amazing. A previous Ford built RenCen [https://fineartamerica.com/featured/detroit-renaissance- cent...](https://fineartamerica.com/featured/detroit-renaissance-center- christopher-arndt.html) on the river shortly after the riots. It was supposed to represent the city's rebirth but it was a very flawed development. General Motors bought it and made it better as Ford exited the city.

The station represents Ford's triumphant reentry into the city of its birth. It was a very gutsy call at a time when the company faces major threats. Despite what the story says my friends that live there say that Ford has been very receptive to their concerns.

But on a sad note there are the farmers. There are a number of couples making a full time living farming the vacant lots. Someday those lots will be sold and developed and the neighborhood will lose some of its unique character.

[https://www.freep.com/in-depth/news/columnists/john- carlisle...](https://www.freep.com/in-depth/news/columnists/john- carlisle/2018/12/12/north-corktown-urban-farmer/2141940002/)

</comment><comment><USER11> Even as a kid in the 80s when I saw its shuttered carcass out the car window, I knew that building was something special, even though its size and prominence vs it's surroundings made it a bit scary looking.

I remember asking my parents what it was, and being confused when they said it was a train station, because I'd never heard of passenger trains in Detroit.

I do have a very foggy early memory of the last streetcars of Detroit before they were ripped out, or maybe it was just the abandoned tracks. I also remember asking my parents where the trains for those tracks were. I remember them saying that "this is a car city", neither proudly nor vindictively, just as a matter of fact.

It would be amazing to see passenger rail service return to Detroit. It would take a huge culture shift,both nationally and locally.

</comment><comment><USER12> I don't understand why we bother. If places outlive their economic usefulness, just move somewhere else. That's exactly what people did with Detroit - <USER2> on.

Why bother saving, or resurrecting it? Did we forget how to build grand buildings?

<comment><USER5> Yes, we did forget how to build grand buildings.

<comment><USER6> We didn't really forget. We just stopped wanting them.

Grand buildings are beautiful, but they're also much more expensive to build, and to climate control, and they take up a lot more real estate that could be housing for people.

Bill Gates or Elon Musk could afford to build buildings like that. Or they could use their resources to fight malaria and climate change and get humans into space. And as between them, they're probably making the better choice.</comment></comment></comment>


Sites similar to this one? - <AUTHOR> Are there any similar sites to this one I can visit? I kind of just recently got hooked on podcasts but would really like to hear of other sites like this one that I can visit. <comment><USER2> There is good github repository for all kind cool sites check it out , [https://github.com/sdmg15/Best-websites-a-programmer- should-...](https://github.com/sdmg15/Best-websites-a-programmer-should- visit), i think you will like it

</comment><comment> star-techate What specifically do you find appealing about this site?

<comment><AUTHOR> I enjoy the articles about tech related news and subjects related to... Embedded Software Engineering Aerospace Engineering Technical topics concerning Software in general Advice on Interviewing and Career development Systems Engineering

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Reddit</comment>


The Hardest Part of 'Cyber Addiction' Is Making It Go Away - <AUTHOR> https://content.dollarshaveclub.com/hardest-part-cyber-addiction-making-go-away <comment><USER2> Interesting content marketing from, uh, Dollar Shave Club.

<comment><AUTHOR> Candidly, does that bother you?

<comment><USER2> No, not at all. Just not who I expected to be the source of a post like this, is all. A flat out shocker, to be honest.

<comment><AUTHOR> Don't underestimate Mike Dubin, founder of DSC. Remember that guy from the original video? He's super thoughtful and into stuff like this.

<comment><USER2> I'm not trying to underestimate anybody. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this material is not exactly on-brand for a monthly razor company, hence the surprise.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


What We Can Learn From Mess (known as Craigslist) - <AUTHOR> http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/08/what-we-can-learn-from-mess.html

<comment><USER2> Article headline title should be:

What We Can Learn From _Elegance_

Craigslist also wins by having the right categories, right font size, right colors. It is fast and the urls are predictable. Also, breadcrumb nav and search is good.

It was precisely what I was thinking when designing <http://twitya.com> \- a twitter browser.

When you visit a site every day, it should be as fancy as your arm, not unlike this site.

</comment><comment><USER3> Content beats presentation? Staying close to the customer rules? No meetings a big win? Worthy of contemplation.

<comment><USER4> These are principles many of us have been telling bosses, clients, readership -- anyone who would listen to us -- for quite a while. They're principles that get ignored every time they're brought up, though. It's awesome that Craigslist is demonstrating that they work, and terribly sad that so few people seem to be taking notice.

<comment><USER5> Extrapolating from "it worked for Craigslist" to "it will work for us" is highly naive. If someone showed up to a meeting and said, "let's do like Craigslist" and totally ignored all the ways that our business is very different from craigslist I'd be sceptical too.

<comment><USER4> Who said anything about "extrapolating from 'it worked for Craigslist'"? I didn't say "Some of us have been trying to get our bosses to copy Craigslist for years!" What I said was that some of use have been aware of such principles for years, and telling others about them. One hopes that sharing such principles would involve applying them properly, rather than naively trying to copy someone else's formula.

Do you just dislike Craigslist, and thus hate anything related to it -- including its principles of success and anyone who happens to be aware of some of those principles?

I, for one, have never told anyone "You should base your business model on Craigslist's model!" but I have said "You should probably simplify your business model. I have some suggestions."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Obligatory reference: <http://www.aperfectmess.com/> a book about the cost of neatness. And this debate covers a lot of areas. Anyone that trusts science must recognize the power of emergent patterns, and how they rule the world. This, the internets, is one of the most interesting examples of it because it was just born some years ago, world geography and big cities are as interesting but much more afflicting examples. Will there be a science of disorder? In the case of enterprise architecture and Craiglist, what are the principles? Are they embodied in Craig Newmark? Or there will never be a science of disorder, and rest of us will be left with the social sciences which try to explain how we value neatness and hoping more enlinghtned people like Craig Newmark will rule the world?

There is a breach in the Master & Commander pattern of today enterprises waiting to be opened.

</comment><comment><USER7> Another wildly successful example of "What We Can Learn From A Mess" can be found at Plenty of Fish, where they are doing the same thing in the online dating world.

[http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/and-the-money-comes- rol...](http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/and-the-money-comes-rolling- in.html)

"Today, according to the research firm Hitwise, his creation is the largest dating website in the U.S. and quite possibly the world. Its traffic is four times that of the dating pioneer Match, which has annual revenue of $350 million and a staff that numbers in the hundreds. Until 2007, Frind had a staff of exactly zero. Today, he employs just three customer service workers, who check for spam and delete nude images from the Plenty of Fish website while Frind handles everything else."

<comment><USER8> I find all of this very intriguing. Assuming that both Craigslist and PlentyOfFish are successful for the same underlying reasons, it's worth pointing out similarities between the two. Note that while I've been using Craigslist for years, I have very little real experience with PlentyOfFish, so feel free to correct any invalid assumptions I make:

1\. Plain user interfaces. The choices of fonts and colors seems very personal, non-corporate. There's nothing sleek, modern, trendy, creative, or flashy about either of these sites. That's not to say they're particularly simple or efficient.

2\. Unchanging user interfaces. When you go to Craigslist, at least, you can be sure to find the exact same site you were using one, two, three years ago. No surprises, no re-learning, and no feeling left-behind.

3\. Initial focus on small community, growth through word of mouth. Craigslist had San Francisco, and PoF had Vancouver I believe? There's something to be said about making users feel like they are party of a small, exclusive community. (Look at the beginnings of Facebook.)

4\. Content created almost entirely by users. Craigslist does little more than categorize users' posts, and PoF is, well, a dating site.

5\. Open: you don't have to know someone or get them to accept a friend request in order to interact with them. Once again, these sites make connecting with others easy and direct. (Although the signup process at PoF is understandably more involved.) When I go to Craigslist Boston I really do feel like the site represents the entire community.

6\. Pretty much free.

I'm sure I could add more, but the recurrent theme seems to be getting out of the way and keeping the focus on the people. Neither of these sites rely on revolutionary tools or features or algorithms, and neither seems particularly interested in impressing the tech community.

<comment><USER8> Another one to add to the list is CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com), a site owned and created almost entirely by Derek Sivers. He sold it for $22 million last year.

Looking at the site now, it's a bit sleeker and more up-to-date than both Craigslist and PlentyOfFish, but not too long ago it looked pretty much like a link farm: [http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/original/0004/6518/4...](http://www.crunchbase.com/assets/images/original/0004/6518/46518v1.png)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> It seems like people are making the mistake of generalizing from a sample of one. Craigslist does things in a certain way, and craigslist is a success. The latter doesn't necessarily follow from the former.

Sure, it's a lean organization, and sure, that's good. They've cut out a lot of stuff that they can truly get along fine without. But if craigslist didn't exist and you wanted to launch it today, you would never launch the design it's famous for. And yet you'd stand a good shot at real success.

So craigslist has been successful in spite of its design. In the face of the things people like about the site, the design ultimately didn't really matter. I don't know why people can't just leave it there and instead feel the need to infer causation.

<comment><USER10> To infer the opposite truth without investigation or evidence to back it would be equally wrong.

I would put Craigslist's clean/basic design in the list of reasons why it succeeded while others failed. It may be a small % but they certainly didn't succeed _despite_ it.

<comment><USER9> It is a clean design, and that's good, but there's a really long list of things that are wrong with it. Things they could fix while retaining a clean, stripped-down experience. In light of that, I'm confused about why people ascribe so much of the site's success to its design. A better design doesn't have to (and shouldn't) mean a heavier one.

It doesn't seem to have hampered craigslist, though, and that's why my best guess puts it in the "nonfactor" category.

<comment><USER4> None of what you say Craigslist did _wrong_ obviates the importance of recognizing what Craigslist did _right_. It seems that what it did right has proven more important than what it did wrong in this case, in fact, further attesting to the value of what it did right.

If you want to do a similar job better than Craigslist did, you should probably do what Craigslist did right, and look for ways to improve it without undercutting those positives. In short, the fact Craigslist does some things wrong doesn't mean you can't learn from its example.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Craigslist succeeded because there is an ecosystem of people that makes it useful. buyers/sellers, job hunters/head hunters and so on. The same reason eBay is successful.

<comment><USER12> But Craigslist beat others in establishing theirselves as the hub of that ecosystems; they didn't just buy the domain name and have all those groups of people there the next day.

<comment><USER11> I agree. first-mover advantage plays a big role as well.</comment></comment></comment>


Google's evil stock split - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2012/04/13/googles-evil-stock-split/ <comment><USER2> If Apple had done this, this article would be front page of HN with howls of complaints from people who've never owned a single share of Apple stock.</comment>


Ask HN: What laptop to buy? - <AUTHOR>

What does everyone use as their primary development laptop?
I'm in the market looking for a new laptop that would be smaller than 15" and is geared towards development above anything else.  Lightweight and fast is the key.
My IDE of choice right now is Visual Studio 2012 and I don't plan on doing any gaming on it.  Anywhere <= $1000 is ideal with SSD/1920x1080 (at least).  No DVD drive.
Any suggestions? <comment><USER2> Right now, because I'm spending a lot of time flying across the continent, my dev laptop is a maxed out 11" MBA. It's a little light on RAM (only 8GB) and the screen, while a decent PPI, is too small. But I plug it into a Thunderbolt display and bam, it's plenty enough for day to day work.

Of course, it was a lot more than $1000.

<comment><AUTHOR> A macbook air sounds great, but I am concerned with the screen-size as well. I would definitely need more than 11" as I wouldn't be using an LCD monitor 95% of the time.

It definitely seems like the macbook air is the go-to lightweight development machine these days.

<comment><USER3> The 13.3" is 1440x900 which gives you a little bit extra screen space. Asus Zenbook and Sony's VAIO ultrabook both look really nice, also in the 13.3" range.

I work primarily from my 13.3" screen in a wide variety of IDEs, you get used to it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> macbook air 11 inch.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I've considered a macbook air. It's definitely in my top choices. It's been so long since I've looked at laptops, but surely there are cheaper options with similar hardware right?

<comment><USER2> Keep in mind that with these custom designed laptops, price is determined by volume, and by logistics, and Apple sells a lot more of these class of machines, and has by far the best logistics -- you're not going to be able to get much cheaper than Apple in the same class of machine any longer.

<comment><AUTHOR> Very good point. I guess the days of same-hardware laptops being 50% less in price are gone. I would love to just jump in and get the 13.3 macbook air, but $1200 for the 128GB SSD and 8 GB ram is just a bit above my budget.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, the "Apple soaks you for 50%" meme is largely invalid these days. FULL DISCLOSURE: I work for Apple.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Training Officers to Shoot First, and He Will Answer Questions Later - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/training-officers-to-shoot-first-and-he-will-answer-questions-later.html?_r=0 <comment><USER2> The first comment picked by NYT staff on that article is from a retired cop. It is very telling:

"I was a Police Officer in Phx for 30 years, and fortunately never had to shoot anyone, but was shot at four times and hit once. I was in several situations that I would have been justified in shooting! Were I an officer in todays world, (retired 20 years ago) I would probably be more likely to use deadly force in situations like I encountered. It is a much more dangerous world today and I cringe each time I see an officer making a stop. I still carry and at each stop I see being made I prepare to come to the officers aid if needed."

This retired cop has somehow reached the conclusion that it is a much more dangerous world today than it was 20 years ago, _despite crime rates being at an all-time low._ I'm seriously wondering where his delusion comes from, because it seems to be shared by cops all over the nation.

<comment><AUTHOR> >This retired cop has somehow reached the conclusion that it is a much more dangerous world today than it was 20 years ago, despite crime rates being at an all-time low. I'm seriously wondering where his delusion comes from, because it seems to be shared by cops all over the nation.

My wild guess: the 24 hour news cycle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Is putting your hand in your pocket now a capital offence?

> The white officer yelled for him to take it out. When the driver started to > comply, the officer shot him dead.

Doesn't sound like there was any way for the victim to not be shot here; doing what he was told was lethal, and keeping his hand in his pocket would have gotten him shot for disobeying the police.

<comment><USER4> I would be very nervous in that situation.

Even if you tried to explain what you were doing "I don't have a gun, I'm going to remove my hand from my pocket slowly" there's every chance they'll still be shouting instructions and not hear you. If they mistake a shadow or fold in fabric to be a dark shape, you're toast.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> He's justifying shooting by the speed with which an assailant can shoot, but with zero data on the accuracy of the assailant when moving that fast. I'd want to know what is the estimated time to pull and shoot a gun with at least a roughly 10% chance of the officer being hit, not to mention being killed.

<comment><USER6> So it's OK to pull a gun and shoot at a cop if you don't hit him?

<comment><USER7> Nah, someone is just playing probabilities with someone else's life. But hey, you don't have to be a cop. Better to be a webdev and hangout on Hacker News all day.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's unfortunate that most will discount this article prima facie given the current political and societal winds.

I'm not qualified to determine whether the guy's science is sound or not, and I damn sure don't endorse "shoot first and ask questions later." But I've been the guy with dirty boots carrying a gun and can tell you that unless you've been there, it's difficult to understand how quickly things happen and how your brain and nervous system react...far too quickly to rationally consider things like "he is shooting too fast to have a high probability of hitting me" or "statistically my job is not getting more dangerous" like so many enlightened internet commenters are proposing. Comments like that nauseating naiveté masquerading as enlightenment, not constructive solutions to police shootings.

Let me state unequivocally that one preventable death is too many, regardless of race or circumstance, and police officers who abuse their power or hide behind their badge ought to be punished more harshly given the increased responsibility they bear.

But in the same way that we ought to empathize with the victims who have gotten the short end of the stick from our justice system and society in general, maybe we ought not to be so quick to judge officers who do a dangerous and often thankless job, but one that's critical to society. Especially those who have never been in a shoot/don't shoot situation or faced the ambiguity of trying to determine in the heat of the moment whether the situation unfolding before them in real time is truly a shoot/don't shoot situation.

<comment><USER9> You have your values wrong, and this is probably due to lack of training. There are a couple ways to deescalate a situation which don't involve thinking or judging (if you've learned the criteria as a pure yes/no situation, they become a reflex). Also, police should protect the citizen more than themselves, therefore when in doubt, don't shoot and take the risk of being shot. Police will be popular when they count more deaths in their rows than arbitrary executions by police on the street. You can't take the risk of a police/population divide.

> one preventable death is too many

It's not one. See comment from slxh in next thread. I don't set foot in the US for fear of police mistakes, and last time I said that I was upvoted 9 times [1], so it seems US is already massively facing the consequences of their untrained armed force on their ground.

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9948835](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9948835)

<comment><USER10> You can't ask living, breathing humans to not defend their lives.

Yeah, ~500 people have been killed by police in America so far this year. That includes rightful and wrongful shootings. Some of them were innocent, sure, and some were in a grey area, sure, but plenty were warranted.

Contrast that with over 100 /homicides/ in New Orleans so far this year. NONE of those are warranted or just (by virtue of being homicides).

And just to do the math, there are approximately 750,000 officers with the authority to arrest in the USA (wikipedia). If each of them interacted with only one non-officer per day (rounding against the police, here), that's over 160 million police interactions so far this year, making a deadly outcome the result of only .0003% of all police interaction, and I'll bet a huge segment of those shootings are warranted.

Staying out of the USA because you're scared of cops isn't exactly a rational decision.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> One quote from the article:

"People die because of this stuff," said John Burton, a California lawyer who specializes in police misconduct cases. "When they give these cops a pass, it just ripples through the system."

I'm curious what people think of this ... does defending the police even under pretty damning situations really equate to being responsible for future death?

<comment><USER6> Everyone deserves a defense.

<comment><USER12> ...excluding the dead victim. Because, you know, he's lost his rights.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> So if they draw a gun, do not comply and lie down on the ground instead ? Hell at this point, it would start to get safer to consider shooting the cop, since there is a high change he will shoot you by this logic ! Or do WE have to start wearing bullet proof vests ?

<comment><USER14> Are you black? If yes, seems clearly well past time to start wearing a vest. If you're white? Just don't be armed. Probably.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> How many police officers are shot yearly? This seldom gets much press.

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/03/us-usa-shooting- te...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/03/us-usa-shooting-tennessee- idUSKCN0Q70LL20150803)

Just knowing this stuff happens must make police edgy.

<comment><USER15> 126 cops killed in 2014 [1] and 623 citizens killed by cops in 2014 [2]

1\. [http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/u-s-police- officer-...](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/u-s-police-officer- shooting-deaths-56-percent-2014-report-n276811)

2\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States)

<comment><USER16> Reading further, it's actually 50 officers who were killed by firearm in 2014, and it's not clear whether that number includes suicides.

This number is trending downwards since in the mid-seventies.

[http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/u-s-police- officer-...](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/u-s-police-officer- shooting-deaths-56-percent-2014-report-n276811)

<comment><USER6> Would guess the downward trend is due to more widespread use of body armor. I seldom if ever see a uniformed cop who's not wearing a vest.

<comment><USER16> Actually, gun violence has been on a downward trend since the early nineties across the entire population. You'd expect police firearm fatalities to trend downward accordingly, regardless of the use of body armor.

Police wearing body armor, armored cars, AR-15s, and the like are part of a different trend: the militarization of US police using surplus equipment from the Department of Defense, in a DOD program 1033.

[http://www.propublica.org/article/the-best-reporting-on- the-...](http://www.propublica.org/article/the-best-reporting-on-the-federal- push-to-militarize-local-police)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Looking for a Financial Projection doc Template - <AUTHOR>

Howdy,
Our startup is in the process of raising money. We've put together the financials to present to investors, but since none of us are truly experienced with these types of docs, I suspect it may not be adequate.
Anyone have a financial projections document template (preferably Excel) that they have presented to investors and are willing to share (no need for the actual data). The issue with all the templates I've found online is that I have no idea if they're adequate: have they passed the test of being presented to actual investors and their CPAs.
Many thanks! <comment><AUTHOR> BTW - you can email me at: lucite@ gmail

Thanks</comment>


Coinbase, Ripple Close to Landing New York Bitcoin Licenses - <AUTHOR> http://reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSKCN0XW2FA <comment><USER2> New York's "Bitcoin License" slows down Bitcoin development and makes startups go somewhere else. London and Zug (Switzerland) are much more crypto-friendly. New York might be missing a big opportunity here.

<comment><USER3> ShapeShift is super vocal about this. They halted business in New York after the bitlicense was required.

Nice to see the application process finally stat moving though.

<comment><USER4> So an exchange who lost a significant amount of money in a hack recently is vocally opposed to a license that requires exchanges to perform security audits and to stay solvent?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11550765](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11550765)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I know this "BitLicense" is technically different than the more general licensing requirements for "money transmitters." But FinCEN compliance is a regulatory nightmare. The process of licensing as a "money transmitter" is slow, expensive, and done on a state-by-state basis. The "money transmitter" classification [0] is very broad, and effectively qualifies any middleman as one. Keep in mind these are the same licenses that businesses like banks and brokerages need to get.

The regulatory compliance process is so expensive and complex that even large companies sometimes delay getting the proper licensing. Facebook, which qualifies as a money transmitter due to its payments system, and operates in all fifty states, at one point had licenses in only fifteen of them. [1] So technically Facebook was operating as an unlicensed money transmitter for multiple months.

Also see a quora answer for some personal anecdotes (behind FB nag wall). [2]

And I'm a big fan of the article "money laundering is financial thoughtcrime," posted to HN a while back. [3]

More:

[0] [http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text- idx?SID=f7495bb4cb9f4181f15...](http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text- idx?SID=f7495bb4cb9f4181f1505d475bb7fb22&mc=true&node=se31.3.1010_1100&rgn=div8)

[1] [http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/facebook-obtains-money- tra...](http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/facebook-obtains-money-transmitter- licenses-in-15-states/275376)

[2] [https://www.quora.com/How-hard-is-it-to-get-a-money- transmit...](https://www.quora.com/How-hard-is-it-to-get-a-money-transmitter- license)

[3] [http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/money-laundering- is-...](http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/money-laundering-is-financial- thoughtcrime-1058902-1.html)</comment>


Two-thirds of users in Indonesia and Nigeria think FB is the Internet (2015) - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2948923/Do-think-Facebook-internet-Two-thirds-users-millions-don-t-know-web-log-accounts.html <comment><USER2> I don't think there's much of a conclusion you can draw from the study. The survey asks:

\- _Have you used the Internet in the past month?_

\- _Have you used Facebook in the past month?_

\- _Do you agree that Facebook is the Internet?_

In context, answering affirmatively to the last question seems rather like agreeing that watching CNN constitutes watching television.

</comment><comment><USER3> Is it a word semantic stretch to say that Facebook has perpetrated a Nigerian scam?

</comment><comment> o0-0o This is sad. If any money from FB has been spent correcting this misperception it would be nice to know.

<comment><USER4> I'm pretty sure this is their business model rather than an unwanted misconception. FB's growth in the US is slowing so it's to their advantage to monopolize traffic in developing countries.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I remember a time when roughly 90% of internet users thought the World Wide Web was the Internet.</comment>


'Hungry' performance artist, David Datuna, eats $120k banana art installation - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZqdfUHtkk8 <comment><USER2> This has some interesting legal implications. It seems the art piece requires the banana to be replaced regularly. Yet it still fetched 120k. So what was actually sold here? The duct tape certainly has to be renewed as well, so it's the nail in the wall? He didn't eat the nail.

But he still might face the consequence of having to pay the 120k. (Not really, it seems no-one is going to press charges.) Just the idea that there could potentially be a legal claim here though, is interesting. Usually we think it's the physical artpiece that is of monetary value, but what if it could be sucessfully applied to the idea or performance of art as well in court?</comment>


Show HN: SeenDB – Remember all the concerts you've been to - <AUTHOR>

Hola HN,
I thought I'd show off a new hobby project I've been working on! It's called SeenDB and is a site to help music fans remember all of the concerts they've been to.
If that sounds cool, check it out at http://seendb.com or see my blog post here: http://blog.justinthiele.com/seendb-site-remember-concerts-youve-been-to/
Happy Holidays!
Justin <comment><USER2> My story is similar to yours; googling to find the dates of concerts. Have you tried solving that part of the problem for your users? People remember a lot of details about the shows they see, but rarely do they remember the date.

Even if you manually created your own database for the dates, that would be a great start. It would be nice to select a band, then a location and be presented with a list of dates and venues they have performed at.

Also, there's a lot of bands missing from the auto-fill. Does that update as people continue to add more bands?

This is a great start.

<comment><AUTHOR> Googling for concert dates does suck. I'm not sure the best way to solve it though. Building a database of concert dates is a big undertaking. It's not uncommon for modern bands to have played 500 - 1000+ concerts. Classic bands twice that amount. Multiplied by thousands of bands. Songkick seems to have done a pretty good job getting a baseline concert database together. Potential for an integration.

The auto-fill currently only suggests bands that have been entered into SeenDB.

<comment><USER2> I know it would be difficult because of the amount. But you could start small by either picking a band you think most of your users have seen, or focusing on one of your favorite groups for your local area and friends, then manually building a db of all of their shows, locations and venues. This helps you figure out the process to replicate in the future, as well as demonstrates the simplicity to the users.

Once you have the process figured out, you could start auto suggesting venues and dates that have been entered by others, just as you currently auto-fill bands that have already been entered.

Also, if there were a way to allow people to add bands, dates and venues to the DB that they haven't seen just to help out, that would be a good way of gathering as well.

I'm sure you have already thought of hundreds of things you can do with it, including what I've suggested. I'm just focused on the search and collect aspect because it is such a large pain point begging to be cured.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> This is really cool! If it gains traction it'd be neat to be able to see photos from events you've attended uploaded by other users as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, exactly! My original goal was just to get my friends who I attended with to use it and upload their photos :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Great idea. I've always been looking for a place to dump concert pictures so that everyone can enjoy them. Website looks really clean, kudos!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep, exactly. Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Neat idea. Can you plug this into setlist.fm, last.fm, and maybe SongKick to get some more data on each show?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep, that's something I'll be looking at. Setlist.fm could definitely be interesting. Other sites often don't have data about what actually happened at the show though (setlists, photos, videos, attendees). Seems most are focused on upcoming info.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable link: [http://seendb.com](http://seendb.com)

</comment><comment><USER6> Neat. Which framework are you using?</comment>


Happiness Hack – Remember what happened good today - <AUTHOR> http://myhappiness.io/hacks/#2 <comment><USER2> This is good advice. After 26 years of working in this field under stress that makes an air traffic controller look like a librarian, it has finally taken a big toll on me.

Take the advice. Please.

<comment><AUTHOR> Been there. After 30 years in the corporate world, there is clearly not enough focus on what went well. We always seem to be moving on to the next challenge and thinking about everything that went wrong.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The design/layout/idea reminds me of [http://goodui.org](http://goodui.org). It would be cool to have a little picture/diagram for each hack.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great minds think alike? Good idea on the diagrams. We are looking for a good project based designer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Thanks for sharing these. The 'hacks' so far seem pretty beneficial and I'm planning on trying them.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. Glad they are helpful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'd be happier if your weekly subscription field overlay didn't take 1/3 of my iPhones screen.</comment>


The open secret of (Toyota's) success - <AUTHOR> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24457074/ <comment><USER3> There was a wonderful article in the July/Aug 07 Harvard Business Review magazine with Watanabe, president of Toyota. (I've actually got that edition here on my desk ;)

Their ability and commitment to measure nearly every aspect of production and processes is pretty amazing. This is very relevant in the space of tech companies and startups: Measure! Measure! Measure! (anything and everything from site analytics and bug reports to closing a sales cycle with clients)

The term 'Corporate Culture' gets thrown around a lot, but I think Toyota has done a great job of preserving & innovating their culture. Being as big as they are, that is a huge achievement.

</comment><comment><USER4> Every time I read about the failing American automakers, I wonder how much of their downfall can be attributed to the cost of their unionized workers' benefits and salaries. I heard somewhere (probably a hyperbole) that 60%+ of the cost of manufacturing a GM car can be attributed to the company's payment of pensions/retirement money. Does anyone happen to know where I can get data about this?

<comment><USER5> Toyota can use their expensive workers to do the same work in 50% of the time with 80% higher quality. That is where the real savings are.

<comment><USER6> The whole point here is that Toyota's workers are much cheaper. That's a fact.

<comment><USER7> Each worker isn't much cheaper. My dad retired from GM in 2005, and the Toyota plants here in the US pay $1/hr less than he made. There is a decent discrepancy in health insurance, but not enough to totally justify the difference.

The key is what gibsonf1 pointed out. Each worker at Toyota is much more productive than each worker at GM (and most likely other companies).

They also benefit from a halo around them of 'superior quality'. I'm not entirely sure if a big quality difference actually still exists (it definitely did once), but in the minds of many, Toyota will always be the 'reliable choice' which allows them to charge more for their vehicles than GM can for it's equivalent.

It also didn't help that GM made ugly cars for years, and even today is only marginally improving. I sincerely hope the Volt actually happens as planned, both for nerdy reasons, and because it'd be nice if GM didn't blow a golden opportunity to save itself (and my dad's retirement).

<comment><USER6> You are overlooking retiree benefits. GM workers are much more expensive. The per car cost of current retiree medical benefits is staggering.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Details of Toyota processes applied to chip fabrication was recently posted on this forum ( <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=180671> ).

</comment><comment><USER9> I have always liked this ChangeThis document about Toyota: <http://changethis.com/29.01.ElegantSolutions>

</comment><comment><USER5> The idea that a very large company can constantly improve their quality and productivity while maintaining focus on customer value is a compelling one. I'm guessing that a company managed in this Lean way is also a good one to work for, and may serve as a counter example to PG's assessment that working in a traditionally structured top-down corporation is mind-numbing, which is true. In a Lean company the best ideas win, while in the top-down company politics wins. The Lean company manages the _system_ , not the people.

Toyota has demonstrated the efficacy of a new paradigm in management - <USER2> use Lean for all functions including engineering, design, finance, production. The big news for us small companies is that the same techniques can be used at any scale with the same positive results, as has been happening at my architecture firm and startup.

</comment><comment><USER10> I like the similarities between this story and "deliberate practice" ... makes a lot of sense to - move slow but move everyday in the right direction... I'm sure this relates to their quality also.

</comment><comment><USER11> For anyone interested in the operations side of business, Jeffrey Liker's "The Toyota Way" is a fascinating read. ERP/Supply Chain software seems pretty expensive and useless compared to simple mechanical or paper kanban systems, coupled with regular time spent together talking about how to improve the process (kaizen), so the improvements come from the people with the most knowledge of the system: the ones actually doing the work.

</comment><comment><USER12> I wish change management at my workplace followed a similar practice. We have dozens upon dozens of "good, revolutionary" ideas. Time, effort, and energy spent investigating these options and implementing them then goes to the next, leaving past solutions to rot.

Slow, steady change makes the stable foundation from which strong ideas arise.

</comment><comment><USER13> Nice read, but please, let's give credit where credit is due:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming>

"Deming is widely credited with improving production in the United States during World War II, although he is perhaps best known for his work in Japan. There, from 1950 onward he taught top management how to improve design (and thus service), product quality, testing and sales (the last through global markets)[1] through various methods, including the application of statistical methods. Deming made a significant contribution to Japan's later renown for innovative high-quality products and its economic power.

It was the U.S. that spearheaded the rebuilding of Japan's heavy industries after WWII.

Kinda makes me wonder if 50 years from now, we'll be reading a similar article about the Middle East.

<comment><USER5> Actually, Toyota's innovation goes far beyond the necessary foundation that Deming laid out and many US companies ignored.

<comment><USER13> Of course.

"many US companies ignored"

Kinda mind boggling, isn't it? Maybe that's another reason why startups have gained so much traction these days.

<comment><USER5> Even more mind-boggling, if logic were the standard for judging these things, is how US auto makers have ignored Toyota's management innovations and continue on their merry way into decay. Porsche adopted lean fully, and the results for them have been also quite compelling. Audi is also going lean. On the service side, Rockwell Collins has had enormous success with adopting lean for their engineering.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> good but reasonably priced cars, period.

<comment><USER15> Well yes, but the real question is: how do you make a good car for a reasonable price?

And the answer is in all those details of the manufacturing process as described in the article.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn Operating Systems? - <AUTHOR> I've tried reading some books but those books only explain the concepts with no exercises to apply those concepts. Are there videos, books, articles etc which you would recommend? <comment><USER2> I liked Tanenbaum's book but I think I understand what you mean with theory vs application.

Back when I was working on my toy OS I also bought the book describing the implementation of an OS called MMURTL, apparently the book and the code are now available for free online: [http://www.ipdatacorp.com/mmurtl/mmurtlv1.pdf](http://www.ipdatacorp.com/mmurtl/mmurtlv1.pdf) [http://www.ipdatacorp.com/mmurtl/](http://www.ipdatacorp.com/mmurtl/) I liked it and found it quite useful but I remember the folks at alt.os.development being quite negative about it because of the design.

Also, Podanoffsky's 'Dissecting DOS' is a good book though obviously focused on, eh DOS.

</comment><comment><USER3> I always recommend [http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/](http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~remzi/OSTEP/) to learn the basics. The two first parts cover most of what you need as a developer.

</comment><comment><USER4> Aside from the Tanenbaum Minix book, try xv6.

[https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2019/xv6/book-riscv- rev0.pd...](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2019/xv6/book-riscv-rev0.pdf)

[https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2019/xv6.html](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.828/2019/xv6.html)

</comment><comment><USER5> In case of Linux, obviously:

CompTIA Linux+LPIC-1 Training and Exam Preparation Guide (Exam Codes LX0-103101-400 and LX0-104102-400); Asghar Ghori

</comment><comment><USER6> suggestion: go look at early versions of the linux kernel, and try to work out the whys of differences between how things are done in (for example) 0.9 vs 2.0 time spans.</comment>


ProgressJS – A themable HTML5 progress-bar library - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/usablica/progress.js/

<comment><USER2> I remember an article last year talking about how this kind of progress bar is a distraction to the user and ultimately it's a UI anti-pattern.

[https://medium.com/because-we-love- software/126cfe0fa698](https://medium.com/because-we-love- software/126cfe0fa698)

I don't know if I agree with all of his points but he does make me think twice before I copy a trendy design.

</comment><comment><USER2> For those interested in an Angular version there is [http://victorbjelkholm.github.io/ngProgress/](http://victorbjelkholm.github.io/ngProgress/)

...but it looks like it's only for a top of the page progress bar.

</comment><comment><USER3> I posted a big comment and then didn't see the extra content!

I think your demo page should make it more obvious that you should scroll down instead of the icon that implies peeling up the corner.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, sure. I will apply a patch soon. Thanks for suggestion.

<comment><USER3> Personally, I would opt for not modifying the DOM heavily and push more of the work into CSS making use of different DOM structure and data attributes instead of just classes. Also CSS pseudo element will save you a lot of DOM footprint in some cases and the combination will result in quicker performance.

Also the use way in which you build a progress bar, what exactly is happening there?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Looks great.

What browsers does this officially support? I don't see it explicitly referenced anywhere (other than some IE references in the source).

</comment><comment><USER5> I can't seem to find a demo anywhere?

<comment><USER6> [http://usablica.github.io/progress.js/](http://usablica.github.io/progress.js/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Great Job! undoubtedly useful.

</comment><comment><USER8> What a cool library! keep it up man!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Great project dear Afshin :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Masoud!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> another nice project from afshin

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Behnam jan :)</comment></comment>


Hailing a Driverless Ride in a Waymo - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/01/hailing-a-driverless-ride-in-a-waymo/ <comment><USER2> Last year I got a chance to ride in an autonomous vehicle by a Waymo competitor in San Francisco, in and around Market Street.

It handled every situation as well as or better than a human would, including trash bags in the road, a truck driving the wrong way down a one way street, and numerous unpredictable pedestrians.

It was that day that I was convinced that we would have driverless tech by 2020, and the only thing that would stop it would be laws and regulations.

<comment><USER3> So, it's now November of 2019, and it seems unlikely that driverless cars will be ubiquitous or even an available option by 2020. If you could go back and change some laws and regulations, which ones would you have fixed to hit the 2020 prediction?

<comment><USER2> This article make it sounds like I was right. The author just took a ride in a driverless car. Which is limited to driving in Arizona due to legal restrictions.

But to answer your question, we'd need a whole different legal framework about liability for driverless cars instead of technological restrictions.

Like for example, the law ~says~ would say "one person must be designated as legally liable for the vehicle" and that's it. Drive your driverless car on any road you want. If it hits someone, the designated person is liable.

<comment><USER4> Why would anyone buy a car where they can be held liable for the software defects of the manufacturer? The driver has no control over the software and cannot compensate for it. You're blaming them for putting the thing on the road at all, and the end result would be not to bother.

<comment><USER5> Why would anyone buy a dog where they can be held liable for the genetic disposition of its parents?

The dog has a degree of autonomy or self-agency, and can make decisions that put its owner at legal risk. Someone else brought it into the world, but you, ultimately, made the purchase.

You made it yours, the problem's on you.

<comment><USER6> This is a terrible analogy from every conceivable angle.

Dog owners have physical and (some) psychological control over their dogs. Not true of SDCs.

Dogs are not programmed, they're bred.

Even very dangerous dogs can be kept in a way that renders them unable to harm anyone. Not true of a car that must drive around in public.

No breeder guarantees a dog's behavior for its lifetime. SDC manufacturers will guarantee the car's ability to drive.

<comment><USER7> I think a better comparison would be if the passenger in a taxi had to pay the taxi driver's speeding tickets.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I used to think my daughter may never drive, because autonomous vehicles were rumored to always be just around the corner.

Now I think she may never ride in an autonomous vehicle. Do autonomous vehicles drive in the rain? We live in a northern state where snow remains on the ground for months at a time in ever shifting depths and banks along roads. Lidar is unable to see through the snow. Road surfaces are sometimes wet, sometimes snow covered, sometimes ice. Visibility can drop to zero.

I wonder if tech companies will spend the time and expense to solve these difficult problems for a rather small percentage of the population.

<comment><USER9> Baby steps. Once the majority of human drivers get off the road we will almost certainly see an evolution in traffic control systems which will allow self driving vehicles to conquer poor weather conditions. As of now, each vehicle can only rely on its own sensor package to understand the world.

Tesla already has a system in place that lets one car learn from thousands of others; ie if everyone disconnects autopilot at a certain turn each car will learn to slow down even if they have never encountered that turn before. The future will have more of this.

Self driving has mostly been a solved problem, it just only works in ports, warehouses, docks, and factory floors. You might say those are tightly regulated spaces, but so are roads! All it takes is political will to scale up the same systems that guide robots today and install them onto every highway and main road.

<comment><USER10> > All it takes is political will to scale up the same systems that guide > robots today and install them onto every highway and main road

Well, that and a massive amount of infrastructure spend.

<comment><USER11> >> All it takes is political will to scale up the same systems that guide robots today and install them onto every highway and main road

> Well, that and a massive amount of infrastructure spend.

And before we put anything close to that kind of money toward autonomous cars, I demand the spending go toward urban micromobility infrastructure first.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Man I wish I could upvote this 1000 times. This is amazing. How many fucking edge cases there are in driving, and to be able to develop a reliable algorithm that can handle all sorts of situations it has never seen before.

I'm also glad to see their rollout seems to be very measured. The standard is safety is so much higher.

</comment><comment><USER13> It's amazing how HN sentiment on driverless cars seems to change from week to week, from article to article.

<comment><USER14> HN doesn't have a single opinion. It's different people posting.

<comment><USER15> There is a bit of group think though.

<comment><USER16> Links that appeal to one group more than another tend to attract that group more. That's pretty normal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This article touches a bit on what I think is one of the more interesting problems - exactly where to pick up and drop off. I gotta wonder what they're doing for that. I guess most suburban homes and apartments aren't too hard, but I wonder how they handle stuff like malls, stadiums, airports, festivals, etc.

</comment><comment><USER18> I got some thoughts on the lidar vs vision debate.

Remember the goal is to drive better than humans. Lidar gives better-than- human depth sensing performance in many cases.

Furthermore, human eyes are substantially better than small digital cameras at this point, in terms of low light sensitivity and resolution.

It may be a problem that lidar is ugly right now. But that can change.

I'm of the belief that more and better sensors is better.

<comment><USER19> I don't think anyone debates that LIDAR plus cameras is "better" than cameras alone. The real question is whether it is possible without LIDAR. (AFAIK all self driving cars use cameras even when they also have LIDAR).

<comment><USER20> 'Anyone relying on lidar is doomed,' Elon Musk.

Around 1:41:00 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucp0TTmvqOE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucp0TTmvqOE)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Could somebody estimate how much additional sensors cost over the stock car waymo uses? I see at least 4 LIDARs if I am not mistaken...

<comment><USER22> Waymo designs and builds their own LIDAR units. As of almost 3 years ago, estimated costs per unit had fallen to $5,000.

[https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/06/waymo-to-start-selling- sta...](https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/06/waymo-to-start-selling-standalone- lidar-sensors/amp/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> If using driverless cars for rideshare companies becomes more popular will they start designing cars for computer control only? Has that already been started?

It seems like they would have no use for human steering controls and they seats could be moved around to open up more space for passengers.

<comment><USER4> They shouldn't. What happens if the car runs our of gas or the software/internet is down and it needs to be manually steered even a slight distance? Say up onto the lift in a mechanic's garage? There are at least few situations where direct control is easier and safer than software control.

<comment><USER24> Being designed to be movable short distances manually is wildly different from being designed to _always_ be driven manually.

> There are at least few situations where direct control is easier and safer > than software control.

Is there any direct control now? Acceleration, breaking and steering all have tech interaction.

If you don't need completely direct control and just need manual control, being able to connect an Xbox controller to a car and drive it at max 3mph would probably deal with most issues (like the garage example).

</comment></comment></comment><comment> jagged-chisel OT: This title parses strangely. Why are you "in a Waymo" hailing a driverless ride?

Ah, a Waymo is a driverless ride, and you have hailed one. I don't think I've ever seen someone say "Hailing a Ride in a Lyft" or "...in an Uber."

</comment><comment><USER25> I'll be impressed when they can make a car that can drive thru a foot of snow in minnesota.

<comment><USER26> Generally speaking, getting an AI to learn anything that a human can learn is easy, the hard parts are the competencies we acquired through evolution [0]. As such, once self-driving cars fully reach the level of the average 17-year old new driver, it should be a relatively easy path to the level of the best drivers in the world.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravec%27s_paradox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravec%27s_paradox)

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Lidar seems to be a necessary augmentation to complement cameras to be able to achieve this level of drive autonomy.

</comment><comment><USER28> A geofenced robo taxi service does nothing to improve my life. The real usefulness of self driving cars will come when you can fall asleep in the back as it drives across the country. Also you can't set up a mobile office in the back of a taxi, so productivity in robo taxis will be no better than regular taxis.

For self driving to be truly useful to the end consumer car ownership needs to be an option.

<comment><USER29> You can already sleep in an aircraft, train, bus or car as long as someone else is driving the vehicle. I don't see how that is innovative.

<comment><USER28> A car can go pretty much anywhere, public transportation not so much. If you can sleep in a self driving car then logistically much more of the world will be accessible to you. Hit a button, go to sleep, wake up wherever you want. To me this would be much more exciting than cheaper taxies.

<comment> semi-extrinsic Except sleeping in a car (or a bus, train, airplane) is really really uncomfortable. But cars more than the rest, since you are much more restrained due to seat belts.

<comment><USER28> That's because cars are not designed to be slept in. Inflatable mattress and a seatbelt/harness designed to be worn lying down and the problem is solved.

<comment><USER26> Exactly. And perhaps it's even that once autonomous cars have proven themselves enough, you wouldn't even need a seatbelt for a regular ride. The car might just beep once every few hours to ask you to buckle up on particularly dangerous sections, like on an airplane.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Intel Introduces "Ruler" Server SSD Form-Factor - <AUTHOR> http://www.anandtech.com/show/11702/intel-introduces-new-ruler-ssd-for-servers <comment><USER2> I've seen these before! This is what they use in the HAL 9000.

[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c8N72t7aScY/maxresdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c8N72t7aScY/maxresdefault.jpg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8N72t7aScY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8N72t7aScY)

<comment><USER3> It looks like HAL was using the 2U version, which makes sense when you're putting compute resources on some cards in addition to just memory/storage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I like it. Server SSDs in M.2 or PCI-e is a bad idea because it makes hotswapping difficult and SATA is a bottleneck... very elegant solution. Seems like this will require greater depth of server cases though... not really a drawback but a consideration.</comment>


Ask HN: Good questions for managers that are leaving company? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> No P.C. BS, why are you leaving? If you can get them to speak candidly and you gather a few of these "exiters" observations, you will typically find big problems festering which are keeping an organization from growth and meeting strategic targets.

But those leaving fear burning bridges or the insightful advice falling on deaf ears.</comment>


Free Music Archive - <AUTHOR> http://freemusicarchive.org/ <comment><USER2> The listener-funded radio station that runs the archive, WFMU, is the single greatest radio station in the world.

<comment><USER3> Haven't listened to WFMU yet but KEXP.org of Seattle is also very good. They regularly post live sessions to youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3I2GFN_F8WudD_2jUZbojA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3I2GFN_F8WudD_2jUZbojA).

And BBC radio 6 isn't bad: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music](https://www.bbc.co.uk/6music)

<comment><USER4> I am a huge fan of KEXP channel on Youtube. Discovered many wonderful postpunk/experimental/alternative bands thanks to them. Glad to see someone share the sentiment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As a former DJ at WFMU, I'm excited to see people are checking it out, it's a great place to invest some donations too, with great perks. The FMA started around the time I had a show and also ran a copyright/IP meetup in New York, where we had a presentation about it. Since then, I've been a user of the FMA for music in videos I've made for startups and it's one of the best sources for attribution-only work if you need music for your project (even commercial work). There's a great interview with Jason Signal who started FMA here [https://rhizome.org/editorial/2009/may/01/interview-with- jas...](https://rhizome.org/editorial/2009/may/01/interview-with-jason-sigal- of-the-free-music-archi/)

</comment><comment><USER6> I'm proud to say I worked with WFMU and Cuban Council on the initial release of this project.

</comment><comment><USER7> They seem to kind of hide the licenses for each individual track, which is odd since the licensing is the site's USP. Does seem like a great curated archive of fine music, though.

<comment><AUTHOR> The search page is slightly obscure (though semantically obvious): [http://freemusicarchive.org/search](http://freemusicarchive.org/search) It allows to search by license criteria, for example use in commercial derivative works.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Really glad to have stumbled upon this. Brilliant collection. Also, I'm happy to see that the Last.fm scrobbler I use works seemlessly with this. [https://github.com/web-scrobbler/web-scrobbler](https://github.com/web- scrobbler/web-scrobbler)

</comment><comment><USER8> I love this archive. The choice of music is excellent and also the design of the site is really pleasant. I've spent hours in different genres.

<comment><USER9> Yes, the design is pretty simple and elegant

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It should try to use Flac / Opus, not mp3.

<comment><USER11> Can my web browser play FLAC or Opus out of the box? Mind, I'm not going to tell you what my web browser is. Because that's why they picked MP3: if you're using MP3 you can confidently say "yes" because _it 's a computer in 2018_.

<comment><USER10> _> Can my web browser play FLAC or Opus out of the box?_

Flac isn't really for browser playback, but for lossless backup. Normal browsers should play Opus fine today. Some crippled ones might not, but for that there are projects like this as fallback:

[https://github.com/brion/ogv.js/](https://github.com/brion/ogv.js/)

So I see no reason not to use Flac and Opus for music services.

<comment><USER12> You just said Flac is for lossless backup. Losslessback is not equal to the user experience.

Kind of selfish of you to think Flac should be a standard where some people wouldn't even know what it is.

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h People don't know what HTTP is.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Reinventing the way apps and websites are created - <AUTHOR> http://breta.com/index.html

<comment><USER2> aah, well I can't resist commenting...

Pricing: ...

There is none there. I can't click on something and find no information about what that link is supposed to tell me.

>we're creating an alternative to hiring freelancers and agencies.

It sounds like you're very much an agency with a different spin on it.

I'm not sure whether you can say you're re-inventing anything, as Breta seems very much like an agency that may possibly work on a freelance model (all contractors).

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'm the founder of Breta - we're creating an alternative to hiring freelancers and agencies. Would love feedback from the community.</comment>


OSSU 2.0 New curriculum for the free self-taught education in Computer Science - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/open-source-society/computer-science/issues/271 <comment><USER2> Page with interactive curriculum links: [https://github.com/open-source- society/computer-science/blob...](https://github.com/open-source- society/computer-science/blob/master/README.md)

<comment><AUTHOR> ty :)</comment></comment>


Nitrogram turbocharges brands' Instagram campaigns with powerful analytics - <AUTHOR> http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/10/04/nitrogram-allows-brands-to-take-instagram-analytics-and-marketing-campaigns-to-the-next-level/

<comment><USER2> I wonder if anymore people even pause to think, does the world need this? before trying to sell these products. Maybe this is just a vehicle for someone to point to and say, "I've made something before, even if it is just a toy" on their journey toward something more worthwhile.

</comment><comment><USER3> What the heck is an "Instagram campaign"?

<comment><USER4> A campaign that takes place on Instagram, or that makes extensive use of Instagram to gather content. ie: A photo contest on Instagram were participants tag their pictures with: #WhatTheHeckjcromartie to enter. (not limited to contests, but it's the most obvious example)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> "Photos taken" and "likes received" hardly constitute powerful analytics.

<comment><USER6> Photos taken by you maybe not, but the number of photos taken by your community about your brand is an interesting analytics to monitor. As for like received it as several use: #1 you get to know which photo taken by one of your fan got the most likes and maybe reward this person for his great work. #2 On your own account it's still a great way to see if the content you are pushing to your fans is relevant to them or not.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Where there be users, there be marketers.

</comment><comment><USER8> That exactly what I need for my brand. Instragram is getting so big!!</comment>


YAML formats not lossless - <AUTHOR> http://thetechshovel.tumblr.com/post/846724594/yaml-formats-are-not-lossless

<comment><USER2> Heh, I think that should be titled "Ruby's YAML::load changes my data unexpectedly"

</comment><comment><USER3> Double-quoted string with escape sequences vs. single quoted string.

puts "hello\nworld"

puts 'hello\nworld'</comment>


Your Worst Enemy Is Yourself - <AUTHOR> http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2010/11/your-worst-enemy-is-yourself.html <comment><USER2> So true. Although, I prefer pg's version:

The only "competitor" you should worry about is the Back Button.*

*<http://www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html>, <http://mixergy.com/paul-graham-design/>

</comment><comment><USER3> This is fairly obvious but easy to overlook advice from Fred.

The concept of flow is often mentioned here on HN and letting competitors destroy flow is an easy trap to fall into. As others have mentioned, the question remains how much time one should allocate toward observing and reacting to competitors. While it is undoubtedly above 0, one has to take into account the opportunity cost involved as well as the energy wasted on switching gears, which can be quite significant and is often overlooked.

</comment><comment><USER4> Agree with everything said there. The question left unanswered is where to draw the fine line between focusing on a predefined strategy and react to what your competitors are doing. Example: today Facebook announced Deals, should Foursquare just keep doing what it is doing or do something different to counter Facebook's invasion?

(I personally believe Foursquare should just keep doing what they are doing but let's discuss this anyway)

<comment><USER5> If it could all be written down and specified in detail, running businesses could be outsourced to India or Vietnam or somewhere cheap.

My sneaking suspicion is that for many bits of cheap, generic business advice, there is some equal and opposite bit of advice.

Edit: anyone remember this one from last week?

[http://steveblank.com/2010/11/01/no-business-plan- survives-f...](http://steveblank.com/2010/11/01/no-business-plan-survives- first-contact-with-a-customer-%E2%80%93-the-5-2-billion-dollar-mistake/)

<comment><USER4> Very true - for both "in business there's no right or wrong answer", and "no plan survives contact with enemy". But on the other hand simplified principles and rules-of-thumb help us make rapid decisions with some good accuracy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> As with most thing balance is required, spend to long looking at competition and you will probably lose cohesion in your app as you struggle to find ways to keep up on the feature curve, don't spend enough time and you risk being late to the game on something big thats changed in your space.

<comment><USER7> Do you think what he says in the 3rd paragraph is the right balance?

 _I am not suggesting that you should put your head in the sand. It is critical to know what is going on in your market. But it is equally critical to have a strategy that makes sense in the context of what is going on and execute it with purpose and pace. If you spend too much time looking over your shoulder, you will not execute well. I've seen it again and again._

<comment><USER8> Right balance is relative to your business and at what state you are in currently. For a t=0 startup, I would rather concentrate on finishing the basic feature set and launching asap rather than spending time looking around. For a business which is entering a growth stage keeping tabs on competitors and what's new makes more sense.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> If you say that to someone successful, it's very rarely true. It's only really applicable to those who aren't successful.

<comment><USER10> True, but most people aren't successful. Sadly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Speaking as someone who's been sucked into that hole: It's very cozy in there and very difficult to get out.

Just remember, you can spend a lifetime finding the optimal path, but you can only make a step _now_.

</comment><comment><USER12> The same applies to academic research groups too.

</comment><comment><USER13> The scariest thing is the truth.</comment>