Working remotely is hard - <AUTHOR> http://www.moishelettvin.com/2015/10/16/remotes/ <comment><USER2> Working remotely is excellent. 1.5 hours less commuting - that's more time to get work done or go to the gym or read the news. No one can come to my desk to socialize or ask a quick question to fuck up my flow. No one requiring me to arrive at an office at an arbitrarily early time. No dress code. No ad hoc meetings in the conference room. Listening to music I like aloud. All conf calls done on speaker. I'm home to receive any deliveries. I could go on.

<comment><USER3> Eating home cooked food fresh instead of microwaving it

<comment><USER4> And using your own private bathroom.

<comment><USER5> Forgot about that, it's wonderful to be able to use my own bathroom instead of thinking about which co-workers sat on the toilet before me or did they have a contagious disease, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm the CTO of 17hats. The entire engineering team works remotely. It's not as challenging as you seem to suggest. Right now is the best time ever to be remote.

Excellent tools like Slack and Speak really help comms. We pair program very often by sshing into a tmux session which makes any lag close to nil. We use Trello for sprints. And Invision for product work. It's extremely efficient.

We have our usual retrospectives and watercooler talk and it feels natural.

Every 6 months we get together for fun.

\</comment><comment>

The advantages of being remote far outweigh the disadvantages. Rather than listing all the advantages. What are the disadvantages?

..I'm thinking.

<comment><USER7> Here are some: communication, loneliness, isolation, timezones, discipline

It's really great that working remotely (anecdotally) works well for your team. It also doesn't work well for some folks. Like any other approach to business, YMMV, but discounting the disadvantages that have been enumerated for you is explicitly ignoring the fact that some people, including those who are top performing employees in their fields, prefer _not_ to work remotely.

It's best to make the decision and your own recommendations acknowledging there are trade offs, no?

<comment><USER6> You have a point. If someone does not enjoy remote work, then they should not get a remote job.

I'm not a very good country music singer. When I sing country music, I feel shame, discomfort, and general depression. Therefore, I don't sing country music.

<comment><USER8> Ok, so your company only hires country singers? You are missing out on amazing, qualified candidates that don't sing country music.

Even if you are having a successful time hiring great people that are happy remote, how are you going to retain them? A remote software job is much closer to a commodity than a traditional software job. (I read the 37signals book and built a remote team over 5 years; in the end the difficulty finding people that are truly happy remote meant retention was difficult and, overall recruiting and cost of living considered, a remote team was, for me, a net wash).

Edit: after thinking more, it's even worse; you don't know if most applicants can really be happy singing country music for a year, 2 years, or longer... Even those that seem to really value and are excited about the prospect of singing country music may learn before too long that it's not for them.

<comment><USER9> > A remote software job is much closer to a commodity than a traditional > software job

In the current climate all software [engineering] jobs are commodities from an employee viewpoint.

<comment><USER8> True. But until we start to see the proportion of remote jobs to all jobs decline, remote is just as easily available as traditional, but lacking the physical and social stickiness that distinguishes traditional jobs and facilitates retention; remote is "closer to a commodity".

<comment><USER9> I guess that's true. But my inner cynic thinks that (ab)using people's herd instincts like that to "facilitate retention" cheapens traditional jobs. I would rather work remotely and have a meaningful social life, than work in an office and have a social life that my employer engineers to make me less likely to leave for a better job.

As an introvert, there is only so much social interaction I can take in a day. The office burns through most of it.

<comment><USER8> I agree with you. I need to be more nuanced and less cold in my language. The reality is, _I_ prefer going to an office and seeing my coworkers; fortunately this is well-aligned with the retention interests of my company.

<comment><USER9> As I said, I'm probably just too cynical, and seeing things through the fact that _I_ don't like going to an office.

I agree that when it comes to _team_ productivity rather than personal productivity, offices do work better. Especially when people of varying skill levels are involved.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wouldn't work remotely even if you gave me 25% more salary to do it. My ideal work context would be a six hour day at an office in the city that I can walk to from my condo. Sit-stand desks, balance-ball chairs, decent coffee, but no catered lunch / dinner. I want to take coworkers or dates out. Preferably with a nearby park that I can take walks in.

Sit at home with a computer all day? Sounds too much like solitary confinement for my taste.

<comment><USER11> I'm the opposite, I turned down $300K in LA to keep my remote job at a lot less. I move around the world freely, I don't need to commute, i can work in my underwear or while sitting on a beach, and I generally don't even have to be available during the office hours as long as I do my job and respond to emails reasonably quickly.

<comment><USER12> Living the dream! I have also telecommuted from the tropics, though on a fraction of your less-than-300k I bet.

What has your favorite work location been so far?

<comment><USER11> I really like Hawaiʻi. It's expensive though. Like more than Manhattan expensive. But you can't beat clean air, clean water, mild temperatures, all kinds of water sports, beautiful nature, lack of trash everywhere (unlike many Asian tropical destinations). And if you want to stay away from the tourists, there's a bunch of islands to choose from.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I respect the blogger's choices, but he didn't mention family. Once you have little ones, working from home becomes an incredible benefit. Obviously for females it's advantageous, but for males as well.

For example, I work full time from home and am able to drop my elementary school daughter to school and pick her up at arbitrary times of day (15 mins. round trip) while my spouse is off at her day job which is in a classroom and thus has rigid scheduling.

It makes it possible for my wife to work. It also means I can skip the shower and "business casual" dress-up ritual every morning. I typically work all morning in my pajamas/sweats, throw on running shorts and head out at lunch time for a quick noon time run, knock off around 5 or 6pm and throw some dinner together.

I'm in nearly constant contact with my teammates and management using skype chat and email. Occasionally, Webex conference calls with customers. Once in a while we screen share. (pro tip: You should disable Chrome browser's Gmail popup notifications if you are screen-sharing with your boss _and_ you tend to get a lot of email from recruiters....)

Then there is the quiet, the ability to step outside for 3 minutes and breath the fresh air, make your own coffee or drink of choice and not have to settle for the office Keurig or institutional drip brewer. My preference has long been a French press and freshly ground beans -- though lately it's been chai tea -- easy at home, a pain to set up at an office.

The work-from-home option is truly a great advancement if you have a complicated home life, such as children. You can also take the laptop and pretty much work from anywhere; I frequently take the family on vacation and just work 9-5, saving my real time off for other occasions.

Certainly, it's "not for everyone" \-- especially, I would think, for 20-somethings who are recent grads and still socializing into the work environment, or for people in some kind of tight work loop where the shoulder- to-shoulder approach is necessary, and the 5-minutes-in-the-hallway is critical for random idea vetting and brainstorming.

</comment><comment><USER14> It turns out that most work is hard,period. Try being a single mom working at Wal-Mart and tell me how tough it is to do PowerPoints in a noisy Starbucks.

<comment><USER15> Indeed. The biggest challenge to remote work is when there's a local core.

The groups that are serious about it enforce rules about collocated humans preferring the remote collaboration tools anyway. It's tough to bake this into a culture that didn't start there.

<comment><USER16> I'd guess it's hard even if you start with that. Local equivalents are often much better (e.g sharing a screen with someone is much better than all screen sharing apps, meeting someone is much better than all of the video conferencing apps etc).

<comment><USER15> I mean, I'm pretty sympathetic to the somewhat political statement that started this subthread. Having meaningful work for all humans that want it, and meaningful existence for any humans left out? (A bit off topic, granted.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I have been working remotely since 2011, and it wasnt until I had the flexibility to experiment with when I worked that I finally hit my stride. I tend to work best in two, concentrated sprints, rather than one endurance run. This means I have a siesta during the middle of the day most days where I do evening errands and have lunch, and then I usually work from the late afternoon into the early evening.

The results? 400% output, and when youre self-employed that means 400% more potential for revenue. For me, I dont mind working on any project with any psrson or team - but anybody asking me to operate in a way that knocks me down to 25% output is NOT worth my time or money, or theirs! It just doesnt make sense at this point.

After 2-3 years working at home, even an introvert gets a little stir-crazy. Thats normal! I would go out and hit up Starbucks, or local coffee shops that were friendly to me buying a couple drinks over 2-3 hours. But after a while even that isnt enough.

The single, biggest change I made to my work lifestyle as far as my emotional health is concerned has been joining a shared office space. The rent is a little more than my Starbucks budget was each month, but I can go to an office 24/7 with free flowing coffee and hack on anything I want. Even though none of the folks there work with me, I have found work through other members.

For me, having the option of going i to a shared office space any time I want has removed all those awkward days for me. And on any day I dont feel like going in, literally nobody will notice or expect me to be there. Its perfect.

In the future I believe companies will realize that they dont have to house their employees, and so many business simply wont! I envision a new style of employment where you choose and rent the office space you want, you surround yourself with the atmosphere and people you work best with, and even if you dont work for the same company, or during the time you have the office you change work - only your paycheck changes.

I cant wait to rent a private shared office with friends someday in the future :)

</comment><comment><USER17> I spent 7 years working 2.5 hours away from home, spending half of every week at work or in an apartment near work. I went to lunch quite often with coworkers, or we would go for a few drinks after work. I didn't realize it, but my circle of friends were all in Virginia, while my family was in PA (including my fiancee, now wife, and later my son when he was born).

Two years ago, I took a job that let me work from home. And it's pretty awesome. I have my office in a detached building from the house, all my colleagues are also remote, so I don't have that disconnect where everyone else is planning things in person and I'm catching up later. I get to spend more time with my family.

The downside is that I've been realizing that I don't have much in the way of friends locally. None of my coworker friends, past or present live near me. I have some friends in my radio club, but most of them are over twice my age and retired. I don't know how to make new friends. The way I made friends when I was younger was through people I worked with, people at college, and then people they knew. I don't think I ever hung out at a bar and made a friend that way, I don't think that would work today.

My situation may be atypical, but I could imagine others in such situations. Lots of people commute to work and would jump at an opportunity to work remotely. Some people will move "out of the city" when they get a remote job.

<comment><USER18>
        > I don't know how to make new friends

Meetup groups, Facebook, take up frisbee golf, etc.

It's hard if you're an introvert, but the reliable way to make new friends is to keep meeting new people until some stick.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'd like to see some analysis of this from the employer's side. By which I mean, how does it affect you as a manager when you have reports that work remotely?

Personally I have observed that some people who work remotely suffer from delusions as to what happens in the office when they're not there. They'll scoff at the lack of progress of the office workers, compared to their own majestic productivity - ignoring the fact that someone needs to be back at base coordinating all of this stuff, dealing with customer situations, walk- ins from product managers and execs, etc. etc.

A further elaboration of this is when remote workers expect to impose some kind of extreme rigour on their unfortunate office-bound colleagues. They might insist on 24 hours advance notice of important design discussions, which could otherwise take place at the water cooler, just to be sure they can be included.

When told thats not the way the world of work works, they may play down the effectiveness of the water cooler discussions, when most people have observed first hand just how beneficial those serendipitous hallway meetings can be, and how detrimental it can be to have to delay important discussions until the remote people can be involved.

<comment><USER20> This sounds like something that has happened in your experience, but I've never heard of this phenomenon before. Do you have any articles or studies that talk about this as a trend or normal occurance?

Counterpoint: the remote workers I've worked with don't do any of the things you mentioned.

I personally think that colocation is the preferred way to perform work. Remote development environments require a conscious attention to the tools, practices, and culture. It is far simpler from a management perspective to be colocated.

<comment><USER12> Colocation assumes talent is centralized. I work on a team with a southerner, a hawaiian, and a guy in australia, and the client is located in Florida!

3 citizenships, 2 continents, and still a small team. If they wanted us all in-office they probably couldn't have hired us

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> By now, I have spent more than half of my 15+ year professional career as a remote employee. My first job, back in 2000 was as a developer working for a Boston-based company from my apartment in upstate NY. We exchanged source code via CD in the mail, used a telephone and screen shared with Microsoft Netmeeting. That... was hard.

Several companies later, I find it actually difficult to work in an office environment. I'm not a hermit or even a strong introvert. I enjoy the company of other people from all walks of life, but there are so many distractions in an office environment that prevents me from doing my best work. As a Technical Operations engineer (SysEng, DevOps, SRE, or buzzword-dujour), most of my work is contemplative and best performed away from a keyboard. At home, I am free to work while running, walking, or sitting in the bathtub (TMI) with no fear of judgement from my peers. When I do need access to someone, I have a variety of tools at my disposal to suit the required latency and interactivity of the conversation.

Plus, pants are optional and slippers are the prescribed footware.

There are always challenges, though. For me, strict enforcement of work hours is a must. Sometimes I still get in the zone, lose track of time and work late, but usually I sit down around 9AM and take off around 5-6PM. Otherwise, work takes over my life and I end up neglecting my responsibilities as a husband, father, and homeowner. I am lucky to have a wife who understands my work boundaries and children who have never known a father who leaves the house for work each day. "Daddy is working" is enough for them to get them out of my office. Oddly, I grew up in a similar environment, as my father worked from a home office when I was a kid.

The biggest challenge for me has been while working for a medium-sized (1000+ employee) company in a Director role for a mostly colocated company. As an individual contributor, communication with my team and boss is relatively easy, but as a leader it is incredibly difficult to inject myself into important conversations via chat and email when those people are literally sitting next to each other. Having trusted "spies" within the organization that will keep their ears open and report back is a must or else you end up completely out of the loop.

Having worked primarily at colocated companies where I'm in the minority as a remote employee, I'm very excited to be joining an established remote first company next year and seeing how they do it in the "big leagues."

</comment><comment><USER22> I lived a situation like yours, after I left from big consulting company, where you are in continuous contact with your your customer and other many people. I'm not introverts, I like to meet and chat with people and I've played many sports also as pro.

But after I decided to change my job, I went back to live with my parents in my city. I started to work at home. I'm honest I've made many mistakes, just for I had not experience. The results were just immediate:

* Do not discern work place and house

* Have no desire to go out. I remind that going out for me had become very hard, maybe for laziness, I don't know.

* Personal relationships very bad. Having relationships with friends or girl friend is not simple. If you stay all day at home with only your pc, you degrade your ability on cultivate relationships.

I've made similar choice to yours, I've took an office with my friend and many things are changed, I back to gym I start to meet many people each day. But I continue to work as remote position :)

Indeed the problem is not the remote work , the problem is your job location. In my experience, take an small desk in an open office or a room with a friend is a good choice, and it solved many problems for me.

</comment><comment><USER23> I work in an office. The rest of my team works across the other side of the country (nothing but 2000km of desert between us), and it is far more isolated here at the office than working from home.

Working from home I at least have the opportunity to customise my environment to my taste instead of the bland white-and-cigarette-stain-brown of the current interior decorating of the office.

Working alone in an office is really really hard.

</comment><comment><USER24> I totally agree with you. When I started to work as a freelancer I felt the same for the first year. That's why I dediced to start, with a former coworker of mine, a coworking place with accessible rates near the city where I lived. Now that I'm not a freelancer anymore, and I don't run actively Meme coworking[0] anymore, I'm proud because it's still active and full of interesting people!

[0] [http://memecoworking.com](http://memecoworking.com)

</comment><comment><USER25> For me, and what I took away from this article (confirmation bias), it is that a huge barrier to working remotely is the social and personal identity we implicitly associate with work.

The loosening of tribalism from your job (which between 20-40 could be your main "tribe") may be the root cause of the sense of isolation/loneliness.

I wonder if it's as much the emergence of meetups & co-working spaces rather than the online tools (Slack, Speak, Trello etc) which will grow the remote workforce.

<comment><USER26> I agree that co-working can do as much as the online tools. Not to discount the importance of being able to effectively communicate with the people you are working with, however I have found that being around others who are getting their own thing done is inspiring and motivational. Working remotely in a co-working space has given me the best of both worlds - I get the social aspects of being around others and the motivation of being around others working, but no one bother me about my work cause they are not involved.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Love remote work. With so many companies online now it should be a lot easier to get jobs like this.

Save money by not commuting daily. No suit dry cleaning each week. Eat tasty home made food and leftovers. Way way way way wayyyyy less stress than dressing up looking brighteyed and having to sit at a desk all day so your slave owners can stare at you not working for 8 hours plus two 15 minute breaks plus 30 minutes "lunch"

</comment><comment><USER28> I believe remote work is one of the greatest advances of modern labor.

<comment><USER29> Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that on-site work was just a temporary regression? Back in the time where almost everyone worked on a farm, the farm was also your home, and mirrors a lot of what remote workers experience again now.

<comment><USER30> Not really. Peasants who owned their farm during the pre-industrial era were rare. The bulk of "work from home" then were household chores - which meant e.g. house-wifes spinning wool into yarn or sewing clothes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> There are two components to successful remote work: it has to work for the employee, and for the company. Obviously, how well it works depends not only on the particulars of the arrangement, but on the specific employee (introvert, extrovert, etc.) and the specific company (type of product, type of role, other employees, etc.)

"Remote work is terrible" and "Remote work is The Way" are gross oversimplifications that are guaranteed to be wrong.

<comment><USER32> Well, additionally I have to wonder if have-a-family vs not is a big influence.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I think obviously it depends a lot on your living situation, your personality, and the composition of your team. For me, working remotely was awesome, but there were significant challenges. I had to dedicate a room to being an office and treat it accordingly, I had to get dressed to at least a base level (no sweats!), and I had to be reasonably diligent about my working hours.

But for me it worked great. I think one of the things that make remote work a lot harder are when most of the team is in one place, and you are in the other. In those situations, I find that remote workers are often the "odd man out", since it's easy for everyone else to get together in a conference room to talk something out without the remote worker.

Another issue is timezones - it's one thing if you're an hour off from everyone, that's manageable. Much harder if you're spread across multiple timezones, or a long distance from everyone. Even NY->california can be challenging. I manage a team in Europe and the timezone challenges are downright exhausting.

</comment><comment><USER34> I've been working remotely for a while now, and i would say in terms of productivity it has been excellent.

No commuting which means time can be spent on reading up materials, doing actual work, or going to the gym.

Meals is also an important matter. Working remotely, I feel I have more control on what I eat. Typically i tend to pick up food at a cafe/restaurant, which depending on my pick diminishes my productivity. Working at home means having access to full fledge kitchen like stove, oven; I could do weekly/daily groceries to prepare healthy food like salad, yoghurt, etc.

There are still some setbacks though when it comes to communicating and working in a team. We tried to solve that with Slack and project management tools (ie. Basecamp, Asana); it works for most projects, while some I supposed we are still looking for the right way to get everyone on the same page mainly because there are a few stakeholders involved.

</comment><comment><USER35> I would like to find out how hard working remotely can be. Unfortunately, finding a FT remote software dev position is _really_ hard.

Most want you to already have experience working remotely :|

<comment><USER36> [https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote- job](https://github.com/lukasz-madon/awesome-remote-job)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> I've been working remotely for the last 7 months, and I find it awesome! The biggest downside for me is less socialization with coworkers. But what helps a lot, is that my team meets one week each quarter, which helps build/maintain good rapport in the team.

</comment><comment><USER5> For me:

      communication - This is really hard and sometimes harder in person.
      loneliness - I'm married, wife is a homemaker so I get to see her all the time, this isn't an issue for me but i can see it could be for some.
      isolation - Exactly, that is the point, sweet quiet.
      timezones - This is only not an issue when it isn't. Otherwise the problem with timezones makes no difference whether the people are remote or in an office, the problem is the timezone difference itself.
      discipline, After several years in the military early on, this isn't an issue either.

</comment><comment><USER38> I'm working remotely while I go to school, and I have to say it's been pretty great. Not to say it doesn't have it's moments--but school helps with isolation/socialization (plenty to people to chat/have lunch with), with work clocking in at a few hours a day, it's pretty manageable.

Slack has been an invaluable tool to help with socialization, and keeping up with what's going on in the office. Also helps with visibility issues.

I could happily sustain this pace of work for a long time, I think--though, when school is over, it might be a bit more challenging.

</comment><comment><USER39> I've found that it's not "working remotely" that's hard per se, it's working remotely when the rest of the team works in the office somewhere. In that set up, you basically aren't a part of all those hallway conversations, which in turn means you're out of the loop most of the time. If you're a junior engineer, that might be OK, but for someone senior: stay the fuck away from this set up, no matter how appealing it seems at first.

</comment><comment><USER40> How timely. Right now I'm sitting in a house on the beach in Tolú, Colombia. I work remote 32 hours/week for my employer in Denmark doing development, sysadmin and consulting.

I'm here with my wife and my two kids (4 and <1 years) and we've been on the road for almost a month.

So far it's been great. It took a few days to get started with remote work; tooling, getting the computer set up for low bandwidth work etc. I don't have fixed working hours, although I try to work a few hours in the morning and then 3-4 hours at night after the kids are sleeping. That might change soon, though, as I think we'll have to incorporate a proper siesta after lunch for my wife and the kids' sake; I'll probably use that to work. It's just too hot in the middle of the day here to do anything if you're not used to the heat (and even then -- the locals have siesta as well).

We're staying in this place for three more weeks (been here one week), and then we're off to another place. Currently it looks like we'll buy a used car to avoid some of the hassle of traveling with kids and to be able to see places off the beaten path. We're talking about heading North to Santa Marta, but nothing is planned yet.

I've been working from home in Denmark for some months before we left, so my family is somewhat used to me shutting them out when I'm working (or trying to). Re: work ethics: I guess it helps loving what you do -- although the beach is really inviting when it's pushing 35 degrees outside... Realizing that the reason why we're even here in the first place is due to the trust of my employer helps as well!

</comment><comment><USER41> We have plenty of engineers at the office, only word which you might hear from them over several weeks could be 'good morning' when they arrive. After that they're completely isolated, disconnected, alone and answer emails lazily with delay of days. Won't answer phone or IM.

I wonder if working remotely vs at office does any difference at all, except you can just drop out the commute time which might be a huge win depending from situation.

</comment><comment><USER42> I work from home most of the time since I'm about an hour from the office best case and usually double that with traffic. I'm much more efficient at home because it's more comfortable and far less distracting.

I think if people have a hard time getting motivated at home that's a symptom of a larger or unrelated problem.

</comment><comment><USER43> If work is your primary social outlet, then yes... remote work is going to be a hard time. Find another group!

</comment><comment><USER44> Sometimes people don't have any choice and must work remotely like my startup. It was frustrating in the beginning but once we got used to it, it was very rewarding.

My cofounders and I are in this situation. We don't have a choice and have to work remotely as we have been in different countries for over a year now. We have been dogfooding our product (a real time collaborative whiteboard) to work together because as a startup we are always exploring new ideas, discussing strategies and designing solutions. Can't say that it beats meeting or working in person, but it definitely has worked well for us by making it easy to communicate and focus on ideas.

</comment><comment><USER45> I just don't understand why the responses to this post are all defending working remotely. Working remotely can be hard and still be the right thing for you. Getting defensive and downplaying all the problems with working remotely just means that we can't have a real discussion about how to solve those problems.

And what's more, it's creating a false dichotomy: there's no universal right answer to whether remote or in-person is better. Remote work is the best way for some teams. But it's certainly not the best way for any team I've been on, mostly because I'm far too extroverted to work on such a team.

</comment><comment><USER46> I believe I have a very good setup for working remotely. I have a house with a yard, and I can work indoors, or I can work outdoors (and regularly do.) The key, however, is that I work at a coworking space 2-3 days a week for part of my work day. It provides the perfect amount of social interaction, which I get to gatekeep. If I'm doing something particularly detail oriented, I stay home. If I can stand some interruptions, I head to the coworking space.

I don't know if all coworking spaces are as awesome as the one I have found myself at, but it fundamentally competes the "work at home" model for me.

</comment><comment><USER47> At the risk of sounding totally ridiculous or trolly, the toughest challenge I've faced when adjusting to working remotely is answering the question, "When should I shower?"

It's easy when you're working in an office job: Shave and shower before you go into work in the morning.

When no one will see your face, you're suddenly left with the curse of too many options.

In the morning? But what if your roommate needs the hot water before he goes to work?

During your lunch break? What if you're hungry?

After work? What about your other roommate who usually works night shift?

Maybe that's totally silly to some folks. Communication came easy for me, but I grew up on IRC.

<comment><USER48> _That_ part is easy. Shower after you work out, whenever that is.

<comment><USER47> I don't work out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER49> I'd also call myself an introvert, and the best productivity I get is when I dedicate a couple of days working from home with the rest in office. This allows me to get the bulk load of work done when I'm home and allow some social interaction with my colleagues the rest of the week, while still getting a decent amount of work done. It's consistently the same days every week that I work from home, so people I work with can have their expectations set on when I'll be around. Choosing random days does not really work well for this, as people get confused when I'm not there.

</comment><comment><USER50> I agree with the consensus in the article. I work for a team which is spread out all over the world and i'm one of the two people working from India. I feel isolated and lonely. My other team-mate from India works from home most of the time is planning on quitting soon so it makes it even worse.

The work is great but just feel like having someone to talk about your problems and getting quick help is no where near pinging them on IM tools and asking if they are free or whatever. I envy most of my co-workers here who always have someone to walk the hallway, have lunch together etc.

</comment><comment><USER51> I love working remote, and wouldn't consider working any other way. That being said it's still difficult to find work at home jobs, even for software engineers. I have recruiters hitting me up on LinkedIn all the time about open positions, but when I tell them I'd rather work remote, they sort of just shrug and go away.

Any other engineers out there that feel the same way? How would you approach finding a work at home job should you be looking?

</comment><comment><USER52> For me, working long hard hours from home can begin to make me feel an association between being at home and doing hard work (as opposed to coming home from work, where home is a place of rest). I think being able to have work separate from home is important, especially for the family. The stress of work should stay at the office, and being able to compartmentalize that stress while working from home is a skill I have yet to fully master.

<comment><USER53> I agree. One way to address that is to define a space at home that is your work office/space. So a study, or corner of a room. If a corner of a room, you could even get some dividers to separate yourself from the rest of the room. It also helps hide work if you also use the room for something else.

Then doing something like going to the gym, or going for a jog etc when you finished work for the day can help you make the mental disconnect. A routine can really help develop that mindset.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Similar to the poster, I started renting a coworking space and riding my bike to work each day and it really makes all the difference. I've met friends, go out to lunch each week (and then take a little nap afterwards at my desk), and drinks on Friday. Discovering coworking has been really great, and now working remote doesn't even phase me

</comment><comment><USER55> I find that I need people around doing stuff to look at occasionally to fend off the loneliness. I prefer to work from a Starbucks or a local open plan co- working space because of this. If there are people around, even if I don't talk to them, it helps me get work done.

</comment><comment><USER56> I'm in a wheelchair, I have limited access to telework with my current organisation. I'm trying very hard to find somewhere that'll let me work from home as it'd be a huge benefit for my health and wellbeing. Travelling is hard.

</comment><comment><USER57> Working in an office is hard. Especially when you complete work early and have to pretend to be busy. With remote working, when you finish your tasks you are DONE. I've had many relaxing 4 hour days.

</comment><comment><USER58> How did you guys start working remotely? Or did you work remotely from the beginning?

I would like to try but I see it difficult for a company to hire someone remotely who has never worked remotely. Catch-22 anyone?

</comment><comment><USER18> Sure it's hard, but the alternative of being back in a physical office for long stretches is unthinkable for those of us who've been doing it for a while.

</comment><comment><USER59> Funny. I work at a company that has two work-from-home days. Those two days are, hands down, _the_ most productive days my team has all week.

<comment><USER60> Have you thought it might be because of the planning and preparation done on the other 3 days?

It is like the person who skips a meeting to be 'more productive' and then has to go around bothering everyone to understand the decisions made in said meeting.

<comment><USER59> No, it's because we can code for long periods of time without getting interrupted.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER61> I forgot which company it was or where I heard of this, but they would be remote and do a group video chat together the whole time while working.

</comment><comment><USER62> The only issue I ever had working remotely was when my (now ex) wife thought I was talking to her while in a conference call.

"I know it's going to be tight, but we'll make it fit".

</comment><comment><USER63> Is the link down? I get a blank page.</comment>


Pyongyang Racer - Game Developed in DPRK - <AUTHOR> http://www.koryogroup.com/Pyongyang_racer/racer.html

<comment><USER2> Nice to see something positive from the DPRK.</comment>


Team makes light-driven nanosubmarines - <AUTHOR> http://news.rice.edu/2015/11/16/rice-makes-light-driven-nanosubmarines/ <comment><USER2> Url changed from [http://phys.org/news/2015-11-team-light-driven- nanosubmarine...](http://phys.org/news/2015-11-team-light-driven- nanosubmarines.html), which points to this.</comment>


'Moonshine' sheds light on elliptic curves - <AUTHOR> https://m.phys.org/news/2017-09-math-doughnuts-moonshine-elliptic.html <comment><AUTHOR> Does anyone know if these pariah groups could make elliptic curve cryptography easier to crack?</comment>


Code Used in Google Attack Now Public - <AUTHOR> http://wepawet.iseclab.org/view.php?hash=1aea206aa64ebeabb07237f1e2230d0f&type=js

<comment><USER2> The jpeg listed at the bottom 404s.</comment>


Ransomware Gangs to Stop Attacking Health Orgs During Pandemic - <AUTHOR> https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-to-stop-attacking-health-orgs-during-pandemic/ <comment><USER2> Stop doing it in the first place?</comment>


Free DNS Tools - <AUTHOR> http://viewdns.info/ <comment><USER2> Surprised it hasn't been on here before - great set of tools I use it all the time.

Discovered it after dnsstuff moved some of their tools to pay-only.

Watchmouse seems to have been bought out recently too, hope they don't go pay.

Oh apparently they have been on here before, just not the main page [http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=viewdns.inf...](http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=viewdns.info)

<comment><USER3> It has; <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3905834> (242 days ago)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Thanks you, a very useful site. These tools all exist elsewhere, but it's really handy to have them all in one place, and right on the home page, too.

</comment><comment><USER5> Out of curiosity, what makes actually digging this data up difficult?

<comment><USER6> All of these tests are possible using command line tools, but some of them would require multiple invocations of the tools, as well as verification against a matrix of known-good configuration parameters. For example, the DNS report is pretty comprehensive.

What's surprising to me is that these tools are web based. Although, there is some value in having a third party verify your assumptions. It's not uncommon for me to alter my hosts file while I wait on DNS to propagate. That can screw up my resolver when running diagnostics locally.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It has been down :-(</comment>


Apple finally enters TV streaming space with new Apple TV+ service - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/03/apple-finally-enters-tv-streaming-space-with-new-apple-tv-service/ <comment><USER2> This launch event was very odd. It seemed like a launch event geared towards the general public but about a media platform for the media. No real launch details and no pricing structure with no previews of shows.

Given the recent debacle with the airpower lack of a launch date I can't help but not really trust that this is going to come out in the fall...much less "what" is coming in the fall.

</comment><comment><USER3> If the shows are good, the service will succeed, and the shows sound interesting based on the previews Apple supplied today.

With that said, I can't believe Apple didn't announce any pricing information. We've been hearing about this service for years now, and the picture is still frustratingly incomplete.

</comment><comment><USER4> Too little too late. I cant imagine anyone I know would actually use this...</comment>


Americans are eating less beef - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/21/dining/beef-consumption-emissions.html <comment><USER2> Interesting choice of timeframe (2005-2014).

2005 marks the period where we had so much feed that we didn't know what to do with it all, leading to lots of cattle being raised and relatively cheap beef products produced as a result. Not knowing what to do with it all, by 2007 we implemented ethanol subsidies to try and use up some of the excesses. That helped spur on a huge commodities boom through 2008. Just as that was dying down, the US suffered a major drought, pushing feed availability and prices even higher. The result was that from ~2008-2013, especially towards the end, the number of cattle being raised diminished significantly and that sent the price of beef soaring to unprecedented levels by 2014.

It would be interesting to see if the trend actually continues through to the present, or if, now that beef stocks have started to recover, consumption will go up again.

<comment><USER3> Yeah this reminds me of a salebarn-sponsored dinner I attended last year. The speaker started out by saying "I'm sorry friends, but it won't be as good as it was last year again in your lifetime!" I think he was a bit pessimistic, but basing anything on 2014 or 2015 is silly at best and deliberately misleading at worst.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Most Americans have never eaten beef grown on a family farm where its grass fed, no hormones nor antibiotics ... even store bought expensive organic beef pales in comparison ... family friends own such a wholesome farm and I can say their beef is incredible and its not even beef cattle its Swiss Brown and Jerseys which are milk cows ... even beef from high end restaurants is no match for beef from such a caring gentle farm ... the quality of beef has suffered greatly in the name of profits due to industrial scale multinationals who dominate the mass market

<comment><USER5> What's the price difference between industrial beef and the beef from your friend's farm?

<comment><USER6> Not the OP, but I've been buying beef from a farmer I know (relative of a friend) for the last few years. It's grass-fed, high quality beef and I buy about 250 lbs at a time which lasts us about a year. Total cost per lb including butchershop costs (cutting into steaks, roasts, grinding, etc.) averages under $3/lb. Only the cheapest hamburger in the store is available at that price around here.

The few times I've needed to buy store bought I can instantly taste the difference.

And now that I'm almost out of beef I'm in the "annoying" position of having nothing left in the freezer but a few T-bone and ribeye steaks because I hid some in the bottom last year :-)

<comment><USER7> What part of the US do you live in? I'm looking at at the very least around $6.50/lb for a half a steer in the Bay Area.

<comment><USER6> That's insane.

I live outside the Minneapolis metro area. As far as I can tell, he's not giving me a special price. I buy a quarter; I'm sure a half would be a little cheaper. It's in line with what I've heard from other people. Bison is a little more expensive, but not by much.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It's because the price has risen dramatically leading people to go to alternate proteins.

Even though I have far more money now than I did 10-15 years ago, I eat far less beef because it seems that the price has maybe more than doubled. This tracks in the commodity pricing for beef. In Feb 2002 beef was ~$1/lb at commodity pricing. Today it's about $1.85/lb. In 2015 it hit a high of $2.72/lb.

I'm not sure it's a bad thing to be honest. Beef isn't my favorite meat, and it's definitely not the healthiest protein.

However, chicken prices are way up as well.

On the other hand, pork is very cheap, ~$.70/lb wholesale, and has stayed pretty steady.

[http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=beef&months...](http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=beef&months=240)

</comment><comment><USER9> A significant percentage of the US beef herd is raised on range lands where they are a critical part of the natural ecosystem (replacing bison in that niche primarily). I have long argued that a moderate reduction in American beef consumption would allow the demand to be satisfied entirely with ecologically necessary cattle herds, which I view as a win-win. Ecosystem stays healthy and people don't have to give up beef entirely.

People tend to focus on feedlot beef but there is also a lot of range beef in the US. Absolutists on both sides tend to ignore the fact that balanced ecologically sound options exist.

<comment><USER10> Why not get rid of beef and graze bison? There's wild bison in Canada, as well as ranched bison. Cattle aren't natural to the ecosystem.

<comment><USER11> Bison are much harder to manage and haven't necessarily been bred for it as far as flavor. I've had a few burgers and they're nice, but somewhere between Venison and Cattle on the gamey scale.

On top of that, there aren't really any wild/purebred Bison as they all had some mixing with cattle after the herds were pushed to extinction.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Also, where did all the USDA prime meat go? I remember being a kid and seeing USDA prime in every grocery store as the standard meat for sale. Choice/select was always in a corner... Now when you go into any grocery store, USDA prime is missing or you need to ask for it. I believe only Costco sells it locally for me.

<comment><USER13> Worth noting that prime (and other USDA labels) are a measure of fat content in the form of marbling - not quality. And certainly not provenance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I've mostly cut out beef from my diet, but that's mostly because chicken is cheaper and because beef tends to be a bit fattier.

Helping against climate change is a nice bonus all the same.

<comment><USER15> What's your beef with fat?

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I would eat more beef, but the beef I've had in recent years tastes bad to me.

On visits overseas though the beef tastes good, so it's not that my tastes have changed.

I've pretty much given it up and switched to bison and ostrich, both which are good. I also think horse is not too bad, but it's not generally available in the US. I hope none of these become popular though because the factory farming industry will surely find a way to ruin them as well.

<comment><USER17> Have you tried rabbit? It's also hard to find in the US, but it is delicious if you like lean red meat.

<comment><USER18> I used to go to an SF restaurant that served rabbit, and it was quite good. Back in 1992, someone set up a fake Bunny Burger franchise as a very elaborate prank.[1] They were serving ground turkey, not real rabbit. The concept got a lot of people upset.

I have more objection to eating beef than rabbit. I used to have a horse at a stable that also had a cow, a big Hereford, that the owner was fattening up. When I went by the cow, I'd scratch the big white blaze on the face, which the cow liked. After a few days, the cow recognized me and greeted me with the lowing sound cows make. I haven't eaten much beef since.

Chicken is fine; chickens are too dumb to worry about.

[1] [https://myriadicity.net/musings-and- amusements/amusements/bu...](https://myriadicity.net/musings-and- amusements/amusements/bunny-burgers)

<comment><USER19> The cow is going to die regardless, if it is treated with kindness and culled mercifully, where is the wrong?

Ultimately the real crime in my opinion is the industrialized system of raising animals that is beholden only to the almighty dollar.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> We don't eat much meat at all in our household because it seems like all meat, beef especially, has become simply too expensive. Ground turkey remains pretty cheap, so when we eat meat that's pretty much what's for dinner.

</comment><comment><USER21> The consumption could be cut in half if we start eating the whole animal again. Eating just muscle tissue is so wasteful.

<comment><USER22> Many of the other parts are even more unhealthy though. E.g. you can eat the skin, and it's considered a delicacy in Ghana and South Africa, but it's not exactly good for you. Especially when it's doused in poison to keep insects off the cows.

C.f. these videos on Ponmo: [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ponmo](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ponmo)

<comment><USER21> It would be easier to raise healthier herd with smaller population. Going 100% would be unrealistic I agree..

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I don't eat beef as casually any more. It's expensive and often bad.

I do enjoy it at a nice restaurant though. And I don't really avoid it, but I don't seek it out either.

What makes beef good? How do I find it?

<comment><USER11> It often depends on people who run the restaurants as anything. They have to find a good supplier who knows beef and they have to be able to cook it correctly. Mostly it's about getting a cut that has a good balance of fat and muscle and cooking it to where it's done, but still tender.

In the case of roasts, mostly it just takes time as even a modest cut can come out very good if you give it enough time and care.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Beef is expensive. Which is strange considering the factory nature of it, plus the subsidies on the feed.

<comment><USER25> Raising cattle requires a lot of land (both for the cattle themselves and to grow the feed they eat). Land is a finite resource.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> The title feels a bit misleading. Americans are eating less beef because it is more expensive. As a side effect (not a significant motivator in and of itself), this is helping the fight against climate change. The increased price has definitely driven down beef consumption in my house.

<comment><USER27> We took "helping fight against climate change" out of the title. Normally we'd ask the submitter not to editorialize but I suspect this was just NYT up to its usual title tricks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> This is how Trump got elected.

<comment><USER27> Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to HN? That's not what this site is for, and we eventually ban accounts that do it. It's true that the comment you were replying to was particularly bad, but the thing to do in that case is to flag it (or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com), not make the thread still worse by posting another bad one.

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

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

We detached this comment from [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13931534](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13931534) and marked it off-topic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Chicken is better than beef, both in flavor and versatility.

<comment><USER30> I prefer chicken enchiladas from some Mexican restaurants and very much prefer beef enchiladas in others. It depends on the quality and how it's prepared...</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Anybody else see an iPad Sales Bump this Weekend? - <AUTHOR>

I have a few apps live in the AppStore - they tend to trend a little stronger on weekends but all saw their best sales since Christmas over the weekend - anybody else? <comment><USER2> Yeah we had much better sales also. I attribute this more to the easter weekend and not to the iPad.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point - ockham's razor eh?</comment></comment>


Google self-driving car gets rear-ended in 13th accident since 2009 - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/06/google-self-driving-car-gets-rear-ended-in-13th-accident-since-2009/ <comment><USER2> This is not a story.

Google is only even announcing it because were there to be even suspicion that a google car had been the cause of an accident there would be hysteria (irrespective of the statistical reality) - so they don't want to look like they have anything to hide.

Fair enough on Google's part. By why is Ars reporting a complete non-event? Is news that slow atm?</comment>


Pure Bash Bible – A collection of pure bash alternatives to external processes - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/dylanaraps/pure-bash-bible <comment><AUTHOR> This is something I've put together over the past couple of days. It's still a work in progress but I'm posting it here to get some critique and hopefully some contributions.

I'd love to see what others come up with. If you'd like to contribute take a look at the CONTRIBUTING.md file.

[https://github.com/dylanaraps/pure-bash- bible/blob/master/CO...](https://github.com/dylanaraps/pure-bash- bible/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)</comment>


Don't take a company loan to exercise your shares - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/p/858bdc0138dc

<comment><USER2> Loan issue aside, I would advise almost everyone who isn't already "fuck you money" rich to not get too caught up on that extra 19% tax on income vs capital gains and just delay on exercising.

There are occasionally exceptions to this (involving a rare combination of the employee leaving and the company being as close to a "sure thing" as possible), but in the general case the risk/reward is so extremely out of whack that I can't imagine people would even consider exercising prior to the options becoming liquid if it weren't for the irrationally that comes into play when the money is going to the IRS.

There are just so many ways in which those options can become worthless (and a lot of them can happen even if the company is 'successful'): company goes out of business, company is acquired under terms unfavorable to common-stock holders, company dilutes stock to the point where your strike price is a joke, company actually IPOs but stock goes south of strike price due to massive selling pressure as lockup ends, etc, etc.</comment>


Show HN: Movie recommendation based on inferences by critics - <AUTHOR> http://cinetrii.com?i=tt3315342 <comment><AUTHOR> Have gotten a bit of press from: [http://gizmodo.com/a-way-to-search-for-film- recommendations-...](http://gizmodo.com/a-way-to-search-for-film- recommendations-without-the-tr-1792001690) [http://indiestreet.org/cinetrii- traces-artistic-lineage-film](http://indiestreet.org/cinetrii-traces-artistic- lineage-film) [https://www.psfk.com/2017/02/film-recommendation-platform- fi...](https://www.psfk.com/2017/02/film-recommendation-platform-find-unusual- matches-through-analyzing-critic-review.html) [https://youtu.be/yPvyrPcJisg?t=1m15s](https://youtu.be/yPvyrPcJisg?t=1m15s)

My intention has been to find the lineage of ideas in film. "Up/Down" specifies whether the search should look for just older or newer movies.

<comment><USER2> Wow, what a really cool idea. Except for a few films which just return awful results (I guess because no one's ever written anything meaningful about them), this site seems awesome.

Can I suggest that you just rename those buttons "Older/Newer" rather than "Up/Down", as it's just a lot clearer what it does?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Yes, what you're describing is a problem - not every movie warrants that type of discussion.

Changed according to your suggestion.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to unflag story - <AUTHOR> I by mistake flagged one story. How to unflag it. <comment><USER2> When you've flagged it the "flag" link becomes "unflag".

Click that.</comment>


Ask HN: Incorporating in USA (nonresident) - <AUTHOR>

I am opening a company (C corp) in US for my webservice. I am European. Any information / opinions on these questions are very appreciated. I am sorry if some of these are stupid. I talked to a lot of people, read on-line stuff but certain things are still not 100% clear.
1) I intend to open it through www.bizfillings.com . Their site looks legit and packed with information. Any experiences?
2) Delaware or f.ex. NY ? (does opening comp. in Delaware make you suspicious/border-case in your country? I have no "evil" intentions, don't care for tax after profit that much, do care for running expenses, complications, bureaucracy)
3) I will have 2-3 advisors with 0.5 - 3% stock and one helper with 12%. Is it cheaper to make the deal and give them shares before formation, or can it be easily/cheaply done after it. In what range are the (legal/bureau.) expenses associated with this after formation (I know angel deals cost 5-15k)
4) what do such advisors usually prefer: shares, options, ..? What is the simplest, cleanest way to do this. I want to include some vesting terms too. I intend to talk to them of course, but I would like to know more about it when I do.
5) How to open a Bank Acct. I heard it's hard to open it unless you physically come to and US bank (some say it's even harder after patriot act..). Can Bank Acct. be opened by a third person that would go into US bank with mandate from me? Would it-help/he-have to be one of the owners/officers of the company?
That is all for now. I hope your answers help others too. <comment><USER2> I'm on the same boat and I researched on it quite a bit. I'm stuck at point 5; bank account. from what I have found, its not possible to open a bank account without being physically there. IANAL however.

<comment><AUTHOR> While mentioning Lawyers. I know one case when a Lawyer was appointed and he went to physically open a BA. There is one website which sells "open company in USA" kit, where it claims it has a video how to open Bank Acct. 100% online. I can't find it right now and am not sure how legit it is.

<comment><USER2> I would be very skeptical of such claims.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I researched this very briefly last year, and a Vermont Virtual company was quite interesting: [http://gigaom.com/2008/06/17/vermont-oks-the-creation-of- vir...](http://gigaom.com/2008/06/17/vermont-oks-the-creation-of-virtual- corporations/)

<comment><USER4> I've been following this development but unfortunately, it's never materialized to the extent that is implied in the Gigaom article.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_business>

 _In 2008, Vermont amended its laws governing corporations to accept electronic forms of legally required meetings, operating agreements, documents, signatures, and record keeping. A Vermont corporation (S-corp or LLC), while required to maintain a registered agent with a physical address in the state, can be started, operated and terminated without any of the principals ever being in each others' physical presence._

Since you can register in any other state via a registered agent, it doesn't really add much to the registration process - the difference here is Board meetings. The requirements for in-person vs. teleconferenced Board meetings are governed by each state.

Below is a (1999) compilation of various states' requirement. As you can see, there are NO states that explicitly require Board meetings to be in person and lots of states that provide for at least some form of teleconferencing.

[http://www.muridae.com/nporegulation/documents/teleconf_defi...](http://www.muridae.com/nporegulation/documents/teleconf_definitions.html)

So personally, I don't see what is so crazy special about Vermont. Anyone cares to explain?

Edit: Also, I am pretty sure the article references the wrong bill. If you look at the actual bill in the state database, you will see that the relevant bill is H-458, not H-888.

[http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bi...](http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/legdoc.cfm?URL=/docs/2008/bills/house/H-458.HTM)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I recommend you check out <http://walkercorporatelaw.com/blog/> They have a good online presence and share on other sites from time to time. I don't have any experience working with them, but what they say makes sense to me.

5) You might be able to open a bank account if you grant someone power of attorney, but I am not a lawyer and recommend you speak to one if you want more information about power of attorney.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the link. I will check them.

5) I have quite some contacts in US so this could go. I will further digg into it. Even if he would have to be part of the company it could if I manage to set it up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Be very careful with taxes. Both your home country and the USA will want to tax you, and I am fairly sure (not 100% though) you'll have to file taxes in BOTH countries, using tax treaties to avoid paying double. This will mean you'll need to spend some money hiring a US accountant.

Question: what's the reasoning behind wanting to create the company based in the US? Is it for raising money? I assume you want to raise VC (since you're opening a C-corp, not an LLC)?

<comment><AUTHOR> There is a tax treaty between us and our country. I plan on having an accountant in US too yes. I talked to one guy which has one in NY and pays aprox $400 yearly for a more or less pasive company.

Q: It's not because of raising money primarily. Primarily it's so I get access to better payment options (google checkout, merchant's account, ..) and because product is focused on US market. I would want to open separate company for this project anyway, so I don't hold all projects inside my main company.

<comment><USER6> Thanks. Why do you not want to hold projects within your main company? Doesn't that increase your costs?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> 1) i used one of these online services and got company package for like $900-1k. it works well, be sure to indicate that you need international package 2)Delaware is pretty common and works ok for web stuff 3) From zero if you do ething urself up to few k if you are working over lawer. I'd suggest to pick a good legal firm since the beginning. 4) depends, you need to talk to them. as usual dont offer to much.also options can be better in most cases bcs of tax reasons- (disclaimer -thats just my experience and i am not tax adviser) 5) you need visit bank yourself. or one of the founders. no way to open bank account remotely.

anyways i suggest you to come to US, trip cost is << than your other expenses in this venture and you obviously need to talk to many ppl here.

</comment><comment><USER8> Might it make sense to open an Ltd in the UK? Those are fairly cheap and might be easier for you to deal with as a European.

<comment><AUTHOR> I was already filling the form for UK formation, when colleague from UK appointed me that "fast fwd bank account" means only that they will pass papers to them, not that I get BA. Then I started calling banks in UK, I called 4 of them, answers were different, but bottom line you can't open account if you don't have UK passport (even if company is in UK). Only one answer was that I could open it, but if I come to one of their offices.

I focused back on US because one of advisors is from US and bizfillings seems to have nice prices / service. UK also had few nice online services for company formation.

<comment><USER3> _you can't open account if you don't have UK passport (even if company is in UK)_

That's complete BS. I (and others) run a Ltd company in the UK and none of us have UK or EU passports. Our company has a bank account with HSBC.

We are all residents in the UK though, which may be what's different for your situation.

<comment><AUTHOR> That was the wording used by one nice lady on the telephone. (and I think you had to be member of some small biz uk "community")

\- Another one asked if any officer in firm is from UK.

\- Third said I can open account if I came to their office.

\- Fourth I don't remember but was one of the above

I didn't call to HSBC, I saw on some forum someone opened account with them and later got some problems (that was in US) so I didn't look at them yet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I am Canadian and I incorporated (C Corp) in Delaware with Delaware Intercorp. The process was super easy, cheap and everything worked out for the best. I hired a lawyer for my bylaws and stuff, however. I didn't want to rely on their defaults. I guess I did everything the right way since this has never been an issue when a public company incorporated in DE acquired us.

I opened a bank account with RBC in Virginia (they also have branches in Florida). It was easy for Canadians, not sure about Europeans.

</comment><comment><USER10> I've just concluded a deal with bizfilings.com, and have been completely impressed. They're the best bang-per-dollar and very professional. It takes around 24-36 hours to get the approval going (they do the name check and then manually review your papers to make sure nothing is amiss). One - two weeks later, you'll have scanned PDFs of your approval available online + hard copies via snail mail coming your way.

<comment><USER2> How much did it cost?

<comment><USER10> It's different depending on

a) the state

b) the type of corporation

I registered a non-profit in Illinois (cheap plug: NeoSmart Technologies @ neosmart.net)

Illinois is a bit more expensive than others. I paid 170 for the basic package without the rush processing.

<comment><USER2> Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I am a nonresident and I have incorporated in the US. I live in Chicago, however, on an F1 student visa (did my master's here), so some things were easier for me. Opening a bank account is not a problem, the problem is obtaining an EIN. Read this very carefully: [http://danashultz.com/blog/2009/11/30/foreign-company- alert-...](http://danashultz.com/blog/2009/11/30/foreign-company-alert- obtaining-an-ein-may-be-your-biggest-challenge-in-the-u-s/)

TL;DR: opening a bank account is easy with an EIN, and obtaining an EIN is very easy if the foreign company looking to start up in the U.S. includes, among its officers, at least one who (a) controls, manages, or directs the corporation and the disposition of its funds and assets and (b) has an SSN.

FWIW, I did C-corp in Illinois through MyCorporation. Total cost was about $200 and it took almost a month (chose non-express option).

</comment><comment><USER12> You will need an attorney or accountant to help you open the bank account if you are not around to to do it. It may be more economical for you to to simply visit the US and take care of that while you are here, since you'll be able to identify yourself and sign in person, which will be simpler than temporarily issuing power of attorney to a lawyer who you have never met to do so on your behalf.

</comment><comment><USER13> Some bank sites allow you to open an account online. Doesn't that count?

<comment><AUTHOR> I haven't found any like that. Do you have any names / links?

<comment><USER13> Just an example: [https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=Checki...](https://online.citibank.com/US/JRS/pands/detail.do?ID=Checking).

<comment><AUTHOR> Hm, it seems to really be online. At some UK banks there was a online form but the second step was to go into one of their offices.

here: "To apply online, you must be 18 or older, a U.S. citizen or resident alien, and have a U.S. address. You also need a Social Security Number and U.S. driver's license or state-issued ID."

will check about business accounts.

<comment><USER14> Please let me know when you figure this out, I too am interested in this. My email is in my profile.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> There is one option you have not considered.

Name the US advisor as corporation treasury person, hence they would than open the US bank account in corp's name</comment>


Apple finally releases App Store Connect APIs - <AUTHOR> https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appstoreconnectapi <comment><AUTHOR> There's a whole new provisioning section in the docs covering:

Bundle IDs - Manage the bundle IDs that uniquely identify your apps.

Bundle ID Capabilities - Manage the app capabilities for a bundle ID.

Certificates - Create, download, and revoke signing certificates for app development and distribution.

Devices - Register devices for development and testing.

Profiles - Create, delete, and download provisioning profiles that enable app installations for development and distribution.

[https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/117080](https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/117080)</comment>


Michał Zalewski,  Director Information Security Engineering, leaves Google - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/lcamtuf/status/976307141177884672 <comment><USER2> If you don't know who this is, he wrote one of my favourite books on web (browser) security: "The Tangled Web" [1].

Another lesser known book by him is also worth a read: "Silence on the Wire" that takes a look at the full information security stack from the keyboard you type on, to the wires the data transits, to the internet protocols, etc [2] and looking at how each stage exposes/protects data.

And has quite an interesting history in infosec beyond that [3].

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Tangled-Web-Securing-Modern- Applicati...](https://www.amazon.com/Tangled-Web-Securing-Modern- Applications/dp/1593273886/)

[2] [https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Wire-Passive- Reconnaissance-I...](https://www.amazon.com/Silence-Wire-Passive- Reconnaissance-Indirect/dp/1593270461/)

[3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Zalewski](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micha%C5%82_Zalewski)

<comment><USER3> If you don't know who this is, read his CV: [http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/cv- web-en.pdf](http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/cv-web-en.pdf)

<comment><USER4> yeah I think it's feeling the HN effect already

(a bit ironic that it doesn't have https enabled)

<comment><USER5> Not as ironic as the OpenBSD Foundation asking for donations via an http site

<comment><USER6> Their site is available via https, it just is not default. Which admittedly is a little strange.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> @jvanegue:

> there is a CISO position to fill at @facebook I hear

@lcamtuf:

> Waiting for NYTimes to tell me why I am leaving Google first.

This little exchange speaks volumes about what's happening in the the media regarding the tech industry: one company behaves badly and then all get tarred and feathered. Facebook's security leadership starts jumping ship, and when someone analogous from Google, a completely different organization with a completely different (i.e. existent) moral compass and set of security practices leaves his post for unstated reasons at about the same time, the world assumes a similar scandal is on the way.

<comment><USER8> > a completely different (i.e. existent) moral compass

You mean, the company which basically turned "free services for all your data and info" something at massive scale?

<comment><USER9> It's all relative. A compass is still a compass.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Here is a post he wrote about leaving Poland and starting his journey to emigrate to the US. He ended working as Director of security @ google even without a college degree. [https://lcamtuf.blogspot.com.ar/2015/03/on- journeys.html](https://lcamtuf.blogspot.com.ar/2015/03/on-journeys.html)

</comment><comment><USER11> Among his many achievements, popularizing instrumented, legit data mutating, fuzzing (afl-fuzz) which revolutionized vulnerability research.

And his guerilla-CNC guide is also an awesome ressource.

Very curious about what he does next.

</comment><comment><USER12> Whatever his plans are, this will be something big. He is a guy who could, if he wanted, build a secure kernel for mobile devices for example. I always think this security thing is a waste of his talent though, he's such a creative guy and could do many other different things, instead he gets paid for finding holes everywhere, and he's extremely good at it, so...

</comment><comment><USER13> maybe he's going over to Facebook. Their Chief of Security just left

</comment><comment><USER14> A tweet from a middle manager changing jobs doesn't seem at all newsworthy. Are people reading more into this than they should be?

<comment><USER15> A lot of folks in Hackernews have interest in security relevant topics also - Its one of the reasons I am here, so I appreciate quickly reading this and move on. Its a good indicator that HN is the right community for me. :)

<comment><USER14> I too am interested in security related topics. I don't know what that has to do with this tweet. High profile contributors to the community changing jobs is pretty common, so I'm not sure why a tweet about this particular case is noteworthy.

<comment><USER16> Consider for a moment that Michal Zalewski might simply be held in esteem by the HN community, and therefore his leaving Google after 11 years is personally significant to many HN users.

Is that too far out for you to believe?

<comment><USER14> I think highly of him as well, and am probably much more familiar with his work than just about everybody upvoting.

I commented because it's not obvious to me why _this_ tweet would be front page news when folks of roughly similar influence and visibility change jobs all the time, and we don't seem to be submitting and upvoting their tweets.

Maybe soon we will report on what Dan Kaminsky ate for breakfast or which car Charlie Miller was spotted driving!</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Best C Package Manager? - <AUTHOR> Want to develop a cross-platform (win/posix) project in C/C++ for small binary size (and learning) and want to be as efficient and productive as I am in Node/JS with npm.<p>I'm thinking a package manager can help me learn and avoid writing a lot of boilerplate. <comment><USER2> What packages could you possibly need? Much the C standard library is already installed on your machine and can be used to build just about anything.</comment>


Netflix Is an Example of a Great Open-Source Corporate Patron to FreeBSD - <AUTHOR> https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Netflix-FreeBSD-Contributions <comment><USER2> Netflix isn't the only one contributing back to Netflix. In his interview with Bryan Lunduke, George Neville-Neil[1] explained why it's very much in the interest of companies like Netflix, Juniper, and others who base their systems on FreeBSD to contribute back all "infrastructure-level" changes they make: it helps the FreeBSD community and also reduces the amount of sysadmin overhead when it comes to upgrading to newer versions of FreeBSD. Only those things which are unique differentiators for their business are withheld and kept proprietary. For Juniper that's going to be a lot more than Netflix but it still disproves the GPL puritans who rip on BSD/MIT/Apache2 licensed software as being black holes from which companies won't contribute back to the community.

[1] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofKxtIO3Is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cofKxtIO3Is)

<comment><AUTHOR> > disproves the GPL puritans who rip on BSD/MIT/Apache2 licensed software as > being black holes from which companies won't contribute back

It's still much rarer for companies to contribute back to *BSD. The risk of your competitor taking what you did and making it better and not sharing back their own secret sauce is still there.</comment></comment>


EFF Wins Renewal of Smartphone Jailbreaking Rights - <AUTHOR> https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-wins-renewal-smartphone-jailbreaking-rights-plus-new-legal-protections-video <comment><USER2> Wow,

The whole "rights renewal" celebration just reinforces to me how sinister the DMCA actually is - all these "rights" depend on Library of Congress administrative rulings and thus are inherently revocable, in contrast to how they ought to be; _inalienable_ and all that.

<comment><USER3> DMCA is ineffective anyways in doing what it was designed to do. Don't know why they have kept it around. Just search for NFL on youtube and you'd know what I mean

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> _If you bought your gadget, you own it, and you should be able to install whatever software you please without facing potential legal threat_

Such a simple thing but the folks who bought DMCA would never get it. Sigh!

<comment><USER5> Devil's advocate: what if locked-down devices can open up new businesses that would not exist otherwise? Say, free cell phones in the developing world which are forcibly tied to a particular carrier and ecosystem to make up the cost?

Ownership is a fuzzy concept, especially in the days of intellectual property. It's a mish-mash of natural law, social contract, precedent, and state violence. If I "own" an MP3, why can't I remix and share it? If I "own" a piece of software, how come I don't get its source code to alter as I wish?

We have a historical bias that customers own the atoms, but creators own the ideas. But this is an arbitrary line that culture invented as an economic compromise, not an intrinsic law of the universe.

Having said all that, I'd prefer our culture side more with consumer rights, even at the cost of closing business opportunities. I'd love it if Apple-style vendor lock-in was illegal, fair use was more rigorously defended, copyrights were shortened, etc. But in any case, we should take ownership of our cultural trade-offs, instead of assuming that our animal instincts regarding "property" are inherently correct.

<comment><USER6> Selling humans as food would "open up new business that would not exist otherwise", but we're not going to do that, are we? So we might as well have phones that can run free software too. Not everything is about "business opportunities"; human rights come first.

<comment><USER5> That's the extreme end of the spectrum; a similar issue that is less obvious is whether the sale of human organs should be legal. Some claim that a legitimate market for organs would result in more saved lives, and less black- market violence; on the other hand, there is obvious potential for dehumanization and perverse incentives, to say the least.

> So we might as well have phones that can run free software too. Not > everything is about "business opportunities"; human rights come first.

I agree with this on paper, but on a long timeline, human rights are best served by technological progress, which tends to be accelerated through well- balanced profit motives. (Note that this may or may not involve greed; sometimes a profit motive is simply "now I can afford to pay the 500 people needed to get this thing off the ground".)

All told, I agree with you; I'm deeply frustrated that democratic socialism is so thoroughly demonized in the US, and that corporate profits come first, with human rights as a distant second (or worse). But humans trading with one another has been an incredibly potent wealth generation machine, usually benefitting even the very poor. And trade cannot happen without ownership. I want Star Trek Communism as much as anybody, but we're not there yet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Here's another discussion from a couple days ago about these DMCA exemption rulings: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4700010>

</comment><comment><USER8> Except tablets, because herp derp DRM</comment>


OpenAI Invites for It's Scholars Program, Will Pay $10K per Month - <AUTHOR> https://analyticsdrift.com/openai-invites-for-its-scholars-program-will-pay-10k-per-month/ <comment><USER2> I am really disappointed by the discrimination.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, same here. It should be open for all.</comment></comment>


A warning to hackers: be careful building on Twitter's API - <AUTHOR> http://hoisie.com/post/a_warning_to_hackers_be_careful_building_on_twitters_api

<comment><USER2> My platform is called the Internet.

I'm still subject to some rules, but a heck of a lot less than the gardens you guys develop in like Facebook, Twitter and AOL.

I included AOL, because while it seems ridiculous someone would do that today, people used to until they got horrifically burned, and I think it'll be the same with non-decentralized platforms like FB and Twitter in the future.

Once again, my platform is the Internet.

<comment><USER3> My platform is mobile devices. I am happy to develop Android and iOS apps, and I feel like the companies who run these somewhat walled gardens play mostly fair. As an added bonus, they have provided me a way to make money.

People who have found their success on the internet at large are my colleagues, but occasionally they are also arrogant in their views that anyone who doesn't make an HTML website is an idiot. These people's tunnel vision will hold them back their whole lives, and this character flaw is likely evidenced in other views they espouse.

<comment><USER4> You don't have to 'code' HTML to avoid walled gardens.

<comment><USER3> Usually when you put a word in quotes, you are quoting something. I didn't use the word 'code' at all.

<comment><USER5> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scare_quotes>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I would see this as an opportunity. You have an app that has hit a hard limit in terms of number of users. It is clearly a useful app, otherwise it wouldnt be growing.

The natural thing to do is to make it a paid solution. You inform your users of the situation and say that in order to keep the service up and running you will start charging a signup fee of $1, the same as you would pay for a mobile app. Existing users however, get 50% off and only pays $.50. Give them a month to paypal it in and then another month of repeated notices to inactive users. After two months there will probably 50k+ users you will have to close out from the service. But give them an option to restore it easily.

This is not at all unreasonable, no one would ever be able to say so. Above all it would be a tremendous learning experience for you. Perhaps you also will make a few thousand dollars in the process, but that would not be the point.

There are two alternatives to this as I see it. Either you do the above but the only thing you require is for users to manually report in by clicking a button in a form. You will still be able to weed out thousands of accounts.

The other is to set up Smart Tweets 2, hosted on another ip, and refer new users there. Explain why and make it into something funny for the users.

Whatever you do, do something bold enough to make it to Techcrunch a second time.

</comment><comment><USER7> They own the data. It is their ball and they can basically say "I'm taking my ball and going home".

Facebook, twitter, linkedin, google. All of them are in the data business and sell that data to make a profit. They don't really care about the devs as they just see the devs as a way to bring people to their ecosystem; the more small apps people write, the more ways they might be able to get data. But, if they get big enough, and all of them have, they can cut you out.

I understand building a business around someone else's data (cottage industry), and I would never say not to do it, but it isn't without peril. Though, I would do it in a heartbeat for a lifestyle business that I knew I could pivot on or build another if it failed.

<comment><USER8> _They own the data. It is their ball and they can basically say "I'm taking my ball and going home"._

Maybe, but that would make them assholes, especially from the perspective of the user. _I'm_ trying to use an app to post _my_ tweets to Facebook, and Twitter is shutting the app down because, as the reasoning goes, my tweets really belong to them? You might say "that's what you get for using someone else's service", but by that logic I should just have my own server in the living room because otherwise Posterous would own all my blog posts and Hacker News would own all my comments.

<comment><USER9> Read the terms of service for the sites. Who owns the data and when are they allowed to turn off? Answer: you "own" it but they can do whatever they want with your content, and they can turn off the service any time. Boot up that server in your livingroom if you want your content to live on.

Posterous : however, by submitting material to Posterous you grant Posterous the irrevocable, fully transferable rights to use, reproduce, distribute, modify, transmit, prepare derivative works of, display and produce the material in connection with Posterous and Posterous's business, but solely in accordance with these Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.

Posterous is provided 'as-is' with no warranty of any kind. You use the service at your own risk. Posterous expressly disclaims any warranty, express or implied, regarding the site or its content, including any implied warranty of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

<http://posterous.com/tos>

<comment><USER8> I know what the terms of service say, and I certainly know the terms of service allow Twitter to be assholes about this particular issue. They're still assholes, though, and they're assholes because they're getting in the way of their own users.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Twitter's new official app for the Mac violates several of these display guidelines.

<comment><USER11> Yeah but dey da boss. They get to be as hypocritical and arbitrary as they like.

If you go sharecroppin' on somebody else's plot of land, don't expect to be afforded any rights or respect by the owner.

Eventually people will figure this out.

Eventually.

<comment><USER12> > Yeah but dey da boss > go sharecroppin'

If this is a reference to something, I don't get it. If not, why are you writing like this?

Edit: Thanks alnayyir. I knew there was something I was missing.

<comment><USER13> It's a reference to civil war era america. Elaborate user-generated-content metaphor?

<comment><USER8> The post Civil War South, actually. Sharecropping wasn't really a thing in the North, and before and during the Civil War, there wasn't very much sharecropping because slavery was more cost-effective.

<comment><USER11> ding ding ding. This man gets ALL the dollars.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Obviously Twitter does not want you to copy "their" data to Facebook. They don't get any money when you do that, and they want money. Hence, a problem.

There are several ways to get around this. Be a middleman that publishes to both Facebook and Twitter (a reverse FriendFeed). Or, sell a software product for the user to use to move his own tweets to Facebook. A user obviously owns his own content and can put it wherever he wants. A third party app, perhaps not.

(Also, why not just get tweets via whatever method the native UI gets tweets from? Do it from AWS if you are concerned about an IP ban.)

<comment><USER15> Not only that, but he's stripping out the two things that would actually drive traffic back to twitter.com: #hashtags and @names.

I can see why Twitter might want to slow this one down.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> This story rings true for any popular app that depends on a third-party service, not just Twitter - often times you're at the mercy of the host once you become big enough to be noticed.

</comment><comment><USER17> I've been following the thread and I commented on Michael's site, but thought it would be worth sharing on here as well: [http://hoisie.com/post/a_warning_to_hackers_be_careful_build...](http://hoisie.com/post/a_warning_to_hackers_be_careful_building_on_twitters_api#comment-125739196)

Since most of you probably don't know me, I'm director of the platform at Twitter.

Let me know any questions/comments you might have. I'm interested in an open discussion about it.

Ryan / @rsarver

</comment><comment><USER18> As I realized after Twitter's "developer" conference last year, the era of the Twitter hacker is coming to a close (see <http://twitter.com/#!/dacort/status/12005978721> and <http://twitter.com/#!/dacort/status/12032959629>). If you are not building a business on their platform where money will pass into _their_ business, good luck.

And who can blame them, providing 100,000 user tweets isn't free. Not sure where he got the idea he would never have to start paying.

Turning off basic auth also hastened this demise - whereas you could once pull whatever data you wanted from Twitter using a simple curl command, now you have to figure out OAuth. It's not that much of a challenge, but it is enough of a barrier to entry to dissuade somebody who's got a couple hours on the weekend and wants to have some fun.

Finally, their partnership with Gnip is yet another indicator that this is simply not the days of the wild west anymore. You want the data, you'll have to pay.

</comment><comment><USER19> Of course you're at their mercy. This is the nature of using a third-party API. If you violate their rules, you have to accept the risk that they shut you down in the future, even if their rules aren't optimal for your app's user experience.

I recommend that you alter your product to conform to their rules, even if it makes your product a bit worse.

</comment><comment><USER20> The way around API limitations on how much data can be read is to resort to scraping. However, Twitter probably blocks individual IPs that access too much data. The solution to that is to convince enough users to install software that lets you access their website - preferably via forwarded SSL so your users can't compromise data integrity. Users get some reward, presumably quite small, for relaying the requests for you.

The scheme could be opened to provide unofficial paid APIs for Twitter and other 'walled gardens' that make data available to unauthenticated users on the Internet.

</comment><comment><USER21> With Microsoft monopoly you always had the opportunity to reverse engineering the OS but when you can't see the binaries because they are in the cloud you're in trouble, it's worse than closed source.

Building your business around web apis without an SLA is the most risky business, you don't have control,

Enjoy your 15 minutes of your application placebo fame!

</comment><comment><USER22> I've had a whole litany of issues with Twitter doing stuff like this... but ultimately I've found work-arounds. It just depends how committed you are and how much time you have to make the fixes! More info here: <http://pluggio.com/blog/>

</comment><comment><USER23> Crap, I have an app that was build long, long before display guidelines existed (heck even hash tags didn't exist yet!). No time or energy to fix it.

And honestly, that style guide is ridiculous. Way to alienate your earliest champions, Twitter.

</comment><comment><USER24> Microblogging sites in China are thriving, much better than SNS sites (IMHO). I often come to wonder why FB is worth so much more than twitter. Could this actually be one of the cases when copycats win over the original?

</comment><comment><USER25> I had an even worse issue (entirely my own fault) which highlights the dangers of building on another platform. My app (tweetbars.com) had a tiny flaw in that it didn't time out the Curl calls to the Twitter API, and my host didn't kill hanging php executions.

So when Twitter started hanging (and eventually timing out after a minute or so) the app basically ate one of their shared servers and the host took my whole account down for 24 hours.

<comment><USER26> I've found when working with Twitter, even more so than other services, one must expect calls to fail frequently in a variety of novel ways. Code defensively!

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> John Kalucki from Twitter's platform team responded in the comments with what sounds like a reasonable alternative: [http://hoisie.com/post/a_warning_to_hackers_be_careful_build...](http://hoisie.com/post/a_warning_to_hackers_be_careful_building_on_twitters_api#comment-125554983)

</comment><comment><USER28> One should normally be careful of any freely available service - they owe you nothing. If you really want to partner with twitter for a cool app, approach them about signing an official agreement or something, no?

<comment><USER29> They probably won't give a damn. The power is highly unbalanced. Try talk to Google for a deal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> with regards to the lack of approval, could it be that Twitter want to avoid app redundancy to save resources? 100,000 of these requests can't be cheap for them, so when there are already multiple apps do what this one does does it not make sense for them to say they're no longer supporting most to save money?

I could be way off the mark, but that's how it appears to me. Multiple apps with the same purpose that require lots of resources... makes sense to stick with one or two high users and limit the rest.

</comment><comment><USER31> what is the 100k follow limit and why does it break your app?

<comment><USER32> From what I understand, he is using the 'statuses/filter' call of the stream api, filtering with users that have installed his app. This allows him to get the tweets of all his users in a single connection to twitter. 'statuses/filter' and 'statuses/sample' are the only two methods provided to all accounts and they are very limited. I mean, 100K users is a big number for sure, but not a surprising number given it's a twitter app on _facebook_. We are far from the firehose level!

As a work around, he might be able to go back to the REST api, use statuses/friends_timeline, and stay within the 300 per hour/per user limit.

Good luck Michael.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> the author has some points, but he does not mention something obvious to the reader: He was always at the mercy of Twitter. It was his fortune that the cap was increased at his whim, and only now have they stopped it, for whatever reason.

The reason sounds fishy, and his retort is well-founded, but it's an important thing to note.

<comment><USER34> I hate being at the mercy of another; that is why I have my own business. However...

I just had my first major rejection from the app store on a unreleased app (similar to an already approved app called Fresh Faces, which has been approved four times).

I got a phone call from Apple today telling me it was rejected because it violated section 18.2. I should have asked him to read it to me because I think he was too embarrassed to let me know what it said. He mumbled something about "social media" blah blah.

Well, I looked up 18.2 and was insulted. 'Apps that contain user generated content that is frequently pornographic (ex "Chat Roulette" apps) will be rejected.'

My apps allow users to upload photos of themselves and have others rate them. All photos are examined before posting, and I would never allow anything bad to be posted.

By this standard, any app that allows users to create and view photos should be banned.

Today I downloaded the Android development kit.

<comment><USER14> _Today I downloaded the Android development kit._

Good for you. Freedom is always prettier than a nice UI.

<comment><USER35> And if you're happy with your UI -and- don't like animations, you too can be mentioned on Daring Fireball!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Banks Build Line of Defense for Doomsday Cyberattack - <AUTHOR> https://www.wsj.com/articles/banks-build-line-of-defense-for-doomsday-cyberattack-1512302401 <comment><AUTHOR> paywall mirror: [https://archive.fo/a6cBo](https://archive.fo/a6cBo)</comment>


How Do You Become the 9th Employee at Google?  - <AUTHOR> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathon-youshaei/how-do-you-become-the-9th_b_2117208.html

<comment><USER2> That is hustle. This should be posted in response to every "how do I get a job at X startup" question.</comment>


Former Sun CEO: Government Crushing Job Growth in the Valley - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/former-sun-ceo-silicon-valley-2011-2?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29

<comment><USER2> "The biggest issues with the Valley are local, state and federal governmental overreach and overregulation. It's over-pensioned, over-unionized and over the top."

Really? I wasn't aware that the high tech companies in the Valley were unionized. And how many of them have pension funds?

<comment><USER3> I think he means that Government employees are "over-pensioned, over-unionized and over the top" and that that burden creates a deficit and high taxes.

I guess he means all of the above because otherwise you're right and it makes no sense.</comment></comment>