Tesla Roadster is the fastest production car ever made - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/17/16669024/tesla-roadster-2017-fastest-car-world <comment><USER2> Active discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15719262](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15719262)

</comment><comment><USER3> Awesome. But most people are not prepared for performance like that. I hope the safety systems work perfectly in the 0-100 case, because the distance you can travel with so little time to comprehend what situation you're about to be in is significant.

And it should probably require a breathalyzer pass to enable the fast mode!

<comment> King-Aaron 0-100kph in 1.9 seconds is the sort of performance the Group-A Jet Sprint boat I used to copilot had. That's with a 600+ hp, methanol powered drag engine. At full power, it could pull a full G accelerating.

That performance in a road car would be mental. However, you can still manage it quite well - there are supercars (and highly modified street cars) that can pull similar numbers, and you don't immediately die when driving them so long as you have the experience. Having breath lockouts and such is almost offensive to the sort of people who can handle these sorts of vehicles.

I'd be more inclined to suggest a buyer preselection system, or at least offer in-house driver training.

<comment><USER3> Yes exactly, drivers should have to have at least a little training before unleashing that kind of power.

One need only look at Youtube for videos of what happens when normal people try out their new overpowered toys.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Roadster:

      b: an automobile with an open body that seats two and has a folding fabric top and often a luggage compartment or rumble seat in the rear

This seats four and thus isn't a roadster...

Also why no RWD version? I feel like they are way more fun to drive. Not like I can afford one anyway let alone buy it.

<comment><USER3> You wouldn't hit those numbers without some front wheel help. And you would miss out on some of the directional stability and control without the ability to apply forces from that end of the car too.

<comment><USER4> Do you really need those numbers though? Why not cut down the power a little and make a more fun car to drive? The P1 is RWD and people love driving it.

At the end of the day, a roadster of that price is at minimum a second car and more than likely just an expensive toy. Make it fun.

<comment><USER3> I'm not arguing for or against RWD. But since this project appears to be a bit of a Tesla show-off (which is fine!), I don't think they're concerned with anything less than the ultimate numbers.

If it were about fun, they would have produced something about like a Miata :).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Yeah yeah, but unless it can do this, it will impress no Lambo buyer: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SR4WlncmC4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SR4WlncmC4)

<comment><USER6> That will soon be the sound of second place, and their feelings will change.

<comment><USER5> These girls and boys don't race, they revv. But yes, I hope you're right.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Whats the price?

<comment><USER8> $200,000 - Normal / $250,000 - Founders Edition

According to tesla.com/roadster

<comment><USER9> I think you ment "Funders Edition"...</comment></comment></comment>


Top Gear responds to Tesla - <AUTHOR> http://transmission.blogs.topgear.com/2011/04/02/tesla-vs-top-gear-andy-wilman-on-our-current-legal-action/ <comment><USER3> I'd forgotten just how much Clarkson sings the praises of the Tesla in the first half of the review. The electric Tesla thrashes the petrol Lotus Elise in a drag race. Clarkson is obviously amazed - "God almighty:, "this is biblically quick!" - "this car is electric, literally!". "Wave goodbye to dial-up, welcome to broadband motoring!". Then he says how much torque it produces, how quick it is from 0 to 60, and then: "it's even more 'not bad' when you start looking into the costs": £40 to fill the petrol Elise, electricity just £3.50. Wind noise is a problem, but "a small price to pay when you consider the upsides". "And I haven't even got to the big upside yet: 200 miles between trips to the plug." Some adverse comments about the handling, but then he waves goodbye as "the volt head" cruises past the "petrol head". "It is snowing in hell!". "This car was shaping up to be something wonderful..."

After a pretty positive first half, Clarkson does indeed go on to make fun of the car's electrical problems, and then is unimpressed by the practicalities and ecological claims of electric vehicles. Even with a range of 250 miles, and a 16 hour recharge cycle (if you're not throwing it around a track), it's just not - yet - a practical car for many people, or a supercar to compete with the likes of Ferrari or Porsche.

Clarkson's final words on the Tesla: "Incredible - but irrelevant [in the light of the hydrogen car reviewed later]".

As Top Gear and Clarkson reviews go, I thought it wasn't overly biased. I mean, he could have dropped a piano on it, or set it on fire...

I suspect Tesla are just in the need for some publicity at the moment.

<comment><USER4> The video in question is here: [http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641316-top-gear-uk- season-12-episo...](http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641316-top-gear-uk- season-12-episode-7-part-1-of-2) Tesla's review starts at about 17:29.

The episode seems to be centered around contrasting the Tesla with Honda's FCX Clarity. Here is the 2nd part: [http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641379-top-gear-uk- season-12-episo...](http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641379-top-gear-uk- season-12-episode-7-part-2-of-2) At about 21:10, James reviews/introduces Honda's FCX Clarity and finishes by calling it "The car of the next 100 years"

James doesn't stop with the praises; and I think he was perhaps disingenuous in glossing over big details.

The processes for getting Hydrogen to be in usable form requires energy by itself. Whereas Tesla's batteries directly give it electricity, there is a system present in the Clarity that converts the hydrogen fuel into electricity. The only emission is... water. Fantastic, rainbows all around.

Hydrogen is indeed abundant throughout this universe, but it is mostly found in compound forms - water, natural gas, etc. There is a certain ratio 'EROI' -- (Energy return on investment) -- which is defined to be: (quantity of energy supplied / quantity of energy used in supply process.)It turns out that in summing the energy required by the very initial processes of getting Hydrogen to be in usable form, packaging it, and delivering it to the user, the EROI for Honda's FCX Clarity is VASTLY higher than it is for electric vehicles, like the Tesla's.

If the episode's central critique was in the basis of comparing the Tesla's efficiency vs. Clarity's (which, to me, felt that an element of it in fact was), it was dishonest of James to gloss over the known inefficiencies of hydrogen fuel cells. As hard as it is for me to say it, as I'm about the biggest James' fan, but I really do think this episode was a little iffy for more than a few reasons.

<comment><USER5> Well, the marketing ploy got me to watch the review, anyway...

The massive fuel savings makes me think a shorter-range, lower performance vehicle would be more popular (for city commutes). But I'm guessing the real problem Tesla faced was that the batteries would be ridiculously expensive even for that - so targeting a premium performance, upscale market, where other qualities of an electric car (torque) can come into play. Presumably, they would go down market over time, as battery technology improves. Which seems to be on an extraordinarily slow trajectory (esp. in the context of silicon).

Jeremy suggests two Teslas (while one's charging), but you just need two batteries. Reminds me of early razor technology (before Gillette's safety razor), when sending in a razor to be sharpened was a popular option - but you needed to have two.

Fun fact: electric cars were fairly popular over 100 years ago (for trucks mainly IIRC), with batteries being the problem even then. Edison worked on their batteries for a while.

btw: the caravan jump is at 12:05 in part 2 ([http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641379-top-gear-uk- season-12-episo...](http://www1.peteava.ro/id-641379-top-gear-uk- season-12-episode-7-part-2-of-2))

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Seems as though a better plan would be to challenge Top Gear to a rematch of some sort. Make something fun out of this and get the auto enthusiasts cheering.

Southwest did this perfectly: got sued, took it to the ring, arm wrestled over it, got crushed, paid the other guy, laughed all the way to the bank and everyone cheered them on. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwU9m4oCtRE&](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwU9m4oCtRE&);

<comment><USER7> Suing over a stolen slogan is a bit different than suing over slander/libel. When you read this excerpt from the article it does sound like Tesla is trying to either force Top Gear to give a better review or give them more publicity:

 _Why even last night the Top Gear office accidentally received an email sent from a Public Relations firm to The One Show, asking if it would like to have the Tesla spokesperson on their programme to talk about the case. It says: "PHA Media represent Tesla and this could make for a fantastic interview." And the PHA man's not finished there. "The presenters could have some fun with this." He adds. "Matt and Alex could even take the Tesla for a spin and test it out, reaffirming its virtues?"_

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I just can't see how Tesla can win this case in court. As anyone who has ever watched Jeremy Clarkson will tell you, you know he would rather resign from Top Gear than apologise for this.

<comment><USER9> I think any victory in courts is going to be a pyrrhic one. Ive said it before on earlier threads and I will say it again here - Tesla is alienating a large section of auto enthusiasts by going after Top Gear. It might be that some marketing guru has figured out that suing Top Gear is a cheaper way to get headlines than running a campaign. But they have picked the wrong target - <USER2> Gear is at the heart and centre of Auto culture worldwide. Also not a good sign when a tech company starts using the courts instead of the market and their product to win points.

<comment><USER10> I don't know, I think if you're an enthusiast who cares about the environment, Clarkson isn't your favorite guy ever. I felt like the piece on the Tesla was pretty offensive in how biased it was, and I normally like the guys on Top Gear.

<comment><USER11> I genuinely didn't feel as though the piece on Tesla was particularly biased though? Sure, they pointed out the flaws inherit to the car (recharge time) and filmed the car being pushed in for entertainment, but overall the piece still came across as pretty positive about the car: at times he was gushing about its performance and how enjoyable it could be to drive.

I'm sure if I were invested in Tesla it's easy to feel that they're "biased" against me, but the review didn't come across as any more negative than 90% of car reviews on Top Gear.

<comment><USER12> They took a worst case mileage and recharge time and said a specific trip would take you 3 days. Without saying if you actually drove that distance and used a larger power source than a normal wall outlet it would take a few hours. They also pretended one of the cars ran out of power which did not actually happen.

Now, I don't mind making fun of actual issues. And they had some things that actually broke, but making shit up crosses a line IMO.

<comment><USER13> Have you seen Top Gear?

The Reliant Robin, while obviously a horrible design, does not roll over every time you drive one a half mile (and it is not the primary reason for the decline in population in the Sheffield region in the decades since its release). The Stig is not really "half man, half machine with petrol running through his veins". And a race against a jet or helicopter is not a realistic test of auto performance.

The Tesla episode was cheeky, but no more cheeky than many episodes. It's not a "straight" review show. It is a comedy that happens to have a lot of cars in it. If it is occasionally true, that's just a bonus.

<comment><USER14> > The Reliant Robin, while obviously a horrible design, does not roll over > every time you drive one a half mile

But it is absolutely _hilarious_ when it does.

<comment><USER15> Reliant Robin show was epic. Only in England.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> First, Top Gear is testing on track conditions, and that will certainly give different results than the 220 mile range found on the EPA's ideal testing conditions. Top Gear has previously shown that a BMW M3 gets better mileage than a Prius in track conditions, but I don't think anyone believes this is representative of the cars on the whole.

Second, there's very few data points on the range aside from Tesla's press releases that I can find, but the two I can find are much closer to Top Gear's number and were also from less aggressive testing than what Top Gear did: 93 miles: [http://www.autoweek.com/article/20080124/green/398811820/163...](http://www.autoweek.com/article/20080124/green/398811820/1636)

95-120 miles (says 105-120, but I think there's a math error on the writer's part): [http://green.autoblog.com/2008/01/29/so-whats-the- downside-t...](http://green.autoblog.com/2008/01/29/so-whats-the-downside-to- the-tesla-roadster-the-range/)

Third, Top Gear says Tesla calculated the 55 mile figure themselves, so not sure how they can sue them for that claim.

<comment><USER17> Tesla's corporate officers have a fiduciary duty to respond to something that hurts their brand this badly. Top Gear is the most popular car review show globally with around 350 million viewers world-wide.

Apparently a lawsuit is the best response they could come up with.

<comment><USER18> So they'll be suing themselves now? Because this lawsuit is hurting their brand a lot more than the Top Gear review did.

I remember seeing it when it came out, and thinking how positive it was. Sure, Jeremy ridiculed it for running out of power, but at the same time he spent a long time talking about how _fast_ it was. From memory he said something like "if this is the future, bring it on"

By your logic, what should Audi do when he said (paraphrasing): "All Audi drivers are cocks"?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Jeremy Clarkson's column in The Sunday Times shortly after the Top Gear review is an interesting read and covered most of the points made in this article back in 2009.

[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/art...](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article5483422.ece)

<comment><USER20> The article was mostly ok until all the way at the end.

Where he completely messes up and mentioned that hydrogen cars are "completely green".

Just a few sentences before that he says the car from Tesla is powered by "so- called green power" (electricity) from "dirty great power station".

Mr. Clarkson where do you think most of the hydrogen comes from ? Or the power to compress the hydrogen to make it compact enough for use by a car ?

Yes, there is a possibility someone will find a good way to produce to create hydrogen from algae. Or some breakthrough in the science of nuclear fission. We really don't know what will happen.

Anyway the real problem is efficient storage of energy and efficient conversion from storage to action/motion if I can call it that.

Batteries seem to be the current solution. But if we want to talk about environmentally friendly I don't know if they really are. I just know that batteries, like hydrogen use materials which come from nature which are just as finite as oil or matterial needed for fusion for that matter.

Although on Wikipedia it says:

'In addition, new Nickel-metal hydride and lithium batteries are non-toxic and can be recycled, and "the supposed 'lithium shortage' doesn't exist"'

I don't know if that is true.

<comment><USER21> Hey, there's another article recently on HN about an MIT professor's "artificial leaf" meaning a solar cell that produces hydrogen directly. So now we know when that will happen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This is an incredibly well written blog entry. Having followed the accepted pre-court etiquette that Andy mentions in the past, this inspires me to take a different approach next time around and have my say in hopefully as professional a manner. [...In close consultation with my legal team as I'm sure Andy did]

</comment><comment><USER22> The tesla roadster is unfortunately just not competitive with other internal combustion performance cars if you don't want to give it credit for either (1) being a super innovative EV or (2) being environmentally friendly.

Top Gear (and all the car mags) basically review it as a cool, fun novelty. But if you measure on looks + performance, as car enthuiasts do, it's just fundamentally not competitive in its price bracket.

Suing is obviously a mistake. Hoping Top Gear, Evo, Road & Track will push it is just naive. Tesla listens too much to their own marketing.

</comment><comment><USER23> I like what the Tesla company is doing, in regards to attempting to make alternative fuel cars, I'm all for such things. And yes, its an up hill battle, which I'm sure the internal combustion engine faced, while trying to oust horses for a viable mode of transportation. Not only is the technology not up to par/cost effective on a mass scale, there is the issue of charging station locations, and the nay sayers like the host of Top Gear, who isn't the only one that grumbles at the thought of electric or "eco-friendly" read Hot Rod magazine sometime. Which seems to be what Tesla wants to answer, electric cars can go fast to. But this lawsuit seems like its disingenuous, more like they are playing off a couple social issues for their benefit. 1 "Environment" is an emotional trigger second only to stuff like racism and sexism level stuff, its got some emotional appeal just by saying the word, either for or against. So claiming foul on someone who is notoriously pro fast powerful cars, who inherently isn't going to like commuter based cars, really nails that emotion. 2 Taking it to the media, to hit a full scale marketing campaign about it, years after it happened, to help fuel that emotion and go after the media justice that seems to easy to do, like O.J. we all "know" he did it, but was proven innocent pretty much. Enough press coverage to one side, and we all start forming our own judgments. I think these are dirty tricks, that only add fuel to the opposition's fire. Like the scientists who were busted with bad data on global warming. Regardless if the position is true, getting caught doing dirty tricks, is going to make you look bad regardless, doing more harm than good. Just because I agree with their environmental position, doesn't mean I have to look the other way, when they break other beliefs of mine. I'm angered cause of the damage this could do for environmentalism, which I believe in first, their company second.

</comment><comment><USER24> My question is: how did this get to the top position on HN? I could hardly care less about Jeremy Clarkson's opinions, or TV shows such as Top Gear.

<comment><USER25> exactly, and why this comment gets downvoted? I dont give a crap, its like following those lawsuits Calacanis filed against Arrington, and Arrington filed agains JooJoo guys.

This is soap opera, and you make fun of soap opera when there are is love, cheating and stuff involved but you discuss it as a serious issue because in this case the auto show and very techy electric car manufacturer is involved. feel free to downvote me too but I think smart and talented people of HN community (which I observed them to be) must have better things to discuss.

cheers

<comment><USER26> People like things you don't. What else is new?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> With this response, it sounds like both sides are now in complete agreement and there is no remaining dispute.

</comment><comment><USER28> Why would Top Gear use a calculated track capacity number (55 miles), given that they could have measured an actual number? I understand that 30 minutes of hard driving can be exhausting, but how exactly could they have calculated an accurate value?

Say what you will about EPA numbers, but at least they involve standardized measurement.

<comment><USER29> _Why would Top Gear use a calculated track capacity number (55 miles), given that they could have measured an actual number?_

Probably because they had a show to shoot. They where apparently already having trouble getting all the shots they needed due to the short battery life, combined with the break problems. I'm guessing they simply didn't have the time to take the car out again and run it until the battery died.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> _PS: As this is going through the courts right now, we're afraid we've had to turn off comments on this one, but we wanted to let you all know how we see it._

Good thing that you can't comment on articles elsewhere on the Internet. Their legal strategy is saved!

</comment><comment><USER31> I enjoy Top Gear but their (ie Clarkson's) animosity towards hybrids, electrics etc. is pretty pathetic, epically antiquarian.

</comment><comment><USER32> did they deliver the legal case via a tesla roadster? seems that way given how long it's taken...

</comment><comment><USER33> ohhhh the tesla jokes on top gear for years to come from jeremy is something i'll look forward to.

</comment><comment><USER34> So what is the issue? Pure electric is cool in 55 minute segents. ;)

</comment><comment><USER34> I agree with top gear. UK top gear rules, hopefully the US crew can get their show together.

</comment><comment><USER35> Considering the tenuous relationship between the presenters and the studio as portrayed in the show, it's pleasing to see the rest of the company getting behind Top Gear and providing a united front.

</comment><comment><USER36> Clarkson is a bit of a prick when it comes to favoritism on cars (you know, kinda like some top tier tech blogs)

He is a 98% octane gear head and will not tolerate electric cars, so his review did not surprise me much when I watched it.

I'm a long time Porsche owner and will never forgive him on an episode when he dropped a Piano on an older 911 or when he totally disrespected the Porsche GT for comparing its composite disk rotors to anti-acid.

Guess I will never get British humor.</comment>


Fear of a Meltdown - <AUTHOR> https://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2018-06/tihange-nuclear-power-plant-residents-opposition-english/komplettansicht <comment><USER2> I'm sympathetic to the worries of a local population about being exposed to a nuclear disaster. The thought of radiation effecting you, your friends and family is horrifying.

Where I diverge from the article is the opinions of the anti-nuclear activists, where they say "It is time to bring nuclear energy to an end". I realize that nuclear power is scary and that this particular reactor may have a higher than average risk profile. However, where they lose me is the alternative. There, currently, is no viable alternative to nuclear that provides the same safety and econimic benefits, not to mention environmental pros of nuclear.

Simply not liking something is not enough reason to get rid of it. Who knows maybe a new, safer plant would have been built if they were allowed, but the people voted against it. I find this type of reasoning problematic, it has somehow become common (or I'm just realizing its happening) to rally against something without considering the alternatives that would have to replace it.

<comment><USER3> Nuclear is the safest, greenest, most scalable, most reliable and plentiful energy form we have.

More people die every year from Coal than have died from Nuclear in it's entire history.

More people die every year of setting up solar and wind than of nuclear.

I could go on.

The fear of nuclear is absurd and 100% due to the success of a mostly anti humanist environmental movement and the completely un-scientific political debate that surrounds this (which also have found it's way into the climate debate)

It's really quite sad.

<comment><USER4> Nuclear failures are different - they make an entire area uninhabitable for hundreds of years and they're very difficult to clean up without getting a lot of people killed.

<comment><USER5> Just today on HackerNews:

"An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands of Coal Miners" [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18712022](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18712022)

<comment><USER4> Coal isn't great either (worse in a lot of ways), but the type of risk is different.

I just find it odd that Nuclear seems to create these almost religious followers like the parent comment I replied to that ignore the tradeoffs and special risks of Nuclear failures. Wind and solar seem a lot more preferable and are getting better with battery improvements leading to increased capacity with a lower cost.

<comment><USER3> You should find any evidence of your own position before you start calling other people religious. The risk of nuclear is not even comparable to the risk of things you do everyday and take for granted are not worth worrying about. Find the evidence that show nuclear is even a fraction as dangerous as you claim. Dont take my worth for it, educate yourself. Then come back with the evidence and i will rally up behind you.

Wind and solar are not even close to being able to deliver like nuclear and they deliver a fraction of the worlds need (1%). More people die from setting up solar and wind, way more animals die because of wind, both wind and solar pollute more. Its pretty obvious who is the religious person here.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> BTW, does anyone know the reason why the people in Germany in particular seem to have much stronger anti-nuclear stance than the surrounding countries?

This is entirely anecdotal of course, but I know many people from different European countries and (except for the physicists) all Germans I know seem to associate nuclear power with nuclear weaponry and polluting mother nature to a degree that other European countries just don't have. No matter what the educational background.

Is there some historical precedent? Some political movement unique to Germany?

<comment><USER7> Likely a holdover from the Cold War and conflation of nuclear arms and nuclear energy generally. Germany, then West Germany specifically, was basically Ground Zero in the event of a superpower conflict so there was a significant anti-nuclear faction in Germany with respect to the basing of medium-range nuclear missiles, for example.

<comment><USER8> Yes, in the 80's the Green Party emerged at a perfect time where public sentiment was very anti-nuclear (weapons as well as energy) and to this day there's been a steady political force advocating for exit from nuclear power. Also, Germany has traditionally had a ton of coal, which was heavily subsidized, and there was less reason to look for alternative energy sources. France at the time was opposite, investing more in nuclear power.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Some possibly relevant context: the electricity supply in Belgium has very little reserve during peak demand periods in winter. The probability of a large blackout has been growing year after year. The government has prepared a "disconnection plan" with controlled rolling blackouts of different regions to avoid a total blackout: [https://economie.fgov.be/nl/themas/energie/bevoorradingszeke...](https://economie.fgov.be/nl/themas/energie/bevoorradingszekerheid/elektriciteitsschaarste/afschakelplan- voor)

As a result, reducing the electricity supply further is currently politically impossible.

<comment><USER10> Why not take from Germany?

> _People in Germany essentially got paid to use electricity on Christmas. > Electricity prices in the country went negative for many customers - as in, > below zero - on Sunday and Monday, because the country 's supply of clean, > renewable power actually outstripped demand, according to The New York > Times. _

<comment><USER9> The potential shortage would happen during a cold spell, when people in housing with poor heating start using small electrical heaters in large numbers. This tends to happen in neighboring countries at the same time, so the amount of electricity available for import is low at those times.

The negative prices that you quote are very special cases due to wind conditions. The wind doesn't always blow when it is unusually cold.

Also, the power lines used for import have limited capacity, and there has been underinvestment there as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> >> The expanding number of cracks, the statement said, was the result of the increased sensitivity of the testing equipment, which had improved over the years.

This is a great quote for the problems Nuclear faces. The scrutiny is orders of magnitude more than in, say, coal or solar, and so many more mistakes and problems are found.

The result is that nuclear remains much safer in pretty much every way. Nuclear should be less safe, it would be more economic and bring the risks in line with what people accept in other fields. If nuclear power was 10 times as safe as driving a car to work, or going to the supermarket, then nuclear power would be shut down. No questions asked.

The situation is frustrating and stupid.

<comment><USER12> >The situation is frustrating and stupid.

Not really. I can't really conceive of a situation in which a solar voltaic power installation can kill even a single person. Maybe a panel falls on a worker there. It's even harder to conceive of a situation in which hundreds of square kilometers of land would be contaminated by one in such a way that it would cost billions to clean it up. With nuclear, there is no need to conjecture such a scenario, it has now happened twice in 25 years.

The problem with nuclear is that despite the low probability of a major failure, when one happens, it is very, very expensive. They cannot be allowed to happen, so heavy oversight is necessary. For Fukushima, the 2016 estimate was $193B in costs to clean up, and between 2012 and 2017 the ratepayers of Tepco had shouldered $21B in costs in the form of higher rates. So even if you don't care about the safety of individuals directly at risk from a failure, the economic costs demand such scrutiny.

<comment><USER13> Notable to me is that a solar installation doesn't appear to be technologically complicated. And failures are very localized and self- limiting.

vs nuclear where we're getting a good idea what the significant failure rate is. One serious event every 10 years. Extrapolating that to a world that uses 100% nuclear energy means one Fukushima/Chernobyl failure per year. Extrapolate that over the 200 year emergency we're at the beginning of and yeah, just no.

<comment><USER3> Silar and wind kill and pollute, they currently cover 1% dspite all the effort that went into them try and turn that up and se what it does to animals especially birds, people, natural resources etc, you will quickly find nuclear to be much safer.

<comment><USER13> TMI-2 suffered a partial meltdown and came within hours of losing containment. Three Mile Island is on the Susquehanna River which flows into Chesapeake Bay.

Your call.

<comment><USER3> No its actually yours. Newer versions cant meltdown as their safty mechanism is based on physics. Thorium would even further the safety. So investing in that direction would be far better. Solar and wind will not be able to suplly us with enough energy, not even close. The alternatives to them are fossil fuels, which demonstrately kill millions _a_year_ so its actually your call not mine.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Show Hacker News Weekly - <AUTHOR> http://www.daemonology.net/hn-weekly-show/

<comment><AUTHOR> Built using the same code as Hacker News Daily ([http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/](http://www.daemonology.net/hn-daily/)) and Ask Hacker News Weekly ([http://www.daemonology.net/hn-weekly- ask/](http://www.daemonology.net/hn-weekly-ask/)), Show Hacker News Weekly collects the 10 links highest-scoring appearing on /show/ during each which which have not appeared previously on Show Hacker News Weekly.

<comment><USER2> More in regards to the daily summary, how frequently do you scrape?

<comment><AUTHOR> The three scrapers each run every 5 minutes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm using [http://hackernewsletter.com](http://hackernewsletter.com) Got weekly nicely formatted email with: .. best of week favorites .. best #ask hn .. best #show hn .. best #code .. best #design

It allows to read me HN on weekly basis, not on daily, and also got to the comments sections (email provides both links to articles, and to HN discussions) after few 'days of curation'.

Highly recommended.

I'm not affiliated nor the author of the tool. just happy user.

</comment><comment><USER4> I would like this in my inbox each week. Any plans on adding a weekly newsletter?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not right now, but there's an rss feed which you can subscribe to. There's a daily email for Hacker News Daily which gabemart set up via mailchimp; if he or someone else wants to set up the same thing for Show HN Weekly I'll be happy to add a link in the sidebar.

<comment><USER5> I set up an email campaign for Show HN Weekly: [http://eepurl.com/YqG6z](http://eepurl.com/YqG6z)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I've added a link.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Nice work! Can it also show the number of the comments?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not easily. And if it did, it would be out of date before long, since this is static HTML.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Whats the coolest thing you've seen/done with Arduino? - <AUTHOR>

I think im not "getting" Arduino or Arduino-like platforms possibilities. Please share whatever you've seen or done with it. <comment><USER2> My Barduino (shameless self promotion).

Ruby + Arduino = Drink dispensing Barmonkey driven by a Ruby DSL that cost me like $50 to build.

Example recipe:

drink 'Screwdriver' do

      serve_in 'Highball Glass'

      ingredients do

        2.ounces :vodka

        5.ounces :orange_juice

      end

end

Code, video, photos: [http://www.matthewdavidwilliams.com/2008/10/17/introducing-b...](http://www.matthewdavidwilliams.com/2008/10/17/introducing- barduino-the-ruby-powered-bar-monkey/)

<comment><USER3> What type of pumps did you use, the link for them didn't work?

I've been trying to find cheap food-grade pumps for a similar project.

<comment><USER4> One way around using food grade pumps is to seal the container and pressurize it with air so the pump never comes in contact with liquid. You can have some problems with pumps outgassing and contaminating the air, so I wouldn't rely on that method for a commercial product.

A much simpler way is to gravity feed the liquid. You can make pinch valves (like on school cafeteria milk dispensers) from a solenoid or a small R/C servo motor and only the tubing that comes in contact with fluid has to be food grade. That stuff is easy enough to find (and cheaper than food grade pumps).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The micrcontroller community today is analogous to the personal computer/homebrew computer clubs in the early 70's - except with more embedded applications.

I've written code for one Arduino to run a python script to order pizza when one pushes a button (this used to be on my fridge.)

I used Arduinos as the processing, communications, and power modules for an augmented reality/robotics project where virtual balls projected on a dry erase board bounced off robotic devices (like a see-saw) and the devices reacted appropriately.

Currently I'm writing a program for the Atmel to query how many days left until YC demo day - and light up a corresponding massive LED display mounted on our wall.

You should check out LadyAda's site - most of her modules totally rock - especially the xbee and motor shield stuff. <http://adafruit.com/>

<comment><AUTHOR> That same analogy is what caugth my attention in the first place. I still cannot visualize wich is going to be the killer app.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm using mine to replace the ignition system on my motorcycle (1979 Honda CX500). The original system is a lovely piece of electrical engineering, but is prone to stator coil and capacitor failure (respectively, by heat and age). The Arduino will allow proper ignition timing to be maintained even as three of four timing coils fail.

<comment><USER7> That's pretty cool. Have you considered making the design open source?

<comment><USER6> It will absolutely be open source. I just need to complete it first. :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I was lucky enough to work on this: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2008/12/the_rockterscal...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs/2008/12/the_rockterscale.shtml)

The hat of rock was my invention :-)

Abdel A Saleh, <https://twitter.com/abdels>

</comment><comment><USER9> The twitter shitter of course!

[http://hacklab.to/archives/the-hacklab-toilet-now-on- twitter...](http://hacklab.to/archives/the-hacklab-toilet-now-on-twitter/)

</comment><comment><USER10> <http://hacknmod.com/hack/top-40-arduino-projects-of-the-web/>

</comment><comment><USER11> The brief description of this little Arduino project why did was enough to get me started: <http://twitter.com/_why/status/1065757843>

I'd love to see it in person. Someone made and documented a similar idea here: [http://www.urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2009/02/the_git_b...](http://www.urbanhonking.com/ideasfordozens/2009/02/the_git_bell_postcommit_ruby_a.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> Here is my twitter based home security system. I'm using phidgets but I have ordered an Arduino and will update the code. Making software do things in the "real" world is a lot of fun.

[http://www.instructables.com/id/Combining-security-system- wi...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Combining-security-system-with-phidges- and-twitter/)

</comment><comment><USER13> What I don't get is why you'd pay $35+ for an Arduino when you can get an AVR (the microcontroller at the heart of an Arduino) for $5+.

<comment><USER14> I paid for a sizably more expensive ($60+) kit with one (or more properly, had one paid for for me for Christmas) because it's a ready to go kit with a USB- serial interface, some other support circuitry, and firmware in it already.

I suppose if I ever blow up the microcontroller I'll buy an unprogrammed one and reprogram + install it, but by far the compelling thing about it is that you get all of the parts in one box and can start tinkering on Christmas day. If you just get the MC you have to get a breadboard, USB support guts, and any other stuff separately before you can start using it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Not done yet... but near Food dispenser :)

[http://andres-leon.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-first-arduino- pro...](http://andres-leon.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-first-arduino-project-diy- automatic.html)

comments always welcomed!

</comment><comment><USER16> I connected a PS2 barcode reader to a Sanguino, and programmed it to store the scans in memory, then dump them when sent a specific serial command. This allows me to scan a pile of books for LibraryThing when I'm not at my computer.

</comment><comment><USER17> On my wall at work, used to monitor the health of my servers.

<http://www.82smugglers.com/blog/?p=7>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Great things here, thank you for your replies.</comment>


NounProject - Icons in Black and White - <AUTHOR> http://www.thenounproject.com/ <comment><USER2> Nice! It would be great if these could be made available as sets of @font-face kits too.. Using @font-face is a really useful way of embedding icons.

</comment><comment><USER3> Great design, love the concept!

</comment><comment><USER4> Why cant I DL the whole set yet as a single zip.

Why are there no icons for SERVER, DISK, STORAGE etc..

I make a lot of icons for work, maybe ill contribute them.</comment>


Apple buys startup focused on lenses for AR glasses - sahin-boydas https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-tech/apple-buys-startup-focused-on-lenses-for-ar-glasses-idUSKCN1LE2VS <comment><AUTHOR> It looks like the acquired startup, Akonia, uses waveguides like Hololens but uses photopolymer in place of the diffraction grating.

[https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic- waveguide-e...](https://mspoweruser.com/akonia-plans-holographic-waveguide- eye-piece-60-degree-field-view-oems/)

[https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography- to...](https://venturebeat.com/2016/12/26/akonia-uses-holography-to-create- transparent-augmented-reality-display/)

Whitepaper on the photopolymer: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25835673/)

They were going to replace tape storage with holographic storage before they figured out how to apply it to AR. Here's the holographic storage pitch deck:

[https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR...](https://science.energy.gov/~/media/np/pdf/sbir%2520sttr/SBIR_STTR_2016/Day2/Anderson_Akonia_Presentation_For_Publication.pdf)

[http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote....](http://www.pdsw.org/pdsw15/slides/AkoniaHolographicsKeynote.pdf)

<comment><USER2> Akonia/Apple: 60° FOV (targeted)

Hololens: 35° FOV (currently)

Magic Leap: 40° FOV horizontal / 30° vertical (currently)

<comment><USER3> Humans: 210° FOV (for reference)

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

<comment><USER4> Consider foveation as well — only a small part of that is truly in "focus".

Some up and coming be glasses take this into account and expend lesser resources on the part that's outside the important part (they don't render that part in a high resolution, so it's left blurry, which is actually how our eyes work anyway)

<comment><USER5> That only really works when combined with low-latency eye tracking. Yes, whatever we don't look directly at is really blurry, but our eyes _move_.

On the other hand, eye tracking is just about ready already. I've heard Google is working on a VR system using foveated rendering with tracking.

<comment><USER6> It's already implemented in the StarVR headset (which has 210° FOV) using Tobii eye tracking tech. They had a working demo at Siggraph a couple weeks ago.

<comment><USER4> It's crazy unbelievable how low-latency Tobii's eye tracking is

Even their consumer grade 4c is extremely impressive. It has neat uses for simple desktop usage. For the handicapped folks it's an absolute boon

<comment><USER7> > It's crazy unbelievable how low-latency Tobii's eye tracking is

Tobii uses cameras at 60 or 120 Hz, so >8 ms. It's the mature but old and limited tech. MEMS-based tracking is faster. During a saccade, you've the samples to predict where the eye is going to end up fixated, 20 ms before it happens.[1]

GGP> but our eyes _move_.

Slowwwwwlllyyyy. ;)

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

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The primary information available on their website seems to be associated with holographic data storage. They had a prototype working in 2010 [1].

Anyone familiar with this technology, and how it may compare to, say, SSDs? A 2012 article seems pretty down on them [2].

Akonia also simply acquired the assets after InPhase filed for bankruptcy in 2011 [3]. If so, being purchased by Apple has to be a big win for the Akonia investors!

[1] [http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic- data/index.html](http://akoniaholographics.com/holographic-data/index.html) [2] [https://www.techradar.com/news/computing- components/storage/...](https://www.techradar.com/news/computing- components/storage/whatever-happened-to-holographic-storage-1099304) [3] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InPhase_Technologies)

</comment><comment><USER9> i can't wait for Apple to figure out AR

<comment><USER10> I honestly don't think we are close enough to the tools. It is the culmination of what is currently handwavium: neural interfaces, carbon nanotechnology, who knows? As a VR user and enthusiast, FOV is a problem that lenses simply can't solve - which is an even harder problem for AR.

I'm not a big fan of Apple, but I can hand them the "polish card" (at least under Jobs). With our current level of technology, that level of polish is impossible.

<comment><USER11> > With our current level of technology, that level of polish is impossible.

Hence the anticipation and excitement. I can't wait for jet packs, hoverboards, and flying cars too - one can geek out over cool tech even if it ain't right around the corner.

<comment><USER12> > _jet packs, hoverboards, and flying cars too - one can geek out over cool > tech even if it ain't right around the corner_

Two of those three are entirely doable (and have been done) - the main problems with them are 1) economy, and 2) that, while cool for individual, they'd be absolutely disastrous if ubiquitous. You _don 't_ want everyone to get themselves a jet pack or flying car, not unless 99.9% of flying is done by a foolproof AI.

<comment><USER13> I never even thought about that. The amount of damage one drunk flyer could do would be astounding

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> How come I never hear about a startup until the acquisition?

I want to join a company that will be acquired by FANG.

<comment><USER15> That's not so easy, but you can make some predictions. What areas are going to be interesting to FANG in the coming years? What companies are doing something useful in that space? Who has something unique that FANG companies would have difficulty replicating in-house?

<comment><USER14> It would be great to come up with a service to crawl AngelList for predictions

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> "The firm has a portfolio of more than 200 patents related to holographic systems and materials."

</comment><comment><USER17> PolyMatter did a nice video on why "Apple Glasses Are Coming."

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8)

<comment><USER18> While that's a decent starting point, the larger reason is the App Store. Apple sees the value in being the interface for your daily computer interaction.

Imagine being the interface to your world. You are the gatekeeper to everything a person sees. There is exponentially more value possible than the App Store and the App Store made them the largest company in the world.

Everything that video says is why they can succeed but the driving force is selling more software.

<comment><USER19> The driving force is selling more everything, by not just tracking how many eyeballs are looking, but also what they're looking at.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> This news fits nicely with this theory. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SrckSJvGc8)

</comment><comment> loa-in-backup And pays for articles that give them their beloved publicity on the net

</comment><comment><USER21> AR glasses is going to be more than 30 billion dollar net worth till 2020.

Curious to know how audience is seeing it and experiencing it.</comment>


Papers on PageRank - <AUTHOR> http://www.scienceforseo.com/ranking-algorithms/papers-on-pagerank-you-should-read/

<comment><USER2> This is just a list of links. Is there anything in them that's worth reading?</comment>


3.3 Gigapixel Photo of the Milky Way - <AUTHOR> http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1719a/zoomable/ <comment><AUTHOR> For context: [http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/telescope-3-gigapixel- milk...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/telescope-3-gigapixel-milky-way- neublas-1.4160191)</comment>


Show HN: See what the world is buying right now - <AUTHOR> http://boughtby.co Hi All,
I've been trying to learn programming since forever and this project is the outcome of months (may be years) of effort.
It connects with Twitter's streaming API to find people who are sharing their Amazon purchases and then pulls out product's name, picture and price from Amazon's product advertising API. See what the world is buying right now.
It's built on Kohana framework (PHP) and various great javascript libraries that folks have shared, and tonnes of tutorials that I found online. So, Thank You Internet! (Yayy!)
Would love to get feedback and how you might want to use it. <comment><USER2> Is the data used for other applications, like visualizing trends?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not yet, but I did think briefly about plotting purchases of a product across days.

Any other ideas regarding visualization?</comment></comment>


The future of diversity and inclusion in tech - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/17/the-future-of-diversity-and-inclusion-in-tech/ <comment><USER2> It's kind of hard to take this article about the future seriously, given that it doesn't even get the past right. Claiming "the pipeline problem has been debunked" \- has it? And saying that Pao's lawsuit meant anything, considering she (as an individual) lost it for obvious reasons.

Also, this quote from Pao: "And since gender is non-binary, at least 5% of a company's workforce should identify as such" Eh? How does this follow?</comment>


Introducing Carrot - <AUTHOR> http://www.introducingcarrot.com/ <comment><USER2> Before I sound too negative, I would like to say that it does look like a lot of hard work went into this, and I really do think it's a good product. Unfortunately, it seems like another solution looking for a problems. From what I can tell, this product has little to no compatibility with Cakes and Deserts. At Small Startup – which this entire comment was written to promote – we heavily utilize Cakes and Deserts and can't really imagine releasing a product in 2014 under the food category that doesn't fully integrate with Cakes and Deserts. Is there any hope for updating compatibility in future releases or is this just another product that doesn't even look at market needs before releasing a product?

EDIT: I was able to find a tutorial online for integrating Carrot with Cakes and Deserts, which may work until a better solution is found:[http://www.chow.com/recipes/21792-moist-carrot-cake- recipe](http://www.chow.com/recipes/21792-moist-carrot-cake-recipe) . I would still like compatibility with some specific use cases like Scones and Tiramisu.

<comment><USER3> Come on.... Carrot integrates beautifully with Cake there is even a Chef recipe for it (AHA!!!) ! It's my favorite bundle when working on Breakfast module.

<comment><USER4> And some good glazed baby carrots might as well be a dessert.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is just a nitpick but this type of headline doesn't tell us anything about carrot or why should we care for its introduction. I love new stuff as much as the next person but can we we change the headline to something like "introducing carrot - an innovative nutrient carrying system for a new world"

<comment><USER6> It would also be nice to have some examples of extended use or a demo to get a feeling of the product.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Look's cool but I can't really see the difference between this and the market incumbents. What are you differentiators to:

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Cabbage_a...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Cabbage_and_cross_section_on_white.jpg)

or

[http://www.leekrecipes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/leeks- food.j...](http://www.leekrecipes.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/leeks-food.jpg)

<comment><USER8> I feel like the color orange is an excellent differentiator as it's more warm and happy.

<comment><USER9> Oooh, this was just leeked: [http://i.imgur.com/b6zPy73.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/b6zPy73.jpg)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I have a few qualms with this food:

1\. For a gardener, you can already grow such a vegetable yourself quite trivially by getting seeds, planting it locally with compost, and then using water and potash on the planted seeds.

2\. It doesn't actually replace a potato. Most people I know add flour or bread to be able to make stews, but they still carry a potato in case there are thickening problems. This does not solve the thickening issue.

3\. It does not seem very "viral" or income-generating. I know this is premature at this point, but without charging users for the service, is it reasonable to expect to make money off of this?

<comment><USER10> Alternatively:

No wireless. Less starch than a potato. Lame.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Pfff. I can make my own carrot FOR FREE by hacking a raised-bed and hooking it up to my local water provider using a polycarbonate pipe and standard spray head. Why would anyone need to BUY ONE?!

<comment><USER12> Depends on the copyright laws in your country, and what will you do, if you grow too much of them at once? Sharing is prohibited in some areas! Be careful!

Maybe someone should invent a subscription based carrot delivery service, or even a flatrate service for carrots, like spotify or netflix.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> It looks like you've built your landing page in PHP, which is renowned for its scaling and security problems. I'd highly recommend looking into something like Scala or Lisp if you want your unlaunched product to have any chance in scaling to the millions of users you probably won't get.

<comment><USER14> I don't know if you have tried PHP recently, but with the frameworks like Symfony2, it's much more robust and feels natural to code into. I think you should give it another try. :)

<comment><USER15> Can't tell if continuing joke or went over your head...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Making the world a better place... with extensible and reusable nutrient delivery systems. Currently in beta (carotene).

</comment><comment><USER17> I'm just not sure about the form factor. Carrot is probably a bit too big for my hands and Carrot mini won't be released before 2015 so I'll skip on Carrot for now.

</comment><comment><USER18> I've had access to the beta for a while now, I would definitely recommend using.

<comment><USER19> I kept mine in my back pocket while at a wedding reception, last weekend, and when I finally pulled it out to use it, it had warped, and would no longer lay flat. While it still seemed completely usable, I'm definitely going to return it, right after I post to Youtube.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Compliments on the thing as a whole, but one thing stuck out to me (negatively).

When I read about vegetables and interaction and saw the screenshot of how interfaces haven't changed much, I got rather excited about the idea of a vegetable that truly tried to change the way we process nutrients. Instead, it seems Carrot mostly focused on the stuff surrounding vegetables. Which is a noble goal, but not what I was hoping/wishing for.

I'd like to see someone reinvent vegetables, or update them for wearable interfaces. In the same way that the mouse greatly changed the way we work on 'normal' computers, surely Carrot should give us similar new advantages. I've been following a number of projects that try to do this, but they are hyper- focused on just that nutrient-input part. I'd love to see the best ideas from those experiments find their way into Carrot.

(This is just a general observation, not an attack on Carrot. I can understand that you have chosen a specific focus that doesn't happen to be what I care about.)

</comment><comment> k-mcgrady Nice idea. I would pay you money if you made a version I could grow in my own garden. I don't want my food growing on someone else's land. I value my privacy enough that I would pay you for this. I don't want it growing on your land and then all of a sudden Google acquires you, shuts you down, and I never have a carrot again!

</comment><comment><USER21> This one little page pretty much sums up all that's wrong with startup culture and silicon valley in general.

</comment><comment><USER22> Speaking of Carrot, here's a site for those DIY folks who want to hack on their own open-source carrots.

[https://openfarm.cc/](https://openfarm.cc/)

[https://github.com/FarmBot/OpenFarm](https://github.com/FarmBot/OpenFarm)

</comment><comment><USER23> Devices like this, nice, sleek and integrated, are, as usual, not very hackable. Try getting it to change colors, for instance. (Though I did see yellow and purple prototypes, not yet on the site.)

On the other hand, the device has an unexpected, but well-documented and very cool ability to run genetic algorithms! It's _ridiculously_ slow, like 1-3 iterations a year (!), but you can run great many in parallel, since the device is so inexpensive — and, you know, sun-powered, so you don't pay for running it _at all_. Beats your server farm hands down.

</comment><comment><USER24> Great product, great design. But how will you pivot if Apple enters this market? I'm pretty sure their design and taste should be sweeter than yours. How do you intend to compete?

</comment><comment><USER25> It would be easier to consume if the design were more modular...

<comment><USER26> And tasted like apple. (OT: In our house we call them 'rubbish orange bananas')

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Wow, so much work was put into this product and the design, but the call to action is put at the very bottom. What a shame, did any A/B testing go into this?

</comment><comment><USER28> Nicely done. Where can I get one?

<comment><USER29> You can't actually buy it yet. But you can contribute to its development via Kickstarter. Acquaintance level donation at $5 will give you email updates when Carrot grows. Friend level at $20 and you'll get a Carrot seed. Baby Carrot level at $50 will get you a spot in the first harvest once development is completed in 3 to 33 months.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Help please!

I followed some instructions so that Carrot would be compatible with Apple, but it's made it impossible to move without a Glass!

I don't want to be sucked into relying on overpriced peripherals... How do I do a factory reset?

[http://www.purejuicing.com/wp- content/uploads/2012/05/apple-...](http://www.purejuicing.com/wp- content/uploads/2012/05/apple-carrot-juice.jpg)

<comment><USER12> Mashups are possible, if you put your apple and carrot device in a mixing device it can probably made compatible in a liquid form...

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Two years ago I implemented something different, but in green: [https://github.com/niko/green](https://github.com/niko/green)

I had a juice version in the pipe but I didn't like that I had to use yellow for that. It's hard to use yellow once you get used to green.

But I'm really interested in orange now so I might give carrot a try.

</comment><comment><USER32> No sugary. Less food than a steak. Lame.

</comment><comment><USER33> This is one of the best things I have seen in a while. Just when I'm hitting my head against a wall giving my pitch to investor after investor each day, answering the same questions...here comes carrot to rejuvenate me. With vitamins. And comedy gold.

</comment><comment><USER34> Why not just eat a cucumber?

<comment><USER35> Because this isn't communist England. Geez.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Nailed it. The happy/lame/sappy music with little chimes, fast paced rhythm, and soft strumming acoustic that can be heard in commercials like this has started to make me go insane.

</comment><comment><USER37> From the enterprise perspective this is a very dangerous product as it doesn't seem to have any security mechanisms. How can I prevent others from unauthorized access to my carrot?

</comment><comment><USER38> Awesome, although the font, in my opinion, should be sans-serif, preferebly something like Helvetica, to be maximum web 3.0 responsive design javascript framework startup like.

</comment><comment><USER39> Wasn't there something similar that came out in 2012 called Celery? It seems to me Carrot is a little late to the game. Either way, please shut up and take my money.

</comment><comment><USER40> I would rather wait for v2 ([http://introducingcarrotjuice.com/](http://introducingcarrotjuice.com/))

Can't handle too much fiber.

</comment><comment><USER41> Question is: will it blend? Or rather, will it bend?

</comment><comment><USER42> I don't know if they've updated it lately, but I'm using an old version of Carrot and it's extremely buggy.

</comment><comment> _-__--- Can't wait for integration with taproot.js

</comment><comment><USER43> We love carrots at 73 Prime Numbers!

</comment><comment><USER44> How does it compare to Apple ?

</comment><comment><USER45> I can only offer $3.7 billion for this startup. Can we reach an agreement?

</comment><comment><USER46> It's orange? Pssht. That was _last_ year's color.

</comment><comment><USER47> Any idea how to build this using Raspberry PI or Arduino?

</comment><comment><USER48> On a serious note, this one is actually useful at least.

</comment><comment><USER49> Darn. I just renewed my 2 year contract with an apple.

</comment><comment><USER50> Hate stuff like this

<comment><USER51> Not to be pedantic, but it's hate stuff like _that_.

<comment><USER52> There is nothing more HN than this thread.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER53> Beware of cheap imitations: almost no vitamin A.

</comment><comment><USER54> How does Carrot prevent against Rabbit attacks?

<comment><USER12> Install a wall of fire between your garden and the outer world...

Or use an apple, people say rabbits don't attack apples...

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> Now with the new API codenamed EATME

</comment><comment><USER56> Is this even open source?

</comment><comment><USER57> lol, just like all those product introduction out there.....

</comment><comment><USER58> Now in JavaScript :)

</comment><comment><USER59> This joke has been beaten to death, and than tortured for a bit.

</comment><comment><USER60> Here's another fun satirical site: [http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/](http://html9responsiveboilerstrapjs.com/)

</comment><comment><USER61> Now that was a complete waste of 60 seconds. Was that supposed to be funny? I get the feeling I've been left out of an inside joke.

<comment><USER62> There's no joke to be left out of. The community sometimes just blows off steam by mocking itself. I don't particularly care for it, but usually it goes nearly as quickly as it comes.

<comment><USER61> Gotcha, thanks. Shame you get downvoted without explanation around here for an honest opinion.</comment></comment></comment>


Mark Zuckerberg Will Take Two Months Off from Facebook for Paternity Leave - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/20/mark-zuckerberg-will-take-two-months-off-from-facebook-for-paternity-leave/?sr_share=facebook <comment><USER2> This is great. It sends the message that no matter who you are, prioritizing family over business is an option, especially when a newborn has arrived.

I'm also willing to bet that it's good for business. An employee with better relationships at home is more likely to be productive at work in the long term.

<comment><USER3> I had a sorta different reaction. I thought, it'd be amazing if everyone at Facebook had the option to take two months off for paternity leave and prioritize family over business without worrying about losing their job or good favor with their supervisor.

<comment><USER4> Then prepare to be amazed, because they actually have four months paid paternity leave.

<comment><USER5> I hope the environment is such that people feel they can use it without penalty. Anyone have experience?

<comment><USER6> I took a little over three months off when my first child was born, and am in the process of taking the full four months for my second child.

I know a half dozen people who have had children while working at Facebook and all of them have taken all (or almost all) of that time.

I never felt pressure not to take leave. The hardest part was convincing myself that things would keep running without me.

<comment><USER7> Do you have to be married? Is it for anyone whose partner has had a child or only for your own child?

Like, could you, in theory, have a baby making rotation of 3 "girlfriends" with 4 months of paternal leave each per year for an eternal vacation?

<comment><USER8> Looking after an under-one year old baby is not a vacation.

<comment><USER9> But also it's not hard work...

<comment><USER8> Have you ever looked after a baby?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I am jealous. My mega-large, hyphenated corporation only gives 40 hours. Which I have just had approved (today!) so that I could help care for my newborn son while my wife recovers from caesarian section. Doing this required multiple calls to a third party company that hypenated-corporation has subcontracted their leave and disability claims to, as well as about 30 pages worth of paperwork. I spent about half as much time coordinating all this as the amount of leave that I'll get.

My point is: even if Zuckerberg only takes half the time he gives to everyone else he's still being very generous to himself as compared to what happens in much of corporate America. I am willing to bet that going on leave like this is probably easier at Facebook, as well.

<comment><USER11> Bummer. Move to a state with family leave laws. CA gives 6 weeks of paid leave to everyone:

[http://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/FAQ_PFL_Benefits.htm](http://www.edd.ca.gov/disability/FAQ_PFL_Benefits.htm)

<comment><USER12> Out of curiosity, would this apply if you were say a lead actor in a movie? 6 week multi-million dollar production stall would in my mind be fair ground for not hiring an actor, but I take it that's illegal.

<comment><USER13> This is getting nitpicky against your very valid point, but I think most actors are 1099 contractors so it doesn't apply

<comment><USER12> I imagine you have to be right. For the majority of employees a 6 week break is no big deal. But for some specialty industries you just _can 't_ hire people that plan on taking a 6 week break in the middle of production.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The point is --- there was no real need to even mention this on an FB post! the CEO is also an employee and he could have done this more privately.

I hate it when top CEOs try to prove that love "work-life" balance when in reality once you reach the top, its always easy to do the "right thing" in any circumstance.

If she would have been pregnant when he just started FB, then would have taken more than 2 days off?

<comment><USER15> I don't think what you're saying reflects reality. Anyone who is responsible for making payroll is experiencing a kind of pressure that most people will never know.

"United Continental Holdings Inc's (UAL.N) new chief executive has suffered a heart attack, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday, barely a month after he took on the job of improving the airline's profitability and reputation."

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/16/us- unitedairlines-...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/16/us- unitedairlines-ceo-idUSKCN0SA29S20151016)

<comment><USER16> Then quit and take a lower-stress job. Once you're at that point you can afford it (in fact most people in that position these days could just quit and reduce their living costs, maybe not even that). I think that's what GP was saying.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> It's great that he's taking two months, but count me with those who think he should take more. I took three months of maternity leave with my youngest, and honestly that last month was a really good deal for my employer. I used to say they were paying me to stay out of the codebase. I felt fine, and if I'd had to go back to work I could have, but between the sleep deprivation and the distractions of having a newborn around, I was pretty cognitively impaired. They'd probably still be finding bugs in the code I wrote that month.

<comment><USER18> I have a couple of friends who became parents and decided to take it in chunks rather than a full 4 months. They had a bit of support from in laws, so as a manager he came back after 1 month to ship a release, then wife and husband would alternate so there would be always one parent at home full time while the other worked.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> The fact this is front page news on multiple outlets , and a pile of cynical comments here, underscores how weird America is with attitudes around "paid insurance benefits", whether healthcare, vacation, and parental leave.

Unlimited vacation policies are intended to make people act more like Canada or Europe where 4-6 weeks paid vacation is common. Most civilized countries have employer benefits plans that cover most of your salary as a parent for 12-16 weeks, and by the government (up to ~$50k annually) for 52 weeks shared between parents.

Mark is doing what most Dads do, and it's a good example.

</comment><comment><USER11> Ugh. I'm not trying to be super negative, but he's setting a bad precedent by taking half the amount of allowed leave. "We offer 4 months, but Zuck only took 2. Wanna be like Zuck?" He should take the full 4 months and show everyone that it's OK.

This is like the unspoken mantra of "unlimited vacation" really being only 2 - 2.5 weeks.

<comment><USER20> He is probably busier than the average FB employee.

<comment><USER21> That kind of thinking can lead to a culture where people don't want to take vacation because it means they are less "busy" than others and by implication, less important.

It becomes a badge of honor to let unused vacation expire at the end of the year because you just didn't have time to take it.

I've seen it more than once.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Future dads out there, look into this. My wife and I split the year of unemployment-insurance-covered leave (half your salary if your salary is mediocre, and that's the cap) here in Canada and it was the best decision of my life. I got 7 months of full time dad duty in and it changed me.

My company and her school both offered a modest top-up on the government's parental leave benefit, so splitting the year meant we got to double-dip our employee benefits.

So it's not just good family building, it's also good financial sense. It's also the best way to fight the pay gap - an employer wonders which of his female employees will vanish for a year or so. This way, _everybody_ leaves for 6 months or so.

<comment><USER23> That's basically the same model as here in Sweden. And i agree the biggest win is for the pay gap for women. Employers don't really discriminate as either sex could disappear soon. Employers don't take a big pay hit either, as it's social insurance that pays while you're off.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Good to know that Facebook will continue to pay his salary over those two months, all $0.17 of it. :-p

</comment><comment><USER25> canada

35 weeks

[http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/maternity_parent...](http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/maternity_parental.shtml#long)

PS this is the minimum (through the government) many companies provide more (e.g. 1 year)

<comment><USER26> Is that paternity leave or maternity?

<comment><USER19> Both. There are max 50 weeks of EI paid - biological mothers get 15 weeks of pay, then the remaining 35 weeks of the pay in the first parental year is shared between parents (even for adoptions).

So, Mom & Dad could both take 15 weeks off (15 x 2), and Mom or Dad takes the remaining 20 off. There are many combinations.

Of course, EI only pays $50k a year max, so many employers will offer benefits packages that match 75-80% of your salary for up to 16 weeks (maternal and/or paternal leave).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I have experienced a change in mindset regarding vacations, when I was an employee of a large corp vs now that I am entrepreneur.

Earlier when I was an employee I used to look forward to weekends/holidays/vacations. Not so now. The idea of being away from work for months is unthinkable for me. Local radio on Monday morning has an RJ invariably commenting on Monday-morning-blues. Luckily, I can't relate to that feeling anymore.

Not trying to paint ultra-rosy picture of being a business owner. It does have ups and downs, and it being a roller-coaster ride is well documented by many.

But whatever stage (highs/lows) you may be in. Typically, its hard to keep yourself away from work. Maximum duration of a vacation, I have taken in past 8-9 years, is around a week, and the median is typically 3-4 days.

At the same time, I do understand responsibility towards family. So if somebody _needs_ to do it, I appreciate that, and definitely see myself also doing, but obviously don't wish for it.

Perhaps many others here, may feel similarly.

</comment><comment><USER28> I'm glad to see this.

I can't believe that in the US, paternity/maternity leave is something that is left for 'the market to decide'. I was hoping for Marissa Mayer to lead and set the example for maternity leave... but she took two weeks... I couldn't really believe it, I was pretty disappointed. In my eyes what she did, sent a pretty sad message for women, her employees, and other companies.

I think Mark taking two weeks off, is an example, for everyone. His employees (male, female, etc) and other companies. Hey, maybe even the Government can learn from this.

TD;LR, glad Mark did this. Kudos.

</comment><comment><USER29> Excellent! Good for Mark, and better for the world. The average privacy invasion perpetrated by megacorps will hopefully be falling slightly over the next two months.

</comment><comment><USER30> It's a very personal choice for everyone, as Mark points out. That said, I believe the first 2 months are not always the most interesting for a father, nor when the most helpful. First 2 weeks sure!

After that, if you stay home doing emails, maybe you should go back to work for real, and keep some time for later in the year...

Not a universal truth, but I liked the love curve over time here: [https://www.ted.com/talks/rufus_griscom_alisa_volkman_let_s_...](https://www.ted.com/talks/rufus_griscom_alisa_volkman_let_s_talk_parenting_taboos)

</comment><comment><USER31> Only 2 months? Go live life while your young and healthy. The guy doesn't need to ever work again. Enjoy every moment Zuck, they grow up way too fast.

</comment><comment><USER32> Whatever you say about Zuck, this is a nice post. Down to earth, real, warm. I also can't help but appreciate the non-prevalence of designer stuff and furniture everywhere in the photo, despite his net worth. Thanks Zuck. You've nicely wrong-footed all the "robot" charges. My your family and child be happy, healthy, and fulfilled.

</comment><comment><USER33> I think it's the right thing to do. If you don't take everything he does upside down, this can't possibly be bad. I believe he chose the number wisely without making it too short, which would send a message across taking a full leave is not such a good idea, or making it too long only reminding everyone that he is the one.

</comment><comment><USER34> Facebook offers 4 months to regular employees.

<comment><USER35> Cyborgs don't need that much time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> "At Facebook we offer our US employees up to 4 months of paid maternity or paternity leave which they can take throughout the year."

He's managed to make his paternity leave a PR opportunity. Acute.

<comment> o0-0o Acute or slimy. Hard to tell the difference anymore, eh?

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> It's nice that he is setting a good example but what's really impressive about this is that he has managed to get fb into a state where him taking two months off is actually possible. How many other large company CEOs could do that without a lot of things going wrong?

</comment><comment><USER38> UK here. Paternity leave is 2 weeks off - half of that unpaid. It's a disgrace.

[https://www.gov.uk/paternity-pay- leave/overview](https://www.gov.uk/paternity-pay-leave/overview)

<comment><USER39> You can also share up to 52 weeks with the other parent, paid (though not very much). [https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and- pay](https://www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay)

<comment><USER38> Yeah, £140/week, paid by the government instead of employer. Pretty close to being unpaid leave

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> OK who here believes he is actually going to be away from work, not doing anything? He's just going to be working from home for 2 months that's all.

</comment><comment><USER41> Doesn't mean he won't work during the whole time...I think it is great move to send a message though, that paternity leave is not for display.

</comment><comment><USER42> But isn't this exactly the period of life where one is supposed to post a lot of baby photos on the timeline?

</comment><comment><USER43> As an Icelander; Bravo to Mr. Zuckerberg, he's got the right idea. Hope the rest of America picks up soon.

</comment><comment><USER44> I get six weeks and I can't actually imagine the full six weeks being approved.

</comment><comment><USER45> Former Facebook employee here. I was never as impressed with Mark as many I've spoken with, but this is really impressive. I also hope it shows how Sheryl should be a CEO somewhere ASAP.

<comment><USER46> This comment makes no sense to me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> why is this news

<comment><USER48> Anything that Lord Zuckerberg does in his personal life is newsworthy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> oh wow who gives a shit. a message? rich people doing regular people things, wow. fuck this industry

</comment><comment><USER50> Means: WFH

</comment><comment><USER51> on an interesting note: i can't wait to hear the answer to this question (if he already hasn't answered it)

"would you let your kid use internet.org to access the Internt"

<comment><USER51> to all the down voters: I would like to know the reason (I thought I followed the guidelines)

and for the record (again), I really live in Africa

the main reason this story qualified as a "news" in the first place is because he's (Mark) is pretty important/influential & with that, normal people like me have questions for them - that's all I did, asked an interesting question (especially from my pov)

thanks

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> His dog has dreads - very cool

<comment><USER53> All Pulis do: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puli)

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Hmm this could mark (lul) the beginning of the end for Facebook. But, knowing what we do about Zuck, I'd guess not.

</comment><comment><USER55> The fact that a headline such as "Mark Zuckerberg Will Take Two Months Off from Facebook for Paternity Leave" [half what FB gives anyway] receives more than 200 points on HN means that something is really wrong on that other side of the Atlantic. -/bitchy-rant.

</comment><comment><USER56> To be honest, compared to Germany that is not a good news.

In Germany, you can have this up to 36 months (3 years) for both parants and your employer can't send you a notice to quit.

So, to be honest, I have to laugh at Zuck. Or say it another way: I think, he does not value his kids. I am a shamed of him.

<comment><USER57> What if you have four children, spaced out evenly over twelve years in Germany? Do you just not need to work for twelve years?

<comment><USER58> Yes, and that's just one of the loopholes. It's a problem with the current crisis in Europe. They want a better life for free and are known to get many children.

<comment><USER59> >They want a better life for free and are known to get many children.

that's called maximizing ROI and in business is called being smart; on the other hand, in personal terms it's perojative. something's off balance.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER60> I wonder if this is by choice. I can't imagine giving up control of something like Facebook for even two seconds.

Does he have to sell all his Facebook shares and buy them back at the end of his paternity leave? If not, the "paternity leave" is in-name-only, because he will still be the largest shareholder of Facebook.

You can bet Zuckerberg will still be running the show.</comment>


New York City is the Future of the Web - <AUTHOR> http://dashes.com/anil/2009/11/new-york-city-is-the-future-of-the-web.html

<comment><USER2> Er... No.

Isn't it a bit weird to claim that a particular physical location is the future of a global communications system? The Web is the Future of New York city would be equally cringe-worthy but potentially more likely to happen.

</comment><comment><USER3> Yeah the Valley can suffer from tunnel vision sometimes..

Glad to see there is a pulse in NY, with the added benefit that hubs like Boston aren't far away.

The article is a little full of itself.. but hey.. it's New York City baby!

EDIT: Bit stuffy in here (loosens collar)</comment>


Theranos Letter Shows Elizabeth Holmes Tried to Take Control from Shareholders - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2015/11/03/theranos-letter-shows-elizabeth-holmes-tried-to-take-control-from-shareholders/ <comment><USER2> _In an interview the shareholder explained, "I did not sign the consent form. There was no statement saying that a failure to respond was tantamount to consent. How could it have passed by unanimous consent? I got emails from Theranos asking me to sign. I never did. Nor did I receive information about Theranos's financial performance or prospects."_

These deals don't need 100% response or signature to get "unanimous consent" \- only a majority. That this was highlighted is either sloppy on the part of Forbes or deliberately trying to stir the pot.

As much as we love down in flames stories (for some grotesque reason) I don't think there is much to see here.

<comment><USER3> Would you mind clarifying what you mean about the definition of "unanimous" in this context? Even if it technically means "not actually unanimous" it still seems pretty misleading to me. Why would they explicitly say that every shareholder supports the decision when they mean that a majority of shareholders support it?

<comment><USER2> In the times that we have sent shareholder consents it's the case that they sign a document that says "I agree to this change." It's not, "do you agree? check yes or no."

If the majority sign, then you have unanimous consent. The ones who don't sign are basically abstaining, in practice usually cause they are too busy and just never get around to it, not because they express dissent.

The language is confusing because it sounds more like a vote than it is.

<comment><USER4> If there's no consent that isn't unanimous, you're abusing the term. When the options are "consent" or "shut up, we don't want to hear from you", there's no justification for calling that "unanimous consent".

<comment><USER2> Unfortunately it's not the case. The alternative isn't "shut up, we don't want to hear from you" it's, "you were given the same amount of information as everyone else and didn't respond by the cutoff - and by the way the majority of respondents consented so any response is moot."

Where it would matter is if there were abstentions for dissent, which I have never dealt with, so I can't say anything about it. My guess is that you wouldn't send something out in such a manner anyway if you expected resistance.

<comment><USER5> That seems like a distinction without a difference to me. As I read your posts there's no way for a shareholder to voice dissent; you can either agree or abstain. Maybe this is some legal term I am not understanding, but I don't see how that's unanimous under the layman's definition of the word.

<comment><USER6> It's not a layman's definition. The word "unanimous" has a different meaning in corporate governance (and generally in Parliamentary procedure).

It's also not at all uncommon to be presented with a proposal where the only options are "yes" and "abstain." There is no need for a no option, because you need a majority of yes votes for the measure to pass. Abstaining is the same as voting no.

<comment><USER7> So, either a vote passes unanimously or it doesn't pass at all? In all cases (of the scenarios you're describing). That doesn't make a lot of sense to me, even as terminology specific to corporate governance. The word 'unanimous' is completely superfluous in that context, and words are not usually defined in ways where they have superfluous meanings.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This company's sketchiness is like an onion - you can keep peeling layer after layer...

<comment><USER9> It is a story gaining traction - you will hear a lot more about Theranos. Not because they are worse in any practice than the rest of the herd, but because they have spotlight. One of the things about getting past 30 is spotting patterns in the newscycle. Theranos is indeed a juicy target so expect a lot of dirty laundry to see light of day.

<comment><USER10> Young chic blonde CEO doesn't hurt the spotlight either.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Does this company have any other employees? Who are these investors rubber stamping BS like this?

</comment><comment><USER12> I don't know why everyone keep implying that Theranos is on a bad position. The company really worth its valuation... they aren't doing something exceptional on the tech world but they are just fine financially. It's a known company on a with a big market and you won't ever struggle with a business model (traditional one) on that type of tech companies.

<comment><USER6> At $9B, Theranos has the same valuation as Quest Diagnostics. One of these two companies is the largest medical diagnostics company in the USA, probably the world, with revenues of $1.9B in the last quarter. The other offers tests in less than 50 drug stores in two states, and just had all but one of its proprietary tests disqualified by the FDA.

<comment><USER13> One of them is a strong solid workhorse, the other is a magical unicorn.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: How can we make the web more accessible for people with disabilities? - <AUTHOR> I came across a thread on twitter[0] that was eye-watering and eye-opening at the same time.
Here's an excerpt:

  Today, my dad cried over the phone, he wanted one week where he could use his computer without my help.

  He's blind.
  Each inaccessible webpage tells him, "you aren't welcome in this world."
 I'm guilty and i feel ashamed. I'm not a frontend person but I don't recall any of my teams ever receiving a request from a client to check accessibility on an application before, and it's quite easy to take these things for granted.
What are some of the best practices to cover in order to build a more inclusive web and a better user experience, especially for people living with disabilities?
[0]https://twitter.com/LareneLg/status/1270578058714443776 <comment><USER2> I just want to contribute this simple fact that not only applies to disabled people like myself, but everyone: If you can, allow people customization. They know their needs best. They can spend resources scripting/coding customized functionality if the system allows it, while it will never make business sense for their needs to be engineered by the first party. Most especially, don't block customizability intentionally. Apple does this, and it HURTS. I can't change the simple hotkey of taking a screenshot on iOS. Because Apple engineers thought they know best, and they did not account for the simple case of someone with deformed hands like me, who will find their solution quite awkward.

</comment><comment><USER3> Mozilla has a guide for web accessibility: [https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Learn/Accessibility](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/Learn/Accessibility).</comment>


Chinese maze: Village makes giant QR code from trees - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-41277549 <comment><USER2> I tried two QR readers on the photos in the article. They did not detect the code.

Would it have been much more effort for the photographer to take a photo that was scannable? Or is there just too much variance in the arrangement and no reader would actually scan it even without a photo?

<comment><USER3> Barcode Scanner on Android gives:

[http://weixin.qq.com/r/WD-i_pfE3sqhrdOZ92pK](http://weixin.qq.com/r/WD- i_pfE3sqhrdOZ92pK)

Visiting that link simply forwards me to

[http://www.wechat.com/mobile/en/](http://www.wechat.com/mobile/en/)

Rather anticlimactic.

<comment><USER4> That is exactly working as intended.

You need to install WeChat and use the app to scan it to go the official account of the tourism office.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> On a side note about 9 years ago I was involved in a project to study "digital" camouflage and exploitation of the image recognition systems for a GIS solution primarily for governments where patterns were used to "fool" algorithms that identify objects such as buildings and roads.

We did identify a few issues with an ESRI/IBM solution, I always wondered if these techniques are being actively used in the field.

It won't fool a human analyst but since satellites often operate in mosaic mode these days and generate 10,000s of images per tasked pass CV is often used to identify objects of interest.

This QR code reminded me of this.

</comment><comment><USER6> Yes, my car had one too, so anybody could tip it when they thought I was driving well. Fun Bitcoin project of 2012. Though hardly anybody knew what it was, it actually did get some tips.

</comment><comment><USER7> I LOL'd at the site headline: "Chinese maze: Village makes giant tech code from trees"</comment>


Comcast launching broadband bundle with HBO - <AUTHOR> http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/25/report-comcast-hbo/3187489/ <comment><USER2> No deal. I currently have HBO Go via paying a relative who has normal cable access and sharing the password. This way HBO Go costs me exactly $20/mo: what I would expect to pay to HBO directly. I also wouldn't be tied to Comcast which isn't bad in my area but isn't great either.

<comment><USER3> Thanks for the update. What other offers have you passed on?

<comment><USER2> Sarcasm? I am just stating my view on this since it is relevant. My point is that this offer is not good enough for me to switch to a different mode of operation. I will gladly pay HBO directly, but I refuse to endorse the continuation of this telco + network model.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Has anyone in the U.S. had any success signing up for and using the HBO Go standalone service "HBO Nordic AB" through a VPN? It's only $12 a month in Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark.

Is the content automatically subbed or dubbed, or is English the default?

<comment><USER5> Usually in Nordic countries, tv and movies are not dubbed but subtitled, so HBO Nordic is also with subtitles but which I think are optional.

I have tried the service in Finland, but haven't actually signed up for it. It might require a local address/credit card.

<comment><USER4> That's interesting. If that's their only verification, you could probably pretty easily get one of those rechargeable or "gift card" credit cards, and plug in any address you want.

<comment><USER6> Isn't it that you need to phone in with information like your SSN to activate them? Doesn't seem like you could register any address you'd like.

<comment><USER7> There is a distinction between prepaid credit cards and gift cards. I'm not sure why, but prepaid credit cards typically require a SSN and gift cards don't.

They end up working just about the same though. You can buy them both at a retail store for cash, and use them just like a credit card anywhere Visa/Amex/Discover/whatever is accepted.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> HBO right now has a huge lead in terms of content over Netflix. By dragging out the unleashing of HBO Go they are actually letting Netflix catch up to them. They know that untying themselves from Cable is their route in the long term but are dragging it out (probably because Comcast pays them handsomely for it). But by dragging it out they will hurt their long term attractiveness. It only takes bad bets on new content over a couple of years to make people doubt HBO, given Netflix is also making their own content now.

</comment><comment><USER9> When I read the title I was excited that I would finally be able to buy what would really help them kill Netflix: Let me pay for a cable subscription and stream it anywhere over whatever connection I have. I'd even accept DRM restricted video streams at this point.

<comment><USER10> Why do you want Netflix killed by Comcast?

<comment><USER9> I don't, but Comcast does.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> When I can access all the channels through my browser I'll be interested.

</comment><comment><USER12> Looks like they already offer this, but only for new customers. I pay $65 per month for ~25 Mbps of broadband, but with this newer plan it'd be $70 with the same broadband service but comes with 10 basic channels plus HBO. I'd be totally up for that but it's only for new customers, I have no idea why. I don't feel like calling to find out.

[http://twitter.com/Funkmon/status/393963445491494912/photo/1](http://twitter.com/Funkmon/status/393963445491494912/photo/1)

<comment><USER13> I have Comcast and I currently pay $70 a month for 100Mbps and I still have access to log into HBO Go from when I had HBO last year (before I canceled my cable).

However, none of this makes up for the fact that they're implementing data caps.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Nothing particularly revolutionary here: it's just the cheaper cable package, but now with HBO, which previously required the more expensive packages.

</comment><comment><USER15> I just switched to Time Warner Cable and they offered me basically the same plan, with 50/5 bandwidth. I forgot the price, as I don't care to pay anything extra for TV.

</comment><comment><USER16> so I wonder if they will make it available to current subscribers of their cable internet service.</comment>


Tweets 2011 Corpus - <AUTHOR> http://trec.nist.gov/data/tweets/

<comment><USER2> Isn't this completely useless?

You can download about 10 million tweets a day just by watching Twitter's basic streaming API. You don't have to sign anything, and you probably get them faster because you just keep one HTTP connection open.

EDIT: Okay, I can see why it might be marginally useful -- to ensure that people doing similar research get the same set of tweets. But, as others have pointed out, that doesn't work if people actually comply with delete requests and don't do so with lockstep timing.

<comment><USER3> Ah, so the tweets provided here are just a sample, just as the basic stream provides? At first I thought it would be all Tweets from 2011, which would be cool...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > Twitter provided identifiers for approximately 16 million tweets sampled > between January 23rd and February 8th, 2011.

> Note that it can take several days to download your copy of the Tweets2011.

Why does Twitter make it so cumbersome to download tweets, especially for non- commercial reasons? Twitter data can be REALLY useful to researchers. Here's what I'm doing with it: <http://ktype.net/wiki/research:articles:progress_20110209>

I'd love to re-run my parsing algo and build a newer, better n-gram list but this seems like a lot of effort to download what could have been a simple torrent. I understand the need to enforce delete-tweet request but that can still be accomplished regardless of how the data is downloaded.

</comment><comment><USER5> It's good to see that in this day and age the government has still mastered the tried and true "print, sign, scan, email, then download via FTP" approach to file downloads.

<comment><USER6> As someone who downloaded the corpus I can tell you that's not how it works. What you are downloading from nist is a java twitter html crawler and a list of tweet ids that you have to download directly from twitter.

It took me a week or more to download the complete 16 million tweets.

Another problem with the corpus is the fact that (at the time I downloaded the tweets) around 2% of the tweets in the corpus were no longer available from twitter as users deleted their twitter account. The longer you wait, the more tweets are going to be unavailable.

<comment><USER7> It is worse. _"in particular you agree ... to delete tweets that are marked deleted in the future"_

Because of that, I do not see how anybody can even think about using this dataset for research.

If you keep all data, you are in breach of the license. If you do not, you are guaranteeing that you cannot reproduce your results in the future.

Als, there is the practical side. I would guess it takes a week to check for deleted tweets, too, so how are you going to comply with that clause?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Pretty excited to see. The research community needs a standardized corpus.

However, not as exciting as I hoped it would be from the heading.

What would be awesome - for us anyway - is if it was all/most tweets from a sampling of _users_ (not just random tweets across all users) because then we could do the kind of analysis we're trying to do at hashmapd.com. Now _that_ would be awesome.

If it's not that why not just consume the spritzer for a few days? You'd get the same kind of data. Well I guess the objective is to create a standardized dataset, which is neat, but not what _we_ need.</comment>