Show HN: PitchXO – Track your pitches - <AUTHOR> http://www.pitchxo.com

<comment><AUTHOR> We started all this for an early Skype seed investor; he was overwhelmed with pitching a lot of different companies to investors and losing track of it.

So we put a simple presentation behind a Facebook login, and that was it for starters. Later connected it to a CRM; added LinkedIn, AngelList.

Started signing on customers and growing it based on their feedback, mostly manual work. Finally we built a whole automated SaaS solution around this, and added some nicer style to it plus a lot of background checks on the leads themselves and their behaviour.

You can see an example of a lead view here : [http://datascreens.pitchxo.com/lead_info.png](http://datascreens.pitchxo.com/lead_info.png)

Hope you like it!

</comment><comment><USER2> How did (potential) investors like this? We're just starting our fundraising process. This looks interesting but I am afraid it adds friction for the investor who may not want to be tracked, nor does it make it easy for them to share it with others.

Regarding the pricing, it seems reasonable once you are going for Series A, but when you are still counting every penny, it is a bit steep (especially without a money back guarantee).

<comment><USER3> I agree on the pricing. We currently manage our decks in a page with our logo and an iframe with Google docs preview below. Paying 200$/m is tempting if they could provide useful connections. Just for the storage, even the 90$/m seems a bit high (pre funding, of course).

<comment><USER4> what about a simple one time purchase? I imagine the half life of a good pitch is really short. So your churn will be high. If people last a long time on your service, they have other problems.

<comment><USER2> As a potential user, I'd like that.

A monthly subscription is just another thing I need to manage. Also, I feel like I am paying for a time where I may not be using it yet (there's a time delay between setting it up and actually going out to investors).

And the jump from $89 to $199 just for a CNAME is a little high as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm really loving the idea and want to propose this to our board of directors, but this won't stand a chance without a trial. Without a trial, the price is a huge setback. And even then the price is pretty steep.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the great feedback! We are currently looking into implementing a trial in the next few days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It looks cool but the pricing is huge. We're raising a round now and this looks like something that would be helpful but at $89 a month? Probably not, certainly not without a short trial.

<comment><AUTHOR> A 7 day trial is def. something we want to add! Also happy to showcase you the product in the meanwhile if you reach out to us

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The pricing seems extreme. Is it based on some specifc insights?

<comment><AUTHOR> Our early pricing was actually much steeper, starting at 1999+ USD setup and 649+ USD per month, so I'm quite happy we were able to bring it down a bit further with the automation.

Compared to other companies in the field it's competitive pricing for the extra-value it brings ( e.g. social connectors for lead aggregation instead of just emails, full background checks, standalone professional looking sites from the get-go, behaviour statistics on the slide decks, CRM connectors etc. )

Our early clients managed to raise rounds in the 8 digit values with the help of a more organized fund raising round, and then transformed their pitchdecks into investor pages to keep investors updated.

So based on those good experiences and seemingly no comparable product out there on the market I do believe strongly in our product being very competitively priced.

<comment><USER8> If you haven't considered it already - this might be a great product for "pay only if you succeed" pricing. Might be easier to get people to pay, say, $5k from someone who has just raised $10m than $200 from someone who almost by definition has nothing.

<comment><USER2> Oh, that's brilliant (not sure how to enforce it though).

If it works to raise money, I am happy to pay for it (we're currently trying to raise $500k so very much a potential customer). Probably worth $1k to $2.5k to me if it is successful.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm not your target audience but I will commend you on a very lovely and clean design!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you very much :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> From a founder raising a seed hoping you get the message: The pricing is ridiculous!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback, it was valuable as from all the others who commented. We just opened the doors, so of course we'll have to adapt quickly.

There's a few points this taught us :

a) Trial period to showcase the product is a must - done! b) The pricing doesn't reflect the perceived value of the product - we need to work better on showcasing what's actually 'beneath the box', so visitors and potential customers don't just think that we're providing simple landing pages c) The current page doesn't showcase the product well enough - we'll have hopefully by next week a short video on the frontpage to easy that up + an additional page which has to be simple enough to explain the usecases and what's all connected to it d) Keep pricing simple. We removed the additional pricing options, and offer now unlimited admins and have set the lead limits way above the usual usage levels.

We are eager to grow with the feedback! Since yesterday we have introduced the trial period and simplified our pricing model as well.

I really appreciate your responses.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> haha that pricing is Ridonkulus.</comment>


Mobile Lorm Glove - <AUTHOR> http://www.design-research-lab.org/projects/mobile-lorm-glove/ <comment><USER2> Interesting product for deafblind persons. I'd really be interested in reports from deafblind users.</comment>


Ask HN: How does a 16 year old go about getting work on software? - <AUTHOR> As a 16 year old, I find it nearly impossible to find work on software that I can do, because of EULA's on most freelancing(i.e Upwork) and pay-for-fix sites(Bountysource). I already contribute to open-source software. What other options are available for me to gain experience? <comment><USER2> Just build something - it really doesn't matter what. You have a good window of time where you have very little requirements in terms of paying rent, bills, etc., so take advantage of that and just write as much code as you possibly can.

<comment><USER3> Bingo. This is exactly what I did. Build a lot of of things, it doesn't have to be unique, it doesn't have to have a business plan, it just needs to be something.

Build tools to help automate simple things you do every day. Build tools just for yourself. That way in a couple years you'll already come to the field with a huge portfolio, and who knows one of your random projects might actually end up getting popular and making you something.

I started making personal projects at 15, worked under my mom's name for freelancing sites while <18 (illegal against their ToS but oh well) and now I'm leading a team of people at a big company since I have 9 years of experience and 5 years of experience with my specialized field (Android).

Just build something.

<comment><USER4> When you did that, was it a website? A service?

Simply having an open source project in itself brings in _no cash_. Can either of you (or someone else) go into detail on your experience? Links are OK! The OP (and myself) would love inspiration :)

<comment><USER5> Had experience in sysops perl scripting for web apps under my belt (wanted unified dashboard + designer for monitoring metrics visualization [https://github.com/andrdeas-marschke/nagplot](https://github.com/andrdeas- marschke/nagplot)) in the process reverse enginieered NRPE from source / wiretracing and created one of the most if no the most linked articles on the protocol in the process. Released the code as seperate package (Nagios::NRPE).

Then decided to learn JS and node and started writing a web real user monitoring system based on [http://github.com/bluesmoon/boomerang](http://github.com/bluesmoon/boomerang). While at it submitted PRs to upstream and engaged in the community mostly with complaints about sftandard stuff missing and modules not being in a good state.

Now I work in the same company as the guy who created boomerang and lpve every minute of it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Beware of foregoing formal university education just because you are getting coding gigs.

CS/math fundamentals are golden and make the difference between you being just another redundant dime-a-dozen ruby coder and a world-class engineer. Not to mention personal enjoyment of what you do down the line. Take a look at the Silicon Valley for proof.

Learning all this stuff on your own is possible, but much harder when you're "working 18 hour days". Harder yet if you eventually have financial commitments (e.g 14 cases of child support payments, har har).

<comment><USER7> As someone without a formal education in this path, I mostly agree...

It took almost a decade before I would have considered myself very good... And in fairness, many of those even with formal education I wouldn't consider good. Passion accounts for a lot. I didn't start getting really good until I actually started deeper reading into more conceptual bits of programming, and some of the hard math still isn't the easiest for me, fortunately a lot of real world work doesn't need it so much in practice.

In development, with sufficient drive and without formal education, you'll spend 4-5 years just mastering your tools (the languages you tend to use, your environment for development and deployment etc)... and another 4-5 years on deeper understanding of the craft itself... even then you'll be missing on some of the deeper more low-level understanding.

There's room in this world for both, but if you can get a formal education without amassing hundreds of thousands in debt, I'd say go for it. Just don't think you'll be done learning when you graduate (I still spend at least 10-20 hours a week reading on software/tech), and accept that you will have to break every rule in practice during a career.

<comment><USER6> I know a really successful, world-class, senior Google engineer who doesn't have a high-school diploma. He's very smart and incredibly hard-working, a great mentor and an inspiration to others. He's also probably been lucky.

Could that be you, the OP? Of course.

Could that be the right path for someone who can't stand formal learning environments and thrives on the challenge of real problems? Sure.

Is it very hard and risky? Yes, in all sorts of ways. You need great mentors and people that will show you how much you don't know. If you accidentally end up surrounded by mediocrity, it's very easy to fall prey to Dunning-Kruger effect. How do you get to work with world-class engineers? It's a catch-22 although not impossible. Universities, on the other hand, are by design a place with many smart people, and you're not expected to have anything other than potential to join.

(And yes, absolutely, if you decide that you're done learning after graduating, good luck with your future hardship. Unless you first learn COBOL, in which case you might still be able to comfortably ride on it for another 20 years)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Look first for local software development shops and contact the CTO, group manager, or if available, HR about your interests. Consider looking first for services companies (e.g. web development shops, digital agencies, etc.) as they typically can use an extra set of hands. LinkedIn should be a good source of contacts. Explain your background and that you are interested in shadowing or being an intern. Even though you may be beyond the abilities of an intern, take it if the opportunity looks interesting and you have an opportunity to learn and expand your skills.

Be prepared to show your work and have something in a document, or better a portfolio website, describing your background and that you can send on request.

If that doesn't produce results, you could try expanding your search to companies that are not in your area, but it will likely be more difficult.

<comment><USER9> This is good advice. I got my first programming job at 16 working for a local web agency as a summer internship. I actually responded to an ad - I was lucky in that they were looking for someone like me. If they aren't, I think there is a lot of value they could get from you, and your task is to convince them of that fact :)

I also think that having a strong track record of contributing to open-source software says a lot more than the kind of job I had; I wish I had discovered and gotten really involved with a project like Python or Debian back when I was that age. Instead, I released game mods, which isn't too bad a use of your time if you find that sort of thing fun.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> You could work on things for yourself. As a 16 yr old presumably living with your parents there's no risk.

I'd suggest starting with a small mobile iPhone or Android app. Make a little bit of side money while building a portfolio you can use to your advantage later.

<comment><AUTHOR> How would you go about finding a concept to build a app around? You don't want to end up building a so-called "sitcom" app which no one uses.

<comment><USER11> Don't worry about success of your idea if your primary focus is gaining experience. If you get some success as a side effect then that is a nice bonus, but the more important thing is that you gain experience and practice which makes you a success later on when you are working on getting a real job.

Personally when I was your age I was creating websites. I made a book search engine, and a geoip enhanced amazon affiliate ad system for easily adding affiliate ads to blogs and websites. Both achieved some minor success, although they eventually got banned by Amazon (the book search engine because I was scraping Amazon content, and the ad system because it got adopted by a lot of spammy content farmers because it was a highly effective way to monetize Google traffic, so Amazon blocked my API access).

So the ultimate success of my ideas was minimal, but the experience I gained from those two projects got me a great job at a startup that has led me down a very successful career path so far.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I started working full time at a web development consultancy at about that age, you'll get screwed a bit: you'll likely be brought in at a less-than- appropriate salary, as I was.

If you're stable and have all the basics; food, shelter, access to electricity and computer networks; Try to write some software of your own accord, and attend some meetups. It sucks to be below legal drinking age at a free beer event, but you'll meet some people you'll like for sure.

Write some open source code if you want to attract people who have technical ability, write something you think would be useful, and test it with the market, if you would like to attract business.

Another thing mentioned a bit too pro-university here, was the importance of culture and theoretical knowledge. You should probably know your O notation and vacuum up Wikipedia pages on graph theory, discrete maths, or whatever tickles your fancy. Maybe take a weekend to learn how formal verification works, and write a proof or two in Isabelle or Coq. Maybe broaden your horizons to natural language processing, or go into the bowels of the machines you're programming, figure out how adders work.

By far what has helped me the most to prevent myself from being alienated from my industry(which is full of theoretically astute graduates), has been a focus on being cultured and knowing everything they know and more about the topic at hand.

Do not, under any circumstance, let your elders outknow you, or you will be defined by your age.

</comment><comment><USER13> How much are you looking to get paid? If you don't care that much, try putting an ad on craigslist or see if your high school's CS teacher has any connections. (Others in the school who might help network you are web dev teachers, computer networking teachers, and IT.) There may be a solo guy in the area who's working on his startup (probably funded from his personal savings and/or from a wife, or the startup might be a side-project while he works a 9-5 or occasional consulting) and who would find it worthwhile to pay a bright student $10-$20 per hour to do work. Or they might be a small shop with multiple people who don't realize they could use a cheap intern until the cheap intern asks them if they'd consider it. :) If you'd like a shot at more money, I'd either go the app route others are suggesting, or do your own freelancing. Ask your dentist, etc. if they need a new or updated website, that sort of thing. If you want other ideas, observe how people are operating at their jobs and try to imagine how software could make them more efficient, and if you think you could write that software talk to the person with the power to pay you.

</comment><comment><USER14> Find something you want to build and build it. Mobile App idea? Website Idea, anything really? The more passionate you are about it the better it will be.

If you can't think of anything then maybe try a code camp over the summer. They cost money but they will definitely teach you how to write code at a company vs open source and they might even be able to hook you up with a nice internship once it is over.

If you can't afford that then you could try getting an internship by going to coding meetups and when people say they are hiring people go ask them if they are will to bring on an intern. Tell them you learn fast.

You could also use one of your parents to sign up on those sites. If you wanted you could even just build a site for yourself and marketed it a little at local meetups. In the end it is up to you to make the effort.

On all the talk about if you should go to formal school or not that is up to you. It isn't needed but just know you will have to learn a bunch about software design and different libraries on the job. Formal schooling will teach you theories and code camps will teach you one way with current processes. So if you enjoy theories and building compilers than formal schooling might be perfect for you. If you just want to build cool stuff and are will to learn as you go then skip the $100,000 price tag and learn as you go.

Just know whatever you learn at code camp, in school, or even your first job or internship is not the only way. Programming for a living is learning every day. There are many correct ways to build a system and Ruby, Python, C#, Javascript whatever you learn first isn't the only way. Find what you enjoy and do more of that.

</comment><comment><USER15> I actually started programming around 16. I built my own social network.

I actually used it as reference for my first programming job at 18-19.

Just build something you're passionate about. At the time I wanted to be like Steve Jobs/Bill Gates.

Who are your heroes? Any website / apps you want to make? Any games you want to make?

I suggest you learn a language like Swift or JavaScript and build a webapp, iphone app or iphone game.

Since you are young, maybe you can program something you and your friends want?

Good Luck!

</comment><comment><USER16> At 16 if you are contributing to open source you are well ahead of lots of programmers with jobs so kudos to you. If I were you I would use this to my advantage by having the git repos etc on my resume + LinkedIn and then start searching for volunteer orgs. for programming gigs and get noticed there and take good references and then apply for full time jobs. Good Luck!

<comment><USER7> On top of that, would take some time to spruce up code after even a year or so... if you don't have test coverage, add it. If you still use it, take what you've learned and refactor it.

There's always room to improve what you have out there... On the interviewer side, plenty of people only have 1-2 things on github that either don't work, are poorly documented or just plain don't reflect well on them. Do your best to make what you do put out there the best you can.

I should take my own advise more often.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> As many have said, just build something, put it on the internet, learn about building homepages that converts well, learn to ask users before building the next project, charge if you can find a way (donations, paypal, parents)

Then when you get to be legal, you will have a few (or a lot) of side projects that each will deliver a little trickle of money. Use these as fun money or even bette channel it into larger and larger projects, hiring others to do the important stuff you find uninteresting.

Find a mentor, someone wiser than you, let them help you level up faster than is possible alone.

Join a mastermind group, be accountable to others, learn to ship real stuff.

When you reach legal age, travel to conferences, talk to older more experienced people, learn how they did and copy what you like.

When you hit 20-25 you can have a steady income high enough to support you.

</comment><comment><USER18> I like to mod games I enjoy. I don't even play games, but I mod them. It's enjoyable, and gives me a lot of experience in technologies and setups that I'd never have seen without modding.

Also, the joy people get from your work is really high, they are very supportive, and it's an all around fun experience. The negative is you'll get used to that, and then when you work on your own, or for a company wonder why no one is as thrilled :)

</comment><comment><USER19> Email a professor at a nearby university talking up some interest in his field and pitch him/her your interest in gaining experience building software, he/she may have something in store if you're willing to do it for free?

Having said that, the other thing that will help you down the road may be getting some good theoretical knowledge in related fields (math, cs); as noted by paul_milovanov in this thread.

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER20> When I was your age I was doing freelance web development. Keep working on OSS and start doing some contract work and you'll be golden.

Flash forward a bit... And the summer before my senior year in high school I interned at a startup in Honolulu. Just keep learning and working hard and good things will come of it.

</comment><comment><USER21> Don't try to get money while you are 16. At least if you don't need it badly. Build stuff, you'll learn so much more. I am 27 and two kids, getting paid a lot but I regret the time where I could spend hours on my own project. Now if I have an hour per week I am happy.

</comment><comment><USER22> When I was 14 I got my first job at a local company. They let me "intern", with good pay. When I was 16-17 I did remote work for a company I found through stackoverflow careers. It did take a while to find one that would take me with my lack of experience, but it happened.

</comment><comment><USER23> Find someone you trust that works somewhere and who can employ you or get you employed at somewhere you trust, that would be the easiest path for you.

Regardless of that, you should also contribute code to an open-source project you really like. This will also get you a good resume.

</comment><comment><USER24> Apart from contributing to well known open source projects or starting your own, you could also try to write a plugin for some product that has a large community (e.g. Jenkins) and/or marketplace (Atlassian's one, though not sure if you have to be 18.)

</comment><comment><USER25> [http://www.reddit.com/r/forhire](http://www.reddit.com/r/forhire)

</comment><comment><USER26> Simple, just lie about your age. In any case once you get a few jobs under your belt it will all be word of mouth anyway.

</comment><comment><USER27> Google summer of code?

<comment><AUTHOR> From the site:

Google Summer of Code is a global program that offers post-secondary student developers ages 18 and older stipends to write code for various open source software projects.

<comment><USER28> How about... [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code- in](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Code-in) ?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Build any project from scratch to completion. Then you will actually have a pretty solid resume.

</comment><comment><USER4> Also regarding Bountysource (laughably low bounties) and Upwork, for that matter Elance, odesk - all of those are races to the bottom.

Go to local tech meetups, give a presentation on something and say HEY by the way.. I'm looking for work! Someone is bound to take you under their wing.</comment>


Israeli Software Helped Saudis Spy on Khashoggi, Lawsuit Says - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/middleeast/saudi-khashoggi-spyware-israel.html <comment><USER2> NSO Group was co-founded by ex-members of Unit 8200, the Israeli Intelligence Corps unit responsible for collecting signals intelligence. The unit relies on selecting 16-18 year-old recruits with the ability for rapid adaptation and speedy learning. Former soldiers of this unit have also created ICQ, Viber, Incapsula, Onavo, and dozens of other IT companies[1]. "How Israel Rules The World Of Cyber Security" is a short documentary by VICE[2].

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_8200)

[2] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-C3voZwpM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ca-C3voZwpM)

<comment><USER3> It is always bizarre when people talk of "ex-Unit 8200", it is the largest unit in the IDF.

Given that Israel has universal conscription you might just as well call them Israeli and be done with it.

<comment><USER4> Biggest doesn't mean big. It's a few thousand people big, ~1% of the IDF as a whole. And in my limited experience, it does carry clout within the tech scene in Israel.

On the other hand, whenever people tout "ex Israeli military" as a positive or negative, I also find it silly. That's the vast majority of the country!

<comment><USER5> 8200 and it's sub units is double in size as the entire Israeli navy so they are closer to 10% than to 1%.

99XX and 81XX are each more than 1% of the active IDF personnel and they are much smaller than 8200.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think it's disturbing what happened to Khashoggi...but I don't understand what the U.S. or the West is supposed to do about it. We can't go to war over some guy who wasn't even our citizen, killed in Turkey, by a foreign government. I hate to say it, but don't things like this happen all the time in certain countries?

<comment><USER7> Murdering dissidents while they are in other countries doesn't happen all of the time, no. That's why it's news.

<comment><USER6> It certainly happens: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britain- charges-...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/britain-charges-two- russians-with-attempted-murder-of-ex-spy-with-nerve- agent/2018/09/05/db99c5c8-b0f7-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f21fb8fab484)

We're hearing more about Khashoggi because he was a journalist, I suppose.

<comment><USER7> I didn't say it doesn't happen. I said it doesn't happen all of the time. The incident you linked to was a big story, I remember it.

If these things happened all of the time they wouldn't be reported in national papers. A mugging in San Francisco isn't in the Washington Post.

<comment><USER8> But we only really hear about the failures, or when the mission didn't go according to plan and someone was caught. When it does go according to plan, no one knows about it, or at least there usually isn't enough evidence to be able to attribute blame.

<comment><USER7> How can a person disappear from the planet without anyone knowing about it? When it's within the guilty country that's one thing, they can suppress the information from getting out. But to travel to another country and kill someone that doesn't really work.

<comment><USER8> Govt's don't usually announce when a spy goes missing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Can you imagine being a software engineer and being okay with getting rich by developing technology to out dissidents and have them murdered by some of the most oppressive governments on earth? Like, that's what you _choose_ to spend your time on.

<comment><USER10> Very unlikely that it's presented this way. People working in NSO feel they are doing a public service by helping catch bad guys. Given the Israeli sensitivity around terrorism, it's an easy sell, and I'm sure NSO has success stories around such use.

<comment><USER11> Given that Israel regularly employs deadly force against civilians, this does not absolve NSO's software engineers from moral culpability. That is like saying the backroom boys at Dow who developed napalm thought it was just being used against "bad guys".

<comment><USER10> Moral culpability depends on perspective. It's not absolute. In some societies it's immoral to consume alcohol, in others it's immoral to get a divorce or use electricity on Saturdays.

From the perspective of NSO developers, they are helping prevent the next attack against civilians somewhere. I can't fault them for that.

<comment><USER12> Killing people is immoral in any society. If you have an average IQ you understand eventually what your product will be used for.

<comment><USER13> I wonder if the Sentinelese find it immoral?

<comment><USER12> Looks like they find it less immoral than manipulating people into believing fake religious stuff.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Can somebody explain how was it possible to get whatsapp messages when it applies E2E encryption?

Did they have physical access to the devices? Was it all remote? Is it even feasible on an individual level and what would be the alternative(Signal? Telegram?)?

<comment><USER15> It's unclear, but from the article it seems to suggest that his phone had bad software running on it and was recording keystrokes at the OS level.

Encryption wouldn't help you in this case since you can just record the strokes (maybe see the screen) like the regular user would see.

Not sure how they'd do this though, maybe he was using Android?

<comment><USER16> It was an iPhone. They aren't safer than android you know. Just different.

<comment><USER15> I think they generally are safer - Apple has a better security posture and tighter control over both the hardware and OS. Though not perfect clearly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Citizen Lab [0] has an excellent writeup, it got installed by exploiting a vuln in iOS which jailbroke the device from a fake DHL parcel tracking link (screenshot included).

[0] [https://citizenlab.ca/2018/10/the-kingdom-came-to-canada- how...](https://citizenlab.ca/2018/10/the-kingdom-came-to-canada-how-saudi- linked-digital-espionage-reached-canadian-soil/)

</comment><comment><USER18> For what it's worth, the Saudi's also went to www.sinister.ly and paid $200 bucks a pop for certain spywares.

<comment><USER19> If by 'The Saudis', you mean 'someone from Saudi Arabia', then sure. The Americans did it too. As did pretty much every other nation.

<comment><USER3> By 'The Saudis' he probably meant 'A fixer for the highest levels of Saudi leadership'

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> NYTimes: It is anti-semitic and scandalous that Facebook hired someone else to point out that George Soros' money helped groups critical of Facebook.

Also NYTimes: Israeli Software Helped Saudis...

<comment><USER21> I'm not really sure I see your point. Are you suggesting that this headline is anti-Semitic?

<comment><USER20> I've seen the FB / Soros story so much in the past couple of weeks that I wanted to point out a funny double-standard: Facebook isn't allowed to hire someone else to mention a famous Jewish person, but NYT is allowed to pin blame on Israel for the assassination of a journalist. Both seem trivial to me, but one is an anti-semitic dog-whistle and the other is, meh, let's pretend it's n.b.d. to involve Israel (i.e. _Jews_ ).

Personally, I'm saying it's roughly as anti-semitic as Sheryl Sandberg hiring someone to say something true about George Soros -- as in, neither is anti- semitic. But I think the bigger issue is the double-standard.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Aside from the much more important core issues in the article, I found this bit interesting:

> Because of those sweepingly invasive capabilities, Israel classifies the > spyware as a weapon. The company must obtain approval from the Defense > Ministry for its sale to foreign governments.

Does the U.S. use such classification for spyware and similar tools? What are the standards which determine whether or not it's a weapon?

</comment><comment><USER22> Given how much of the software development happens in Israel, there is probably some Israeli software in every phone. So describing it as "Israeli software" (as if it's the only software ever made in Israel or Israel is exclusively known for developing spyware) is extremely misleading.

</comment><comment><USER23> Can't Apple sue them for hacking the iphones?

<comment><USER14> I think that depends on if there is enough tracable proof and if a case gets registered.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> >> _Saudi Arabia paid $55 million last year for its use_

They are going to ask questions after the Saudis splashing $55m? As if they needed to ask questions. It's known why Russia, China, SA, UAE, Sudan and the likes want these programs

<comment><USER16> To use it the same way the US does?</comment></comment>


Land Rover develops a smartphone remote control for its SUVs - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2015/6/18/8803255/smartphone-remote-control-land-rover

<comment><AUTHOR> I really wonder about the practical and insurance implications of that:

What happens if your phone crashes and the car keeps driving, despite the dead man's switch?

What if you commit suicide by driving over yourself?

What if somebody gains access to that control interface via WiFi/Bluetooth and slowly gets away with your expensive toy?</comment>


The Emerging Science of Computational Psychiatry - <AUTHOR> https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608322/the-emerging-science-of-computational-psychiatry/ <comment><USER2> So a discipline that isn't able to conduct repeatable studies to support its key principles, can be computerized? OK.

<comment><USER3> Found the Scientologist!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This: "Computational psychiatry has suddenly made it possible to mine data from long-standing observations and link it to mathematical theories of cognition. It's also become possible to develop computer-based experiments that carefully control environments so that specific behaviors can be studied in detail."

<comment><USER5> Yes, I think the main point here is that technology is allowing experiments to be conducted under controlled environments, which is hard to do in real life.</comment></comment>


Open-source cloud with LibreOffice online - <AUTHOR> https://open365.io/ <comment><USER2> Is there an overview of this thing that doesn't require me to watch a video?

("A photo tells a thousand words", but I can read at 300-400 words/minute while a video typically conveys roughly 100 wpm. I don't like wasting my time and bandwidth.)

<comment><USER3> I agree, and that's a disingenuous quote in any case: "A photo tells a thousand words."

There are many cases when the reverse is true.

<comment><USER4> A photo tells negative one thousand words?

Or a word tells one thousand photos?

<comment><USER3> I meant the reverse as "a word tells one thousand photos," or can in some cases. Many abstract concepts can be represented by a word in modern human verbal languages, but not so easily only photos.

<comment><USER5> I think the existence of Pictionary as a game is a decent example of this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> For those interested here is the github repo for the main parts of this solution: [https://github.com/LibreOffice/online](https://github.com/LibreOffice/online) I've been following this pretty closely, the loolwsd and loleaflet are the server and client component, but you need to have a user (authentication) system on top of that for collaborative editting which can be anything.

Collabora is the main driver behind this project (LibreOffice Online) and has already provided a beta vmdk (based on OwnCloud for the user part) some time ago: [https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/](https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/)

<comment><USER7> I do not think it's using LibreOffice Online. You can see kontact running there too. [http://i.imgur.com/WOuJyyA.png](http://i.imgur.com/WOuJyyA.png)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Every time I try to use LibreOffice (and OpenOffice before that), I end up terribly disappointed by the software quality compared to 'equivalent' Microsoft or Apple products. Have things improved lately?

<comment><USER9> OpenOffice is as good as dead atm. LibreOffice, to date, as far as I can tell, mostly focused on fixing the mistakes from OpenOffice days (as in, code cleanups and refacturing the code) and improving the compatibility with Microsoft Office. In those aspects, seems like things have improved quite a bit.

Unfortunately, it still looks like it was made in the year 2000. libreoffice- style-sifr icon pack kind of makes the things a bit less obnoxious, but there's still a long way to go. I've read mixed statements from the LO community about the possible switch to ribbon interface, but even if they decide against it, they need _something_.

My biggest mistake about the whole LO project is that I somehow ended up on one on their admin mailing lists (for [https://ask.libreoffice.org/](https://ask.libreoffice.org/)) and I just can't find a way to remove myself from it. I contacted them five or six times already, and ended up empty handed every single time.

<comment><USER10> I thought ribbon was really bad for productivity, as it's just a less- effective mega menu, or a mega-menu which hides some options without providing any mechanism to see everything. My understanding was that an application had to go to full mega-menu, with all the options visible, or traditional dropdowns w/ alphabetized groupings and lots of iconongraphy.

<comment><USER11> You can move the most-common features to the ribbon, which would improve productivity for most people. Of course you'll never hit every use case, but you can make the average case a lot better.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think this is libreoffice inside a remote-desktop like, html client. Like VNC. I fact the same company eyeOs is offering Microsoft office "on cloud", something similar as [http://guac-dev.org/](http://guac-dev.org/) My opinion is that this is not html5 editor, It is very high demanding hungry resources consuming and complex architecture. Or I am missing a new release libreoffice HTML5 version?

<comment><USER13> Actually not VNC, but Spice: [http://www.eyeos.com/en/eyeos/technology#clienteweb](http://www.eyeos.com/en/eyeos/technology#clienteweb)

<comment><USER6> You can watch a bit about what is actually is here: [http://ftp.fau.de/fosdem/2016/janson/scaling-and-securing- li...](http://ftp.fau.de/fosdem/2016/janson/scaling-and-securing-libreoffice- online.mp4)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Is this using the "LibreOfficeOnline" thing where you can compile LibreOffice to run a server? Or is this something else?

Also, it says it's open source, but I can't find any links to source downloads or a repo?

Otherwise, I'm keen to see how this works. I'd love to offer business customers a way to self-host documents without telling them they have to install an office suite on every single computer.

<comment><USER15> What I'm missing most is collaboration, it's been requested time and time again due to Google Apps having such great support for it.

<comment><USER16> Etherpad does a not bad job at handling real-time collaboration, with the right plugins included. Sandstorm.io is an awesome hosting solution for it.

I just kinda assumed if LibreOffice was announcing a cloud platform it'd be collaborative...

<comment><USER14> This isn't a LibreOffice announcement FYI. It's a company, and appears to be using desktop installation(s) of LibreOffice and some kind of adapter to render the regular desktop app's window chrome as HTML5.

So, think like XenDesktop or app-specific RDP, rendered to a browser.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Fun, I can't sign up with my email since it ends with '.email'

They actually put in their own email regex........

<comment><USER18> Be careful with those new tlds though. They do frequent discounts on them and spammers love them cheap domains. I recently had to black-list "*.top" after a Gandi.net discount on it. The day after each discount I receive loads of spam from the discounted tld, blacklisted .top, .eu, .science, .xys, .party so far.

<comment><USER19> .EU is widely used in the European Union [1], and is over a decade old. You should probably find a better way to block spam than blocking a whole TLD.

[1] e.g. The European Union's own site, [http://europa.eu/](http://europa.eu/), and lots of European science projects I've seen.

<comment><USER18> I use SpamAssassin and a whitelist generated from my contacts. If I had a .eu in my contacts list, that mail would make its way to my inbox, but till now I've only received sneaky spam from it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> In before the cease and desist from Microsoft by calling your product Open365.

<comment><USER21> Maybe they should make a bit fun about the missing day in years like 2016 and name it Open366.io or OpenYear.io ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> It gives 20GB space online, which is great. I'm a bit wary of these cloud platforms and have a fear they'd disappear after sometime (like how Ubuntu's did and others have in the past). Anyone know how strong the financials and projections are for this cloud project (not just LibreOffice/Document Foundation overall)? I can't seem to find anything specific on the website.

</comment><comment><USER23> The website design looks great and it's a shame the video is so rushed by comparison :/

</comment><comment><USER24> I'm looking for info on who open365.io is. There is no info listed in their website. Where are they located? Who is behind them? How is my data in their cloud protected? Etc etc.

</comment><comment><USER25> "Linux" and "Ubuntu" seem to be used more and more interchangeably these days. Are there binary/source downloads for other distros?

</comment><comment><USER26> Were can I find the source code? Is there a Github repo? And is the eyeos tech open source?

<comment><USER6> Here: [https://github.com/LibreOffice/online](https://github.com/LibreOffice/online) and here is another thing based on the same components: [https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/](https://www.collaboraoffice.com/code/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> "First open source cloud"? I think not. ownCloud, Sandstorm.io, etc. This is not new territory.

Awesome, sure. First, no.

<comment><USER27> We took that bit out of the title.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> And when microsoft sues for copyright infringment, they will be the bad guys, right?

<comment><USER29> What copyright infringement?

<comment><USER30> I guess parent is talking about the use of '365' which reminds of office 365. That would be trademark infringement though, not copyright.

Seems to me that open365 is different enough of office 365 that no confusion is possible anyway but I have no idea what the law says.

<comment><USER31> You think there is no confusion possible? It's a very obvious knockoff of Microsoft's product. And unlike office, which is kind of generic, the use of 365 for a productivity suite is certainly specific to Microsoft.

<comment><USER32> 365 is a descriptive term used widely to mean 'always available', it's too generic for a registered trademark by itself - Microsoft shouldn't have a hope in a sensible IP court.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to split shares in a subsidiary - <AUTHOR>

Hey guys. Throwaway account here. I've approached a small US b2b tech company about starting a Canadian subsidiary. They have agreed, and I will be in charge of all the operations in it. From hiring/leading the tech team (to maintain and modify software from the parent), to managing independent projects, to doing sales.
Incorporation and so on is going to happen this week, and so the question is: How should I ask for an equity split? I'm assuming it'll be a two way split between me and the parent company, where I will then redistribute shares to anyone I hire and so on.
Any ideas about how to start thinking about this? Thanks. <comment><USER2> It sounds to me like you don't have the cat quite in the bag just yet, you need to do some more negotiation.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is what I'm asking advice for. During negotiations, we'll need to come up with a figure. What should I be asking for? Is there any thought framework for arriving at a figure?

<comment><USER2> Well, that all depends on who will be contributing what. What you should be asking for is roughly 1.5 times what you want to get out of the deal or you'll walk away. That will give you some room to negotiate _and_ you might get lucky.

Without knowing a whole lot more about the situation it's pretty much an unanswerable question.</comment></comment></comment>


I Couldn't Resist...Youtube vs Broadcast.com 10 years ago - <AUTHOR> http://www.blogmaverick.com/2008/04/03/i-couldnt-resist/ <comment><USER2> Any ideas why Yahoo, didn't relaunch broadcast.com - as soon as youtube was known to be getting popular - they could have squashed them. (relaunch in the same space, not old broadcast)

<comment><USER3> probably they were scared of getting sued for all of the copyright violations on user generated video sites like youtube

<comment><USER4> YouTube had the huge advantage of being a little startup. They didn't have enough assets to make them a very worthwhile target for a billion dollar law suit. Scribd is in a similar situation I think. Startups can afford to be super daring.</comment></comment></comment>


Medieval Diseases Are Infecting California's Homeless - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/03/typhus-tuberculosis-medieval-diseases-spreading-homeless/584380/ <comment><USER2> California has some of the worst municipal governments in the country. Shockingly poorly governed. Live a year in Singapore. Live a year in San Francisco. Your opinions on many things will change.

Hearing the performative compassion of San Francisco's politicians and the results: streets covered in human shit, crazed heroin zombies colonizing them, a pathetic protest culture pushing zoning legislation that extracts rents from everyone; one is reminded of this Kipling poem: [http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm](http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_copybook.htm)

<comment><USER3> As someone who lives in LA, I have to agree. Really poor local government structure. Our city council just 10-2 voted to authorize the city attorney to settle a lawsuit which will now restrict the city's ability to cleanup homeless encampments as well. So, might be getting worse, not better.

I recently moved to Encino, which has its issues but our homeless encampment is hidden down by the dam. When I lived in Beverly Grove, I had people sleeping on my sidewalk, and clusters of people setting up camp in the alleyways 100 yards from my house.

What was remarkable was the volume of trash that accumulated, along with broken glass and hypodermic needles. It was absolutely jaw dropping.

It's truly not compassionate to let people live on the steets. The city and the state must expand conservatorship and start getting these people the help they need.

<comment><USER4> It's not a mistake. The tech industry wants low regulations, so they gut the government. Simple process, really.

<comment><USER3> Not sure what you're referencing. Tech isn't a big constituency in Los Angeles, so hard to blame that. And I don't even see how tech regulation has anything to do with homelessness management in Los Angeles.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I actually saw a YouTube video about this the other day. Apparently rats are running rampant around several California cities due to the amount of garbage and feces that are littering the streets.

I turned to my wife and said that this is how the new bubonic plague is going to start. Low and behold the video then cuts to talking about the medieval diseases mentioned in this article.

As far as I can tell, we don't have any issues like this in Atlanta. What makes California towns so special? Is it the weather? The policies?

Whatever it is, it's another reason I don't want to live there.

<comment><USER6> The bubonic plague was not caused by the rats.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Dr Drew Pinsky (yes, not just a "loveline doctor") was calling this out over a year ago. One of his children contracted typhus prior to the big outbreak last year, which led him to talk more about the issue.

[https://drdrew.com/2018/dr-drew-warns-plague-threat-los- ange...](https://drdrew.com/2018/dr-drew-warns-plague-threat-los-angeles- homeless/)</comment>


Motivational Quote(s) For Entreprenuers - <AUTHOR>

Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. - Niccolò Machiavelli<p>One of my personal favorite quotes. I'd be interested in seeing some quotes that resonate with other founders. <comment><AUTHOR> Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't. - Anon.

Failure defeats losers, but inspires winners. - Robert T. Kiyosaki

Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them. - Anon.

An entrepreneur tends to bite off a little more than he can chew hoping he'll quickly learn how to chew it. - Roy Ash

</comment><comment><USER2> Lead, follow or get out of the way. - Thomas Paine

<comment><AUTHOR> Great quote. Be the wolf not the sheep :)</comment></comment>


Living root bridges - <AUTHOR> http://atlasobscura.com/places/root-bridges-cherrapungee

<comment><USER2> Blog spam-here's a link to the much better source material: <http://atlasobscura.com/places/root-bridges-cherrapungee>

<comment><USER3> So how does it work - after a while rootbridges.blogspot will change to only contain ads for penis enhancements? How does one identify such things?

I must admit I actually preferred the layout and presentation of the blogspam variant.

<comment><USER2> Basically someone goes out and finds some interesting content and rips it off. They register a wordpress/blogger account and throw all the content up along with some google ads. You submit it to Reddit/Hacker News/Digg/Fark.com whatever and drive traffic to it. I will admit that they've started to get a little more courteous at least-they're 'attributing' the source material sometimes so they're not outright stealing the content.

<comment><USER4> Can I ask you how you knew so quickly that this was stolen content. Were you just aware of the original source, or do you use some kind of plugin?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Awesome. I love how they incorporated flat stones as steps. I hope we see more biology hacks like this incorporated into our lives in the future.

<comment><USER6> Hmm, wouldn't it be cool to have a living house?

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I posted about Arboscultores for things like chairs, doors and houses about 2 weeks ago. Might be relevant to this discussion: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=761129>

</comment><comment><USER8> Very interesting, but I wish that there was more information on the time scales involved.

How long does it take to grow one of these? How long will they last?

<comment><AUTHOR> According to the article, 10-15 years to become functional, and since they're alive, they can last for centuries (some of them are 500 years old). Obviously, they're not for everyone!

<comment><USER8> Thanks for pointing that out. It's not a long article; I'm surprised that I missed that part.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Caras Galadhon: the heart of Elvendom on earth!

</comment><comment><USER10> Looks like something out of Myst.</comment>


A Single Male Cat's Reign of Terror - <AUTHOR> https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/cat-birds-australia/595048/ <comment><USER2> > they ate just 83 percent of what they killed

Oddly, the abstract linked from that quote doesn't say that, but says:

> Eighty-three percent of kills occurred between dusk and dawn.

Though it wouldn't be surprising if they didn't fully consume every kill. Sometimes I don't clean my plate at restaurants, either.

<comment><USER3> Found it in the Results section:

> On average, 83% of captures were consumed by the cats (88% of invertebrates, > 79% of reptiles and amphibians, 78% of mammals and 50% of birds) and the > remaining items were left at the site of predation.

<comment><USER4> Right. Feathers and bones don't digest well.

<comment><USER5> I think they meant the cat left 50% of birds completely alone. Not that they ate 50% of the mass of every bird. This is based on owning an outdoor cat and having it bring intact corpse trophies to the door.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> > Cats have been a driving factor in the extinction of most of the 34 mammals > that have gone extinct in Australia

I wonder, how many mammals have gone extinct due to _humans_ being the biggest driving factor? A quick search turns up:

"[Australia lost] 50 animal and 60 plant species in the past 200 years [with] the highest rate of mammalian extinction in the world over that period" [0]

According to the same article, main pressures faced by native plants and animals are:

\- Habitat loss and degradation

\- Climate change

\- Land use practices

\- Invasive plant and animal species

I suppose the "trapping, shooting, and even dropping poisoned sausages" to kill feral cats are aiming to address this last point.

As a cat lover, it hurts to hear this - but I also understand that 2 million feral cats can ravage the local ecology..

\---

[0] [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/13/a-nation...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/13/a-national- disgrace-australias-extinction-crisis-is-unfolding-in-plain-sight)

</comment><comment><USER7> This article reads like a hit propaganda piece to eradicate cats that paints the feline as the villain.

Australia has been on cat-killing binge lately, and writing like that aims to justify it.[1]

In reality, the undisputed #1 threat to all wildlife is human activity — in particular, _loss of habitat_ due to construction.

Now, wildlife activists have reasons to be pissed. But it's way easier to kill a million cats (yes, literally) than to _maybe_ rethink construction.

So guess which is done.

This also applies to Bay Area, where Google forced a volunteer-run TNR program, gCat rescue, to shut down, ostensibly to help burrowing owls[2]. #1 reason for owls' decline? Loss of habitat.[3] Google's next step? Massive construction.[4]

And while the volunteer-run gCat was criticized in NYT as a threat to the owls, it's all crickets when it comes to construction.

[1][https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/magazine/australia-cat- ki...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/magazine/australia-cat-killing.html)

[2][https://www.paloaltohumane.org/facebook/tell-the-mountain- vi...](https://www.paloaltohumane.org/facebook/tell-the-mountain-view-city- council-not-to-stop-trap-neuter-return-on-google03/)

Also, don't ask me how stopping _neutering_ cats helps the birds.

[3][http://burrowingowlconservation.org/burrowing_owl_facts/](http://burrowingowlconservation.org/burrowing_owl_facts/)

[4][https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/06/google-affordable- hou...](https://www.citylab.com/equity/2019/06/google-affordable-housing- california-real-estate-development/591991/)

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm honestly surprised it took a stakeout to make the connection. They even mention seeing the cat in there previously, even eating something.

</comment><comment><USER9> Kinda odd how the article mentions'Trap Neuter Return' controversy in the USA in an article about Australia. Is TNR a thing in Australia? The article doesn't say.

In some places it's 'no big deal' if cats kill birds (sorry bird fans) but in places where feral cats would interact with threatened native species (ie. Australia/NZ) that's obviously a different story.

I was surprised last time I was in hyper bird protective NZ to see a big fat cat lounging in the sun outside, while dogs are banned in so many places there due to fears of their interactions with flightless birds.

</comment><comment><USER10> Hmm, maybe one of Tibbles' relatives?

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyall%27s_wren](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyall%27s_wren)

</comment><comment><USER11> I would support a ban against keeping cats as pets in Australia (and eventually their complete eradication from the continent).

I don't think I am about to get my way anytime soon though so I applaud those people with pet cats who keep them inside 100% of the time. I also applaud cat microchipping and registration controls that are increasingly being rolled out and enforced.

<comment><USER12> Can we just eradicate all foreign comers in the last 200 years from Australia? Perhaps one of the worst losses in Australia has been the near extermination of the native human population by a vigorously violent outside group of humans (who also were the ones that brought along the cats).

Note: this comes from an animal lover (and sure, I have a soft spot for cats) who finds flippant regards like "their complete eradication from the continent".

Nothing should ever be considered for eradication. The lazy solution is to eradicate. The hard solution is to "empathize" (i.e. study the 'problematic' component within a complex system) and figure out how to create a new space for it within the system/reconfigure the system around it.

<comment><USER13> Cats once had a function in pest control. These days, we're keeping cats solely for our pleasure. We can be the ones to not keep them anymore.

I find that people who lock cats inside don't empathize with them much. And those who let them roam don't empathize much with wildlife. The best system may be the one where cats are not considered pets anymore.

<comment><USER14> Don't people still keep cats for pest control? They're really good at it.

<comment><USER13> It is rarely a consideration.

<comment><USER14> You must not live in a place with a lot of rodents. Cats are regularly employed to help keep them out of your house. This goes for the city and country. Cats are super useful in New York for instance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> How was the solution not to trap the cat? Or shoot it? I realize its distasteful, but natures red in tooth and claw?

<comment><USER16> After careful consideration, the decision of the committee is that the cat should be downvoted.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> My two cats live indoors. It's safer for them and better for everything outside — win-win!

</comment><comment><USER18> a few observations - the cat went for easy prey, ie. land based birds. The people could have started feeding that cat, and that would have probably decreased his hunting drive. The people staking out there may have probably added to the distress of the colony of the birds who seems to not be a big fan of people. City limit of 2 cats seems to be typical bureaucrat knee jerk reaction - after all one specific cat was supposedly enough to drive the colony away, so why 2? not 1, 0, 3, 4? or why the limit at all?

<comment><USER19> Cats will hunt even when well fed.

<comment><USER12> Source?

<comment><USER19> "Turner, D. C. 2000. The domestic cat: the biology of its behaviour. Second edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom."

:)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Not sure why bird lives > cat lives. NB: The city has decided to kill the cat: [https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/6290650/mandurah- counc...](https://www.mandurahmail.com.au/story/6290650/mandurah-council- moves-to-strengthen-cat-ownership-laws/)

<comment><USER21> In Australia the well being of native species > well being of introduced species (aka feral pests). That's why, for example, there was so much controversy over brumbies population management [1]

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zArrMjNp1Hw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zArrMjNp1Hw)

<comment><USER22> _Continued existence_ of native species > well being of introduced species.

<comment><USER21> Exactly, we already had a hefty share of extinctions [1], many of those due to introduced pests

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

(Edited for clarity: obviously not all of those animals in the linked list became extinct exclusively because of introduced species)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Uber sign-ups soar by 850 percent as cab drivers protest - <AUTHOR> http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0611/Uber-sign-ups-soar-by-850-percent-as-cab-drivers-protest <comment><USER2> I saw that the protest cost London something like ~650 million pounds. Seems like the Police should just block the front of the line, arrest all the drviers and tow their cars one by one. Would clear up traffic and would send a pretty clear message that fucking everyone in a city because you're upset is not okay.

</comment><comment><USER3> This seems like an extremely risky move by the "official" cab drivers. Angering their potential customers and removing themselves from the pool of drivers for the strike just seems like it would send people running into Uber's open arms.

<comment><USER4> Bullies aren't that bright.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> So... taxi drivers go on strike to punish Uber? Why would uber care if they do? Or are they going on strike just to not work?

<comment><USER6> Taxi drivers went on strike because taxi drivers and uber drivers don't have the same requirements for doing what amounts to be the same job. In short, becoming a taxi driver is hard and extremelly expensive, becoming a uber driver is easier and cheaper. So these strikes are more against the unfair regulation than against Uber and the likes.

<comment><USER7> This is a misrepresentation.

Taxi drivers are not protesting against the regulation. In fact, in most places taxi drivers and their unions are strong supporters of the said regulations and have worked for decades to get it in place. It's a typical situation where a bunch of "insiders" have striven for years to keep "outsiders" away with the goal of reducing competition.

Another typical aspect to this situation is how technology upends a structure put in place by legalistic means.

<comment><USER8> Do Uber drivers pay taxes to the municipalities in which their drivers deliver service? The regulators and the regulated both get something from the status quo.

Selling medallions, etc. gets the city in which the drivers do business some revenue to pay for the services the city must provide to support the business. Taxes help fund roads, police, administration, etc.

The "situation" is more complex than you describe and the unintended consequences of Uber are nowhere in the discussion.

I'm surprised that Uber hasn't put forth licensing a version of their infrastructure for use by black/yellow cabs for dispatch. They can provide access to customers along with a pretty seamless payment process.

<comment><USER7> They pay income taxes.

The primary intent of medallions is not to raise funds for infrastructure. Their goal is to keep people out of the business. You can tell by the fact that they're regressive: they burden lower-income persons more than higher- income thereby preventing new competition from low-skilled workers and guaranteeing safety to the incumbents.

<comment><USER8> Income taxes for drivers likely do not benefit the municipalities where the cars are driving. e.g. The drivers would be consuming space and wear and tear in NYC, but living in Jersey. NYC roads and services necessary to support increased congestion get burdened, but no tax dollars help support them.

A regressive policy has nothing to do with the goal of the medallions. They cost what market forces will support. The goal of high-end watches is to keep poor people from knowing what time it is.

The medallions aren't for infrastructure. I'd argue the medallions are supported by both the city and existing cabbies because of congestion and quality management issues. It's a way to ensure minimal levels of service and to punish bad (well, abhorrent) service.

The tax on fares is for infrastructure and administration. In NYC, $.50/trip is imposed. What's Uber paying?

I guess Uber couldn't know when it was dealing with a NYC fare subject to the tax... Oh, wait they couldn't offer that since it would imply they were a taxi service subject to other regs... So, they have to flaunt all the laws and put themselves in a legal bind that isn't all "just obvious barriers to entry."

<comment><USER9> Medallions are meant to regulate supply with demand, nothing more. Other fees go to road maintenance (gas tax, tab tax, tolls, etc...) and are actually sort of related to usage.

Uber is doing what it can disrupt the status quo, the laws are ambiguous enough that they can get away with it. Admirable in my opinion.

<comment><USER10> Medallions shouldn't be assets you can own, transfer, rentseek on. They should be a lottery, with no cash value if their purpose is to restrict the number of vehicles in a geographic area.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Its interesting, every uber I take in Chicago (typically a yellow cab instead of UberX) and ask the driver what they think. They generally seem to like it because its safer, easier and more efficient for them (they always know where people are instead of having to hang around popular corners, they can skip on people if that last cab had bad things to say, etc.).

But it is surprising to me that they don't complain about the fact that they laid down serious cash for a medalion, or pay other fees to the city to operate. I would especially think UberX would bother them. I think in the short term they are happy but I suspect they will start to get more upset if uberX starts to take away business. Right now, its earning them more money.

In Florida, they are having issues with UberX for that very reason ([http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/11/4172680/miami-dade- tax...](http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/06/11/4172680/miami-dade-taxicab- industry-protests.html)).

Its interesting to watch a number of industries just get blindsided by these disruptive technologies. Seeing it with crowd-sourced cab rides (uberX), direct autosales instead of dealers (Tesla dealer controversy) and crowd- sourced accommodations (airBnB). Some of the regulations placed on the older players in those spaces were put there to protect the consumer and/or the industry but my take is that consumer choice is providing better options and bypassing the need (or maybe it just hasn't come up yet) for these regulations. But then the people who played by the rules get mad or cling to them if it allows them to maintain their position a little longer.

<comment> daniel-cussen The people who own taxi medallions are usually not the taxi drivers themselves. The medallion owners (who usually own many medallions and rent them out to drivers) are as pissed off about Uber as you would expect.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Company's PR says that possibly controversial event for company results in huge benefit for said company.

Hm.

I'm not saying it not true, but it's playing in to an expectation that a lot of people had when they heard about this protest. So until there's independent evidence, I'll take the specifics of this claim with a dose of salt.

Edit: Suggesting that one be reasonably skeptical of unverified company PR is downvote worthy? Come on...

<comment><USER13> Uber ran full page ads in London's free newspapers yesterday, so it looks like they were planning on benefitting from the controversy.

<comment><USER12> I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised. It was the sensible thing to do.

My point is that it is also sensible for Uber to claim that it has resulted in a massive success for their company. It makes themselves seem savvy and the taxi drivers short-sighted.

Of course, the goal of the taxi drivers' protest not really about getting people to not use Uber so much as it is about getting the regulators to change their decision that Uber's app doesn't count as a taximeter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The disruptive nature of Uber will make policy makers eventually doubt who to support: should they keep protecting the jobs of the taxi industry while Uber is creating jobs at a much higher pace?

<comment><USER15> They are protecting tax revenues, not the taxi industry.

<comment><USER16> Then tax Uber in a special way?

<comment><USER15> Doesn't need to be a special way.

1 medallion per car per shift [iirc] + the per-trip tax.

It is just they need to pass the laws to do that and haven't yet. Of course, I think Uber is lobbying against being taxed given that they've tried to evade paying taxi-like taxes so far.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> the post got me because i just signed up. I live in melbourne. it is not possible to get a cab on a friday or saturday night. trial run coming up tomorrow

<comment><USER18> Beware that you may get fined in Melbourne because it is illegal. It's more likely your driver will get fined though.

<comment><USER19> How do they know who to fine? Aren't all these transactions done purely digitally? You could just be getting into a friend's car, there's always plausible deniability.

<comment><USER18> People have already been fined in Melbourne.

<comment><USER17> got a link to articles on it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> With both the taxi and hotel industries being disrupted (technical meaning), I wonder if there's a pattern here... Is it a direct consequential of the web, enabling new ways to connect customers and providers? Or, deeper societal forces at work, making this a general time of change for other, non- technological reasons?

Or just coincidence...?

<comment><USER21> The web started as a distributed system. It is turning these industries into distributed systems (A car from a person with time and a car at a time when a consumer needs a car as opposed to strict 8 hour shifts. A bed from a person with a bed when a consumer needs a bed as opposed to a centralized location with many beds). It will be interesting if we see these newly distributed systems consolidate in the future. And I wouldn't be surprised to see realtors with house hotels rented through air BnB. And I've noticed there are already plenty of people with cars looking for uber drivers.

I think it is a direct consequence. When people can so easily access and post information regarding availability of luxuries and commodities it relieves the need for centralization. The question should be, what's the cost? Do I go to the hotel which will be able to put me in another room when there are problems? Or go for the quaint feeling of a person's home. Homes are generally in residential areas, but if I'm touring I might want the luxury of staying in downtown. Hopefully these two industries can live side by side to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of consumers.

(This doesn't even include the possible costs in terms of flimsy insurance guidelines for Uber drivers in some municipalities or locales, or property value depreciation for neighborhoods that become AirBnB traps with many units being turned essentially into mini hotels.)

The valuations are insane, so it looks like these companies are here to stay. It will be interesting to watch.

<comment><USER20> Sounds right, esp for hotels. Though taxis are already distributed and on- demand. Just regulated centrally.

Deregulation is pretty common: banking, utilities (electricity, gas, telecommunications), railways, jails. States get a phenomenal one-off budgetary windfall from sale of infrastructure assets, and buyers get a government mandated toll-bridge - _everybody_ wins! Though more governmental than "societal" as I previously described it.

Governments aren't driving hotel/taxi deregulation, but the hard-won legal and admin expertise to do it is sitting around with nothing to do...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Controversy based PR works.

<comment><USER22> Streisand effect works on its own!</comment></comment>


IPFS-Screenshot – Like Cloudapp but with IPFS - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/uptownhr/ipfs-screenshot <comment><USER3> Does this actually do anything? Here's the full source:

        #! /bin/bash
        echo "testing" >> ~/.ipfs-screen/ipfs-add.log
        file=ipfs-screen.jpg

        gnome-screenshot -a -f ~/.ipfs-screen/$file

        hash_log=$(ipfs add ~/.ipfs-screen/$file)

        echo $hash_log >> ~/.ipfs-screen/ipfs-add.log

        hash=$(echo $hash_log | awk '{ print $2; }')

        echo "https://ipfs.io/ipfs/$hash" | xclip -selection clipboard

Edit: Nevermind, didn't see the `ipfs add ...` call... I guess this just goes to show how simple it is to use IPFS. ;)

Edit2: I can't seem to resolve any of my files on `ipfs.io` -- probably some problem with my network config that's preventing peers from mirroring my file?

<comment><USER4> Have you left the ipfs daemon running? Do any errors show in it? Does this show any connections:

        ipfs swarm peers

<comment><USER3> I wasn't aware that `ipfs daemon` was required for it to work. Ran that; it works now. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Looks like a Show HN. Can you update the title?

Sharing screenshots quickly sounds like a useful app. I'm interested immediately.

I've never used IPFS so when I see the installation steps list things like "install IPFS" and "start IPFS daemon," I'm scared to actually take those actions. I just wonder what this is going to do to my system. Is it going to be running a web-accessible service?

 _vague idea of what IPFS is leads to more questions_

Can I remove content after publishing?

Do I have to have the daemon running forever?

Is it like pastebin for images? Am I anonymous or not?

etc.

Because of those types of questions, I haven't actually tried it out yet, but this seems like a good opportunity to package up a 'program' that people can just 'run' on their computers. If you're relying on an existing network that any party can enter, the program just works and you don't have any infrastructure. Am I on the right track here?

I'm not really looking for answers to any of those questions, just pointing out what thoughts I have after reviewing your project. If I wanted to know the answers, I would go spend a while learning about IPFS.

If the author is still here, I am wondering what benefits/drawbacks using IPFS has compared to, say, a shell script that uploads images to your own server and places the link in your clipboard.

<comment><USER6> > Can I remove content after publishing?

No. Once a file has been hashed, that hash always equals that file. No. Matter. What.

Now, if no one else in the world has that file that equals that hash, then the content is dead.

But you can never remove things. It wouldn't make sense to do so.

>Do I have to have the daemon running forever?

You can run it as long as you want. But if you're the only hoster of certain images, then you quitting will mean those files can't resolve. But if your stuff is popular, other IPFS daemons will also provide bandwidth and capacity.

> Is it like pastebin for images? Am I anonymous or not?

It's like Pastebin, kind of. Your node is _NOT_ anonymous, but the content itself can be. The content=hash , no matter who shared it.

<comment><USER7> >you can never remove things. It wouldn't make sense to do so.

This seems like one of the few instances where that might not be true. Does a quick screenshot deserve to take up space on IPFS forever?

It seems like an optional expiry timestamp could be useful.

<comment><USER6> In the truest sense of the word, if data for a given hash is on any computer, that computer can provide the data behind the hash.

If that data was found 1000 years from now, and entered into the system, the data would generate the same hash, and then be able to fulfill any hash requests.

Also, IPFS does data deduplication across blocks (chunks of 512KB - <USER2> believe), files, and directories. So if I share a source repo that uses someone else's repo, and they share it too, then my copy helps speed his files up as well.

There's an ongoing project to get OpenStreet Maps in IPFS, so that local areas have their own hash, all the way up to state, country, continent, and world. It's so the whol geographic repo could be shared amongst all, without the burden of storage on a single person or group.

<comment><USER8> Can you point me towards info about OSM serving via IPFS? Very interested in helping with that if at all possible.

<comment><USER6> Sure thing.

[https://github.com/ipfs/archives/issues/11](https://github.com/ipfs/archives/issues/11)

is the root isue on GH that made this project

[https://github.com/davidar/ipfs-maps](https://github.com/davidar/ipfs-maps)

And here it is in prod: [https://maps.ipfs.io/?/ipfs/QmQ2YKnWpfjYQdoDN4KZjxL18K33nz2p...](https://maps.ipfs.io/?/ipfs/QmQ2YKnWpfjYQdoDN4KZjxL18K33nz2p8eTHjm5GsY2fnr#1/0/0)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> ive bound this oneliner to do the same for Xorg:

echo "[https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/`xwd](https://gateway.ipfs.io/ipfs/`xwd) -root|convert - png:-|ipfs add -q`"|xclip -selection clipboard

</comment><comment><USER10> I don't really grasp the point. Isn't ipfs.io still pretty much centralized service? So you have the image stored in ipfs, but what is the added value instead of using something like imgur?

<comment><USER11> ipfs.io is simply a public gateway to the ipfs network. If you have the ipfs daemon running, you can fetch the image through the ipfs network like this:

        $ ipfs get QmTf3EquRYzxa4njTRpimp6YEcJJPSUf5pQE9TE54qCa3M

It will download the image per P2P.

<comment><USER8> Is there a way to associate metadata for an object in IPFS? Or must that be out of band?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> hi guys. just noticed it i got on frontpage! I wanted to demo how easy it was to use IPFS and was a bit suprised no one made a cloudapp clone with this tech. As you can see in the code, took like 30 min to put it together. I'm not that familiar with IPFS either so thanks for answering all the questions guys.

FYI: thanks for the guys that put in a pull-request, i've already merged them in.

<comment><USER12> Creator of CloudApp here (no longer involved). This is really neat, thanks for sharing! You could potentially monitor ~/Desktop on OS X and identify screenshots with:

      mdls 'Screen Shot 2016-10-24 at 4.14.54 PM.png' | grep IsScreenCapture

That would match the original behavior even closer.

 _Edited for brevity_

<comment><USER13> Props. Didn't know you were no longer involved. Sale? Is this why it got super expensive?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Neat, could be very handy for sharing screenshots with others!

</comment><comment><USER15> for osx, anyone know how to bind a keyboard shortcut commands to run this script?

<comment><USER16> make a service with automator that runs whatever command you want and define a global shortcut under prefs/keyboard/shortcuts.</comment></comment>