The Strava Files - <AUTHOR> http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/strava-files

<comment><USER2> I use Strava all the time. As a cat 1 racer it makes it fun to set KOMs and "race" against the elite in the state. That being said I think Strava needs to have a way to limit the Downhill segments. Some downhill segments where I live, utah, are outrageous with top speeds of 70mph. While I'm a Strong advocate for the segments I wish people would stop making downhill segments as they're far too dangerous. If I ever do a climb then a descent and see a segment that is way too dangerous I always flag it. The problem is, people can continue to re make the segment so no matter how many times me or my team mates flag the DH segment it continues to come back.

Strava can't take all the blame, its really up to riders to not ride out of their level, on a public road. You're not in the tour de France, you're on some public road.

While I talk down upon the DH segments its because I got lucky. While riding in Colorado I decided to go hard down a climb like I was the lead in the tour de france, I didn't know the descent what so ever. I came around a corner and it got much tighter than I had expected I went into oncoming traffic and had to bail into a ditch, destroying my bike and nearly killing myself. After that I realized it's not worth being a hero on the descent.

<comment><USER3> >That being said I think Strava needs to have a way to limit the Downhill segments

how about just taking a bit of personal responsibility? if a downhill segment is too dangerous, don't do it. blaming an app when you crash is one of the stupidest things i've ever heard of. I don't see how strava has any responsibility to do anything.

<comment><USER4> Not a Strava user - but the mention of 70mph winning speeds, makes me think that Strava should eliminate segments from their database where in order to win you need to violate the speed limit. As a baseline they should not be encouraging people to break the law.

It's not just the user of the program that should be taking personal responsibility, but the coders as well.

<comment><USER5> How does Strava know what the speedlimit it?

From memory, Strava's most popular markets are the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, France, Italy.

Speed limits vary widely across jurisdictions and change frequently.

IMHO the best thing to do would be to remove the leaderboard from segments over (say) 3% negative gradient.

(For non-Strava users, Strava does have segments where no leaderboard of the fastest users is shown, but your own times are shown.)

<comment><USER4> You could start with this map: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_Stat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States)

It doesn't need to be precise - it just shouldn't encourage reckless, illegal behaviour.

<comment><USER5> For the sake of argument, imagine they did calculate the (average??) speed limit for each downhill segment.

Then what?

They hide anyone who goes over that speed from the leaderboard, so the leaderboard is full of people who managed to average precisely the speed limit?

Or as soon as someone goes over the average they hide the whole leaderboard like they do for flagged segments now?

My proposal is that they should hide the leaderboard for all segments over (say) 3% average negative gradient. Simple physics predicts that -3% gradient will put you over the speed limit in most jurisdictions, and it's much simpler to work out.

<comment><USER4> I'd assume they'd do what you suggest they already do sometimes - make the segment without a leaderboard. Just show your times.

I like your suggestion better than mine. But it seems that Stava is trying to shirk as much responsibility as possible, and as such your suggestion seems less likely to get implemented.

My proposal doesn't involve them doing anything good - it just has them no longer encouraging blatantly illegal behavior. It's a minimum bar that should be code-able in minimum time. Almost all of the dangerous segments would still have leaderboards - only the blatantly illegal ones wouldn't be and they could say that they "do not encourage illegal behavior" \- something they can't honestly say now.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think that is an amazing article. From the Theremin to the psychology researcher to the objective presentation of the legal arguments without shying away from any of the details.

It's caused me to rethink how conservatism/liberalism evolve in our society in terms of the reading of existing law (in this case, is Strava liable or partially liable?) Based on what is just, reading of the law evolves (and in turn can lead to introductions of new laws). But the fundamental difference between how we read the law (conservatively or liberally) is the kernel of our entire political system.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm a relatively new Strava user, and so far I have found it to be very helpful and motivational in my adventures into cycling. As an inexperienced rider, I'm usually a couple hundred spots down from the leaderboard, so seeing the fastest riders serves only to inspire me to push harder on my own rides. Without this motivation, I doubt that I would try as hard as I do on my recorded rides, so there is no question in my mind that Strava is at least partially a beneficial force.

However, there are certainly times on downhill segments where I have seen fastest time and shaken my head at the ridiculous speeds the riders had to go to win. I've marked my fair share of dangerous segments and I believe that is the users' responsibility to do so to prevent insane accidents like the ones listed in this article.

While I feel complete sympathy for the families of these victims, I don't believe that Strava is at all responsible for what they did. It was illegal, inconsiderate, and gives every other rider a bad name, and regardless of any leaderboards they may have been striving for they should have had more self restraint. Furthermore, I believe that cyclists like that would push themselves to speeds like that regardless of Strava, whether to beat their friends or just set personal records. Just like many other web apps, Strava provides a service that opens up data, and it is up to the user to use the data responsibly.

</comment><comment><USER8> (Odd, this exact link was on HN last night, and I'm the only one that commented on it: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6578639](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6578639). Should this be a dupe? Anyway...)

It would seem that there's an easy solution. Strava knows the grade of a climb. If the segment has a negative incline, don't have a leader board. Otherwise it looks to me like they're just encouraging dangerous racing on a non-closed course. Breaking speed limits, running stop signs and lights: imagine Strava for motorcyclists and ask yourself how long that would last. I've hit more than 50mph on a bicycle plenty of times, but it sure as hell hasn't been in the Castro District of SF. The rider carries the responsibility of choosing an appropriate time and place for such antics, but let's not egg them on.

<comment><USER9> Strava does allow users to flag segments as dangerous.

I've flagged quite a few on a local multi-use "bike" trail - there are just too many pedestrians, joggers, and horses to try and chase the clock.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I've followed this story since the beginning and I'm more convinced than ever that Flint would have eventually killed himself on his bike, with or without Strava.

This article makes it exceptionally clear that Flint is a classic "rookie" in the sport with few if any real bike handling skills - no programmer or policy will ever prevent these types from hurting themselves or others.

At a club level, the sport is rife with cyclists that have quickly found a bit of fitness and not taken the time to let their skills catch up - and they are always dangerous.

Its also true that experience != good judgement and unfortunately (as the article points out) there are a good number of experienced riders who don't factor safety into their riding.

I'm not sure which type of cyclist is more dangerous. Fortunately, both are easy to pick out and I make a point of not riding with them. My riding and my life are simply to precious to let someone else's mistake become my penalty.

(As background, I hold a world record in Ultracycling and ridden as much as 25,000 km in a year. I didn't ride much this past year, taking a break to spend some time with my family. Stories like this don't discourage me from wanting to jump back wholeheartedly into the sport I've loved all my life. And oh yeah, I adore Strava - and I also realize that using it requires a tiny bit of common sense...)

</comment><comment><USER11> I wanted to read this article -- I bike frequently, use Strava, live in the Bay Area, and am in the tech industry. But bicycling.com kept kicking me off their site and auto-launching iOS App Store links!

I've never seen that sort of advertising before, and am surprised Apple / Google (I'm using Chrome) even allow JavaScript to silently throw me out to the App Store without clicking a link.

<comment><USER12> That's annoying... but it's a really good article! Send it to Pocket, perhaps? As a relatively new Strava user, I thought the article was worth it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> It seems ridiculous that strava would be liable for someone's injuries in any legal sense- if you ride a bike it should be up to you to ride safely, no matter who or what is emailing you, telling you you should be going faster.

OTOH, if I was the developer of strava, in light of this kind of behavior I don't think I'd have these kinds of segments on the site. It seems like any KOM on a downhill section would be faster than the speed limit and faster than is probably safe for that road. Does the community at strava really gain from that? Does it add value to the experience?

(in the cycling community, no one really cares that much how long it took you to descend from one point to another. What really matters is how long it takes to climb back up.)

</comment><comment><USER14> As an ex-bikie (I earned my disabled vet status and at 63 I'm reaping the 'benefits') this story resonates with me quite loudly. The idea of anonymous competition is one I've always craved in that I find actual competition painful for reasons I'm not clear on. So while Strava may be described as anti-social, I see that as a plus. Further I'd point out the subject of the article became quite competitive in the normal bikie fashion. Powerful article for those who think in similar fashion...

</comment><comment><USER15> I thought that the primary use of most roads is to provide transport and access, and only as a sort of side effect they are available as a means of sport and entertainment. So, regardless of whether one is driving a car or riding a bicycle, putting lives at risk is not only illegal, but also breaks the social contract that let those roads exist in the first place. It is a form of free riding, the bad kind, invisible until an accident happens.

</comment><comment><USER5> Flagging is insufficient for safety.

In my area there are continual "flag wars" where a descent will be flagged, so someone will create a new version with a name like "xxxx (do not flag)"

Arguments quickly flow over to local forums about flagging with the predictable discussion of individual rights vs Strava's responsibility.

In my view they should just auto-flag anything over 2 or 3% average descent.

<comment><USER16> Flagging should be reserved for ill-made segments that go through stop signs. One man's flag-worthy segment is another man's easy descent (and QoMs).

<comment><USER5> What about segments where you need to break the speed limit?

What about segments that go down single-lane bike paths at 60km/h?

<comment><USER16> Fair enough.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> As a mountain biker, I see some of the times listed on the trails I frequent, and wonder how people can ride them so fast. I'm too afraid to ride at top speed down some of these trails for the fear of colliding with someone else. I like Strava, it's and easy way to keep track of my riding. I wish that Google made My Tracks for iOS.

<comment><USER9> Being fast on a cross-country trail is about conservation of speed, not just going fast on the downhill segments. Several of the fastest mountain bikers I know grew up racing motocross and bmx. The speed they carry through corners if amazing.

<comment><USER17> Yeah, that is true for XC trails, but I was referring to the downhill sections of trails that we have here in Socal. Some of these trails can get pretty crowded. I only go full throttle when at the bike park, or shuttling some of the steeper trails that usually only DH people ride.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> On the running side there are almost no downhill segments and the site still seems to be popular enough. I know it's 2 different sports, but downhills bike run KOMs seem to be little cause for bragging rights.

<comment><USER8> That's because every KoM award I've ever heard of involved going _up_ the hill(s). (Note: I know very little about MTB racing, maybe they have one for going down.) The downhill Strava segments strike me, and maybe this is a little mean or judgmental, as something to strive for if you're a Cat 6 [0] racer who can't climb. The first person described in the article was a mid- packer in an actual climbing competition. But when it came to tucking in and staying off the brakes, he could shine at least until tragedy struck.

[0] [http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/05/probing-for- answers-...](http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2011/05/probing-for-answers- cat-6-racing-boom.html)

<comment><USER19> Mountain biking has plenty of downhill segments. In fact, there is an entire category of the sport conveniently named Downhill.

Downhill racing can definitely be dangerous, but it is my belief that the people who do it are much more experienced than your casual "let's go down this road really fast" amateur on a road bike. Looking down a downhill mountain bike track and set off at full speed takes guts, and no one in their right mind does it without knowing the trail.

Also, there are no cars on mountain bike trails.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Single page (print) version: [http://www.bicycling.com/print/99136](http://www.bicycling.com/print/99136)

</comment><comment><USER21> Reading the title makes me hungry. For in Ukrainian strava means dish(as in meal, food).</comment>


Mastodon and ActivityPub - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@Gargron/mastodon-and-the-w3c-f75f376f422 <comment><USER2> Will Mastodon continue to be compatible with GNU social as well?

<comment><USER3> Mastodon will support OStatus until version 2.0, so until then, yes, but if GNU Social does not implement ActivityPub, 2.0 will break compatibility.

<comment><USER4> No, 2.0 is not changing our support with GNU/Social. 2.0 is removing Mastodon- only OStatus extensions that have been replaced with ActivityPub. Mastodon currently has no plans to remove OStatus support for public posts or stop targeting GNU/Social compatibility as a goal of the porject.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Does implementing ActivityPub mean identities can be portable across servers now?

<comment><USER6> Hi! I'm co-editor of ActivityPub, so maybe I can answer some things. Identity portability could mean a few things; ActivityPub _on its own_ will let you interact with identities on other servers (though Mastodon could do this before its adoption of AP, through OStatus... it has better private delivery now though). However, maybe what you mean is the ability of an identity to be "nomadic". If you use ActivityPub with https based identifiers, you're still tied to a single instance.

However! It will be possible for ActivityPub applications to move in the direction of being more distributed systems... in fact I wrote a paper on this which I will be presenting at Rebooting Web of Trust in October: [https://gitlab.com/dustyweb/talks/blob/master/activitypub/rw...](https://gitlab.com/dustyweb/talks/blob/master/activitypub/rwot/even_more_distributed_activitypub.org)

There's a lot of ideas in that paper, but the one that applies to a nomadic identity is Decentralized Identifiers support, or DIDs: [https://w3c-ccg.github.io/did-spec/](https://w3c-ccg.github.io/did-spec/)

DIDs are being worked on by the W3C Credentials Community Group (which I am also a part of) and will permit having an identity that is "self-soverign". How I imagine this would work in an application like Mastodon, if Mastodon decides to include support for it in the future, is that you would register a DID for yourself and then go to your profile page and associate that DID with your user. You'd then have identity that isn't tied to one specific node... indeed, in such a direction we'd begin to blur the line between the federated client-server web application model and peer to peer networks.

That's a ways off though. For now I think ActivityPub brings a lot of benefits to Mastodon (though I'm biased obviously). Still lots of exciting future ahead though!

<comment><USER7> Why not just use normal build signing of posts? All posts signed by the same private key have the same author even if published on different modes etc. There is finesse for supporting subkeys and revocation and all the rest, but talking with a security consultant will sort out those kind of details.

<comment><USER8> You could turn the whole thing on its head, have users sign their messages and broadcast them to anyone; a direct message would be encrypted to the expected recipients. Now you don't care about the particularities of an instance or opening an account, becaus all the work is happening on your machine. There is no migration, only transferring your database from a computer to another.

This is basically what secure scuttlebutt is doing:

[https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/](https://www.scuttlebutt.nz/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Previous discussion about Mastodon: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15211074](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15211074)

</comment><comment><USER10> mastodon is going to die. Even us, hackers can't figure it out. Go do something different. Not a copycat!

<comment><USER11> Speak for yourself! This hacker had no trouble using it and I deleted my Twitter account a month ago!

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I wonder how 2000 servers can host 800.000 users. It means that, on average, a server can host 400 users. I really appreciate this project for several reasons, but it (sadly) looks like a waste of resources with these numbers.

<comment><USER13> Does, not can. If you look at lists, there are tons of tiny instances: experiments, some people using their own instance as their private homepage, or just one for a few friends. People being able to do that is a strength of a federated system, and it's far from clear it actually is "wasting" something without looking into it in a lot of detail. It's not like all of these instances sync completely with each other.

The biggest instance has 250k users, and the top 10 instances together have 600k user (75% of of those 800k). I don't have info how these large instances map to actual servers, but I don't think Mastodon currently has a lot in the way of features to split an instance across machines.

(Data from [https://instances.social](https://instances.social))

<comment><USER14> You can split Mastodon to several servers easily. Postgres, Redis, Sidekiq, Streaming API, Puma, Nginx and Media Storage can all be placed on different servers. Even multiples for each. You can read here about [https://medium.com/@Gargron/scaling- mastodon-1becde463090](https://medium.com/@Gargron/scaling- mastodon-1becde463090) how Eugen had Mastodon.social running a few months ago.</comment></comment></comment>


Test Drive Over 50 Free Programming Fonts - <AUTHOR> http://app.programmingfonts.org/ <comment><AUTHOR> I'd love to have the same thing but with the ability to compare fonts side-by- side. For example, I can't really tell the difference between "Bitstream Vera Sans Mono" and "DejaVu Mono".</comment>


Whaddaya Mean, You Can't Find Programmers? - <AUTHOR> https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/06/15/whaddaya-mean-you-cant-find-programmers/ <comment><USER2> I find this title a bit misleading. I thought the article was going to be about how the typical interview process is broken, and that plenty of good programmers are being missed by the process. Or that employers are way too fussy about candidates already having the exact experience in the exact language and tools that the employer uses, instead of just looking for smart problem-solvers, and giving them time to get up to speed on specific tools and technologies.

Instead it's really about how to ensure an employer's offer will be accepted. In other words, it's about solving the problem where the employer has already found a programmer, but the programmer doesn't want to work for the employer. Not really sure how big of a problem that is.

</comment><comment><USER3> Article is from 2000 but the advice is timeless.</comment>


Navy Pilot Says Dark Mass made Torpedo disappear - <AUTHOR> https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a29400304/navy-pilot-dark-mass-torpedo-disappear/ <comment><USER2> BTW This is the pilot who was the last to land on the stormy night in one of the episodes of the documentary series "Carrier". He's relaying this incident as reported to him from a pilot friend. he had his own encounter in 2004 with a "tic-tac" flying object.

</comment><comment><USER3> An Unknown Submarine Object, USO, a torpedo catcher. Probably foreign military, because they really do care about US torpedos. It's vital for them. Hypothetical extraterrestrials wouldn't care that much.

</comment><comment><USER4> The plot thickens. [https://imgur.com/8FlBmfT](https://imgur.com/8FlBmfT) *chews gum...</comment>


Flynn Effect (Rising IQ Scores Over Time) Reverses - <AUTHOR> https://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-flynn-effect-rising-iq-scores-over.html <comment><USER2> when people are tested repeatedly they learn the demand characteristics and become better at performing IQ tests. many of these tests are available in some form online as a game or puzzle, or a total reveal of something that was quite guarded from general knowledge. the cat is out of the bag, IQ testing needs to be redeveloped.

<comment><USER3> If this is correct, there should be statistically significant evidence that IQ scores increase with the number of IQ tests taken. I personally have never seen any such study results.

<comment><USER2> it sounds like there is an experiment to be designed on this basis. One thing that comes to mind, is my experience with IQ estimation tests, is the question or concern the tester had regarding any past testing, there was a very different heuristic for people who have had even one previous test. I have been tested on 6 occasions each estimate at a high percentile, we would need to find someone in apx. 10th percentile and follow thier score distribution as a function of test frequency, with some non trivial considerations for experimental controll of confounds.</comment></comment></comment>


China's Dystopian Tech Could Be Contagious - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/chinas-dangerous-dream-of-urban-control/553097/?single_page=true <comment><USER2> Honestly, I'm more worried that moronic politicians/governments inspired by China's 'success' will implement the same ideas officially than companies doing something like this. There's a dangerous percentage of people in 'Western' governments who seem to think things done by China would work fantastically in their own nations in the same way similar people wanted the school system to work more like the one in other Asian countries a decade or so ago.</comment>


I2P - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P <comment><USER2> I used I2P for a while many years back and I enjoyed it. As I understood it at the time, it's similar to TOR but different in the sense that it puts a higher focus on internal traffic, whereas TOR has many exit routers and often serves as a type of free proxy for anyone.

For more information on the differences between I2P and TOR, see [https://geti2p.net/en/comparison/tor](https://geti2p.net/en/comparison/tor)</comment>


The U.S. Government Has a Secret System for Stalling Patents - <AUTHOR> https://www.yahoo.com/tech/the-u-s-government-has-a-secret-system-for-104249688314.html <comment><USER2> So, the USPTO flags questionable patent applications, particularly those relating to '"broad" or "pioneering scope," "seemingly frivolous or silly subject matter," or those "dealing with inventions, which, if issued, would potentially generate unwanted media coverage (i.e., news, blogs, forums)."', as well as patents related to specific 'areas of technology' such as 'smartphones' 'Internet-enabled systems,' and 'processes and apparatuses involving Education.'. And those patents get scrutiny from a larger panel rather than getting rubber-stamped.

And a law firm whose job is to get things patented thinks this is a Constitutional issue, because all applications don't get that level of scrutiny.

Sure, it'd be nice if _all_ patent applications got the same level of scrutiny, but in the absence of that, triage makes sense: "hey, this one looks hairy, we're going to need to look at it more closely".

The only thing I'm mildly disappointed by is that one of the categories is effectively "stuff that will make the news"; granted, those are likely to be patents that shouldn't be issued in the first place, but focusing on the PR aspect rather than the sanity-checking aspect seems wrong.

<comment><USER3> I think the important bit is that _none of this process is documented_

I agree that in practice it might not be so bad but the very fact it is kept hidden (with examiners saying "I shouldn't tell you this but..."), that is the big issue for me.

<comment><USER4> Not documenting it makes it harder to escape the scrutiny by rewriting your patent applications. It is far easier to game such a system if you know precisely how it works.

<comment><USER5> Following the law is easy when u can read it.

<comment><USER6> The thing we're discussing isn't a law, it's an internal agency procedure. It might or might not be a good idea but it's nothing anyone outside the agency has to follow.

<comment><USER7> Internal agency procedure should be 100% transparent. "This is how we do things in this department" isn't a valid excuse for anything.

<comment><USER8> So the IRS should document (for public consumption) the exact algorithm it uses to decide which filings get extra scrutiny? Doesn't that open the door to quite a bit of abuse? (i.e. tax fraudsters being able to match _just_ the precise set of conditions to not be audited).

<comment><USER9> Yes, the IRS should. The fraudsters (and rich people with expensive accountants) already have this info, for example by hiring former IRS examiners and executives. Making the algorithms public at least puts everyone on equal footing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> So there is a secretive process by which the patent office can delay possibly to the point of irrelevance patent applications that are disruptive to the established order? Not a surprise.

This is yet another example of the rot that is infecting the legitimacy of our government. There is no excuse for this, the patent office could plausibly suppress some patents on the grounds of national security but on the grounds that they might "draw public attention"; come on. Tell us again how this system betters us all and doesn't just exist to keep todays winners on top tomorrow?

<comment><USER11> Workaround: File for a patent in another country.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm okay with this.

I'm in the process of getting a provisional patent for something fairly trivial, simply to make sure that the Principal Investigator for the project on this project doesn't take credit for it (before I get downvoted: the PI told me "I need a way to do this thing, and I have no idea how to do it" and I did all the R&D, paid for the prototyping, and I am volunteering my contributions in the first place).

I'm noticing that it is extremely unlikely that an actual human being will read my application, and would actually like to have it rejected for being trivial, because it'd mean some checking is going on.

I feel this is a mild abuse of the provisional patent system, but what can I do?

I wonder if anyone tried to patent the old Signetics write-only-memory, if it would go through? Someone patented the wheel in Australia a while ago...

<comment><USER13> > I feel this is a mild abuse of the provisional patent system, but what can I > do?

Really any traceable, public disclosure should do - filing a patent just to have the record seems like overkill (except in the case where you actually want to file the patent, but it sounds like not). Actually, if it is just for date priority purposes, getting your research records notarized would probably be sufficient (not a lawyer and all that).

There is a service [1] for registered public discloure that is also a "mandatory to search" resource with the WIPO. It costs $120/page, which is steep, but surely cheaper than patent prosecution. There are other "mandatory search" archives [2] under the Patent Cooperation Treaty "Minimum Documentation" rules, many of which are academic journals. These are not the only means of "public disclosure" but my (very limited) understanding is that the patent office is guaranteed to look at the sources on that list.

If you are feeling adventurous, you could even use some block chain-based registration service [3].

[1] [http://www.researchdisclosure.com/publishing- disclosures](http://www.researchdisclosure.com/publishing-disclosures) [2] [http://www.wipo.int/standards/en/part_04.html](http://www.wipo.int/standards/en/part_04.html) [3] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6809929](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6809929)

<comment><USER14> I wonder if this is still true after the switch from first-to-invent to first- to-file.

<comment><USER15> It absolutely is. Once recorded, it becomes prior art. The disclosure _would be_ the "first to file" event in this case.

First to file would actually _prevent_ someone else from later coming along and claiming that despite your publishing of the technology, they were the first to have the idea so should get a patent anyway.

<comment><USER14> Interesting.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This actually happened to my father, who personally filed a patent for a business he and his wife were starting. The patent got flagged and placed into SAWS and it took nearly 10 years (!) to drive it to resolution (it got issued). He is actually a patent attorney (though not in software) and was only able to find out what happened by back-channeling through some contacts at the patent office. He's been a patent attorney for 35 years and expressed complete shock when he learned about the program.

<comment><USER17> _> Charnes and his colleague Kate Gaudry plan to publish an article for Law360, an online journal, in hopes of informing the public about this program, which they say most companies are wholly unaware of._

Did you consider asking your father to get in touch with these two?

Charnes is identified as "a partner at the firm" and, presumably, Gaudry is as well, but it could only help their article's credibility to have input from a third-party.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> A lot of folks miss an important point here. It does not matter if they delay. If the PTO delays your app, you get extra time added to your expiration date.

So if they delay examination 10 years,

1\. You still get back damages from everyone in the world

2\. Your patent will last 10 years longer when it finally does issue.

See 35 USC 154(b)

<comment><USER19> That's cold comfort when your startup has six months of runway left.

<comment><USER20> I'm not a founder, so maybe that's why I don't understand. How does the status of your patent affect your business?

<comment><USER9> The article gives an example:

> For instance, three years ago, Franklin submitted an application for a > startup that needed to secure crucial patents before it filed for public > offering. It was being sued by a large company in the same space, and so it > paid the Patent Office an extra fee to fast-track the application.

Reading between the lines a little, it looks like a small company with tech that challenged a big company was being hassled by the big company and needed the patents to put them on a favorable-enough legal footing to not interfere with their IPO.

<comment><USER20> Sure, but I don't get how this helps. Is it just the bigger company will hold off because you now have "ammunition" to also sue them for infringement in a kind of MAD standoff?

The article (and a sibling comment) also mentions investor reasons ("If it's a startup trying to get traction against an established player, they may not get funding because they don't get the patent in place,") but I don't understand why that's the case unless it goes back to some kind of signaling that you won't be an easy legal target. I'd think all a patent would show is that you have an idea, which investors would already know and is true regardless of whether the patent is pending or approved.

<comment><USER19>
      Is it just the bigger company will hold off because you now have "ammunition" to also sue them for infringement in a kind of MAD standoff?

That's exactly it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> > To this day, the patent — which Franklin says is for fairly mundane > technology

This is just so wrong. A patent for mundane tech should be flat out denied.

<comment><USER22> Like 95% of engineering R&D is on things that most people would consider pretty mundane. There's armies of people working on degreasers and coagulants and emulsifiers and all sorts of things that aren't per se interesting, but represent the yeoman's work that makes the world go around.

<comment><USER23> If only there were a way to compensate people for R&D that most people would consider pretty mundane but that nevertheless makes the world go around.

I know! We could call it a "market."

<comment><USER22> The whole point of creating a property right in the fruits of R&D is enabling the market to compensate people for producing R&D. Markets don't work if people can use what you produce without having to pay for it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I'm not sure the document released actually reflects the claims in the articles.

It looks like the intent is not to delay them forever, just to make sure that they don't look silly for allowing any more patents that don't make sense (e.g. perpetual motion machines) through by putting them through more review.

I think they should heavily scrutinise all patents, and so ideally shouldn't need a process like this, but at least putting the patents which are most likely to be bad is better than not scrutinising any patents thoroughly.

</comment><comment><USER25> The USPTO has pretty much got egg on its face when it comes to some of the patents it has issued in the past. When a performance target is the number of patents approved then this is what happens.

To be able to take a patent in your case load and place it into SAWS just by looking at the area it is in (or appears overly broad) seems be eminently sensible. In effect you are requesting that the patent be reviewed by between 3 and 9 other inspectors.

This seems extremely sensible.

</comment><comment><USER26> > Patent applications can be placed in the SAWS program for an extensive > number of reasons, which Franklin and his associates call "astonishingly > vague." This includes applications of "broad" or "pioneering scope," > "seemingly frivolous or silly subject matter," or those "dealing with > inventions, which, if issued, would potentially generate unwanted media > coverage (i.e., news, blogs, forums)."

They created a secret rule that gives individuals within the USPTO the power to hellban patents at their discretion. There is too much potential for abuse in this system.

<comment><USER25> Well yes and no, as an inspector you are asking for a peer review of the patent. You start abusing SAWS and it will get noticed. I would assume however that software patents feature quite heavily in this pool of 'bad' patents.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Just to make the matter more concrete, here's an interesting technology which looks like has been stalled[1](not sure if by SAWS or not), which is basically an arithmetic-logic unit that is less precise than current systems, but still useful, for example for vision in UAV's[2], and offers an amazing improvement in of 6400x in speed/power, which could be really disruptive in some computing areas, maybe even AI.

And after the author has done work on the UAV mentioned in [2], there's nothing heard about this tech for civilian uses.

So it's interesting to think what other technologies are hiding out there.

[1][http://www.bdti.com/InsideDSP/2013/10/23/SingularComputing](http://www.bdti.com/InsideDSP/2013/10/23/SingularComputing)

[2][https://www.cra.com/publications/2013eaton1.asp](https://www.cra.com/publications/2013eaton1.asp)

</comment><comment><USER28> Don't forget there is also a process for secretly declaring any patent that is too novel or related to anything the government doesn't want out as "Top Secret" and frozen forever. At least with the process being described here, the patent still has a chance of approval. The ones declared off-limits get no compensation and are barred from speaking about their inventions, though I have heard of rare instances where they have sued, but they usually lose.

</comment><comment><USER29> Is there a law that authorizes this program? Was the rule making advertised in the Federal Register? Is there judicial oversight?

I think the most dangerous thing in the USA is the bureaucracy making up its own rules.

</comment><comment><USER19> I'm curious about the rationale for declaring this process unconstitutional. "Unfair" doesn't automatically mean "unconstitutional".

<comment><USER30> I would imagine the claim is related to the equal protection clause.

EDIT: Thanks for the correction; time for the Google! TIL that some would invoke the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause for this situation, while others would expect the court to just throw out the case.

<comment><USER31> equal protection only applies to the states, it doesn't apply to the federal government.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Sounds like the plot of "Influx" by Daniel Suarez.

<comment><USER33> Had not heard of that one. The notion of a shadow organization trying to control the course of humanity is very old. Asimov gave it a shot with "The End of Eternity" which has an amazing final chapter IMHO. But of course the concept is much older than that too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> "All governments lie," \- I. F. Stone</comment>


Test Story – Please Ignore (BBC) - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35233951?SThisFB%3FSThisFB <comment><USER2> Why is this on the front page of Hacker News?

<comment><USER3> I didn't post it, but I'm guessing 1) it's mildly technically interesting that the BBC requires a publicly visible test story like this, and 2) it's funny.

Edit: Although of course technically the answer is the same as it always is: because a sufficient number of HN readers decided it was worthy of upvote.

</comment></comment><comment> r-w [https://web.archive.org/web/20160129100410/http://www.bbc.co...](https://web.archive.org/web/20160129100410/http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35233951?SThisFB%3FSThisFB)

</comment><comment><USER4> Why the query string? [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35233951](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35233951)

<comment><USER5> You get that when you use the share buttons, possibly the author saw the post in a social network

<comment><USER5> The other interesting aspect of that is when you share on Twitter it still says fb</comment></comment></comment>


Amazing Community-driven Mobile Phone Concept by Mozilla [video] - <AUTHOR> http://mozillalabs.com/conceptseries/2010/09/23/seabird/

<comment><USER2> Just because somebody can make a 3D animation of something doesn't mean that they can build it. I know it's a "concept", but so is this: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE4Wn0cjrO4> (German, but video speaks for itself)

</comment><comment><USER3> I hate concept videos. They solely exist to raise everyones expectations to unattainable levels. Should the product ever get released people will be disappointed by realities like battery capacity and a pico projector only working in a very dark room. I wish others would adopt Apple's strategy of announcing a product with a live demo and a release date within months of that showing.

* I get this is a Mozilla 'vision' but watching videos of the MS Courier left me bitter concept videos </rant>

<comment><USER4> I remain surprised that people thought the MS Courier concept videos were anything but.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's a decent video, but it's also just a dream with nothing restraining it in terms of feasibility.

The challenge of good design is making the best of what's possible. Concepts that are only on paper or in image don't present that challenge, and so it's hard for me to get excited by them. After all, we should have flying cars and jetpacks by now right?

</comment><comment><USER6> If (like me) you normally skip video links, give this one a go. It's brief and all visual, so a video really makes sense in this case. And, practical or otherwise, it's creative and thought provoking!

</comment><comment><USER7> The UI on the phone appears to be Android, while the UI projected on the screen looks an awful lot like Windows 7. Running Win7 in a VM on a phone seems like it would be pushing the hardware a bit.

A bit more seriously, how production-ready are IR-based input devices and pico projectors? I get the impression that this is more sci-fi than a design study for a practical product based on current technology.

<comment><USER8> [http://www.gsmarena.com/samsungs_first_projector_phone_sees_...](http://www.gsmarena.com/samsungs_first_projector_phone_sees_daylight_at_ces_2009-news-732.php)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Wow, don't miss this.

I'm ready for a combo IR touchpad, keyboard, and PICO projector right now.

Brilliant work.

<comment><USER10> What's brilliant about just making up a bunch of stuff?

"This phone has a 50mp camera, built in cinema-quality projector, Blu-Ray player, and 1TB storage. As well as an insulin monitor, sink, and magic pony."

<comment><USER11> This.

Sure, they integrated all of these unicorns and faerie dust together very well and very convincingly, but ultimately it's still just fantasy.

The advantage of a design concept predicated on technology that's not. quite. there. yet. is that you can save embarrassment from failing to make it a reality by being dependent on technologies that may not even make it to market. Ultimately that's a form of design cowardice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> They should have made the projected keyboard more Swype-y.

I think though that in the existing IR keyboards there's one beam for "drawing" the keyboard, and a second invisible beam parallel with the surface which actually detects where your fingers are pressing. It's not clear where that second beam is coming from in this video. You could probably do the touchpad with just that single invisible beam, though of course iPhone and Android aren't made for touchpads and cursor arrows, but rather for direct finger interaction.

</comment><comment><USER13> The pomegranate is way better: <http://www.pomegranatephone.com/>

<comment><USER8> The funny thing is...some of this tech really exists. I have voice to voice translation out of my Android phone, and Samsung sells a phone with a projector. And <http://apps.absolutelyandroid.com/harmonica-iphone-1537/app>

Some things, like the translater aren't too hot first generation type deals, I wouldn't conduct a business meeting with it. But I might haggle over the price of some clothes in a border town market in Mexico.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Amazing phone + high quality video. Could something like this actually work with today's batteries?

</comment><comment><USER15> I've been waiting for a pico-projector-enabled phone since I saw The Island.

</comment><comment><USER8> Yes please!

(actually I'm surprised in their pseudo desktop mode while docked they didn't try and use the display as a touchpad like interface.

</comment><comment><USER16> brilliant, thats my next phone!

phone?? wtf!

</comment><comment><USER17> Bloody seabird flavor!

Implementation is the albatross.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you manage your day-to-day tasks? - <AUTHOR> I often find calendars too difficult to quickly read & maintain.
My digital TODO-lists often become out-of-date since I don't always have just phone/laptop available to jot down notes.
My paper notes have worked for short-term tasks but seem to be lacking when it comes to long-term tasks/events.
But perhaps I'm using these things incorrectly. What do HN users use? <comment><USER2> Work environment and needs are very personal but maybe you can learn from my solution.

My frustration with most task manager is that they require me to manually maintain a parallel universe to the other tools I use to execute a project such emails, files, links, notes etc. This manual maintenance require a lot of discipline and typing. When I am busy I am less likely to update the task list and then few days after that my tasks are out-of-date and it takes even more energy to fix, which I am less likely todo.

As a result I decided to develop my own task manager for Gmail ([https://www.centask.com/](https://www.centask.com/)) a tool that integrates everything I need to complete a project, (emails, files, links, notes etc.) organize it in any way I want it, and schedule single and nested items to appear when I need them. Since it is Gmail centric I can email myself links and notes from any app.

The key for me was that I process my email inbox within Centask so I must use it, so it may get long when I am busy but never gets out-of-date.

When I have paper notes, I either type them into Centask as separate items or email myself an image of it and add the image as sub-task of the main task.

Hope that helps

</comment><comment><USER3> You need a system, not a tool. Once you have a system, you can find the tool (or more likely, small set of tools) that help you best implement it.

My system is loosely based on Getting Things Done (GTD). At different times over the last 15 years I've implemented it using pen and paper; dedicated apps; simple to do list apps; a word processor; etc.

Find a couple systems and try them out. Then adopt the principles of each that you find most useful.</comment>


Smart Contract Wallets created in frontier are vulnerable to phishing attacks - <AUTHOR> https://blog.ethereum.org/2016/06/24/security-alert-smart-contract-wallets-created-in-frontier-are-vulnerable-to-phishing-attacks/ <comment><USER2> I keep telling myself, "The next cryptocurrency that comes along, I'll take the time to investigate it, to invest my time and effort into it, just so I can be one of the few people to make a few million maybebucks by discovering one of the plethora of security vulnerabilities in the design or implementation.

</comment><comment><USER3> I like cryptocurrencies but they seem to be stolen a lot.

<comment><USER4> In that regard, they're not at all different from the regular banking system.

edit: The Ethereum Foundation and devs have issued a new client that enables a soft fork, effectively freezing the DAO. The only difference with the traditional banking system here is that the decision to fork is upon the miners, and not a single entity (central bank). The spirit is the same.

<comment><USER5> A critical difference being that the traditional banking system insulates depositors from theft whereas cyptocurrency theft leaves depositors victimized without any legal recourse.

<comment><USER4> Except that the Ethereum Foundation and developers have just issued a patched client that does just that: miners can now choose to prevent the thief from spending his/her coins. So in this sense it's really not so different.

<comment><USER6> So who decides who can prevent another person from getting his/her coins? I thought the whole purpose of cryptocurrency was to prevent that sort of thing.

<comment><USER4> The miners have the authority. Nothing forces them to accept a transaction.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> There is an interesting story here. More next week probably.</comment>


Applying Google's Approach to Education - <AUTHOR> http://www.learnboost.com/google-approach-to-education/

<comment><USER2> "I could have learned this baseline material in less than two years of study."

Really? In my experience, its really difficult to say how long it would have taken you to learn something in a different fashion after you've already learnt it.

For example, take algebra. I remember really struggling with algebra. For the longest time, I just could not wrap my head around the fact that a letter could represent any number. Looking back, of course, algebra seems terribly simple. Yeah, with the benefit of hindsight, I can say that algebra is simple and it could be learnt in two weeks. However, I certainly would not have said so before I learnt algebra or during my learning. How much of this (possibly unconscious) revisionism is going in the mind of the author?

That said, I never really did agree with the stereotypical "College is there to make you a well rounded individual," view. That sort of thing may have been true in the 18th Century, when those who went to college were largely independently wealthy and could afford to bother with classes unrelated to any trade or skill. I, on the other hand, am not independently wealthy. Every class I take that doesn't contribute to my professional skill level is a waste of my money and (more importantly) my time. Unlike a landed aristocrat, I value both. I wish colleges would too.</comment>


Building a parachute is boggling - <AUTHOR> https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-12-19/boeing-spacex-spacecraft-parachutes <comment><USER2> Regarding the missing pin in Boeing's test last month, I find it quite strange that a physical verification "touch test" wasn't performed by default if it was/is possible.

This is obviously based on extremely limited information, but given that the pin seems to be possible to check physically, and wasn't checked, I don't think I'm speculating too much, as it constrains the issue greatly.

In as mundane activities as rock climbing, adventure courses, and while working at height it's basically a mantra to physically check anything that you can check physically, regardless of if it's been checked in some other way previously. At least in my circles.

Not that physical verification is a panacea, but doesn't it seem borderline arrogant to not include it wherever possible when it comes to something like a parachute system?

I am assuming that the cause for omitting a physical check is that it was decided previous checks - whatever they were - would've been enough.

If failing to check a pin in a parachute system was an _actual oversight_ , I can only assume the project is under very intense pressured to deliver on schedule rather than quality. Not a great look for Boeing if that's the case.

</comment><comment><USER3> I knew some people who worked near this specialty in aerospace.

From what I remember, it's highly guarded and sensitive due to the rarity of skills and knowledge required.

The problem is highly nonlinear from both an aerodynamics and structural perspective. The fabric changes shape, can only really support a load in tension, and updates of the geometry then feed back into aerodynamics.

I'm trying to imagine how they deal with vibrations/flutter related issues (they may not even be called that on flexible fabric, I haven't checked) where everything has to be solved in the time domain to get Real Answers. We're talking modern day supercomputers and constantly having to reduce time step size to keep solutions faster than the Nyquist frequency on a huge problem set where you have to save a lot of the intermediate results somewhere. Then there are all kinds of other things to worry about that someone more experienced with compressible flow can talk about, and its associated nondimensional simulation parameters and issues...

It's hard enough with incompressible liquids in confined spaces with metals that can only bend and deflect so much. That is an area I'm more familiar with, and know where to look in handbooks to get initial solutions.

But parachutes? Whew. Complex.

</comment><comment><USER4> SpaceX has been conducting parachute tests for as long as I can remember, they are finicky beasts. Besides, there's only a handful (literally) of manufacturers in the world, perhaps one or two in the US. It is no coincidence that both Boeing and SpaceX are using the same provider.

</comment><comment><USER5> Elon Musk originally planned for Crew Dragon to land with rockets instead of parachutes. That way the same spacecraft design could land on Mars and Earth. Also, it is "how a rocket should land". Then they discovered that NASA safety concerns were going to slow things down a lot and that a Mars landing craft could be a lot better with a different design. SpaceX's in-development Starship is now the craft that will be able to land on any small planet in the system.

A quote from[1]:

SpaceX now favors another type of recovery.

"The reason we decided not to pursue (powered landings) heavily is it would have taken a tremendous amount of effort to qualify that for safety, particularly for crew transport," Musk said. "And then there was a time when I thought that the Dragon approach to landing on Mars, where you've got a base heat shield and side-mounted thrusters, would be the right way to land on Mars, but now I'm pretty confident that is not the right way, and that there's a far better approach."

Musk did not elaborate on the new concept for landing on Mars.

"That's what the next generation of SpaceX rockets and spacecraft is going to do, so just the difficulty of safely qualifying Dragon for propulsive landings, and the fact, from a technology evolution standpoint, it was no longer in line with what we were confident was the optimal way to land on Mars," Musk said. "That's why we're not pursuing it.

[1][https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/07/19/propulsive-landings- ni...](https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/07/19/propulsive-landings-nixed-from- spacexs-dragon-spaceship/)

</comment><comment><USER6> SpaceX: "You always learn," [Shotwell] said. "That's why we test as much as we do."

Boeing: ...The company is confident in its parachutes, Barrett said.

<comment><USER7> Boeing: The company is confident in its parachutes, he said, and testing has shown that they will work in emergency situations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> In the case of Boeing's mission, the chutes ended up working but they set the clock wrong so the mission primary was a fail: [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/science/boeing- starliner-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/22/science/boeing-starliner- landing.html)

<comment><USER9> The article is referring to the Nov 4th[0] test where only 2 of 3 chutes opened but was still a 'safe' touchdown.

[0][https://spacenews.com/boeing-performs-starliner-pad-abort- te...](https://spacenews.com/boeing-performs-starliner-pad-abort-test/)

<comment><USER10> Doesn't seem like it. Article is dated 19th Dec, and has this:

> Early Friday, the company plans to launch its Starliner capsule on its first > ever uncrewed flight to the space station.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Considering all of these stories of how hard parachutes seem to be, it seems surprising that everyone seemed to be against SpaceX's initial plan to do propulsive landings of their capsules. I'd like to see them get that worked out soon, even if only for the cargo capsules at first.

<comment><USER12> I don't recall anyone being against the idea of propulsive landings on a technical level. There was no reason to suspect they weren't possible, although I could imagine someone being skeptical of the cost savings that they could practically achieve in exchange for lessened payload capacity.</comment></comment>


Hackers Reveal Nasty Car Attacks - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/07/24/hackers-reveal-nasty-new-car-attacks-with-me-behind-the-wheel-video/

<comment><USER2> this isn't news, nor is it new.

Of course a digital system can be hijacked with physical access. A mechanic does it every time you take your car in for a "Engine Control System update TSB-'blahblahblah' "

They plug a laptop or similar tool into a data port and push new data. Wow.</comment>


Donate to Wikipedia - <AUTHOR> https://donate.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:FundraiserLandingPage&country=XX&uselang=en&utm_medium=spontaneous&utm_source=fr-redir&utm_campaign=spontaneous <comment><USER2> Wouldn't be right for wikipedia to have Google ads or something? They would generate lots of cash and they wouldn't need to ask for donations...

<comment><USER3> You completely miss the point. It's because they want the site to be ads free they are asking for donations.

As a daily user of wikipedia, I don't want ads on the site...</comment></comment>


Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS pre-installed - <AUTHOR> https://ubuntu.com/blog/dell-xps-13-developer-edition-with-ubuntu-20-04-lts-pre-installed-is-now-available <comment><USER2> I applaud the change to a 16:10 screen (the ratio used in all Apple laptops and sadly few others for years). The extra vertical space for the same area is very welcome; 16:9 feels very cramped at laptop sizes once you add a few menu bars and headers and banners. I hope more laptop manufacturers decide to go this direction.

<comment><USER3> Agreed. And Id prefer they return to 5x4 for all tablets and tablet PCs. I had a tablet PC back in 04 that was a 5x4 ratio Toshiba R10 and it was marvelous. I ran Linux on it! 16 years ago!

<comment><USER4> No half measures! let's go 1:1 baby.

<comment><USER5> They exist! (Well as a freestanding monitor.) I have one, and it's glorious!

[https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/](https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/)

<comment><USER2> I don't know why, but those proportions rather perturb me. Being so used to having displays be wider than tall, that almost looks taller than wide. I think it's fantastic that it exists, though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> At this point, waiting for the mobile Ryzens to appear across the laptop ranges seems like a good idea. They've crammed 8 cores instead of 4 into the same TDP and made laptop chips that are in the same ballpark as the dekstop counterparts:

[https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-10610U-vs- AMD-...](https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-10610U-vs-AMD- Ryzen-7-PRO-4750U-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-4800U-vs-Intel-i9-9900K-vs-AMD- Ryzen-7-3700X/3738vs3740vs3721vs3334vs3485)

The graphics should also be better than the Intel ones.

So far the only interesting laptop I've seen is the Lenovo T14s which is their lower-end ultrabook from the X1 Carbon. Frustratingly they've limited it to 1080p screens in the AMD version when the Intel version includes a great 4K option:

[https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T...](https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_AMD/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_AMD_Spec.PDF)

[https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T...](https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_Intel/ThinkPad_T14s_Gen_1_Intel_Spec.PDF)

<comment><USER7> As you mentioned, AMD laptops are gimped, either by an inferior screen, lower amount of memory (imagine 8GB limit for an 8-core Ryzen or 16GB limit for a dual core i3) or some other specification is not up to high end standard.

<comment><USER8> The HP Omen 15 has a solid 300-nit 97% sRGB screen, 70Wh battery, and dual channel 16GB. There's also the HP ENVY x360 with available 400-nit/1000-nit screens paired with 16GB and an 8 core Ryzen 7 4700U. Both a bit pricey but I'm glad they exist.

I agree the vast majority of AMD laptops have unacceptable compromises baked in. I can't help but believe this will change now that the APUs are arguably on par for games and massively more efficient for other tasks.

<comment><USER7> Those HPs are unfortunately still just 1080p (though one is 144Hz). I haven't used notebooks with that resolution since 2012.

<comment><USER8> Ha well my eyesight is awful so for me the 1080p is a blessing, especially for battery. But I can't blame you for preferring the crisp screens.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I seriously hope Dell finally found a way to make more solid laptops because half of the ~30 XPS laptops I've seen around me needed to be send back because of issues with the device freezing or with the display.

I started out in November last year with an XPS and after multiple freezes I requested an repair that would take my laptop out for multiple weeks. Having seen my previous company send multiple laptops back multiple times I didn't have much trust in the certainty of resolution for my issues with the xps. My coworker at the time didn't have any issues with her XPS but I gave up on Dell and switched to Mac. Sadly my coworkers XPS broke down after 2 months and it's still being repaired after 5 weeks...

The specs of the XPS certainly are the best and the feel is great and I so hoped it would be a succes but it just sucks the experience is so bad. I often hear others still raving and reading about non problems so somehow I still think I might have seen a really bad batch enter the Netherlands over 2 years time.

<comment><USER10> We have bought 7 or 8 for my startup in the past 4 years. Only one failure that happened at like month 3. Seems at least average reliability?

In the same time we have had 2 of 4 appple laptops need a new motherboard / some drastic problem

<comment><USER11> > need a new motherboard / some drastic problem

Only because apple won't do simple repairs. Eg, blwn capacitor worth 40 cent? New motherboard worth hundreds! [1] Of course, to the end user, the effect is the same...

[1] [https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns](https://youtu.be/o2_SZ4tfLns) and [https://youtu.be/K1A9y4S60kg](https://youtu.be/K1A9y4S60kg) for just two examples

<comment><USER12> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I find it highly unlikely that there are repair contractors with people sitting behind magnifying glasses and soldering irons.

I would suspect that toss and replace is the norm across the whole spectrum of hardware sellers.

You could debate Apple's design choices like... say... riveted keyboards, and they'd argue durability as a retort, but I don't think they're any better or worse than others in terms of warranty work.

<comment><USER13> From my knowledge of working as an ACMT, Apple processes every part it takes out of a computer during repair service. I couldn't say how many are fixed in the manner you're talking about, but I can say that a significant proportion of parts we received for warranty service were clearly 'remanufactured' parts. So that kind of toss-and-replace doesn't even really happen at Apple itself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I alternate between a (now ageing 9350-model) XPS 13 running Ubuntu and a (newish) MacBook Pro (for work), so perhaps my experience is interesting to some.

I like both, but switching between the two is a bit jarring. The different keyboard layout is particularly annoying. Maybe this is worse with a British keyboard though. I switched the Mac to use the 'PC' layout, which helps a bit, but adapting between the cmd-ctrl-fn is difficult. And there are inconsistencies in the readline behaviour that I haven't worked out. I'm fairly indifferent to the feel of the keyboard - maybe a slight preference for the XPS.

I like the 16:9 ratio of the XPS, but not a big deal.

The 20.04 update has been such an improvement. The fan used to be constantly running, maybe because of the previously-experimental fractional scaling, but since the update this runs so smooth. If anyone from Gnome/Ubuntu reads this: thank you!

The trackpad on the MacBook is obviously nice: support for gestures and the bigger area. I can't stand the touch bar - I'm constantly accidentally pressing buttons. TouchID is nice - the fingerprint reader in this new version sounds good.

Few other things that are better on the MBP: speakers, brightness (especially the auto-adjusting brightness), and webcam (this version of the XPS has the webcam below the screen, which sucks).

I don't make any use of the touchscreen on the XPS and I haven't got around to turning it off from the BIOS. Seems kind of wasteful.

The coil whine on the XPS is really bad. Interested to know if this is fixed/better on the newer models?

I replaced the battery on the XPS recently, but turns out the battery isn't as official as Amazon promised so the LED occasionally does an angry flashing sequence. But yay for being able to replace this.

Also the Dell support turned out to be pretty good. At one point there was an issue with my screen and they sent a guy to my house to replace the screen for free.

</comment><comment><USER15> > EMEA Offline: Czech Republic, Denmark, Emerging countries, Finland, Greece, > Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, South Africa.

Mmm, love shopping in "Emerging countries", gotta get a ticket to there :D

Kinda reminds me of the "hot singles near Anonymous Proxy" banners.

</comment><comment><USER16> I had considered buying the 15 inch XPS to replace my Thinkpad X1C (6th gen). I really need 32 Gigs to run kubernetes and compile GraalVM images locally. But the latest XPS 15 has the RAM soldered to the board. This means if I want 32 Gigs, I have to pony up the premium price. They do have a Precision that is basically the same specs that DOES allow upgrading the RAM. The biggest problem is, Dell's website has the option to remove Windows and add Ubuntu... but you can't add it to the cart. It complains that McAffe won't fun on my OS of choice... and I can't remove McAffe! That pretty much stopped me right there.

<comment><USER17> Why not the Thinkpad T-series then?

<comment><USER16> For me, it's been battery life. Even running TLP, my Current ultra-light just isn't seeing great battery life. It's fine now working from home, and plugged in all day. But should I ever get back to taking it to meeting after meeting at the office.... I want to say, I see 4 hours unplugged depending on what I'm doing. (not watching video)

<comment><USER18> Modern mobile ThinkPad supports USB Type-C charging. So you can buy any mobile batteries that supports USB-PD charging (likely 45W is enough)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> My current Dell XPS had the pretty common battery swelling problem but within months of purchase. On previous models they replaced it for free but they stopped doing that. So add a possible battery replacement to their list price if you still want a Dell. Based on my experience with customer support and this battery issue this will be my last Dell. I'm looking at Lenovo for my next laptop.

<comment><USER20> If this happened within a year I would simply insist they replace the battery under warranty and highlight that there was no element of discretion about it. They would do it.

<comment><USER19> I did insist. I don't remember the details anymore because it was a couple of years ago. I would have taken them to small claims court over it if I had been in the US but I was overseas long term. Either way, they have lost a customer who has bought many of their laptops over the decades. Over a $100 battery that clearly had a manufacturing defect.

<comment><USER21> Same thing happened to me. Hours and hours on the phone for battery swelling which was a known problem.

I was overseas at the time and they dragged the process out long enough that eventually warranty was up and they told me they wouldn't replace it.

I replaced it myself but I'll never buy a Dell again and recommend others go with Lenovo.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I've been using the XPS 13 DE at work for 3+ years and it has been a great experience. It originally shipped with 16.04; I was able to upgrade smoothly to 18.04 when it was available and I hope to do the same with 20.04.

I use it with a docking station and two external monitors with no problems. It's normally physically connected to the network so I can't comment much on the wifi. I don't do anything with Bluetooth.

My personal laptop is a MBP but if Dell ever came out with a XPS 15 DE I would immediately switch.

</comment><comment><USER23> Doesn't look too bad.

The page mentioned that: 10th generation Intel® Core™ 10nm mobile processors and up to 32 gigabytes of RAM

But on the product page, we can only get either 8 or 16 GB of memory. Do you know if it's possible to buy these with 32GB of RAM from Dell?

<comment><USER24> Dell has a strange website. Last time I was looking for a model with lots of RAM it took me ages until I understood how to get to the part that lets me configure it freely.

<comment><USER24> No, seems to me as well that 32GB is not available for Ubuntu.

<comment><USER25> [https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and- notebo...](https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and- notebooks/new-xps-13-developer- edition/spd/xps-13-9300-laptop/ctox13w10p1c2200u?view=configurations&configurationid=8d492ede-8d20-482a-8e4c-90aa4bd5cdc5)

<comment><USER24> Oh, they got me again with their site :-D

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Link to 32GB version: [https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and- notebo...](https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and- notebooks/new-xps-13-developer- edition/spd/xps-13-9300-laptop/ctox13w10p1c2200u?view=configurations&configurationid=aa4ddc17-c908-4f5f-909e-53d2ce9b898d)

<comment><USER5> One year of ProSupport for free is a pretty good deal at that price (looks like limited time offer). When I bought mine (32gb with Windows) a couple of months ago, the same specs were $100 more but without ProSupport. I chatted with a sales rep and got an upgrade for 1 year of ProSupport and 256gb -> 512gb ssd for about $1 more.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> I would recommend strongly to not buy Dell laptops. The quality of the laptops are very bad. I bought a XPS 15 two years ago for around €2000 and the screen isn't working anymore. The laptop hasn't moved from my desk. Look at the support pages, there's so many issues with no resolutions.

Current issues:

Screen distorted - Have to use external monitor

Laptop randomly freezes for 30s - Great for meetings

Bluetooth randomly disconnects all devices

WiFi randomly disconnects

<comment><USER21> Agreed. Do not buy Dell. You'll find hundreds of people with the same problem on support boards, but if you call support they will act like you're the first one ever to have a problem.

Happened to me with the battery swelling issue on the 2016 model. I would never buy another Dell after that experience.

<comment><USER28> The roughly dozen XPS13 we bought for work are mostly fine. And support has been great on the ones that were not.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I just got the 32 GB version! My top complaint after rocking the Ubuntu 13 laptop for the last 4 years was lack of 32 GB option. (Other people complain about the webcam, but I hardly use it).

Overall has been a great platform.

</comment><comment><USER29> Dang I really hope they do the same with the new xps 15 and 17... But there's probably no market for this aside from me specifically T_T

<comment><USER30> I've got a 17" in process -- looks like a 5 week delay for it. Picked up a M2 drive that I'll be adding to turn it into my Linux laptop. Pretty excited to have a good 16:10 screen on something this size, will all sorts of expansion options when 32G won't cut it anymore.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> I run Ubuntu 20.04 lts on the Dell XPS 13 i7 10700 (12 ht cores!). I bought the windows version ~8 months ago. It is a great form factor and quiet and Ubuntu is a dream. I run dual 4k 32 inch monitors from the laptop when closed via the many USB c ports. It just works.

</comment><comment><USER32> I only ever owned an XPS 13 9350 (~2015) and it suffers from really horrible coil whine, regardless of whether anything is plugged in or not.

I really wonder whether they've fixed this issue, as I've heard that some models after this one still suffered from the same.

<comment><USER5> I have the current model (9300 ~2020) running Ubuntu 20.04. I do not have coil whine, and I couldn't find anyone else reporting coil whine when I bought it 2 months ago (I bought the Windows version and installed Ubuntu myself).

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I don't know how Dell makes any money on this laptop. It's too expensive. It's much cheaper to buy a Windows Dell XPS 13 laptop with the same specs and then just install Linux on it.

</comment><comment><USER34> What's the story with full disk encryption on Ubuntu these days? Last time I checked (a while ago) it was a bit clunky, but now I'm considering a Linux desktop after 10 yrs of macOS and filevault, so checking my options. Thanks!

<comment><USER6> What was clunky? The installer supports it and then all you have to do is insert the password on boot.

<comment><USER35> The initial setup is definitely easy, but I wish additional setup would have a graphical interface. Notably, changing or removing a passphrase, both of which should be tucked away somewhere in the settings.

Your current options are gnome-disks and cryptsetup, and the former simply didn't work with long passphrases last time I dabbled with it.

It's also quite difficult to encrypt an existing setup without formatting the drive. You'd need to unmount your root partition, and since you can't do that from a running system, you'd need to boot off of a USB stick first. BitLocker is definitely easier in that regard.

<comment><USER36> I stopped using it recently, but cryptsetup (with luks if it matters) definitely allows passphrases. I think my longest was ~50 characters? Not sure if you were going beyond that.

I can't seem to find any old (or new) complaints about it limiting, or anything about a fix for same. You sure it was that?

<comment><USER35> My mistake, I wanted to write that gnome-disks struggled with longer passphrases, not cryptsetup.

I've edited my comment above to fix that mistake.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> st-isidore Good to see this because it means demand for new Linux laptops is still here (or even growing) but why wouldn't someone go for a System76 laptop instead that comes with custom, FOSS firmware too?

<comment><USER37> For one, S76 is not shipping icelake. Second, s76 = clevo + coreboot. Not everyone cares about that. Dell/Lenovo have better hardware, support, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I've been havin XPS 13 for nearly 2 years now. Personally, haven't had any issues in terms of reliability.I even managed to spill my soup on it a couple of times and it ended up working after it. Battery capacity halfed over this period, however I can't comment on this,as I don't know how other laptops perform in this area.the only weird thing about it is the camera positioned at the bottom of the screen...

<comment><USER39> I have an XPS 15, my battery now only lasts an hour

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> I have a normal XPS 13 for work. I don't like it. I have increase font sizes on the laptop screen. No expandable memory or storage. Fan on high is normal. Some versions BigFoot wifi controller that will drop out all the time when it's slightly warm. One of devs had to get an external cooler to help that issue, but eventually went for an external WiFi adapter.

</comment><comment><USER41> I am running Ubuntu 20.04 on a Dell XPS 13 9370 from a couple years ago. It's amazing! First time I've had a Linux distro that really works well including battery life, sleep, devices etc.

I had previously given up on this and was excited that WSL2 was finally available, but installed 20.04 and haven't looked back.

</comment><comment><USER42> Great that Dell is supporting their Laptops with Ubuntu and Linux. I like the developer experience of Linux. Most things work as they should out of the box and the system is stable. Plus it feels like the right thing to use open source software where you can contribute back if you want.

</comment><comment><USER43> When you click through to purchase, in the Customize section at the bottom there is a "Keep Your Hard Drive" option up to 4 years. What exactly does this mean and why up to 4 years and not more, e.g. forever?

</comment><comment><USER44> I ordered my XPS 13 last night, it's not the developer edition, but I plan on pulling the 128gb ssd and replacing it with a 512 anyway, and at that time will convert it to Ubuntu 20.04. I can't wait!

</comment><comment><USER45> Does the sound-card make any popping sounds turning on and off?? I have an older XPS 13-9343 and sadly this was a huge issue with Ubuntu/Linux. It would pop on and off whenever you used audio.

<comment><USER5> I plug in my speakers through a Thunderbolt dock, and I have not experienced it. It shows as a USB sound output though. Let me know if you would like me to try plugging the speakers in directly to the laptop and rebooting it a couple of times.

<comment><USER45> Thanks for the info. Yes that would be great if you could check that. My issue was the built-in speakers popping whenever audio stopped and started (sound card turning off and on). It was especially loud and unbearable when using headphones plugged directly in.

<comment><USER5> The built-in speakers do not pop (tested with nothing plugged in).

When having external speakers or earbuds plugged into the 3.5mm jack, it does pop.

IMO the pops are not loud and do not at all hurt even with earbuds in.

Dell has a 30 day return policy, so if that's the only thing holding you back, you can try it for yourself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Looks like it comes with Killer WiFi. Pretty questionable choice there.

<comment><USER47> My laptop has Killer WiFi. I know nothing about it. Why is that a questionable choice?

<comment><USER48> My laptop as well, it has the worst wireless connectivity of all of my devices and it just doesn't come up on book or wake from sleep. I noticed the brand in the spec, but figured it probably didn't matter. It turns out that it became the thing I hate about the machine, and later found they have a hate club on the Internet. I wouldn't buy another machine with their wireless. Chip was: Killer Wireless-AC 1535 (802.11ac)

I just learned that Intel bought Rivet, maker of Killer wifi: [https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/intel-acquisition- may-...](https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/intel-acquisition- may-2020/#gs.9esaz5)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> > _Start in an instant: A built in lid sensor allows you to open the lid and > power up in milliseconds, no matter what power-state you are in._

Really? < 10ms resume? From hibernation, too?

</comment><comment><USER50> Is this still a glossy-only screen option? I would happily by the XPS 15 with a non-glossy screen. I have been forced to use the Precision models with Ubuntu pre-installed and suffered both mediocre performance, battery life, build quality, and even the sound output not working.

Unfortunately I am using a Mac from my employer for the first time in years. It is nice to have hardware that works extremely well again! But the glare is bad in certain lighting conditions and the touch bar is extremely annoying. I have caps lock mapped to escape, but it is just a more difficult place to get my pinky finger to.

<comment><USER5> My understanding is that the non-touch FHD screen is not glossly, but then it is also not flush. I got the touch FHD to have the edge-to-edge glass. The glossyness hasn't bothered me, and you can get matte screen protectors cut for this model off of eBay.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> What about Dell Precision series? I thought they are supposed to support Linux and they certainly carry pretty impressive specs.

<comment><USER52> I have an older precision. Built like a tank and then some, great specs, ugly as hell, on the heavy side, awful battery, huge brick sized charger, but everything replaceable, takes being dropped in it's stride, takes any abuse it receives in it's stride.

</comment></comment><comment><USER53> I wish they made these available in Australia! Wouldn't even be different to the US version, power supply aside.

</comment><comment><USER54> I would buy this laptop in a heartbeat if I could have an ISO keyboard layout in North America.

</comment><comment><USER55> Does ThinkPad X/T have something similar? On their website the only option is Windows.

<comment><USER37> No. Lenovo doesn't sell linux laptops in the US on the open market. You may be able to buy one through the IT sales channel or in some other countries.

<comment><USER56> There was an announcement in April that they will "soon" be shipping some laptops with Fedora.

[https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo- lapt...](https://fedoramagazine.org/coming-soon-fedora-on-lenovo-laptops/)

<comment><USER55> Thanks for the link, hopefully it's available soon.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> gnome is terrible comparing to macOS WM/DM. So many bugs and there is no way to tweak things like in mac. Please do me a favor and look about it before buying.

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h Not that I like GNOME, but that has to be the first time I've seen someone advocate macOS on the basis of customization. Could you say where you found macOS to let you tweak something that GNOME didn't? Is this including extra tools (GNOME Tweak Tool), or pure stock?

</comment></comment><comment> dis-sys $1099 for a laptop with only 8G RAM, 256G SSD, 4 slow intel cores and 1080p LCD? you get far better specs for a phone in 2020 for that kind of $.

<comment><USER53> Only one of them would allow you to be productive. A big case, screen, keyboard, etc all adds up.

You're overestimating the performance of phone CPUs and storage too.</comment></comment>


Application helps you search information relate to languages and technologies - <AUTHOR> The application helps you search information relate to languages and technologies. Currently, this application just supports three sources: [StackOverFlow](http://stackoverflow.com/, [RubyGems](https://rubygems.org/), [Confreaks](http://confreaks.tv/) with simple features.<p>Try it out: https://github.com/vinhnglx/gaea <comment><USER2> This might make a good "Show HN".

Guidelines: [https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html)

</comment><comment><USER3> That's a great idea, I was thinking to do it back sometime however thought one important aspect that coders who search through mobile application would not be able to use codes from mobile application directly so less of a use to readers but coders. I will sure check your application :)</comment>


Request: Advice on Effective Data Poisoning - <AUTHOR> https://old.reddit.com/r/MKaTH/comments/86ofkl/req_advice_on_effective_data_poisoning_serious/ <comment><USER2> I suspect that will just add another few bits of user-specific information to key advertisements to: [√] Believes $TRACKER won't notice attempt at obfuscation.

</comment><comment> cat-turner I've thought about this as well. One idea I've has is releasing a data bamb, in a sense that a huge amount of information is injected along with your interaction. An example of this would be you open your browser and put in a search term for cat food, and a server you are running picks up your activity (opening a browser), then plugs in 100s of search terms for random, unrelated things while logged into your account. Or at minimum send get requests from your in address for you.This essentially adds noise, which one can be done in different ways.

<comment><USER3> Shouldn't one of the main properties of data poisoning be that it should go undetected? otherwise the collector agency (FB, whatever) can just develop an algorithm to flag that new data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think people who are looking for data poisoning solution should install AdNauseam, immediately.

[https://adnauseam.io/](https://adnauseam.io/)

<comment><USER5> Looks interesting, but I wonder if ad networks would just flag the user as a bot.

<comment> cat-turner As long as the adnetworks start ignoring user, isn't that the point?

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually, sorting out what your point is might be a good starting, erm, point. What's your threat model, what do you hope to protect / avoid / guarantee?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm afraid this is one of those cases where the Pandora's box has already been opened. At a massive scale you could allow a data breach of bad data, like experian pretends to lose data but the data are fake. I sometimes wonder if that's what the opm breach was all about, but that's giving way too much credit.</comment>


LRU implementation in C++ - <AUTHOR> http://www.bottlenose.demon.co.uk/article/lru.htm

<comment><USER2> For comparison's sake, here's a simple LRU in Erlang: [http://erlangquicktips.heroku.com/2008/10/05/an-erlang- lru-m...](http://erlangquicktips.heroku.com/2008/10/05/an-erlang-lru-module/)

<comment><USER3> In Java, LinkedHashMap[1] is well-suited to building LRU caches.

[1] [http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/LinkedHas...](http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/LinkedHashMap.html)

<comment><USER4> However, one should be aware of that "Note that insertion order is not affected if a key is re-inserted into the map".

Because of that, a timestamps update must do:

      Cache.remove(key);
      Cache.put(key,value);

Only doing the latter will not move the item to its correct location.

Also, I am too lazy to chrck it, but I do not think this will have the same big-O as the C++ code.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This algorithm is arguably already patented: <http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5893120.html>

In fact, you may remember that Google was sued over this last year: [http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20056192-36.html?part=rss&...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20056192-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20)

Granted, using a timestamp to expire hash table entries is probably different enough from using a timestamp to evict cache entries where I would hope this wouldn't hold up in court, but IANAL and I could be totally wrong here. Another possibility is that there could be a totally different patent that already covers this algorithm.

</comment><comment><USER6> Here is another simple implementation in C++: [https://github.com/albertz/grub- fuse/blob/master/include/cac...](https://github.com/albertz/grub- fuse/blob/master/include/cache.h)

Usage example: [https://github.com/albertz/grub-fuse/blob/master/grub- core/f...](https://github.com/albertz/grub-fuse/blob/master/grub- core/fs/reiserfs_key_cache.cpp)

</comment><comment><USER7> If this article shows anything it is that C++ never really "grew up". Even in Java, implementing an LRU cache is such a trivial thing to do because most people actually use, and build on, the standard library.

</comment><comment><USER8> How is this notable?

<comment><USER9> How is your comment worthwhile?

<comment><USER8> In a condensed form of a rhetorical question it states that LRU cache containers are fairly trivial and they are routinely implemented as a part of larger projects. It typically takes under an hour to do and it comes out lighter and more legible if one does not depend on boost.

So, how is this notable? Is it L2-cache friendly? Is it optimized not to fragment heap? Perhaps it's lockfree?</comment></comment></comment>


Reddit Ireland turns off at midnight to stop racist trolls - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52992676 <comment><USER2> I used to post on the r/europe subreddit frequently and it's something I noticed too. On occasion when I was up late at night the quality went down considerably and it turned extremely toxic compared to discussions around the rest of the day.

A lot of racism and in a very obvious way coming from foreign commentators who were only remotely familiar with European politics. The French far-right candidate in the last election even had a dedicated sub with not a single comment in French, ironically enough.

<comment> non-entity I thought r/europe has been like that for quite a while now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> [https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/gyyv6y/temporary_c...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/comments/gyyv6y/temporary_closure_of_rireland_at_latenight_hours/)

This might be a better link.

<comment><USER4> Not at the moment, it's not!: [https://imgur.com/a/68M8iyN](https://imgur.com/a/68M8iyN)

<comment><USER3> Oh...well, it was working when I posted it, I'm not a member of the community and I could see it at one point but it does seem to be blocked now. I regret not copying and pasting the post now, I didn't think it would vanish.

Sorry, the link did explain at the time I posted it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> What is even being discussed here? A subreddit?

<comment><USER6> The article isn't clear about it, but I believe it's: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/](https://www.reddit.com/r/ireland/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's disgusting that the "article" doesn't even mention what this is all about. It's not like there are suddenly bad people swarming an innocent sub and "troll" it. There was an event happening in Ireland that is being censored on there and around the globe. Everyone who tries to bring it to light is being labeled a "racist troll" and punished by the machine.

And it's even more disappointing that it works - with multiple people here wondering "why would people do that", without even looking for the real answer.

<comment><USER8> I take it you are afraid of mentioning whatever it is for fear of being labelled likewise? There have been many events, so it's hard to know which real answer you're alluding to.

<comment><USER7> yes

<comment><USER8> Which means it could be racist trolling that you don't actually understand to be racist trolling.

I've seen many green/new accounts. That's one way to comment about it.

<comment><USER7> True! It wasn't like that in the beginning though - this story has been purged everywhere.

And this reporting in particular is saddening. Journalism is supposed to be about facts and not feelings. This article does hardly contain any relevant facts and only tells you how to feel - and it's being eaten up.

<comment><USER8> It's a fact that people have feelings.

Journalism reports on feelings all the time.

A DDG search for "classic journalism feelings" easily found [https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emo...](https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism_and_the_power_of_emotions.php) \- "Journalism and the power of emotions"

> "Invisible Child" is an example of the power of storytelling. It's also an > example of what motivates many journalists, what we believe is possible > through our narratives: to extend empathy for the individual to the group, > to correct injustice and inspire change, or at least awareness. ...

> From stories about living conditions in New York's slum tenements of the > 1880s to the plight of children in contemporary homeless shelters, empathy > is an integral part of journalism.

<comment><USER7> This is not a big opinion piece or a report on a grand problem of society. It's about a singular event that happened on Sunday. In fact the BBC did never report on that actual event itself (if their site search works correct at least). But they did write about people trying to bring it to light and labeled them racist trolls. That is not reporting and it's not even "just" omission. It's straight up manipulation. They're doing the exact opposite of what they're supposed to. And they're being paid by the very people they lie to and harming them in the process by massively shifting the perceived reality.

<comment><USER8> There's more than one news source.

[https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-reddit-page- sh...](https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ireland-reddit-page-shutting- overnight-as-moderators-try-to-stem-the-flow-of-extreme-racist- content-39271777.html) says:

> "It comes as far-right groups have started an orchestrated attempt to hijack > online discussions about an attack in Carrigaline with racist commentary."

[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Carrigaline&t=ffsb&df=w&iar=news&i...](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Carrigaline&t=ffsb&df=w&iar=news&ia=news) shows almost only Irish reporting of that stabbing.

Eg, [https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/family- of...](https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/family-of- carrigaline-stab-victim-distance-themselves-from-online- fundraiser-1004329.html) :

> The family of a teenager who was assaulted and stabbed in Cork at the > weekend have distanced themselves from an online fundraising campaign which > has been shut down after it was linked to vile racist rhetoric.

> ... Despite pleas for it not to be shared, several online social media > accounts - many anonymous and troll accounts - as well as some far-right > accounts based overseas, urged their followers to use the assault and the > video clip to "control the narrative".

> The incident and clip triggered a wave of racist commentary despite > confirmation from friends of the injured boy that the attack had nothing to > do with race.

<comment><USER7> Even in the lines you quoted there were several lies. But you know that topic is verboten for people like me. I'll leave it at that.

<comment><USER8> And some people honestly believed a underground child sex ring was located under a pizzeria with no basement.

And that Obama was born in Kenya.

At what point do you decide that there is conspiracy preventing publication, vs. that your hidden sources of information are lying to you?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Ireland? Why the heck would people troll that forum. Madness.

<comment><USER10> Hypothetically speaking, if a country can afford a standing army and pay the thousands of privates for doing pushups and running around in circles with backpacks and guns.

Then its not crazy to assume they can afford bunch of people trolling internet forums in an attempt to destabilize (even slightly so) the internal politics of neighboring countries.

Russian government is at weaker bargaining position when dealing with EU, then when dealing with single small country. So their vested interest is to push other countries to leave the EU.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Let's call it what it is: censorship. They're obscuring censorship under the moral imperative of silencing the racism boogeyman.

<comment><USER12> Obvious trolling and/or racist comments get moderated on HN too, what's the difference?

<comment><USER11> They don't get removed though. You can still read them.

<comment><USER12> If you have the option set sure, but they still get flagged and removed from the thread. I just don't see how moderating comments would be considered 'censorship'. Just go post that crap on your own subreddit. If someone is purposefully highjacking a thread to derail it with off-topic comments then they would be the one attempting to suppress someones else's opinion. If the party in question is already acting in bad faith, I don't see how an argument could be made in their favor.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Reddit has become insufferable in the last few years. It used to be a great news and community aggregator, but since they switched to a social media platform the quality of content changed. It's easy to brush this off as the 'hivemind' effect, but it's a nasty combination of corporations and governments pushing agendas, identity politics, an eternal September, and even admins and moderators pushing their personal politics. There's not a single moderately popular subreddit that has no politics being shoved in your face.

Unlike the downfall of Digg/ stumbleupon, there's no alternative.</comment>


The NSA has nearly complete backdoor access to Apple's iPhone - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailydot.com/politics/nsa-backdoor-iphone-access-camera-mic-appelbaum/ <comment><USER2> What about jailbroken devices?</comment>