Google Launches Gmail Over SMS In Emerging Markets - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/18/google-launches-gmail-over-sms-in-emerging-markets/

<comment><USER2> Link to actual release: [http://google-africa.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/send-and- receive...](http://google-africa.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/send-and-receive- gmail-on-your-phone-as.html)

Apparently you can text "MORE" to see more of an email. So are users limited to 140-character chunks, or will Google expand this into MMS?

For that matter, how widespread is MMS vs SMS in emerging markets?

<comment><USER3> Most cell phones produced in the last 5 or even 10 years automatically concatenate chunked SMS. Looking at the screenshots, the capacity is at least 6*140.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I read this news with an incredible sense of synchronicity. Two hours ago I was eating a Subway sub and thinking how handy it would be to receive emails in my old Nokia phone via SMS. I do have an Android phone, but I don't take it in my bike rides. This SMS feature would be very welcome.

Edit: typo on 'synchronicity'

<comment><USER5> If you don't particular care about the privacy of those messages - and let's face it, it's non-encrypted _email_ \- there's plenty of cheap email-to-sms gateways out there. You just need to register for one and then set up a filter to forward the messages (keeping a copy on Gmail).

<comment><USER4> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> One of the benefits mentioned is essentially having a record/backup of sms messages. I've always felt bad about loosing all my text messages when I get a new phone or run out of space.

With my past few phones I've used this app to save all my sms messages to my Gmail account: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zegoggles....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zegoggles.smssync)

<comment><USER7> You don't lose SMS if you're on iOS, your new device has all the content of the old one. That's a nice part of the walled garden I suppose.

<comment><USER8> All SMS or just iMessages?

<comment><USER9> All SMS. To the user there is no meaningful distinction between SMS and iMessage, except for the extra features. My mother, as an example, just thought that some contacts were green and some were blue as a nice way to make things interesting.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Very interesting. This is a brilliant idea but I'm honestly surprised something like this wasn't done by RIM(Blackberry). This is a major market for Blackberry and they are still releasing new 2G phones(e.g. 9220 just released).

<comment><USER11> I feel like missing those sort of opportunities is pretty much why RIM is doing so poorly these days. It seems like they forgot what they are and what they do best.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> And today, I was just thinking about ditching my data plan on my iPhone (or more exactly, getting a MVNO SIM and turning off 3G). And of course, that made me wonder if there was an app for accessing dial-up.

</comment><comment><USER13> Isn't it a security hole? Normally, you work with Gmail using https, and sms messages are plain text which could be read and/or collected by mobile operators.

<comment><USER5> For a security conscious user, probably. For the regular user, I'd say it's _way_ , _way_ more probable that their PC is infested with email stealing malware than their mobile provider selling the SMS or someone using GSM sniffing equipment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Now we can look forward to 419 scams in text-speak :/</comment>


New version of Dropbox on the way - <AUTHOR> http://scripting.com/stories/2010/11/27/newVersionOfDropboxOnTheWa.html <comment> mike-cardwell Hopefully this will fix my memory problems. I have Dropbox running on several machines. For some reason, on my 64 bit Ubuntu machine it eats up more and more memory as time goes on. It's fine on my Debian and OSX boxes though. My account only has 22MB of data in it. I've had to resort to restarting Dropbox once a day from cron.

<comment><USER2> The 0.8 branch has been far superior for me than 0.7. Definitely give it a go as you may be pleasantly surprised.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> The third comment of the blog is interesting. Does anyone have any insight as to whether using Dropbox to sync iTunes works well? At a glance, it seems a better solution than home sharing.

<comment><USER4> I do this; my library is about 80GB (hence my somewhat panicked emails to Dropbox asking for the ability to buy more space). I have two Macs, and the syncing works very reliably -- even when I forget, and start iTunes on my laptop before the little doo-dad tells me that Dropbox is finished syncing, and Things Get Confused, quitting iTunes and waiting for the sync to finish always resolves any issues that come up. Of course, I use multiple iTunes instances _serially_ ; may the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و اله) protect you and intercede on your behalf if you try and run the client on multiple machines simultaneously.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Am I the only one using Linux that need to update their GPG key for the second time in like a month?

I'm using their repo and it seems their GPG key change on every release or something.</comment>


I fly twice a week with a swiss army knife and have never been caught.. - <AUTHOR>

where's the beef is security? <comment><USER2> It's like the Israilies say: We screen with insane technology but never look the person in the eyes and ask them a straightforward question to see if they are unnecessarily stressed. You would get through security only if you were completely unstressed about having the knife and probably forgot about it.</comment>


Census of Population and Housing, 1790 – 2010 - <AUTHOR> https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html <comment><USER2> I fear what Trumps America will do to and with the 2020 census.

<comment><USER3> As a person who works there, please expound why you think so. The real people making it difficult has been Congress and the never ending budget issues. We are in a critical time ramping up and going from continuing resolution to continuing resolution has made things rough. Now trying to push to add a citizenship question will really screw things up. But once again that's Congress not us or Trump.

<comment><USER2> The same people who gerrymandered the House post-2010 are in charge of the actual census. I'd imagine there will be systemic under counting in D-leaning states and over-counting in R-leaning, for one.

<comment><USER3> How exactly would that under and overcounting happen?</comment></comment></comment></comment>


One man in a tiny Irish town could derail Apple's plans for Europe - <AUTHOR> https://news.vice.com/story/one-man-in-a-tiny-irish-town-could-derail-apples-plans-for-europe <comment><USER2> I think the fact it's an American doing this to the town is especially upsetting to me. The people from the town now support it, but one transplant environmental engineer thinks he knows enough to wave off government reports and present alternative sites for an Apple data center (as if Apple would ever reveal enough information for an outsider to make that call)

<comment><AUTHOR> Very much so.

I was born and raised in Athenry, and still have family there, so I know the town well, and frankly it's a town in dire need of investment and rejuvenation.

The Apple data-center has practically unanimous support amongst the people living there, and people are looking forward to having some kind of investment and activity on their doorstep, even if they may not benefit from the DC directly.

This goon that's blocking construction isn't even a local, it's a damn shame. This'll probably end up with Apple just calling it quits and deciding to build somewhere else, and the town will go back to being a quiet, desperate backwater.</comment></comment>


Work at a Startup 2012 - <AUTHOR> http://workatastartup.org/

<comment><USER2> >> How much salary and equity should you expect from startups at different stages?

Does anyone have any insight to share on this?

What are the odds of getting a 6 figure salary at a startup?

<comment><USER3> That's the one thing I really like about AngelList's job board (<http://angel.co/jobs>) – most startups list salary and equity ranges.

<comment><USER2> Thanks! After looking over the postings and realizing my W-2 from my Fortune 1000 IT job is more than any salary range listed, I think its time for me to sunset my 'work at a startup' dream, given my age(31), family, kids, mortgage, etc.

Bootstrapping my own looks like the only viable option for me. Now if I could only find an idea worth pursuing..

<comment><USER4> Man, it does good to know that I'm not he only one it that situation, being one year younger I can understand it pretty good. Bad luck it took me a while to realize that a start-up was what I really wanted, mostl thanks to Paul Grahams essays. Well, maybe it's all about timing, and there I'm utterly convinced that even when you are older the timing will be right one day. The trick is to realize it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Would be great if the presentation videos are recorded in Justin.tv

<comment><AUTHOR> They probably will be; we'll talk to them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Interesting. It seems there's never room for non-tech project managers in start-ups. You know those guys with a formal business background, MBAs etc? Well, I don't see opps for them in the start-up space. Am I missing something?

<comment><USER7> Nope, you're not missing anything. Startup teams are so small that everyone on the team has to be able to add value by creating something tangible. There's no room for middle-management.

<comment><USER8> And "non-technical" doesn't mean "middle management". Or, more to the point of the OP, there doesn't seem to be room for anyone who's not a programmer. That's a lot of roles, IMO. (Case in point, I have a CS degree and extensive business experience and have no desire to be a "programmer.")

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> May 1 seems a little late to be issuing invitations for those of us who would need to be booking flights to make it out there.

Any chance of a quicker yes or no if we send our info right away?

<comment><USER10> As it is at least partially a recruiting event, the closer the invites go out to the event, the better they can match the invitees to the jobs they're trying to fill.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> > _The event is free, but since more programmers may want to attend than we > have room for, we're asking would-be attendees to apply by submitting a > resume. Founders of the companies that will be there will read them and > decide who to invite._

Is this event really only for programmers? The language seems particularly exclusive.

</comment><comment><USER12> Here's my rambling review/experience from a few years ago: <http://matt.io/startup/Work_at_a_Startup_Review>

(Reminder: I refuse to be held responsible for anything I say that's more than five minutes old, much less 628 days old.)

</comment><comment><USER13> Can designers come too?

</comment><comment><USER14> A live Ustream channel, for this, with questions being accepted from twitters would be appreciable.

</comment><comment><USER15> This is a great event idea. I wish the some of the VCs around Boston or NYC would get together and do this for the East Coast.

<comment><USER16> <http://nycstartupjobfair.com/>

<comment><USER17> This sounds like something quite different - a career fair for students / recent grads.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Asking programmers for a resumé? Why not ask them for their Github profile or something like that instead?

<comment><AUTHOR> Wouldn't most programmers link to that in their resume?</comment></comment>


The Brazen Bootlegging of a Multibillion-Dollar Sports Network - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/sports/bein-sports-qatar-beoutq.html <comment><USER3> This isn't the only company selling access to near-real-time re-broadcasts of live content.

I'm surprised the NYT article doesn't mention others.

This part is interesting:

"The beIN antipiracy team believes it knows how beoutQ is stealing the signal. Essentially, the website is re-airing content delivered to an individual subscriber. Since each subscriber has a unique identification number that is usually visible, known as a fingerprint, beIN engineers thought they would be able to easily identify the offending customer. However, the pirates have figured out how to hide their fingerprints."

I'm sure there are challenges in doing this in real-time, and without introducing additional compression artefacts, but isn't this as simple as diffing feeds from 2 or more original subscribers feeds, to find where in the picture the subscriber info is encoded?

<comment><USER4> Googling indicates that beIN has started using ASiD which seems to be the state-of-the-art in digital watermarking at the point of receiving (the beIN set-top box). I wonder if beIN is still being pirated effectively with this new deterrence.

> ASiD is a true step change in the fight against video piracy. Its > combination of discrete identifying symbols, fractional second display and > sophisticated placement, and interpretation algorithms make it impossible to > obscure or mask with zero impact on the consumer experience.

<comment><USER5> Anytime somebody says impossible in a statement, you know it's marketing talk. Just off the cuff, what of simply taking multiple accounts, synchronizing them based on keyframe similarity, and then sampling from the accounts at random, applying an invisible distortion filter, and broadcasting?

Seems like a fun technical problem to solve. It's certainly a cat and mouse game, but in this case I think the odds are stacked in favor of the mouse, as this sort of task seems like child's play compared to the work that e.g. video game crackers go through and in that case the crackers have negligible resources whereas this station has vast resources.

<comment><USER4> Interesting. Given the negligible delay of 10 seconds, perhaps they did create processing clusters to do the pipeline of what you suggested.

More from the marketing brochure:

> The only requirement outside of the client-side embedder library is the > installation of a video fingerprint generator appliance in close time > proximity to the video encoder. Operating independently of the encoder on a > copy of the signal, signatures are calculated and other frame analyses are > performed to enable precise triggering and recovery of the identifying > symbols.

<comment><USER6> I'm sure they did, but 10 seconds isn't "negligible" (if you've ever watched the superbowl in an apartment building on a hot day you'll know what i mean)

<comment><USER7> Yeah but if your entire country/region is on that same 10-second delay, then it might as well be live.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The decoder box has to decrypt the satellite signal, run it through a video codec, apply the fancy watermarking, and then output the signal. I'm guessing they've worked out a way of hacking the STB to extract the signal between the decryption and watermarking stages.

<comment><USER7> FTA it sounds like the pirates may actually control the satellite? Arabsat appears to be the source of the signal, so could the issue be a "leaky" legit distributor for BeIN?

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> This article made me wonder if the criticism of the Qatar World Cup - <USER2> working conditions of the labourers, the weather, the lack of football tradition, the pay-for-play - if that is all planted by Saudi Arabia and her Western allies trying to discredit and isolate Qatar.

I've read the stories about migrant labour and construction deaths. They sound terrible but people died in South Africa too. The climate will be significantly cooler than in Orlando. Japan wasn't a footballing power before it hosted the tournament. And literally everyone who wants to host it has to make it financially worthwhile for FIFA. So why the Qatar backlash?

<comment><USER10> It probably has something to do with the part about Qatar being a very tiny place (a native population of 300,000!) with very wealthy people and never having qualified for the World Cup before. That seems ripe for a bribe, especially because everyone knows FIFA is and was corrupt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I remember back in early 2000s getting premium satellite tv for free was as easy as just installing a firmware on your STB. Eventually, the encryption got too hard and expensive to crack, so regular hackers stopped working on firmwares.

<comment><USER12> The story behind DirectTV's "bloody sunday" is pretty interesting: [https://www.wired.com/2008/05/tarnovsky/?currentPage=all](https://www.wired.com/2008/05/tarnovsky/?currentPage=all)

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> All the football live streams on Facebook alone and no one is doing anything (at least it feels like it) to remove them. And they're all with arab text scrolling on the bottom. When a game is on, our visitor numbers drop by a large % (almost completely). When a game is on I can be sure our ad revenue is down by at least 70%, because those games are so widely accessible via Facebook.

</comment><comment><USER14> Is beOUTq a play on beIN? If it is, that's pretty ballsy and in your face!

</comment><comment><USER15> they should just start airing anti-Saudi ads during the biggest matches

<comment><USER16> The other broadcaster inserts it's own ad's so it would just filter them out.

<comment><USER17> Superimpose it on a random area of the screen, making it look like it's something painted on the field, if the image goes to the satellite with the message already there, 10 seconds wont be enough to block it without disrupting the transmission.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Pirating happens when consumers are faced with unreasonable inconvenience and cost to get what they want.

Like being forced to purchase a bundle of channels or a season of games when you only want to watch one team or a specific sport.

If these media companies would make it convenient, ala carte, and priced reasonably, piracy would plummet.

All you need to do is look at iTunes, Spotify, etc.

<comment><USER19> RTFA, it has absolutely nothing to do with your reflexive talking points.</comment></comment>


The Mysterious Bronze Objects That Have Baffled Archaeologists for Centuries - <AUTHOR> https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/514246/are-roman-dodecahedrons-worlds-most-mysterious-artifact?a_aid=45307 <comment><USER2> Seems obvious that this knobs are useless ornamentation except for temporarily ataching some kid of string (permanent attached strings would grant a handle instead). And the objects are not worned out, so probably for use indoors in light works not related with fire or painting.

My first though was that the holes could be used for measuring spaguetti, or weat beams for taxes or agriculture, or a rule for architecture, but some facts points to a domestic and femenine activity.

1) is not even mentioned in old documents when roman empire was obsessed with documenting everything related with war and bureaucracy

2) occurs widespread

3) does not need numbers engrabbed (but the numbers could be the number of concentric rings also).

4) Is intended to measure a discrete interval. Not more not less. Is always a small object. If it was for measuring groups of things the interval is continuous and has not upper limit.

In that case one could expect finding versions of the object in middle and big sizes also for measuring bigger groups of objects. Roman balances were yet available for that. If they were measuring something, this something can't growth indefinitely and can't be too small either.

Thus a finger glove maker seems like a perfect and most logical explanation.

<comment><USER3> >2) occurs widespread

They're only found on the northern border of the empire, but that is consistent with being a finger glove maker too. It's colder, so more need for gloves.

I dismissed this explanation initially as a bit silly and mundane, but it really is the only one that makes sense to me. The knobs at the corners are perfectly designed to hold a loop of yarn and I can't see what else they're good for.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Hmmm... I wonder if they were like audition pieces for army blacksmiths or maybe from a school of them, e.g. "Okay, you're good enough if you can make one of these things."

Might explain why there are a lot of them, and all so seemingly different...

<comment><USER5> This is mentioned in the article.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> The look like a fancy version of a gauging tool [1]. Each hole could have been used to measure the diameter of a different sized rod, sphere, or coin..

[1] [https://www.eastwood.com/sheet-metal- gauge.html](https://www.eastwood.com/sheet-metal-gauge.html)

<comment><USER3> That seems unlikely as these don't come in standard sizes, and don't have any numbers inscribed on them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I immediately thought knitting/crochet - and that was then shown in the embedded video later.

(I have vague recollections of using a cardboard ring to make a pom-pom out of wool when I was an infant).</comment>


How to Read Reddit the Fanatic Programmer Way - <AUTHOR> http://www.catonmat.net/blog/how-to-read-reddit-the-fanatic-programmer-way/

<comment><USER2> The problem is that you can't be too reliant on Reddit for programming news. What gets voted up is either REALLY BIG news like the DNS thing, or just cool tips from Joe's Blog. Not that those tips aren't cool, I just feel that a lot of more newsier things don't get voted on in Reddit.

</comment><comment><USER3> That's the _efficient_ way to browse Reddit in search of programming news.

I like to keep my options open to all of the topics. Why? Because other than most of the [PIC]s it's intellectually stimulating to sometimes take a look at the articles outside of my realm of interest.

</comment><comment><USER4> Finding stuff to read is the easy part. It's finding the time to read it all properly that I'm struggling with.

<comment><USER5> Reading it all is not the trick; my reading time is pretty much bounded. The hard part is reading only the most important things, given limited time for reading.</comment></comment>


Show HN: paleorecipes.io: For Geeks, By Geeks - <AUTHOR> http://blainsmith.com/articles/paleorecipesio-for-geeks-by-geeks

<comment><USER2> "I go to CrossFit 5-6 days a week and I am 100% paleo dieting 80% of the time."

Uh oh. Cool site, faddy workout routine.

<comment><AUTHOR> Whether its a fad or not the combination of the 2 work very well for a lot of people.

<comment><USER3> I hope it works out for you. Be sure to take care of yourself; e.g., avoid kipping pull-ups and the other harmful exercises that are popular in the CrossFit community.

<comment><AUTHOR> And why avoid those?</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Topology-disturbing objects: a new class of 3D optical illusion (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17513472.2017.1368133 <comment><USER2> Video is the best way of showing how strange these can appear -

[https://i.imgur.com/g5Ot0rH.gif](https://i.imgur.com/g5Ot0rH.gif)

Source - [https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns...](https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns- ambiguous-cylinders)

<comment><USER3> Your source link helped me find where it had been posted on HN by the creator of those models before: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307573](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307573)

The top reply to that comment pointed out that you can rotate the models in GitHub's viewer:

[https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible- objects/blob/master/...](https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible- objects/blob/master/3dfiles/arrow/filledarrow_whole.stl)

[https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible- objects/blob/master/...](https://github.com/Matsemann/impossible- objects/blob/master/3dfiles/circlesquare/circleinnersquare_2x2.stl)

<comment><USER4> I never knew it's so simple to embed 3D visualizations. How does GitHub do this? How can I do this on my own website? What's the name of the tech I should google?

<comment><USER5> My guess is you want to start by looking at three.js --I've been on teams using it for a robotics debugging tool with a web interface, and it's definitely a nice library to work with!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is old enough that the year (2017) should be in the title.

Also, the optical illusion isn't really 3d since it relies on a single point perspective - it'll show up on camera, but if you see it with two eyes you'll see the actual structure.

Now for a real 3d optical illusion, look at the hollow face illusion - not on video - find a real life instance of a depth reversed face.

Your brain has circuitry specifically optimised for facial recognition, and what you're seeing so confuses your mind that it breaks depth perception.

It will actually appear as if a static object is turning to follow you around the room.

<comment><USER7> > _.. if you see it with two eyes you 'll see the actual structure._

I'm interested to know if your statement based on personal experience.

I have some of Sugihara's work, and what you claim is not the case. If you view it from a sensible distance (over 30 cms or so), and even if you know how it works, the illusion is still effective.

Of course the illusion disappears if you view it from radically the wrong direction, or from less than 10 cm, but based on my experience, your claim seems over-stated.

<comment><USER6> Even then, it's still not 3d - it's based on lighting and a lack of contrast - it's a projection based illusion that requires distance so that the variations between the two two-dimensional projections are not enough that your brain re- comprehends what it's looking at.

I'm not saying it isn't cool - there's something quite neat about the fact that the brain misinterprets what it's seeing as the nearest known 2d icon.

But it's not 3-dimensional.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Cool.

STLs? Would love to print a couple of these for my kid's show-and-tell in class

edit: found some , search "illusion" on thingiverse, not "topology" :)

eg, [https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3169391](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3169391)

<comment><USER9> My whole collection is here: [https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns...](https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns- ambiguous-cylinders)

Do it, I have shown these to various school classes. They have been popular everywhere, from primary school to universities!

</comment></comment><comment> caleb-allen Is this the same type of illusion?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfFco7K9v8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfFco7K9v8)

</comment><comment><USER10> "Keywords: ... anomalous object, impossible object, ..."

Will somebody please call SCP already ;)

<comment><USER11> Uncounted number of dead D-class personal and MTF squads later, it's concluded that it's safe.

</comment></comment><comment> ur-whale OBJ file anyone ?

<comment><USER12> [https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns...](https://www.thingiverse.com/Matsemann/collections/matsemanns- ambiguous-cylinders)

That link has STL, not OBJ, but maybe that's good enough.

<comment> ur-whale Very neat, thanks.

Loading one of these things in blender and rotating it around is really worth doing, and it's totally weird: when you rotate most 3D objects interactively, you can get a good grasp of their shape, but these things feels like they are specifically designed to prevent that from happening.

<comment><USER13> Yeah, the weeks I spent making that collection was quite mind-bending, hehe.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> forget the math, just enjoy</comment>


Chrome shows off recent additions: web components, remote android debug, & more - <AUTHOR> http://www.chromium.org/developers/meet-the-web-platform-companion

<comment><USER2> It makes me sad to read about all these cool features that I'm going to have to wait 4 years to use on any real websites.

<comment><USER3> Or go back more than 4 years and use IE 5.5 ;-) Remember those HTC files?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Web components seems bizarre to me. Web developers are moving away from the multiple requests per page model, towards sprites and asset packaging. Web components seem like a step backward, especially given that all of the web frameworks have robust templating solutions.

Am I missing some key need here?

<comment><USER5> Looking at the Web Components overview it doesn't add any addition request unless you build it that way. It basically seems to add HTML templating and a cleaner API for working with events and modifying nodes.

<comment><USER6> And scoped styles (including only _optionally_ inheriting styles from the parents) and events, which seem like they could be _phenomenally_ helpful for widget libraries. You have to be careful with site-wide CSS to avoid styling, for example, a jQueryUI widget. With this, there would be zero conflicts, unless you explicitly allow them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The remote debugging is long past due. If google wants to push the mobile web and Android they need to step it up. Their browser is awful compared to the iphone's and the tooling isn't there. It's a place Android could really excel and, as a mobile web dev and Android user, it's been really disappointing to watch them sqaunder the opportunity.

<comment><USER8> Huh? They do need to step it up if mobile web apps are ever going to be a decent experience, the Android browser has been sometimes sufficient but never stellar, but isn't "stepping it up" exactly what remote debugging (and the new chrome) is? How is that squandering anything? Are you just mixing tenses?

Mobile safari certainly isn't a good example for tooling, though remote debugging is apparently there waiting to be enabled: [http://atnan.com/blog/2011/11/17/enabling-remote- debugging-v...](http://atnan.com/blog/2011/11/17/enabling-remote-debugging- via-private-apis-in-mobile-safari/)

<comment><USER7> > but isn't "stepping it up" exactly what remote debugging (and the new > chrome) is?

Yes, which is why I said it's long past due.</comment></comment></comment>


Pliny the Elder May Have Been Found 2,000 Years Later - <AUTHOR> http://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/1.809751 <comment><USER2> I visited Pompei just last week! What an amazing place.

Most of the paintings and mosaics and other findings have been removed from the houses and are in a museum in Naples, but still, it's extraordinary.

There had been a big earthquake in 62 AD that had shaken the whole region, and Pompei was still under active reconstruction in 79 AD when the eruption buried it.

(It is said that during the 62 earthquake, Nero was singing in Naples in front of 5000 people he had forced to come listen to him, and that when the earth trembled he explained it was because it was touched by his singing. Spectators were not allowed to leave the theater until he finished. The theater is no more, but the houses later built on top of it clearly follow its path [https://goo.gl/maps/AsMRjEm9sj82](https://goo.gl/maps/AsMRjEm9sj82)).

In Pompei there were small houses, big houses (some over 3000 sq. m. with an entrance in the town, and a terrasse with a view of the sea); there was, at Herculanum, a nearby town, a huge villa (Villa of the Papyri: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_of_the_Papyri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_of_the_Papyri)) overlooking the bay of Naples.

None of that mattered. The eruption destroyed everything.

<comment><USER3> Herculanum is really neat. The crowds (at least 5 years ago) were pretty thin, and most of the area isn't roped off, so you can just sort of wander around a semi-intact Roman city.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> They need $10,000 to do the test and are looking for donors. C'mon one of you HN tech millionaires - pick up the phone and cut them a check.

<comment><USER5> ...or 10,000 people could donate a $1. Not sure why we're always looking for rich people to solve problems. There's a lot more the rest of us could do.

<comment><USER6> Transaction costs on 10K payments of $1 are a lot higher than one payment of 10K.

The optimum is probably somewhere in the middle.

<comment><USER5> so, you get my point? The pendant HN crowd never lets you down. Rather than turn this into a pointless debate about the optimal amount to give...

So, I'll ask that in addition to stop being cheap, maybe we can solve the micropayment problem.

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

<comment><USER6> > The pendant HN crowd

Oh the temptation ;)

<comment><USER5> yeah, I should just blog my response so I don't have to quickly, with typos, post this point again. I feel like we've had this same conversation before about crowdfunding and micro-transactions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I was under the impression his body was recovered a couple of days after the eruption - have I got that wrong?

<comment><USER8> Indeed, the Wikipedia says on the matter: "On their return three days later (26 August) after the plume had dispersed, his body was found under the pumice with no apparent external injuries." Odd that the article doesn't address this at all.

<comment><USER9> Huh, so who does this skull belong to? Maybe it's one of the friends he was trying to rescue?

Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if there were multiple men running around with gold jewelry and swords back then. If the Bay Area were hit by a major earthquake today and everyone got buried in the rubble, we would find a lot of bodies clutching iPhones and Tesla car keys.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Link to donate? Can't find it

</comment><comment><USER11> Alan Davies will be thrilled.

<comment><USER12> For the uninitiated, he's a member of the QI panel, a British comedy quiz show. There are quite a few episodes where they talk about Pliny the Elder on that show, its quite funny.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Pathetic that the Italian State cannot cough up 10k to get to the bottom of this. 10k is less than the monthly benefit of an Italian member of Parliament...

What a failed state, what a shame on us!

<comment><USER14> Agreed. However, being a researcher in an Italian university, I fully understand their difficulty in finding this sum…

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I can't be the only one who immediately thought what, they had IPAs 2000 years ago?

<comment><USER16> I have friends whose dog is named Pliny. He convinced his wife they were naming the dog after a great historical figure, but really it's just his favorite beer. It's pretty high on my list when I visit CA to see if I can find it.

<comment><USER17> He needs to get another one so he can have Pliny the Elder and Pliny the Younger.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This article is now basically an excuse for a ton of pop-overs and pop-unders that make the site unusable. It seems that the publisher has decided to maximise their revenue from the HN hug.

Shame.

<comment><USER19> At first, I only saw one ad when I went there (just now). I forgot I had my adblocker on. Then, I tried to load the page again and saw "Haaretz.com is now inaccessible to visitors using ad blockers"

Wow, someone is actively working to squeeze the incoming traffic.

<comment><USER20> Haaretz is pretty much the only remaining media outlet in Israel that continues to pursue actual journalism. To that end I support them endlessly.

However, they are also the only media outlet that has paywalls, and I'd be fine with that if it ended there - high quality investigative journalism has a price.

The problem is that they also have a shit ton of third-party malware networks embedded on their pages, and even if you pay for a digital subscription you still get tracked and bombarded with ads. Then to add further insult, they block ad-blockers.

The solution is two fold: the Hebrew EasyList [1] blocks the anti ad-block elements allowing you to continue to view Haaretz without ads and without blocking. Second, if you want to jump over the paywall, there's an addon for that [2].

[1] - [https://github.com/easylist/EasyListHebrew](https://github.com/easylist/EasyListHebrew)

[2] - [https://github.com/yuvadm/free-haaretz](https://github.com/yuvadm/free- haaretz)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I admit that I thought this was about beer. A very very fine beer that I have not yet had the pleasure of enjoying. Pliny the Younger is still quite a nice beer that I've had on multiple occasions from the tap, and is generally more available if you are at the right establishment on the right night.

<comment><USER22> I had the same expectation. That said, in the Bay Area, the hype for Pliny is greater than it should be. Personally, I find Blind Pug from Russian River as good or better.

<comment><USER21> I still need to visit the actual Russian River brewery</comment></comment></comment>


A simple, open format for taking back publishing - <AUTHOR> I was one of the creators of Facebook's Instant Articles. At that time, I had concerns about the future of publishing; namely, that publishers were struggling to survive whereas networks -- like Facebook -- had too much control over what was being seen and shared.
With Instant Articles in the works and things like Apple News, AMP, and Snapchat Discover on the horizon, journalists needed new tools to do their job effectively.
The recent rash of fake news and propaganda -- and the half-hearted efforts to stem its spread -- are evidence that these tools still don't exist. And as someone who has seen behind the curtain, it's pretty clear that these tools are a ways off.
A year or two ago, I began working on a simple specification that attempted to provide an "open web" approach to decentralized publishing. It defined a structure for representing content and journalistic metadata. More importantly, it did so in a way that would be amenable to open collaboration by technologists and journalists, alike.
It wasn't and isn't "the" answer. It's more of a jumping off point.
What's missing, in my opinion, is community: engineers and journalists coming together to build open, free tools that aren't married to Facebook or Google or Twitter. Tools that are designed for journalists and not advertisers or marketers.
To that end, I wanted to invite the community here to take a look at what I've scraped together. Perhaps it can, at the least, form the basis of a discussion about the future of publishing on the open web.
If you'd like to be added as a contributor, feel free to let me know.
----
Link: http://openpublishing.github.io/
TL;DR -- publishing has radically changed and fake news is a symptom that journalism hasn't caught up. We should try to fix it. Here's a rough start. <comment><USER2> While it is useful and necessary to have a spec the audience is the author who doesn't need to know or understand all the bracket and curly business. All she needs is a list of benefits and a text editor claimed to produce OpenPub format. Even the upload mechanism can be omitted.

The fake news narrative is kind of reactionary. The flaws in journalism are much more basic. As investigations cost money the level of investigation needs to be documented along with the publication. If I was to coin something like this I would make mandatory fields for Human Sources, Institutions and publications. That way the reader has at least some context.

I would also hammer out an ongoing review system that takes us beyond "author" and "publisher" with the ability to dynamically correct it self if new facts require it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Sorry for being very negative, since I'm generally happy about every initiative that looks into these things, but:

The format looks needlessly complicated and not very "open web" to me, compared to e.g. HTML with maybe some extra info, e.g. microformats2 syntax (could even reuse existing vocabulary from there). Works in browsers, feed readers, website-previews in other software, ..., and software that understands the extras can upgrade the presentation with them). It's not clear to me what downside of existing formats this solves that couldn't integrate with what exists already.

Also, while some standard for decentralized publishing would be useful, I don't think it's what journalism needs to fight fake news/propaganda, those happen on totally different levels, so bringing that in seems odd. Decentralized publishing won't be suddenly enabled by a new file format.

</comment><comment> open-source-ux I really like the idea and the initiative. But isn't plain (semantic) HTML already an "open Web" approach to decentralisation? Why can't we stick with this rather than create another format?

I also wish that publicly-funded broadcasters (like the BBC) would take some initiative here and support or release open-source tools for publishing. Presumably they have custom-workflows, proprietary code bases, or layers of organisational cruft and inertia that stop them from doing this.

The BBC does have an excellent Journalism skills website:

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/skills](http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/skills)

And this was posted to Hacker News last year:

 _Superdesk: an open source end-to-end platform for news_

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615153](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11615153)

</comment><comment><USER4> Totally second the effort. But agree with open source UX on this. Plain old HTML is the first approximation to an answer. Open publishing needs an incentive mechanism and is therefore not a technical but a business problem. Also CUNY J school with Google and a bunch of folks did election land. If there was a way to replicate that effort in a open decentralized way, that is the way to go</comment>


Ask HN: What would you do with fedexr.com? - <AUTHOR>

From: DNS-LEGAL [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com]
Subject: Registration of "fedexr.com" as a Domain Name FEC File No.: 39-2641-1666 Importance: High
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

      Re:      Registration of "fedexr.com" as a Domain Name
                  FEC File No.:  39-2641-1666

 Dear Mr. Sanchez:
It has come to our attention that you have registered the above URL as a domain name.  The URL "fedexr.com" uses the registered service mark "FedEx" owned by Federal Express Corporation ("FedEx"), which you may not appropriate as part of your URL. Such use and registration may result in trademark infringement, dilution and unfair competition in violation of federal and state law and in particular the Anti-Cyberquatting Consumer Protection Act signed into law on November 29, 1999.  In any event, FedEx requests that you discontinue any and all use of the name, cancel this registration and respond to this letter within 15 days of receipt. Please reply to this email confirming your agreement to this request, and your agreement that you will not use in the future any mark or name similar to any FedEx trademark, service mark or URL, to conduct any business or activity, or as a URL.  FedEx reserves all rights, remedies and causes of action it may have in this matter. Sincerely,
/W.J. Brown/
FEDEX CORPORATION William J. Brown Senior Attorney 3620 Hacks Cross Road Building B, 3rd Floor Memphis, TN 38125 PHONE: (901) 434-8600 FAX:  (901) 434-9256 WJB/jsc/639957 <comment><USER2> I think they have a very valid complaint.

<comment><USER3> depends on what he wants/wanted to use it for surely.

(my vote is a brand new international shipping congolmerate - at the very least make their complaint worth something :))

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It depends...

What are you doing with the domain?

It looks like you registered it two years ago and haven't done anything with it.

Barring any use of the domain that shows it is clearly NOT intended to infringe on their trademark, I don't think you have much of a case.

<comment><AUTHOR> I haven't done anything with it. But I certainly do not intend to infringe on any trademark.

<comment><USER4> Well, what IS your intention for it?

I'm at a loss to come up with a concept that does not likely infringe. "Fedex" is a unique enough term that it's not likely you were intending to do something unrelated to shipping. But, I don't want to jump to too many conclusions, so please provide some more background info if you don't mind.

<comment><AUTHOR> The initial idea was to setup a forex site.

fedexr.com = fede (short for federiko, my nickname in Spanish) + xr (for eXchange rates - I trade currency pairs).

<comment><USER4> Yeah, sure. Good luck with that defense.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Looking for killer growth hacking strategy for SaaS product - <AUTHOR> I am working for Saas product and have to increase my blog and landing page traffic by 10x in a week bit more please share some actionable tips and hacks to increase relevant traffic. <comment><USER2> 10x in a week seems overly ambitious. Assuming this level of traffic is desirable beyond the short-term bump from a hack, you probably want long-term strategies. Does that sound like the goal?

[https://www.cortes.design/blog](https://www.cortes.design/blog)</comment>


Political gerrymandering gone hysterically wrong: only 1 vote counts - <AUTHOR> http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/28/1416118/-Morning-Digest-Business-owners-remove-all-voters-from-business-district-but-forget-one-college-kid

<comment><USER2> Nice! The landowners tried to arrange a Community Improvement District so there are no voters in it. Under local law, if here are no voters then the land owners get to decide. (What I can't tell is if there's a difference between the views of the land owners and the business owners on that land. Are the land owners trying to avoid increased property taxes by shifting the expenses to sales taxes?)

That district includes the Ernest and Eugenia Wyatt Guest House, which is "available for EFCC patients experiencing long-term outpatient care, such as chemotherapy." One of the employees of facility also lives there, and has done so for over a year, and is a registered voter.

Hence the plan of having no registered voter didn't succeed.

<comment><USER3> At least until they get fired and evicted.

<comment><USER2> Indeed. I idly wonder if there are any special laws to prohibit evicting someone for the primary purpose of trying to sway an election. Perhaps remnants of laws added due to oppressive tactics used in company towns?</comment></comment></comment>


Cell signal puts Cohen outside Prague around time of purported Russian meeting - <AUTHOR> https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/investigations/article219016820.html <comment><USER2> No. It puts his cellphone outside of Prague. Not him. And fooling HLR is easy

<comment><USER3> so you suggest a well thought conspiracy years in the making?</comment></comment>


Guy Kawasaki - Four free books - <AUTHOR> https://plus.google.com/+GuyKawasaki/posts/TkA1Knf6EZS <comment><USER2> The Macintosh way is interesting for technology history, insider stories and technology marketing. Database 101 is dated but probably still relevant to learn database basics. WTP is mainly interesting if you want to make the best of Google+. I'd bet it will mostly interest community managers. Computer Curmudgeon is apparently a bunch of amusing stories, nothing more.

Unfortunately the 3 old books are quite badly jpeg-compressed pdfs instead of proper text.

<comment><USER3> Feel free to OCR and copy edit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The four books are:

The Macintosh Way (1989)

Database 101 (1991) -- pdf does not include free disk inside, wow I'm old

Computer Curmudgeon (1992)

What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us (2012)

<http://www.yousendit.com/download/WUJZZUNndWNlaFRMYnRVag>

edit: added link to the download page, for the G+ averse

<comment><USER5> I guess those people won't be downloading the G+ book then.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It is amazing how people can produce such an amount of content with absolutely no value at all.

<comment><USER7> Bullshit is an art indeed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Gems from Computer Curmudgeon that I am typing in verbatim, as I really think these are some of the most interesting things I have read about the craft of programming in a very long time. Apologies to Guy Kawasaki, this may go past fair use on your copyright - I felt they were too wise to be left buried.

 _How to Program_

 _Program freely_

Have rollicking fun when you program. Program as if you were creating something for your friends. Make programming easy on and interesting to yourself, without fear of failure. Thumb your nose at the know-it-alls, critics, managers, and MBAs at least once a month and program freely.

 _Program recklessly_

Ignore "market" requirements (the market usually doesn't know what it wants until it sees it). Go where no programmer has gone before. Add Excel, PageMaker, and RTF compatibility at the end. If ever. If you want. Make history, not compatibility. Your goal is to create software so great that customers are willing to rekey data, so tell the world to kiss your SCSI port and go for it.

 _Program for love_

Programming is generosity. You can have an insight or know a truth about how a computer can do something. You want other people to share it. So you program. Put your love for people into your program. It will touch people, and all of you will be better for it. It may even sell - because people are willing to buy love on a disk (If you want to see love on a disk, look at HAM from Microseeds publishing. This little jewel allows you to customize the order of your Apple menu and it adds a folder to the Apple menu containing a directory of the items used recently. HAM shows some serious love of System 7 users.

 _Program honestly_

Most software is dishonest. When you look at it, you can't believe that a programmer with a triple-digit IQ believes that this is the way things should work. Instead, the software is saying, "This isn't really what I think. The design specs said to do it this way." Or, "My boss saw John Sculley demo a HyperCard stack that has this kind of interface." Or, "My boss saw this feature in an Apple video." Be honest. And be accepted or rejected on what you really believe.

 _Program to infect_

Great software leaps from a computer and infects people's brains. It makes their fingertips sizzle and mouse buttons palpitate. Infection happens immediately or it doesn't happen at all. It won't happen because people try- and-try to like a program or because a reviewer says it's good. As you program, keep the goal of infection in your mind.

 _Program for intrinsic rewards_.

Programming yields two intrinsic rewards. First, programming helps you understand your feelings better. Nothing forces a person to understand himself better than trying to communicate his feelings. Second, programming increases creativity: the more you use your creative power, the more you will have (Don't you wish Powerbook batteries worked this way?) No matter how many copies of your program you sell, if you program for intrinsic rewards, you'll reap satisfaction.

 _Program in the present_.

To borrow a Ueland[1] analogy, work like a child strings beads: one bead at a time, unconcerned about what the necklace might look like with different beads. Ignore the rumors you read in MacWEEK about DAL, RISC chips [Ed.: HA! RISC won!], and cross-platform compilers. Instead, do the best you can with the present. If you wait for the perfect platform and the perfect object- oriented compiler, you may never finish anything. Create a product so great that people won't care about upgrading to the latest gee-whiz-what-have-we- shipped-but-no-perfected technology.

 _Program anything you want_.

Ueland quotes William Blake to illustrate this point: "Better to strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." Ignore the forecast about market size in the year 2000 and the competitive analysis of the viability of various platforms. Tackle anything that fascinates you: a product for NeXT, an Excel killer - even a Macintosh database program. If your company won't let you do this, then quit. Have you ever met anyone who regretted quitting a job?

 _Program microscopically_.

Take a close look at the software you've created. Does it show a microscopic attention to detail? A fine eye? Empathy for the user? Forget "patentable, paradigm-shifting algorithms for the '90s" because great software come down to minute details. Get out your microscope and program software for mortals.

If you want to see programs not programmed microscopically, look at Microsoft Word or Aldus PageMaker. Don't you love dialog boxes that contain three pop-up menus and nine buttons (Save, Cancel, Apply, Set Default, Apply Set, Apply Default, Default Apply, Default Set, and Default Default) plus four buttons leading to additional dialogs?

These products were programmed with a telescope. It must have something to do with being from the Pacific Northwest. Maybe there are hooded owls living in Word and PageMaker, so it is against the law to cut down the number of dialog boxes.

 _Program when you are discouraged_

Ueland quotes Van Gogh: "If you hear a voice within you saying: You are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working." No one- not Andy Hertzfeld, Bill Atkinson [2], Steve Capps [3], or Michael Jordan [23] - woke up one day and was great. They make it look easy because they've worked hard. Great programming is opening a vein and pouring blood onto a disk.

>>

 _Interface_

That which justifies Apple's margins.

\- From Computer Curmudgeon, page 144 - 147, 95, 1992

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Ueland>

[2] [http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_E...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_Everywhere.txt)

[3] [http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s...](http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Steve_Capps_Day.txt)

<comment><USER9> Interesting advice from someone who was never a professional developer. Has Kawasaki done any hobby programming?

<comment><USER10> Everything quoted in the GP can be said about writing in general. It's excellent advice, but it's not specific at all.

<comment><USER7> As a writer, I absolutely agree. It's also not new advice. As in hundreds of years old.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> (Computer Curmudgeon did not age very well, with some stuff now obscure even for those of us who were watching at the time, but this entry is an interesting snapshot of the commercial internet in 1991 California:)

"AppleLink - A marketing research project to determine whether people will pay $25/hour for electronic mail service when $5/hour service are available.

 _America Online is for geeks; CompuServe is for tweaks; AppleLink for sheiks; The Well is for freaks_ "

<comment><USER9> Isn't that the entire history of Apple, though? "Maybe people will pay more for our de-commoditized version." Many times, Apple was right, for at least a significant minority of customers.

<comment><USER7> Entire history, yet published in the early '90's?

Let's face it. Had Steve Jobs not returned, Apple would have been bankrupt by y2k.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I've been wanting to read Art of the Start. Any recommendations or advice?

</comment><comment><USER7> Feel-good books about programming from an "evangelist." Yeah, just confess your sins and accept Apple/Whatever as your savior and you'll be a great programmer.

No prior programming knowledge needed.

$999,999,999 for the 2 hour seminar.

Thanks Mitt, but I think we've had enough.

<comment><USER3> I'd love to see the software that you created. Please provide a link.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Personally, I prefer the book Millionaire Next Door. Helped me develop some effective money saving ideas: [http://www.amazon.com/The-Millionaire-Next- Door-Surprising/d...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Millionaire-Next-Door- Surprising/dp/1589795474/?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=the%20millionaire%20next%20door&tag=produc05-20&linkCode=ur2&qid=1356985180&camp=1789&sr=8-1&creative=9325)

<comment><USER14> I think you are mixing up Guy Kawasaki (The Art of the Start and other books like the ones given away free here) with Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad)

<comment><USER5> Oh gosh - PLEASE don't purchase or recommend anything to do with Robert Kiyosaki!

<comment><USER15> That book's not even by Kiyosaki, so it's a doubly random link.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Kim Jong Un Wins 100% of Votes in North Korea Election - <AUTHOR> http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kim-jong-un-wins-100-votes-north-korea-election-n49011

<comment><USER2> Incredible achievement. I'm sure the Kim family is thrilled (and those who aren't are dead).

</comment><comment><USER3> I legitimately can't tell if this reflects an actual press release from North Korea, or if it's satire. It seems like it's legitimate, but it also feel like The Onion ran this article a few years back.

<comment> atom-morgan It's legitimate in the sense that an "election" was held and he's still the leader. As far as the vote count and accuracy on the other hand...

<comment><USER3> Oh yeah; I'd probably rate The Onion as slightly more trustworthy than press releases from North Korea, because you know that The Onion is at least based in reality.</comment></comment></comment>


A recent experiment may have placed organisms in a state of quantum entanglement - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/schroedingers-bacterium-could-be-a-quantum-biology-milestone/ <comment><USER2> (reposting from another thread) Being very very optimistic, they entangled a molecule in a bacteria with the light in the cavity. I think this is essentially at the same level of the quantum effects in the chlorophyll. They are very far away of entangling a whole bacteria.

</comment><comment><USER3> Not sure that the artist which produced the image (An artist's concept of quantum entanglement between two atoms) has really understood what quantum entanglement is... I'm pretty sure it's _not_ a sort of lightning bolt/spark of electricity joining the entangled atoms, anyway...

</comment><comment><USER4> Experiment here: [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smll.201701...](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smll.201701777)

</comment><comment><USER5> "that a particle can appear to be in two places at once"

i'm pretty sure that's not what quantum mechanics says.

<comment><USER6> How did the quantum mechanic fix the car so fast? It's like her wrench was in 2 places at once!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How to pick a side project? - <AUTHOR> How do you choose a theme or an issue to solve? Is it passion, or market opportunity?
I enjoy coding small projects that solve small problems that I come across. My Github is full of those, but I never seem to commit to one idea as I get bored or it reaches its limits.
How do you decide what to work on ? <comment><USER2> One of the wonderful things about the side project is that it can be personally relevant for you and/or friends and family.

Just having someone else use the thing brings it into the realm of reality way more than any technical factor.

I play music with some friends, mostly covers, and in all my time playing like this, there's been this constant band confusion that you might relate to if you've been in a hobby band:

What key do we play this in again? How long is the outro? Oh, you play the last chord in the verse for _two_ bars? Did anyone bring the chord sheet for that new song? Ugh, the 3G in the rehearsal space is so awful, and this chord site is so slow! Oh, did you guys learn the "acoustic" tab with the different chords? Etc etc.

So I started working on a little web app for sharing chord sheets with bandmates. Sure, we could just use a Dropbox with text files... But since it's a side project for fun, why not add some features?

Now it can parse a simple chord sheet format that represents timing, which most chord sheets neglect—so we can see that the last chord in the verse is two bars, and that the outro is eight bars... I learned about Service Workers in order to make it work perfectly offline... I used CouchDB/PouchDB for storage, which enables really nice real-time sync, and also works great offline... I learned how to make a nice print stylesheet...

And there are more coders in the band! So one guy implemented client-side chord transposing and changed my parser regexps into a proper grammar. An old musician/coder friend from my home town heard about it and is interested in participating, too...

And then I thought, hey, there's the new Web Audio APIs... so now it can also play songs with synthesized chords! And then I noticed that Chrome's latest release can actually compress and encode recorded audio, so now I'm imagining that you could record tracks in there, and share them, and do collaborative multitracking...

It's just growing like a living system, because it connects with something I and other people have actual desire for—and that's really fun!

</comment><comment><USER3> Find something that frustrates people and build something that solves it for them.

Innovate on something that people do every single day. For example, people communicate every day, sleep, eat, exercise, work, entertain, use consumables. Make a list of literally anything you can think of that people do every day, and more than often ideas and issues to solve pop up.

LISTEN to people as they "wish upon things" every now and then. Ex. "I wish someone would xyz.. ", "I wish there was a way to xyz...", "When will there be xyz...". These types of comments are a goldmine for choosing a theme.

Hope I answered your question and that this helps, my friend!

</comment><comment><USER4> Go see what other people are doing. There are several podcasts out there where people talk about side projects and the degree of success they are having with them.

<comment><USER5> Any recomendations of podcasts?

<comment><USER4> side hustle nation is what I have been listening to lately.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> What's important to you? Do you want to learn or do you want to make money? Or some mixture of the two? Is it about the journey or the destination? I've found that the journey tends to be most important for me so I temper my aspirations with the knowledge that I will likely not continue on after I've answered whatever vital question was driving the effort. It keeps me from being disappointed with the result of not finishing.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ideally it would be a bit of both, but it tends to be more about something I could learn outside my daily routine.

<comment><USER6> So don't be so hard on yourself when you don't finish. Finish something every so often so that you don't feel like you can't, but allow yourself to explore without always having delivering something complete. It's not work. If you switch over to trying to generate revenue, well then at that point, hold yourself to a different standard.</comment></comment></comment>


Tamei – Categorize Common Lisp forms by purity - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/cbaggers/tamei <comment><AUTHOR> See also: [https://www.reddit.com/r/lisp/comments/3mvrw4/tamei_categori...](https://www.reddit.com/r/lisp/comments/3mvrw4/tamei_categorize_cl_forms_by_purity/)</comment>


Python Programming for the Privileged Class - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/kuujo/yuppy

<comment><USER2> One of the best type features of Go is the lack of need to do something like this: "@implements(IEatable)". If a class implements all of the methods of the interface, then it automatically implements that interface. Yuppy seems like a step backwards in OO in this regard.

<comment><USER3> Is it possible to indicate, in an interface, that it's not a structural type? Ie, that classes need to specifically indicate they implement it to be considered it's type?

For example, the HtmlString interface could require only "toString" as a method, but not everything that has that method should be considered that type.

<comment><USER2> The idea would be, in this case, to create a method called "toHtmlString". The name "toString" suggests a generic String is created for the object, but HtmlString represents a specially formatted String.

Rather than having a class implement HtmlString as a way to specify that its "toString" method works differently to the usual or expected way for a method of that signature, you can instead write a "toHtmlString" which is more clear. Reading code as "myObject.toString()" vs "myObject.toHtmlString()" is better than having to check the class signature for a special contract pertaining to general-looking method names.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I think the Duck typing philosophy of Python is a feature, not a bug. Imposing the verbosity and rigidity of Java-style OO onto Python seems like a step backwards to me.

</comment><comment><USER5> I feel like one of the merits of python is the looseness of classes and multiple inheritance. You get the benefits of OO without some of the pitfalls. Sure, you can go through the effort of defining an abstract class but it often isn't needed since your object is often composed of a bunch of separate objects - dealing with a formal contract to some 'abstract' version of your object just adds boilerplate and ends up creating convoluted class hierarchies.

</comment><comment><USER6> I can't tell whether this is serious or it's a parody. I'm leaning towards the latter given the title, but it's hard to tell.

<comment><USER7> _but it 's hard to tell_

No, it isn't.

[https://github.com/kuujo/yuppy/blob/master/yuppy/core.py](https://github.com/kuujo/yuppy/blob/master/yuppy/core.py)

[https://github.com/kuujo/yuppy/blob/master/tests.py](https://github.com/kuujo/yuppy/blob/master/tests.py)

What you say is kind of funny, although rather an obvious sort of caustic witticism. But I think the answer is in fact obvious to you.

<comment><USER6> Honestly, it's still hard for me to tell, and those two files don't make it clearer. It's got tests, which is good and presumably counts for the serious case, but I've seen similarly excessive testing done for obvious jokes (like the enterprise Java FizzBuzz parody).

Are you saying it's obvious to you? That's great, but it's not obvious to me.

<comment><USER7> I don't know, there seems something unpleasantly supercilious about taking a software project that's obviously written to a high standard and saying you think it's a joke. How do you know the author won't be unhappy to see someone say that? It kind of seems like classic #shithnsays.

<comment><USER6> Have you seen [https://github.com/EnterpriseQualityCoding/FizzBuzzEnterpris...](https://github.com/EnterpriseQualityCoding/FizzBuzzEnterpriseEdition)? It's a well-known parody, but one could also say it's "obviously written to a high standard", for some definitions of "standard".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is very reminiscent of zope.interface used in Twisted. I wouldn't want to argue for or against it, but I've had times when something like this might have been useful in large code bases.

[1]: [http://docs.zope.org/zope.interface/](http://docs.zope.org/zope.interface/) [2]: [http://twistedmatrix.com/documents/14.0.0/core/howto/compone...](http://twistedmatrix.com/documents/14.0.0/core/howto/components.html)

</comment><comment><USER7> It would be very helpful to add to the README a section explaining what problems this solves. So examples of conventional python classes exhibiting weaknesses that are improved by using yuppy features.

</comment><comment><USER9> I love Python and I love interfaces, so this appeals to me.

<comment><USER10> But either way, you're going to get a runtime error. Languages like Java or C# that actually have real interfaces and abstract classes can detect these problems at compile time. This seems only marginally better.

</comment></comment><comment> X-Istence This greatly reminds me of zope.interface!</comment>


Show HN: Crontab-ui with new features - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/alseambusher/crontab-ui <comment><USER2> This looks nice, how does the import/export work across multiple machines?

<comment><USER3> Is there any machine specific information in a crontab file? I thought that there isn't any.</comment></comment>


Hacking the Planet With Notcurses: A Guide to TUIs and Character Graphics [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://nick-black.com/htp-notcurses.pdf <comment><USER2> I wish I had more evidence-based arguments for my opinion, but I strongly believe text-based interfaces are among the best out there. They have an ability to squeeze in an uncanny amount of information in any given space, without turning cluttered.

If I think about it, even GUIs tend to be driven by text in most cases. The difference is that every word gets a graphical border (be it in the shape of a button, a tab, a menu item, or whatnot.) These borders are needed in a GUI where the location of the text is less predictable, and it helps novices to see the window under a menu while the menu is shown, but these are not problems for experienced users at predictable text-based interfaces.

<comment><USER3> One really great things about text interfaces is they're (drumroll) text- searchable! That's one huge benefit of emacs, if you're shown a huge list of options, hop into the buffer and just search. I've been frustrated by some parts of microsoft interfaces where I'm presented with lots of text options but couldn't search them (can't remember where).

A note on the attached PDF document, there seems to be a total blind spot about readability being damaged by dumb colours, look at Figure 8 on P11, I can read the coloured text but it is noticeably harder, therefore slower, than reading the white text on a black background. Also the light blue on white for listing 13 as another example.

Anyway, looking forward to reading it.

<comment><USER4> I think Emacs is an illuminating example, since its 'GUI' interfaces really outshine emacs being run in a terminal emulator. Text interfaces are great, but terminal emulators in particular are very limiting. Inlining images always requires hacks and even with hacks a terminal emulator can't do nice things like have multiple font sizes in the same frame (discounting double height/width modes, since they're so limited I've never seen them used effectively.)

<comment><USER5> It's not the case for me. I far prefer emacs in a terminal over the gui, and thats how I've used it for years. I can't run the gui on a gnu screen session on that server I've been working on, for example. I admit I'm probably the outlier on this though.

<comment><USER6> > I can't run the gui on a gnu screen session on that server I've been working > on, for example.

Why not use Tramp Mode?

<comment><USER5> I do, frequently. From emacs-nox. Sometimes not though because some systems have weird things that break it. (security)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> This is an excellent read - the topic of UIs for terminal emulators might seem dry but the author has done a really good job with this user manual. It's the library to replace ncurses. Worth a look for any Linux programmer.

<comment><USER7> Thanks for the kind words, hax0r! (I'm the author).

Notcurses 1.5.0 ought be out by this week's end, complete with "new" (as much as anything is "new") Quadrant Blitter Technique: [https://nick- black.com/images/new-terminal-technique.png](https://nick- black.com/images/new-terminal-technique.png)

and of course, if you've never seen it, be sure to check out `notcurses-demo`. it's come a long way since 1.1.0, but this video from January still captures the essence of the project: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H1WkopWJNM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H1WkopWJNM)

hack on!

ps. mysterious n-gate.com author [0], if you're reading this, you're doing the LORD's work.

[0] my guess is james mickens

<comment><USER8> >> _and of course, if you 've never seen it, be sure to check out `notcurses- demo`_

That demo was dope. Thanks for putting that up and linking it. Probably the best way to communicate how far TUIs can go.

<comment><USER7> thanks! it looks a lot better recently -- the 1.4.0 version is much cleaner than that 1.1.0 garbage. i didn't link it because it starts with a minute of me talking (and looking absolutely hideous that day, ugh): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWdUfIStDI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvWdUfIStDI)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Nick is, without exaggeration, the finest hacker I've had the pleasure to know and work with. Its hard to believe where Notcurses is considering he just started working on it at the end of last year.

The quality and quantity of his output is nothing short of astounding. Poke around his wiki/github, its worth it.

</comment><comment><USER10> Does anyone know of any minimal TUI libraries? Something in the spirit of a VGA text buffer, that allows the user to manage their own cell buffer as a block of memory, and allows them to blit that to the terminal -- and ideally have that work across a variety of platforms and terminal emulators?

<comment><USER11> [https://github.com/nsf/termbox](https://github.com/nsf/termbox) is a very well known one, and has inspired several clones in other languages as well.

<comment><USER12> I second termbox. It's a well crafted library, and easy to understand by just reading the h file. I wrote the Ada binding for it just a few weeks ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Notcurses is nice, but I believe that tickit[1] is the most mature and exciting option out there. By the author of libtermkey, which was (and is?) the only library to properly read keys from a tty.

1: [http://www.leonerd.org.uk/code/libtickit/](http://www.leonerd.org.uk/code/libtickit/)

</comment><comment><USER14> I am really excited for this. I have constantly felt like nurses was under- whelming, yet very very difficult to do anything with (lots of boiler plate).

</comment><comment><USER15> Thank you for posting this! I was not aware of Notcurses, I just started using Ncurses for an emulator hobby project, will be an interesting read :)

</comment><comment><USER16> A+++++</comment>


Why you should take everything Jason Fried writes with a pound of salt - <AUTHOR> https://artplusmarketing.com/why-you-should-take-everything-jason-fried-writes-with-a-pound-of-salt-5ccfb27b4e5#.25f2uw59s <comment><USER2> This has less to do with Jason Fried and more to do with failing culture. Everyone and their grandma is busy chasing awesome these days, so busy trying to become the next whoever or create the next whatever that nothing else matters.</comment>


Mu: A Human Scale Computer - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/akkartik/mu#readme <comment><USER2> This (HN news/Github project) title is awkward. Apparently, it's all about a new Operating System. However, I don't read much about kernels or shells but instead about assembler and particular features (?) such as "Track side effects in assembly language".

Somehow the project lacks a short README or Abstract or list of goals. It's hard to get an overview without spending much time studying.

<comment><USER3> Author here. Thanks for the feedback! I seem to have conveyed exactly the wrong impression. Mu is at the moment not an OS but a userland, with some tiny fraction of libc redesigned so that programs tend to be easier to test.

The eventual goal is a complete stack with its own OS, but Mu currently actually relies on a third-party OS kernel. You can package it up with either Linux or Soso ([https://github.com/ozkl/soso](https://github.com/ozkl/soso))

Does this help? Let me think about how to make the prose clearer..

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey thanks for chiming in. I discovered this on someone's tilde blog. If you can think of a more descriptive title, let me know and I'll update it.

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the submission! I think I have bigger problems than the title ^_^ According to HN policy there's really not much you could do besides use the title I have.

Could you point me at the tilde blog where you saw it? I'm on the tildeverse as well ([https://lists.tildeverse.org/hyperkitty/list/tildeclub@lists...](https://email@example.com/message/Z7EBQ2ZCBIQ7YMA7Q3RUJWWB4LBIFS3M))

<comment><USER4> HN policy asks to rewrite misleading titles. Perhaps this one is misleading, to judge by the comments about it? In which case we can change it to something more accurate. We also often take an author's preferred HN title as long as it isn't baity.

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> What happened to the previous Mu that was a funny looking procedural language and why did you decide to switch directions?

<comment><USER3> It was a tree-walking interpreter and slow. I had to switch it to a form that could be compiled. This took me down a year-long road of learning about machine code.

I would argue that the spirit of Mu has remained constant. Where it needs to change it does so without trying to stay 'compatible' with the past. It tries to present as little change atop the substrate as possible to be habitable ([http://akkartik.name/post/habitability](http://akkartik.name/post/habitability))

The old version is available at [https://github.com/akkartik/mu1](https://github.com/akkartik/mu1). I'll continue to support it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> [http://akkartik.name/about](http://akkartik.name/about) provides more info about the submission.

About half way down, "... I've been exploring some promising mechanisms in my current project, an idealized assembly language and OS for teaching programming called Mu"

</comment><comment> john-tells-all Unrelated to Mu, the Simple Python Code Editor, which has been around since 2017 [https://codewith.mu/](https://codewith.mu/)

</comment><comment><USER7> What's the aim ?

<comment><USER8> > The hypothesis of Mu and SubX is that designing the entire system to be > testable from day 1 and from the ground up would radically impact the > culture of the eco-system in a way that no bolted-on tool or service at > higher levels can replicate...

Maybe that's the aim.</comment></comment>


78% of Children with ADD No Longer Have It as Adults - <AUTHOR> https://theconversation.com/an-end-to-sleepless-nights-new-hope-for-families-raising-children-with-adhd-62749 <comment><USER2> Small sample size. No male female comparisons. No diagnostic criteria. Headline very different to the study title.

Low quality.

</comment><comment><USER3> So, is ADD/ADHD actually a real thing, or is it just part of a trend to make everything out of social norm "a condition".

I mean naively speaking, we didn't evolve to sit in classrooms and read books, grow up and sit in the offices. So I would expect on spectrum of human temperaments, there must be a significant portion of people who are not cut for concentrating and calm-behavior.

Generally being skeptical about a lot of modern social "sciences" (potentially made for grants or big business, not reproducible, based on correlations), but aware of my ignorance here, I wonder if there is anything that would convince me that medicating my (hypotetical) hyper-active kid is justified, instead of pushing for environment in which the kid can just scream and run more.

<comment><USER4> I have carried diagnosis from childhood into adulthood.

In my experience the primary 'problem' is that I cannot direct my attention at will. I may want to read a book, I may be enjoying the book, but when I will myself to concentrate on the book my attention may or may not obey me.

From the outside, this can look like laziness, disinterest, etc, but fundamentally the difference is, what I _want_ to concentrate on, and what I _can_ concentrate on are not always the same thing. This is problematic in a variety of ways, and certainly does feel like a disorder when you experience it. If this mismatch between command and control was between say, my brain and my legs, then no one would ever question if it existed or not.

I've certainly found that my strategies for coping with this, and my ability to direct my attention have gotten better with age. It's unclear to me if this is due to hard work on my part, or a change in brain structure as I age.

Personally, I have found that medication is only a very small portion of my overall strategy, and I do think it is quite likely that sitting in a classroom 8 hours a day is just not something children, or really anyone is particularly well suited for. It's likely, I think, that we are over- prescribing and over-diagnosing things that should be considered 'normal' behavior in children.

Having said that, I am absolutely convinced that for some, medication is an effective and life changing tool as part of a larger strategy to cope with ADD.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Unfortunately I feel like my ADHD has gotten worse since I've grown, or maybe I'm just more aware of it now. I still really struggle to sleep in my 30's, I didn't know there was a correlation between that and ADHD</comment>


Get out your resume, throw it away, and talk to us like we're human.  - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ooomf.com/post/32260333468/ooomf-job-post

<comment><USER2> I could skip steps 1 & 2 and just talk to you like a human! BOOM 300% more efficiency right there, probably. And that's just one of thousands of Productivity Hacks™ that I will share with you, if -- or face it, WHEN -- you hire me, which is after I talk to you like a human.</comment>


Illustrating Rework (Part 1 of 2) - <AUTHOR> http://37signals.com/svn/posts/2180-illustrating-rework-part-2-of-2

<comment><AUTHOR> I wish I could draw like that... are there any secrets to it?

<comment><USER2> Draw a lot. Practice a lot. Give yourself some random constraint (ie no lines between 45 and 90 degrees, or do it in 95 seconds, etc). Stop wishing, start drawing.</comment></comment>


Global Wave Discovery Ends 220-Year Search - <AUTHOR> http://abstractions.nautil.us/article/603/global-wave-discovery-ends-220-year-search <comment><USER2> Here's a discussion from 3 days ago with 40 comments. It's not the same article, though. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24161010](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24161010)</comment>


Is sending money as the subject of a mail, a really good idea? - <AUTHOR>

AFAIK SMTP can be spoofed pretty easily. Does anyone know the measures that Square https://square.com/cash uses to protect transactions? <comment><USER2> Click the "Security" link on that very page.

[https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5144-square-cash- sec...](https://squareup.com/help/en-us/article/5144-square-cash-security)

If you use an app, they sign the mails. If you use regular e-mail, you have to confirm the transfer, which means simply spoofing a mail from you won't work.

<comment><USER3> I haven't confirmed any transfers. I get email and SMS alerts, but once I press send it's done.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Yeah it seems fairly problematic, I remember an article on HN about how easily it could be circumvented. I'm not sure what Square is doing to protect transactions. However, with over $300M in VC money I'm sure Square will cover any fraud until they figure out a way to make things more secure just like PayPal did in 2000.

<comment><AUTHOR> Fair enough - It's just that I feel like they need to make this really apparent before I would feel comfortable enough to use this as a product.

Purely from a product point of view, I wonder if this is one of the cases where having more friction to send money from one account to another, is a good thing.

Perhaps there is now a stronger motivation to write a javascript browser exploit Step 1: that detects an active gmail (or other webmail) session Step 2: then sends out an email of small enough $ amounts from a large number of email addresses Step 3: send the email to a federated set of email accounts that Square considers legitimate users with associated debit cards Step 4: Rinse, repeat this for a few hops to make tracing a trifle harder. Step 5: Make Ocean's 11 bag of tricks look as bad as a O(2^n) algorithm.

If they have indeed figured this part out - then I would be really curious to learn what that gotcha is!

<comment><USER2> It's extremely unlikely someone will discover a JavaScript bug that provides access to the interpreter running in _other_ tabs. Regardless, if someone has gained control of your webmail tab, they have control of the whole browser. At that point, there's no need to play around with Square Cash e-mail tricks, the malware author can steal credit and debit cards, bank account numbers and other valuable data directly. That's the "gotcha"; if you've already broken into a bank's vault, you don't go back to the tellers and try to make withdrawals with fake IDs.</comment></comment></comment>


It's Time for Apple to Build a Less Addictive iPhone - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/technology/apple-addiction-iphone.html?partner=rss&emc=rss <comment><USER2> I'd settle for a phone with some decent parental controls.</comment>


South African Reserve Bank Circulates Smart Contract Using Ethereum Blockchain - tefo-mohapi http://www.iafrikan.com/2016/11/02/south-african-reserve-bank-circulates-first-ever-smart-contract-using-private-ethereum-blockchain/ <comment><AUTHOR> I wonder why they'd opt for Ethereum (which incorporates proof-of-work) instead of using something like Hyperledger Fabric. I mean the banks all know each other already, so they might as well just use a permissioned blockchain, instead of a permissionless.

Big banks like UBS are also on the Hyperledger train [0].

[0] - [https://www.hyperledger.org/news/2016/09/29/ubs-to-build- blo...](https://www.hyperledger.org/news/2016/09/29/ubs-to-build-blockchain- based-trade-finance-system)

<comment><USER2> It's worth noting that the Etherum project will switch over to proof of stake at some point in the future, possibly within the next two years.

<comment><USER3> And you can count on it forking shortly thereafter. Just like: NXT, Ripple, Stellar, Peercoin, and all other PoS chains before it

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is there a good book out yet that explains the different block chain implementations and theory behind them? Something that starts pretty basic and walks its way through the subject.

<comment><USER3> This field is almost entirely composed of scams and buzzword surfers. Don't get your hopes up about learning any terribly scientific here. This South African Reserve Bank will give this project up when they realize this smart contract offers no efficiency over incumbent systems

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> That site has text on the bottom for links that aren't populated. Is this a valid news source? Or a marketing outlet?

Missing links: ABOUT | PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS OF USE | PARTNERSHIPS & ADVERTISING</comment>