eToro Makes Forex Trade Child's Play - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/27/etoro-makes-forex-trade-childs-play/

<comment><USER2> I don't think it's stupid (maybe it is if you only thought of it as a finance trading tool) - but like TechCrunch pointed out it's pretty much online gambling in disguise, but legal even in the US (at least that's my guess)

<comment><AUTHOR> What is the target market for this service? If it's the same market as Draftmix, I don't think this site will be able to attract enough gamblers.

<comment><USER2> given the appeal of day trading and gambling to a certain portion of the population, I'd wait and see

I think when the US gov starts stomping harder on gambling companies that it deems illegal (which it already has to a degree - even with bad repercussions from the WTC), we'll see what happens with this company

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I think you may have missed the point. Regardless of what the CEO says, eToro is just a run-around on anti-gaming laws; as such it's not really supposed to be a legitimate tool for forex trading.

Far from stupid, I'd say this is actually quite clever. What's more, it's no less moral than betting on fantasy football.

<comment><AUTHOR> OK, I understand that there are many people that like gambling for gambling's sake. I played online poker during its peak and I enjoy draftmix now. I do some sports betting from time to time. There are certainly many people out there who stopped playing poker online after Bush messed it up and are looking for a gambling fix.

I think all of those people are going to keep looking and not even blink an eye at this. When you're betting on which currency goes up or down during a one hour period, there is not even the feeling that skill is involved, online sports betting and poker and fantasy sports.

I just don't think there is a market of people that would prefer to gamble on racing currencies instead of sports. Who is this market? People that have always wanted to day trade but have never tried?

<comment><USER4> "there is not even the feeling that skill is involved"

Well, the 'skill' in BJ is pretty thin, it's thinner in craps, almost nonexistent in roulette (if I recall correctly, all bets are equivalent in EV, except for one, which is worse), and completely absent in lotteries and numbers. And that's not to mention "Casino War". People will create their own feeling of skill based on magical thinking. After all, none of those games seem to be lacking for players.

I think this is brilliant; forex outcomes are basically random (yes, they are - if you could predict them, you'd be too busy counting your yachts to be here) so this system uses them as a RNG for games of chance.

Which people love. Wish I'd thought of it.

<comment><AUTHOR> We'll wait and see, I guess. Certainly it is a clever loophole and the gambling business is a good one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This reminds me of 3D Mail Box, the aircraft simulator meets email inbox.

[http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/24/worlds-worst-email- app-...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/24/worlds-worst-email-app-gets- worse-aircraft-simulation-meets-inbox/)

The visual representation of data, huh. These people must make Edward Tufte cry.

<comment><USER6> Ouch: <http://siteanalytics.compete.com/3dmailbox.com/?metric=uv>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The pets.com of online trading.

Edit: The reason conventional trading software is complicated is because traders want every tool and advantage they can get if it's their own money they're risking (they also probably like the illusion that they're making rational decisions). I don't get this little PlaySkool dealie that made TechCrunch.

<comment><USER7> Edit 2: Joe Average jumping in on trading is the classic sign an equity bubble is going to end.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think it's somewhat dishonest, but clever in it's dishonesty.

The way I read the site, it's basically acting as a gambling site, giving minigames that people can bet on, and luring the gambling crowd into the game, but they're using a loophole in the US rules against gambling.

It reminds me a little of DraftMix in that way.

</comment><comment><USER9> Seems pretty damn brilliant to me. Gamblers LOVE Forex. I can't even count the number of excellent poker players I know who pissed it all away either there or day trading.

I agree with your assertion that skill probably has little or no effect on that game in the short run (and hell, maybe not even in the long) but people tend to credit skill wherever they win and luck wherever they lose. Anything with sufficient volatility will satisfy people's desire for both.

That said, I don't think they're in the same market we are, and I don't think they'll be too successful. Forex is far too esoteric for the common man, even with nice little animations of foot races, and probably too unpredictable for most of the rest. I don't know how many people read The Economist, but their target audience is some subset of that.

</comment><comment><USER10> It's in no way a gambling site from what I read on techcrunch. Sounds like they just take forex quotes and instead of displaying them in a graph or with tickers, they use competitive games and you get to watch your currency duke it out with the other currencies.

The fishy part is them leaving off bid/ask spreads off the site. Couldn't find them while taking a quick glance.

They also use 400:1 leverage meaning for $25 you can trade $10000. You're wiped out in a 0.25% price move. Looking at the yen today [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDJPY=X&t=1d](http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=USDJPY=X&t=1d) long or short anyone would be wiped out with that kind of margin.

<comment><USER11> Crikey, 400:1 leverage!? I've never heard of such a thing before. Is there anywhere else where a regular guy can get this kind of leverage?

(As to the term 'gambling', I think people are using the broad definition by which day-trading and other such financial transactions are termed a 'gamble' rather than a 'very risky, poorly informed financial investment on such a short time-scale that one can't possibly make informed predictions of price movement'. Similarly, I believe that poker is often legal because it's a 'game of skill', but that doesn't mean it's not also a gamble.)

<comment><USER10> Most online forex brokers push people into 200:1 using a "mini" account that trades in lots of 10K. Normal size accounts trade in lots of 100K. I'm guessing they have the little ones to get some people making big returns quickly and then bump them up to larger and safer accounts.

I remember reading something in Jack Schwager's Trading Wizards book where someone talked about successful hedge funds not using more than 5-10x leverage.

<comment><USER3> "I remember reading something in Jack Schwager's Trading Wizards book where someone talked about successful hedge funds not using more than 5-10x leverage."

Leverage doesn't mean much if you don't know the beta (a measure of risk) of the security. I think for most hedge funds the amount of leverage varies wildly based on what's being traded, so it's tough to apply a single rule of thumb to an entire market.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Run currencies in a marathon? The Yen is represented by a sumo wrestler? Bizarre.</comment>


UK's IR35 tax tightened in court. - <AUTHOR> http://www.3spoken.co.uk/2008/09/freelancers-you-will-be-assimilated.html <comment><USER2> I think I speak for every UK limited company contractor when I say "Shit."

Thanks for the heads-up, I imagine this will have a lot of impact on a lot of UK people here.</comment>


OS X Safari user? Python script to privately list out the sites you visit. - <AUTHOR> http://kickingvegas.github.com/BrowseAudit/

<comment><USER2> Thanks for posting this. I like your use of make as the CLI. Very simple, and a good starting point for anyone aiming to build a quick Python CLI app.

</comment><comment><USER3> Isn't this just printing out a cache?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thinking about it indirectly, you could say that. My interest in this exercise was to get a first order understanding of what I look at when I use a web browser without using an extension. Just figured I'd share it with HN, which ranks #4 in my visits which is probably higher than it should be.

<comment><USER3> I assumed people would take this as nefariousness, so "just a cache" instead of "crazy apple plan to steal all your info"</comment></comment></comment>


Hackers breach plastic surgery clinic - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41735104 <comment><USER2> > The Dark Overlord has claimed to be behind high-profile data breaches > before, including one at US media firm Netflix earlier this year.

That was not a sentence I was expecting to read today.

<comment><USER3> It's true. They're quite prolific. They hacked a bunch of medical clinics, and even HBO.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why on earth would you keep naked pics of your clients on a computer connected to the Internet?

<comment><USER5> Not sure why you are being downvoted. But I don't expect clinics in a country without something like HIPAA in place to be overly cautious about such things.

<comment><USER6> In the country with HIPPA I would absolutely bet quite a lot of money that this is the norm as well.

I've now debugged (as a well known patient) two computer systems for local clinics - and they were completely and entirely owned from the ground up. They saw this as completely normal/routine (as in - "oh man, call the IT guy - we've been infected again!"), and I watched as they would minimize whatever medical records app they used with my info in it to pull up the toolbar-laden IE to run my credit card via an on-line processor.

Luckily in those cases it was typical malware/botnet infestation. All it takes is the wrong person/group to come across that secretary's workstation that is almost assuredly connected to the same network the random medical equipment and storage is as well.

Security/IT in general in healthcare is a complete unmitigated disaster. Everyone focuses on hospitals (for good reason) - but those are typically _far_ better ran than your local plastic surgery/lasik/clinic practice.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> > terabytes

If it's about the clinic, that doesn't ring true to me. Why would photos of the clinic's customers total to that much data? Do they have hours of 4K video on them or something?

<comment><USER8> 3D pictures, like from MRIs, are big. You take a lot of them per patient. And it would be quite bad to use lossy compression on them.

From [http://siim.org/?page=archiving_chapter2](http://siim.org/?page=archiving_chapter2) :

> One example of the data generated for breast MRI can reveal the large number > of sequences and significant amounts of data that are generated for what > might be perceived as a "small" study. [...] A significant number of > sequences and images result in an average of ~300 MB of data storage per > study.

<comment><USER7> Ah, that makes sense. I hadn't thought of that type of data.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Sounds to me like a few hackers will be "chased by the paps".</comment>


How many applicants applied for Summer 2012 Bootcamp? - <AUTHOR>

Any insight as to how many companies applied into Y Combanitor this summar?  I just applied for my company agiftidea.com and wanted to find out more about the process. <comment><USER2> Several thousand companies applied. About 3% will get in.

<comment><AUTHOR> okay - thanks :)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Has anyone gotten their interview calls yet?</comment>


Enumerative Combinatorics Volume 1, second edition [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://math.mit.edu/~rstan/ec/ec1.pdf <comment><USER2> Why would you link _directly_ to this?

Anyway, anybody who's anybody knows that "Théorie des espèces et combinatoire des structures arborescentes" is what you should be reading, since the later English version isn't as good.

<comment><AUTHOR> You mean this book by Leroux and Labelle? [http://bergeron.math.uqam.ca/species/](http://bergeron.math.uqam.ca/species/)

(First 3 chapters: [http://bergeron.math.uqam.ca/wp- content/uploads/2013/11/book...](http://bergeron.math.uqam.ca/wp- content/uploads/2013/11/book.pdf))

"Enumerative Combinatorics" is a different book by a different author (Richard P. Stanley, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_P._Stanley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_P._Stanley)).</comment></comment>


Show HN: Stacker – The Easiest way to Publish and Reply on Social Media - <AUTHOR> https://www.getstacker.com

<comment><USER2> Would like to see some screenshots on the frontpage. I don't want to give access to my social profiles if I can't actually see what benefits something gives me (text just doesn't cut it)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I appreciate the feedback, will be sure to forward this to our design team. For the moment please accept a link to our Press Packet that includes screenshots of the app [https://s3.amazonaws.com/stacker_assets/press.zip](https://s3.amazonaws.com/stacker_assets/press.zip)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> For some reason I just assume that HootSuite, TweetDeck, etc. all do this, no? I use Buffer and don't see anything entirely compelling to switch. I also have tried HootSuite and the rate limiting and interface bugged the hell out of me.

Also, up your pricing. I bet you'll get more customers. I'd recommend: Free (for 30 days, no credit card), then $5/month, Amazing at $25/month and biz at $100.

<comment><AUTHOR> Buffer is a great tool, however it only supports Publishing while Stacker supports both Publishing and Replying from one app.

I wrote a blog post on the core advantage we offer recently [https://www.getstacker.com/blog/4/the-million- problem](https://www.getstacker.com/blog/4/the-million-problem)

Excellent feedback on the pricing! Right now our main focus is to grow our customer base.

<comment><USER3> > _Right now our main focus is to grow our customer base._

Cool! Don't discredit raising prices with turning people away.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> As the founder of Stacker, I'm happy to answer any questions you may have

<comment><USER4> I don't have much to say, but your idea is something I also thought about a year ago when it comes to managing social media accounts and being able to publish posts simultaneously all on one platform. I'm happy to see that somebody also had the same train of thought and made it a reality.

A couple of questions;

1\. Is there a desktop platform? 2\. Any Add-on for Chrome?

Great work by the way.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks so much for the kind words!

We dont have a native desktop client at the moment, its a fully responsive Web-app so you can run it in any modern web browser.

We do have a Plugin for Chrome that makes it easy to Share from any web page - [https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stacker/bgckommphf...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stacker/bgckommphflbikdkkpheadpnjbmmkceb)

<comment><USER4> Great, just another question, will you expand to other social media platforms any soon?

Just a thought, your user base will likely consist marketers, promoters, social media businesses and people who actively use more than 2 social networks. Your pricing model is good, but if the service is as good as you say its then you may want to price "business" model a little higher.

I guess whats important is to gain an active user base first and then decide to slightly change the pricing model later on.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great question!

Right now, we are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn (many more in the pipeline). We want to be on all the networks as soon as possible and even go beyond just social networks (think Tumblr, Disqus and others)

You are absolutely right, our focus right now is building up the user base. We want to be as competitive as possible at this stage.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> A lot like Buffer, but I like the inbox part too which Buffer doesn't have.

I can't believe Google Plus doesn't have an API, I would love to cross-post my stuff, it's crazy!

<comment><AUTHOR> You are absolutely right, the Inbox is Stacker's most used feature. We find users coming back multiple times a day to respond to incoming requests from their fans and followers.

We would be super happy if Google+ opened up their API. Its a great network, just needs to become more open!

<comment><USER6> G+ is probably trying to avoid what happened with App.net - cross-posting clients leading to seemingly active but entirely non-participating accounts.

<comment><AUTHOR> Could be, but I think at the very least they should open it up for G+ Pages.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Am I the only one here old enough to remember [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics)

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha...super cool! Thanks for sharing

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Well done guys, this is really slick. Some feedback:

* The marketing site should have screenshots. The app looks fantastic - you should show it off!

* When I installed the Chrome plugin all my (many) tabs reloaded. Is this normal?

* I never saw any mention of price until I discovered MORE > BILLING, and was surprised I ended up on the "team" plan. This needs to be worked into the onboarding somehow.

</comment><comment><USER9> Not a question, just a comment that this kinda reminds me of WUPHF. Also, how come this hasn't been done earlier, or am I just missing out?

<comment><AUTHOR> Stacker isin't so much of a "WUPHF" as it is a Central place for you to Publish and Reply across all your Social Media accounts at once.

Typically, if you are a brand that posts to multiple Social accounts, you then need to login to each account before you can Reply/Favorite/Like incoming messages from fans and followers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Nice , it's may what i 'am looking for.

But is there any way to export our data ?

If not will you make an app ?

It may be too specific but my dream is a thunderbird like program to compose message offline / read them offline / search them offline and export my data.

My need may be too specific, but i will share your app in my circle btw.

Regards

<comment><AUTHOR> Very interesting. I will be sure to forward that to our development team.

<comment><USER10> if you add an export report like csv file or excel for the stats, the pdf is not enough i think.

Even for the online version

il will interest all the CM manager or public oriented account.

i will pass the word on my cm friend in september i'am off the social network for one month...

Regards

<comment><AUTHOR> I like the idea of a CSV export. It shouldn't be too difficult to do since we have all the data with us. Our PDF reports are very detailed though. Will be sure to pass this on to our Dev team. Thanks!

<comment><USER10> yep when you will do that you'll be one of the best tool for CM ... :)

And for the export of the data as inbox or etc ....

Why not a paid api ? Instead of having an offline version i could build mine on the top of your. Just calling your api.

Like 10$ or 20$ per month for accessing the api.

This is my need only i don't garantee that i could be a viable business model (i am not sure that cm need that).

Regards

<comment><AUTHOR> We will consider that although I'm not sure the economics would work out.

Our API will go live soon(possibly as early as next week). It will be Free and you will be able to access all the data under your own account or any account that gives you permission to do so.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> The inbox feature is great! Makes a good addition to Buffer[1] and Polarbear[2] to reach and manage all networks.

[1] [http://www.bufferapp.com](http://www.bufferapp.com) [2] [http://www.polarbearapp.com](http://www.polarbearapp.com)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> As a pro photographer, this could very useful. Is it possible to post to my business page on FB and not my personal page? They have the same sign in, and I simply switch back and forth from the FB menu. I have never found a social media manager that can handle this.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes absolutely! With Stacker you can post to.. * just your Personal Profile or * just your Business page or * to both your Personal and Business page(s) at the same time :)

Stacker is also the first Social Publishing tool that lets you create Photo Albums on the fly, which should be very helpful for pro photographers like yourself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is very nice. I'm curious about your technology stack for putting this all together, if you wouldn't mind sharing some behind the scenes I'd be most grateful.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm happy to share. I'll do a blog post on this down the line, but here's the outline....

Node.JS at the core. Redis and AWS SimpleDB for the Database. Major caching at all levels (frontend/backend). Response times of less than 50ms for most calls. Web Sockets(SocketIO) for real time communications.

The frontend is built entirely in AngularJS with a few jQuery integrations. We write all our CSS in LESS and compile it using Grunt.

We used PHP (LAMP) for our last major Project and I can say that for what we are trying to achieve, NodeJS is much much much faster(10x) and leaner(we manage the same traffic with 20% of the server resources used on our last project with PHP)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Very cool. When I compare free [http://circular.io/](http://circular.io/) to any product like this though, free always wins.

<comment><AUTHOR> Stacker has a very well featured Free-for-Life plan (everything that Circular offers and more)!

We love Circular, but it only posts to Twitter. Stacker posts to Facebook (Profiles/Pages/Groups), Twitter, LinkedIn (Profiles/Pages/Groups) and we are in the process of adding in many more networks.

With Stacker you also get a Universal Inbox that displays and lets you Like/Favorite/Reply-to incoming messages from across all your Social Media accounts in one place.

<comment><USER14> Which is probably great for your audience, but isn't right for me. That said, I'm probably one of the worst customers for a social app—I'm cheap and I derive only a little bit of value from social networking/marketing.

What I get from Circular.io (and Stacker doesn't seem to offer in the free plan?) is the ability to schedule posts for X twitter accounts (currently, X = 8).

<comment><AUTHOR> You are right, but with our Amazing plan you can have 2 way communication with your Twitter followers for just $10/month and upto X = 12 Twitter accounts with in-depth click tracking and lots lots more :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Looks nice. Is this useable without shortened URLs? That has kept me away from similar service offerings.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, you can turn off link-shortening if you like. If you do choose that option, the only thing you wont see is the Click tracking under Reports.

Stacker also supports using your own Custom domain to shorten links. Drop me a note at email@example.com once you've signed up for an account and I'll be happy to help you set it up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Can I get a combined timeline of my twitter and facebook 'walls'?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes you can! The Stacker Inbox does just that :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> love the idea and I know I'd use it extensively but there's no way I'm giving such broad FB profile/activity access. Eliminate that and you have a winner.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi ljsocal, unfortunately we require every single permission we ask for in order to provide all the functionality we currently do. If its a specific permission you have issue with, I'm more than happy to elaborate on exactly why Stacker needs it.

You can rest assured that we encrypt all sensitive information before storing it in our databases.The security and privacy of our customers is our number One priority. The Only non essential field we ask for is your Date of Birth, and we only do that so that we can wish you on your special day.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Great tool. Simply Awesome.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks so much!</comment></comment>


Heroku development API is down - <AUTHOR> https://status.heroku.com/incidents/673

<comment><USER2> Not just the development API. Production has been in Maintenance Mode (meaning you cannot push code or enable/disable any dynos) for the past 4 hours.

Quite frustrating, however I guess I brought it on myself by not having a fallback option.

</comment><comment><USER3> I can't wait to move off of Heroku. They've had far too many issues in the past few months and we haven't been happy with the performance. If only I had the time to setup our environment elsewhere.

</comment><comment><USER4> Is it ok to up-vote because I want to increase the visibility of the outage? :/ I remember when 4hr+ API downtime on heroku would make it to the front page in no time. I'm sure their team is having a heck of a morning, and wish them the best. Hopefully some lessons are learned that make this issue avoidable in the future. If they say it's high load on an API database, you'd think they'd be well-equipped to scale that up or at least have a backup waiting... but hard to speculate from the outside.</comment>


How Robin Chase built Zipcar, the largest car-sharing service in the world - <AUTHOR> http://sprouter.com/blog/how-robin-chase-built-zipcar-largest-car-sharing-service-world/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=30+March+2011+%2F%2F+Hottest+StartUps%2C+Events+%26+Resources&utm_campaign=Sprouter+Weekly%3A+March+30%2C+2011&utm_term=btn-readon_png

<comment><USER2> "Though Zipcar didn't really incorporate reducing carbon emissions into its core idea, Chase says it's a by-product that can't be taken away."

I think it is crucial that startups realize that they cannot predict all the vectors their product will impact. However, that being said it is important that they recognize the markets that they have impacted and capitalize on it. Congrats Chase (and Zipcar)!

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey you can always use <http://www.bixi.com>

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> She gave a fantastic talk at Startup Bootcamp in 2009. Definitely worth watching.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks4B82CJkpo></comment>


Ask HN: Why sms support solutions are not popular? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> I love SMS as an interface (when I'm not talking to "AI"), but it can be risky for companies because 1) SMS/MMS messages are not free, and 2) sending them to consumers is heavily regulated in some places.

Also, it's my understanding that a lot of countries are mostly using messaging services (like Whatsapp) instead of SMS to talk to each other. In those places, SMS support wouldn't be as easy to get people to use.</comment>


Using Sequence Package Analysis to Detect Terrorism and Sedition - <AUTHOR> https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/288/106625 Sequence Package Analysis (SPA), a new natural language method that utilizes a corpus of annotated training data comprised of a unique set of feature extractions, may detect early signs of terrorism and sedition. Using an SPA-designed BNF table consisting of sequentially-implicative (as opposed to syntactic) parsing structures, this natural language tool searches social media content and recordings of conversations of suspected terrorists to identify (and measure) collusion, collaboration, affinity with other terror or sedition suspects. <comment><USER2> From Wikipedia:

In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order.

(Not to be confused with seduction)</comment>


Coinbase recommending third-party iOS app - <AUTHOR> http://blog.coinbase.com/post/64824441934/the-coinbase-ios-app-has-launched

<comment><AUTHOR> On Coinbase's official blog they recommend a third-party iOS app on the iTunes store. This seems a bit more lax on security than I would expect from a wallet provider.

The unofficial app on the App Store uses Coinbase's name and artwork, and doesn't say that it's unofficial [2]. It's seen updates since Coinbase's blog post, where the author could have added this but hasn't. I also wonder if they've been making sure that they're still willing to say that they believe it to be secure and safe to use after the updates.

This is concerning to me, as a Coinbase user.

1: [http://blog.coinbase.com/post/64824441934/the-coinbase- ios-a...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/64824441934/the-coinbase-ios-app-has- launched)

2: [https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coinbase-bitcoin- wallet/id88...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/coinbase-bitcoin- wallet/id886427730?mt=8)</comment>


Design Your App On Paper; Animate It With Your iPhone Camera - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671490/design-your-app-on-paper-animate-it-with-your-iphone-camera

<comment><USER2> Nice!</comment>


An unexpected benefit of thinking functional in Perl - <AUTHOR> https://blog.petdance.com/2019/12/04/thinking-functional-in-perl/ <comment><USER2> In Next Generation Shell it would be `got = {...}.filterv(true).keys()` out of the box.</comment>


Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops - <AUTHOR> http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836 <comment><USER2> >The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court's decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.

Oh good, at least their incompetence is systemic.

</comment><comment><USER3> Police in 2016 used a "military helicopter to descend on an 81-year-old Grandmother's home to seize a single marijuana plant."

"Mr Holcomb said he was told that as long as he did not demand that a warrant be provided to enter the property or otherwise escalate the situation, authorities would file no criminal charges."

So, give up your fourth amendment rights, or else? For having 1 marijuana plant?

What are police thinking? Or maybe they just aren't?

Source: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/national-guard-and-police- in-military-style-helicopter-descend-on-81-year-old-s-home-to-seize- one-a7348666.html

<comment> crooked-v They're thinking they can get away with whatever they want, because local jurisdictions do shit-all to actually hold them responsible for huge wastes of money and/or active malfeasance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Haha this is 17 years old.

<comment><USER5> And it hasn't been overturned. It's a big part of the problem with police in the US, the departments have been filling up with dumb bullies.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> In reading the article, the claim is made that someone with a high IQ will not find the work compelling, will get bored, and leave wasting that training and money. That does beg the question: Is policing only appealing to someone with a low IQ? Worse, is this the only reason the state wants police officers with low intelligence levels?

</comment><comment><USER7> Does this confirm the theory that cops aren't particularly smart?

</comment><comment><USER8> Very old news, but I'm somewhat envious of people who are just learning about this now.

It's such a perfect mix of horrifying and hilarious.

</comment><comment><USER9> (2000)

</comment><comment><USER10> This story is so, so, so freaking old.</comment>


Show HN: WebGL Rubik's Snake - <AUTHOR> https://www.iamnop.com/snake/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hello HN!

I finally finished my quarantine project. It's a tribute to a classic toy I grew up with, the Rubik's Snake!

I made an interactive 3D model of the snake that you can play with. Use the arrow buttons to navigate and rotate each block. (You can also use arrow keys on your keyboard.) Once you made a shape, you can hit the camera button to submit and it will appear in the gallery. It will also save your shape to the URL so you can share the custom link. I look forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

Would love to hear any comments or feedback! Thanks!

<comment><USER2> This is awesome, thanks for sharing - I have one of these snakes at home and only knew how to make the ball - now I can impress my kids with other shapes!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: I cannot save stories of Hacker News - <AUTHOR>

When i upvote a story, the story in never stored in my saved stories directory. This has been happening 4 months none for both of my accounts. Any ideas? <comment><USER2> It's a bug; I'll fix it.

<comment><AUTHOR> thank you pg!

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Has anyone experienced a similar issue?

<comment><USER3> i have this problem too :(</comment></comment>


The Thingmaker and the Burning of the American Child - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ggorOocs_A <comment><AUTHOR> The irresistible rise of hazardous toys in modern American history.</comment>


Two Features of JavaScript that you might not know - <AUTHOR> https://www.monkwhocode.com/2020/06/javascriptnodejs-2-features-that-you.html <comment><USER2> I find the linked post about two new features in Node.js 14[0] much more interesting:

> Optional Chaining operator (?.)

> Nullish Coalescing operator (??)

Esp chaining can have a huge impact on readability.

[0]: [https://www.monkwhocode.com/2020/05/nodejs-v14-2-things- to-k...](https://www.monkwhocode.com/2020/05/nodejs-v14-2-things-to-know.html)

<comment><USER3> I keep thinking that the optional chaining operator would also work for functions e.g. this.myOptionalfunction?('hello') were I would expect it would only get called when it's defined. But that's not possible, I think they missed a nice addition.

Oh looks like the operator is actually '?.' instead of just '?' so guess this.myOptionalFunction?.() could work but that looks really confusing in my eyes.

<comment><USER2> I am trying to think of a scenario where this makes sense, but I'm struggling. When do you want to call a function that _might_ exist, and if so, not care about if it exists or not? (Since null or undefined returned from the function call can't be distinguished from the non-presence of the function)

<comment><USER4> Getting data from third party parsing as json. If method exists log and add person/item to data object

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Why in the world would you put a near full-page sized ad at the top of the article? I seriously thought that the site had been hijacked at first

<comment><USER6> Don't you use an adblocker?

<comment><USER7> I've used this successfully for years.

[https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts](https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts)

While not your _traditional_ ad blocker done via browser extension, it does the job quite well and blocks the requests at the OS level.

I'm not the author or maintainer, just a very happy user.

<comment><USER8> I use brave browser

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> A few more items added to the kitchen sink that is JavaScript.

JavaScript's multi-paradigm approach is one of its strengths, but, in my opinion, a weakness at the same time.

It allows people to write JavaScript following whatever approach suits them, which is fine for individual developers and small teams, but expand beyond that and it becomes a big ask for every developer to be up to speed with every feature JavaScript supports.

I use and teach JavaScript/TypeScript every day, and its possible to be very productive with it, but I prefer the approaches of Go and Clojure better. Limited languages that support a single paradigm, and support it well.

<comment><USER10> > It allows people to write JavaScript following whatever approach suits them

This comment really looks like it's a reply to some article other than this one.

Realistically, do you think JS programmers are going to form two camps?

      x ** y
      Math.pow(x, y)

I don't think so. I think people will just stop using Math.pow.

Nor do I foresee a big problem with some numeric constants being written with separators and others not.

In the unlikely event there's a problem with either addition, prettier can be enhanced to make it so developers don't need to be up to speed on them.

<comment><USER9> That's fair. My comment is probably off-base when it comes to the particular contents of this article.

I guess I was speaking more to a general fatigue with every new feature that is added to JavaScript/TypeScript.

What was so wrong with Math.pow(x, y) that we needed a new operator for it? I think this is a question that could be asked of many additions to JavaScript/TypeScript over the years, and I think every (well-intentioned) addition has contributed to the language's current kitchen sink.

New additions don't mean the old capabilities will go away (without breaking backwards compatibility). So yes, some developers will use the new power operator in net-new code, but all existing usages of Math.pow() will remain, and every new developer that learns JavaScript will now need to know both.

<comment><USER11> _New additions don 't mean the old capabilities will go away (without breaking backwards compatibility)._

This is something any popular programming language has to wrestle with. There is a lot of merit in Python's philosophy of having one, and preferably only one, obvious way to do something. Otherwise, even if each different way is perfectly good in its own right, you still have more for anyone learning the language to know, and you get different representations of the same idea appearing in the same code base for no particular reason.

I do think JavaScript has more of a problem with this than most languages because of its rapid changes and ambiguous standardisation (the _de jure_ of annual ES standards vs. the realities of what is supported in real time in each browser, or Node version, or Babel preset).

Does anyone really have time to check whether some new function on Array's prototype or some new syntax like the examples in this article is available in every target they need to support yet? I'm guessing most of us still use Babel in our build process for front-end code, even if the relatively new parts of JS we're using are supported natively everywhere we need them by now.

But then you get things like modules and imports, and you still find Node's story with these is a muddle. Things we've taken for granted for years now on the front end don't always work out of the box as you might expect on the back end, and there are at least two competing styles. And this is arguably the most important and fundamental tool a programming language needs for building larger applications!

<comment><USER10> Why would one check if the new syntax is available rather than just use browserslist? [https://github.com/browserslist/browserslist- example#babel](https://github.com/browserslist/browserslist-example#babel)

<comment><USER11> For one thing, Node exists. If you are writing server-side or automation code, you probably aren't using tools like Babel and Browserslist.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This link contains the biggest header ad I've ever seen. Is it on purpose? Or is it just on my machine?

<comment><USER13> Same on my machine. I ended up not reading the article due to the the ads. Generally I'll deal with them to support the content creator, but these were too much for me to deal with.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> As a minor note—the exponentiation operator was added in ES2016 / ES7, not ES2015 / ES6. It wouldn't matter, except you need to tell all your tools (Terser, etc.) that you are using ES2016 or they will throw syntax errors when processing your code.

</comment><comment><USER15> tldr: If you don't want to scroll down the massive header and repeated statement of the title:

1\. Double asterisk is the exponentiation operator.

2\. _ can be used in numbers, e.g. 1_000_000

Also (and not in the article) both are also true in Python.

<comment><USER16> Ta

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I was expecting this to be about object literal setters (and getters):

      const language = {
        set current(name) {
          this.log.push(name);
        },
        log: []
      };

Supported by browsers for fifteen years now.

</comment><comment><USER18> Is there a good reason that ^ is not used as an exponent operator in most (all?) languages. Its used in every calculator Ive seen.

2^5 = 32

<comment><USER19> I speculate that ^ is used for xor in many languages for psychological compatibility with C, which is a very old language.

In SageMath, which uses a lightweight preparser on top of Python, I made it automatically convert ^ to __, since otherwise mathematicians, who are used to LaTeX, would be very confused (I remember realizing this during a tutorial at Pycon in 2005).

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Could someone edit the title? As it stands it could be about literally _any_ two features of JavaScript.</comment>


Ticket engine SeatGeek launches developer platform, offers 50/50 revenue split - <AUTHOR> http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/29/seatgeek-developer-platform-api-live-events-tickets/

<comment><USER2> Is a 50/50 split more generous than most affiliate plays? This is a slice of slice we're talking about here. I suppose if the API make for quick, painless integration on websites - music and sports blogs have nothing to lose. But not sure it makes sense to suggest you could build an entire mobile app around it.

<comment><USER3> It's 50% split based on the actual revenue, not the actual price of the ticket, which is not as ludicrous as it sounds.

eBay has a similar affiliate pricing scheme - giving 50%, even up to 75% (last I checked?), but it's % of actual revenue, which is peanuts if you think about it. eBay takes like 1-3% of the actual selling price, and they then give you 50% of that.

Now if it was 50% of the actual ticket price, that would be really something, but it wouldn't be profitable for them of course.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> >$170 for every one thousand referrals

well according to google (and google doesn't lie) [https://www.google.com/search?q=%24+170+%2F+1000&pws=0](https://www.google.com/search?q=%24+170+%2F+1000&pws=0)

      (US$ 170) / 1000 = 0.17 U.S. dollars

are these converting referrals or just referrals? anyway, seems to me that common google adsense is a much better deal. please proof me wrong.

</comment><comment><USER5> Awesome job guys. I'm going to try to implement this on a largish music blog - it's gong to make it easy to display nearby concerts by artists featured in a given post.

<comment><USER6> Sounds great. Let us know if we can help with anything.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm astonished at the terms of their API (so far). No limits and free to cache?

<http://seatgeek.com/api-terms>

<comment><USER6> It was important to us that we be hyper-permissive in the way people can use this thing. We want our data to be free (as in both "free beer" and "free speech"). And EC2 instances are damn cheap, so we'll bring up as many as we need to support demand.

<comment><USER8> I have an awesome domain perfect for a ticket site I'm currently doing nothing with, I'd like to make it into a working ticket site using your 50/50 splits with as little work as possible.

1\. Do you do white label?

2\. Do you have anything I can just point my domain to and earn in some revenue on ticket sales? If not, could it be considered?

<comment><USER6> 1\. No, we don't do white labels.

2\. Probably easier to discuss directly. Mind shooting me an email at email@example.com?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Is the API down?

<http://api.seatgeek.com/2/venues?state=ny>

...brings up nothing

<comment><USER9> Not down, but something strange is going on with that parameter. All of these work, but state=ny brings me nothing either

[http://api.seatgeek.com/2/venues?state=new&nbspyork](http://api.seatgeek.com/2/venues?state=new&nbspyork)

<http://api.seatgeek.com/2/venues?state=california>

<http://api.seatgeek.com/2/venues?state=ca></comment></comment>


Security company Secunia hacked / DNS hijacked - <AUTHOR> http://blog.sucuri.net/2010/11/secunia-defaced-dns-hijacked.html

<comment><USER2> For those of us who are a little ignorant, can someone expand a little on the technical details of this? How does one hijack/alter a DNS record? I've only ever had other people host my DNS, so does this mean they were hosting their own DNS and someone attacked their DNS servers? What's the security like around how DNS records are stored? More specifically, had they been using Secunia's DNS monitoring and had been alerted "before the DNS was propagated" wouldn't there still be a lag time between when the hacked stuff propagates and the replacement stuff re-propagates that would leave the site defaced for the amount of time it takes to propagate the replacement?

<comment><USER3> You steal their DNS registrar account. This depends entirely on the security of the registrar; Network Solutions used to let you change account info by sending them faxes on fake letterhead.

<comment><USER2> Wow how could they POSSIBLY think that would be a good idea? Fax?!

Are you trolling? :P

<comment><USER4> that was mainly back in the 90s, when people changed email providers and didnt have access to original email addresses anymore.

<comment><USER3> sex.com specifically was stolen this way.

They're still really bad at this; people stole the registrar accounts for somethingawful.com and 4chan from, again, Network Solutions, via social engineering. I never heard how they specifically did it. They may even have done both on the same weekend.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I hope that when Secunia PSI downloads it's list, it does a cryptographic signature check before opening it.

</comment><comment><USER6> Am I the only dissappointed by this post?

The article is effectively content-less and mostly copy-pasted with some selling at the bottom.

<comment><USER7> That, sadly, seems to be the norm for sucuri.net.</comment></comment>


The 50 states, redrawn with equal population - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/25/the-50-states-redrawn-with-equal-population/

<comment><USER2> Why does this always come up when people who can't get their way fail to get enough votes at the election? The US is setup to avoid tyrany of the majority, whilst still maintaining fundamental representation. The US constitution was the first, largegest, and most succuusful implementation of broad-based democracy in the history of humanity. It has alot more staying power than any disposable piece of newspaper or journalism.</comment>


Ask HN: Online entrepreneur network "Million Impossible", what do you think? - <AUTHOR> http://millionimpossible.com

<comment><USER2> "MI Referral Scheme", multilevel marketing scheme, recently bankrupt founder and a blog hosted on wordpress.com. What else do you want to know? [http://millionimpossible.com/coming- soon.asp?page=Success%20...](http://millionimpossible.com/coming- soon.asp?page=Success%20Stories) Who wants to be a 399pound guinea pig?

<comment><AUTHOR> I got (similar to) this as a first impression too (didn't catch the recently bankrupt founder, so thanks for that), but I just thought it was worth putting to the community. I'm still wet behind the ears as an "entrepreneur" and thought there might be someone here who knew of this and/or had some personal experience with them.

One thing that confuses me: when does multilevel marketing become something to avoid? For instance, we recently had contact with whitedotbox.com who have partnered with Yahoo! to offer a pay-per-click search box that can drive revenue for charity and third-sector organisations. This seems all well and good, but it's highly tiered and has affiliate/referal incentives built in. What is the line between a "pyramid scheme" (so to speak) to be avoided, and a method to build in growth?

Might just be being very naive so feel free to kick me into gear ;)

<comment><USER2> There's nothing wrong with getting a referral fee for signing up people. It's when most of your income comes from signing up new people instead of the product you're supposed to be selling that it becomes fishy.

I don't get whitedotbox. Why would someone give up 50% of potential revenue when they can use adsense for search and keep 100% of the payout.

<comment><AUTHOR> "Why would someone give up 50% of potential revenue when they can use adsense for search and keep 100% of the payout."

Is it just some type of "modular business tactic"?

So instead of being an entrepreneur for years and building up links based on hard won personal experience, one would prefer to plug into a ready made solution? Just as one might prefer the ready made whitedotbox affiliate scheme to learning the innards of the adsense system?

I wonder if it is simply profiteering on the lack of skills/knowledge outside of "industry hubs". For instance I am based in an isolated rural community. What business networks exist are difficult to break into and often don't have the vision/drive/momentum that comes as standard for more metro/cosmopolitan communities. (although this seems like a gross over-generalisation, and my networking skills might just be a lot worse than I like to think!)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Why and how I completely left Windows for Linux - <AUTHOR> http://www.baptiste-wicht.com/2013/07/why-how-left-windows-for-linux/ <comment><USER2> Have been running only fedora here since the summer. Decided the only thing I needed windows for was Grand Theft Auto. OK. I bought a Playstation and GTAV to feed the need. :)</comment>


EveryBlock (Adrian Holovaty's newest) launches - hyperlocal news for NYC, Chi, SF - <AUTHOR> http://blog.everyblock.com/2008/jan/23/launch/

<comment><USER2> We've been working on similar stuff using what we learned from our real estate startup, and it's great to see something big in this space. Although having the experience of how hard it is for a startup to pry uncommon information out of government officials, we're not focusing on that aspect!

It's honestly a lot easier for startups when people don't have to fully engage their imagination to understand your business idea. I know that sounds cynical, but it's just a practical fact. People get more excited when they can quickly relate to something and "start the gears turning" about an idea right away.

</comment><comment><USER3> @zach,

have you checked zachbaker.com recently? This is what I get:

ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid in Articles#index

Mysql::Error: Table 'zbtypodb.users' doesn't exist: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM users

<comment><USER2> Thanks. I've nearly forgotten that it isn't running. I had a crazy experience moving my account between Dreamhost accounts and ended up trying to repeatedly send my Typo database through a webform 500K at a time -- enough said. I'll fix it now.

I stick with Dreamhost primarily because the founders were in my college class (yeah, I'm a YC senior citizen), so I beg your pardon for my sentimentality.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Should be interesting to see how this natural step up from chicagocrime.org evolves, I'm not from the US but the three initial cities have kept me clicking around for a while - reading the team's past interviews / posts I'd expect them to put a lot into EveryBlock, and it seems they have. Can't wait to see what the site is like in a year!

</comment><comment><USER5> This is a pretty cool site. I know a number of soccermoms who religiously check a crime blog for the neighborhood, they're also interested to know when a park or YMCA closes too, but I guess they'll have to program that themselves from an API.

</comment><comment><USER6> This is the non-blog data companion to <http://outside.in/> ?

</comment><comment><USER3> There is no doubting the fact that Adrian loves the color green.. just check out the django site.

<comment><USER7> Actually, that was Wilson Miner, who designed both djangoproject.com and everyblock.com.

<comment><USER3> I just checked out wilsonminer.com ...guess what color it is :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is very promising - nice work.</comment>


My first 100K+ on the App Store(s) - <AUTHOR> http://www.entrelife.com/2013/06/my-first-100k-on-app-stores.html

<comment><AUTHOR> OP here. Feel free to ask any questions.</comment>


How Robber Barons Hijacked the Victorian Internet - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/12/how-the-robber-barons-hijacked-the-victorian-internet.ars

<comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, duplicate: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=972236></comment>


Airbnb Annual - <AUTHOR> https://www.airbnb.com/annual/# <comment><USER2> Really impressive layout and visuals. I know some folks have complained about the "long form scroll" as being less usable than linked pages broken up by section, but I'm a fan nonetheless. The more I use the web / tablet / phone, the more I find I prefer sites that put all of their content on a single scrolling page. It just feels easier to digest.

In this case, honestly, I probably wouldn't have clicked through each section if it were in a more traditional layout -- I would have looked, said "cool", and moved on.

But as it stands, I scrolled through the whole page from top to bottom and AirBNB delivered the full experience to me, as intended.

<comment><USER3> I agree, it was so nicely done and fluid.

This is the reason you hire developers, and not "UX experts" No one other than a really good developer would have made it so fluid and nicely.

<comment><USER4> Fluid?? Are you joking? Try it on Android (Nexus 7 / JB) Urgh...

<comment><USER5> I tried it on a bunch of Android devices and the only one that worked well enough to be usable was my Asus Transformer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is very nicely done, and the numbers show AirBNB has grown to be a powerful force in the travel industry.

Given this growth, I hope they are working on an official response or plan to address the problems they are having in New York City seen here:

1\. [http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning- for-a...](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning-for-airbnb- hosts-who-may-be-breaking-the-law.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

2\. [http://gothamist.com/2013/02/05/east_village_man_fights_30k_...](http://gothamist.com/2013/02/05/east_village_man_fights_30k_in_fine.php)

<comment><USER7> I somehow cannot convince myself that Airbnb not a niche. I do see it as a useful thing under some circumstances like SXSW or the Obama inauguration.

<comment><USER8> I have the opposite feeling - 5 years from now hotels will be a niche to be used only for exceptional circumstances.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is one way to replicate the scroll magic from this annual report: <http://prinzhorn.github.com/skrollr/>. It's really user-friendly and uses keyframes for timed actions based on scroll position.

<comment><USER2> Really cool. Dunno how I missed this previously but it's awesome and fun library. Like a pop-up book for the web generation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> There's no indication that you should start scrolling the page. I completely missed that fact the first time I visited.

<comment><USER11> Aren't we to the point yet that if you see a page with next to no content it's pretty much assumed to start scrolling? Not to mention the fact that most people use browsers that display the scroll bar..

<comment><USER10> Sure, most people probably do, but Lion & Mountain Lion hide the scroll bar if there's a trackpad, as was the case for me. I clicked the link from pg's Twitter feed, read the words "Airbnb is poised to bring memorable local experiences to our truly global community", thought "that's nice", and went along my way.

<comment><USER11> I switch back and forth between a crappy desktop PC at work and a nice desktop PC/Macbook Air at home so I'm familiar with Apple thinking it's a good idea to hide scroll bars. That always bothered me.

<comment><USER12> Attaching a mouse re-enables scroll bars, I finally figured out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This really makes me wish there were an "AirBnB for groups" -- a way you could make a listing which was only visible to people in a certain community, and then manage the stays (including keys, maid, etc.). I don't think I'd want to go through the process of running a public airbnb property (where it seems the social convention is to accept people like a hotel, unless you're full) and turning a bunch of people down.

<comment><USER14> What'd really be great is if someone did that for design conferences. Seriously, all they'd need is an airbed or something, and you could stay in a stranger's apartment, and then meet a really good friend who's going to the design conference!

(<https://www.airbnb.com/story> if you haven't heard it before.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> This is a lot like the MailChimp one. <http://mailchimp.com/2012/>

</comment><comment><USER16> This is torture on an iPad. Nothing loads until scrolling stops completely.

</comment><comment><USER17> SO THAT'S why websites scroll!

The purpose of website scrolling is to replace information that has been seen with information that hasn't - and to provide the reverse operation when scrolling the other way.

This design beautifully conveys the data visualization aspects of the page combined the message they are trying to craft and integrates it into the natural behaviour of the browser: the scrolling motif. Note that they also preserved the incremental change of the scroll - unlike some sites where they have attempted to flip a whole page at a time per scroll.

As far as re-inventing the scroll, I say bravo. This is truly innovative.

</comment><comment><USER18> Beautiful presentation. Airbnb's product is something that can spark emotion more than most services. I love how they brought that to their annual report.

</comment><comment><USER19> FWIW, they also put out a very nice print version of the annual report. Don't know if it's available on PDF but in paper-form, it's quite well designed.

<comment><USER20> Ideally, I'd expect hitting print on the linked page should produce the print version; instead, it produces something nearly unusable, and without 90% of the content.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I'm new to web design and I was very impressed with this presentation. Could anyone tell me what technologies were used to build it? Thank you.

<comment><USER4> Ones that don't work very well on Nexus 7 / JB. Seriously, the point of a web page is to convey information. This one sucks hard at it, because it jitters like crazy while scrolling.

<comment><USER22> Yeah, I don't think JB Chrome handles position:fixed well for large elements. Firefox renders the page nicely, but in Chrome it ruins the experience.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> We all aspire to change the world. Airbnb is showing us that they are actually doing it.

Congrats guys and keep up the amazing work.

</comment><comment><USER24> This is beautifully crafted. But more than that, I wish more websites presented an "annual" of some sorts where they proudly displayed advances in a graphically heroic manner.

It really makes you want to associate with companies like Airbnb more when you see projects like this outside of their core competency. Well done.

</comment><comment><USER25> Viewing this on mobile, it appears that the entire world is undergoing some kind of catastrophic seismic event.

</comment><comment> guard-of-terra In 2010 a green dot for Moscow begins to grow, but when you scroll down more, Saint Peterburg will never materialize, instead, a large yellow blob will grow from a middle of nowhere northwest of Caspian sea. (I guess Volgograd is somewhere there, but why?)

So I guess it isn't any precise.

</comment><comment><USER26> Wow. Very excellent presentation. And the numbers show tremendous growth by AirBnB.

</comment><comment><USER27> Beautiful use of skrollr, it is amazing how the design first philosophy of Brian has created a new standard for marketplaces.

</comment><comment><USER28> Why are the background colors changing drastically? Its annoying. Its fantastic otherwise! Great growth rate too.

</comment><comment><USER29> I cannot see the likes of Hilton etc ever coming up with this - be it production or a real story...

</comment><comment><USER30> This needs a start button so it will play like a slide-down movie!

</comment><comment><USER31> this is some javascript black magic right here

</comment><comment><USER32> Very, very nice presentation.</comment>


Ask HN: Insurance costs for a typical early stage funded startup - <AUTHOR>

I'm curious about the sorts of insurance offered here in their small to mid-tier range:
http://foundershield.com
(Maybe not necessarily them, but that kind of insurance.)
* Liability
* Key man
* Errors and omissions
* Directors and officers
... and so on.
What does this typically cost? Just looking to fill in a spreadsheet with some good estimations. :)
Also has anyone ever researched or used RPX's "patent troll insurance?" Is this worth looking into? <comment><USER2> So total we started off paying around $1,500-2,000/year. E&O is the most costly of course, but is rated also on your experience in the industry, any prior claims etc. Our E&O was around $750/year when we started which from asking others was pretty good price and gave us $1M in coverage. As you grow your insurance will go up, our general liability policy started around $250 and just went up every year based on revenue and number of employees etc. E&O is the same and as deals get larger you increase the limits and the cost goes up.

I'd say when starting out if you put around $2k-$3k as a budget it is reasonable, partially depending on where you are physically located and your industry experience.

Also, I have only ever used tier 1 companies for insurance, Hartford etc. That is just the way I was taught and we have never had an issue with them. Last time I used [http://techinsurance.com](http://techinsurance.com) to get quotes etc, and we got great pricing from them.

EDIT: BTW I am in Florida to give context.</comment>


Facebook in talks for its first acquisition in India - <AUTHOR> http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/facebook-in-talks-for-its-first-acquisition-in-india-113120200055_1.html#

<comment><USER2> Don't companies have a confidentiality agreement in place when they are having discussions of this nature? Such speculative articles can be used as a basis for cancelling the acquisition. I don't understand the intention of business- standard in reporting something that is unconfirmed.

<comment><AUTHOR> Companies 'might' have confidentiality agreements, but I think it would be naive to expect that in today's world news won't leak. So maybe they take that into account while going about such acquisitions?

And getting the 'first scoop' is the job of the fourth estate, so can't fault them for doing their job.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Previous discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6831989](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6831989)

</comment><comment><USER4> Is it the first acquisition by any US company in India or Is it Facebook first only??

<comment><USER5> [http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-11-07/news...](http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-11-07/news/34971020_1_social- network-technology-venture-ceo-jason-goldberg)</comment></comment>


Young cannabis smokers run risk of lower IQ, report claims - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19372456

<comment><USER2> The title of the article in no way reflects the outcome of the research. The study compared measured IQ to a decision to smoke pot. There is no control group, and the study is retrospective.

A reader may ask how this result could arise by something other than a cause- effect relationship? The answer is that people may find themselves under peer pressure to (a) smoke pot, and (b) reject the value of scholarly activities. Someone might answer that IQ is predetermined, that it doesn't have any environmental component. But that idea has been falsified in animal studies, studies that show the development of new brain cells in animals that live in stimulating environments:

[http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/new-brain-cells-many-triggers- for...](http://jonlieffmd.com/blog/new-brain-cells-many-triggers-for- neurogenesis)

There are any number of factors that might lead an individual to simultaneously choose to smoke pot and avoid activities that might improve his IQ -- socioeconomic, genetic, and so forth. The only way to control for these things is to design a truly scientific study that tells experimental subjects whether they will smoke pot, rather than asking whether they do. But such a study would be unethical, which is why there's no science in this field of study.

This study is much like thousands of studies I've read over about 35 years, and all of them suffer from the same flaw -- they aren't science. Correlation is not causation.

None of this is meant to condone drug use, only to criticize very sloppy science that draws a conclusion not remotely supported by the work.

The linked study represents modern psychology at work -- science in name only.</comment>


Ask HN: What do you think of a founder's apprentice position? - <AUTHOR>

I'm interested in working with an early stage venture with a strong founding team, as an opportunity to learn and as a way to get my foot in the door with the industry in SF. I'm looking to get involved, and even work for free (say 1-2 months) for an opportunity to get involved.
My questions are: Do you think this is a position that start ups could benefit from and would be open to?
Do you have any advice on how to approach them?
Any in particular that could use this?
Any other thoughts?
Any advice and opinions are very much appreciated! Thanks. <comment><USER2> Depends a lot on what role you're looking to fill.

There's very little meaningful strategy/business work that can be moved to a new hire. Most very young companies still have terrible development practices, which makes it hard to quickly plug in a new technical hire.

I think there are three possible ways it might work.

1) You're willing to act as an executive assistant, doing whatever crap work comes up (market research, building slide decks, arranging meetings, filtering email, buying lunch) in return for exposure

2) They see you as a strong potential future hire and are thus willing to invest in training you up for 1-2 months as a sort of extended job interview.

3) They have a non-critical, self-contained side project you can come in and completely own. Examples include wireframing/designing a new site or feature, beginning a real content marketing strategy, understanding & documenting existing code & processes, etc.

#2 is the best for you, since you'll get "real" work. #3 is good, but I've seen teams give something which is a little bit too optional and then never integrate the final result, making it a worthless portfolio piece. #1 is the most boring and you'll probably have to switch companies after the stint to be considered a "real" team member, but it's probably the easiest to get into and would be a chance to trial the startup experience in general.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's some solid advice and insight. Thank you rob. My challenge is finding that fit now.</comment></comment>


Why Lisp? - <AUTHOR> http://paragent.com/blog/?p=10 Lisp is not dead, it just smells funny --Edi Weitz <comment><USER4> Any major snags you have found going this route?

I enjoy working in lisp, but I find the zillions of libraries in python keeps me coming back...

<comment><USER5> Libraries felt like a problem at the beginning, but in the end have not tended to be an issue for us. So far, we have been able to either find suitable libraries, or use FFI to hook into 3rd party code. At times it seems like we have the kitchen sink in there when you look at the dependencies, but asdf keeps it pretty manageable.

The biggest issue we had was with a limitation in SBCL's serve-event implementation. It turns out it uses select, which caused some nasty issues for us when file descriptors climbed over 1024. In our case, we are handling thousands of persistent ssl connections on the back end. We were using epoll to service all of these connections, but the database library clsql was using serve-event. Under certain situations, we would end up handing select an FD > 1024, and things would go all pear-shaped.

The fix was to patch serve-event itself to use epoll. It is a pretty rough patch at this point, but it works and keeps us going.

The other area we had to punt was with our installer generation. That was as much because we are running our servers on Linux as anything else. We have a special windows server that creates the custom MSI files for each account.

Some times the power is a bit too much, as well. While patching a running server with fixes is cool, I will fully admit to a couple gotchas when we thought we were making obvious fixes that turned out to have not-so-obvious repercussions. In those cases, the problem always existed between the keyboard and chair. We do a better job of checking things offline before rolling them out.

I know #lisp has a pretty bad reputation, but there are some very smart people that hang out there, and they want to see Common Lisp succeed. In general it is a much saner place than c.l.l.

<comment><USER6> Thanks for sharing that.

I have similar experiences that saved myself (more than once) by patching 3rd party libraries. In our case, they were proprietary and _we didn't have the source_. Sometime it was an apparent bug in the library, sometimes it was that the library functionality came short to cover the cases we wanted to handle.

Inspecting their library internals with "apropos", "describe" and other means, and defining "around" method on their internal generic functions, we could just inject our fix or enhancement to the libraries. I admit it was nasty; however, if it weren't Lisp, we had to file a bug report or a feature request to the vendor and wait for them, or to find alternative libraries, or to reimplement things by ourselves. (Open source advocates may say it was our fault to use proprietary library, but proprietary libraries exist for reason; besides, inspecting and modifying things without recompiling the entire library is very useful even you have the source.)

Such emergency patching is like a safety net. In the end you may not have needed it if everything goes smoothly as planned, but it is good to know it exists, and even good if it saves you from disaster.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's a silly/simple comment. but I just have to make it. Not long ago I noticed a student writing their first LISP program using vim. I don't know why, but the editor was not indicating ballanced parentheses. I was horrified and got this student to give emacs a try.

LISP is my favorite language, but if you use the wrong editor, it can be hell on earth. If you want to turn someone on to LISP, don't forget to point this obvious fact out! I wonder how many novices get turned off to LISP because of this.

<comment><USER6> I've heard somewhere that PG uses vi. Is that true?

Besides, there are some nice Lisp modes for vim, which not only shows matching parens but indents, autocompletes, and does a lot more (or so I heard; I'm a emacs user).

<comment><USER7> Somehow these modes were turned off and the student had one eye closed and was counting parentheses. Not fun for him.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It seems that real-time code update is one of Lisp's biggest selling points. Any idea how this is done in a distributed environment with multiple Lisp instances sharing the same code?

<comment><USER9> It's a huge development aid - if you're running emacs and slime, you can reload individual functions or files with a quick key combo, and if you want code reload over multiple files, a reload function is easy to write - <USER2> times and you're off. You can also do that with compiled code, too - <USER3> of (load "filename"), use (load (compile "filename")) and it'll be compiled. The next time the functions are called, they'll use the new ones.

The tricky part is macros and inline functions. Any time you change a macro or a function you want to inline (CL compilers can't do that automatically because of the language spec), you need to recompile all the functions that use that macro/inlined function. ASDF has some dependency-tracking functionality, but I haven't used it.

<comment><USER8> The REPL is pretty cool indeed. :) My question is, once you have to scale to multiple machines, with a separate Lisp instance on each machine, are there any good ways to call load once and update on all instances.

<comment><USER10> You can easily set up a "reload" button in a global admin part of your website to coordinate all instances, but my founder pointed out that the danger in doing that is you cant see any error messages on the load that were unanticipated, making it harder to quickly fix any problems.

We're using SBCL on Ubuntu, and we have run into some problems with compiled fsl files. Even though we use an asdf load routine with dependencies defined, we sometimes run into certain fsl files not properly getting updated. This is either a dependency error on our part (most likely) or something else, and our work around is to simply delete all .fsl files just before running the asdf (which you can make part of the load process). So our routine is for each machine, (2 net + local instance) is to run an svn update and then run our loader file (sf-load) and thats it. It is most impressive to keep the same process running and update the code with no interruption in service.

<comment><USER8> Sorry if these are stupid questions, since all my Lisp experiences are academic.

Do you need some kind of remote procedure call to coordinate the updates from an admin instance?

I only know that there's the swank server for talking to emacs, is there something similar for talking between CL instances?

Perhaps you just issue an HTTP Post for each server in a loop?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I always extend greenspuns 10th to cover any language (including common lisp itself).

I commonly claim that my job often ends up being fulfilling greenspuns 10th law.</comment>