Things America's Strongest Cities Have in Common - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/5-things-americas-strongest-cities-have-in-common/62713/

<comment><USER2> These are extremely insightful, but cheap labor (#5) should be moved up to #1. It could possibly stand alone. I know a lot of budding entrepreneurs and hackers who can survive on 20 hours a week at a typical job, which frees up so much time for work. I guarentee that each of these areas has done some sort of government speding other than the military, education, and life sciences sectors to boost it as well.

<comment><USER3> That's more cost-of-living than cheap labor is it not? When they're talking about cheap labor I suspect their not really talking about professionals either. The Baton Rouges, Little Rocks, and yes Oklahoma Cities of the world also have a much lower rate of college education in common. They have large swaths of blue collar workforce willing to work for cheap. I know, for instance, that a couple of overseas car manufacturers have opened up plants in Arkansas for this very reason.

<comment><USER2> I think you are correct with that one. I was thinking cost to maintain as a freelance or entrepreneurial hacker rather than traditional laborers.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The list is also missing Pittsburgh, which has been doing great throughout the recession for the Eds and Meds reason as well.

<comment><USER3> I was surprised not to see Denver on the list. Unemployment in the Denver metro has been pretty good throughout. I can't imagine more money has been spent in Medical than at CU's new medical center (it's an enormous complex that is nearly constantly expanding).

Cost of living is higher I suppose. It certainly doesn't line up with my actual experience. I have extensive ties to Little Rock, and I just don't see any way that it's anyone can consider it a "stronger" city in any possible measure. Unemployment has been sky high, and continues to be a real challenge there (I have 5 or 6 college degree holding friends that have unemployed for more than 12 months). In Denver everyone I know has a job.

I'd love to see more about their methodology.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The fact that Buffalo is #4 really causes me to question the algorithms employed.

<comment><USER6> Where did you get #4? The list is alphabetical.

<comment><USER5> The fact that it is on the list at all is enough. Buffalo, with all due respect, is a hole.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Insurance was insulated from the global meltdown? I thought AIG was ground zero. Were they just one big outlier?

<comment><USER8> AIG failed due to AIG Financial Products, which sold overly-cheap high risk derivative Credit Default Swaps on mortgage-backed securities, not due to their core insurance business. CDSes are insurance of a sort against default risk, but they didn't involve actuaries, a real risk model for pricing, etc. All the other parts of AIG were actually doing quite well.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Who will need an email text classifier and why? - <AUTHOR>
 I wanted to build an AI email text classifier that could tell you the different intents and entities any email has. How useful will such a tool be for you in your day to day business activities? What particular use cases would you want me to prioritize? What are the actionable insights you would want to uncover from the email? <comment><USER2> We use the same tool (we've built it internally) to put mails to the right inbox folder (interested, unsubscribe, not interested, etc.). Such a useful thing for email automation marketing-related tools. Our customers love it so much as well as we do.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is great. My model is currently classifying into upto 22 different nuanced categories mostly targeting sales emails. I would love to get your feedback on the product. Is there a way to reach out to you?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I actually need a semi-racist spam filter. I get about 10+ emails a day from recruiters from India. So unfortunately, I need to filter by Indian names....</comment>


GetChip, Raspberry Pi Zero Competitor (8$) - <AUTHOR> http://getchip.com/ <comment><USER2> More information can be found at [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the- wor...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598272670/chip-the-worlds- first-9-computer/description)

</comment><comment><USER3> I really like the integrated wifi of this one.</comment>


'We Were Wiped Out': New Yorkers Preyed on Chicago Cabbies - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/nyregion/taxi-medallions-chicago.html <comment><USER2> > Unlike in New York, where regulations and the density of the city core have > partially shielded yellow cabs from the effects of competition from ride- > hailing companies, the taxi industries in Chicago and other cities have been > devastated by Uber and Lyft.

Chicago resident here, the change didn't feel devastating to consumers and the drivers I talk to who used to drive Taxis much prefer driving for Uber/Lyft.</comment>


Aboomba tests a new fundraising strategy: Get married  - <AUTHOR> http://deals.venturebeat.com/2009/08/25/aboomba-tests-a-new-fundraising-strategy-get-married/ <comment><USER2> Good marketing for your startup!</comment>


Going Down the Pipes (1996) - <AUTHOR> https://www.topic.com/going-down-the-pipes <comment><USER2> Reminds me of Pushing Tin, a 1999 movie. Wonder if they are related?

eta: Wikipedia says yes, so it must be true. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Tin#cite_ref-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushing_Tin#cite_ref-1)

<comment><USER3> The preface to the article says exactly that.</comment></comment>


Engineer creates a 3D metal printer prototype for $2 using electroplating - <AUTHOR> http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150301-low-cost-metal-3d-printing-made-possible-with-electroplating-technology-and-prototype.html <comment><USER2> > It is a 3-axis CNC machine combined with an electroplating head.

Erm... CNC Machines can cost thousands of dollars. I think this guy made a $2 attachment to a CNC Machine that then spits out copper.

Which is cool and all, but the headline doesn't seem right to me.

<comment><USER3> Yes, and the very first picture shows that amongst the additions is an HP lab power supply worth well over $200 second hand.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > high amount of energy required to 3D print a metal object

I'm very curious how the energy efficiency compares to other methods of production. After reading this[0] article I've become highly suspicious of how easily the energy footprint seems to be overlooked in maker cultures.

[0] [http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/03/how-sustainable-is- di...](http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2014/03/how-sustainable-is-digital- fabrication.html)

</comment><comment><USER5> >That's right, just $2. No zeros in sight!

Hmm, let me see if I can find those zeroes...

>his 3D metal printers could be sold for between $1,000 to $2,000

There they are!

<comment><USER6> Which seems to be the universal price range for entry level 3d printers.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> How long does it take?

<comment><USER8> Let's see.

Copper has valence 1, that means that one atom is deposed by each election that flows on the system. A mol of copper has 63g, thus, for each 100,000C that flows, there'll be 63g deposed. The video says it uses 100mA of power, what makes it capable of deposing 63µg/s at most.

Serious galvanoplasty power supplies start at the 50A mark for a reason.

<comment><USER9> Doing a bit of in-my-head math... At 1A, that'd be about 50g/day.

I don't remember the voltage required for electroplating using CuSO4+acid, but I remember it being low. I suppose it probably has to do with electrode spacing too. As a guesstimate, let's go for 5 volts (which I have no idea of the accuracy).

If we're stepping household 120V down to 5V, we've got a factor of 60 reduction. With a (big ass) buck converter, we can in theory get 15A*60 = 900A = 900C/s out of a standard breaker. That works out to 49kg/day? That seems ridiculously large. I'd love for someone to point out what I did wrong though. I've assumed 100% efficiency everywhere, but even cutting it down to 10% still results in ~5kg/day.

Edit: I'm sure it's an expensive power supply, but it's nice to see that I got in the right ballpark: [http://www.americanplatingpower.com/reverse-pulse- power-axd-...](http://www.americanplatingpower.com/reverse-pulse-power-axd- compact-s.php)

<comment><USER10> > With a (big ass) buck converter, we can in theory get 15A*60 = 900A = 900C/s > out of a standard breaker

No way you're gonna run 900A through this little pencil - the temperatures at contact point will act like a welding machine (uncontrollably melt/vaporize)...

<comment><USER11> Indeed. You can probably run a lot more than normal if you keep the tip submerged and circulate the electrolyte, but you're not gonna run 900 amps through it.

Some useful equations and numbers here:

[http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0223_plate/index.html](http://www.ami.ac.uk/courses/topics/0223_plate/index.html)</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Dr Michael Jurgen Garbade – CEO  Livecoding.tv Harrassment of Users and Staff - <AUTHOR> https://www.livecoding.tv/pastebin/xfzo <comment><USER2> If it weren't for the fact that there has been some serious controversy over the livecoding CEO in the past, including him getting banned here on HN [1], I'd find the fact that this is posted by a brand new account and every comment so far (except this one) is either by a brand new account or an account that has not commented until now rather suspicious.

[1] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10486476](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10486476)

<comment><AUTHOR> People familiar with livecoding 2015-2016 should know who i am (xmetrix). <3 tacos?

<comment><AUTHOR> I wouldnt have posted here and i have no use for HN personally but i got another "legal warning" that charges are pending from dr dipshit again. Figured I'd post it here and contact YCombinator to inform them that their webpage is either inaccurate or one of their CEO's is operating outside the stated guidelines found here: [http://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/](http://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I really doubt on standards of business idea selection and leadership skills of this shitty CEO.

YC if you really have standards just ask him for reality, and business and leadership positions.

If you people really want proofs of his professionalism just contact me i will give you tons of proofs.

</comment><comment><USER3> Dr Michael Jurgen Grabde - CEO Livecoding.tv holds fake phd degree, he is not a entrepreneur...

I can say he is a big LOL ;) Banning Hammer.

He banned my both accounts with out any reason. He likes what ever he do. He loves banning i can say its his hobby...

</comment><comment><USER4> I think everyone is fed up with his crap I left for Beam.pro. Although its designed for gamers at least its still small like livecoding but I know for a fact that they won't try to harass me or threaten me.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.livecoding.tv/pastebin/xfzo](https://www.livecoding.tv/pastebin/xfzo) for original document

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Treating co-founders and employees with fairness and respect. -Ask Jamie Green and Muhummad how they feel about their treatment. Ask why stock options were denied and revoked after someone was fired and told you must be an employee to receive stock int he company. Ask why DrMJG hasnt paid an employee over 1k... owed since Feb.

Not using misleading, illegal or dishonest sales tactics. Must signup to use the product. This seems to be a toggle. sometimes you MUST sign up to watch any stream ... most times you dont. He's gotta fluff the numbers to secure another rounding of investment.

Not harassing or threatening any co-founder, YC community member, employee, or anyone else. anyone else... would that include anyone who is .... else? such as content makers, streamers, users, guests? right... he's harrassing me end of fucking story if you find a way to disagree you're a delusional fuck who needs to take a minute relax and revisit this entire thing from an unbiased third perspective.

Keeping off-the-record or confidential information (whether about YC itself or a YC company) private and secret. Well I cant comment on this but keeping secrets in a publically accessible location is not private nor secret. Someone should tell DRMJG security through obscurity is no security at all.

Not behaving in a way that damages the reputation of his/her company or of YC. HAHAHAHAH This one makes me laugh at the sheer ignorance displayed by "Doctor" MJG.

Being honest in the YC application and interview process. Honest and Withholding truth are different things. I can only speculate but I would assume he used Jamie as the face of LC to sell it and get the money then got rid of Jamie ASAP.

Generally behaving in a professional and upstanding way. Maybe they need to define professional and upstanding so I might understand what level they consider to be professional and upstanding

If YCombinator does nothing then their link "[http://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/"](http://www.ycombinator.com/ethics/") is PURE FLUFF BULLSHIT NONSENSE and they really dont stand behind what they say they do. If they do stand behind their words on their pages... they should take the actions they state they would then....

"To maintain our community, if a founder behaves unethically during or after YC, we will revoke their YC founder status."

they should fucking revoke YC Founder status IMMEDIATELY. Otherwise YC breeds bullshit CEO's and should be criticized as such. I don't think that's YC's bag tho so let's see how they handle this.

</comment><comment><USER5> He is not a leader he is a dictator. Who only want powers, powers to do all things himself.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> WHO THE FUCK IS FLAGGING THIS. YC PROTECTING THEIR SHADY FRIEND? WTF?!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Logs and docs available to any YCombinator or European Pioneer member

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> yea i was trying to stream on beam.pro but I dont think they know how to help linux users

<comment><USER4> Using OBS or trying to use there's?

<comment><AUTHOR> ended up using ffmpeg. tachyon wont work on linux

<comment><USER4> I got it to work by manually compiling it. It shows as OBS though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Power Conscious lolzzzz.....</comment>


Vial and Error: Revisiting the "Whig Interpretation" in the History of Science - <AUTHOR> http://chronicle.com/article/VialError/234826 <comment><AUTHOR> Yes, the subtitle of the article as it was published is different, but as the author of the piece I felt ok with switching it out for the more straightforward and descriptive one I wanted to use (authors almost never have final say over headlines). Happy to answer any questions, or debate anyone who really loved the David Wootton or Steven Weinberg books! I actually enjoyed reading Weinberg's book quite a bit, especially his commitment to getting the technical details right, but I found the overarching picture it gives of the history of science to be unpersuasive for reasons which hopefully are made clear in the article.

Here's Steven Weinberg's New York Review of Books article for background on his basic approach to the history of science: [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/12/17/eye-present- whig-...](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/12/17/eye-present-whig-history- science/)</comment>


Immersive 3D panoramas with your smartphone - <AUTHOR> http://demo.optonaut.com

<comment><USER2> Astroturfing, really?

</comment><comment><USER3> Wow, a real cool way to share your experiences!

</comment><comment><USER4> sweet, definitely will try out

</comment><comment><USER5> Waiting to get my fingers on this

</comment><comment><USER6> makes me wanna jump forward in time just to get my hands on their app!

</comment><comment><USER7> Woow.. that's cool

</comment><comment><USER8> Awesome Tool (y)

</comment><comment><USER9> looks awesome

</comment><comment><USER10> Cool App!

</comment><comment><USER11> Can't wait for this app.

</comment><comment><USER12> Incredible good idea!</comment>


Electrical failure cuts power to all of Argentina and Uruguay, supplier says - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48652686 <comment><USER2> Hi guys, I am a software engineer from Uruguay. I know nothing about electricity systems.

We are being told by authorities that there is no better system design than this.

That is, Uruguayan network is interconnected to Argentina, what gives us more robustness. If something small/medium fails here, Argentina compensates, and viceversa. This has improved our system for many years.

However, it seems to have this very improbable issue. If something big happens in Argentina (which is much bigger than us), there is no way Uruguay can supply the energy they need to keep running.

Is there any other way to interconnect two electric networks (having more robustness for the normal cases) but avoiding this kind of high-impact issues?

From a computer network point of view, this doesn't make much sense, but there are physical limits here I guess...

Why can't we just have some kind of limit condition to switch the connection off, instead of trying to rescue the other network?

Thanks for your explanation.

</comment><comment><USER3> Am I the only one linking this to the news of America having infiltrated Russian power plants?

Given the timing, it feels like some state flexing.

<comment><USER4> I thought about that too.

Maybe they were trying something new on a development environment, or testing something that should have worked in production. That would be funny.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Pretty weird situation, and it's election day here in Santa Fe province. Luckily cell towers stood online all the time. Now slowly coming back. Follow energy demand live from here: [http://portalweb.cammesa.com/Pages/ADemandas.aspx](http://portalweb.cammesa.com/Pages/ADemandas.aspx)

</comment><comment><USER6> Does something like this ordinarily receive an extremely in-depth and public post-mortem?

<comment><USER7> That depends on the country of origin and the cause. If this happened in the US it would require an extensive filing with NERC and most likely several public hearings before regulators and lawmakers. Then laws would be written to attempt to prevent the incident in the future. For example, see the repercussions from the 2003 Northeast Blackout [0].

If this was caused by state actors, in part or whole, then I would expect most hearings and reports about it to be less public, and occur behind closed doors.

[0] [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> > causing trains to be halted and failures with traffic signalling. It came as > people in parts of Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local > elections.

According to this: [https://www.as-coa.org/articles/argentinas-2019-electoral- ca...](https://www.as-coa.org/articles/argentinas-2019-electoral-calendar)

... there are only a couple Gubernatorial elections, so likely unrelated.

With all the talk of the USA ramping up efforts to disrupt Russia's power grid, could it be that some out-in-the-wild exploit hit an unintended target? I couldn't find any info on who provided Argentina with their equipment.

<comment><USER9> Electrical power issues are very common in Buenos Aires (blackouts in blocks of the city, as well as very poor quality of the delivered power, resulting in damages to power supply units). I'd rather bet on the general dysfunction of the state rather than a concerted external effort.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> El Pais of Uruguay says some parts of the interior have power.

</comment><comment><USER10> A similar outage happened in Turkey back in 2015.</comment>


DirectX is coming to the Windows Subsystem for Linux - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/unixterminal/status/1262837536080236546 <comment><USER2> Phase 2 of "embrace, EXTEND, extinguish".

Microsoft never changes.</comment>


Apple announces next iPhone event for September 12: 'Gather round' - <AUTHOR> https://9to5mac.com/2018/08/30/apple-iphone-event-announced/ <comment><USER2> There's always some hint in the name, and this time I'd bet on a truly round Apple Watch. They were probably using the iPhone X to test their ability to deal with weird screen curves.</comment>


Announcing Renaissance, a modern, open, and diversified JVM benchmark suite - <AUTHOR> https://renaissance.dev/ <comment><USER2> From the description it's an aggregate of the common modern JVM workloads.

The following is the complete list of benchmarks, separated into groups.

actors akka-uct - Runs the Unbalanced Cobwebbed Tree actor workload in Akka. (default repetitions: 24)

reactors - Runs benchmarks inspired by the Savina microbenchmark workloads in a sequence on Reactors.IO. (default repetitions: 10)

apache-spark als - Runs the ALS algorithm from the Spark MLlib. (default repetitions: 60)

chi-square - Runs the chi-square test from Spark MLlib. (default repetitions: 60)

dec-tree - Runs the Random Forest algorithm from Spark MLlib. (default repetitions: 40)

gauss-mix - Computes a Gaussian mixture model using expectation-maximization. (default repetitions: 40)

log-regression - Runs the logistic regression workload from the Spark MLlib. (default repetitions: 20)

movie-lens - Recommends movies using the ALS algorithm. (default repetitions: 20)

naive-bayes - Runs the multinomial naive Bayes algorithm from the Spark MLlib. (default repetitions: 30)

page-rank - Runs a number of PageRank iterations, using RDDs. (default repetitions: 20)

core dummy - A dummy benchmark, which does no work. It is used only to test the harness. (default repetitions: 20) database db-shootout - Executes a shootout test using several in-memory databases. (default repetitions: 16) jdk-concurrent fj-kmeans - Runs the k-means algorithm using the fork/join framework. (default repetitions: 30)

future-genetic - Runs a genetic algorithm using the Jenetics library and futures. (default repetitions: 50)

jdk-streams mnemonics - Solves the phone mnemonics problem using JDK streams. (default repetitions: 16)

par-mnemonics - Solves the phone mnemonics problem using parallel JDK streams. (default repetitions: 16)

scrabble - Solves the Scrabble puzzle using JDK Streams. (default repetitions: 50)

neo4j neo4j-analytics - Executes Neo4J graph queries against a movie database. (default repetitions: 20) rx rx-scrabble - Solves the Scrabble puzzle using the Rx streams. (default repetitions: 80) scala-dotty dotty - Runs the Dotty compiler on a set of source code files. (default repetitions: 50) scala-stdlib scala-kmeans - Runs the K-Means algorithm using Scala collections. (default repetitions: 50) scala-stm philosophers - Solves a variant of the dining philosophers problem using ScalaSTM. (default repetitions: 30)

scala-stm-bench7 - Runs the stmbench7 benchmark using ScalaSTM. (default repetitions: 60)

twitter-finagle finagle-chirper - Simulates a microblogging service using Twitter Finagle. (default repetitions: 90)

finagle-http - Sends many small Finagle HTTP requests to a Finagle HTTP server, and awaits the response. (default repetitions: 12)</comment>


Using existing s3 tools with libres3 and skylable sx: duplicity - <AUTHOR> http://blog.skylable.com/2014/05/using-existing-s3-tools-with-libres3-and-skylable-sx-duplicity/

<comment><AUTHOR> sx + libres3 looks like a way to backup my personal data in a cheap cluster with RaspberryPi/Beaglebone nodes + 4 TB external hard drives.</comment>


Creating Appvocates via AppStori.com - <AUTHOR> http://mobilefwd.com/blog/

<comment><USER2> Ask HN: Do you email people when they have spelling and grammar errors in blog posts about their launch? Or do you just let it slide by and hope they notice later..?</comment>


What is a Pitch Deck? - <AUTHOR> https://pitchdeck.improvepresentation.com/what-is-a-pitch-deck

<comment><USER2> Very nice. Thanks for posting this.</comment>


The Dollar Shift: Chinese Pockets Filled as Americans' Emptied - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/world/asia/26addiction.html <comment><USER2> "For China, too, this crisis has been a time of reckoning. Americans are buying fewer Chinese DVD players and microwave ovens. Trade is collapsing, and thousands of workers are losing their jobs. Chinese leaders are terrified of social unrest."

That is the worry on the Chinese side.

</comment><comment><USER3> "China is kicking our ass right now because they can work harder, faster, and cheaper." - Michael Arrington at LeWeb 08

</comment><comment><USER4> The real problems are coming when China wants to cash their bonds to fund their $500b infrastructure rebuilding projects and the US simply can't pay up.

<comment><USER5> Two reasons why it may not turn out a problem you think it will:

1\. Demand for US treasuries is highest it's ever been. So long as the rest of the world is on the brink of collapse (together with USA) people will believe that American paper is the most reliable one, compared to all others.

2\. There is no such thing as "can't pay up" when you own the printing press. Bernanke will print the money (paper or electronic) and give it to the Chinese - the problem will start when those money will trickle back to US and create consumer price inflation. it may also affect exchange rates and makes imports more expensive (inflation again).

<comment><USER4> Why paper? What about gold? If the dollar collapses a printing press won't help much. Aren't the rates dropped in order to stimulate higher demand, not because of higher demand?

<comment><USER5> US debt is nominated in US dollars. An easy way to pay up _all_ debt is to devalue dollar 1,000,000,000 times and then repay all debt with a week worth of McJob salary.

Since you borrowed dollars backs when they were expensive and returned them now when they are cheap you win. Of course the lender will not be too pleased and likely will not want to lend you again.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> those pesky chinese! The economy didn't tank because we didn't save enough, it's their fault for saving too much and ramming their money down our throats. </sarcasm>

</comment><comment><USER5> One of the few articles that get to the bottom of the problem.

<comment><USER7> This information was available over the past 8 years since China has been member of the WTO.

Why did it take until now for NYT to bother reporting the "full story"?

I have been in Shanghai those 8 years. I have lived this story. The only ones America has to blame are themselves. China has its own set of problems. They didn't setup a global conspiracy to achieve their current position. China simply took advantage of horrifically bad U.S. management and took care of their own country. U.S. business and government leadership were always the front runners in "enabling" this relationship. If you want to start a mob frenzy, do it on Wall Street.

<comment><USER5> You answered your own question - everone who's anyone was deriving short- term(~5-10 years) benefts from this.

I disagree with you on "China ... took care of their own country". They did not come out of this any better than Americans and their actions were just as shortsighted. While Americans will lose ability to pay for SUVs, plasma TVs, and middle-east wars, Chinese will lose their jobs. It's a lot better to still have a job and only be able to buy half as much as you used to, then not to have a job at all.

<comment><USER7> I only partially agree with this. The Chinese can spend their entire 7++ trillion in cash reserves over the next 5 years to support domestic economic maturity. The U.S. must continue to borrow and sell off assets in order to do so.

<comment><USER5> How would they go about spending 7 trillion? Serious question.

If money is given to citizens they will likely hoard it rather than spend. Instead Chinese government used to give the money to American citizens because those never really save anything and it comes all back to stimulate the Chinese economy. Now this meachanism is broken. The only option left is government spending - "the new deal for China". Indeed that's what they are planning to do, but I don't think the new deal can replace the employment opportunities lost.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I applaud to China. Well done!

And I wonder how americans could allow to settle themselves so tight on this "cheap" money drug ?

</comment><comment><USER9> Wallstreet capitalists & CCP members' pockets filled, Americans & chinese ppl's emptied</comment>


Basic Income Is a Dead End - <AUTHOR> http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/anke-hassel-basic-income-dead-end <comment><USER2> We shouldn't be talking about a basic income until payroll taxes and income taxes have been eliminated for low to moderate income earners. In addition with federal interest rates at nearly 0% we could expect to be able to increase the federal deficit dramatically without impacting inflation other than an increase in interest rates.

As it is now, we are taxing middle class workers to subsidize our capital markets. A basic income is a great idea for a society in the distant future. However at the moment we have so much neglected infrastructure we could employ our entire economy for decades to come no matter what level of automation we reach.

</comment><comment><USER3> Much frustrate reading this article.

"The most common reason cited for this conclusion is, of course, financing: though its costs have not been quantified, it is certain that they would be high. Just how income and wealth should be taxed to pay for it remains an open question."

The author whips this gem out in the third paragraph....questioning...something that the author had already answered.

"Instead of providing social benefits in an emergency, during unemployment, or in old age, the government would pay every adult the same lump sum ... This would be in place of all other entitlements, including unemployment benefits, and would most likely eliminate pensions as well."

He answered his own question that he poses in the third paragraph in the first paragraph...like wtf?

The rest of the article is fairly average attempts at predicting social outcomes as a result of macro economic policy.</comment>


Six Reasons to Stick with Your Startup: Survival Stories from the Trenches - <AUTHOR> http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/07/reasons-to-stick-with-your-sta.php <comment><USER2> Bunch of "we toughed it out!" stories. Of course, coming from people who did survive. For all we know there could be hundred times as many people who put just as much effort into it and did not survive to tell their story.

Whether to stick or not should depend on careful, thoughtful analysis, not this kind of stories.</comment>


Everyday Statistics for Programmers: Nonlinear Regression - <AUTHOR> http://sam-koblenski.blogspot.com/2014/10/everyday-statistics-for-programmers_21.html

<comment><USER2> The terminology is wrong: the polynomial curve fit is still linear regression. The "linear" in "linear regression" does not mean that the resulting function is linear, it means that the resulting function is a linear combination of basis functions. For a polynomial, the basis functions are 1, x, x^2, ..., x^n.

The exponential fit, however, is non-linear.

From Wikipedia ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynomial_regression](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynomial_regression))

> In statistics, polynomial regression is a form of linear regression...

<comment><AUTHOR> I should have noted that and said polynomial regression is linear regression of nonlinear data. Thanks for the correction.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> You have to be careful here. If you transform your data, and then do a linear regression on the transformed data, and then un-transform your regression line, that's _not_ the same as doing non-linear regression. Linear regression makes the assumption that the data is a line + normally distributed errors with 0 mean and constant variance.

For example lets take regression for an exponential relationship. If you transform your data with log, and then do linear regression you are assuming that your transformed data fits a line with normally distributed errors with 0 mean and constant variance. This means that you are assuming that your original data fits an exponential + normally distributed errors with 0 mean and _exponentially increasing variance_. This might be a good assumption, but it might not be. It depends on what your data is. If you look at his data [1] you see that the variance is increasing, so that indicates that his method is OK for that data.

What is going to happen with his method is that points far away from 0 are going to weigh far less into your regression than points near 0. It's not the same as doing a non-linear regression, which would assume that your data fits an exponential + normally distributed errors and constant variance. That would give all points equal weight.

[1] [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jL4JsLT5M6o/VEXCNmFesaI/AAAAAAAAD3...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jL4JsLT5M6o/VEXCNmFesaI/AAAAAAAAD38/MT0bJSccnOk/s1600/exponential_data_with_trendline.png)

<comment><AUTHOR> That's a really good point. I didn't want to get into nonlinear solvers for this post, but I should have mentioned the considerations, at least.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Relatedly, here are some free ebooks directed at a similar audience and subject material.

Think Stats: Probability and Statistics for Programmers [http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats](http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats)

Think Bayes: [http://greenteapress.com/thinkbayes](http://greenteapress.com/thinkbayes)

</comment><comment><USER5> If you're using C++, consider looking at the Ceres Solver tutorial [1]

[http://ceres-solver.org/tutorial.html](http://ceres-solver.org/tutorial.html)

</comment><comment><USER6> Oh dear! He does not even discuss the HUGE errors that may appear when taking logarithms... If you have points near 0 and away from 0 the former get an artificial enormous weight and bias the "interpolation" too much towards them.

CAREFUL!

Basically: the mean value of the logarithms is not the logarithm of the mean value.

<comment><USER7> Wouldn't the arithmetic mean of the logarithms be the logarithm of the geometric mean?

1/n Σ ln xᵢ = 1/n ln (Π xᵢ) = ln ( n√(Π xᵢ) )

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Can somebody explain how a logistic regression fits into this explanation, if at all?

<comment><USER9> Logistic regression is similar to his example on fitting a line to an exponential trend. The differences is that in logistic regression, the equation would be

ln(p)/ln(1 - p) = α + Σßᵢxᵢ

where p is in the interval [0, 1] and E is .

Note: in logistic regression, the notation is generally p (as in probability of event), not y.</comment></comment>


Loot boxes are obviously gambling - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/05/op-ed-game-companies-need-to-cut-the-crap-loot-boxes-are-obviously-gambling/ <comment><USER2> Seems to me like we are in a race to to the bottom in all parts of the software and entertainment industry.

When behavioural economics and data mining became all encompassing we lost all that was positive and good in this field.

This modeling of the human psyche has existed in PR and the commercial industry for a century, but the incredible multiplier that lies in the constant connection and the advancement of fast and agressive interfaces has now made us all like rats pushing levers in a Skinner box.

Hordes of psychologists, data analysts and digital designers has become like a mercenary army that whores itself out to the global-internet-consciousness that itself has become like a cancer that eats up peoples last moments of clarity.

We now stand completely naked and exposed as the irrational, animal, mamalian ape that we are in front of the extreme exponential technological whirlwind that has made everything so complex, fast changing and exploitative that we have no option but to completely drop out or ride the tiger.

<comment><USER3> Or as with most new things it gets a bit out of hand and it takes a generation or two to find a balance. But don't let me deny you the pleasure of your apocalyptic rantings :)

<comment><USER4> That's right, but it doesn't mean that you have to be a consenting victim in these developments.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think there's a pattern here: 'Highly talented company makes highly praised product but eventually realizes there is much more money in exploitative products instead'. Valve made the amazing Half-Life series, then later seems to have come to the conclusion that their return on investment is just much higher if they focus on multiplayer games with loot boxes (plus selling other people's games and taking a cut). Blizzard went through a similar transformation from e.g. Warcraft 3 to World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone (these days WoW is probably even the less exploitative of the bunch). Facebook went from being 'the place to hear about what my friends are up to', to just trying to show me as targeted ads as possible. I don't blame them, per se - these companies are just following the economic reality, but I just wish being exploitative wasn't so damn profitable.

<comment><USER6> I would easily argue Blizzard has the most generous/least exploitative loot box models. Cosmetic only with a fairly regular/healthy rate of freebies, not to mention the currency you get that lets you acquire the ones you actually want without relentlessly "rolling". Heroes of the Storm steps it up even further with a reroll mechanic you can use for disappointing boxes. Compared to the others in the industry, Blizzard is downright pleasant.

<comment><USER7> HotS and Overwatch really aren't exploitative sure, but Hearthstone is incredibly exploitative. Unless you are so good you can go "infinite" in arena (always make your gold entry fee back and then some, on average), you have to buy packs for every expansion that comes out. Or you have to play with lower- tier cards, which some people do successfully, but to get the most out of the game or be "competitive" they will need the best cards eventually.

Out of the 3 games, I probably played Overwatch the most, followed closely by Hearthstone, but the amount of money I invested in Hearthstone is easily 3-4x the initial price I paid for OW. I got fed up of the "pay or fall behind" nature of Hearthstone and stopped playing a long time ago though.

<comment><USER8> That is very much the nature of a CGC though. Hearthstone seems less exploitative than Magic the Gathering, Pokemon TCG or Yu-Gi-Oh because you can trade in unwanted card and those have been around for a long time.

<comment><USER9> Hearthstone is digital. Biiiiiiiig difference.

Hearthstone should be compared with other computer games, not with MTG & co.

<comment><USER6> I've played digital card games that sold digital card packs for real money like ten plus years ago. Decipher did the Star Trek CCG online the same way.

I always thought a much more modern scenario would've been if they put like a code or something on physical packs so you could buy them once and have the same cards in both digital and physical form.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> There are different classes of gambling, and in the UK at least they are regulated differently:

1\. Proper full-on skill-based gambling; Poker, Blackjack, type games, plus arguably Horse Racing and other sports where you learn the starts and make judgement calls.

2\. 'Luck' based games; Pay money, get 'prize' \- this is where loot boxes fall into, and in also in the real world, CTGs and LEGO Minifig bags (for example). You always get a prize no matter how small.

3\. Raffles; Buy a ticket for a fixed sum, win a prize. The prizes on offer are known up front. Viewed slightly different (for some reason) - most non- business places can run one of these without a licence. However the nationwide Lottery does require a licence, even though it's basically just a raffle.

Types 1 and 2 require different licences if you want to operate them, type one definitely has to have all the GambleAware[1] stuff prominently shown.

You'll see on many daytime and light entertainment programs on TV that they run 'competitions' for the viewers where the question is stupidly simple. They do this to step around the 'gambling' licence issue. By asking a question (no matter how simple) it legally occludes the fact that the text-in/phone-in competition is basically a Lottery.

Back to the point of Games... All games publishers have to do is get a gambling licence (for the region they want to sell the game in) and be up front that their game contains 'some gambling'.

Of course though, if they do that, then they can't sell their game to minors...

\--

[1] [http://www.whenthefunstops.co.uk/](http://www.whenthefunstops.co.uk/)

</comment><comment><USER11> > There will definitely be economic harm, and games companies will have to > figure something out to fill the monetary gap.

Regulation painted as 'economic harm' is hard to defend in an industry that's been around a long time without these kinds of practices being so widespread, and so user-hostile, that regulators are actually starting to care.

Games companies long ago figured out how to fill the monetary gap -- sell a game for money. The transaction is straightforward, transparent, and aligned with the expectations most people have for most goods and services exchanges.

What that kind of traditional transaction does _not_ lend itself to is changing the contractual arrangement _after_ the exchange (to the purchaser's disadvantage), or to orchestrate a situation where the vendor can continually identify, manipulate, and abuse the weaknesses of the purchaser.

<comment><USER12> I think the difference with games now is that the expectations are much higher - games cost far more to produce than they used to, and are much more complex and have better graphics, so it is harder to recoupe development costs by selling a game at an upfront cost, especially when the expectation is that a game should cost $60 or less. Maybe we need to change our expectations of how much a good game should be worth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> The lootbox mechanic can be easily disguised without making it seem like gambling: 1.Buy lots in-game currency with cash or grind X hours for it. 2.Buy "A ticket to dungeon Y" with in-game currency. 3.The dungeon has a boss that is essentially a easy to kill walking lootbox. Tada, all gambling regulations bypassed. If you want to play loot-centric games this is your choice. All MMOs that revolve around items and loot will bypass the "lootbox" ban with a system as described above or better. (for the record, this system is actually in widespread use in Asia-based MMOs)

<comment><USER14> So.. single-use dungeon tickets are gambling too?

<comment><USER15> Game Publisher:

Oh no, We wouldn't dream of having gambling in our game! That's why we don't have single-use dungeon tickets (which is just gambling with one extra step between).

You can do our dungeons as many times as you want, they aren't single use. Of course doing a dungeon run costs five purple crystals, which costs five bucks. After an epic story focused (cut-scenes that you can skip) showdown with a boss (that you can take down in one attack) you get random loot from a loot table, just like in good old games like Diablo (functionally the same as a lootbox).

Of course, the fact that it works out to 5 bucks for a random item is not gambling, since we now have __two __steps instead of just one.

<comment><USER16> In both WoW and Diablo2 doing instas required nothing but the game itself (for WoW it was the monthly subscription, for Diablo2 it was a one time purchase).

Of course, if there's a freemium model, it's very hard to argue that it's not gambling, if people buy in-game-something to speed up grinding.

But in that regard simply wasting time for a low-probability-drop item is also gambling.

The problem is that in the direct microtransaction lootbox model there's just an insane feedback loop, to get that nice knife/gun/armor/breastplate.

It should be treated like addiction - which it is. People like to play hazard games, so gambling will be with us forever, and some people will not be able to handle the accompanying mental draw to that dopaminergic feedback loop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I still haven't heard anyone take on physical vs digital card games as part of this. Typically cards are sold in random 'packs' (see Hearthstone, Gwent and Valves 'up and coming' card game) which should fall under this definition. But blind card packs (Magic the Gathering, Pokemon) physically are not banned by any government, nor, have I ever heard them talked about in the same umbrella as gambling?

<comment><USER18> Last time this topic was discussed I saw a very similar question so I had a theory: What if physical card packs is such a small market that government have simply not noticed enough to care to regulate it. I then went and look up the numbers and checked. If I recall right:

Magic the Gathering and Pokemon sat around $500k in realy global market sales. Sport cards a few millions. Game with lootboxes is estimated around a half a billion. Regular gambling estimated around $400 billions.

This make in my view a rather simple answer why Magic the Gathering might not be a big concern for government but why regular gambling really is and why loot boxes currently sit in the middle. To simplify: 1x, 1000x, 1000000x.

<comment><USER9> Yeah, but the question is: is gambling ramping up at the same rate as games with lootboxes?

Also, gambling is usually restricted, either by location or by age. Are games with lootboxes 18+?

<comment><USER19> I think the big reason that Magic never ramped up so much is because of the fact that it's a physical pack. You can only buy however much is in stock (at most) and even when you order a booster box or fat pack online, it still has a delay before it arrives. With the online model it's really easy to just keep pulling the lever over and over again and getting an instant response.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Maybe nit-picky, but this is one place (the title here I'm talking about) a properly choosen dash would've saved me a couple seconds or so. When I was reading this, I thought first to myself, what is a crap-loot box, only to understand later that the endash there stood for a semicolon. But endash is for word pairs (i.e. black--white, on--of); here, an emdash would be more appropriate.

<comment><USER21> There's nothing wrong per se with using the dash, at least if you get the spacing right. If you use a dash as a punctuation you should either use spaces or - as you said - the correct glyph.

<comment><USER20> I'd say otherwise. It's not like it's really important here, but in a book, that would be a very bright sign of amateurishness to me. Just like with sans serif dotless `i', `n' and `m' the only difference is not the number of the loops, the same with the hyphen, endash and emdash, they mean different things. Hyphen compounds words or breaks them across the line break, endash connects them in logical relations, and an emdash can stand for a colon or a pair of parantheses, indicating a subordinate clause that serves as an aside, generally. When these are mixed up, parsing the text becomes harder. It's not much of a trouble here in an internet title, but when this kinds of misuse appear in a long, difficult period in some rather complex text, it can end up consuming too much time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I found myself spending so much cash in Dota 2 loot boxes... It's very addictive. Yet I wasn't opening those boxes to grab something valuable in order to make money out of it, and that's probably where the use of the word "gambling" is confusing people.

I was just looking for those ultra-rare unique cosmetics in order to feel good and unique as well. There is a social dimension to this problem, if Dota 2 was a solo game, I wouldn't have spent a dime on cosmetics.

</comment><comment><USER23> The same arguments could apply to physical card packs (e.g. MtG cards) sold at tabletop gaming stores. Yet nobody seems to mind there?

<comment><USER24> But card packs are random at least. The very rarest card will be equally rare for every buyer, any time. Loot boxes can be much worse than gambling on a random number generator: game servers know the inventory of a player and can tailor box contents to always keep the inventory close to one of the many thresholds that are usually designed into game rules. Maybe some operators are voluntarily staying away from these dark patterns, maybe using them could theoretically get you into legal trouble, but it would be very difficult to prove anything.

Basically my point is this: it can be perfectly reasonable to allow one form of gambling-like transactions where it is easy to ensure that the house is playing fair while outlawing a superficially similar one were making sure that the house is not cheating would require enormous regulations and oversight efforts.

<comment><USER25> Couldn't you prove operators were doing it by running a large number of accounts, checking the distribution of inventory and figuring out what the likelihood of distributions?

<comment><USER24> How many non-free transactions would you be willing to pay for?

Ps: Also, a manipulative pretend-random drop function could easily be made to adhere to defined overall droprates without sacrificing any individual manipulation. Detecting "bad luck" that only strikes when the system detects willingness to keep rolling the dice until some local goal is achieved would not be easy even with a complete dataset.

<comment><USER25> I agree the non-free transactions thing is a problem, however some organizations might be willing to do it as part of an investigation?

However for the second point, given what I know about programming as a discipline, I'm not sure that the probable bad actors have gone through a lot of effort to hide their gaming of the system, or that if they have made the effort to make said function that it actually works as envisioned and does not leave its own telltale traces.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> > Regulations that tightly restrict or absolutely prohibit loot boxes will > definitely hurt the gaming industry and will hurt, perhaps even fatally, > games I love.

Maybe actually charge for the game that companies used to?

I hate free 2 play games because I am a whale and I know it. When I get hooked I can easily pay hundres of dollars of digital shit. Much more than I would ever have if I had just purchased the game.

Fuck loot boxes and fuck companies trying to defend the practice.

<comment><USER4> I agree with this. I wish more consumers would pressure game companies into practices like CD Project RED displays. Those fellas keep some integrity in the industry.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> Hey uh, I don't do a lot of mobile gaming, but what's a loot box and why should I care if it's gambling or not?

<comment><USER28> A loot box is specifically an item that can be purchased in-game that offers a random reward, typically from a loot table and with set odds known only to the game maker. They come in many forms; one of the most obvious is found in Overwatch right now, typically awarded to the player after they level up in game. Overwatch's loot box animation is _very_ pretty. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdB17umeKB0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdB17umeKB0)

If this sounds kind of familiar, it's because a similar concept exists in many Arcades already, in the form of capsule machines. Japanese Gashapon are the oft-cited inspiration, but countless variations on this idea exist. Here in South Texas, they're a common sight in grocery stores and restaurants. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gashapon)

On their own, random rewards in a video game sound tame, but where this gets questionably ethical are games which (a) accept real money for in-game purchases, and (b) offer loot-boxes as an in-game purchase. This enables game players to pay real money to receive a random reward, and it's not hard to draw comparisons to real life slot machines. Unlike real-life gambling though, loot boxes have been popping up in games that are often targeted towards minors, making the issue even more complicated. I won't weigh in on the issue here, I just wanted to try to clarify what they _are_.

<comment><USER29> I think Overwatch is a bad example because you can't turn the loot into real money. Valve's games are a better example because you can sell the loot directly through Steam -- in some cases for hundreds of dollars.

<comment><USER30> Overwatch is also a bad (good) example because the developers have a policy where only cosmetic items are available through the loot boxes, while all gameplay features are free for everyone.

Many other loot box games offer items that increase player power or change gameplay in loot boxes. For example, the prerelease version of Star Wars Battlefront 2 (2017) had a backlash because of items such as "Deal 30% more damage with ship blasters." Other games may have items such as "Deal 20% more damage, but reduce health by 30%" which open up additional strategic options.

<comment><USER28> Right, Overwatch is a relatively tame example where it _starts_ to feel potentially manipulative. I forgot about the Battlefront scandal, that's a bit more obviously bad. Again here, the presence of random boosts isn't inherently a bad thing, but making them purchasable is already questionable ("pay to win") and putting them in real-money loot boxes is certainly sketchy ("pay to win _but only sometimes_ ")

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> >> The loot box mechanism is straightforward: you buy a box for a fixed price, and you receive a random reward. Some rewards are commonplace and low value; others are rare and high value. So far, so gambling: these essential features are found in roulette, slot machines, betting on horses, raffles, and lotteries.

Er. And Magic: the Gathering booster packs.

Does that mean I have a gambling problem then? Because I had hoped that despite my M:tG habit [1], I was not really-really a gambler.

____________

[1] And let's not discuss my DnD etc RPG habit. I flip cards and roll dice way too much for someone who sincerely thinks she's not into games of chance.

<comment><USER32> The psych people I've talked to explain it as a rule of thumb "If it's not a problem, it's not a problem".

Say you feel you need to wear a hat made of marshmallow. Is that a problem? Well, is it? For example if you lost your job because of the hat, that's a problem. If you spend so much on marshmallow hats that you can't afford your rent, that's a problem. If you killed somebody's dog because it tried to eat your hat, that's a problem, and so on.

If you spend money on MTG and enjoy it even if it's $5000 per week that could be fine, psychologically at least, if it didn't cause you or others to suffer. But if you find you're ruining your life, or other people's to buy cards, even if it's just $50 of cards per month then that's a gambling problem.

<comment><USER31> I think that's what people (used to?) call "ego-dystonic" situations (?). I like the zen of the particular wording you give.

<comment><USER32> I think the idea is that in an ego-dystonic illness _you_ know this is a problem, and in other mental illnesses other people have spotted it's a problem but you can't/ won't.

For example starving yourself to death is definitely a problem, but body-image mental health illness that causes it usually leave the sufferer unable to recognise this consequence of their actions.

<comment><USER31> Cheers. Should have bothered to look it up :0

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Related: China already regulates loot boxes in games:

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/2/15517962/china-new-law- dot...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/2/15517962/china-new-law-dota-league- of-legends-odds-loot-box-random)

</comment><comment><USER34> Loot boxes work by having a list of items with weighted probabilities adding up to 1, and what you buy is getting one or more of those items at random.

The way the weighted probabilities list is constructed changes from implementation to implementation.

The prevalent one so far is "box gacha", the spiritual successor to "complete gacha". The latter is now banned in Japan and the rest are somehow regulated.

The motivations are many. First, it distributes large payments over smaller payments making people lose control over their spending. Then, it complicates people's perception of how expensive an item is.

In a sense, lottery games are the same in spirit. For example, what's the probability of getting an arbitrary unique combination of 6 numbers out of 49 (lottery)? Very, very low. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_mathematics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lottery_mathematics)

In mobile, they're usually coupled with "events" that have a leaderboard. Events are actually auctions were people "play" (bid) for a better place in the leaderboard. The rewards are usually not worth it, because through successive updates they're made worthless (e.g.: stats inflation).

</comment><comment><USER35> I much prefer how Epic Games have done this with Fortnite. And by all accounts their method is raking in a LOT of cash.

All cosmetic items only, but you purchase the exact item you want directly. The items are a little more expensive than you might expect (I think on average $4-10 each) and it includes skins, different "axes" to break objects, different dances and different "gliders" that you fly into the game on.

It's quite fun, but also totally unnecessary and you only spend money on exactly what you want - no random chance.

On top of the fact that it's a free to play game in the first place, and you can also get quite a wide range of skins, axes and dances (10s of them) by playing to complete the battle pass which is only about $10 or so per season. Plus there are a few freebies even if you pay nothing, and some you can get from linking to Twitch Prime, etc.

I think this is winning partly because it is fun (the skins are quite comedic) but also just because you know what you're getting. By comparison I spent about $10 on keys for PUBG and stopped because I just got useless crap that isn't really exciting - they're just basic clothing items. Even the rarer items aren't as exciting which doesn't help but the chance of getting one is quite low.

The thing Epic/Fortnite have done to make them sell more (compared to the random chance) is that there is <10 items for sale per day for 24 hours, after 24 hours the set changes and you may not be able to buy that item again (though in practice many returns a few days or weeks later, you can't be certain). So instead of random chance gambling they're capitalising on missing out / time limited offers. Plus there's a constant influx of new items so instead of wasting time gambling for that ultra rare item - instead you can keep up with whats newer and cooler.

<comment><USER36> Fwiw, PUBG loot boxes are not game play impacting; they are cosmetic only. If you don't want that "chance", you could just buy the specific item you'd like on the Steam store from other players. You may even sell unopened boxes (which require a key) there.

Sauce: [https://www.finder.com.au/playerunknowns-battlegrounds- will-...](https://www.finder.com.au/playerunknowns-battlegrounds-will-never- have-pay-to-win-items)

<comment><USER37> So what you're saying is that there's a variable real world amount of monetary value that you could win determined solely on the random outcome of a loot box. Sounds exactly like gambling. If someone spent $5 on a chance to win either a marmot, a squirrel, a fancy coat, or a golden banjo and the rarity of winning those depended upon their real world value, it would still be gambling. The only difference with loot boxes is that their real world value is determined by their rarity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> > "Loot boxes work like gambling, and they're designed like gambling. They're > designed to provoke compulsive reward-seeking behavior."

Just because A has some properties of B doesn't mean that A is B.

I think both gambling and loot-boxes could be categorized as subsets of the set of things that are "compulsive reward-seeking behavior".

<comment><USER39> Gambling is defined as the activity of playingva game for stakes or betting on an uncertain outcome.

Playing poker for matchsticks is just as much gambling as playing poker for a $50k pot. The only thing changing is the stakes of the gamble.

<comment><USER40> Is monopoly gambling? Where buying property is betting on the uncertain outcome of someone landing there later, and the stakes are playmoney or the honors of winning?

<comment><USER41> To argue that monopoly for playmoney is "gambling" is sophism. When one talks about gambling the bet is for real money (or other tokens with real monetary value). Playing roulette "for honors" would not be gambling either, it would be just playing. The argument you make is sophistic because you are focusing on the word gambling instead of seeing the real issue - that gambling for real money can cause addiction and worse. A random number generator is taking chances all the time, but it is not gambling for money until you connect the outcomes to real money.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> This sort of thing is going to keep happening, and not _just_ because game publishers are greedy bastards.

These days, it's very, very difficult to make a profit on a AAA game at only $60 a pop, but if anyone tries to raise that price the fans will cry bloody murder. So publishers are desperately trying to find ways to make up the difference. Cosmetic sales, DLC packs, loot boxes, anything. Making loot boxes illegal doesn't fix the problem; it just pushes it somewhere else.

Source, among others: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhWGQCzAtl8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhWGQCzAtl8)

</comment><comment><USER43> There was an discussion on HN about this recently when Belgium prohibited loot boxes

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16929119](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16929119)

</comment><comment><USER44> Most games contain calculated random rewards or else the game would be boring and predictable. However to call this gambling it's quite a stretch as you can't cash out. Whoever decided to make those "boxes" look like slot machines spinning brought it upon themselves.

<comment><USER45> Even if you can't trade the items (and you often can), they have a _perceived value,_ and often a hard cash market value. A value that is frequently over- promoted by the game to encourage purchase of more premium currency by the naive to buy more boxes.

I can't distinguish a loot box from a scratch card -- except a scratch card must reveal odds.

I'm old-school in terms of paying for games: £xx for a complete game, £x for a month's access as they provide a _known_ value exchange. Doubly so when it's the underage being _sold_ to. My kids learnt never to ask - my answer was always no. Lootboxes and other variable rewards, time unlocks and so forth are just a piss-take driven by sheer greed of the GameCo that's ruined many games.

<comment><USER46> > I can't distinguish a loot box from a scratch card -- except a scratch card > must reveal odds.

A lot of problem gamblers get in a bad way because they think that the only way to recoup their losses is by continuing to play until they win.

If you can't sell loot for cash, then it can't lead to this same kind of problem gambling because it's literally impossible to recoup your losses instead of merely unlikely. Therefore lootboxes should be regulated differently from actual gambling if at all.

<comment><USER45> > A lot of problem gamblers get in a bad way ... by continuing to play until > they win

The why does not matter. By removing that part of your text the behaviour applies equally to both.

Whether it is about recouping losses, or desiring the "ownership" of some pixels the same addictive behaviours are at work, and the same problems and financial losses can accrue.

Game companies employ psychologists and economists to try and ensure addictiveness - giving you a meaningless "almost a winner" tickets with 2 of 3 required tokens etc

> If you can't sell loot for cash

In a good proportion of games you _can_ sell the loot for cash. Via Steam Marketplace and so on.

They deserve the same regulation and age limits as fixed odds betting terminals and fruit machines as that is essentially what they are.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> There was outrage from the "gamer community" in Sweden a few years back when Swedish gambling authority wanted to regulate "Internet Cafes".

I guess the line between games and gambling wasnt so clear cut after all.

Disgusting. This needs to be rooted out completely from the gaming industry.

</comment><comment><USER48> Got to raise the question here: following this argumentation, aren't collectible card games like Magic The Gathering also to be considered gambling?

</comment><comment><USER49> When I was a kid, we'd buy packs of unknown Pokemon cards hoping for a shiny. I wouldn't consider that gambling.

</comment><comment><USER50> Gambling is gambling, loot box is loot box, I think we should not spending time on arguing the definition, but instead limit loot box as what we do with gambling.

New stuff come with new rules, may sound more resealable.

<comment><USER51> Here's the definition of a "lottery" under the uk gambling act "(2)An arrangement is a simple lottery if— (a)persons are required to pay in order to participate in the arrangement, (b)in the course of the arrangement one or more prizes are allocated to one or more members of a class, and (c)the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance."

There is also a complex lottery where the process begins with chance. This covers things like scratchcards where you choose which things to scratch off but which card you are given, and what is printed on the card is governed by chance.

[http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/14](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/14)

Lotteries are one of 3 forms of gambling covered by this regulation, so in the uk at least it seems pretty obvious that lootboxes are gambling from a legal point of view. Lotteries are permitted for people older than 16 in the UK but it's an offence to allow a "child" (someone younger than 16 in this law) to participate ([http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/56](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/19/section/56))

It's also an offence if your company to manufacture, supply, install or adapt gambling software without a license. So they could be liable from that point of view also, in the UK at least.

edit: clarify one bit of wording

<comment><USER52> > and (c)the prizes are allocated by a process which relies wholly on chance."

This part sounds leaky to me. Game producers might assign prizes which are based e.g. 99% on chance and 1% on skill.

<comment><USER32> The law calls that a complex lottery. But it's still a lottery, and the UK law on lotteries is very simple: No for-profit lotteries.

You can (and at least two big companies do) make money from operating a lottery on behalf of a charity, but you can't run a lottery where the profits themselves go somewhere other than a "good cause" such as a charity. And the UK has tighter regulation than the US of charities so it's harder to have a "charity" that basically just puts money into your own pockets.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER53> I personally would say it's only gambling if there is a trading system so that you might trade for money (even if it's outside the official platform).</comment>


Show HN: Cluvio – A new cloud analytics platform based on SQL and R - <AUTHOR> https://www.cluvio.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hey, I'm Marius, one of the founders of Cluvio.

Cluvio allows you to run SQL queries against your database, visualize the results as beautiful dashboards and share these dashboards within your company.

We have integrated an R engine in the pipeline, so you can run custom R script on the sql results to get combined power of SQL and R.

After working on Cluvio for 18 months, we launch today and would love to hear your feedback.

Please use 'hacker-news-discount' when signing up to get a 30% discount for the first three months.

<comment><USER2> The market for data visualization tools is crowded and has gotten very competitive in the past year. Specifically, how does Cluvio compare to Microsoft PowerBI? That also (already) has support for R, supports many more data sources, seems to be more polished/mature, and is a lot less expensive, it even has a free desktop version.

<comment><USER3> I was curious and hadn't heard about PowerBI before, so I checked the site just now.

Some obvious differences: PowerBI is priced per user, so it can get expensive fast (assuming you need the pro features). Also, there doesn't appear to be a cloud version of PowerBI so you'd be managing it yourself. PowerBI doesn't support AWS Redshift or Aurora. And unless I'm mistaken, PowerBI desktop is Windows-only.

<comment><USER2> You should read a bit further, I think only your last assumption is correct: there is indeed no desktop client for Mac, so you have to use Windows to design dashboards/reports. There are web, native windows, android and ios interactive report viewers. With a single paid license you can publish to the cloud and make reports available to anyone, even embed it in a website or app. There's even a Redshift connector in preview.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> We're playing with Google Data Studio, which has Google Spreadsheets and BigQuery support. How does this differ, assuming these integrations will be supported in the future?

<comment><USER5> I am not too familiar with all capabilities of the Google Data Studio, but from what I know they take a bit more the Tableau approach to defining data sources as results of queries (BigData, MySQL) or sheets data.

I'd say Cluvio would be a bit more fun to use for anyone who knows SQL, the ability to quickly iterate through sql queries to nail down the exact results is quite addictive. Plus the additional capabilities of R make it even more productive for lots of harder cases.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Under "Features" is 'Database Almanach' supposed to read 'Almanac' (no 'h')?

<comment><USER5> Thanks for the report - I actually noticed from spell checker (not being a native speaker) the other day that 'almanach' is not the most common spelling, but it is listed as an alternate spelling on wikipedia, so unless it obviously comes across as a typo we'd keep it (to perhaps make it sound more like a DnD spellbook ;-) )

<comment><USER7> I think 'almanack' would be more recognizably 'almanac' from an English speaker's viewpoint (e.g. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Richard%27s_Almanack](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Richard%27s_Almanack)), and still preserve that 'fantasy' vibe

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've already suggested this as a replacement for my company's Informatica/Salesforce/Custom reporting setup, which is a huge, confusing, and time-consuming mess, for something that's really not business critical. Looks to be a great balance of simplicity and power.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks :)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Please feel free to also join the discussion on Product Hunt: [https://www.producthunt.com/tech/cluvio](https://www.producthunt.com/tech/cluvio)

</comment><comment><USER9> nicely done, hope it works out as a business for youse guise

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Plans for MS Sql Server support soon?

<comment><AUTHOR> It is planned, yes. We will add support for additional databases based on the demand of our customers, so you becoming one would likely make it happen earlier :)

<comment><USER11> That's a weird statement for people who need mssql support.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Is this basically Mode for R?

<comment><USER13> I have a lot of experience with Chartio and Mode.

I looked at the demo video, it didn't appear to allow embedding of anything that R would output but rather just appended data that was manipulated within R back to the output of the original query.

Mode has python notebook integrated and can read in your queries as datasets and then embed whatever you render from python. You cannot modify the original data of the query within the python notebook and then use mode's stock visualizations from the data you created in python.

This is a pretty big difference between the two if I'm understanding it correctly.

The GUI/Dashboarding of this looks way better than mode.

I'm curious how Cluvio supports filters such as drop down menus, filters based on dynamic queries (vs. hardcoded), and supporting drop down filters with multi select. (Mode does these things very poorly, chartio does them pretty well).

<comment><USER5> Very good points.

Re: the R output - for us the R script is an optional step on the data pipeline, it can be either of these 2:

SQL Query -> (data table) -> visualisation SQL Query -> (data table) -> R script -> (data table) -> visualisation

i.e. the R step is injected, takes data as input and produces data (in the form of data.frame, vector of values or primitive values) as output.

Re: the filters. We support time-based filters very well with a nice UI (custom time ranges, time ranges relative to today, additional comparison time range). Custom value filters are currently in beta and once launched (in couple weeks) will support multi-select as well as values based on dynamic queries.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Do you guys offer on-premise deployment?

<comment><AUTHOR> At the moment we are a pure software as a service and do not support on- premise installation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> So which RDBMS do you guys support?

<comment><USER5> At the moment we fully support Postgres, AWS Redshift, MySQL/MariaDB, AWS Aurora. More to come as we see demand (comment here please!)</comment></comment>


Researchers document first case of Covid-19 reinfection - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/world/covid-19-coronavirus.html <comment><USER2> While the patient was infected with mild symptoms the first time he showed no systems the second time. Also no mention if the virus was still contagious in the patient.

How is it with other vaccines? Do you see a small infection before the immune response overwhelms it?

<comment><USER3> You sometimes do. This is known to be common with the flu vaccine for example. But as the article mentions, we'd always expect a few rare cases of reinfection even if people do in general have long-lasting immunity. So while it's always good to experimentally confirm things, this observation is doubly unsurprising.</comment></comment>


Progress 59 ISS Resupply ship malfunctions, docking postponed indefinitely - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/04/28/russias-progress-59-iss-resupply-ship-malfunctions-tumbles-through-space/ <comment><USER2> If it is spinning how does the video feed work? Wouldn't the antenna be spinning wildly as well?

<comment><USER3> You can actually see the video feed blip out once per revolution. I assume it's because the transmitter is briefly pointing away from the receiver.

<comment><USER2> Yeah noticed, but I was suprised it wasn't actually completely black but with just quick flash of an image once in a while.

<comment><USER3> Yeah. The coverage area of the transmitter must be massive.

<comment><USER4> Or the antenna is always mostly in the direction of earth, and the spin (from the point of view of the earth) just has the antenna describe a circle.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> [http://imgur.com/pp1xoJI](http://imgur.com/pp1xoJI) Notice the massive drop in propellant on board during orbit 1 and 3.

<comment><USER6> From "The Guardian" live feed:

"JSpOC, located at Vandenberg air force base in California, also says there are 44 pieces of debris in the vicinity of the cargo vehicle and part of the rocket body."

I'm speculating then that it got nailed by something. With the large drop in propellant as you noted, maybe something nailed a pressurized tank? That could punch a hole in it, and maybe the resulting thrust from the tank is what drove it's spin.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Interesting video clip of it going around and around. As NASA points out these have been pretty reliable so the occasional failure isn't a big deal, but the the unstated issue is that these things are in an orbital plane to intercept the ISS, which one doesn't want to do if you don't have control given the MIR experience. Presumably they will be able to either permanently abort it through a de-orbit burn or find another way to keep it out of the way.

<comment><USER7> What's MIR experience?

<comment><USER8> "Progress M-34 was a Russian unmanned cargo spacecraft which was launched in 1997 to resupply the Mir space station, and which subsequently collided with Mir during a docking attempt, resulting in significant damage to the space station."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_M-34](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_M-34)

Edit. Some more detail here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir#Shuttle.E2.80.93Mir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir#Shuttle.E2.80.93Mir) and here: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir#Accidents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir#Accidents)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> > _Progress 59 was carrying "more than three tons of food, fuel, and supplies > for the space station crew, including 1,940 pounds of propellant, 110 pounds > of oxygen, 926 pounds of water, and 3,128 pounds of spare parts, supplies > and scientific experiment hardware," NASA said._

(1940 + 110 + 926 + 3128) = 6104 lb = 2771 kg = 3.054 short tons.

If any U.S. agency is in desperate need of converting to the metric system, it's NASA. Remember the Mars Climate Orbiter? [1] As long as there is at least one person in the general vicinity of NASA who does not habitually use the metric system, that can happen again.

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

<comment><USER10> I'm having trouble figuring out the intent of your post. Are you confused about the conversion factor with pounds and tons (it's 2), or are you taking the opportunity to snark about something unrelated?

Edit: Wait did you seriously convert pounds to kilograms to _short_ tons? That's like going from meters to feet to kilometers.

<comment><USER11> Isn't a ton = 1000 kg, if so, why is this 3.054 and not 2.771 tons?

<comment><USER12> A "short" ton == 2000lb

A metric ton (aka "tonne") == 1000kg

And in fact 6104 / 2000 = 3.052, so OP lost a few lbs in the conversion process as well.

<comment><USER11> Interesting - Wikipedia tells me that, "In the United Kingdom the ton is defined as 2,240 pounds (1,016 kg)" \- so an imperial "ton" is _almost_ 1000 kg there.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Budgee.me – Your budget buddy, a small tool o create budgets - <AUTHOR> https://budgee.me <comment><AUTHOR> budgee.me is a small tool to help you create and keep personal budgets by showing how much you have left to spend each day within budget period.

I have been working on this tool for a while and would love to get some feedback on it, it works really good for me and for how I intend to use it, but it would be cool to see how it can be improved further.</comment>


Cloud companies consider Intel rivals after security flaws found - <AUTHOR> https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-microchips-cloud/cloud-companies-consider-intel-rivals-after-security-flaws-found-idUSKBN1EZ1A4 <comment><USER2> The Intel flaw exposed something interesting:

We could get a >50% performance boost by ignoring security.

Think about that. 1.5x - 2x boost, on a single core. That's like doubling a CPU's clock speed, except more powerful since it involves caching memory (which is usually the bottleneck, not raw horsepower).

What would the TempleOS of CPUs look like, I wonder?

We ought to have the option of running workloads on such CPUs. Yes, they're completely compromised, but if you're running a game server you really don't have to care very much. Most data is ephemeral, and the data that isn't, isn't usually an advantage to know.

Being able to run twice the workload as your competitors on a single core is a big advantage. You saw what happened when performance suddenly dropped thanks to the patch.

<comment><USER3> This brings to mind articles and discussions I read in the early 90s about differences in performance between running in real (or "unreal") mode and protected mode --- yes, the extra permission checks, paging, segmentation, etc. definitely add some overhead:

[https://groups.google.com/d/topic/comp.lang.asm.x86/YbQJ_m0d...](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/comp.lang.asm.x86/YbQJ_m0dDUg)

Thus they decided to do permissions checking in parallel with other operations, leading to Spectre. It's interesting to note that the original intent of protected mode was not as a real secure "security feature" immune from all attacks, but more to provide some isolation to guard against accidents and expand the available address space. The entire Win9x series of OSs embody this principle.

 _What would the TempleOS of CPUs look like, I wonder?_

x86 running in unreal mode might be close. I wonder if anyone has done any benchmarking of recent x86 CPUs in that mode...

<comment><USER4> > Thus they decided to do permissions checking in parallel with other > operations, leading to Spectre

No. Leading to Meltdown. Spectre is fundamental to the way we approached any speculative execution until now.

<comment><USER5> Any idea what will be the solution? Keep more speculative data in the pipeline? Performance penalties on security faults? Complex rollback?

<comment><USER6> you could certainly extend the unused transactional support to do a chandy- lamport thing, with the difference that when you run out of space isolated cache versions, you just can't speculate any more.

it would be a lot of machinery

you could also do latency hiding with smt instead of trying to fight it head- on with speculation. ultimately probably more productive, but either the compiler or the programming model or the user has to expose that concurrency.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> We just had tech sales folks from major hardware vendor approach us with a pitch to strongly consider AMD EPYC based servers for our next compute purchase. They highlighted

* Value for money

* memory performance on inter core access

* more memory channels per core

* still within x86 ISA negating the need for any Se rewrites.

Our workloads are memory access bound. So the above points hit home.

We're going to try AMD servers for the first time at this research group. If they do hold the promise, intel finally got some active competition in our realm!

</comment><comment><USER8> If you weren't considering Intel alternatives before this, I'd argue that's a real failure of imagination and risk management. I'm sure some of the really small cloud providers weren't, but all the big players keep tabs on the path to and pain of migration, at a minimum. Just because they weren't actually using PowerPC/ARM/AMD does not mean they did not know how.

<comment><USER9> Are PowerPC and ARM real alternatives? Most server software is developed for x86 only, if you only offer ARM and PowerPC machines, who will be your clients?

<comment><USER10> A lot of server software is actually open source and runs on most commonly available hardware architectures, including ARM and PPC. You are right that everybody develops assuming x86, though, and there is some friction in that transition regardless of software portability.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I've been wondering if this will be the thing that brings a wave of new users to open source RISC-V chips, starting a virtuous cycle of new chip development and then more users for those new chips.

[https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/09/0019212/linux-n...](https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/17/10/09/0019212/linux- now-has-its-first-open-source-risc-v-processor)

</comment><comment><USER12> Qualcomm Falkor (ARMv8 AArch64) vs Intel Broadwell and Skylake

[https://blog.cloudflare.com/arm-takes-wing/](https://blog.cloudflare.com/arm- takes-wing/)

Multicore AVX512 lowers the frequency

 _The Qualcomm CPU only has the 128-bit wide NEON SIMD, while Broadwell has 256-bit wide AVX2, and Skylake has 512-bit wide AVX-512. This explains the huge lead Skylake has over both in single core performance. In the all-cores benchmark the Skylake lead lessens, because it has to lower the clock speed when executing AVX-512 workloads. When executing AVX-512 on all cores, the base frequency goes down to just 1.4GHz---keep that in mind if you are mixing AVX-512 and other code._

</comment><comment><USER13> Though not an unquestionable and not ultimately reliable one, using comparably rare hardware and software usually is a valid security measure. Now as Linux has gained solid market share the "no viruses for Linux" era comes to its end and Linux-capable ransomware is emerging I am considering moving to OpenBSD not only because security is among the top priorities of its design but because it's a way more exotic too.

</comment><comment><USER14> I hope this will give RISC-V a boost also, more competition from more vendors is what the CPU market need.

</comment><comment><USER15> I don't think throwing intel out entirely is a solution, but rather, diversification. What if there later comes out another vulnerability granting arbitrary code exec given a specific bytestring in memory, which only intel processors are immune to? Better to have as many as possible of as many _different_ CPUs as possible. Just like, e.g. backblaze has done with HDD manufacturers.

<comment><USER16> That could be a nightmare to maintain, and also garanties the opposite. Everytime there is a CPU exploit, you will be hit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Enter Itanium.

I mean, we know they are all saying "arm" and "amd" both as negotiating tactic as well as strategically diversifying microarchitectures. That said, I'm not sure it's like amd can deliver more instructions per second per dollar.

I wonder if it would make sense for some loads to prepare for Itanium usage, or even older Atom architectures? Does any one deploy Itanium in the cloud?

<comment><USER18> It's worth noting that only pre-2013 Itanium CPUs are not vulnerable to meltdown (The same as with Atom CPUs). Intel has also said that the Itanium chips released in 2017 would be the last Itanium chips they will develop, so I don't think there's any reason to bother switching to Itanium. I would wager it's guaranteed you'll be better-off with the latest AMD instead of a 2013 Itanium, and AMD supports x86-64 so it doesn't require making your full software stack support Itanium (Which it likely doesn't).

<comment><USER19> > and AMD supports x86-64

I am sure you didn't mean it this way, but it struck me as funny saying AMD supports x86-64. Of course AMD supports x86-64, they invented it. That is why Microsoft and Linux refer to that architecture as AMD64.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64#History_2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64#History_2)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Aren't ARM processors are vulnerable to some of the same security flaws? What are the alternatives? AMD got lucky in a sense but the reality is you can't be on any one horse.

<comment><USER21> AMD is no more lucky than ARM, though Intel was 'unlucky': Spectre affects Intel, AMD, and ARM alike, while Meltdown Intel CPUs disproportionately (AMD and ARM CPUs have been _mostly_ unaffected by it).

<comment><USER18> That's not entirely accurate. There are a lot of ARM CPUs that are not vulnerable to Spectre, and that includes a lot of them that are in use in actual devices. For example, my phone happens to use a Cortex-A53, which is not vulnerable. It is however easy to miss this detail from their 'security update' [0] because the table doesn't list CPUs that aren't affected.

Also, I don't believe the single ARM CPU that's vulnerable to meltdown (Cortex-A75) has actually been included in any devices at this point, so for now it is safe to assume any ARM-based device you have is not vulnerable to meltdown.

[0] [https://developer.arm.com/support/security- update](https://developer.arm.com/support/security-update)

<comment><USER22> I believe Apple's ARM CPUs are vulnerable to Meltdown.

<comment><USER23> Not the Watch though. Apple, as expected, hasn't said why.

<comment><USER24> Probably because its a much simpler core like all the other chips that are immune. It simply doesn't do the the logic that would get the chip in trouble.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Did Intel said WHEN this is fixed in hardware? Or are we supposed to buy this hardware bug in the next generations???

<comment><USER26> There won't be a hardware fix, you can't patch CPUs (aside from microcode which is just more software). Since this is a pretty fundamental issue wit how certain things work, yes, you'll have to wait for a new generation, and I couldn't expect anything in less than a year at the absolute earliest. It's a multi-year process from design to tape-out and fabrication. Honestly, I'm not sure how far back in the design process fixing this will take, it is something that can be added in as permanent microcode after fabrication/during packaging? Can current designs be "patched" before moving on to tape out? Do we need to go back to square one and rethink a couple key premises? I don't know. But it's not quick.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> For what it's worth, the power9 servers look great. Not sure if they'll live up to the hype, though.

<comment><USER28> POWER is vulnerable to Spectre. I'm trying to get definitive confirmation that it's affected by Meltdown (firmware notes say yes)

<comment><USER27> I was coming at it more from a "having alternatives is good" comment instead of saying it's not vulnerable to the new problems. The specs look interesting enough to benchmark on, and perhaps if it actually does perform better, then even with patches it will stand out.

<comment><USER28> For those who are curious about POWER, here is the firmware link for a 880.

[https://download4.boulder.ibm.com/sar/CMA/SFA/07d79/0/01SC86...](https://download4.boulder.ibm.com/sar/CMA/SFA/07d79/0/01SC860_138_056.html)

 _In response to recently reported security vulnerabilities, this firmware update is being released to address Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures issue numbers CVE-2017-5715, CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754. Operating System updates are required in conjunction with this FW level for CVE-2017-5753 and CVE-2017-5754_

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> By the way, how secure is GPU programming, when the GPU is accessed by multiple users?

<comment><USER29> Not at all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> the AMD EPYC single socket processors are definitely worth considering, love them

<comment><USER31> Can you explain why, at least briefly?

<comment><USER32> They have vastly more PCIe lanes, which makes them exceptionally suitable for high-density GPU nodes (or, similarly, high-density NVMe storage nodes).

AMD also offers superior value for the money on a per-CPU basis, even after discounts (which both Intel and AMD offer generously). This makes them exceptionally suitable for high-memory nodes.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Thought Google had already ported their services to Power?

</comment><comment><USER34> This is a serious bug;

A website can read data stored in the browser for another website, or the browser's memory itself.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(security_vulnerabilit...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_\(security_vulnerability\))

</comment><comment><USER35> My funniest thought of this whole affair that whatever performance upsizing happens in the front is probably going to be with manufacturer discounts from Intel from Amazon Google complaining and the cloud providers may end up with a windfall in the gap.

</comment><comment><USER36> Apple could start their own cloud servers their CPUs are fast enough. Apple are competitive if you weight in power/performance.

Geekbench scores Apple A11 CPU multi score 10176 Intel Intel Xeon E5-2696 v4, 2 cpu score 82225

Geekbench scores of Intel [https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/5249111](https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/5249111) Geekbench scores of Apple [https://browser.geekbench.com/ios_devices/51](https://browser.geekbench.com/ios_devices/51)

<comment><USER37> Geekbench is not a very good benchmark.</comment></comment>


In SF for 2 days where to meet up with Developers? - <AUTHOR>

I am in San Francisco today and tomorrow afternoon. Whats the best way to meet up with web developers or people who are interested in startups? Let me know thanks! I want to network while I am here for a limited time. <comment><USER2> Try www.meetup.com. Here's a link to an unfiltered list of upcoming meetups in SF:

[http://www.meetup.com/find/events/?allMeetups=true&radius=5&...](http://www.meetup.com/find/events/?allMeetups=true&radius=5&userFreeform=San+Francisco%2C+California%2C+USA&mcId=c94101)

</comment><comment><USER3> You can meet and invite developers for coffee/lunch instantly via [http://LetsLunch.com](http://LetsLunch.com)</comment>


Ask HN: My CV says I'm a job-hopper/quitter, how can I reverse that? - <AUTHOR> My job experience is with 2 startups that failed 4-6 months in, and once got fired after being burnt out.
So on my resume, I look like a job-hopper, and I only have these 3 jobs in my cv, what can I do to let recruiters know that I'm not a quitter?
Here's how it looks:
ListingMirror, United States — Full-Stack Developer July 2017 - October 2017
Mokusio, Dubai — Full-Stack Developer January 2016 - August 2016
Waitron, Lebanon — Full-Stack Developer September 2015 - December 2015
Here's my resume: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HdD6ymKVePDyFFoHstt0TeUKzArhksNJjH1Nn1gNDhM/edit?usp=sharing <comment><USER4> You could just add a small story for each company on the work you did there and add that 2 start-ups failed imo.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hm, where exactly? In the coverletter or somewhere else?

<comment><USER4> Just in your history, e.g. as such:

      Company 1, Location           StartDate - <USER3>
      Role
      I was responsible for implementing an iOS tablet app and
      provided guidance to junior team members. In the end I did
      have to leave the company after x months due to the start-up
      failing.

      Company 2, Location           StartDate - <USER3>
      Role
      ...

You might have to change the layout of your CV a bit. Personally I have the following sections on my CV:

\- Contact Info

\- Professional Experience

\- Education

\- Programming (I should rename it to 'Skills' or something)

\- Certifications

\- Languages

<comment><AUTHOR> Ok, makes sense!

I think I'll do this and ask some recruiter friends of mine about how it looks :)

thanks, maybe I reply here and ask you if it looks good

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Start contracting, and then let your resume show you enjoy contracting. Your previous full-time experience will fall into perspective naturally.

<comment><AUTHOR> I see, thanks for your reply

Is remote contracting a thing?

And if my resume is all contracting work, wouldn't it get harder to get a job as an employee later?

<comment><USER6> > And if my resume is all contracting work, wouldn't it get harder to get a > job as an employee later?

No, not if you have the right skillset/attitude. Been in the biz 30+ years with a good mix of permie and long periods of contract work. Never had any issues switching between the two.

<comment><AUTHOR> I see, thanks for your input. I was a bit concerned about going in on contracting and losing the option to get a job later.</comment></comment></comment></comment>