How to Value Your Startup Business (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://redrocketvc.blogspot.com.ar/2011/05/lesson-32-how-to-value-your-startup.html

<comment><USER2> >"The more scarce a supply (e.g., your equity in a hot new patented technology business), the higher the demand"

Ooof. That's not any economics I've heard of.

<comment><USER3> you've never heard of scarcity or the illusion of scarcity driving up demand at higher prices, or causing the market to clear at higher prices? Today nobody wants bitcoin at ten thousand, even though some people might still want it if it started clearing at that price: the reason this isn't happening, then, is that bitcoins are not scarce enough to reach that price. The existing demand is met by supply at a lower price. In sum, even if the investor sentiment were exactly the same, it would definitely be true that "The more scarce a supply, the higher the [prices cleared by existing] demand", or to some extent the higher actual demand. (Nobody would pay for a gallon of air today - but if people perceived it as being a bit scarce, maybe some people would even without its becoming actually scarcer.)

<comment><USER2> I was just trying to draw the exact distinction you make. Scarcity of supply leads to higher price given demand, NOT a shift in the demand curve. Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but the language used in the article suggested a misunderstanding of econ fundamentals.

<comment><USER3> I don't mind his informal language given the context. He's not citing an exact mechanism, just heuristics/results.

I think, very respectfully, that you are a bit mistaken where you write "leads to higher price given demand, NOT a shift in the demand curve". It actually does both. And not only does an _actual_ scarcity of supply often lead to a shift in the demand curve - even the _illusion_ or impression of a scarcity of supply does so.[1]

Beyond that, the price is higher given demand - but another way to read "the higher the demand" is "the greater the volumes that clear at the usual price points." Given that he's talking about valuations, that's not the one he means.

It's unclear exactly what he means formally with "The more scarce a supply (e.g., your equity in a hot new patented technology business), the higher the demand", whether he's talking about a shift in demand curve due to a response to the knowledge or illusion of scarcity (which is a real effect) or just the normal price adjustment given a static demand curve. Either way, he's not being that formal, and the result is the same: you can get a higher price.

Of course, this isn't true of everything that is scarce. If Mars, Inc stops the sale of red M&M's, the existing supply doesn't shoot up in price. That's why he stated 'hot new patented technology business.' Presumably, some people want in at "any price", and so he's probably talking about just moving along the static demand curve. But the other way you could read it is just as valid IMHO.

-

[1] a gallon of air doesn't cost anything, and it's free in limitless quantities to anyone. Everyone knows this. Correspondingly, you could not sell a gallon of air for any nonzero amount. However, by convincing people that it is scarce, or about to be, you can shift the demand curve at a higher price- point up, and sell air at that price point (even though in fact it is still available free.)

This literally happens all the time in every industry. (Driving up demand through bluffing scarcity, or even causing actual scarcity by not releasing any supply at any price, in order to 'drive up demand'. Sometimes you can get something to sell for $100 by making it impossible to get and advertising this fact - even though during the impossible-to-get period it couldn't actually sell even for $10 if it were available. Thus you are demonstrably shifting the demand curve through creating artificial scarcity - as though the demand at all prices were higher. Which works since it leads to the same outcome - "unavailability", which I suppose consumers factor into their judgment of willingness to pay, which I guess depends fair market price, scarcity, whatever.)

<comment><USER2> I see your point logicallee. Thank you for the civility and thorough explanation.

<comment><USER3> no problem - I'm not an economist, but thought I could follow the article and thought it made sense, as far as it went.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> If there is no revenue then you can also take a top-down approach by looking at the number of potential customers in your market you expect to capture. Then base the valuation off of that expected future revenue scenario. VC funding just helps you get to that future destination, ultimately giving your investors their 10x return.

</comment><comment><USER5> Along with the idea of creating demand, I'm a proponent of bootstrapping until you get investors wanting to invest in you. Leads to a much better outcome for the company.

</comment><comment><USER6> There is not one bit of useful information in this article. It's just an breezy overview.</comment>


The Obameter: Tracking Obama's Campaign Promises - <AUTHOR> http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

<comment><USER2> Awesome site, bookmarked.

Also, did anyone else check out his first Executive Order? [http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1155201977?b...](http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1155201977?bctid=8696836001)</comment>


Posted Yet? Finding cross posted articles - <AUTHOR>

Inspired by my previous work with Hacker News split view, I decided to explore other ways to change my news browsing experience. This is also my first time using Google App Engine.
http://postedyet.com
Posted Yet helps you find out if a site you are visiting from one news site has been posted to others. I'm currently indexing the popular stories on Digg, Reddit, BoingBoing and Hacker News. Just enter the site's URL into the form or use the Greasemonkey / GreaseKit / bookmarklet scripts below. Clicking on the results will take you to the comments/discussion area for the posting.
Examples of cross posts from recent HN posts.
Video Lectures:
http://postedyet.com/?u=http://linkmingle.com/list/30-plus-List-of-Computer-Science-Video-Lectures-Over-200-Videos-video-lectures
M.I.T. students make huge parabolic mirror: http://postedyet.com/?u=http://www.dailytech.com/MIT+Students+Develop+Revolutionary+Solar+Dish+That+is+Hot+Enough+to+Melt+Steel/article12153.htm
George Carlin's passing: http://postedyet.com/?u=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25322638/
Using the bookmarklets or Greasemonkey scripts would allow you to bypass coming back to the homepage.
The site has been tested in Safari 3.1.1 and Firefox 2. If you experience any issues please let us know which browser/OS combination you are using and we will fix it. <comment><USER2> Tried on this article _"[http://gigaom.com/2008/06/22/fr-interview-futurist- paul-saff...](http://gigaom.com/2008/06/22/fr-interview-futurist-paul-saffo- on-how-to-do-well-in-a-recession/#) has not been posted."_ but it was posted ~ <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=224492> Still like the idea though. Could I suggest some simple visual indicators:

\- add favicon (red) for failure, green for success. The w3 validator does this. the favicon loads before the page so you know quickly if it fails ~ <http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fpostedyet.com>

\- on the result page add a _"Tick for pass"_ and a _"Cross for failure"_. If you miss the favicon colour you can read the result much faster.

I like this service. Is there going to be an api so I can check via code?

<comment><AUTHOR> Do you know if the article ever hit the front page. Currently, I am only looking at the articles that make it to the front page section.

I will look into those validator errors as well as suggestions :).

UPDATE: It is also possible that the article made it to the front page but then left before I reindexed. I am using HN's rss feed to get new content but I don't want to slam the server.

<comment><USER2> _"... It is also possible that the article made it to the front page ..."_

Possible. I tend to read & mark the "new" page before the main page. Could you also take a second bite by indexing a couple of pages of the /new page?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> UPDATE: Posted Yet is now using the Digg api to find stories that it hasn't encountered using it's crawler. It caches to limit hits to the digg api.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I am now indexing the new articles on both HN and Reddit.</comment>


Stanford researchers seek 'Holy Grail' in battery design - <AUTHOR> http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/july/pure-lithium-battery-072914.html <comment><USER2> Very interesting. I'll be following this. My research is actually in designing and understanding lithium-ion anodes.

If you're curious, the material I'm using consists of an all-carbon anode with crystalline and amorphous domains. It performs about the same as current state of the art Li-ion battery anodes; however, the cost of manufacturing is incredibly cheap since the composite material is derived from low-cost plant matter (lignin). Plus, it lasts for many more charge-discharge cycles (well, there's actually a trade-off between capacity and cycling performance; you have to pick a middle-ground).

I'm performing reactive molecular dynamics simulations on computational models of these new composite systems to try and understand why they have such high performance. It's pretty cool work really.

</comment><comment><USER3> The head researcher here, Yi Cui, is a pretty baller dude. I met him at a PhD admit visitation weekend, and his group was the most popular by far. Some of the admitted students joked that competition to get into his group was harder than getting into Stanford in the first place.

I suspect that his research success is partly due to some snowball effect though - he has an extraordinary amount of postdocs working for him and access to a lot of money/equipment - which are both pretty great assets to have in engineering (and tend to grow as a function of present size).

Anyway, not to take away from the research he's doing. A lot of the stuff he puts out is very cool; I look forward to seeing more.

</comment><comment><USER4> >"Of all the materials that one might use in an anode, lithium has the greatest potential. Some call it the Holy Grail," said Yi Cui, a Stanford professor of materials science and engineering and leader of the research team. "It is very lightweight and it has the highest energy density. You get more power per volume and weight, leading to lighter, smaller batteries with more power."

while it is theoretically true, the lithium is only part of the whole weight. The metals of the same group - potassium or sodium (though sodium seems to have more issues than potassium) anode looks order of magnitude easier (on the order of Al anodes while still being rechargeable) and provide almost the close to lithium perf/weight when whole battery is considered.

</comment><comment><USER5> Sweet, partner with any battery manufacturer, Tesla, or the US military and lets get this technology fast-tracked. Higher density batteries can't come soon enough.

<comment><USER6> Fast track what? Per the article this research still has a long way to go both in terms of efficiency but more in terms of recharge cycles before it is even near usable. It isn't even on level with Lithium Ion batteries yet.

Even if the US military and Tesla got behind this who are they going to bring in to help? This Stanford team is near the best we have right now (if not the absolute best).

Now when they're producing batteries which are better than what is already available on the market AND are near as safe (if you can call current Lithium Ion batteries "safe") then, sure, fast track away.

<comment><USER5> The article says that they've made significant breakthroughs and have solved some of the problems but there are still a few that they are working on.

The ones that are already solved need methods of mass-production, which requires funding and highly skilled researchers. Get a team together under the researchers to work on every part of this battery problem so that when all of the aspects of the advanced battery are figured out it's ready to be mass- produced as soon as possible. I'm not sure, just anything at all to increase the speed of this work.

Sure, being the best matters a lot, but it's also about trying numerous methods and having different approaches and specialties. Going from the lab to mass-production is something that the researchers in the article can't focus on if they are still working on other parts of the battery. I'm sure there are people who would be willing to help, but not for free.

<comment><USER7> > Get a team together under the researchers to work on every part of this > battery problem

That sounds like what is already happening. This is a well funded well staffed lab we are talking about.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This begs the followup question, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen Tesla?"

<comment><USER9> What do you mean? An X or S model?

<comment><USER10> This in HN. No references please.</comment></comment></comment>


Best resources for iOS developers - <AUTHOR> http://www.pulkitgoyal.in/2013/05/05/ios-resources/

<comment><USER2> Shameless plug to add to the list: I built and currently use a tool called 'hawk' for handling ad-hoc deployments to testers. It's (in my opinion, anyway) simpler than the alternatives, is command line driven and configured from within your repo, and free beyond the cost of maintaining your own S3 buckets. Feedback very welcome:

<https://github.com/mtrudel/hawk></comment>


How to build an offshore military base - <AUTHOR> http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13570088 <comment><USER2> Someone should license that container shuffling system for parking garages...

</comment><comment><USER3> Have we learned nothing from the anti-ship missile drama?</comment>


I'm young... Maybe a little too young - <AUTHOR>

Hello everyone, new to HN.
This is probably a really simple question, but I haven't found answers ANYWHERE. Yes, I have searched plenty of times.
How old do you have to be; what is the minimum age to get funded by a VC/investing company. I'm currently the founder of a start-up (whos name we don't know yet) and I have another friend who is the co-founder. I've known him for more then 12 years, we're both 16 years old.
We have potential and a lot of confidence, however I believe the age will be very misleading.
What do you folks think? Do investing companies really look at the age, or just the start-up at hand.
Thanks! <comment><USER2> I'll echo some of the sentiments already put forth: do you actually _need_ funding at this stage? How much do you think you will need? Have you and your co-founder thought about asking your respective parents for seed money?

I think the answer to the question at hand is really quite obvious. Yes, since you are relatively young, they will take your age into consideration. They will also take into consideration your _experience_ , your _maturity_ , and similarly, your ability to handle responsibilities. I'll play the skeptic and conjecture that you probably don't excel enough in all three of these traits to make up for the risk presented by your age.

If that's the case, then at this point in your start up and with all things considered, I would say the best route would be to attain seed money from family, friends, etc. and once your start up starts getting buzz or generating nice revenue, you would be in a better position to start looking for funding from larger institutions or venture capitalists.

</comment><comment><USER3> You may run into issues simply because you are too young to enter a legally binding contract, among other things.

You've probably also read that the investment is as much in the _people_ as the product/concept, so age plays a role, even if just subconsciously.

Do you have an idea of what you are looking for in terms of size of an investment? You _might_ be better off with a local angel sort of investor vs. A traditional VC route.

</comment><comment><USER4> Email me if you want. I'm also 16, am doing very well for myself and working on a 'proper' startup. Set up a side project this month that made mid-high $xxxx in profit this month.

I might be able to help some.

</comment><comment><USER5> You don't need funding. You are young and smart and have all the time in the world.

I could see you might need money for hosting and a domain name but everything else you should be able to do on your own time.

What exactly do you need money for?

</comment><comment><USER6> If your idea or business is good enough...the VC's will figure it out for you. Go ahead and pitch them, the age issue can be overcome!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> It is crucial to receive proper funding rather then just a few grand my parents can pitch it. The problem is without the funding, there is no-way we can pitch our service to the entertainment industry.

</comment><comment><USER7> If your live with your parents try to bootstrap your company without investments.

I think you must be emancipated to own your own business at your age. Think in young actors.

</comment><comment><USER8> Do you have parents?

Then you have investors.</comment>


Kids 'using coding skills to hack' friends on games - <AUTHOR> http://bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21371609

<comment><USER2> I was one of those kids back in the days of Runescape. I don't think reporters grasp what the term "coding skills" means.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, they don't know what 'hack' means.</comment></comment>


Dot-clipboard – Monitor your clipboard and run scripts based on its content - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/FGRibreau/dot-clipboard <comment><USER2> Klipper of kde has had configurable actions for ages.

I've always found it to be too intrusive and I've kept it disabled.

</comment><comment><USER3> It may have a somewhat different focus (extensive and quickly accessible clipboard history), but you might find Ditto (Windows) interesting to have a look at.

[http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/](http://ditto-cp.sourceforge.net/)

I've missed having something similar on this Ubuntu machine I'm using. I'll have a look at CopyQ when my time frees up.

P.S. I seem to recall reading that Ditto allowed at least some level of hooking/triggering based upon content, but I never used it and I may be mis- remembering.

</comment><comment><USER4> Hopefully there is some consideration (somehow) for _not_ monitoring the many passwords and passphrases that flow through clipboards. I took a quick look, but couldn't find acknowledgment.

Maybe we need a secure clipboard that guarantees (again, somehow) purging 1) immediately after a paste, and 2) after a specified time period such as 30 seconds.

<comment><USER5> Keepass has this feature built in after copying username/passwords.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It may be worth adding a section to your readme with the dependencies you use / how it works.

I had a look at the code because I was curious about how Javascript could interact with the clipboard. I can see that you use "clipboard-watcher" which in turn uses "NodObjC" \- which also explains why this is OSX only.

<comment><AUTHOR> Duly noted, thanks! About clipboard-watcher, the support for windows/*nix would be fairly easy to add.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The "dot" part is a bit confusing, at first I thought it was something in dotnet.

</comment><comment><USER8> [https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ](https://github.com/hluk/CopyQ)

<comment><AUTHOR> Added CopyQ in "alternatives" section, thanks!

<comment><USER4> You might also be interested in ClipMenu for OS X as well:

[https://github.com/naotaka/ClipMenu](https://github.com/naotaka/ClipMenu)

It's a bit of a Swiss Army knife for the clipboard, and among other actions, allows for user-created Javascript to act upon clipboard contents. I don't know if the scripts can be called automatically, however.

[http://www.clipmenu.com/static/images/screenshot/en/pref- act...](http://www.clipmenu.com/static/images/screenshot/en/pref-action.jpg)

FWIW, the documentation says it's for OS X 10.5-10.6, but I have it running on 10.9 without issue.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I added ClipMenu as well :)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Advice on Recording Technical Screencasts for Non Technical People? - <AUTHOR> Recently my team invested a lot of time into a large refactor. This took a while and 'refactor' was a dirty word at upper levels in the org for some time. However, now it's done, been out in prod, and it's producing some seriously amazing results.
(The amount of time it used to take for engineering to do a couple kinds of things has been totally wiped away)
My manager (and his) requested I get together a screencast walking through what the refactor was, and what it's doing for us. They hold the sentiment that if other stakeholders basically left engineering alone for a while, more amazing things like this would happen, and want to use this as a major supporting fact in that narrative.
Usually like to have resources to fall back on for tasks that refresh me on the fundamentals. Don't have this for "remember to do these things when communicating up many levels in the org" as well as "remember to do this when breaking down technical subjects for non-technical folks."
What's important to remember and focus on, here? Any good resources around this? <comment><USER2> Focus on the results and not the technical details. I don't even know if a screencast of the code changes or refactor would be of any use. I would rather create a powerpoint with may be some code samples and focus only on results. For example, instead of saying "We took this monolithic function and broke it down into separate modular components which made it easier for devs" may not be enough. You should say something like "Doing xyz resulted in less bugs, faster developer turnaround times which resulted in more benefits being shipped to the end user. What we could do in 10 days before can now be done in 1 day due to this change". Stuff like that.

I would probably create a PPT with the following:

\- Problems before the refactor

\- results achieved due to refactor (e.g. more sales)

\- How the refactor helped achieve those results

That's it. Simple and concise.

</comment><comment><USER3> You might want to consider brushing up on technical writing principles. You want to identify who the audience is, what their background is, and present content that's easy to absorb given their point of view.

You want to generalize technical specifics in layman's terms.

You said your refactor produced amazing results. Define those results using business KPIs or metrics that are quantifiable and portray your technical information in terms of those KPIs in order to speak to that audience.

I.e.

tech speak

We analyzed slow running queries that were composed of multiple views nesting within each other, resulting in bad query plans that degraded performance of our BI dashboard and increased downtime for our business analysts who could not get their job done efficiently.

Upper mgmt speak

We identified performance problems related to our BI dashboard, after root cause analysis and correction of those problems, our downtime has been reduced by 50% and business analysts can access the system without having to worry about overloading it at peak hours, producing better efficiency in their processes.

\-----typically you want some KPIs or metric numbers in here to show quantifiable improvement over a time period) Whether you have those metrics historically or not, you could probably still extrapolate some meaningful metrics.

Now again, it depends on your audience. If you're presenting to technical leadership, maybe you do want to get into specifics at a technical level. Writing informational content is all about the audience, whether it is technical, medical, or otherwise topic specific.</comment>


Richpic – $499 Exclusive Photo-Sharing App - <AUTHOR> Just launched today:
Richpic is the first of its kind: an exclusive photo-sharing app for people with high-end lifestyles. Share your moments with a worldwide community enjoying life to the same degree of luxury and excess.
Only affordable to a select few, Richpic guarantees a community with shared interests and a shared taste for extravagance.
Link to the app on the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/richpic/id1040590355?ls=1&mt=8 <comment><USER2> But isn't rich people photo-sharing all about showing the poors how to live it up?

A great richpic sub is Facebook with access control.

</comment><comment><USER3> Doesn't look polished to the degree I'd expect considering your target market.</comment>


Rowling is now wealthier than the Queen of England - <AUTHOR> http://www.nndb.com/people/510/000022444/

<comment><USER2> I think this has been true for a few years. Going by The Sunday Times Rich List, The Queen's _personal wealth_ is relatively "unimpressive" at around £300m which puts her somewhere in the 200-300s in ranking.

Update: Here we go, the BBC reported on Rowling topping Queen Elizabeth II back in 2003 - <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2979033.stm></comment>


Ask HN: How many of you have used Orkut? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Growing up in Brazil, Orkut was as popular as Facebook is now; most people had an Orkut account.

Personally, I made a few new friends, connected with some high school colleagues and met a long term girlfriend.

I miss its simplicity. The lack of a news feed was a feature, not a bug.

<comment><AUTHOR> Wish someone recreate Orkut :'(

<comment><USER3> [https://venturebeat.com/2016/08/05/orkut-founder-launches- he...](https://venturebeat.com/2016/08/05/orkut-founder-launches-hello-a- social-network-focused-on-your-passions/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Its Hello! Its a pure piece of shit.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I also did. Although it was a long time ago then the vague memory of it is that it was pretty similar to facebook, perhaps the minus the advertising. But groups and friends were there, could leave testimonials, send messages, etc.

<comment><AUTHOR> So, in your opinion was it better than Facebook?

<comment><USER4> This is hard to say (and it was a long time ago!).

Perhaps Orkut was more predictable in what you got to see, but fb does need to have an algo to show the feed since you can't sift through all of it..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I did, for all of 5 minutes. There was nothing compelling about that product. Orkut's death was unnoticed and unmourned.

I am mildly surprised that Google wasted money on it for 10 years. However Google's lack of focus in it's pre-Pichai years was notorious, and undoubtedly explains this.

<comment><USER6> That's like saying that the end of _Mister Rogers ' Neighborhood_ TV show was unnoticed and unmourned... because I live in Brazil.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I didn't use it, but I remember it was really popular in Brazil.

</comment><comment><USER8> In our college we used orkut. I have even built an web proxy to make orkut work within our campus. PS: I am from India

</comment><comment><USER9> Oh, maybe in 2005 it was invite only so I couldn't.</comment>


A month in, Tesla's SA battery is surpassing expectations (inc. charts) - <AUTHOR> https://theconversation.com/a-month-in-teslas-sa-battery-is-surpassing-expectations-89770 <comment><USER2> What's unclear to me is given how much extra electricity (20%) is consumed in charging up the battery, is this more efficient than just firing up another turbine?

<comment><USER3> Each kWh produced by a gas turbine has a marginal cost of fuel. By charging when there is excess power available, it's energy that would otherwise go wasted (if the generator was asked to curtail instead) or the generator would've had to pay someone to take the power of their hands.</comment></comment>


The Exploitation of Paris - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/14/opinion/the-exploitation-of-paris.html <comment><USER2> Salon ran this piece blaming conservatives while the attacks were still ongoing: [http://www.salon.com/2015/11/14/and_so_the_hate_speech_begin...](http://www.salon.com/2015/11/14/and_so_the_hate_speech_begins_let_paris_be_the_end_of_the_rights_violent_language_toward_activists/)

And the Guardian as usual did not disappoint: [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/14/paris-a...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/14/paris- attacks-leave-france-in-trauma-fearing-for-the-future)

And the left-wing media not long ago had little difficulty exploiting the drowning death of a migrant child due to his father's involvement in human trafficking to justify mass immigration of Muslim economic migrants--at least some of whom we now know were involved in the horrific attack on Paris: [http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/14/us-france- shooting...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/14/us-france-shooting- greece-idUSKCN0T312W20151114)

Consequently, the author's complaints of exploitation ring hollow.

<comment> vezzy-fnord _Consequently, the author 's complaints of exploitation ring hollow._

Quite the contrary, they only corroborate it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> To be honest, the shock and pain and angst and awe we feel here in Paris is so overwhelming that I feel too numb to realize that, Yes, of course, people will use this event to promote their own ideological agenda... It makes me sick, truly.

This should be a call for peace, not war.

<comment><USER4> You can call for peace all you want, those committing the atrocities will revel in it as it simply makes their work easier. Calls for peace instead of war only work when both sides are rational and one side is clearly not.

<comment><USER5> Really? Arguably ISIS would never have existed if the US didn't invade Iraq, destabilizing it and leaving a power vacuum. Also creating increased hatred towards the west in the process. I'd say using peace as a response to 9/11 could have saved us from the Paris attacks, as well as ISIS.

<comment><USER6> And to bring enough funds into the region to finance an army. The reports of what happened in Mosul are contradictory so I have no idea any more about what's true and what is not but the story goes that the Mosul bank heist financed the initial phase of IS. This is strongly advocated by some and just as strongly denied by others. There are also stories about planeloads of cash moved into Iraq.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The Power of Nightmares [1] is a really scary series of movies about how extremists on both sides use each other to further their agenda.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Nightmares)

<comment><USER8> Just posted on a different thread but check out Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gyz6b](http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02gyz6b)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> LOL. Someone in the opinion pages complaining about opportunism... Good one.

I'll take this seriously when the NTY introduces a moratorium on all breaking news and stops jumping on things when it fits their agenda but jump against it when it goes against their agendas.

To be sure, concealed carry etc. is anathema to European society and also isn't the answer... Just look at iraq lots of weapons by civilians, it does not stop terrorism..But I have to laugh at their indignation of opportunism.

<comment><USER10> These criticisms seem to a be a meme among right-wingers who want to discredit the NY Times, apparently for posting things inconvenient to their ideologies. Having read the NY Times and many other sources for years, I don't see evidence of these things happening.

Do you have any? The fact that many repeat it, especially inside an ideological echo chamber, doesn't make it likely to be true.

<comment><USER11> When you have things like [http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/424102/returning- copy-d...](http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/424102/returning-copy-desk- briefly-kevin-d-williamson), do you defend them?

<comment><USER10> Thanks for providing the link. I didn't read every word on the page, but my thoughts:

1) I see nothing substantive, only nit-picking over wording. _In particular_ , the NR critic often just comes up with a different way of writing the same thing, something anyone can do with any piece of writing. Much is wording that could go either way, and some depends on what the reporter actually saw. For example, maybe the reporter can't identify who threw the rocks and so can't say anything about them. Maybe the reporter saw a scuffle and not a riot; the NR critic doesn't offer evidence that the statement is in error. _In general_ , it's an old propaganda technique: Just keep up a flood of criticism and people will think that some of it - just a little! - must be true. It's not. Professionals in the field of political maniuplation really do pull this stunt on a regular basis. Look how they demonize every Democratic leader, for example (Bill Clinton, Hillary, Obama). (Left-wingers do the same, but they have far less influence than platforms like Fox News, the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, and Rush - all the most popular in their industries.)

2) The National Review has an avowed agenda of pro-conservative, anti- everything else commentary. This isn't the best source; they are going to find a way criticize the NY Times no matter what, true or not. Perhaps something from a study of journalism would be better (not that I realistically expect you to have that at your fingertips).

3) Reading the Israeli papers Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, I find that if the NY Times has any bias on any issue, it's not covering the bad things done by Israelis. The Israeli papers paint a much harsher picture of their own country. But I'm not sure I can make sense of it; of course the _New York_ Times is not going to cover Israel in the same details as Israeli papers, so perhaps that explains the difference.

<comment><USER11> I'd like to quote from [http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how...](http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/11/how- the-media-makes-the-israel-story/383262/):

 _There are banal explanations for problems with coverage—reporters are in a hurry, editors are overloaded and distracted. These are realities, and can explain small errors and mishaps like ill-conceived headlines, which is why such details don't typically strike me as important or worth much analysis. Some say inflations and omissions are the inevitable results of an honest attempt to cover events in a challenging and occasionally dangerous reporting environment, which is what I initially believed myself. A few years on the job changed my mind. Such excuses can't explain why the same inflations and omissions recur again and again, why they are common to so many news outlets, and why the simple "Israel story" of the international media is so foreign to people aware of the historical and regional context of events in this place. The explanation lies elsewhere._

It's also pretty well documented that far more journalists are Democrats than Republicans, if that makes a difference.

<comment><USER10> Hey, thanks for the link. That looks very intersting and I'll read it (but it's probably too long for right this moment).

What does it have to do with the New York Times though? I searched the article for references to them, and there is only one that isn't relevant to what we are talking about.

> It's also pretty well documented that far more journalists are Democrats > than Republicans

And I assume that applies to NY Times reporters too. I agree it's a concern, but I don't think it necessarily affects people doing their jobs as professional journalists and we still need some evidence of it. Also, as I mentioned, the leading platforms in cable news, business news, and talk radio are heavily Republican; there's hardly a lack of balance.

Thanks again for the link.

<comment><USER11> _What does it have to do with the New York Times though? I searched the article for references to them, and there is only one that isn 't relevant to what we are talking about._

My point is that even these "minor" nitpicks add up, and if they consistently point a particular way, that means something. The original NYTimes article referenced clearly played down one side, you don't get such awkward phrasing by accident.

 _I agree it 's a concern, but I don't think it necessarily affects people doing their jobs as professional journalists and we still need some evidence of it._

See [http://journalism.indiana.edu/general-news/news/press- releas...](http://journalism.indiana.edu/general-news/news/press-release- survey-finds-u-s-journalists-less-satisfied-have-less-autonomy/)

* Also, as I mentioned, the leading platforms in cable news, business news, and talk radio are heavily Republican; there's hardly a lack of balance.*

The example you gave of business news is the WSJ, which [http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/M...](http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/MediaBias.pdf) finds to be more liberal than the NYTimes in _news_ articles.

<comment><USER10> > My point is that even these "minor" nitpicks add up ... The original NYTimes > article referenced clearly played down one side

I disagree on both counts, but I think I'm about to repeat myself ...

> the WSJ, which > [http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/M...](http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/M..). > finds to be more liberal than the NYTimes in news articles.

Interesting, but that study is from before the News Corp (i.e., Rupert Murdoch, Fox News proprieter) bought it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> > _Too bad there were no concealed carry permits ... anywhere in Europe ... > since 1818._

Czech rep. has concealed carry

<comment><USER13> It's all very dumb. A few random people with pistols wouldn't have done anything to help, and neither would stronger gun control laws. But both sides use the attack to push their opinions anyway.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I agree with Bruni's general point, but I'd take Bruni himself a bit more seriously if he didn't cherry pick his examples from people he traditionally disagrees with. Repugnant piggybacking on this atrocity is taking place across the political spectrum.

</comment><comment><USER15> I was at dinner by myself, browsing Twitter and just running across Salon blaming the right wing ( [https://twitter.com/salon/status/665344751928008704](https://twitter.com/salon/status/665344751928008704) ) when the guy sitting at the next table blamed a conspiracy funded by the Koch Brothers to keep us afraid.

... I prefer these conspiracy nuts to the pundits; they have a better excuse. But that itself is quite sad.

<comment><USER16> Regardless of where we in the West land on the political spectrum, we all seem to forget that the people who do these things have some agency. Sure, there are external factors pushing and pulling on everyone, we all live in a context, good or bad. Ultimately, the people who carried out the attack looked at what ISIS has to offer and said, "I'll take _that_."

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> "[T]he public has access, thanks to the media, to news that they know as 'politics' or 'international relations', 'diplomacy', which only present [...] what we call 'the formal view'. The formal view always masks the 'real view', because the latter is almost always considered not receivable by a public that is _not initiated_ (the widest audience) who would not be able to conceive of international politics in any other way than via the spectrum of ethics adapted only to social relationships between individuals." \- Missions, méthodes, techniques spéciales des services secrets au 21e siècle, Lt Col X and Jacques Leger (generally quite a good book on modern information wars and opinion manipulation) [http://www.amazon.fr/Missions-m-thodes-techniques-sp- ciales-...](http://www.amazon.fr/Missions-m-thodes-techniques-sp-ciales- services-ebook/dp/B00BRV9MZU/)

</comment><comment><USER18> Americans and they idiocracy. I'm happy to live in EU and even though these sort of shocking events happening from time to time I still feel better here than I would ever do in USA. Count your police gun victims it will never add up to what just happened in Paris...

<comment><USER19> You rather live somewhere where this kind of behavior is common:

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

<comment><USER20> This behavior exists but is absolutely not common.

Please, stop that disinformation campaign, the guy who creates that video isn't totally _neutral_ [1].

[1] [https://www.schusterman.org/users/zvika- klein](https://www.schusterman.org/users/zvika-klein)</comment></comment></comment>


Pulling apart a £339 anti-5G USB stick - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-52810220 <comment><USER2> If you think this is just bunk, and you'd like a laugh, read the FAQs on the website [1]...

My favourite:

>Does the device remove the EMF from the environment? If so can I use a meter to measure EMF?

>>The 'electro magnetic meter' can only measure the intensity of radiation which is not changed by our technology nor does it change the quality of connection and speed of data transfer.

Well, that's convenient, isn't it?

>>Our device harmonises all harmful frequencies into life affirming frequencies - it doesn't block - it transmutes.

I note there is no mention of which frequencies are 'harmful' and which are 'life affirming' \- which would be even more useful given the frequency range of a WiFi or Cellular device, so you'd know which is which...

>> The only methods that we know can measure the difference between imbalanced radiation (without protection) and balanced radiation (with protection) These positive test results can be found on our website - please look for 'Case Study ' under Science and Research tab.

The Case Study starts with this paragraph:

>>In our civilization is emerging new science based on knowledge, whereas the official (old) science is based on information. We get information through our senses which are dual and deliver us an inverted picture of the truth and consequently, information is the opposite of knowledge so that all the old scientific concepts are therefore the upside down of the true concepts.

Do people actually believe this nonsense? It sounds like the kind of thing that Russell Brand was wittering about a couple of years ago - that your senses are the only way to interface with reality, and if you can't sense it it's not there, etc... Which can be disproved in seconds, even by a 10-year old child. I find it profoundly depressing when this kind of bamboozlement of the gullible is done in the form of sciency language. And it always seems to be done with a big price tag at the end of it.

[1] [https://5gbioshield.com/frequently-asked- questions/](https://5gbioshield.com/frequently-asked-questions/)

<comment><USER3> > Do people actually believe this nonsense?

Yes. I have moved past thinking we need to protect people from this kind of thing. If they believe it, let them buy it. The only harm their ignorance is doing is to themselves. They might even get some kind of placebo reassurance from it.

<comment><USER4> The problem is this came up because this device was recommended at a town council meeting. The representative even argued for the town getting a device to protect the whole area, so this is far beyond just a private issue. Also there have been several cases of these people damaging or destroying 5G equipment, which is infrastructure the public rely on and ultimately pay for (through fees, regulatory costs, etc).

<comment><USER5> In fairness, there are reasons [1] to be skeptical of 5G other than "it's a witch" or whatever the new theory is.

I think these people have a vague anxiety that new technologies do not further their interests, because every time a new one comes out it is used to depress wages or surveil people. They don't know enough about technology to formulate a sane objection, so they latch on to "5G is evil black magic."

Remember, for a lot of people in the world most technologies _are_ magic.

[1] [https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of- communications/the-...](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of- communications/the-terrifying-potential-of-the-5g-network)

<comment><USER6> > there are reasons [1] to be skeptical of 5G

Not there.

The claim is not supported by the article you cite. The article uses a lot of words about "security" but the truth is 5G has no worse security compared to 2G 3G etc.

The claims about 5G in China "used for surveillance" from the article are also false, as China started installing 5G equipment just very recently, like a few months ago, and the number of 5G-capable phones in China is minimal. Whatever they needed for "surveillance" they could have used the older technologies just as well.

Edit: To answer "Is your point..." question below: neither nor, to both of your constructs. The article simply doesn't support its major claim, because all the "problems" they cite (security, surveillance) are completely not specific to 5G, and their claims of existing relation to 5G technology are obviously false, just as I wrote.

<comment><USER5> Is your point that the New Yorker missed risks you _do_ find meaningful, or that everything they pointed out is not meaningful _to you_ and therefore 5G must be loved by all?

Either way, it misses the point of my comment.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This item is based on no science and horribly overpriced, but cosmetically attractive and sneakily marketed. Shocking. They should diversify into premium Hifi.

Edit.

<comment><USER8> >They should diversify into premium Hifi.

All they need to do is make that plug golden, and sell it for $1K.

<comment><USER9> Yeah, you can even sell gold-plated TOSLINK cables.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> > [...] promises to protect your family from 5G, using ground-breaking quantum > technology

My intuitive guess would be that for the target audience "ground-breaking quantum technology" would cause even more problems for their family than 5G. Interesting.

<comment><USER11> Don't think so. Quantum is often used as a convenient explanation for why things work in those circles (at least from what i've seen). How does it protect me from evil radiation? It's quantum, you wouldn't understand.

<comment><USER10> Hm, I was always under the impression that not understanding a physical system is the root cause for such technological fears. Clearly quantum mechanics are in the same realm.

But maybe this can be used as a cure for many fears? I mean multiple studies have shown that the root cause for fear of flying comes from not knowing or understanding how a plane flies. I mean sure, it clearly does not flap its wings, so it might crash any second? But some quantum-stirred and fossil- entangled jet fuel might help.

<comment><USER12> Ironically, they fear the logical explanations they don't understand. But with "quantum" they can wave off everything as if its magic.

These people distrust sciency explanations because they think its harmful manmade stuff. They only trust things that sound like they're part of the "natural order" of things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> If it will stop people from burning towers, let them sell a million.

</comment><comment><USER14> Things like this go to show how much money can be made with low effort if you don't have a conscience.

<comment><USER13> If the cost of progress is having the opponents of progress waste their money to allay their fictional fears, I could come to terms with the ethics of that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Reminds me of the ADE651 fake bomb detector[0]. At least people will not die because of this.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651)

<comment><USER16> > _Investigations by the BBC and other organisations found that the device is > little more than a "glorified dowsing rod" with no detecting ability. In > January 2010, export of the device was banned by the British government and > the managing director of ATSC was arrested on suspicion of fraud;[3] in June > 2010, several other companies were raided by British police.[4] ATSC was > dissolved on 5 March 2013.[5] On 23 April 2013, the founder of ATSC, James > "Jim" McCormick, was convicted of three counts of fraud[6] and subsequently > sentenced to ten years' imprisonment.[7]_

Let's hope our false saviour meets the same fate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> If you see "quantum" in a general public health product, you know it's going to be a scam, but probably a successful one.

My mother loves those kind of things and no amount of discussion with her will create any doubt in her mind.

I can't blame people falling for this though. They have been disrespected by the traditional health institutions for so long any escape seems good to them.

You can see the same effect in politics. To an extend, the current authorities have a lot of responsability in people listening to crooks.

<comment><USER18> It can also even be literally radioactive [https://youtu.be/mEm9ooXyKss](https://youtu.be/mEm9ooXyKss)

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> your tax £££ hard at work:

Report and Recommendations from Glastonbury Town Council's 5G Advisory Committee

PDF: [https://stop5g.co.uk/wp- content/uploads/2020/04/FinalReporta...](https://stop5g.co.uk/wp- content/uploads/2020/04/FinalReportandRecommendationsfromGlastonburys5GAdvisoryCommitteePRINT.pdf)

Toby Hall's comments are gold.

> Surveillance, IOT- Internet of Things, and 5G. Crowd control, mind control, > 'voice to skull', and the ability to manipulate individuals or groups of > people emotionally, even to self-harm are achieved via RFR programming. This > patented technology is being used worldwide. 5G is the vehicle for total > control and the 'surveillance state', this is pernicious and dangerous.

> Medical/Health damage. RFR damage can be slow and accumulative. With higher > levels it can be lethal and dramatic. Such as flocks of birds falling out of > the sky dead when 5G is turned on. People get nose bleeds and suicide rates > increase.

</comment><comment><USER20> The most worrying thing I found about this article is the seriousness of the review - as if the pseudoscience is real and the review is checking if the fake device works against the fake science.

This is very worrying it made it into the BBC.

<comment><USER21> I think the article makes a lot of fun about the product and is obviously described as a funny and expensive scam between the lines :

"So what's different between it and a virtually identical 'crystal' USB key available from various suppliers in Shenzhen, China, for around £5 per key?" asks Ken Munro, whose company, Pen Test Partners, specialises in taking apart consumer electronic products to spot security vulnerabilities.

And the answer appears to be a circular sticker.

"Now, we're not 5G quantum experts but said sticker looks remarkably like one available in sheets from stationery suppliers for less than a penny each," he says.

<comment><USER20> Oh I totally missed the humour here. I guess we are bombarded with so much idiocracy now that it's hard to tell spoof comedy from real news.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Glasto is renowned for being a bit different:

"Mr Hall said his remarks in Glastonbury Town Council's 5G Advisory Committee report should not be seen as a recommendation to buy the product. But he had no regrets about buying it and since plugging it in had felt beneficial effects, including being able to sleep through the night and having more dreams." "I also felt a 'calmer' feel to the home," he told BBC News.

It's reassuring to know that your taxes are well spent on ensuring town council members can get a full night's sleep by buying a sticker.

<comment><USER23> Glastonbury (the town) is like a different world, you have to visit it to appreciate it.

[https://normalforglastonbury.uk](https://normalforglastonbury.uk)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> What I don't understand is that a site like BBC, doesn't actually harshly denounce it as a scam. Why?

<comment><USER25> The BBC is very proud of its neutrality, where neutrality is usually interpreted as "quote both sides, even if one is obviously crazy"

<comment><USER26> > The BBC is very proud of its neutrality

Not just proud of it - it must be impartial as per the terms of the Royal Charter and licence under which it is allowed to operate.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> should probably point to source URL: [https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/reverse- engine...](https://www.pentestpartners.com/security-blog/reverse- engineering-a-5g-bioshield/)

</comment><comment><USER28> Two things come to my mind:

\- this is basically an ignorance tax

\- sometimes I wish I had no conscience, I would be much richer

<comment><USER29> If you've never heard about the Gopher, read on: [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29459896](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29459896)

Also here is a hilarious recount of the same story in Italian, you might have success with automated translation: [https://bagniproeliator.it/cerca-una- pallina-da-golf-trova-r...](https://bagniproeliator.it/cerca-una-pallina-da- golf-trova-ritardati-mentali/)

<comment><USER30> «È un'invenzione supersegreta di un mio amico, ex direttore della NASA. Intercetta le vibracole moleizzate dell'atmosfera catafrastica protocollo Trider G7 tu del cosmo imbattibile eroe.»

I'm literally^Wfiguratively rolling on the floor laughing!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> Why is this product even a USB stick? The advertisement says it works fine just placing it near your cell phone. Do people have some sort of trust in USB sticks?

<comment><USER13> It is the cheapest electronic looking thingy that can easily fit on a key chain.

<comment><USER31> Making it electronic looking at all seems like a strange choice. Surely at least some people would know electronics need electricity.

<comment><USER13> > Surely at least some people would know electronics need electricity.

If you buy into the conspiracy, then electricity is probably some kind of dark magic to you.

EDIT: They actually have you plug it in to charge it periodically or expand the protective field.

<comment><USER31> If they say that, the lack of a battery on disassembly could make their claims provably false rather than obviously false.

<comment><USER32> Nah, you're looking for an old-fashioned official-science battery. It charges a bio-quantum spiritual battery.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> What an absolute lack of surprise that the person with one of these is from Glastonbury

<comment><USER34> What's so special about Glastonbury?

<comment><USER35> Glastonbury is a town with a long history, some ancient myths concerning its historic monuments and a very famous music festival which make it attractive to various types of New Age spiritualists and retired hippies.

The UK has plenty of councillors with very _unusual_ views, but Glastonbury is where most satirists would locate a councillor who believed in magic anti-5G fields [just like they'd locate the retired major colonel who's disgruntled about parking issues or lack of respect for royalty in Tunbridge Wells]

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> Ethical dilemma of placebos. If they give relief...?

<comment><USER37> Is the price part of the placebo?

<comment><USER17> Yes. More value, more effect.

<comment><USER38> A Veblen good?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good)

<comment><USER39> Related but not exactly the same. Veblen goods derive their "worth" from showing them to others, while this is something you can enjoy on your own.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Selling tin foil as specialist EMF limiting wallpaper would be more honest than this device and yet, there will be people out there who will buy this and what's more, some of those will believe it works whatever you tell or show them.

</comment><comment><USER41> Reminds me adapter plugs that filter out electricity generated by nuclear power plants.

<comment><USER42> I've always wondered how people manage to seperate the 'bad electrons coming from nuclear power plants' from the 'good electrons coming from good old safe coal power plants' :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Surprised none of the many 5G-related Android apps appear to be marketing themselves as being able to turn off the evil high speed connectivity yet.

I hear they're especially efficient on non 5G capable phones :)

</comment><comment><USER43> If it makes people feel better, and gets people to stop being unreasonably unhappy about something harmless, who are we to ruin that for them?

I guess we could be opening ourselves up to a slippery slide, or some danger that people make unsafe decisions because of this, but I think this is relatively innocuous.

<comment><USER44> Well it's a £339 fraud, for one thing. If it were more honest about what the product was, it would be less illegal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> Pfft this is already out of date. My usb stick with a sticker of a dolphin can block 6g.

</comment><comment><USER46> The website of the "professor" behind this is lovely:

[https://teslastyle101.com](https://teslastyle101.com)

It's almost Time Cube level (he seems to prefer other polyhedrons).

</comment><comment><USER47> When will they solve the problem of Dihydrogen Monoxide?

The stuff just falls from the sky!!

[https://www.dhmo.org/](https://www.dhmo.org/)

</comment><comment><USER48> I have some oxygenated water to sell you. Oh and oxygen free copper cables.

I see the radius of the bubble is large enough to protect my entire house.

</comment><comment><USER49> Reminds me of the fuel "savers," "no-soap ionic" laundry balls, sonic insect "repellers," solar freakin roadways, Kailo, and free energy "inventions."

Many people want so desperately to believe that magical-thinking shortcut "solutions" will work that they'll spend good money to try to make it happen that they will suspend logic and critical thinking.

</comment><comment><USER50> Amazingly, it is still less of a scam than Lacie hard drives.</comment>


Telectroscope lets you look from London to New York - <AUTHOR> http://www.gimundo.com/Articles/Daily/1063/5/28/2008/Telectroscope_Lets_You_Look_from_London_to_New_York

<comment><USER2> I work ten minutes' walk from the London end. The most interesting part of this is the way most people just stand and stare through the glass. The important thing is not so much the interaction with people at the other end, but just the seeing. Kind of like the way people love showing a just-taken digital photograph to the assembled group.</comment>


Jason Calacanis on how to name your startup (and land the perfect domain) - <AUTHOR> http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=38d0a9f3a3cc16864784086bf&id=2bad10a121 <comment><USER2> _X is lame but Y is great because I did it._ Jason seems to feel the need to constantly compliment himself and plug at least one of his domains/projects in every section, very annoying.

I can't say I learned much from this e-mail either, basically he's saying that good domain names are short and expensive but if you have a lot of money that's not a problem.

<comment><USER3> I think the 22k people who subscribe to the newsletter might disagree.

Just because I'm highly successful and I share the techniques I used to get there doesn't mean I'm trying to compliment myself... I'm trying to show folks how it is done so they can do better themselves.

I don't get paid for doing these emails... I do them because I love helping other entrepreneurs.

<comment><USER2> We know you're successful, we can see that and you don't really need to reiterate it. I do appreciate the tips you share but I'd enjoy them a lot more if I didn't feel you were advertising yourself.

I understand why you do it though, you're a salesperson and you are your own brand. Sharing tips gets you exposure. I'm sure it benefits a lot of people but mostly you (which is fine). I don't dislike you Jason, it's just an observation. I generally shy away when I feel I'm being sold something.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Product first, rebrand later. A great name can only get you so far.

Though if you have cash to burn, his method doesn't seem so off. Then again "five to ten dimes" could also get you (a) another employee or two (b) decent marketing (c) cover your overhead costs (d) rent and living expenses for a while (e) some mix of (a)-(d).

</comment><comment><USER5> this'd be the guy who runs a site with a name I can't pronounce and need to use google to figure out how to spell it because it's so unmemorable (as in, it's not a real word so the spelling could be anything - is it malahoo, malaho marlywho mlahoo mlaho? buggered if I know [or care])

<comment><USER6> Mahalo is a real word, just not an English one.

<comment><USER5> fair enough, I guess what I mean is it's a word outside my vocabulary. It has no meaning to me, it's just a collection of letters and as such difficult to recall.

For those who don't know, it's a Hawaiian expression of thanks

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I work in mobile marketing where a lot of customers ask if the keyword they choose matters. The short answer is that it does not matter. Make it easy to understand and hard to mess up. [http://mikesabat.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/do- keywords-matter...](http://mikesabat.wordpress.com/2010/08/28/do-keywords- matter/)

Obviously you have to give some thought to the name of the business and domain, but if the product and concept are great the business can handle a bad name for a while. I don't think the opposite is true.

</comment><comment><USER8> Over all the advice seems well thought out. However, I wonder how many bootstrapped startups spend more than 1K on a domain name. I realize that's not much for many, but for a student it's rather large.

<comment><USER9> Yeah - I think the advice is great if you happen to have a few tens of thousands of dollars, though at that point it isn't especially profound. For a startup with little to no capital, 5-10k is a lot of money.

Certainly I wish that I had some better names available to me for some projects of mine, but if I were to focus on the project first, I think the rest would follow. I look forward to the day when I can be incredibly frustrated at having to overpay to buy a better domain name - once I've already had some minimal success.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The proper link is: [http://launch.is/blog/2010/12/3/how-to-name-your-startup- and...](http://launch.is/blog/2010/12/3/how-to-name-your-startup-and-land-the- perfect-domain.html)

thanks for posting.

</comment><comment><USER10> How to name your startup: be a regular guest on a well-to-do podcast that, while not being able to trademark its own name, has established quite a reputation. Create a friendly relationship with the host, put forth bad impressions when it's time to tip the hat and make everyone think you care. Then, on your spare time, create a podcast network with the very same name but to a word and claim you offered the domain to the guy you supposedly respected, since, well, it's not like he can claim to own that specific sequence of words, right? Success will then follow.</comment>


Apple will begin selling Macs with its own processors in 2021 - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/04/report-apple-will-begin-selling-macs-with-its-own-processors-in-2021/ <comment><USER2> Existing discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22954656](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22954656)

</comment><comment><USER3> This rumor has been floating around for 5 years now and the date keeps getting pushed back. I'm on the fence on this. On one hand, Apple can reduce its COGS, and perhaps the incremental cost is low to develop a true desktop-class processor when they have the best phone and tablet processor. And, it is consistent with the Apple's philosophy of absolute control.

However, this seems like the external signs of empire building by the internal CPU team, like the touch bar for what I can only assume was the display team. Unlike the mobile space, the laptop and desktop space has two competitive and highly competent companies selling parts.

<comment><USER4> There's some benefit if you're Apple.

1\. You don't have to rely upon whatever Intel/AMD decides is good enough for you.

2\. You can design custom chips that fit your needs / possibly more secure chips to prevent hackintoshes if they wanted to swing that way.

3\. It's competition to Intel/AMD if they wanted it to be.

4\. It's another piece of the supply chain for your products that you control. You have to trust Intel/AMD's manufacturing chain.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> >>> The report does say that one of the chips Apple is developing will be "much faster" than those used in the iPhone or iPad, though they will not yet be sufficient to replace the fastest Intel chips in the MacBook Pro or Mac Pro

Is it possible that Apple will include both Intel x86 as well as AX processors? Let the A chip handle certain tasks that are low power to be energy efficient and the Intel chip handle everything else? They did something similar with the Touch Bar.

<comment><USER6> Regardless of how many processors they cram in there, the only relevant one is the one powering the OS and applications. Making that ARM-based will be a massive change.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> If this happens it is very exciting. They have been doing amazing things in the mobile space.

</comment><comment><USER6> My guess is that all "Pro" hardware will stick with Intel for the foreseeable future (both because of performance and software compatibility), but everything else will switch to custom ARM chips.

</comment><comment><USER8> After the keyboard debacle, I can't feel positive about this, much as I want to.</comment>