Timeless programming languages - <AUTHOR> https://www.thenativeweb.io/blog/2017-11-13-11-14-timeless-programming-languages/ <comment><USER2> Timeless programming languages, an article written by a young person, so GO and Haskell are on the top of his list. Nice to call them already timeless.</comment>


8 Job Search Tips From the Co-Founder of LinkedIn - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2012/02/15/reid-hoffman-linkedin-job-tips/ <comment><USER2> I thought this was an excellent point by Reid:

 _"Contrary to what many bestselling authors and motivational gurus would have you believe, there is not a 'true self' deep within that you can uncover via introspection and that will point you in the right direction," Hoffman writes. "Yes, your aspirations shape what you do. But your aspirations are themselves shaped by your actions and experiences. You remake yourself as you grow and the world changes. Your identity doesn't get found. It emerges."_</comment>


Show HN: A hackable task-board for TODOs, FIXMEs, HACKs, etc in your code - <AUTHOR> https://atom.io/packages/imdone-atom <comment><USER2> Wow, this is awesome! Is there any alternatives for Sublime Text?</comment>


Thoughts on this site? - <AUTHOR> http://collegiatecode.com/ <comment><USER2> Slow loading, and a blank page while doing so. The copy protection is stupid. It is an annoyance, and easily bypassed. It breaks my screen reader.</comment>


US Contractors Scale Up Search for Heartbleed-Like Flaws - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-02/us-contractors-scale-up-search-for-heartbleed-like-flaws.html <comment><USER2> The debate has always been essentially whether to fix the exploit to more effectively secure our communications, or to use the exploit to eavesdrop on our adversaries. Thanks to post-9/11 FUD, dual-use technologies are usually treated as single-use -- offence at the expense of defence.

Hopefully we will realize that our pride in having more exploits than others is simple and narrow-minded hubris. No three-letter agency or defence contractor can offer any assurance that an exploit left open will be used only by us, but they will argue that leaving it open is an acceptable risk.

Who are they to argue what is acceptable risk? They are driven by self- interest and nothing more.

[https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/06/the_vulnerabi...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2012/06/the_vulnerabili.html)

[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/zero-day-exploit- sales...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/03/zero-day-exploit-sales-should- be-key-point-cybersecurity-debate)

My advice is to make defence and offence compete, with no sharing of resources, and no double-checking whether they are stepping on each-other's toes.

<comment><USER3> I agree with you that we should fix problems. But I am not sure about _no sharing of resources, no double-checking whether they are stepping on each other 's toes_. Are you trying to say once we discover a flaw, we just report and have developers to fix it, and don't mention it?

If so, there is zero way to avoid that. In fact, any company that keeps me away from their product updates is not doing a good job :/

And to the "acceptable risk." I find irony when the government says that =. People often say how companies like Ford or Google or Apple are spending millions in Washington trying to get the WhiteHouse and the Congress to do something "better". The fact that the government and many Congressmen believe that national security requires people to keep exploits a secret for national defense is putting the government, the Army, big corporations and everyone else business at risk.</comment></comment>


Uber loses $2.9B, offloads bike and scooter business - <AUTHOR> https://techxplore.com/news/2020-05-uber-billion-offloads-bike-scooter.html <comment><USER2> "Net loss attributable to Uber Technologies, Inc. of $2.9 billion, which includes $277 million in stock-based compensation expense and pre-tax impairment write-downs of $2.1 billion. Net loss attributable to Uber Technologies, Inc. excluding the impairment write-downs, net of the tax benefit would have been $1.1 billion."

So a loss of $1.1bn is an improvement on $1.4 last quarter, not including write-downs associated with investments in Didi and Grab. This explains why the stock went up not down after earnings.

>[https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/uber-plows- forward...](https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/uber-plows-forward- despite-loss-2020-05-08)

<comment><USER3> you shouldn't ignore impairment. it's a place to stuff a bunch of bad decisions, and an amorphous bucket where value can be plausibly inflated and deflated to control the performance story of a company (i.e., where fraud can happen).

<comment><USER4> This is all true, but it can also be a place to acknowledge the bad decisions Kalinack made.

When you have a grab bag collection of growth businesses like Uber, the important question is whether the core business can be profitable, and to that end you need to exclude the failures of the non core businesses.

<comment><USER5> isn't uber still priced as if they had grown to be a profitable business across _all_ of their growth businesses? I have a hard time understanding the valuation of Uber given any negative indications on any of their businesses.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> First, they were gonna make the jump to be an autonomous robotaxi service, but that's going nowhere fast.

Then they were going to be mobility service - cars, bikes, scooters, everything would go through them. But no more.

So what are they going to be now? Just milk their taxi service until Waymo, Tesla or whoever comes and wipes them off the market? Honestly, what are their long-term prospects? I've been staying away from Uber stock because they have a market cap of 50B. They're not going to be paying dividends, so what's going to make them be a 100-200B company?

<comment><USER7> This is what I want to know.

Ridesharing fares are obviously underpriced … and if they were raised 30% to make them sustainable, it becomes "not worth it" for a good chunk of people who use ridesharing as a supplement to car, bus, transit, etc.

I assume the strategy is a long-play to have people + communities become wholly dependent on your services (they skip buying cars, skip learning to drive, transit fails to evolve further), then once they are, ratchet up the prices? It's just that you have to clear that point first, otherwise :pile of burning cash emoji:

<comment><USER8> I think Uber is a lost cause, sorry to say but the food delivery business cannot be profitable for a majority of customers to where they will still pay for takeout. Their ATS service(self driving cars etc) was using stolen technology from waymo, now they are forced to using their own technologies they are way behind waymo, aurora, nuro, etc. Even ride hailing which is supposed to be their bread and butter is losing money, trying to up the ride costs and expect a huge drop in riders. Lastly Covid-19 joined the party, nobody wants to ride in a strangers car who could be infected (or visa-versa). This mindset of fear of the virus could take a year or so to subside, by then how much money will they have burnt?

<comment><USER4> Ride hailing wasn't losing money.

<comment><USER9> Not only was it not losing money. It was actually quite profitable pre-covid.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Uber has another problem I haven't seen mentioned. Many drivers have quit (for fear of getting sick I presume.) I know this because I drive for them (I like it) and the number of long drives to do a pickup for a short ride is way up, indicating there are no drivers nearby. I'm not going to drive 25 minutes to make $5, so I decline and the customer doesn't get a ride, I assume. If Uber wants drivers to come back they need to do more for driver safety. A really high quality mask would be a start.

</comment><comment><USER11> Could someone w/ an understanding of accounting add to this report? Uber is "offloading" bike/scooter business to Lime, but also making an investment in Lime... is this just a way to hide losses? Essentially paying Lime to take the red off Uber's balance sheet, while maintaining an option in the micromobility market?

<comment><USER12> IANAAccountant, but I think the investment was in the past, and this announcement is that they are ditching the investment. But I could be reading that wrong.

<comment><USER13> [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-07/uber- lead...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-07/uber- leads-170-million-investment-into-lime-electric-scooters)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I feel sorry of what happened to Jump. They had a good product, but Uber bought them and now when they wanted to make their income look pretty while 'protecting their lime investment', they gutted Jump and handed the carcass to lime.

</comment><comment><USER15> Can anyone explain why Lyft is not experiencing the same pain? I've always used them over Uber (not an investor in either, just a customer) and now as much as ever Lyft just seems to be a smarter, more mature company.

<comment><USER16> I thought Lyft's pain was pretty similar. They had about the same percentage layoffs:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23020812](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23020812)

And reduced internship salaries:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23047687](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23047687)

Although from searching the recent news it does look like they've seen some good news as well, like a share price rally after the Q1 report:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23095844](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23095844)

So Lyft got hit hard, but probably less so because they have fewer quixotic sub-ventures than Uber.

<comment><USER15> I missed these. Thank you!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> > The challenges are continuing in the second quarter. In April, rides were > down 80% globally compared to last year, Khosrowshahi said. But rides have > been increasing for the past three weeks and bookings in large cities across > Georgia and Texas, two states that started re-opening, are up 43% and 50% > respectively from their lowest points, he said.

This isn't exactly what he said, but 1 * (1-0.80) * 1.43 is... -72% from the original.

<comment><USER18> I mean, an 80% loss isn't good, but a 400% gain is pretty excellent. Growth like that is how you get to the moon!

<comment><USER17> Where is 400% coming from?

<comment><USER19> The joke is if you drop 80% and later increase 400%, you're back where you started.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Best of luck to anyone working for Uber in these times.

</comment><comment><USER21> I'd rather rent a bike or scooter right now than get in a stranger's car. I don't get it.

<comment><USER22> Yes, but how much will you pay? Bike rental like Jump or Lyft hasn't ever been profitable, nor should it be. It should be viewed by cities as a way to manage their street capacity, and like bus service, should not be expected to be internally profitable. This was the model of Motivate (Citibike, Bay Area Bike Share) before Lyft acquired them.

<comment><USER21> I agree completely to that principle.

I guess read what I wrote as for-profit car rental sounds stupider than for- profit bike rental in these times. Still a weird call for Uber which must lie to itself about the potential for profit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I doubt many of Uber's casual users understand how insanely unprofitable the current business model is. 2.9 billion is 3 unicorns. Even before COVID they've been losing something on the order of a billion a year.

It'll be interesting to see if they can turn this around.

<comment><USER24> > 2.9 billion is 3 unicorns.

Hmm, unicorns are usually defined by $1B valuation, while the number of $2.9B in loss is related to revenue. So I think the comparison doesn't hold, it's apples to oranges.

<comment><USER25> Seems like a fair comparison, they could have acquired 3 unicorn companies with that money.

<comment><USER26> Per year.

(Comparisons involving both stock and flow measures are somewhat dodgy, but they're made all the time (debt/GDP, annual rent/house price, unicorns/revenue)).

Edit to add: they're not really dodgy per se, but the result is a rate, ie has a time dimension.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Didn't they just buy another scooter company days ago?

<comment><USER28> I read that same headline yesterday: Uber leads $170 million investment in scooter company Lime. Wtf?

[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/07/uber-leads-170-million- inves...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/07/uber-leads-170-million-investment- in-scooter-company-lime.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> The problem with the bike and scooter rental businesses is they're unable to offload the maintenance burden to someone else like the car business.

Uber thought it was a good transportation business. It was wrong. It's a good market maker, and a good middle-man.

Ebay? Middle-man. All retailers? Middle-man. Pay Pal? Middle-man.

Find out how to be the middle-man.

</comment><comment><USER30> I wonder what will happen with all their e-bikes? I wonder if they will resell them?

</comment><comment><USER31> Uber never had $2.9B to lose.

<comment><USER32> The article says "Uber brought in $3.54 billion in revenue in the first quarter, up 14% from the same time last year." so they did and more than last year before incurring loss.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Typecorder – share replays of what you type - <AUTHOR> http://typecorder.com/Uuq_UpDNRV5wcIHt

<comment><AUTHOR> This is by my friend Milosz (who forgot his password), so I am submitting it for him.

</comment><comment><USER2> great start! keep going!

-bowerbird</comment>


How to Prosecute Abusive Prosecutors - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/27/opinion/how-to-prosecute-abusive-prosecutors.html?ref=opinion <comment><USER2> > It is absolutely essential to bring rogue law enforcement officers to > justice, particularly in a post-Ferguson world in which violations of > constitutional rights have come under intense scrutiny.

That's an odd way to word that. It's essential not because there is more scrutiny, but because it's wrong to allow it to continue. Whether it's being looked at more often is a problem for those that are worried about their conduct, not those that are concerned that justice is not being done.

<comment><USER3> _It 's essential not because there is more scrutiny, but because it's wrong to allow it to continue._

It's essential for both reasons. As you correctly point out, it's important to end abuses simply by virtue of the fact that they are abusive and illegal; but it is also important to end practices which bring the justice system into disrepute, since the very functioning of the justice system relies upon the trust which society places upon it.

This is a case where both the facts and the public perception thereof are important.

<comment><USER4> So maintaining the 'justice system' is an ends in itself? Why should I care whether or not the government has a particular department? Your argument seems to presume that the 'justice system' is good, or that it needs to be kept around for some other reason.

<comment><USER3> _So maintaining the 'justice system' is an ends in itself?_

Not an end in itself, but I'd say it's a very important component in maintaining an ordered society.

Whether you consider that to be a worthwhile end may depend on your political leanings; I'm a Canadian, and where the US constitution exhorts the "blessings of liberty", ours speaks of "peace, order, and good government".

<comment><USER4> My political leanings are skeptical; it seems to me that the objectives of the police and prosectors are (respectively) to preserve the police and the prosecutors. When crime increases, the police say they are underfunded and overworked, while prosecutors call for additional funding and powers. When crime goes down, they claim it is thanks to their intelligence and dilligence. Both groups are also known for avoiding being held responsible when they fail at their jobs (such as by shooting unarmed people who happen to also be naked, or convicting the innocent through fraudulent evidence).[1][2]

Are the police and prosecutors really focused and achieving the maintenance of an ordered society, or are they just keeping their jobs?

[1] [http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/us/georgia-officer-fatal- shoot...](http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/us/georgia-officer-fatal-shooting/)

[2] too many citations to put here

<comment><USER3> I never said that I thought we should protect every individual member of the justice system. Quite to the contrary, I think preserving and enhancing the public trust in the justice system requires that individuals who have acted abusively are _not_ protected.

<comment><USER4> My point was not that there have been individual failures, but that the 'justice system' is plagued by a lack of accountability, misaligned incentives, and entire organizations who do not feel any obligation to the citizenry.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > In a recent interview, the judge, who sits on the Mississippi State Circuit > Court, was unapologetic about his regime of indefinite detention: "The > criminal system is a system of criminals. Sure, their rights are violated." > But, he added, "That's the hardship of the criminal system."

There is evil in all of us, I'm sure, and there those who allow themselves to be consumed by it. When I read these words, it's hard for me to see a person but instead, a monster.

<comment><USER6> There's one quote that I see people refer to quite often:

> _William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!_

> _Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law > to get after the Devil?_

> _William Roper: Yes, I 'd cut down every law in England to do that!_

> _Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned > 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This > country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not > God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you > really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, > I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!_

      -- A Man for All Seasons, 1966.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Because most people have never experienced it, I don't think they realize how much of our legal system is at the discretion of judges and their own personal views / mood.

The chart in this post shows the relationship between court outcomes and time since the judge last ate (tho it is from Israel). [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/04/1...](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/04/11/justice- is-served-but-more-so-after-lunch-how-food-breaks-sway-the-decisions-of- judges/#.Vlj-9l88KnM)

Scary.

</comment><comment><USER8> Really excited to see how this develops. My main objection to criminal charges for abusive prosecutors is that bringing criminal charges against someone for doing their job has always struck me as being one step away from mob justice. I know I would never take a job where part of what I'm being paid for is running a risk of criminal prosecution. You just never know where the political winds are blowing at any given time. You can hedge against a risk of civil litigation, but not against criminal prosecution, nobody in their right mind should go anywhere near that shit unless they absolutely have to. I personally wouldn't mind rolling the dice on a world where there's no prosecutors because nobody will take the job and therefore no criminal justice system, but perhaps that's not the best solution here.

But I do believe solving this would be an important victory for rule of law, giving wrongfully-prosecuted citizens a viable legal path for redress of grievance. Just off the top of my head, I would say that the worst penalty anybody should have for not doing their job properly is to lose that job, and that the system should be set up to properly train them and to absorb the costs of someone screwing up. Any other kind of work environment is abusive. So limiting liability to civil damages paid out by the government in malicious prosecution cases makes sense to me. Much as I want to clap these assholes in irons and make them serve alongside the people they wrongfully convicted, I don't think that's objectively the right move here.

<comment><USER9> I understand your worries about mob justice, but I think they are misplaced.

Ordinarily, mens rea is necessary for any kind of criminal liability. Mens rea comes in a bunch of different flavors, and different crimes are committed depending on the flavor. For example, if you kill someone, it is murder if you purposefully killed them, but could be manslaughter if you were merely reckless.

So, you can prosecute a prosecutor who knowingly withholds forensic evidence, and the prosecutor next door who is reckless and throws evidence out will just lose his job. You even have to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecutor was knowingly withholding forensic evidence. That is how criminal law ordinarily works.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> They should also be bonded so that their employers are not carrying the risk for torts they commit, and their immunity needs to be reduced.

That way the thuggish ones will price themselves out of the business.

<comment><USER11> This is a great idea.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> The United States has gamified prosecution so that those with the most prosecutions can get elected as governors.

So of course elected prosecutors will rabidly go after any easy case that comes their way, justice be damned.

Law of unintended consequences at work again.

<comment><USER13> Probably going to continue if people keep electing people like this into office.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This Salon article has a bit more context: [http://www.salon.com/2014/09/24/challenging_mississippis_dep...](http://www.salon.com/2014/09/24/challenging_mississippis_depraved_justice_system_months_in_jail_with_no_indictment_and_no_lawyer)

> As for having an attorney, yes, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1963 that > defendants have a right to one but the debate about just when the right-to- > counsel "attaches" continues to evolve. While the U.S. Supreme Court ruled > in a 2008 case, Rothgery v Gillespie, that the accused are entitled to an > attorney at every "critical stage" of the process, it did not clearly define > what constituted a "critical stage."

> Most places have interpreted this to mean at the initial bail hearing. But > not Mississippi.

It doesn't seem to be entirely a case of a renegade judge ignoring a well- settled Constitutional right.

<comment><USER15> Do you honestly think that proceedings that could place a person in jail for a year could credibly be considered not a "critical stage"?

What if it were for you personally? A year of your life? Would you calmly agree that it's not a well settled constitutional right and happily wait it out?

<comment><USER14> I'm not saying it's a reasonable interpretation. I'm pointing out that the article tries to make it seem like one judge is throwing the Constitution out the window, while it seems more a case of a state policy of trying to save a buck at the expense of the accused.

There are a lot of shitty state governments trying to read stuff like _Roe v. Wade_ out of existence. Singling out one particular judge who happened to make stupid comments in an interview won't change those policies. That has to happen at the state level.

<comment><USER10> > _Singling out one particular judge who happened to make stupid comments in > an interview won 't change those policies._

Too bad, but starting with the destruction of the careers of people who should have exercised discretion may be what has to happen when the system is unresponsive. Too bad about whether it _should_ be a matter for the people of that state. They don't get to run a legal swamp in isolation.

<comment><USER14> > They don't get to run a legal swamp in isolation.

Arguably they should get to do that, if that's what the people want. After all, framers never intended for the federal government to impose uniform standards on state justice systems.

<comment><USER10> >* framers never intended for the federal government to impose uniform standards on state justice systems*

Technically correct, but you have to ignore the XIIIth and XIVth to make that relevant to today.

<comment><USER14> While that's the Supreme Court's _post hoc_ interpretation, you have to admit it finds little support in either the text or history of those amendments. It's unlikely the states that ratified those amendments realized they were giving up the right to set local standards of how to treat the accused, etc.

<comment><USER10> I would base minimum federal standards of local criminal justice and election conduct and etc. on the commerce clause, if it were up to me. Not meeting such standards amounts to claiming you should be allowed to build highways that won't accept heavy trucks. It would make it hard to do business nationally.

But, yeah, Reconstruction and subsequent events shaped those Amendments.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The judicial branch is corruption and distortion all the way down. And, it's not limited to the poor and minorities. I see the fiefdoms and bastardization in even the wealthiest of areas.

It's one reason that I'll be voting for Trump in 2016.

I'm a liberal; he's the most opposite of everything that I believe in. But, he's also going to be the one to take the whole system down, one way or another.

When the OS doesn't respond to a signal, time for a hard reboot.

<comment><USER17> > When the OS doesn't respond to a signal, time for a hard reboot.

Or, how to burn a house down to kill a spider.

Listen: if he's the most opposite of everything you believe in, voting for him is the stupidest idea you could have. Trump won't bring about much change; he's _benefited_ from The System all his life! How many times has he declared bankruptcy?

The best chance for real change, which doesn't involve torching the house, is Bernie Sanders.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I was recently arrested for the first time.

My girlfriend had ended up in the behavioral health wing of the hospital emergency room when she decided to quit methadone cold-turkey, without any medical support for the withdrawal. When they wouldn't let her go after she'd come to her senses, I went to the courts and obtained an order that the hospital release her. The hospital staff, acting on incorrect legal advice from their staff attorney (who decided to not attend my court hearing), didn't want to hear about the court's order.

I went to the area of my girlfriend's room. The windows are one-way mirrors, but she saw me and started tapping gleefully. I showed her the court order, and did a little dance while waiting for the police to arrive.

Then the entire security staff showed up to deal with me. The "old man" security guard freaked out when I took out my camera-phone to take selfies to document the situation, and tried to remove my phone from my hands. I backed away while trying to switch my phone to video mode...

The wanna-be-cop escalated the fight. Three or four of them wrestled me to the ground while trying to remove my phone from my hands. Eventually I was over- powered and handcuffed. The security guards finally managed to pry my phone from my handcuffed hands. It dropped to the concrete a few feet away, and I got a good view of a boot stomping down to break the screen.

The police officer I'd called for showed up shortly thereafter, but it was six hospital security guards vs. me. The police officer and his superior called the superior court to verify that the case number on my court order was genuine, but it didn't matter. My arresting officer was almost apologetic for taking their side. At the booking area, the officer took pictures of my scuffs and bruises, and of my phone's broken screen (apparently this is much more than is done for most who are arrested).

As I was taking my concrete nap, I thought to contact a facebook-friend who went to Harvard Law School & ask him if he had anyone to recommend. I was released on my own recognizance after spending the night in the city jail's holding cell. The next day I dropped $1000 on a retainer, which isn't much lawyer-time at all, but it's all I had. He's been very helpful in helping me navigate the legal system.

When I got the police report a month later, I learned that the security guard told the police that I'd dropped my phone and hit him 3 times when he went to retrieve it. My video is quite brief, but strongly suggests that the security guard was not at all truthful with his statements that got me arrested for assault.

The next court date was a pretrial conference, about 3 weeks later. The city prosecutor offered a "disorderly conduct" plea. I signed up for a public defender, who I met after another month. He used to work for that hospital, a long time ago. He said something that was informative, but which greatly irritated me, so I borrowed a few thousand dollars from family for a private attorney.

This is going to take a while.

It is very hard to protect people from the system. If you ever find yourself getting caught up in something where the police might get involved, remember that video is much more valuable than photos... (There was a recent story about someone who was vindicated by photos/videos which were automatically- uploaded from his phone which went missing after an police altercation).

<comment><USER19> What you describe (people in positions of power telling lies to get out from under bad behavior) seems so common these days that it really makes me wonder how we got here. How did truth and justice get demoted so far, and how did we create so many people that can clearly sleep at night after these lies?

<comment><USER20> > seems so common these days that it really makes me wonder how we got here. > How did truth and justice get demoted so far, and how did we create so many > people that can clearly sleep at night after these lies?

I think the answer is simply that we've always been here and you're just coming to realize the truth and justice propaganda was bullshit all along.

<comment><USER21> "We've always been here" is true, in that even in countries that enjoy _relatively_ good justice systems have people who fall through the cracks ... and people with power at every level for whom the theoretical good functioning of the justice system is a terrible nuisance.

"We've always been here" is also false in the sense that, of course, things used to be quite a lot worse _everywhere_ , and that the current rule of law in many countries today would be considered utopian by the people who died in worse periods of human history.

Which point of view is more beneficial for society to embrace?

Hands down, I think it's "truth and justice propaganda was BS." It's in society's best interests to watch everyone with power like a hawk.

<comment><USER20> > and that the current rule of law in many countries today would be considered > Utopian by the people who died in worse periods of human history.

Which while absolutely true, makes it no less corrupt. Better doesn't mean good. Less corrupt than before is still corrupt.

> It's in society's best interests to watch everyone with power like a hawk.

More importantly, that that power be continually forced to justify itself else the power be removed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> _Nonetheless, advocates across the country continue to expose judges who unlawfully deprive defendants of lawyers or throw people in jail simply because they are too poor to pay small amounts of money._

Is it possible to figure out, from court proceedings, when such a thing happens? I'm wondering if a "search engine" could be built, that trawls PACER reports and digs up cases where poor people are being sent to jail for small amounts of money. I'd be willing to chip in a little bit of money into a Kiva- style pool, from which the poor can tap the money and repay it later.

<comment><USER22> [http://brooklynbailfund.org](http://brooklynbailfund.org)

<comment><USER17> Thanks, that sounds very interesting. I wonder if we can automate some of that and do it nationwide?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> While the issue in this article is certainly important, it is frustrating for me to hear about it because I am currently dealing with the opposite situation: small-town local politics are being used by a local prosecutor to justify reducing charges / pursuing less-aggressive sentences in a case that involves the biological father of my nephew being charged with a high number of counts of a very serious and child-endangering crime.

The father (the one who is charged) is well-connected politically in town and has a long-standing family history, whereas my sister's family has not lived in the area as long. The father has "good buddies" in the sheriff's office, and has even pulled strings to get free or nearly free legal representation, while my sister and I are struggling to afford astronomical costs.

In the civil parenting time case that resulted from this, virtually any time there is an issue that could go either way, we get stuck paying for it. For example, if the criminal case itself creates a date conflict that requires a civil hearing to be rescheduled, the father and his attorney will push the issue as far as they can, unto the point where we just have to pay our attorney to write up a full motion for continuance, when it's not our issue causing the rescheduling or anything.

So far, the judges and prosecutors have gone far, far out of their way to _avoid_ placing strict penalties or punishments on this person, even so much so that it becomes the victim's (my sister's) financial burden just to see that minimal justice is preserved and that a somewhat morally congruent result is achieved.

So it bugs me that people want to jump on a bandwagon of counter-intuitive support for the side of those who are charged or accused -- there are many places where people go out of their way to be lenient towards people who truly do deserve more severe penalties, and this is often at the expense of regular citizens who have done nothing wrong.

</comment><comment><USER24> How else will you maintain incarceration rate, so necessary for American economics. Enslaving is such a good tradition of the US no one should easily abolish.

</comment><comment><USER25> Few simple suggestions:

1\. Don't become outraged about the legal system based on news articles...keep in mind for each and every judge/prosecutor who does something wrong, there is a lawyer on the other side who has discovered the wrong and brought it to light

2\. In general don't expect the government to fix systemic problems, and specifically, problems within the justice system (prosecutors, judges, public defenders)

3\. If you are truely outraged (which should occur only when you have personal knowledge a wrong took place):

A. File a bar complaint (a disbarred judge/prosecutor will never again have the chance to do wrong);

B. Go on avvo/Martindale and publically rate them.

<comment><USER26> "If you are truely outraged (which should occur only when you have personal knowledge a wrong took place)"

Disagree completely. Public outrage at non-personal wrongs is very important for the wrongs to eventually be remedied. It's a good thing. Without this, wrongs can be committed and as long as the numbers are fairly low and the people powerless enough, no one does anything about it.

That aside, people generally get too outraged at things they shouldn't and not outraged enough at things they should.

<comment><USER25> pretty sure you are misreading what I wrote. I am not suggesting one should only be outraged when they are personally wronged. Rather one should only be outraged when they have personal knowledge a wrong actually occurred.

Otherwise, could you give me a single example when it is ok to be outraged about some wrong when you don't know if that wrong even happened? Without an example, to me that is the equivalent of saying guilty until proved innocent, or shot first and ask questions later.

<comment><USER26> Fair point and maybe I read a little fast. Or maybe I don't understand what you mean by "personal knowledge". Is seeing it on TV personal knowledge or do you have to have witnessed it in person?

As far as shoot first ask questions later... yep. This is exactly what seems to happen much of the time. The US is bad enough in this regard but from my limited understanding there are worse places. I see videos of outraged mobs in the street in the Mideast for instance based on rumors someone may have said something against Islam or in Africa burning suspected witches.

To your point (as I understand it) I guess I have to agree.. it is far too easy to get people riled up on rumor and this causes problems.

<comment><USER25> Personal knowledge of a wrong would depend on the wrong. Seeing the wrong on TV/video _could_ give one personal knowledge but could equally mislead. Example, if you saw video of a cop shot someone without any provocation, you might think that is a wrong, but what if seconds before the video began recording the cop was stabbed with a knife. Again the concept I'm getting at is generally having all the facts.

And it would appear Judge Gordon:

1\. Is shooting first asking questions later (not appointing counsel before indictments),

2\. Seemly made disgusting comments about the nature of the criminal system.

Not supporting the judge and what he did/said, but:

1\. The law of the jurisdiction may not require the appointment of a lawyer prior to indictment (in other words, the judge was sworn to uphold the constitution and did not violate it, even though some/maybe a majority want greater safeguards).

2\. Looking at the Judges comments they appear disgusting, but more of a description or a matter of fact telling of the way the system works, but not necessarily the Judge supporting the way it works (many of us may do our job as required even though we think it's not the best way)

3\. The individual was not appointed counsel and this individual sat in jail for a year without bond (n=1). This is a judge who has been on the bench ~30 years, so in this instance personal knowledge would be the facts of this case (either the defendant was shown to be a danger to the community or a flight risk) and to a greater degree more insightful statistics (how many people with lawyers vs those without lawyers did not recieve bond). May be statistics would show defendants with lawyers are denied bond at a hire rate in front of Judge Gordon than those would could not afford one and were not appointed one.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Scribd woos publishers - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2007/12/20/scribd-woos-publishers/

<comment><USER2> Interesting to see who wins in this space between Scribd and Docstoc. Docstoc is targeting the legal world and form documents, while Scribd is targeting publishers. Both are reluctant industries, so I think whichever one gains traction in the industry will be a victor.</comment>


Show HN: Crash reporting for cloud applications, by Google - <AUTHOR> https://cloudplatform.googleblog.com/2016/04/monitor-your-application-errors-with-Stackdriver-Error-Reporting.html <comment><AUTHOR> I am the Product Manager for Stackdriver Error Reporting, here to answer your questions and listen to your feedback. Let me know what you think.

<comment><USER2> Pretty nice product. What is it built on?</comment></comment>


Inside the Building That's Calling Itself the People's Republic of Donetsk - good-citizen http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117846/donetsks-people-republic-one-building-endless-bureaucracy <comment><AUTHOR> This very much reminds me of the time when I tried to get a work-permit for Poland back when it was still firmly communist. The never ending back-and- forth, fear of reprisals from higher up for misplaced chalkmarks or stamps and so on was quite similar. I eventually did get it (I still have it), one of very few westerners that ever did.

The most heard question was _why_ on earth I would be trying to get into the Eastblock when everybody else was trying to get out.

<comment><USER2> And now you have to tell us the story!

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll think about that. It involves two hitchhikers, tulips, an ancient Citroen DS and a very large pile of paperwork.

<comment><USER3> If you share it, I'll also throw in my story of entering (and leaving) an autonomous breakaway region in Moldova (Eastern Europe) under the guise of a footballer (soccer player) trying out for the local team.

<comment><USER4> So... now that he has, will you share your story too? :D

<comment><USER3> Sure, I just wrote it up (partially) as a reply to another post:

> Entering Moldova is easy if you're a US citizen; the visa is granted upon > entry, with no fee.

> Entering Transnistria is trickier...

> You need to fill out a customs form, either at the "border" (a buffer zone > which includes Russian "peacekeepers") or in advance if you know someone who > has a stack of empty forms.

> Then you'll submit the customs form to the guards at the border and be > subjected to questioning and possibly a bribe demand. If you do everything > right, you'll be allowed to enter. A portion of the customs form will be > teared off, stamped, and given to you to hold.

> (In my case, I was traveling with someone affiliated with the local football > (soccer) team. He convinced the border guards that I'm an American player > being tried out for the local team, which got us through the border with > relative ease. It helped that I was wearing aforementioned Adidas track > pants and have the physical build of a football player. It did not help that > I was not told about this plan ahead of time, but thankfully they only > questioned him and not me.)

> The clock is now ticking, because this stamp is only good for 24 hours. If > you intend to stay overnight (>24 hrs), you need to find the "Ministry of > Interior" and go through another round of questioning and paperwork (and > again, possible bribe demands) before receiving a multi-day stamp. Oh, and > this "Ministry of Interior" is actually just a police booth somewhere deep > inside in Tiraspol (the capitol), next to several abandoned factories, > crumbling homes, and roaming chickens. Good luck finding it.

> Getting out is just as, uh, fun.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Adidas track pants and leather shoes (mentioned in the article) are typical attire of Russian gopniks ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gopnik)).

<comment><USER3> Last year I visited a soviet-era break-away region in Eastern Europe[0]. I specifically bought a pair of Adidas trackpants so that I would stand out a little bit less.

It worked: Many people thought I was Russian, not American.

[0] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria)

<comment><USER6> That is really cool. Mind telling me how the visa situation works out in such a scenario? Did you walk in on an American passport? Or ..?

<comment><USER3> Entering Moldova is easy if you're a US citizen; the visa is granted upon entry, with no fee.

Entering Transnistria is trickier...

You need to fill out a customs form, either at the "border" (a buffer zone which includes Russian "peacekeepers") or in advance if you know someone who has a stack of empty forms.

Then you'll submit the customs form to the guards at the border and be subjected to questioning and possibly a bribe demand. If you do everything right, you'll be allowed to enter. A portion of the customs form will be teared off, stamped, and given to you to hold.

(In my case, I was traveling with someone affiliated with the local football (soccer) team. He convinced the border guards that I'm an American player being tried out for the local team, which got us through the border with relative ease. It helped that I was wearing aforementioned Adidas track pants and have the physical build of a football player. It _did not_ help that I was not told about this plan ahead of time, but thankfully they only questioned him and not me.)

The clock is now ticking, because this stamp is only good for 24 hours. If you intend to stay overnight (>24 hrs), you need to find the "Ministry of Interior" and go through another round of questioning and paperwork (and again, possible bribe demands) before receiving a multi-day stamp.

Oh, and this "Ministry of Interior" is actually just a police booth somewhere deep inside in Tiraspol (the capitol), next to several abandoned factories, crumbling homes, and roaming chickens. Good luck finding it.

Getting _out_ is just as, uh, _fun_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The bureaucratic misadventures at the start of the article sound like this is a bunch of people playing a LARP version of Papers, Please. Which, come to think of it, should be a thing.

<comment><USER8> You'll need a license from Lucas Pope, and a permit from the venue. The permit-issuing authority will want to see your license before granting the permit, and Lucas will need to see your permit before granting the license, but you can get around this by obtaining a provisional temporary interim permit from the protests and demonstrations secretary at the mayor's office. You will need to claim that the LARP is actually a protest against government bureaucracy, which it is, technically, albeit satirical. That permit is only valid for the grassy verge between the sidewalk and the west wall of the city government annex. So you will need to apply for a change of venue on your real permit application, which requires approval from the police chief. Since the best place is the county administration center, you will also need to get approval from the sheriff. Now the sheriff and the police chief don't like each other, and won't agree on anything, so you will need to make the first approval look like a rejection to get the second. I'm sure you can figure it out from there. Good luck. There's nothing else that I can do for you without possibly getting fired.

<comment><USER9> This was actually a thing. [https://twitter.com/ocornut/status/446353072944451584/photo/...](https://twitter.com/ocornut/status/446353072944451584/photo/1)

And I'll agree this quote seems pulled right out of _Papers, Please_

>"No, a letter isn't good enough anymore. It was fine last week, but the guys on the tenth floor"—the security team's floor, which is known as the NKVD—"said you have to have a press card."

<comment><USER10> Doing that with your real passport sounds like Bad Idea(TM).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> guard-of-terra I guess that's how most of medieval states worked.

One big building (castle) plus a few semi-autonomous groups of warriors.

UPD: News that we get from Donbass frighteningly remind Game of Thrones.

<comment><USER11> Amusingly enough the feudial system still slightly exists in Africa. Who the west calls war lords aren't very different from Feudal Lords, Barons, and Vassals.

<comment><USER12> Actually, it pretty much exists in the U.S. too. The internal structures of most government agencies and large corporations are essentially feudal. The only difference is that the barons (a.k.a. middle-level management) fight over budget allocations rather than physical territory, and the battles are conducted with memos and powerpoint decks rather than swords. But other than that, it's pretty much the same thing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The article states the Donetsk People's Republic has 1 11-story building.

It sure seemes a lot bigger in the wikipedia page.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People's_Republic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People's_Republic)

<comment><USER14> There is a lot of information buried in the talk and history views of contentious pages like this - are there any sites or tools that help unpack some of that? What are the most frequently re-written bits of text? What parts of the article are most associated with certain editors (or groups of editors)? What about those editors - how many are anonymous or new? What other pages do those editors work on as well?

Even staying away from actual NLP analysis of the article or talk page, having a view of the dynamics of the construction of the article would be quite interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> This submission managed to break four rules. (1) It rewrote the title ("One 11-story building is the smallest country in the world"); (2) the rewritten title was linkbait; (3) the rewritten title was false; (4) the article is garden-variety politics. The latter, admittedly, is disguised a bit, but you need only read the last sentence to see its point.

</comment><comment><USER16> Fantastic story. Reads like a sci-fi post-apocalyptic novel.

<comment><USER17> I was thinking of Stanislaw Lem's _Memoirs Found in a Bathtub_

        ...I couldn't seem to find the right room.  None of them had
        the number designated on my pass.  First I wound up at the
        Department of Verification, then the Department of
        Misinformation, then some clerk from the Pressure Section advised
        me to try level eight, but on level eight they ignored me,
        and later I got stuck in a crowd of military personnel -- the
        corridors rang with their vigorous marching back and forth,
        the slamming of doors, the clicking of heels

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Hmm I feel sorry to say that but... self-proclaimed by 2 activists 7th of April 2014...

The title is way miss-leading and should have said 11-story building "Trying to become" ...

Closer to the original articles title!</comment>


Apple Admits to Hardware Quality Problems with iPhone X, MacBook Pro - <AUTHOR> https://www.thurrott.com/apple/191172/apple-admits-to-hardware-quality-problems-with-iphone-x-macbook-pro <comment><USER3> I've had my iPhone X replaced once after the screen went mental - a bright green line randomly appeared on one side of the screen - now the replacement drops > 50% of all calls :-(

On the MacBook Pro front I've had the sticking keys issue on the left command, C, B, G and 3 keys - so took it in finally after being tortured by this for months - 1 week later and I called them to see what was going on and they said that the whole top piece needed to be replaced, but when taking out the motherboard they have snapped the thing in two.

Making these machines difficult to repair doesn't just effect end users it seems.

Still, I'm glad that Apple are still the sort of company that replace the whole machine in these situations. I'm sure there are bean counters who will be thinking making it harder to get things fixed is the solution though.

<comment><USER4> > but when taking out the motherboard they have snapped the thing in two.

Don't MacBooks have the SSD soldered onto the motherboard now, so motherboard damage == total data loss?

Edit: yep: [https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/11/touch-bar-mbp- teardo...](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/11/touch-bar-mbp-teardown- soldered-ssd-cosmetic-speaker-holes-and-more/)

If you're going to make something almost totally unrepairable, you'd better make it almost totally reliable as well.

<comment><USER5> Actually it doesn't need to be totally reliable. It just needs to fail at a rate which ensures the cost to apple to replace + refurb is less than the repair + the cost of building a 'repairable' device.

The market demands thinner laptops with amazing battery life. The market - <USER2> general - isn't demanding a more serviceable macbook.

<comment><USER6> > The market demands thinner laptops with amazing battery life. The market - > in general - isn't demanding a more serviceable macbook.

It doesn't. This is false. Noone cares about thin laptops. People want light laptops but thin is completely artifical and doesn't improve your experience.

One might say it was Jobs' plan to destroy the laptop industry with it and it worked.

<comment><USER7> If the tech specs were the same, which form factor do you prefer:

[https://i.imgur.com/dV7WHCD.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/dV7WHCD.jpg)

[https://cdn.vox- cdn.com/thumbor/kfOpFgAZ4kfdK8vNUNMOlKjuYwc=...](https://cdn.vox- cdn.com/thumbor/kfOpFgAZ4kfdK8vNUNMOlKjuYwc=/0x0:2040x1360/1920x0/filters:focal\(0x0:2040x1360\):no_upscale\(\)/cdn.vox- cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11733899/vpavic_180718_2757_0021.jpg)

I've owned both of these. They both have good specs for their time. The ThinkPad keyboard was wonderful. The trackpad of the MBP is wonderful but so is its size and shape. The ThinkPad was a brick.

You say no one cares about thin, but once you have seen the MBP, the ThinkPad is a hard sell. (Though you youngsters should try one of those keyboards to see what you missed).

<comment><USER8> I think this is a bit of a disingenuous comparison. That ThinkPad looks to be around the mid 1990s (maybe early 2000s?). Meanwhile, if you looked at a modern ThinkPad (regardless of your opinion on Lenovo as a company), the keyboard is still category-leading, the weight is almost identical to a MacBook in the same class, and the thickness likewise. Look at, say, the X1 Extreme.

Replaceable RAM and SSD. 4.06 pounds. The MBP 15" is 4.03 pounds.

Now, the keyboard definitely isn't as good as it was (RIP old keyboard, may you rest in peace), but it's definitely still very competitive.

<comment><USER9> Wow, the X1s have come a long way. Possibly the only non-Mac 15" with a tenkeyless right now.

<comment><USER10> X1 is 14". It's actually noticeably smaller than a MacBook Pro, other than thickness.

MacBook is actually really bad in the keyboard department when you consider that it's 15" \- it has tiny up/down arrows, and no PgUp/PgDown/Home/End. Which is a shame, since these all would easily fit if speakers went elsewhere, and the touchpad was just a wee bit smaller (I mean, seriously, does it really need to be bigger than a 6" smartphone?). For a productivity laptop, these are very weird trade-offs.

<comment><USER9> Thinkpad X1 Extreme is 15.6"

[https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/Thi...](https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/thinkpad-x/ThinkPad-X1-Extreme/p/22TP2TXX1E1)

<comment><USER10> Ah, I see, I was thinking about the regular one. Yeah, this one looks like it could have a numpad without reducing the key size, although it would be a very tight fit at the edges.

<comment><USER9> The thing is that I don't want a tenkey keyboard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've just had the keyboard recall done on my 2017 mbp after the J key started failing/duplicating when being pressed.

The whole process, although annoying, was painless. The tech gave me the option of them trying to fix it by blowing dust out or just replacing the entire keyboard. I elected for the later given that it's a design fault. The repair took 1 1/2 days which I had done when I was out of town.

Since they glue everything together, getting a new J key also meant a new keyboard, touch bar, finger print reader, speakers, battery and touch pad. Which if there was no recall I can imagine would be a costly exercise. Hopefully after the recent recalls Apple engineers will be looking at making easier to service components.

<comment><USER12> Does anyone know if the new 2018 MBPs are having keyboard failures, or did their "quieter keys" update fix the issues? It's very hard to find information on whether people have experienced problems since this summer - which might be a good thing! But anything definitive?

<comment><USER13> I bought the 2018 mbp on day 1, so far zero issues with the keyboard.

Not definitive by any means but its all I can offer up to go on. YMMV but thats true of all hardware.

<comment><USER14> Same. I have had a 2017 MBP for awhile, and have had zero issues with the keyboard. I assume it will fail at some point, but otherwise I like the keyboard.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> It feels like Apple is caught in the classic "innovator's dilemma" described in Christensen's book. Constantly being pushed to higher margin products by competition which is focused on the low end market. The problem is, at some point, the "low-end" products become good enough, causing a sudden loss of sales.

The way out is to come up with entirely new products, which Apple has done remarkably well before. I think it's high time they do so again.

I think the drive to create high margin products is making Apple gravitate towards pushing out technologies that differentiate them from the rest, such as the touch bar, or these keyboards. But it may not actually be better.

<comment><USER16> People have been saying that for at least 7 years - that Samsung would take over and kill Apple's margins.

He has been consistently wrong about the iPhone

[https://stratechery.com/2013/clayton-christensen-got- wrong/](https://stratechery.com/2013/clayton-christensen-got-wrong/)

He doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to the iPhone.

[https://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2007/06/28/clayton- christe...](https://jeremy.linuxquestions.org/2007/06/28/clayton-christensens- innovators-dilemma-says-iphone-will-fail/)

It looks like another case of "No Wireless. Less Space Than the Nomad. Lame".

<comment><USER15> Seven years is not that big of a timeline IMO. These changes happen over a couple or more decades. IBM is still around, but it's not really a leader anymore, is it?

I'm pretty sure there will be a sizable market for Apple products. It's just that they might lose the edge after some time.

<comment><USER16> He was wrong from day one and predicted that the iPhone wouldn't be successful when it was first introduced before it went on sell.

<comment><USER15> Yes, I'm not saying the person you quoted is correct with his failure predictions. But it sure seems that Apple is caught in the innovator's dilemma.

<comment><USER16> The person I quoted was the author of the "innovator's Dilemma".

The symptoms of it is new entrants coming in from below with "good enough" products that are cheaper. Forcing the market leader to lower prices. Apple has been headed in the opposite direction for years.

He also predicted that "modularity beats integration" as a market segment matures because you have more companies specializing in parts of the product and putting R&D behind it.

But look at what's happening in the phone market. Apple is consistently bringing out better processors than the rest of the industry. The operating systems are definitely not behind the competitors. By being tightly integrated for instance, they were able to tell developers to submit watch apps using bitcode (?) because they knew four years later they were going to introduce a 64 bit chip got the watch.

Another advantage you are seeing in the market because of integration vs. modularity is that Apple can push OS updates for all of its devices that have been introduced since 2013 in one day. The "modular" Android ecosystem, not so much.

<comment><USER17> The theory of innovator's dilemma ignores one of the fundamental issues in today's computing world. And that is software lock in. I think we are only just starting to see good enough products that are cheaper. Huawei, OnePlus, Xiaomi all have better software than Samsung, and arguably better design and hardware at similar price range as well. So it remains to be seen whether innovator's Dilemma as a theory is wrong. All the three companies are only just setting foot in Europe and need a few more years to play out in other parts of the world.

Another thing is that there has never been a company that sell premium products and got 20% of unit sales market share and even higher in usage shares. At least I am not aware of. Apple may very well be the only one in history. And the unit sales, combined with high margin has allowed them to constantly innovate. The original theory behind innovator's Dilemma never expected the innovator has such high margin and high sales.

And I think it is one reason why Wall Street has low valuing Apple Stock. They have never seen it, there are no case studies in all the text book.

<comment><USER16> There is really no software lock in. Very little money is spent on the traditional idea of buying apps. Most people are either paying for services that are available for both iOS and Android (Netflix, Hulu, etc) or are paying for consumables for games.

As far as purchased media, music has been sold DRM free on iTunes for almost a decade and you can transfer most of your purchased movies between iTunes, Google, Amazon, and Vudu using Movies Anywhere (completely legal).

Most consumers in the US don't pay for their phones. All of the carriers offer zero interest payment plans. The difference between a $300 phone on spread between 24 months and $1200 phone spread over 36 months (not a type. T-Mobile is offering 36 month financing on some high end phones) is a lot easier for people to stomache.

<comment><USER17> >There is really no software lock in

Tell that to average consumers. There are people who are even reluctant to upgrade their iPhone because they don't want to do Data Transfer. Let alone transferring to another system, say WhatsApp from or to Android. By far most people don't want to relearn what ever it is on a new system.

<comment><USER16> "Data transfer" for iOS is making sure your old phone is backed up and logging into your new phone with the same account.

Don't most apps like WhatsApp store your contacts on their server? I don't use WhatsApp but all of the chat apps I use do.

<comment><USER17> WhatsApp History, which no one wants to lose. iMessages History, which no one wants to lose.

It is actually easier for WhatsApp history to move from Android to iPhone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I went into an apple store and tried the new MacBook Pro — keyboard had keys that didn't work LOL. The Best demo I've ever had, really showcased the true issues I read about on these threads !

<comment><USER19> I was issued a 2016 MBP at work. (I do not purchase Apple hardware for my own use.) Within a few days, the TAB key was stuck.

<comment><USER20> I gues your company mandates spaces over tabs.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I've had my latest gen MBP (retina with touch bar, top spec'd) replaced twice, and on the latest replacement, the whole keyboard assembly - with whatever was attached to it - also replaced.

(Yes, I fully regret selling my previous gen MBP.)

Like another person on here said, these replacements & repairs hurt both the customer and the company.

I don't understand why Apple makes these drastic changes on major products without thorough, repeated, and lengthy QA processes.

What's happened?

<comment><USER22> It seems like their goal is accomplishing something difficult that can only be done economically by a large manufacturer operating at immense scale. It is a reasonable strategy to effectively create barriers to entry from competitors, and preserve the ability to earn relatively large profit margins.

There have been articles on Hacker News where people talked about it being extremely difficult for a hardware startup to do something as simple as achieving a uniform color to plastic components, or packaging their products in white cardboard like Apple.

One could argue that Apple is not accomplishing the goal of producing a premium product, but whether it is still a good strategy depends on a lot of numbers that are difficult to find. How much of the value of a MBP that is entirely replaced for the end consumer gets recycled back into the refurbished programs? 20%, 50%, 80%? What percentage of units have to be replaced? 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%? What is the margin on each unit sold? How much would fixed manufacturing costs increase if they retooled the entire line to revert to older style keyboards? How much is the damage to Apple's reputation costing them in dollar terms?

<comment><USER21> I find your "accomplishing something difficult that can only be done economically by a large manufacturer operating at immense scale" point very interesting.

Perhaps they should focus on building a reliable premium product rather than a premium product that suffers failures due to too many gadgets (too put it simply).

As far as what is a better strategy for them moving forward on their policy re: replacement & repairs, they're probably trying to figure out what to do right now based off your mentioned hidden numbers.

I hope they do the right thing by the customer, as many of us are heavily invested in their product line, in multiple ways.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I've invested heavily in the Apple ecosystem so it pains me to see these issues. It looks like my best bet is the Mac Mini and hook up higher quality externals. That or I'll just hope my 2013 MBP lasts long enough for a viable replacement option to appear.

<comment><USER24> _I've invested heavily in the Apple ecosystem so it pains me to see these issues._

Same here. I have a MacBook Pro 2016 with AppleCare, that I want to sell before the AppleCare runs out (with some margin) and definitely before the extended keyboard warranty deadline is in sight. I am worried that, since these generations are plagued by keyboard problems, the prices will drop quickly.

I used to buy a new MacBook every 1.5 to 2 years. However, I honestly do not know which model I would buy. I do not want a model with a touch bar (I don't like the touch bar and it is slightly expensive). The MacBook Pro escape wasn't refreshed, it still has the keyboard without the silicon membranes. And the new Air uses much less powerful CPUs. Even if I would go for the Pro with touch bar or Air, I would still be worried that the butterfly keyboard problems are not solved, just postponed.

I agree that the Mac Mini looks like the only reasonable machine, performance- wise and quality-wise. Of course, it's not that handy on the go ;).

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I wish I could pay 50% more for a laptop, so even if it's just less fast, 300% thicker, could still survive for 5 years without fainting.

It seems thinkpads or some other dell laptops (or other brands?) have some kind of military grade requirements so they can sustain not only punishments and mistreatments, but also not have those faulty gimmicks that are caused by fragile designs.

It's the difference between wanting a fancy sports car and a good old military vehicle. There are designs that are well thought out, and are just more reliable in the long term. I don't want shiny, performant cool object, I want things to work. Not aiming at apple in particular.

<comment><USER26> Panasonic (Toughbook), Dell (Latitude Rugged) and Getac all supply Milspec and milspec-ish laptops. I've owned several of these and in certain locales they're quite handy. Also, carrying just a laptop, which already has a carry handle, is lighter than carrying a 1 kg laptop in a soft briefcase. Since shock-proofed hard disk carriers are a bit bulkier than your regular 2.5" disk some of these laptops also have a good amount of stash space.

While more modern Thinkpads seem less physically robust than the old guard (Mg castings and all), even the physically low-end ones are still quite ok (e.g. the E485, which incidentally also has a Ryzen CPU).

<comment><USER27> Some videos show people abusing toughbooks, it's weirdly amazing what they can endure.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Huh. My iPhone X failed that way a week and a half ago.

They can't repair it until "Find My iPhone" is turned off." Do you know how much fun it was to turn it off while my phone was sporadic in what it responded to?

<comment><USER29> I thought if you logged into iCloud and deleted the phone from your account it was the same. Do you know if that's true?

<comment><USER30> It may ask you to use your phone to log in or may take hours to log in.

<comment><USER29> Why would it take so long to log in?

<comment><USER30> I kept trying to login from my mac to find my lost iPhone but the connection would repeatedly time out. The same thing is happening right now to my new iPhone. It may be that there is congestion because Apple is not provisioning enough iCloud servers for unpaid users in my region.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> About time Apple recognized this issue with the iPhone X. We've been replacing iPhone X displays nonstop for months due to this issue and the troubleshooting process to have Apple cover it has been a huge pain.

</comment><comment><USER32> My car also had an issue and I had to bring it in for a part to be replaced.

Why is it so special when this happens for a major hardware vendor like Apple? Is the expectation that hardware has no bugs? Is that realistic?

<comment><USER33> It's big news when car manufacturers do major recalls too

<comment><USER27> smartphone screns and batteries are main parts of the device, it's as if engine or frame failed in the first year..

<comment><USER34> Major recalls have been far more catastrophic for automakers. No one dies because their screen has defective pixels.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I'm waiting for the EU to finally pass regulations that require a certain level of repairability for electronics. Modern iPhones are almost impossible to take apart and I don't understand how that's okay from any point of view other than profitability. It's such a massive waste of resources on one-use devices.

<comment><USER36> They last far longer than Android devices, and in part this is due to their construction. They are both refurbished and resold and finally also now almost completely recycled by Apple.

There is no 'massive waste of resources' and they are not one-use, and from an environmental perspective they are far lower impact than their 'repairable' alternatives, which in practice are rarely actually repaired.

Any legislation that mandates repairability would be a catastrophic environmental disaster.

<comment><USER37> I thnk parent is including laptops.

Those last far longer, are rarely resold, and would need to be more repairable in general.

<comment><USER36> The parent explicit talks about iPhones.

Even so, the same logic must be examined. It cannot be assumed that electronics designed for repairability have a lower environmental impact.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Now if they would just admit the Intel modem in the iPhone Xs is garbage.

<comment><USER39> i'm curious : what kind of things are you doing with your phone to determine that the modem is garbage ??

<comment><USER40> Not the op, but in NYC walking in and out of the subways is annoying... takes the phone sometimes a minute to re-connect to the cell network. In prior phones w/Qualcomm modems the experience was much faster.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> With the Time Capsule being discontinued, how does the average MacBook user make a backup? Remembering to plug into USB doesn't seem very reliable.

<comment><USER42> I think you can plug a drive into an Airport over USB, though I'm not sure if this setup fully replicates TC functionality.

<comment><USER41> Yes there is samba support in the latest version too. This is not a solution for "every Macbook customer" though.

<comment><USER42> Because of complexity to set up, or because of cost? Given how pricey the TCs were, I'd think that buying an external drive would actually be cheaper.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Great news that Apple is finally admitting what's been common knowledge and the butt of many jokes in the Mac community.

Armed with this knowledge I'm going to wait till my company gets decent stock of the 2018 MB Airs then report my reproducible but not urgent issue on my current 2017 MBP.

</comment><comment><USER44> Oh, it took them 2 years (and God only knows how many laptops with related frustration).

Better late than never, I guess.

<comment><USER45> Longer than that. The random battery shutdowns started with the iPhone 7.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> Is there some semi-official reason why they are (intentionally?) making them less repairable?

<comment><USER47> I wish I had the link. A few years back the argument was they could make things slimmer with integrated components. Apple wanted everything to be slim. That was their differentiation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> A year after iPhone X went on sale, they admit to a problem? And 1 more year before their performance throttling kills the usability if this model

What if they delayed admission to reduce repair costs, and minimize brand damage? I don't trust them to be transparent, I hope regulators are watching this pattern.

<comment><USER49> Some issues might take a while to show up I guess.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> Is the new Air a safe bet? I'm looking to buy before the end of the year. Does anyone know or suspect whether Apple has or has not fixed their hardware problems?

<comment><USER51> Folks aren't complaining about the keyboards anywhere close to as much as they were a year ago.

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> Are the newest macbook pro problematic?

</comment><comment><USER53> I wonder whether hardware is already so complex that reliability is impossible since devices can't even be fully understood.

Maybe we need to give up on designing (deterministic) things and have them evolve instead.

</comment><comment><USER54> Louis Rossmann, a highly respected and well-known unauthorized Apple repairman in Manhattan, NYC, explains the problems with Apple product engineering: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaJ8pDlxi8)

<comment><USER55> I've seen this one. The video in the link above has the name "The horrible truth about Apple's repeated engineering failures." Rossmann's dislike of Apple comes through, but he gives verifiable facts and, in my opinion, makes a really convincing case that Apple engineers hardware with poor reliability, falling short of matching industry quality and engineering standards (while, of course, charging more.)

As for my own thoughts on how they do this, they really create a premium look and feel, which sells products. Less visible aspects take time to come to light, and you have the opportunity to put some spin on it and obfuscate numbers. Obviously, it works amazingly well in practice.

When people say "you can't judge a book by its cover", I think having an ugly cover with good insides comes to mind first (perhaps because books have much more meat than the cover.) On the flip-side, you can have a great cover on bad insides.

In that video, Rossmann details some substandard first-party Apple refurbishing for issues, and how they time and place recalls, extended warranties, etc. for minimum impact to Apple at consumer expense. The facts, without Apple spin, laid out plainly, really show a manipulative, anti- consumer company with a completely contrary facade, in my opinion.

<comment><USER56> > Rossmann's dislike of Apple comes through, but he gives verifiable facts

No, he doesn't.

He is a liar.

<comment><USER55> Any specific examples?

<comment><USER56> Yes.

How many do you want?

Here, he said that Apple puts a chip to break MacBooks after 3 years.

[https://youtu.be/1AcEt073Uds?t=1m](https://youtu.be/1AcEt073Uds?t=1m)

Here, he says that "Apple" (actually a Customs office) sent a letter to him to pay for batteries that were legitimate, later, on Reddit, he admitted he bought fake batteries from China that had Apple logos (and therefore, should be, as they did) caught by the customs (because saying otherwise would get him in jail), his friends at Reddit, deleted the comments, but there are still copies of what he said:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9pow06/louis_rossman...](https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/9pow06/louis_rossmann_admits_to_using_parts_from_a/)

Also, in his video, he says that Apple makes products "vintage" or "obsolete" after 4 or 5 years.

The newest "vintage" Apple product in late 2018, is from 2011:

[https://support.apple.com/HT201624](https://support.apple.com/HT201624)

<comment><USER54> Chinese sellers are often unscrupulous and liars. Louis Rossmann instructed the sellers to remove the logo and they did not, as they could not care less about spending effort doing what the customers wants since it means they won't make more money. Yes, they are that short sighted. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXXQnyWRSSg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXXQnyWRSSg)

<comment><USER56> Chinese sellers know what their costumers want. And that is an Apple logo, so third party repairmen can say it's genuine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> The keyboard problem doesn't make the whole computer unusable, as is claimed by the article. It makes the keyboard unusable -- that is, a person can still connect a USB keyboard.

<comment><USER58> I went through two MBPs with this issue. Yes, you can technically just keep mashing keys over and over until they stick and/or delete the 2+ instances of the character each time it finally types, or you could technically hook up an external keyboard for the laptop, but... both "solutions" are pretty much showstoppers for a laptop. The issue did make my computer unusable and I was unable to work on it.

Side note: I dropped from 110+ WPM to ~20 WPM because I had three keys with this issue and had to spent 5+ seconds every time I tried any of those keys. The worst part is sometimes it wouldn't register the key and sometimes it would register it on the first try but type the character several times repeatedly. It was literally hell.

<comment><USER59> Product idea: Key debouncer, a program that listens to key presses and corrects input. If a character was repeated within x milliseconds, it reduces the input to a single instances of the character. Ideally it debounces the input before any key events are passed on to other programs.

<comment><USER58> Throw on the capability to also detect if a word is missing a character that was typed but not registered and I think you're positioned well for an eventual Apple acquisition.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Readdu – an RSS reader with Markdown (major overhaul) - <AUTHOR> https://readdu.com/ <comment><USER2> > an RSS reader with Markdown

I am not sure what this means. Why would I need markdown in an RSS reader?

Reading on the page itself, it seems like the feeds are in plain text with ability to create headers? Is that what the markdown is for here?

And is that the iOS linen I see? Makes the design feel a bit dated.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, Markdown is used for organising feeds: grouping them under headers which later appear as navigation in the main feed.

Linen is now retro 8-)</comment></comment>


The Tuesday Birthday Problem - <AUTHOR> http://alexbellos.com/?p=725

<comment><USER2> Python 2.6.4 (r264:75821M, Oct 27 2009, 19:48:32)

      >>> from itertools import product
      >>> twokids = product('B G'.split(), 'M Tu W Th Fr St Sn'.split(), repeat=2)
      >>> boytues = [t for t in twokids if t[:2]==('B', 'Tu') or t[2:]==('B', 'Tu')]
      >>> twoboys = [t for t in boytues if t[0] == t[2] == 'B']
      >>> len(twoboys)
      13
      >>> len(boytues)
      27

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> For further discussion by Stanford's Keith Devlin, see <http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_04_10.html>

Author John Allen Paulos nicely clarifies the intuition behind the solution here: <http://twitter.com/JohnAllenPaulos/status/11699672607></comment>


Ask HN: Why all the aviation-related articles appearing so suddenly? - <AUTHOR>

Not being a downer. I love aviation, but it's so uncharacteristic of HN to be filled with 3, 4, maybe even 5 on a good day aviation-related articles for the past several days.<p>Any reason behind this, or can we expect more exciting aviation-related news on the site? <comment><USER2> The reason is that Hacker News doesn't have an editor, and no formal editorial voice. Instead, HN crowdsources what would be the editor's duties at a traditional publication, to whoever is reading HN at any given moment.

So, right at this moment, the majority of HN readers are into aviation.

The result of this editorial crowdsourcing is something like talking to someone with a personality disorder, as the "tone" of the site shifts without warning. So today we're seeing lots of enthusiasm for aviation stories, but we could see the exact opposite in the near future.

(If you're interested in the dynamics of online communities, have a look at Clay Shirky's writing, in particular "A group is its own worst enemy" (2003) [http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html](http://www.shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html))

</comment><comment><USER3> I think what it comes down to is that most of the HN community are engineers who can appreciate the low-fault tolerance nature of aviation and understanding how failures occur. Additionally, there are so many systems involved in a safe flight that there is something for everyone.

</comment><comment><USER4> "Any reason behind this, or can we expect more exciting aviation-related news on the site?"

Well....[http://www.bbc.com/news/world- asia-26492748](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26492748)</comment>


City of Barcelona Kicks Out Microsoft in Favor of Linux and Open Source - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/7pva50/city_of_barcelona_kicks_out_microsoft_in_favor_of/ <comment><USER2> I could have sworn I've heard this story before in Germany. It didn't work out:

[https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-pioneer-munich- po...](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-pioneer-munich-poised-to- ditch-open-source-and-return-to-windows/)</comment>


One Math Museum, Many Variables - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/science/28math.html?hpw

<comment><USER2> MoMath is running a monthly series of lectures to get people interested and engaged with math in the build up to the opening. They've had audiences of over 200 at some events.

I'm doing the one in December.</comment>


'Mob Mentality' Destroyed SOPA, Says Viacom CEO - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2012/01/31/sopa-viacom-ceo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher <comment><USER2> 'Elistist, Aristocratic Mentality Created SOPA' says everyone else.

Gee, these CxO people are really getting too big for their britches, as the midwestern USA metaphor goes. Maybe the "Occupy" people have a few good points after all.</comment>


XFS: The Enterprise File System of Choice - <AUTHOR> https://www.suse.com/communities/conversations/xfs-the-file-system-of-choice/ <comment><USER2> Could we add a "(2013)" to the title?

Also, can anyone speak to the current state of affairs with respect to ext4, xfs, and btrfs? I'd love to hear about the tooling and code quality in these file systems from an informed (and recent) point of view. Has Redhat been putting out fires since the switch? Did it go unnoticed? Are there measurable performance and/or reliability gains?

</comment><comment><USER3> XFS would be perfect if there was a way to disable delayed allocation. Has that changed recently? I still use it on a number of machines because it tends to work better with large volumes. But that hasn't kept me from losing data with it, repeatedly. Of course I've lost data with lots of other linux file systems too, so in that regard it isn't much worse. These days if I really think the data is important I still use a bunch of little ext3 partitions with data=journal, barrier=1 and all the disk caches set to write through mode.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocate-on- flush](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allocate-on-flush)

</comment><comment><USER4> xfs is my first choice for data loss. Poweroff in suspend and the root fs was bricked, twice. Never ever again.

<comment><USER2> Do you know what kernel version you were running?

Was this years ago, or more recently?

<comment><USER4> Last try was in maybe ~2012.

I learned from a collegue that if the hard drive implements barriers incorrectly, this can cause easy XFS corruptions. Maybe this was the reason, especially SSD firmwares are very complex these days...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> XFS is a good choice if you want to build crash resistant applications: [https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi14/technical- sessions/...](https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi14/technical- sessions/presentation/pillai)

(check out the slides, especially slide 40)

</comment><comment><USER6> XFS better than EXT4 because EXT4 needs fsync()? XFS needs fsync too or you'll end up with data files full of zeroes.

It happened to me.

</comment><comment><USER7> ..no actual content besides "We at SuSE have been doing this for aaaaaaaages"...

</comment><comment><USER8> BTRFS is an excellent filesystem and imho more advanced than xfs.

<comment><USER9> It doesn't matter how advanced your filesystem is if it's going to silently lose data. The stability of btrfs is a running joke among filesystem developers.[1]

[1] [https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Stability_...](https://btrfs.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page#Stability_status)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I thought NTFS and ZFS are the enterprise filesystems of choice? We merely tolerate others. That has been my experience over the last 15 years or so.

<comment><USER11> NTFS because you have to, ZFS has a little restriction on it that makes it difficult to be 'of choice' and EXT4 needs to go away for huge volumes.

Linux with a huge volume? Use XFS.

<comment><USER12> i recall XFS had some serious corruption issues if a failure happens when not on a UPS (or the UPS fails catastastrophically). Has this been dealt with ?

<comment><USER13> Yes, it had but that bug was fixed like 10 years ago. Stop spreading FUD.

<comment><USER10> Possibly fixed. I've had one incident of an XFS filesystem refuse to mount after it replayed the journal after a power outage. xfs_repair worked but I shouldn't have to piss around in single user mode in 2015.

Kit was a HP DL380p, SmartArray 420i SAS array, CentOS 7 about 3 months ago.

Outage caused by a large UPS explosion that took out 100 machines. No NTFS or ext3/4 trouble at all.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>