Magic Leap Will Be Priced 'Like a Premium Computer' - <AUTHOR> https://www.roadtovr.com/magic-leap-price-like-a-premium-computer-release-date-details-spring/ <comment><USER2> What that means:

 _The one exception to just buzzwords and hype was when Rony talked about the eventual price. Rony said that the eventually he expected to have a range or tiers of products and he said that "low end someday" will be about as expensive as a high-end cell phone (ala, iPhone X). This would seem to suggest that the early enthusiast version is going to be in the $2,000 or perhaps more range._

For a sub-HoloLens experience no less.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16376417](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16376417)</comment>


Ask PG: Is HN experiencing server problems? - mck- Many Bad Gateway and Server errors today -- any reasons why? <comment><AUTHOR> It was, but things seem to be getting better. Our hacker Nick is on the case.

<comment><USER2> You can tell Nick to take his time. I'm having a very productive morning.

<comment><USER3> So many defects knocked out this week during the HN issues. I don't know whether to be glad or what.

<comment><USER4> set noprocrast

<comment><USER5> I just set it, but can someone tell me what it does? :)

<comment><USER6> See [http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](http://ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

 _" In my profile, what is noprocrast?

It's a way to help you prevent yourself from spending too much time on News.YC. If you turn it on you'll only be allowed to visit the site for maxvisit minutes at a time, with gaps of minaway minutes in between. The defaults are 20 and 180, which would let you view the site for 20 minutes at a time, and then not allow you back in for 3 hours. You can override noprocrast if you want, in which case your visit clock starts over at zero."_

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Yeah things were really rocky for me for a couple of days. Down completely yesterday and periodic "bad gateway" messages earlier today. Seems to be working better now. Was refreshing like a crack addict :/

</comment><comment><USER8> About 5-10 minutes ago, each time I'd refresh I was logged in as another user. On a side note, what's it mean when that user's header is cyan instead of orange?

<comment><USER9> you can set the color of your header from your profile page

<comment><USER8> There must be a threshold for that, I don't have that setting...

<comment><USER10> I think it appears once you have 500+ karma

<comment><USER8> Only 456 to go...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Experiencing problems as well - potentially gateway related

</comment><comment><USER12> CF can cause a small DoS as it does some aggressive pre-fetching. So your server needs to handle short bursts really well. Not to mention whitelist CF's IP space both in the firewall and nginx rate limiting.

</comment><comment><USER13> Page loads are still incredibly slow.

<comment><USER14> I'm getting full-on errors:

" Yeah, that didn't work. Try again, perhaps later?

Bad gateway

The web server reported a bad gateway error.

Ray ID: c6a435dd44307b5

Your IP address: ________________*

Error reference number: 502

CloudFlare Location: Miami "

<comment><USER15> I think I've spotted the problem: you have an asterisk instead of an IP address. :|

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> This might be unrelated, but I'm constantly being prompted for captcha even when I'm just viewing and not trying to respond. Can something be done about this?

<comment><USER17> We have captchas on HN?

<comment><USER18> Might be a cloudflare thing.

<comment><USER16> It shows up with the HN theme (orange bar at top and beige background) but without other links/text like user info on the right or the footer. I first noticed it the other day when I started using a wired connection at work instead of WiFi.

<comment><USER18> So it's not even Recaptcha? Sounds interesting.

<comment><USER16> Yea, its recaptcha. I'll try to get a screenshot the next time it happens.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Yesterday, it was offline most of the day for me.

</comment><comment><USER5> adv0r it is taking a long time to load because you are hell banned.</comment>


Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011) - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/books/review/thinking-fast-and-slow-by-daniel-kahneman-book-review.html?pagewanted=all

<comment><USER2> For anyone interested in Bayesian Statistics it is worth noting that ET Jaynes (imho the arch-Bayesian) disagrees with Kahneman's idea that "people reason in a basically irrational way". Jaynes died long before "Thinking, Fast and Slow" was published, so his critique is based on Kahneman and Tversky's early work on the subject.

Kahneman and Tversky's critique of Bayesian analysis is basically: If more data should override a prior belief, then why is it as more data comes in people have increasingly divergent opinions? For example we have 24 hour news media throwing information at us and people only seem to be more divided politically. If we reasoned in a Bayesian manner then our opinions should converge, which they clearly do not.

Jaynes' answer is really fascinating and is covered in the chapter "Queer uses for probability theory" from 'Probability theory: The Logic of Science'. Basically Jaynes' argues that we are never really testing just one hypothesis. He gives an example of an experiment designed to prove ESP, and points out that no matter how low of a p-value the experiment reports, if you have a strong prior belief that ESP does not exist the evidence won't convince you. He argues this is because you actually have other hypotheses with other priors: The subject is tricking the experimenters, there is an error in experiment design, the people running the experiment are intentionally being deceptive etc.

He then shows that if your prior belief in ESP is sufficiently lower than your prior belief in these alternative hypothesis, not only will further evidence fail to convince you of ESP, but will actually increase your belief that you are being lied to in some way. So while Jaynes agrees that these priors may be irrational, our reasoning given new information is completely rational.

<comment><USER3> This is interesting, but this seems like a pretty minor thread in Kahneman and Tversky's body of research. The review highlights a number of experiments that show how actual human reasoning differs from maximizing utility. The critique of Bayesian analysis isn't mentioned in the article, and I don't recall it being in the book.

If you have any interest in how people make decisions then "Thinking, Fast and Slow" is worth reading.

<comment><USER4> > The review highlights a number of experiments that show how actual human > reasoning differs from maximizing utility.

The conventional definition of utility is pretty strict, for example, it must be a function of the final outcome only, and there is no model uncertainty, which would go under the title of ambiguity aversion instead. So maybe it's not _that_ surprising that a really specific narrow concept doesn't describe all of human behaviour and needs to be extended. But since you can extend it sufficiently to describe some interesting behaviours, is it really necessary to focus specifically on the utility function, and not the other things that people might be maximizing?

<comment><USER3> Sorry, I don't really understand your comment. Assuming that people maximize utility is a useful model for certain tasks. Kahneman's work shows that people's decisions differ systematically from any kind of rational maximization, and are explained better when you allow for biases such as anchoring, loss aversion, and substituting a hard question for a related easy question.

<comment><USER4> My point is that utility is a rather narrowly-defined concept, so if you find a situation where people don't seem to be maximizing _any_ utility function, one of the possibilities is that the concept of a utility function is too narrowly-defined. Things like anchoring, loss aversion, ambiguity aversion can all be modelled: the only thing you lose is the name "utility function". Maybe the utility function needs to depend on the entire history of states (for loss aversion), or maybe the question being asked is subject to uncertainty, or there is a fundamental amount of model uncertainty. All of those can be modelled in probabilistic terms.

So if rational maximization means that people have a utility function that they maximize, then yes, rational maximization is not what people do. But that is partly the fault of how the definition of utility was chosen.

<comment><USER5> Von Neumann and Morgenstern showed that, as long as people can consistently order choices (ordinal utility), there is a utility function (cardinal utility) they are satisfying.

What Kahneman and Tversky observed is that people don't even choose consistently. It depends on how the choices are presented. For instance, whether the subject frames an outcome as a loss or a smaller-than-expected gain. No matter how you define a utility function, it will not always be maximized. So, it's not a question of defining the function less narrowly. You can present two games with mathematically identical sets of outcomes and people consistently rank the outcomes differently.

Anyway, it's a very good and important book, and doesn't have much to do with Bayesian statistics.

[Ninja-edited since HN doesn't let me respond further below...if you can show the outcomes K & T observed are in fact consistent with a more broadly defined utility function, then you too can win a Nobel prize!]

<comment><USER4> > What Kahnemann and Tversky observed is that people don't even choose > consistently. It depends on how the choices are presented. For instance, > whether the subject frames a choice as a loss or a smaller-than-expected > gain. So, no matter how you define a utility function, it will not always be > maximized.

I disagree, I think you are assuming that people accept questions at face value and unfailingly trust the experimenter. Then equivalent but differently- stated problems would be equivalent, and you would reach that conclusion.

But when people use heuristics, those heuristics are grounded in their experience, and are like a prior on the meaning of the question. Stating the same question in two different ways and getting different answers means either that there is no utility function, or that the "utility function" depends (through model uncertainty, for example) on the exact phrasing of the question.

My point is that these discussions are very closely tied to the kinds of assumptions you make about how people reason, what is rational, and what inputs the utility function has. Kahneman and Tversky got around this problem, I think, by doing something eminently reasonable: postulating a clear and unambiguous definition of a utility function. But the concept of "rationality" is richer than that, so the conversation should not stop there.

<comment><USER6> > _postulating a clear and unambiguous definition of a utility function. But > the concept of "rationality" is richer than that_

The word "rationality" may be ambiguous, as most words describing anything complex are, but the authors attempted to provide a clear model and work within those bounds. When we begin discussing the ideas informally, and using terms in a broader and more colloquial sense, then we're at fault if the results have become muddied.

The authors demonstrated a reasonable utility function, one which most people upon reflection would agree is logical, and demonstrated that people do not consistently act in a way that maximizes that function.

We can always move the goal post, and claim that if people appear to be acting irrationally it's because we simply don't understand their concept of rationality (or the more complex function they're maximizing). But that seems rather circular; it would be nice hear examples of a richer concept of rationality, in the context of the author's experiments, that might explain seemingly inconsistent behavior.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> >bold claim that humans are fundamentally irrational

That's bold? Didn't Kahneman and Tversky demolished the idea of humans being rational, empirically, in the 70s? Is there any solid evidence of humans being rational, or even an evolutionary explanation of why that'd happen?

Do we expect other animals to have accurate probability processing psychology, too?

<comment><USER8> It's bold in a sense that most economic models regarding consumers as rational actors becomes irrelevant or plain wrong. Everyone knows it is a simplification and only partly true, but claiming its dead wrong really often was quite bold.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Probably the most important book I've read. I'm always trying to put the concepts he discussed into practice (often unsuccessfully). Thinking about what you're thinking is hard!

</comment><comment><USER10> Some very interesting material in this book, but I found it hard to get through. It can be very repetitive. I know that's a well known teaching technique, but it doesn't make for entertaining reading.

<comment><USER11> Kahneman's talk at Google summarized the first 2 chapters pretty well: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVQJdIrDJ0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjVQJdIrDJ0) I strongly recommend it for anyone who doesn't have time to read the book.

As for the book itself, I agree with some others' postings here -- it's absolutely fantastic. It changed the way I think about human cognition and education... not to mention machine learning, politics, and marketing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This was an absolutely fascinating read and has given me a fundamental understanding of human cognition. This helped with other books as well, such as the "Lean Start-up" and "Willpower: Why we do what we do." It even helped me further understand some concepts behind Jeff Sutherland's Scrum book. Highly recommended.

</comment><comment><USER13> "Thinking, Fast and Slow is a best-selling 2011 book by Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics winner Daniel Kahneman [...]. The book's central thesis is a dichotomy between two modes of thought: "System 1" is fast, instinctive and emotional; "System 2" is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The book delineates cognitive biases associated with each type of thinking, starting with Kahneman's own research on loss aversion. From framing choices to substitution, the book highlights several decades of academic research to suggest that people place too much confidence in human judgment."

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow)

</comment><comment><USER14> Bread and what?? My System 1 had a mild freak out until my System 2 suggested I Google it.

For the record, I think the blank is "butter."

<comment><USER15> My own System 1 tried "bread and wine" and "bread and vinegar" before throwing its hands up in the air at the author. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was thrown off by this.

<comment><USER16> My system 1 went for "bread and circuses". I've had a political kind of day (in the small p sense of having to take care of organisational business).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Just FYI Nobel Prize in Economics isn't actually a real Nobel Prize and was invented by the central bank system. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences)

<comment><USER18> ... for some values of 'real'. It's certainly prestigious nonetheless.

<comment> daniel-cussen It's the same amount of money, and that's half of what makes a prize prestigious, I reckon, along with how old it is and who else has won it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> This book is like a textbook and there is tons of stuff you might want to try. However I still couldn't finish it due to high intensity information it contains.

</comment><comment><USER20> We live life forwards but reflect backwards.</comment>


$70k for Zoom classes? Virus crisis leaves US students miffed - <AUTHOR> https://www.france24.com/en/20200510-70k-for-zoom-classes-virus-crisis-leaves-us-students-miffed <comment><USER2> If students can trust themselves to build skills and develop universities are objectively a bad deal in the US right now. Get admitted, make one payment and drop out kids.

<comment><USER3> HR departments will still require degrees. Dropping out won't change that. Either get a degree that is necessary for a desired job, or don't bother wasting time and money on any of it.

<comment><USER2> All the companies unproductive enough to support that sort of crap should go oob, if only the fed would stop buying thier bonds.</comment></comment></comment>


Restc – A server-side middleware to visualize REST requests - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ElemeFE/restc <comment><USER2> It's not clear to me what this does. Maybe I'm out of the loop on this, I understand middleware, but what does this do?

<comment><USER3> That is my question too. I looked through its github page and almost all things are written in Chinese...

<comment><USER4> Having trouble getting a decent translation to run against the site.

> If you use a browser to directly open an API address can only GET method > request, RESTful other methods will not be tested.

> After the use of restc can not only send a variety of HTTP method request, > or you can edit the request parameters online.

But from images like this [0], I'd be guessing it is sort of like a web GUI for making plain HTTP requests, and probably hooks into your server to automatically give you a list of paths for said requests.

But it could _really_ do with a translation, especially to prove it isn't yet another crappy Chinese GitHub project.

[0] [https://fuss10.elemecdn.com/d/d1/3bee7ea4630b9b22d7428221f93...](https://fuss10.elemecdn.com/d/d1/3bee7ea4630b9b22d7428221f9308jpeg.jpeg)

<comment><USER5> Yet another? That seems totally uncalled for.

<comment><USER4> If it was in English, I might call it yet another crappy project.

As it stands, there are many crap projects that appear in either one of the languages we label as "Chinese" or English. Seems to be a dominant split between them.

But, to reinforce my point, here are some Chinese projects of dubious quality, from GitHub's trending lists:

* [https://github.com/qiyeboy/IPProxys](https://github.com/qiyeboy/IPProxys)

* [https://github.com/callmelanmao/yunshare](https://github.com/callmelanmao/yunshare)

* [https://github.com/ruanyf/jstraining](https://github.com/ruanyf/jstraining)

* [https://github.com/huacnlee/flora-kit](https://github.com/huacnlee/flora-kit)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Cool I guess but why is this on the front page of an English site if nobody can figure out what it does and has no English docs? Seems like 90%+ of readers will be unable to use this

There's a myriad of different solutions for inspecting http requests that work just fine and have been around for eons. These days it seems like anything with the right buzzwords in the title makes it to the top

<comment><USER7> > There's a myriad of different solutions for inspecting http requests

You could post some examples

<comment><USER6> Fiddler, chrome devtools, Wireshark, postman and other chrome extensions. Many languages have hooks for viewing raw http requests and responses

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It appears to be a node.js app that one uses to explore and/or debug arbitrary REST APIs.</comment>


Finding arbitrage opportunities with Linear Programming (includes Python script) - <AUTHOR> http://stochastix.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/fixed-odds-betting-arbitrage/ <comment><USER2> Finding arbitrages is the easy bit. (Ok it's not that easy)

The tricky bit is making sure you get both bets on before the arbitrage opportunity disappears.

There are many bots already out there scooping up arbitrages, and the bookie price algorithms will rapidly close these as bets are made, leaving a small window of opportunity.

Also, most price movements (and therefore arbitrages) are when events are in- running: in these cases bookies enforce a delay before your bet is processed, which makes it doubly hard that both bets of your arbitrage get successfully placed.

<comment><USER3> This.

Arbitrage is all about execution speed. Free-money by definition is scarce. Assume you just sold the put and need to buy the call on the other side, some one else may buy that cheap call and the next block of call's might be more expensive and force you to eat a loss on your trading.

In options market, some brokers allows you to do a multi-leg execution although the execution might be poor and oftentimes you might just get the market price.

A safer way to play sports betting is do a rebate arbitrage which is to find bookmakers with two different lines in really close games and ensure that you just break even. Most bookmakers have a 10% bonus that you could cash out if you bet more than 10 times (bonus for being a liquidity provider a la the stock exchange), but it's more tedious and you have to deal with parking your money in the Cayman Island's due to US ban on online sports betting.

<comment><USER4> Isn't it possible to require the "scarcer" or most off-priced resource to be the first resource to be acquired? Only then would you purchase the opposite, more common resource.

Is that feasible? (Pardon my ignorance if not...)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> That's the interesting theoretical bit.

The reality bit is where you have to ensure that you can get both bets checked in with the bookie(s) involved at the price you wanted - and arbitrage opportunities tend to show up more when the market is moving fast.

Further, just like the stock market, arbitrage acts to keep the market stable- this is why most bookies have more or less the same odds on the same games at the same price.

One also must factor in the transactional costs in moving money around depending on who you are using for bookies, and also realize there are already lots of guys out there running software 24/7 looking for arbitrage across the entire bookmaker landscape globally - so such opportunities tend to not last for long.

The more "fun" opportunity is the middle - when a line moves so much during the time leading up to a game that a guy can make a bet with the same bookie that he wins on no matter what, or at least can't lose on (at worst it's a push - no loss). To find those you have to bet early on what are likely to be fast moving lines, and then be quick enough to get your bets in (and have them accepted)

</comment><comment><USER6> I know this is a blog post but it seems weird not to have any academic references, which makes this look like it's new or novel research, which it isn't. Perhaps its just me.

<comment><AUTHOR> If it were novel research, the author would have been an idiot to blog it instead of publishing it in some peer-reviewed journal. No one claimed that it was novel. I thought it was interesting, that's why I submitted it to HN.

<comment><USER6> As I said, perhaps it was just me. But how hard is a footnote?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is fascinating, but I have literally no idea what 99% of that math is. Where would I begin studying to be able to understand what is being described in those formulae?

<comment><USER8> The crux of the matter is the linear program. All that math using vec(), diag(), and Hadamard / Kronecker products serves only to build the Q matrix.

If the numbers of bookies and outcomes are small, then you can build the Q matrix by hand (like I did in the example at the end of the post). However, if m and n are relatively large, then it's nice to have an algorithm that builds the Q matrix automatically. Note that vec() and diag() in MATLAB are reshape() and diag(). The Kronecker product in MATLAB is kron(). If one's acquainted with the esoteric matrix operations being used, then it's very easy to convert the math into code.

If you know basic matrix theory, and you learn the basics of linear programming:

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

then the following matrix cookbook should contain all the recipes (vec(), diag(), Kronecker / Hadamard products) you need to follow my blog post:

[http://research.microsoft.com/en- us/um/people/minka/papers/m...](http://research.microsoft.com/en- us/um/people/minka/papers/matrix/)

Any questions, feel free to ask.

<comment><USER7> Thanks. Wow, I _still_ have next to no idea of what you're describing but I'll happily take a look at the links. It sounds like I should start by learning about basic matrix theory then?

<comment><USER8> The ideas are simple. Instead of having a double sum, we can have a matrix product of the form 1_m^T X 1_n, which is nothing more than a compact way of writing the sum of all the entries of matrix X. Note that vec(X) is a mn- dimensional vector that contains the n stacked columns of X. Hence,

1_m^T X 1_n = 1_mn^T vec(X)

which is an inner product. Note that the equality 1_mn^T vec(X) = c defines a hyper-plane, whereas the inequality 1_mn^T vec(X) <= c defines a half-space:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-space>

The intersection of half-spaces defines a polytope, which is nothing more than the higher dimensional equivalent of a polyhedron. Take a look at Boyd & Vanderberghe's book on Convex Optimization for details:

<http://www.stanford.edu/~boyd/cvxbook/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is an aside... but does anyone know how well this python optimization library (cvxopt) performs relative to CPLEX?

<comment><USER8> I don't know the answer to that. If somebody does, that person is probably Erwin:

<http://yetanothermathprogrammingconsultant.blogspot.com/></comment></comment>


Terra – a low-level counterpart to Lua - <AUTHOR> http://terralang.org/ <comment><USER2> At first I was confused because the pitch seemed to be mainly about writing fast code with Lua. If that's what they're going for, then a comparison with LuaJIT is sorely missing.

But it appears that what they're actually pitching is a simple and flexible _code generation environment_. It's a way to generate statically-typed code at runtime that targets LLVM but looks nicer than this: <http://llvm.org/releases/2.6/docs/tutorial/JITTutorial2.html> (C++ code that conjures up LLVM SSA IR directly). You could almost think of this as a high- level API for LLVM code generation and execution that is exceptionally well- integrated into Lua.

For example, in their example where they create a Terra function from a BF program, the equivalent in plain Lua would be to compile the BF program into a Lua program (represented as a big string), load it into the interpreter, and then let LuaJIT JIT it. But with Terra, you can represent the code you're generating symbolically with the "quote" construct instead of having to compile it to a big string. Of course you could just writer a BF _interpreter_ in Lua directly, but if you compile it instead you'll get better performance because you won't pay an interpreter overhead and the optimizer can analyze the program flow to look for optimization opportunities.

[EDIT: removed incorrect criticism about the BF codegen being incomplete]

It's an interesting approach and I look forward to learning more about it.

<comment><USER3> Author here. You're right that we designed Terra primarily to be an enviornment for generate low-level code. In particular, we want to be able to easily design and prototype DSLs and auto-tuners for high-performance programming applications. We explain this use-case in more detail in our upcoming PLDI paper (<http://terralang.org/pldi071-devito.pdf>).

Since we are primarily using it for dynamic code generation, I haven't done much benchmarking against LuaJIT directly. Instead, we have compared it C by implementing a few of the language benchmarks (nbody and fannkuchredux, performance is normally within 5% of C), and comparing it against ATLAS, which implements BLAS routines by autotuning x86 assembly. In the case of ATLAS, we're 20% slower, but we are comparing auto-tuned Terra and auto-tuned x86 assembly.

Small note, the BF description on the website does go on to implement the '[' and ']' operators below. I just left them out of the initial code so it was easier to grok what was going on. The full implementation is at (<https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/bf.t>).

<comment><USER4> This is really great CS work. Props. The fact that your numerical example is DGEMM, AND that you're comparing against ATLAS and MKL is very compelling, especially since you're only showcasing the kernel itself!

I'm taking a different albeit related approach for dynamic runtime code gen, but either way this is rock solid work, though I'm pretty terrible at deciphering the lua + macro heavy code that is your code examples.

edit: I'm doing something more akin to the Accelerate haskell EDSL approach, with some changes

<comment><USER4> It's also a very rare research paper that actually uses blas dgemm as the benchmark, that isn't a paper by someone explicitly focused on writing blas. Usually they just use dot product or a local convolution kernel (whereas in some sense matrix mult is a global convolution).

Just what they've done is a pretty solid. That said, it's not really done as part of a framework for numerics, which just means its a great validation benchmark of their code Gen.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It is a little hard to tell what the point of Terra is from the website; you should check out the PLDI paper for a better sense for what is going on <http://terralang.org/publications.html> (in particular, the example apps are telling: "Our Terra-based auto-tuner for BLAS routines performs within 20% of ATLAS, and our DSL for stencil computations runs 2.3x faster than hand-written C.")

</comment><comment><USER6> This appears to be the perfect language for embedded applications. The combination of lua, high performance, and small generated code footprint is exactly what embedded applications need. I'd recommend the authors head in this direction - maybe try create bindings for Android and you'd get immense traction with this.

</comment><comment><USER7> Let me see if I understand well: can I use this such that "terra" code is equivalent to C code and Lua code is equivalent to an extremely powerful preprocessor?

Am I right to think that I can generate dynamic libraries (.so) that do _not_ include any kind of interpreter with this?

If I can do this then this may be my dream static / system language...

<comment><USER3> One of our design goals was to make sure terra could execute independently of Lua. So everything that you describe is possible. For instance our simple hello world program (<https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/hello.t>) compiles a standalone executable with the "terralib.saveobj" function. You can also write out object (.o) files that are ABI compatible with C. For instance, gemm.t (<https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/gemm.t>) our matrix- matrix multiply autotuner writes out a .o file my_dgemm.o which we then call from a test harness in a separate C program ([https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/reference...](https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/reference/matmul.cpp)). Once you have the .o files, you can use Lua to call the system linker to generate a dynamic library.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> This fits perfectly with my desire to work on a lower level lisp with out having to work entirely in C. Great work!

</comment><comment><USER9> As a speaker about Lua, this is awesome news.

Yet, it also feels kinda pointless, most Lua use right now is in embedded interpreters in other software, and Terra would be hard to use, since most projects probably won't incorporate it at all.

<comment><USER10> Isn't that true of every new language project though?

<comment><USER9> More or less.

When it is a new language, you fight for space into another languages turf, your "potential" is illimited, if your language is better, it will win.

This language is obviously made to use with Lua and C at the same time, kind of a bridge of sorts, and thus it has much more limited scope and utility, and many of the uses of Lua even if they might need Terra performance, they cannot shoehorn Terra on their interpreter.

For example for coders of Corona SDK, or WoW, or many other game engines and application SDKs out there that rely on Lua.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'm reminded quite a bit of OMeta and the other VPRI work on DSLs, although this is more targeted towards a specific application(dynamically optimized DSLs) and uses a more familiar imperative environment, rather than being parser-focused.

</comment><comment><USER12> That is badass. Will be trying this tomorrow.

</comment><comment><USER13> Hah, props on the pun of "Terra" being the low-level counterpart of "Lua". Good naming, there.

</comment><comment><USER14> This looks great. I want to write a DSL to generate low-level code, and it would have involved both C and Lua at some point, so I'll definitely give this a try.

</comment><comment><USER15> _Terra code can execute independently of Lua's runtime_

How about concurrently? That might be nice to have for asynchronous applications.

<comment><USER3> Yes! One of the benefits of making sure that Terra code can execute independly of Lua is that you can use multi-threading libraries pretty much out-of-the box. For instance, we have an example that launches some threads using pthreads ([https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/pthreads....](https://github.com/zdevito/terra/blob/master/tests/pthreads.t)).

There are still some limitations. You'd still have to manage thread synchronization manually, and I think LuaJIT only allows one thread of Lua execution to run at a time, so if your threads call back into Lua they may serialize on that bottleneck.

<comment><USER16> So it's using LuaJIT and not PUC Lua? (A good thing to be sure, as LuaJIT is much faster, even without the JIT.)

Is there a way to run Terra with a separate Lua state per thread? So as to not have the problem with serializing when calling Lua from Terra?

<comment><USER17> LuaJIT definitely has sweet-spots where it just flies, but there are other cases where LuaJIT _isn't_ faster than PUC Lua, e.g. where you're doing a lot of string manipulation and calling into non-Lua libraries. In "average" code, it varies a lot, but you often don't get the insane speedups that makes LuaJIT look so great on small benchmarks.

Given that LuaJIT has some other drawbacks (e.g. it has memory limitations that PUC Lua doesn't have, due to the details of LuaJIT's NaN-encoding), the usual lesson applies: YMMV, so benchmark... :]

<comment><USER16> Yes, that's true, except for the calling into non-Lua libraries, this is where LuaJIT + ffi really shines. It can actually optimize away boxing/unboxing and inline the native function call into the trace (not the body of the native function, but the call itself.) Surely you're referring to something else? The often repeated wisdom on the LuaJIT mailing list is only use the Lua C API for legacy code as it can't come close to the performance or ease of use of the ffi. If your experience is otherwise, maybe the JIT bailed on your test code? The ffi is very slow without the JIT.

String and memory limitations have yet to bother me at all because anywhere speed matters you get order of magnitude improvements by managing the strings/memory yourself via the ffi. With Terra, it's clear that's the approach being advocated as well. I agree it really bolluxes small benchmarks, especially if the code is written for Lua and not done the "LuaJIT way" with the ffi. Outside of embedded or other exotic environments I think one would be hard-pressed to come up with a real-world workload where Lua PUC outperforms LuaJIT and there's no easy way to turn the tables. There are just far more options for optimization with LuaJIT and more ability to get closer to the metal than you have with Lua PUC.

None of that is to take away from what the Lua PUC guys have accomplished. Like any craftsmen who enjoys his work, I just like to use the best tools. That's LuaJIT in my opinion, and now Terra too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > The keyword 'terra' introduces a new Terra function.

Why would anyone do this? What's wrong with func, function, def, etc. ?

<comment><USER19> Lua already has a keyword for declaring functions

<comment><USER20> Something like "tfunction" may have been better - it's obvious that its still a function, and the leading t let's you easily guess / remember the connection to Terra.

That minor gripe aside, this looks awesome.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> How's the safety? Is there, for example, bounds checking?

</comment><comment><USER22> In a similar vein is Red/System which is a low-level system dialect (DSL) of the Red (Rebol _inspired_ ) programming language.

ref: <http://static.red-lang.org/red-system-specs.html>

</comment><comment><USER23> Does it really need that "terra" keyword? You could use the type annotation to differentiate:

        -- lua function
        function foo(a,b)
          ...
        end
        -- terra function
        function foo(a:int, b:int)
          ...
        end

<comment><USER24> I think it looks very clean. I've always liked Lua's use of full keywords (e.g. function and end) and if the function didn't take any arguments then how would you know it's a terra function?

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I don't understand. Where would you use this instead of Lua?

<comment><USER26> Lower level, so more control for advanced programs performance-wise.

<comment><USER27> Is this aiming to be a semi-replacement for C then? I guess I'm a bit confused as to where it fits in ... Lua is already tiny and performant. We're considering it for some embedded projects soon as a extensibility hook.

<comment><USER11> It's aimed at people who would like to design a very performant DSL. Roughly speaking, your Lua code is the compiler, your Terra code is the runtime. Because the Lua code can metaprogram the Terra code, it's possible to perform dynamic tuning of Terra even while the program is running.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Well, I guess this is going to be a fairly _down-to-earth_ language.

</comment><comment><USER29> Very interesting. Is this "new" language in direct competition with Go ?

<comment><USER30> I'd say LuaJIT is in direct competition with Go.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> > Terra is a simple, statically-typed, compiled language with manual memory > management

How is is like lua then?</comment>


Shipping rates hit zero as trade sinks - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4229198/Shipping-rates-hit-zero-as-trade-sinks.html

<comment><USER2> I was already looking in to this couple of weeks ago. BDI was up till December and it just hit the bottom in January.

BDI is a nice indicator of economy because 1) it's not speculative(you don't buy shipping without products), 2) it's not elastic(it takes years to build another ship and it's not easy or cheap to take ships of circulation).

<comment><USER3> Good article on the BDI: [http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Baltic_Dry_Index_- _BDI_(BALDR...](http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Baltic_Dry_Index_- _BDI_\(BALDRY\))

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> these bits and pieces of financial news (eg. 'An MIT Blackjack team perspective on the economy' on HN today) make it difficult to get the whole picture of how serious an economic contraction we're going to see in the next few years. It also is difficult (for myself at least) to understand what this means for the average guy on the street. Are we talking Depression era job/food lines? Something worse?

<comment><USER5> If anyone could actually predict that... the would keep it to themselves and make a fortune. Of course, no one really can, so we get lots of hand waving, theories and speculation, some of which are more reasoned and intelligent than others. We also get lots of people trying to Prove a Point about their particular political/economic views.

<comment><USER6> Forget predicting the future, there is plenty of data on the present. Here are some nice graphs:

[http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/re...](http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/recession_perspective/index.cfm)

<comment><USER7> Thanks for the v. useful link (and like your website :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> "The World Bank caused shockwaves with a warning last month that global trade may decline this year for the first time since the Second World War. This appears increasingly certain with each new batch of data.

"Mr de Trenck predicts Asian trade to the US will fall 7pc this year. To Europe he estimates a drop of 9pc -- possibly 12pc. Trade flows grow 8pc in an average year."

</comment><comment><USER3> _Shipping journal Lloyd's List said brokers in Singapore are now waiving fees for containers travelling from South China, charging only for the minimal "bunker" costs. Container fees from North Asia have dropped $200, taking them below operating cost.

Industry sources said they have never seen rates fall so low. "This is a whole new ball game," said one trader._

Perhaps trade could be encouraged to healthy levels by subsidizing importation.

</comment><comment><USER9> I wonder how many of those who demonize trade realize that high volumes of trade are associated with good economic times and low volumes of trade are associated with the opposite.</comment>


Chill Direct and Digital Distribution - <AUTHOR> http://reyhanilaw.com/blog/chill-direct-and-digital-distribution-a-chat-with-brian-norgard/

<comment><USER2> (disclosure: I'm on the Chill team) There is still an incredible amount of friction in the distribution of longer form entertainment content online. There have been lots of fits and starts before to solve self-distribution of film (and specials, etc.), but we've never seen the confluence tech that is now available—higher bandwidth, seamless payment processing, video hosting, full integration into legacy social channels, etc.

Frankly the deals that most filmmakers are facing from direct-to-DVD distributors are atrocious. All rights are taken out of the filmmakers' hands, territory by territory, all on the promise of /maybe/ seeing your film on the shelves at Wal-mart. I think some of the smart ones are waking up and realizing that they have way more leverage to reach a global audience online and don't need to settle for a mythical distribution deal that is effectively just that, mythology. There's a movement underway and it's tilting the power back into the hands of creative people.

</comment><comment><USER3> I think this brings a new level of meritocracy to the process and it will be amazing to see the results.

</comment><comment><USER4> Really interested to see how the self-service model will do and the effect of being able to buy different projects in one space as opposed to on the artist's site.

</comment><comment><USER5> This is the future...direct from creator to consumer

</comment><comment><USER6> So cool!! Can't wait to get my content up there!

</comment><comment><USER7> I love when technology is used to enable people to keep doing what they love.

</comment><comment><USER8> this is so awesome! thank you :)</comment>


Ask HN: What startups here are focusing on developing on top of .NET? - <AUTHOR> I perceive an increase on the number articles about C# and .NET. Since HN activity reflects our own interests, I am curious as who is developing what for .NET.
Anyone wants to tell their story?
Disclaimer: I was a Windows user and did a lot of Windows development up until about 2002. Since about 1999, I have been preferring Unix-like environments and languages such as Perl, Python and Ruby (and, sometimes, Java) for developing and deploying web applications. Sometimes, I am also quite vocal about my personal preferences. <comment><USER2> I've written more C# than probably any other language, but I've never seriously considered it for anything outside of my day job. I like the language and the tools are nice, but for pure web applications I feel that there are far nicer options out there.

Deploying applications on Windows is pretty easy, but there are far fewer hosting options for Windows; and the options that are out there will either give you a very locked down environment or require you to have a dedicated box.

Beyond that, it's kind of a pain in the ass to do a quick edit of a file to fix something when you're on the road if you don't have all of your tools available. It's just not a big deal to make single file changes in Perl, Python or Ruby because most people don't use a full-featured IDE to edit that code and as a result files are often structured differently (which is to say generally broken up into smaller chunks).

If you're thinking about starting up on the .Net stack, there's really no reason not to if that's the stack you prefer to use. Bizspark is a nice program which allows you to delay the purchase of most licenses for 3 years. Microsoft has a long history of providing nice tools for its developers as well.

There are definitely some big sites out there that are using .Net as well (Loopt, Newegg, Woot), and there are tons of developers out there that are familiar with the stack.

I would say if that's what you are the strongest with, and you like it, there's no real reason not to use .Net - as long as you don't mind using a proprietary stack. I haven't used Mono seriously, but I've heard good things about it. However, it's still a second-class citizen when compared to the canonical .Net stack.

<comment><USER3> _Deploying applications on Windows is pretty easy, but there are far fewer hosting options for Windows; and the options that are out there will either give you a very locked down environment or require you to have a dedicated box._

I'm using a Windows/Apache/Django/Postgres back end for <http://newsley.com>. It's all running on an EC2 Server 2003 instance. I've used their Windows slices for about a year, and I've been really really happy with them. It's a bit more expensive than a Linux VPS @ $80 a month, but I think it's worth it.

I would really like Amazon to support Server 2008 on EC2, especially to make PowerShell Remoting not such a hack. You can get it to work, but it's a little dicey.

 _Beyond that, it's kind of a pain in the ass to do a quick edit of a file to fix something when you're on the road if you don't have all of your tools available._

Granted, I'm developing using Python on Windows 7, but I have a full dev setup on a $300 Netbook that I installed Windows 7 on. I've been building Newsley while traveling 50k miles the past 4 months, and I haven't really had any problems.

I can run Win 7 Ultimate and my dev setup on a netbook pretty seamlessly. Would there be a reason that Visual Studio wouldn't run on a Netbook with 2GB ram?

<comment><USER4> You can run Server 2008 on EC2: [http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2009/12/amazon_ec2_windows_server...](http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2009/12/amazon_ec2_windows_server_2008.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I was a .NET developer before launching our startup (<http://agilezen.com/>), so it was natural for us to use .NET.

It's actually a very good technology stack if you lean on the available open source options instead of just using everything Microsoft suggests. C# is a good language, ASP.NET is very efficient and scalable, NHibernate is a passably good ORM, and ASP.NET MVC is a solid foundation to build webapps on.

It hurts to have to pay license fees for hosting, but we're enrolled in BizSpark, which gives us free licenses for 3 years, and you can always look into running your app on Mono. (We are.)

Not sure what you're looking to find out, but feel free to ask anything. :)

<comment><AUTHOR> "Not sure what you're looking to find out"

I am a very curious person. I never know what I am going to find out until I do. The other way to read this is that I never know what I am after until it's too late... ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'm building two startups on .NET. Mine is <http://snapleague.com> a freemium recreational sports league web site builder. For my day job I'm working on <http://screenfeed.com> which is all .NET on the backend (the main APIs are ASP.NET MVC). I've got another product in the works that's ASP.NET MVC as well.

I ended up here starting back when I got VB3 for a birthday present in high school (actually if you go back further, I started programming with BASIC on an Apple in middle school). When the web came around that translated in to ASP/VBScript and then around the time .NET 2.0 came out I switched to C# and haven't really looked back. So far, the framework hasn't limited what I want to accomplish. That may not always be the case, but for now I'm satisfied with it.

I'll echo what nkohari said about licensing. BizSpark helps a lot, and you can easily use MySql and the like if you don't want to pay for MS SQL Server. SQL Azure might relieve some of the pricing pressure for SQL too.

Speaking of Azure, I _really_ like it. It's completely intuitive if you've done any ASP.NET development. The only problem is that it is trailing about 6-12 months behind the other cloud app hosting options in features. And since SQL Azure was announced there's been far less emphasis on Azure Table Storage which is a shame. The querying capabilities for table storage are ABYSMAL. It needs to be on par with SimpleDB before I could see myself using it (and I really, really want to use it).

I was contemplating jumping ship before ASP.NET MVC came out since the previous versions of ASP.NET (known as Webforms) really hindered more complex web app development. MVC is awesome though. Almost every part of the framework is swappable so if you have a specific need, you can quickly swap in your own or an OSS implementation. ASP.NET MVC + Spark View Engine is pure hotness.

There's been a shift going on inside Microsoft's DevDiv too. ASP.NET MVC is open source, jQuery is shipped with Visual Studio, MS employees are active bloggers and twitterers, etc. And speaking of Twitter, there's a strong .NET community there.

<comment><USER6> Can you tell me a little more about what makes SparkView the hotness? As opposed to just using the default stack?

<comment><USER4> 1\.
Foo

2\. HTML encoded by default

3\.
${foo.Name}

4\. Client-side rendering: [http://odetocode.com/blogs/scott/archive/2009/03/12/client-r...](http://odetocode.com/blogs/scott/archive/2009/03/12/client- rendering-views-with-spark-and-asp-net-mvc.aspx)

5\. conditional attributes (kludgy syntax, but better than Webforms VE)

6\. Content "spooling". You can create a partial that registers a script tag/script specific to the partial, but only if it hasn't been registered already. Partials can also spool content to any other content area.

6a.


Ask HN: What happened to Wolfram Alpha? - <AUTHOR> I am searching for "who won superbowl three years ago?" and came to WA first
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=who+won+superbowl+three+years+ago%3F
Surprisingly Google is able to handle it no problem.
https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=who+won+superbowl+three+years+ago%3F&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? <comment><USER2> Thanks for pointing this out. We _do_ have the right data, but in this case we got a bit tripped up on our own cleverness. You can see from Wolfram|Alpha's input interpretation that we parsed "three years ago" as "today minus three years" — compare with [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=three+years+ago](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=three+years+ago) and you'll see why that's a problem: since there wasn't a Super Bowl game played on July 30, 2015, we (correctly, given this interpretation) tell you that there are no Super Bowl results for your specified date.

But obviously that's not what any actual person means by "3 years ago" in this context, so we'll just have to fix a bug there to be a little less precise in our date computation.

Of course there are lots of different ways to ask questions about the Super Bowl...

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=who+won+the+superbowl+f...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=who+won+the+superbowl+for+the+2014-15+season) [http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+was+the+super+bowl...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+was+the+super+bowl+with+the+patriots+vs+seahawks)

===

C. Alan Joyce

Director of Content Development, Wolfram|Alpha

<comment><USER2> And actually, I didn't even notice at first that Wolfram|Alpha already has competing assumptions for how we treat "years" — it's just that the best interpretation in this case isn't already the default:

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=who+won+the+super+bowl+...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=who+won+the+super+bowl+three+years+ago&assumption=%7B%22C%22,+%22years%22%7D+-%3E+%7B%22EnglishWord%22%7D)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks that makes a lot of sense!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> WA flawlessly understood the question. It just seems to be lacking the right data.</comment>


Life-changing Browser Feature (Chrome) - <AUTHOR> https://plus.google.com/104428100281847923227/posts/SuwES8Vdqhp I don't know how I've gone through life without using this killer Chrome feature until now. <comment><AUTHOR> @jmilkbal Cool! Didn't know that. It's even easier to setup with Firefox: <http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Smart%20keywords> Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER2> Duck duck go does this better than any other solution IMO. their !bang syntax works for over 200 different search engines and you can even add your own.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hardly a new idea. Firefox has been doing this for a long time. This is what the keyword field is for in the bookmarks dialog.</comment>


Shocking Poor Security at the Social Security Administration - <AUTHOR> https://plus.google.com/108802066605702131048/posts/hrkjwaCUZgD?sfc=true <comment><USER2> They also have more than 60 million lines of COBOL in production.

Cite: [http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-14-1...](http://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-14-11-11132_0.pdf)

<comment><USER3> At this point 5 inch diskettes are more secure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What login rate-limiting, account lock-out, and password expiry policies do they have though?

Based on the password requirements, they have something like 2.6 trillion possible passwords. If your account is locked out after 3 failed login attempts, if they limit to one attempt per second, or if they have a forced password change every month, etc. there are a number of ways to tighten this up.

Their password policy is anachronistic, and this /could/ be a symptom of other issues. However by itself, it seems more like a usability issue than a security issue.

In fact, they could be attempting to discourage password reuse with other sites. That would be a security bonus if it worked (I doubt it works).

<comment><USER5> > If your account is locked out after 3 failed login attempts, if they limit > to one attempt per second,

The point of effective passwords isn't that someone is going to guess it on login - it's that if the database gets dumped all the passwords aren't recoverable from the hashes.

<comment><USER4> The security of passwords at rest depends on how they are stored. Further, if an SSA database is dumped, passwords won't be the data exposure people are upset about.

<comment><USER5> > The security of passwords at rest depends on how they are stored.

Insecure passwords are insecure at rest no matter how they are stored..

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This sounds like someone tazering a guard at the SSA. *shockingly

If you're mad about 8 char mandatory case insensitive password rules maybe leaking data, you'll probably be super mad when they just lose the whole db on their end to hacks. Perhaps they should code a 2fa option through one of the many useful api's, as so many other companies have.

</comment><comment><USER7> This is why the government desperately needs to keep 18F/US Digital Service so they can keep modernizing these sites.

<comment><USER8> You misunderstand. The current party in power _wants_ this dysfunction so they can justify further cuts. See the with-holding funds from Obamacare and forcing the post office to save for healthcare decades before those who would use it could require it.

<comment><USER7> Oh I know. I'm sure there are shady back-room deals lined with kickbacks from shitty contractors who will overcharge the government (tax payers) for systems that don't do what they need to and will have to be redeveloped every 5 years.

<comment><USER9> That's essentially all for-profit contractors.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> What else would you expect? They can't go out of business. They are so sacred that they appear immune to any sort of political reform. There's no chance of anyone getting fired for keeping things as they are. To change things would paradoxically be more risky.

</comment><comment><USER11> Some banks do this too. They store the password in the clear then at login ask for the Nth character of your password (rather than the whole password).

That obviously means that the whole password is rarely sent over the network. It also means that they can use the same validation system over the phone for telephone banking.

The system is however far from ideal of course.

</comment><comment><USER12> Bad security no longer shocks me at all.</comment>


Show HN: Kite - Start building a web app in one click - <AUTHOR> https://www.runkite.com/beta/

<comment><USER3> I've downloaded the client, added an app (Django, Rails, and Node). When I tried to view the page, it 404'd and then promptly walked me through SSHing in and starting the server process.

I'm impressed.

Later in the day I'll dive a little deeper, but between frictionless "add an app" process to the way it feels like a local development environment - <USER2> think you've got a winner here.

Now, when can I pay you for this service? :)

<comment><USER4> Hey! Mike here from Kite.

We are currently giving away one free app per account. If you would like more, you can pay $10/month per extra app. (My Account -> Payment).

We're still early and are working out the pricing details.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Great work on this. Excited to use this for my students instead of forcing them to use a Chromebook (see [http://blog.zfeldman.com/2013-10-05-setting-up- a-chromebook-...](http://blog.zfeldman.com/2013-10-05-setting-up-a-chromebook- development-laptop/))! Do you have a Windoze client yet?

<comment><USER4> AWESOME! We're currently working on the Windows client. No ETA for it yet. =(

Definitely shoot me an e-mail if you have any specific questions for education/teams: michael @ runkite.com

<comment><USER5> Amazin'. Thanks for putting that out. zachfeldman at gmail if you'd like to put me on a list for people who find out when the Windows client comes out!

<comment><USER4> Will do!

<comment><USER6> Add me to the notification list for Windows support!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I was pleasantly surprised to see "Ghost" in the list of frameworks.

Edit: I would have liked to be able to paste in my password with Command-V in the Mac client. (I use LastPass, and had to right-click to paste my password in.)

<comment><USER4> Heh! We released support for Ghost blogs yesterday.

Sorry about that bug. We are aware of it. We'll most likely push out a fix with the next update. =)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Looks really good. I started skeptical, but I really like what you did there.

It would be helpful if there was some pricing page so I know what I am getting myself into.

<comment><USER9> Thanks for checking it out - there's a pricing page once you log in. Sorry that it's not very transparent right away - we'll get that fixed up.

We give away one hosted dev environment for free and charge 10$/month per app you want to build with it afterwards. The pricing amount is definitely not fixed - we just started our beta and wanted to hear thoughts from the HN community regarding the whole concept / experience.

<comment><USER8> Hi Jeff, it is really well hidden :). Other than that, I really don't have any other complaints, in fact, this is something I was considered doing, so that I can develop on same machine no matter what. I think you did it fairly elegant solution.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Been using this for a week now and I can say it's amazing. The Ghost deploy function is a winner as well.

<comment><USER9> We really, really love Ghost. We even made this: [https://runkite.com/ghost](https://runkite.com/ghost)

We originally designed Kite for django/rails/node/static html. But then Ghost was released.

Devs can use Kite to host a Ghost blog but also edit its underlying code without having to worry about setting it up locally and then pushing it somewhere else. We're really hoping that this makes contributing to the Ghost codebase & designing themes way easier.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> how long before the Windows version will be ready?

<comment><USER9> Hey - founder from Kite here.

We've included as much cross-platform code as possible in the client so we can start supporting Windows ASAP. I can't give an exact date but we're working hard on it.</comment></comment>


Translatotron: An End-to-End Speech-to-Speech Translation Model - <AUTHOR> https://ai.googleblog.com/2019/05/introducing-translatotron-end-to-end.html <comment><USER2> Cool stuff. I wonder how long it will take until speech synthesis is at the point where it can be used to create dialogue for video games. Obviously it would (at least initially) replace just the less important stuff spoken by background characters or less important NPCs, but even that could be a big improvement.

Just imagine how much more immersive a game like Skyrim would be if the writers could just write the lines and then run it through a speech synthesizer to get finished dialogue. No need to hire multiple actors and get them to a studio to record their lines. It would be so much easier and faster to create a massive amount of unique dialogue and you wouldn't have to listen to the same "arrow to the knee" line spoken by the same couple of actors over and over again everywhere you go.

It would improve user created mods as well since just about anyone could then just create new characters with completely custom voices and dialogue.

<comment><USER3> We could see a resurgence in text adventures, except this time the input would be voice based and the output would be to your headphones.

Downside to this would be people on public transport saying stuff like: "Use magic spell on trolls"

<comment><USER4> Sounds like a pretty big upside to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Is it just me or are the final results (Translatotron translation) not playable, while the initial audio samples work fine?

<comment><USER6> Works in chrome

<comment><USER7> :angry face:

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> A perfect illustration for how Chromium's monopoly is killing the open web. The sample audio doesn't play in Firefox, because who cares about anything other than Chrome, right?

<comment><USER9> To be fair, this looks like a firefox bug rather than google inventing their own 'standards'.

It's a bog-standard HTML5 audio tag with a WAV file. One file is 8khz and the other 24khz, both standard frequencies. One is Microsoft PCM format, while the other is IEEE float. I suspect the latter is the issue - even though it's been around for decades, I bet it isn't a well tested codepath in firefox.

It makes sense they use floats for machine learning outputs. Unless someone specifically thought to quantize the data to a specific bit depth, whatever wav file writing library google used probably thought it was being helpful by using the 'right' encoding.

<comment><USER8> The problem is that they only tested it on Chrome.

<comment><USER10> Maybe. On the other hand, the audio tag is pretty standard and the format is standard too, and if you look at w3c support page [1] it looks like ffox supports wav files (and it does, just not all of them. And they might just have tested if the first file plays (or even the second). I would say it's a firefox "bug" instead, there's not a good reason not to support this wav format.

And I say that as a Firefox user that never betrayed the fox for that shiny metallic look.

[1] [https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_audio.asp](https://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_audio.asp)

<comment><USER9> Especially since firefox probably ought to be using the underlying OS libraries for media decoding (and on windows, mac, and linux all the major libraries support this format).

Firefoxes "we need to invent it ourself so we aren't at the whim of the platform" has bitten them here.

Also, a patch to support this format is probably only 10 lines of code... Simply a for loop over every sample converting to 16 bit PCM.

<comment><USER11> Using underlying non-hardened OS libraries will open your browser to numerous exploits, see e.g. IE's WMF vulns [0]

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

<comment><USER9> Presumably the solution is to harden the OS rather than reinvent the wheel and leave all other applications vulnerable...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm just going to say that this is flat out amazing. Really super impressive.

</comment><comment><USER13> Am I reading this correctly, that there's no explicit semantic representation going on at any stage, it's purely audio input frequencies -> ML -> audio output frequencies? If so, that's ... so much for Jerry Fodor and his Language of Thought Hypothesis, eh? (Yeah, mostly joking but still..)

<comment><USER14> If I'm understanding this right, the actual translation goes from audio frequencies -> ML -> audio frequencies, but the training process for the ML algorithm relies on text transcripts of the speech.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Is the model available yet?

</comment><comment><USER9> There seem to be lots of questionable translations in their source data - missing emphasis, wrong words, and sometimes stuttering or mistaken vocalisations.

If they could fix that, I think results could be much better.</comment>


FedEx's new service takes aim at Amazon - <AUTHOR> http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/07/technology/fedex-fulfillment-amazon/index.html <comment><USER2> While we'll need to wait to seem how the implementation works out, I like the basic idea of this basically being Fulfillment By Amazon, but without having the rely on a potential competitor. It seems like you're an importer who uses FBA(or even just lists on Amazon and self fulfills) you have a short window to make money before Amazon eventually moves in on you to start selling the same thing. Even if you're selling your own stuff, you might not be safe(there's some kind of laptop accessory that I'm trying to remember that basically had an Amazon Basics version come out after being on Amazon for a little while).

Don't take this as being against big evil Amazon(I buy tons of stuff from them), but I'd rather them not be the Walmart of the internet that puts all the small web shops out of business.

<comment><USER3> FWIW It was a laptop stand: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/got-a- hot...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-20/got-a-hot-seller- on-amazon-prepare-for-e-tailer-to-make-one-too)

Amazon certainly has it easier when they can see sales data on their platform, but Amazon is a huge marketing channel too, and losing that is likely worse than having Amazon compete with you.

The products amazon are making are not those which need a whole tonne of R&D, they are as the brand says basics, they don't need to copy anyone to make one, they just need to know that the product category is popular.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It was bound to happen eventually. It's not exactly a secret that Amazon is trying to create their own shipping services.

One thing I'm confused about... I can't tell from the article - is this a way of letting people list their products on fedex.com, or is this a way for sellers to hold their products in a fedex warehouse, sell the items on their own website, then tell fedex where to ship it?

<comment><USER5> > is this a way of letting people list their products on fedex.com, or is this > a way for sellers to hold their products in a fedex warehouse, sell the > items on their own website, then tell fedex where to ship it?

This is the way I understood it. Sort of like a cross between Drop-shipping and FBA but the shipper already has it, eliminating the need for the "first mile" problem (getting the package from the warehouse to the shipper). This enables a seller to do very quick delivers at low cost because they're not running to a FedEx drop off point with a bunch of shipments incrementally.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> More like UPS, which has been doing that sort of thing for years as UPS Supply Chain Solutions.[1]

[1] [http://www.ups-scs.com](http://www.ups-scs.com)

</comment><comment><USER7> This service is based on Fedex's acquisition of Genco, in December 2014. Genco is a 3rd party logistics services company, offering a of logistic services:from the standard warehousing an fulfillment(including 130 warehouses), to being somewhat of an industry leader at handling returns(and e-commerce has a relatively high rate of returns, especially in fashion), to testing and repairing stuff, and than reselling those.

At that time, Fedex also bought a software company that helps other retailers with complex stuff like customs handling.

Maybe a total framework to handle all the physical and regulatory stuff and e-commerce play might need. The stuff that enables Amazon to have such a large selection, and the stuff that enables it to be so good at customer service. And that may have been what triggered Amazon to attack Fedex.

</comment><comment><USER8> They're missing the entire advantage Amazon has in the situation: n items, one box.

When you buy three items from Amazon, they have the opportunity to put both items into a single box and have a much smaller last-mile cost[0]. With this FedEx program, each item will have its own box and maintain the per-item last- mile costs. Last Mile is the largest fraction of an e-commerce retailers costs after actual products.

It's a neat program, but Amazon still has a cost advantage.

[0] (Now, they don't always _do_ that, but that's usually in order to make sure the items get to the customer on time, or maybe they're coming from very distant different warehouses)

<comment><USER7> Current , something like 60% of FBA orders aren't Amazon sales. So they don't share a box

<comment><USER8> Wow, really? Do you have numbers on that? That seems really high.

<comment><USER7> Sorry, my mistake. It's the other way around - 60% of sales on Amazon's marketplace aren't done through FBA.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> If FedEx can give better commission cuts than Amazon fulfillment and pretty much same delivery speeds then it is definitely a winning situation for FedEx. I envision a future where no one goes to brick-an-mortar stores anymore. Online shopping experience needs to be made intuitive and personal enough that goods get delivered at home. Two days shipping is good but not as good as same as shipping with minimal shipping costs. Still needs work. We are getting there.

</comment><comment><USER10> While this is great to have another fulfillment service available (though there already are other choices than Amazon for fulfillment services), I'm not so sure how much this will actually impact Amazon. Does anyone know what percentage of Amazon's fulfillment services are used for things not sold on Amazon marketplace?

<comment><USER11> IIRC- >50%. Source- cant find it atm, but was something I read as part of my business selling online (and most of that on Amazon).

This benefits _Walmart_ the most. Currently I don't want to expand my Walmart/Jet/Sears/NewEggeBay business because I'd need to buy a warehouse. Most 3PL's are small mom and pops or tailored to very large companies. If Fedex can execute on this there is alot of mo ey to be made. But the. Again, execution is everything, isnt it? :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> Seems like a smart move for them, and a win for customers across the board.

</comment><comment><USER13> This is funny, if Amazon decides to use Amazon logistics for shipping FedEx will go bankrupt within 6 months probably.

<comment> james-skemp Prime member here, for many years, and I can't recall the last time I got something from Amazon via FedEx. For me, USPS and UPS are how my items end up getting shipped to me, with USPS being the major method.

Granted, I think I'm near-ish (Madison WI) an Amazon warehouse of a sort, so YMV.

<comment><USER14> Similar story, in Chicago near a few Amazon warehouses. The stuff I get is pretty evenly split between UPS, USPS & Amazon Logistics. I don't think I've ever had a FedEx prime delivery that I can remember. One thing to keep in mind though is that Rockford, IL is equidistant from Madison & Chicago and a UPS Air hub.</comment></comment></comment>


China Bans Internet News Reporting as Media Crackdown Widens - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-25/china-slaps-ban-on-internet-news-reporting-as-crackdown-tightens <comment><USER2> When you have to ban news reporting, you're expecting really, really bad news.

</comment><comment><USER3> censorship, the panacea of the autocrat, the fear of the progressive, and the joke of the youth.</comment>


Ask HN: Anyone attending WWDC this year? - <AUTHOR>

Are any HNers planning to make it out to WWDC this year? We should organize a small meet-up.<p>Post or contact me directly if interested. <comment><USER2> Yes! The whole Kobo iPhone OS team will be there!

<http://kobobooks.com/tablets>

</comment><comment><USER3> Yep. The team from appspark.us are here. You can reach me at nc at appspark.us</comment>


Yo a Cab - <AUTHOR> http://yo.cabsolutely.co/#

<comment><USER2> This submission was most likely flagged to death. (likely due to both a) lack of product, and b) Yo had its 15 minute of fame already, stop trying to make it happen)

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't see anything more than a launch e-mail request?

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> We are really close to having it done. We YO you once it is up and running!

</comment><comment><USER4> This sounds awesome!</comment>


Test results for AMD Ryzen - <AUTHOR> http://www.agner.org/optimize/blog/read.php?i=838 <comment><USER2> Previously on HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14245951](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14245951)

</comment><comment><USER3> The most practically interesting part:

 _> FMA4 is not officially supported on Ryzen, but I found that the FMA4 instructions actually work correctly on Ryzen, even though the CPUID instruction says that FMA4 is not supported._

<comment><USER4> Which means there are rare bugs in the FMA4 they've not been able to iron out. So they decided to turn it off at release time using a chicken bit.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Not Hot Dog - An ML app we built in 30min without code - <AUTHOR> https://airdev.co/hot-dog-or-not-machine-learning <comment><USER2> This is just a mashup of some visual code service and the Watson api.

There's nothing novel about ML here.

<comment><AUTHOR> It actually does not intend to have anything "novel" about ML technology.

Just a showcase of how quickly people can build ML applications these days using visual frameworks and ML services.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Pretty amazing what you can do without code these days</comment>