Younited - all your content 100% alive - <AUTHOR> http://www.younited.com <comment><USER2> I've been using a Dropbox alternative for years: [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_dav.html](http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_dav.html)

<comment><USER3> Can you please elaborate a little bit more on the key similarities/differences/drawbacks between Dropbox and a home-hosted DAV server? Thanks

<comment><USER2> Drawback: You have to control your own data. Advantage: You have control of your own data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> There's a bit more information available via a Finnish tabloid Iltalehti [1]:

1\. It's based on a freemium model where you get 5 Gb of space for free and pay for more space/features.

2\. The service is hosted in two different cities in Finland.

3\. They use 256bit AES encryption

4\. Other services include automatic malware scan of content (no clarification if this is done at the client end or at the server).

[1] [http://www.iltasanomat.fi/digi/art-1288604696795.html](http://www.iltasanomat.fi/digi/art-1288604696795.html)

<comment><USER4> How do you automatically scan for malware in AES-256 encrypted files?

I am asking because Deutsche Post is offering something they call "E-PostBrief", which is seemingly encrypted but features a mandatory man-in- the-middle attack which is called 'malware scanner'. It's a joke honestly.

<comment><USER5> how do scanners normally work? i would have thought simple ones check hashes. if so, it's no different...

<comment><USER6> If the files are encrypted w/ aes, there's no scanner that could detect a virus in the file. Every file would be different depending on the AES key used to encrypt it.

The only way you're going to scan aes encrypted files is before they are encrypted.

<comment><USER5> ugh - that was stupid of me. sorry you're completely right.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Hmm.. that's nice, but I don't care, this NSA/GCHQ nonsense has burnt me for cloud computing, sorry.

What needs to happen is that the market heavily punish, and legal teams sue back into the stone age, those companies that collaborated. Then we need some legal structure in place that is a little more than "we promise we won't screw you".

It doesn't matter that this lot are based in Finland, because unless there is a heavy price for collaboration, the second they get big, the government of [insert jurisdiction here] will pressure them to turn data over and there will be little incentive to push back.

<comment><USER8> We need cloud-like tools, but we need them to be open source and secure. The question is, can you trust that data stored on an online service is as secure as you're led to believe?

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> F-Secure have been selling locked down rebranded dropbox clones for some time now; it's a little ironic to be all 'we believe in freedom' suddenly.

(For example, a typical custom client would let you 'backup' your content from one device to the the cloud. No sharing, no multi-device sync, can't backup those video files because those might be infringing some kind of copyright).

<comment><USER10> How is it ironic?

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I guess I should add them to the [https://starthq.com](https://starthq.com) SaaS directory now. Funny that both the StartHQ story ([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6475451](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6475451)) and F-Secure announcement are on the front page at the same time.

Disclaimer: F-Secure sponsored HelsinkiJS which I run & I demoed StartHQ cloud search there a month ago - it's nice to have a tight community here in Finland.

PS. It's also nice to see something other than mobile games coming out of here.

</comment><comment><USER12> Nothing new really, without more details it's really just dropbox/drive/etc but hosted in Finland. The only file sync that actually looks interesting to me is btsync, mostly because it is on your own devices only and it used the Bittorrent for file transfers, something I know from personal experience is very efficient.

</comment><comment><USER13> Where's the linux client?

<comment><USER14> There's none. Welcome to the world of bullshit. Dropbox all the way.

<comment><USER13> Personally, I prefer SpiderOak. It's secure, and it works on all my devices.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I like the idea. I like the idea that the app is device agnostic. I especially like the idea that the data is private.

However I can't see any information to back the privacy claim:

\- Is the data encrypted on the client so that F-Secure (and the NSA / GCHQ / <Insert Orwellian agency here>) cannot access my data?

\- Are the servers outside the United States?

\- Is the corporation outside the United States?

I'm guessing the answer to all the above questions is 'no'.

<comment><USER16> On the bottom of the front page, they somewhat answer your second and third question.

> _Younited is created and hosted by F-Secure in Finland. We believe in > people's right to privacy. No spying. No backdoors._

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> That video is awful. Other than some ballons with the Apple and Android logos on and a very vague voice over it could have been for anything.

They should have gone with the cute little "hand drawn" diagrams/animations that have been quite popular over the past few years. At least that way they can show me what this service does.

</comment><comment><USER18> What's wrong with Dropbox, and in which way this is an "alternative"..

Or is the fact they made a dubsteppy video of young people dressed funny performing weird contortions going to make me sign up ?

I fail to see the problem there is to solve here. It also presupposes other services aren't secure (no back-doors, etc...).

<comment><USER19> Well, not being under US jurisdiction helps a bunch. Finland has no (publicly known) questionable ties to US based or other intelligence services.

The problem, of course, is that the international data cables to/from Finland go through Russia and Sweden. The former probably has no legal obstacles inspecting all web traffic and the latter is a known partner with the US/NSA in data inspection/gathering.

I think there is a huge opportunity for a more secure cloud storage application with stringent design that provides no access to the data to the organization providing the service. Unfortunately F-Secure did not implement this, but instead created a service that provides 'automatic virus inspection for your files'. That is just too close to 'automatic general inspection of your files' for my taste.

<comment><USER18> I hear you. Personally, I don't need "automatic virus inspection' of my files. I know what I'm uploading. I'm the first person I think about sharing my files with. Most of what I keep is thesis related (documentation, code, articles, etc...). I store files on Dropbox, and e-mail myself thoughts I have not to forget, links, etc.. I used to e-mail myself files, too, but Db took care of it.

Maybe I fail to see the benefit since I don't have an iPhone and I'm not on iTunes.. And even then, isn't there a Dropbox mobile app ?

I might be just not getting it.

<comment><USER20> The mobile Dropbox client doesn't sync AFAIK, it just gives you the ability to browse and download your files.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> No pricing? Not gonna waste my time giving my email address...

Does not having any pricing info turn anyone else away too? Does anyone know what their pricing is like?

</comment><comment><USER22> So the solution to multiple incompatible cloud storage providers is... to introduce another cloud storage provider?

<comment><USER23> obligatory xkcd - [http://xkcd.com/927/](http://xkcd.com/927/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> "We welcome other clouds."

Does anyone else loath the overuse/misuse of "cloud" by marketing departments?

<comment><USER18> Buzz-words and graphic design is like alcohol and barbiturates. Soon, someone will coin the expression "cloud measuring contest" and you'll actually hear people say "My cloud's better than yours".

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> It's ownCloud, but SaaS. Wait... That _IS_ Dropbox.

</comment><comment><USER26> At least they are using font very similar to Comic Sans.</comment>


The Design of C++, lecture by Djarne Stroustrup (1994) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69edOm889V4 <comment><USER2> That's Bjarne Stroustrup, with a "B".</comment>


How to disable right click on images using jQuery - <AUTHOR> http://geek.akhil.me/tutorial/2012/how-to-disable-right-click-on-images-using-jquery/ <comment><USER3> Interesting - the context menu event fires but the menu still displays for me in current FF on Kubuntu.

You can just save the page or use 'view page info' to get the image anyway - <USER2> non-programmer who was a heavy browser user would probably realise that IMO even if they didn't know how to turn off js.</comment>


Key Management with Vault at BrowserStack - <AUTHOR> https://www.browserstack.com/blog/key-management-vault-browserstack/ <comment><AUTHOR> We introduced Vault at Browserstack and I wanted to share my experience.

This is my first blog post. Feedback appreciated :D</comment>


How It Feels to Learn ClojureScript in 2016 - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/degree9/how-it-feels-to-learn-clojurescript-in-2016-1372ed894ab5#.qtzbm3qdr <comment><USER2> We need more articles like that. Thank you.

It makes me sad when people turn down Clojurescript because of prejudice against parentheses. This wonderful language amazes me every single day. I don't even think anymore (like I used to) how painful it would've been have I had to use a different language. I am so happy I bet my career on it and quit my very well paid job for the sake of writing Clojure. BTW, that decision came right after ClojureRemote 2016. Right after the conference, the next day I walked into the office and told my boss that I'm leaving.

> and you don't need types

This is quite inflammatory statement. Types and type systems are important. However Clojure now offers something that no type system can do - Clojure.spec. Too bad - there's no mentioning of Spec in the article.</comment>


Ask HN : Name for a geeky newsletter ? - <AUTHOR> Hi guys,
I'm Mathieu, passionated about web technologies. I am planning to create a daily newsletter, dedicated to web subjects and tech products. From new tools to design subjects, life hacks, fun, etc...
I'm struggling to find inspiration about the name of the newsletter (for now it's ... Newsletter) and also the design.
Any idea regarding both topics would be perfect. The actual look of the newsletter is here:
http://webep.fr/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-2017-08-09-at-12.16.01.png
thanks fo your inputs ! <comment><USER2> Don't discount the appeal of foreign language terminology to native English speakers.

For example:

"Urawaza", which is a Japanese word for life hacks. Or "wabi sabi," a kind of organic design aesthetic.

In Danish the concept of "Hygge" or Scandinavian coziness through small pleasures definitely got some traction.

There's probably tons of French and Parisian slang you use everyday and take for granted that would make fine brand names. I always like the way people use the word "Mec" on the streets of Paris, loosely translated as "Dude" in popular American parlance. "Zarb" is another good one. "Fric", "Gnac", "Kif", etc.

Bonne chance!

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice idea ! I'll explore this direction, definitely ! merci beaucoup

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I would say you should use domain hack to make the whole name become more nature.

You shouldn't have to worry too much about the name. Just pick something related to your field and add `weekly` into it. Example:

[https://rubyweekly.com](https://rubyweekly.com) [https://cron.weekyly](https://cron.weekyly)

or my own: [https://betterdev.link](https://betterdev.link)

What I learn is that content is the most matter. Design wasn't too important in a news letter. Just keep them simple and clean, even a simple email links are all they need. As long as content is good.

You should put more effort into curating content.

</comment><comment><USER4> If its for geeks, your design won't matter, content will matter. Unless you plan on covering news about design, in which case you will get feedback from designers :)

What will differentiate you from other web/geek news sources? Maybe your name can be discovered in figuring that out.

Some names:

* GET News

* The /index

* Blinking Lights (looked at my router - there's always something being transmitted)

Try writing 30 days of content first before doing it, circulate it to friends that would be interested. Writing daily content will take a lot of work.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll do ! but the point is that I have nothing to write except some excerpts _ I owned a blog and don't have time for this anymore

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Mathieu's Newsletter.

Want it shorter and easier for people to pronounce? Mat's Newsletter.

It worked for Craig's List. And it has the benefit of allowing you to do whatever you want with it, even pivot it. If you give it an overly specific name, this makes it harder to let it develop organically in whatever direction happens to work best.

</comment><comment><USER6> Web Subjects and Tech Products...

Caught in the Web, Spun, Tech Spin, Tech Spun, New from the Web

</comment><comment><USER7> Mathieu would be a good name for the newsletter! (Because Math-ieu)

</comment><comment><USER8> daily stdout, stdout daily, stdout times, stdout post, ... yeah i know. i'm suck at naming things.

<comment><AUTHOR> definitely yes :) thanks for the ideas anyway ! a bit too programmatic for me

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> You might spark some ideas using this:

[http://www.thesaurus.com/](http://www.thesaurus.com/)

</comment><comment><USER10> I'll take 1% for either:

Null Pointers

Broken Constraints

</comment><comment><USER11> Garbage Collection</comment>


Ask HN: What platforms/sites are focused on sharing ideas with other people? - <AUTHOR> Have you been using or used any platform which is completely focused on sharing your ideas with other people? Trying to research a bit. :) <comment><USER2> You need to narrow your definition of an "idea", because what you're describing is the internet in the broadest context... essentially distributed nodes of information / ideas.

Anyway. Google Scholar is good, I loove Quora, TED to name a few.

<comment><AUTHOR> Definition of "idea" here means - any intelligent thought/opinion about any particular field. But much more focused on yours "idea" and a collection of those ideas at one place. It could also work as a very valuable portfolio (of ideas) apart from your CV. Even though, execution is the key; ideas are also worth something. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm not sure exactly what a platform completely focused on sharing ideas is. I mean I share ideas on the internet, Facebook, HN.

<comment><AUTHOR> HN and Twitter (sometimes) seem appropriate to share ideas. But Facebook and other such platforms doesn't appeal to me as it need not always have the right audience. Hence building Meraki with the right kind of user-base who would be interested into sharing and also in knowing more about others' ideas about product, world, politics, and many other areas. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Are you asking something along the lines of ShowHN and Product Hunt?</comment>


Rectrocausality? - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2017-07-physicists-retrocausal-quantum-theory-future.html <comment><AUTHOR> It seems to be an intriguing and certainly controversial article ...</comment>


Pixels Don't Care (2013) - <AUTHOR> http://warpspire.com/posts/pixels-dont-care <comment><USER2> As an amateur programmer and a part-time freelancer, I didn't have a slightest clue about the value of my work. It was only 5-6 years back when I gladly did small gigs on Want-to-Hire forums for tens of dollars.

One particular gig was about scrapping data from a car sales website which I completed for $30 (should have cost at least 10x). The client discussed about the possibility of converting the phone numbers, which were obfuscated as plain images, to plain text. Without ado, I fired up my editor to explore the problem. It proved to atrociously difficult as I didn't have any background in anything similar but with the help from my brother, I was able to make a scrappy algorithm that worked.

I reported back my progress and asked for additional $25 for it but the client refused, saying that he hadn't given his final say. I was dejected but felt foolish more than anything else. Looking back, I can't help think how anyone would pain in giving something as meagre as $25 (at least, for someone in United States) for a someone's hard work.

If there is one thing I can glean from my story and author's is that businesses, at least most of them, are ruthless. It doesn't matter who runs them, it's just an unspoken rule that you don't give what you don't owe. You don't shower sympathy or, do things that aren't in business' best interest (long term / short term). The only thing you can—and should—do is be ruthless yourself. Negotiate for more confidently. Move on if you're undervalued. Never think of owing anything to any entity.

<comment><USER3> Whilst I've probably been in a similar situation at some point or another in my past (albeit in the UK), and can very much sympathise with your story, I can't possibly agree with your final premise.

Ruthlessness is not what makes for a happy work life.

You absolutely should call out the thankless and unappreciative! Perhaps they really are just poorly informed about how long things take or the knowledge that makes it possible (however unlikely)... that's still no excuse.

And to "treat others as they treat you" is a slippery slope that can quickly get you a bad reputation.

Don't be afraid to do things differently, you will be happier for it.

<comment><USER4> Doing things differently has consistently given me more and better opportunities than ruthlessness. In a way it makes me stand out from the crowd. I tend to be asked to lead teams with poor morale or interpersonal tensions. Usually I'm able to negotiate the power to be able to make the changes necessary for that team to perform better and have a better work experience. The company wins because the engineers perform better. The employees win because they have a better work experience.

In the cases where I am unable to negotiate such things I don't stick around. Any company that doesn't see the employee/employer relationship as a two way street is no company I want to work for.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The article is from 2013, the guy has gone to greener pastures since then, quite literally: he's "farming trees".[1]

[1] [https://mobile.twitter.com/kneath](https://mobile.twitter.com/kneath)

<comment><USER6> Interesting read from his blog: [http://warpspire.com/posts/next](http://warpspire.com/posts/next)

<comment><USER7> "Psychology, emotion, and interpersonal relationships play a far greater role in shaping policy than any objective fact. Unlike many, I don't see this as a problem or a bug. It's just how large groups of people make decisions. We are not robots. We're leaky bags of meat that have no inclination toward rationality."

Pretty insightful thinking there for a programmer, if you ask me. As a group, we tend to focus on rational facts and ignore the emotional aspects all too often. I also quite enjoy reading Kyle's struggle with how to find happiness and fulfillment. I absolutely love writing software, but after 30 years of it, I'm also struggling to find happiness in it. It is starting to feel more like an addiction than a fulfilling pursuit of life that will help me grow.

<comment><USER5> > It is starting to feel more like an addiction than a fulfilling pursuit of > life that will help me grow.

Exactly how I felt it. Addiction-driven development. I found a different purpose in life a few years ago (religiously inspired). I started investing time in other fields and in people, for example homeless people. The big (and not entirely unforeseen) disadvantage was that I felt that my knowledge was gradually aging, because I didn't keep up so well as before. This turned out not to be a problem after all, you don't need to be in the front lines all the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Just like in sports, you get paid more for what you have done vs what you could do.

Having a few really good pieces of work to show off is no guarantee that you'll consistently pump out good work, or that you haven't left clients high and dry before. Since a third party has no real way of gauging that except by your track record, they're taking more of a chance on someone with less of a track record. More risk means they need more reward, which means you get paid less.

Most of us COULD run a Fortune 500 company as well as the average CEO but we won't get the chance, nor compensation, until we have the experience.

<comment><USER9> I honestly do not think most of us could.

I hand out with three groups of people: geeks, hacks and lawyers. All of them often easily think they could easily do any other job. This includes the lawyers and journalists thinking that making software is easy. Based on that, I think we're as deluded as they are.

<comment><USER10> Agreed. I know that "fudiciary duty" is a thing, but not what it involves. There are laws about accounting standards, but I can't even say what standard accountants need to rech to know those standards. I only found put a year ago that, in the UK, the (director?) of a Limited company can become personally liable for company debts if they trade while insolvent.

Import and export laws? Nope. Which parts of an employment contract are enforceable? Nope. Minimum standards for office temperature, cleanliness, health and safety? Nope. How much unpaid overtime you can make your employees do, and how that intersects with minimum wage rules. Nope.

Copyright, trademark and patent laws I _think_ I get, but I don't know them inside-out.

<comment><USER11> But that's not what people mean when they say they could run a Fortune 500 company if given the chance. All of the things you list are things that are easily learned, the bigger question is whether in addition to that knowledge the CEOs of big companies have any particular character traits, unique skills or business insights or not.

<comment><USER12> Why do you think learning all of those things would be "easy"?

<comment><USER13> It depends on how you define "easy".

I have a feeling that if I took all the time and energy I've put into studying and working with computers my entire life and chose to put all that time and energy into studying and working with business concepts instead, I'd be able to run a business, possibly even a Fortune 500 one.

Alas I _didn 't_ spend all that time and energy on business, so I can't run a Fortune 500 company, but alternate universe me might.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> That's great Kyle. I once worked for a German laser company where promotions to the highest positions were based mainly on physical height.

<comment><USER15> Bloody hell. What? Did that company do well? Is sounds like this promotion scheme is a fast way to bankruptcy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've experienced this too, not the discrimination in work, but the realisation that on the internet no one cares about anything but your work.

I've been a part of a lot of different communities. Hell, when I was a kid in a MW2 clan on the internet, no one there cared about anything but skill in the game. In programming and hacking communities, no one cared about anything but skill either.

It's a brilliant place you know. On the internet, you can be whoever you want to be and it doesn't matter.

<comment><USER4> The flip side is that as soon as you become more than just pixels on a screen it can change in an instant. Just ask anyone who ever experienced being dox'd. As long as all you are is pixels on a screen it's great. As soon as you become more than pixels on a screen the story can change really fast. It turns out the pixels only influence people opinion of you when there is nothing else to base it on. I'm not so sure that's necessarily something to celebrate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> This sounds similar to a post of a blind programmer.

Those are good arguments for privacy.

Sometimes you got something to hide. Not a crime but because you don't want to be discriminated.

Sad that it has to be this way.

<comment><USER18> To me, this is the _main_ argument for privacy. When I hear people say "I've got nothing to hide, so I've got nothing to fear", I immediately think "Well aren't you lucky?"

Having nothing to hide is a privilege, but the weird thing about that mentality is that I think very few people _actually_ have that privilege. How many people, for example, would not be negatively impacted if the text conversations around their last relationship breakup were made public?

We all have vulnerabilities, and privacy is about choosing who we trust to know them. So anyone who believes that they have nothing to hide is either unaware of how dangerous the world is, or hasn't properly taken stock of what could be used against them, and how. Discrimination is one of the most common ways that your vulnerabilities can used against you, but it's not the only one.

<comment><USER19> I've thought about, and used, two possibly opposing, strategies to make life easier for others:

(a) Insist on privacy especially when you have "nothing to hide". I once refused to send a photo with an application (which is still a thing with the really slow-to-adapt companies in my country). I'm square in the majority in any characteristic a photo may reveal, but I was hoping to give some cover to those who don't want to give a photo for whatever reason, and fear being judged just for that.

(b): I'm rather careless with some information that others would be afraid to reveal, hoping to normalize it ever so slightly. There are still too many things that are really really common, but taboo to mention because nobody knows how common they are because it's taboo... Examples may be mental health issues, being bisexual/poly/etc.

Also, if you are in high regard and can afford it, you can do everyone a favour by rejecting certain common but harmful practices: Are you no longer productive at 4pm because you didn't sleep well? Go home!

<comment><USER20> > Also, if you are in high regard and can afford it, you can do everyone a > favour by rejecting certain common but harmful practices

While I agree, it's important that this is perceived as "this is how things should work" rather than "I'm high status so I can do this but you can't".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Talent and experience aren't the same thing, and they both affect compensation.

Talent can produce a better result than experience, but experience is almost always more consistent. There's added value in consistency for companies. That's not discrimination (ugh), it's a business reality.

<comment><USER22> Exactly this is why the client get's billed 20 times what Kyle earns.

It's just a lack of experience, if Kyle would man up and accept her place it would all work out.

BULLSHIT

<comment><USER23> They bill out 20x what he earns because they're not just billing for his time. They're billing for the time of the sales person who chased the lead, the time of the team who read the brief and developed the proposal, the time of the people who travelled to the client to deliver the presentation, the time of the secretary who handled the callback and the time of all the people who did all the same things the half a dozen other times where they DIDN'T get the contract.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Good for him. I had a similar experience. Had to slog it out at low wages long enough to have a real work history with recognizable clients.

He seems a little more bitter about it than I was. Trust is part of the game, and people just naturally, and subconsciously look for signals that you're the real deal.

<comment><USER25> I think he would benefit from putting a little more thought in to why people might judge someone very young as being responsible enough/capable enough/etc. It is not just, or even mostly, prejudice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> _For the first time in human history, its possible to be represented (almost) solely through the merits of your work._

Like anonymous works can't exist in the physical space?

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

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

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

</comment><comment><USER27> This reminds me of my early years - I started doing in web dev work in High School and was excited to be making more than minimum wage!

I started freelancing about halfway through college and quickly learned to hide the fact that I was a student, and my age in general. I recall one of my early clients that had a very distinct negative change in how he treated me after he learned that I was still in college.

I can't complain too much, though, most clients treated me well and I charged enough that I was able to graduate debt free.

</comment><comment><USER28> The author feels that his height counted against him, but did anyone actually say "sorry you're too short?". It would be strange client or employer who insisted on a tall developer while age I can accept is a factor for people out there, rightly or wrongly. I'm suggesting that it could be possible to project an inherent sensitivity about one's height onto a separate experience.

<comment><USER29> That may well be a factor in what's going on, but for whatever reason, there is evidence [1] of a height-based pay gap in hiring and compensation. We're seldom aware of our subconscious biases, but they still influence our actions all the time.

[1] [http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing.aspx](http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug04/standing.aspx)

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Pixels don't care, but businesses care a lot about who their vendors are. Specifically, business owners want to buy from companies that can provide more than a result.

They need to mitigate business risk so they look for vendors that will: 1\. Exist as long as their solution is being used 2\. Provide adequate support 3\. Are legally accountable for their products and services 4\. Have the proper processes in place for things like billing and invoices

Having raw talent is just part of the business puzzle. There are a lot of start-ups or freelancers that can "fake it until they make it" but it's because they really understand how a small business or corporation makes buying decisions.

</comment><comment><USER31> Sometimes I want to take interns from minorities and teach them both technical skills and the network to get a job through the Internet.

Them I remember taking them as interns is part of the discrimination; and they'll be better promoted in physical companies where they can invoke anti- discrimination laws, rather than being only promoted by their skills.

Then remains those who are really discriminated against: Those who are neither protected by being good-looking nor by the laws, like the (short) author.

Pixels don't care, but next time you read statistics about how white people are paid more than average, remember which side this guy falls on, now that he succeeded. The strange world of statistics.

</comment><comment><USER32> And this is why I think fulltime employment is the wrong way to go for many people today.

In fact the whole "we are an institution and you are a peon" mentality needs to be disrupted.

More companies should hire on a project basis and share the revenues. More companies should try holacracy and abolish a top down chain of command for everything.

Then people can really will be compensated on their merit, ie their contributions.

In our own company, I laid out how we do it [https://qbix.com/blog](https://qbix.com/blog) ... would welcome your thoughts.

<comment><USER33> To be honest, I don't like the Qbix Compensation Model. One reason to work for someone else is that they are taking the risk. Within reason, no matter what I do at work, I'll get paid the same at the end of the month. Yes, there is the risk the company could go out of business (a form of job security I guess), and yes, I would expect a fair annual review, but ultimately, I'm able to plan in the medium term for a consistent income.

<comment><USER32> Stability at the cost of autonomy breeds complacency, which is the opposite of OP's attitude. Presumably he lived with his parents. But he wants to be paid for his work commensurate with his contributions.

Means tested welfare has the same problems as full time employment: people are so used to that paycheck that they are afraid to do rock the boat and work on something meaningful in ther lives. They just drive the same truck every day, until they lose their job.

In fact, even Adam Smith proposed the free market as a way to achieve equality among men. Even socialist anarchists like Oscar Wilde were most incensed by the degrading nature of the employer-employee relationship.

You don't need this model for everyone. Just for those who are sick and tired of playing office politics and pretending to work 8 hour days becauss they finished in 2 hours and can't be seen doing anything productive for anyone else, since the company can sue them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> There's something wonderful to be gained by detaching from identities and considering only the work. Hard to do, but can be very empowering.

</comment><comment><USER35> Great story. I came upon my current job in a similar fashion, and I love it.

Can a mod change the title to read (2013) since this article is fairly old, though?

</comment><comment><USER36> Discussed at the time: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5130559](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5130559).

</comment><comment><USER37> I'm going to be downvoted for this.

While privacy is important, and a meritocracy is, well, meritocratic, these systems weren't formed overnight, and aren't even necessarily accepted as 'right' in many parts of the world. Historically, social barriers (e.g. discrimination against short people) are changed through exposure, discussion and sometimes fighting. Writing a post like this is only part of the answer. Taking the opportunity to understand the bias and discussing it with those who hold opposing viewpoints is another part of the answer.

Privacy is a right, don't use it as a crutch.

<comment><USER38> I don't understand what your point is. Is it that Kyle Neath should take a stronger role in the fight against (height/age/gender/race/....) discrimination? It is probably hard because if you are working full-time as a software dev, you don't have much time to also lead a social struggle.

<comment><USER37> Sorry, 2am haze. My point is that instead of accepting privacy as the answer to the discrimination issue, use the opportunity to make the case that this needs to be talked about. The post did part of the 'talking', but the conclusion negated this. I read it as 'we shouldn't be discriminated against, therefore let's not give them anything to discriminate against'. That's not how social change is brought about.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Just want to say, I appreciate this.

</comment><comment><USER40> Loved the post. I've been through something similar.

</comment><comment><USER41> Previously known as "on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog" [1].

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet%2C_nobody_know...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet%2C_nobody_knows_you're_a_dog)

<comment><USER42> In the IoT age: On the internet, nobody knows you're a fridge.

<comment><USER43> Conversely: anybody knows what's in your fridge better than you do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> Author here. Hacker News has long ago blacklisted/blackholed my domain (I am often critical of YCombinator's investment strategies), but the original post can be found on my blog [http://warpspire.com/posts/pixels-dont- care](http://warpspire.com/posts/pixels-dont-care) — with apostrophes!

<comment><USER45> I don't know the full backstory of why your domain was blacklisted, but if it's _only_ because of your criticism of YC, that sounds wrong and I'm sure the HN moderators will be happy to remove your domain from the blacklist.

Also, what is the #caboose channel on freenode about? I tried joining to see what it's about, but it looks like it's invite only.

<comment><USER44> Caboose was an invite-only group of rubyists interested in rails early on. At the time I joined it was a group of decent humans who would answer your questions, share their work, and banter about the rails ecosystem. I haven't idled there in a long time, so I can't say I know much about it's current makeup.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Was anyone else distracted by the lack of apostrophes?

I guess semantically they aren't necessary since there is no missing information but for some reason I found it distracting anyway.

<comment><USER47> I found the swearing more distracting, but then I'm apparently old- fashioned...

Rgds

Damon

<comment><USER48> Please don't sign your comments on Hacker News. It's against the site guidelines, and ultimately clutters the page.

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

<comment><USER49> I honestly thought it was a joke about being old fashioned.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> ... But we care about pixels. Particularly the few that make up apostrophes.

<comment><USER51> Read the original: [http://warpspire.com/posts/pixels-dont- care](http://warpspire.com/posts/pixels-dont-care)</comment></comment>


YouTube Content for Children Should Be Barred, Advocacy Groups Tell FTC - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-content-for-children-should-be-barred-advocacy-groups-tell-ftc-11561478754?mod=rsswn <comment><USER2> bring on the regulators of content. what could go wrong?</comment>


The first hostel in Chile which accepts bitcoin. And why it's important to spend - <AUTHOR> https://firstname.lastname@example.com/the-first-hostel-in-chile-which-accept-crypto-and-why-its-important-to-actually-spend-bitcoins-815b13419800 <comment><USER2> The main idea is that without 10000 BTC pizza, we wouldn't see the rise of Bitcoin — without earlier adopters of bitcoin for real business we won't see a decentralized revolution. Current early adopters are essential for the next generation projects. Like reliable decentrazlied e-cash</comment>


The open source intelligence revolution is coming – ex CIA spy - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/jun/19/open-source-revolution-conquer-one-percent-cia-spy

<comment><USER2> I think an analogy to alchemy is very apt in this situation. Prior to the scientific revolution alchemy was always practiced in secrecy. Techniques for finding out about the world were guild secrets and hidden away. Many early scientists would almost certainly have been classified as alchemists in their own times. With the advent of the scientific revolution (which in part necessitated a political change) the 'methods' of the alchemists could now be openly discussed and tested in public. How to measure or name something became a matter of open debate and experimentation, and the rest is history.

Gathering "intelligence" is no different than making any other measurement about the world, economists do it all the time. Right now intelligence agencies are operating in the alchemist mode, hoarding their methods and hiding them from view to protect themselves, in this case form inquisitions that might be led by various governments if they discovered how poorly vetted and reviewed some of these data collection techniques really were ("How do you know that eating this herb will make me better?" "Well...").

I think the argument made by Steele is spot on in the sense that as our world is now monstrously complex, we MUST subject our data gathering methodology to rigorous and public review or we will flounder. Not only that but if we take the analogy to alchemy seriously then perhaps we will see a revolution not unlike the one witnessed around about the latter half of the 1600s.

tl;dr Current intelligence agencies are alchemists and what we need more of is science.

</comment><comment><USER3> This is funny coming right after this: [http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/21/welcome-to- extremistan/](http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/21/welcome-to-extremistan/)

Technology is concentrating wealth, not spreading it.

Letting folks download some source code won't help; that's not where the value is.

<comment><AUTHOR> _Letting folks download some source code won 't help; that's not where the value is._

Did you read the article? It's less about open source _code_ than it is open source _intelligence_.

<comment><USER4> Did _you_ read the article? It's clearly about both, but more so I'd say it's mostly about the abstract observation that our world appears to rest at the cusp of great social change where decentralized systems with bottom-up, opt- in, democratic, geographically distributed qualities are about to usurp the balance of power from barrel-of-a-gun hierarchies such as the establishment US political / military intelligence community, which Steele pulls no punches in describing here as "working for Wall Street and the City of London". It's definitely worth reading the whole article again in depth if you missed this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Robert David Steele has been talking about the value of open source intelligence for many years, and has given several fascinating talks at hacker conferences.

Hackers on Planet Earth: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txugDFRVbeQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txugDFRVbeQ)

Gnomedex: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afb8H-1fcYU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afb8H-1fcYU)

<comment><USER6> In the first link he mentions that if we read one thing in our lives it should be _" philosophy and the social problem."_ (It is on my todo list, I haven't actually read it.)

[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42880/42880-h/42880-h.htm](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42880/42880-h/42880-h.htm)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Ok, what I got from that (and to be honest I didn't give it a close read, so its fair to say that this is completely wrong) was that the subject of this article, Robert David Steele (which strangely was the name I took for a fictional secret agent), is an avid reader but not a very discriminating one. And by that I mean there seems to be little in the way of systemic analysis of the validity of what he reads or in the application of various bits toward testable hypothesis in an effort to deduce what is real and what is fanciful. Almost a caricature of the Robert Redford character from "3 Days of the Condor."

</comment><comment><USER8> Just FIY, "Open Source" in spy-speak is not typically talking about software.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open- source_intelligence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_intelligence)

In other words the title is not about open source software revolutionizing intelligence agencies. It is about something else.

<comment><USER4> Actually it _is_ largely about that and applying the same principles to other areas of society, such as finance. The subject of the article, Robert David Steele, calls this _Open Source Everything_ and draws attention to the strength these disparate applications derive from cooperation: _The open source ecology is made up of a wide range of opens – open farm technology, open source software, open hardware, open networks, open money, open small business technology, open patents – to name just a few. The key point is that they must all develop together, otherwise the existing system will isolate them into ineffectiveness._

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> In this context "Open Source" means publicly available (as in published or broadcast), not some variant of copyleft.

</comment><comment><USER10> Since when did the opinions (half-baked ones in this case) of the CIA count for anything at the guardian?

It's interesting how as long as someone is saying something you want to hear is doesn't matter who they are but once they start saying thing you don't like you immediately want to attack the messenger. This is one of the many weaknesses of human thought.

<comment><USER5> Steele left the CIA quite some time ago, after his advocacy for open source intelligence gathering failed to gain any traction. He's specifically criticizing their methodology: "I'm a spy who's telling you that spying doesn't work."

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've seen this guy in person before. He's just a conspiracy nut. Do not give him any more attention than he deserves, which is zero.

</comment><comment><USER12> Commoditisation of everything is attempt to place markets / exchanges in the market and so introduce efficiencies in allocation of resources. This is hard to argue as a bad thing, and hard to argue as a recent thing too.

In an open source world an exchange is an excellent approach to openly finding a price for a commodity, and so the radicalism espoused might be more effective if it focused on improving intelligence about the world not blaming "finance" for something that is simply regulatory capture not evil plans

</comment><comment><USER13> It seems pretty obvious to me that capital can't continue to concentrate indefinitely. And there is a limit to what people will tolerate from those in power. Is this guy right and we are about at the limits and ready to make real changes? I don't know. But... interesting take on the situation.

</comment><comment><USER14> Can anyone suggest a less baity title?

Edit: we took out "it will conquer the 1%" and added "intelligence" to make it clear that he's not talking about software.

<comment><USER15> The article itself is very baity, but maybe something along the lines of "Ex- CIA officer suggests new intelligence sharing framework"?

IDK, I'm not even sure why OpenBTS gets a mention in there.</comment></comment>


My true advice after leaving my job in Strategy Consulting to build a Startup - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/swlh/my-true-advice-after-leaving-my-job-in-strategy-consulting-to-build-a-startup-43385df834d3 <comment><AUTHOR> This is the first article of the history of Arex. I will narrate every month our key steps, failures and successes in order to help other entrepreneurs.

I hope this helps founders and people thinking about launching a new business to avoid some of the pitfalls. I will keep on writing brief monthly recaps to bring our experience and help society build successful companies that create value.

In the future sections the rest of the Arex team will be invited to write and share their ideas (CEO/CTO/CMO's point of view, Investor point of view, Intern point of view, etc...).

Thank you for taking the time to read, and thank you to the Arex Real Estate Exchange team for all the hard work that you put into this family every day.</comment>


IPad Is First Computer 100-Year-Old Woman Bought - <AUTHOR> http://gizmodo.com/5522709/ipad-is-first-computer-100+year+old-woman-bought

<comment><USER2> That was incredibly charming, and a well-composed limerick to boot.

I spent the better part of a day once trying (and failing) to explain the difference between files, folders, documents, email messages, mailboxes, pictures, icons, programs, docked programs, etc., to an 80+ year old friend of the family. The ipad's emphasis on task-oriented, direct manipulation of data make for a much more straightforward metaphor: there's no cognitive distinction between the Pages document as browsed for object and real live document, no explicit saving or "saving as" or filing, no hat trick of intermediary representations between any one task and any other.

When friends ask me what's so great about the iPad, I can never think of a good answer. Usually I just show them the smule magic piano, which keeps them busy for a few minutes; the savvier ones say, "what, so it's just a toy for like two year olds?" For them, I'll keep this video waiting in the wings.

For all the promise of multitouch, everywhere-connectivity, 10 hour computing, etc., the best parts of the iPad are the things you can't see because they no longer exist.</comment>


Show HN: HAKARAN – Hacker News Rankings for story/show/ask, update once daily - <AUTHOR> https://www.hakaran.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, HN!

Hacker News is undoubtedly one of the most important social news sites for a person like me.

But, I'm too busy(or lazy) to check the site often enough and I miss trending stories, products, questions, and discussions.

That's why I made this, HAKARAN, Hacker News Rankings, on which you can browse the top rankings within day/week/month ranges for story/show/ask categories.

Let me know what you think;)</comment>


Set in Your Ways: Perl 6's Setty and Baggy Types - <AUTHOR> https://perl6advent.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/set-in-your-ways-perl-6s-setty-and-baggy-types/ <comment><USER2> Every Perl6 article I read makes it even less likely that I'll ever use it.

It's so ugly, with so many arcane things to remember, with so many weird naming conventions that just don't make any sense to me.

> We intersected two sets with the ∩, U+2229 INTERSECTION, intersection > operator and received a set that contains only the elements present in both > original sets.

I'm not against having built-in Unicode operators, but the non-Unicode version should be the name of the character. What's the non-Unicode version of "∩"? Obviously it's "(&)"! Good thing there are only 57 of them to remember!

I tried to enter "∩" just now in Emacs: (ctrl-x, 8, enter, i, n, t, tab, r, tab, s, e, c, tab). It would have been shorter to just type "intersection"... And why is that called the "Texas" version?

<comment><USER3> _What 's the non-Unicode version of "∩"? Obviously it's "(&)"!_

I find that pretty obvious, actually. After all

        A ∩ B = { x ∈ A & x ∈ B }

<comment><USER2> That at least explains where it comes from, but I'd still argue it won't be obvious to people at first.

And it's still kind of confusing. If the goal is to match math notation then wouldn't (^) or (+) make more sense?

        A ∩ B = { x ∈ A ∧ x ∈ B }

<comment><USER3> _If the goal is to match math notation then wouldn 't (^) or (+) make more sense?_

Not necessarily. & is the ASCII symbol associated with logical 'and' that most programming languages have settled on, including Perl6, so for internal consistency, it makes sense to use it. Also note that the ampersand, while pretty rare, is sometimes used for that purpose in mahematical notation ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logic_symbols](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_logic_symbols)).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4>
        say 42 ∈ <42  55  1>;   # False; ∈ operator cares about object identity

As an outsider, this seems like a huge gotcha. I suppose the weirdest thing (after reading some docs) is why < > quotation is used as a set literal here. Would something like

        say 42 ∈ (42, 55, 1);

work as expected? Or what would be the canonical way of writing an Int (not IntStr) set literal?

<comment><USER5> The angle brackets are explicitly string operators. So the set contains the string "42" but not the number 42. Perl does generally have different operators for strings vs numbers, so that's something you'd be used to thinking about already. Probably not a huge gotcha.

Edit: these things are weird though. [https://docs.perl6.org/type/IntStr](https://docs.perl6.org/type/IntStr)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I stared at

      .put for @wanted.combinations.grep: { $materials ≽ [⊎] |$^stuff-we-want };

and the preceding lines for some time, and then read the description, clicked through a few of the links on the different operators and read the explanations of those, and then I finally understood what was happening here. I worry, though, that at this point in my life I would either 1) never be able to remember all this stuff; 2) even if I could remember it, never be in a position where it would dawn on me that whatever I was trying to do was a good fit for it.

<comment><USER7> Yeah, as someone whose go to languages are C++, Scala and Ruby[1], it's awesome that Perl 6 does so much[2], but I think I'd have a hard time keeping track of it all.

[1] Meaning I like having lots of features in my toolbox.

[2] And, amazingly, Rakudo is a pretty compact executable compared to most other langs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I really like all the built-in functionality. As long as the doc is good I can live with the complexity.

<comment><USER9> Consistency of inconsistency would be nice. For example, I don't see why Set "values" should ever be exposed anywhere, since the semantics of the collection type don't include them. Seems like a great big gotcha waiting to happen.

<comment><USER10> _In general, [Perl operators] do what you want, unless you want consistency._ — man perlfunc (of Perl5)

<comment><USER9> I thought I remembered hearing part of the idea with Perl 6 was that there'd be _less_ of that. Apparently I have mistaken a forlorn hope for a vague memory.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> those hyper operators...

</comment><comment><USER12> One of the best punny titles I've ever heard. Well done. Really well done.</comment>


Uber Leans Toward Pricing Shares at Low End of Range - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-prepares-for-ipo-at-midpoint-of-target-range-or-lower-11557422774 <comment><USER2> The headline has changed to indicate Uber set price at $45 per share or $82 Billion.

</comment><comment><USER3> Anyone got a non-paywalled version?</comment>