How do you stop a randomized game from randomly being boring sometimes? - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/05/stellaris-and-strategy-gamings-bad-luck-problem/ <comment><USER3> Discovered a quote from Sid Meier's the other day; he says "A game is a series of interesting choices."

From that perspective, the definition of a game and what constitutes gaming changes dramatically. It undercuts the question here. Preventing a game from being randomly boring is an odd question. A better question might be, how can we keep the player's decision-making interesting, regardless of what is generated? The article says it directly, but misses the golden quote which I think is essential. That quote offers up some really unique ways to define a game too. Very cool.

</comment><comment><USER4> Working on console games, I got out of the habit of using a random number generator directly for anything. I noticed RNGs producing boring events frequently. Instead, I started using a random shuffle to guarantee events aren't repeated before all other events have happened, but it still feels random. There were also cases where I thought random would be good at first, and later discovered that I preferred a simple hard-coded pre-set order repeating in a loop... It would feel random and go unnoticed by most players, but being able to see the pattern allows some players to take advantage. Usually I'd use random to avoid that, but occasionally realized it was okay and actually made that moment in the game more fun.

<comment><USER5> A classic example of this is Tetris, where the official version provides a random permutation of the seven pieces, then another random permutation, etc. This gives you variety and unpredictability while simultaneously guaranteeing that you never go without any particular piece for too long. Many clones just provide pieces purely randomly, which tends to give you a feast or famine situation for useful pieces.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> XCOM2 has a slightly controversial "randomness compensator": repeatedly missing increases your chance to hit, and being hit repeatedly by the aliens lowers their hit chance.

Various games (L4D is the first prominent example, there may be others before it) include "AI directors" that try to keep the player involved through balancing exiting events and periods of tension. This makes it a lot harder to have a "boring" game, or one where you get "unfairly" hammered by the randomness.

In fiction I'd trace this to Asimov's Foundation series, which is premised on "psychohistory" being a sort of fully deterministic fusion of economics and psychology enabling the development of future society to be predicted. Until a few books into the series where the "mule" is introduced, who is an individual powerful and unpredictable enough to throw off the determinism of historical inevitability.

<comment><USER7> > repeatedly missing increases your chance to hit

That's amazing—a logical fallacy as a feature!

<comment><USER8> How is this a logical fallacy ?

Technically you would see the effect of your shot (i.e. too much to the left) and adjust your aim (more to the right).

<comment><USER9> He is referring to the Gambler's Fallacy ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler%27s_fallacy)). That is, the belief that in a series of uncorrelated events, after a long string of losses, you are more likely to have a win.

<comment><USER8> Thanks, I knew about the Gambler's Fallacy, but I really didn't make the connection (also since they are not really uncorrelated... :) )

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This really resonates with me, especially since he mentioned Master of Orion. I grew up with Master of Orion 2 and I can't even make an estimate of how many sessions or hours I played. Another game which I still play actively is Magic: The Gathering. I mention this, because I think the contrast between these two games highlights the subject at hand.

I have experienced more incredible stories unfolding in both MoO2 and MtG than I could possibly remember. Both are games where careful strategy and tactics combined with randomness can lead to some unbelievably epic moments. Here's the thing, though: in MoO2, despite a lot of random events, I can't remember a single time I played a session which wasn't exciting or didn't feel fair. In Magic, this happens routinely. Just Google "mana screw" or "mana flood" for more results than you can read, complaining about randomness leading to boring matches where you, as someone put it, "don't get to play Magic"[1].

I still play Magic on a daily basis, and I still love the game, but I've spent a lot of time damning the frequency of these boring matches and wondering if there was a simple strategy or rule change which would fix this, while still leaving the soul of the game intact.

[1]: [https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/4c2f65/what_funda...](https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/4c2f65/what_fundamental_rules_or_gameplay_problems_does/d1elu5k)

<comment><USER11> Hearthstone fixed this mana issue by having the mana automatically increase by 1 each turn, up to 10. This means that every card you draw will be a spell you can cast or a minion you can play - you at least get to play 'hearthstone' during the match.

<comment><USER12> They also went with 30 card decks (max 2 each card) rather than 60 card decks (max 4 each type) which further reduces variance of hands.

Top-decking is still very real in both games, sometimes you just need that 1 card to win or you'll lose next turn.

<comment><USER13> Unfortunately, Hearthstone's card design has aggressively worked against their randomness-mitigation in the game structure.

In their search for 'dramatic' cards, they've started introducing "triggers on draw" effects, "get a random creature from your deck" effects (maybe it'll cost 2 mana, maybe 10!), and my favorite - "play this card, then shuffle it back, then play it again, then all your creatures become different ones".

The card designers have consistently chosen exciting events over stable gameplay, to the point where it's far more random than MTG.

<comment><USER14> Sure, there are decks where you must pray to RNGesus that you get the effect you're looking for. Those decks will not get you far up the ladder, however. Nearly every player above Rank 10 is using a predictable deck. Elise/map/monkey isn't a game-winning card.

Also, if you're still seeing top decking in Hearthstone, you haven't progressed enough in the ranks to see the long-term players. There is rarely any top decking going on past even rank 15.

<comment><USER13> I definitely haven't gone to the highest ranks of Hearthstone lately - <USER2> wasn't worth fighting up the random parts of the ladder when so many other games exist. I did well with it for a while around the Nax release, then abandoned it because I wasn't interested in paying for the expansions and didn't want to keep up with the power creep.

I don't think the core, high-ladder gameplay is broken, but I think a lot of their design efforts are badly counterproductive. MTG's long-term survival can largely be credited to fighting power creep and strong-but-random effects, and I think Hearthstone's design looks more like a shorter-term cash in on those effects.

<comment><USER14> The new "standard" mode doesn't allow Nax or GnG cards in your deck, which levels things out a bit. Maybe you would like giving it a shot now? My advice: use gold to play arena. You'll always get a card pack, and get to practice with cards you don't otherwise have available to you. It's worth the extra 50 gold (which you'll likely earn back if you make it to three victories anyway) for the exposure to other cards/combos.

There are still RNGesus decks in the lower rungs of the ladder - I play one. But above 15 or so and most decks are using predictable cards with few random effects.

<comment><USER13> Woah, that's a huge change since I played. Some of those cards were definitely frustrating me, as was the fact that the card pool made the 'random' effects hard to anticipate. My biggest complaints were probably about League of Explorers and Blackrock cards, but it's still progress.

Arena was definitely my preferred playstyle - it had a lot of variance, and I never felt punished for not having all the right legendaries. On the main ladder I felt like I was hitting a ceiling where I played lots of netdecks I couldn't "afford", and just lost interest. Maybe it's worth another look!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The context is that the author wrote a negative review of a space strategy game because he had poor experiences with it. This article seems to be a way of saying that he was wrong to say the game is objectively bad without denying his own bad experiences are an objective problem.

The solution is to tune the game and add additional mid-game content (the part of the game with the most room for dynamism), which the author points out is on its way.

One of the more interesting comments said that the game would be well served if its developers collected play through data and started prioritizing the game seeds that tended to cause the most interesting games, arguing that there would be enough seeds to hide the lack of randomness.

<comment><USER6> _This article seems to be a way of saying that he was wrong to say the game is objectively bad_

Where did he say that? People seem to keep mistaking reviews for impossibly objective analyses of games.

<comment><USER16> "Seems" \- it's not explicit, but the implication is that objectively saying a randomised game is bad when it's only been bad from a subjective perspective isn't the best approach.

<comment><USER6> But I'm not seeing where the reviewer made the claim that the game was objectively bad?

<comment><USER16> It's in the linked review[0] that he wrote, and the subsequent follow up by the developer[1].

[0] [http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/09/stellaris- review](http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/05/09/stellaris-review) [1] [http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1solvon](http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1solvon)

<comment><USER17> It'd be really strange for any publication to claim their reviews are "objective" (there's objectivegamereviews.com, but it is intended as humor). The usual view is something along the lines of a review being just an indication of one person's experience with a game at a specific time. And as far as I can see, the latter is the case here as well.

Neither page you link to contains the word "objective". The only mention of the words "bad" is in the phrase "bad luck", in a sentence specifically talking about how other people might have a better experience and Rowan might have been just unlucky. There is a score, but to interpret that you'd look at the review guidelines for IGN. To quote: Under no circumstances are review scores influenced by anything other than _our own opinions_ on the quality of the product in question. (Emphasis mine).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> From my experience so far, Stellaris will benefit greatly from performance and feature patches (I hear lots of complaints about grinding late-game framerates even in modestly-populated galaxies).

It does seem to suffer from a lack of gameplay options. I think a useful comparison is Civilization V at launch versus after its 'Gods and Kings' and 'Brave New World' expansions, both of which added many new gameplay avenues.

The game seems to be more organic than strategic, lacking crossroads where your decision is based on your priorities. The major exception is the research system, where the 'choose one of three' feature means selecting one option closes off the other two possibilities for an indeterminate period. But besides that, in my experience the game is about expanding like a slime mold and gradually wearing down your opposition (as conquest is the only viable victory type).

<comment><USER19> I have a feeling from looking at the patch notes and plans for the future, that they intended the ethics system to be a much more diversifying effect than it currently is. ie. You would have a lot more factions within your empire and sector rebellions would be something to deal with, making the mid- game more exciting. Instead, if you can get a happy empire running, it's pretty stable all the way through and the mid-game can get very boring.

Have to say that I love the research system though. It completely turns a lot of standard 4x/strategy style gameplay on its head by preventing 100% forward planning.

<comment><USER10> I haven't played Stellaris, but I looked up the research system after reading your comment. It does actually seem really cool and like a good use of randomness.

It reminds me of Master of Orion 2, which also had non-deterministic research. There, each point in the tech tree was a category containing multiple items and, when research into that category was done, you got a random item from that category. If you wanted one of the others, you'd have to get it by trading with or spying on other races.

<comment><USER20> IIRC it only worked like that if you had the race pick Uncreative. Normally you got to pick which tech in the category you wanted to research. So you could plan ahead if you were going with particular strategy (like Darlok spying with all the spy techs).

But Master of Orion 1 did have a somewhat randomized tech research series.

<comment><USER10> Yes, you're right, I misremembered. Most races got what they selected. But only being able to select one at least limited what you could research.

Uncreative races got a random one in the category they chose and Creative races got all items in the category they chose. It was far too simple to play as a creative race, such as Psilon.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> It's a perennial struggle for each new generation of game designers when their internal theory of gameplay mechanics comes into conflict with the general public's completely off-based intuition about statistics.

Basically, people at large don't grok statistics at all. Instead they think of randomness in terms of permutations (drawing cards from a deck). When you pit them against "well-designed" statistical randomness, you are rewarded with a cacophony of complaints about how the simulation is cheating, rigged and unrealistic. Sid Meier had a great GDC keynote about his multi-decade struggle to convey basic concepts like "Something that has only a 1% chance of happening will still happen sometimes." This gets worse when you realize that a million daily active users means one-in-a-million events are a many-times- daily occurrence. That means _every day_ someone will complain that "I rolled a one out of ten SIX TIMES IN A ROW!!! That should never happen! You are explicitly cheating me! I demand my money back!"

So, yeah. Don't rand() in games. Do the shuffle and everyone will be much happier.

</comment><comment><USER22> Related: I wrote a mahjong game many years back (the tile matching version; not real mahjong).

It turns out you can have unwinnable boards if you build them purely randomly.

So I ended up having the app play the board in reverse to make sure it was winnable!

It still managed to hit stalemates, while playing backwards, but they were very rare. I just restarted instead of trying to avoid that situation algorithmicly.

</comment><comment><USER23> If the universe is a simulation, maybe this is why life sucks: User boredom if it doesn't.

 _" Why is God punishing us?"_

</comment><comment><USER24> Having had "play a 4x space strategy" on my gaming bucket list for quite some time, how does this game compare to others that I've had my eye on like Galactic Civ 3 or Sins of a Solar Empire?

<comment><USER19> Firstly, I'll say Stellaris is a great game, but I would also say that Stellaris isn't actually a pure 4X game if that's what you're looking for. Something like Gal Civ 3 or Star Ruler 2 would be better on that front. Stellaris is more like Civilization in space, or Crusader Kings.

It's grand strategy, about managing empires at a high level, whereas a 4X game tends to be more about resource management, research, and building spaceships.

<comment><USER25> > whereas a 4X game tends to be more about resource management, research, and > building spaceships.

I think those three are represented as well in Stellaris. As mentioned above research is done very well, and presents often dilemmas when you want to research multiple things and you don't know when a certain option will be available again.

Ships can be designed by the player and offer a lot of customisability. Resources are abstracted behind three basic resources so is probably not as deep as other games, but it is in.

I really like the randomness of Stellaris, not only of the research options but also the randomly generated galaxy and AI empires, which means you never encounter the same systems or competitors (unless, of course, you start in the Sol system or let certain empires spawn, which can be chosen at game start).

The article seems to be of someone who doesn't really like the game. Arguably it isn't as fleshed out as other 4X games, but to me it doesn't seem fair to blame it on the random generated content.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Sometimes intermittent boredom might be what you want...

Here is a game reviewer pointing out that one particular game (Sunless Sea) appears to be somewhat improved by having stretches of monotony interrupted by more interesting gameplay.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r6VtUW9504](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r6VtUW9504)

</comment><comment><USER27> There is a theory that multiplayer is more interesting than singleplayer because you are playing against unpredictable characters.

Someone toyed with this idea by letting the player of the game play against animals: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DXiuzAQztU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DXiuzAQztU)

</comment><comment><USER28> Well, sometimes you can't

Freecell is a good example, some games are trivially easy or too hard (not sure if there are impossible games)

<comment><USER29> Freecell would be a perfect example of how to tune difficulty.

Consider: some initial layouts can be solved without using all four free cells; others can't be solved without five or more cells. If a Freecell game implements a solver that can find the minimum number of cells needed to solve a given layout, then it could easily tune the difficulty - by only giving players layouts that require certain numbers of cells, or conversely by varying the number of free cells depending on the layout.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Well you got to have a story arc for the players experience. A short-term arc and in the long term story-arc of which the luck is just part. Randomized positive/negative Events occur more often, the longer a arc is monotone.

</comment><comment><USER31> Bugs. Make sure it crashes at random times, then it takes longer to become boring.

</comment><comment><USER32> Fantastic question! Quick and dirty solution is simply to choose a distribution that isn't uniformly random!

Instead of starting with your random number generator, build up the discrete probability distribution function first. The histogram can have any shape you want.

So, for example, in Tetris, rather than choosing a uniformly random next piece, we give a 10% probability to a straight one, 20% to right-sided L, etc. Now we begin to see patterns that can make gameplay challenging or interesting. If a shape has not appeared in a while purely out of chance, alter the distribution. Keeping track of what cards have been played and what moves have been made forms the basis of a feedback loop that constantly evolves.

<comment><USER33> Tetris is actually an interesting example:

[http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator](http://tetris.wikia.com/wiki/Random_Generator)

Officially branded Tetris games are required to use a "random bag" algorithm where they generate random permutations of the 7 tetrominos, so that for every 7 pieces (aligned with the bag start) you get each type once. You can only get two in a row if they appear at the end of one bag and the start of the next, and conversely there's a maximum of 12 pieces between duplicates (start of one bag, end of the next). Three in a row will never happen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I was hoping for more, but it only talks about strategic video games.

<comment><USER35> An incredibly... Unpolished strategic video game, in particular.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Constraint propagation solvers seem to work well.</comment>


Developing and Deploying a Simple Clojure Web Application - <AUTHOR> http://mmcgrana.github.com/2010/07/develop-deploy-clojure-web-applications.html <comment><USER2> In Common Lisp ( _without_ cheating or handwaving; this is _it_ ):

      (defpackage :add-nums
        (:use :cl :hunchentoot :cl-who))

      (in-package :add-nums)

      (defmacro with-html (&body body)
        `(with-html-output-to-string (*standard-output* nil :prologue t :indent t)
           ,@body))

      (define-easy-handler (add-nums :uri "/add-nums")
          ((a :parameter-type 'integer)
           (b :parameter-type 'integer))
        (with-html
          (:html
           (:head (:title "Add two numbers"))
           (:body
            (if (and a b)
              (htm (:p (str (+ a b)))))
            (:form :method :get
             (:input :type :text :name "a")
             (:input :type :text :name "b")
             (:input :type :submit))))))

      (defparameter *site* (make-instance 'acceptor :port 8080))

      (start *site*)

<comment><USER3> The equivalent Clojure code is actually a few lines shorter than your example:

        (ns add-nums
          (:use compojure.core [hiccup core page-helpers] ring.adapter.jetty))

        (defroutes handler
          (GET "/add-nums" [a b]
            (let [a (Integer/parseInt a)
                  b (Integer/parseInt b)]
              (html
                [:html
                  [:head [:title "Add two numbers"]]
                  [:body
                    (if (and a b) [:p (+ a b)])
                    (form-to [:get "/add-nums"]
                      (text-field :a)
                      (text-field :b)
                      (submit-button))]])))

        (run-jetty handler {:port 8080})

Mark's tutorial code is a little more complete than your example, and doesn't aim for brevity. It also doesn't use any of the form functions from Hiccup (admittedly, they're not as well documented as they could be).

<comment><USER2> Finally, an actual programmer's response.

Thank you! It's good to know that verbosity was for the sake pedagogy and completeness, and not necessity.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Another nice example can be found in the last "Functional Web" column on IEEE Internet Computing by Steve Vinosky: [http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IC- Getting_Started_with_Google_...](http://steve.vinoski.net/pdf/IC- Getting_Started_with_Google_App_Engine_and_Clojure.pdf)

 _In the July/August 2010 column, Getting Started with Google App Engine and Clojure, guest columnist Aaron Bedra shows how to use Clojure, a relatively new but robust Lisp implementation on the Java Virtual Machine, create and deploy an application using the Compojure web framework on the Google App Engine platform._

<comment><USER5> Great article, thanks for the link.

Couple more helpful links for some basics not covered in the article (all work in progress):

Compojure docs: <http://www.compojure.org>

Stub for "Clojure Web Development" book: [https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQqGP1CDN0uIZGhmZjJmcGZfM...](https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQqGP1CDN0uIZGhmZjJmcGZfMjNjNHIycGZu&hl=en)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is a great tutorial. Over the past few months I've been struggling with getting a "barebones" app up and running with Clojure. Leiningen has really come into its own in 2010 and tutorials like this will be great for people who need a basic template in order to bootstrap them into the whole experience.

</comment><comment><USER7> If this is an easy way to create a web app that adds two numbers on Clojure, I'd say Clojure is not ready for web development yet.

<comment><USER8> Huh. 45 LOC for templating, routing, and form processing and you don't need to configure a different webserver since jetty is production quality. Do you have links to something that takes less effort than what is being illustrated here that can be deployed immediately into production and perform well?

<comment><USER9> <http://pastebin.com/PsecNBvB>

(To be honest, I think clojure has its purposes, but a one-off calculator page isn't one of them. Use the right tool for the right job and all that.)

<comment><USER10> What point are you trying to make? That one can write less code if one does less stuff?

<comment><USER9> The parent asked for a link to something that takes less effort, I obliged. I don't think the amount of code is a particularly useful metric in most cases, but I would argue that the PHP+HTML solution is much clearer and easier to deploy, and taking into account everything you wish about such a simple web page (readability, maintainability, cross-server, security, etc.), takes less effort in the end. (I don't have any big issues with jetty or tomcat, since I use one or the other almost daily.) I'm sure there are larger use cases where clojure is simpler than raw PHP, but that's why PHP has frameworks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This is great information. I'd love to see a similar tutorial for NodeJS for comparison.

</comment><comment><USER12> Clojure is cool.</comment>


After five years, "dancing baby" YouTube takedown lawsuit nears a climax - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/after-five-years-dancing-baby-youtube-takedown-lawsuit-nears-a-climax/

<comment><USER2> The article summary of Universal Music's defense seems to say that since Universal had no procedures in place to determine if something was fair use, they can't be liable for the portion of the DMCA that punishes take-down attempts that are, in fact, fair use. Kafka-esque barely begins to describe this situation. I imagine that the defense will also introduce pictures of Universal compliance officers with their fingers in their ears as well.

<comment><USER3> We cannot be held liable for abuses we committed, because we didn't spend the effort to think before we acted.

That about wraps it up...

<comment><AUTHOR> If this in fact is how it plays out in court, it would says alot about how USA laws are made (and form whom). Not a pretty picture for the great democracy. Public servants => providing carte-blanche to abuse the public interest.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> <http://xkcd.com/343/> Panel 2 specifically. Fighting in a broken system does nothing.

</comment><comment><USER5> Copyright has taken too much from society to benefit IP holders. Corporations have the power to erase context from your life. It reminds me of Soviets erasing people from history.

Universal doesn't approve of your dancing baby? Sorry, but that event is no longer something you can freely distribute.

<comment><USER6> Worse yet, it appears that the best way to avoid this is to flat out ignore the law, rather than go along with it.

Your video gets taken down? Just put it back up again and hope it wont get found a second time.

<comment><USER7> Or just upload it to a non-Google service seen as Google are happy to bend over and let the music industry/hollywood do whatever they want.</comment></comment></comment>


Police: Uber driver was streaming Hulu just before fatal self-driving car crash - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/06/police-uber-driver-was-streaming-hulu-just-before-fatal-self-driving-car-crash/ <comment><USER2> Question- how much was the Uber driver being paid for their labor?

This is supposedly Uber's big bet that will supposedly win them a nearly multi-trillion dollar industry. Why give the keys to someone who apparently doesn't take the job seriously?</comment>


Android G2 Hands On: Close to Perfection - <AUTHOR> http://i.gizmodo.com/5154984/android-g2-hands-on-close-to-perfection

<comment><USER2> Here's a summary:

\- The screen is still smaller than the iPhone

\- It has a software keyboard, but due to the smaller screen size, it is somewhat cramped

\- Each key press creates a popup on the other side of the keyboard showing what you typed, which is somewhat annoying

\- It is much smaller than the G1, but still not as small as the iPhone

<comment><AUTHOR> It's lighter than iPhone... :)

<comment><USER3> That might not necessarily be a good thing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Not the article I needed to see the moment I finished ordering my G1 but the bad keyboard review makes me feel slightly better. Nevertheless, go Android!

<comment><USER5> Considering that, IIRC, the G2 will only be available over seas in Europe, I don't see how you should be feeling bad at all. Not to mention that the G1's sliding keyboard is really nice to use, far better than any on-screen keyboard you could possibly get, and will never take up your screen space to boot. And to top it off, the G1 should be receiving the updates from the Cupcake branch anyways, meaning that with the G1, not only will you have the bigger screen and better keyboard, but you'll have all the saftware benefits of the G2.

<comment><USER4> What is overseas for you might not be overseas for me :) I am glad to hear the other points though. I did not know that it had a smaller screen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'll wait to see the Ars review - Gizmodo is a bit lightweight when it comes to tech reviews - but good news and glad to see Google's bringing some competition from a different perspective than Apple. Those buttons look awfully skimpy to me, though.

</comment><comment><USER7> s/Perfection/iPhone/

<comment><USER8> You seem to have forgotten to provide supporting arguments.

Compared to my wife's G1, my iPhone lacks:

* Turn by turn navigation

* One tap calling, thanks to the ability to put contacts as links on the home screen

* Friend location alerts due to background apps.

* The ability to put photoas as widgets on the home screen. Not a big one for me, but my wife likes to use it for our wedding pics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> _"Having a smaller screen allows us to have a narrower device"_

Well, that's one way to look at it.

<comment><USER10> Not everyone wants a phone just like an iPhone. That's one of the things I hope drives Android's success - the fact that it's possible to retarget it for different sectors/niches/whatever...</comment></comment>


Apple Is No Longer Bundling Flash Player With Mac OS X - <AUTHOR> http://daringfireball.net/2010/10/apple_no_longer_bundling_flash_with_mac_os_x <comment><USER2> Let me tell you a little story from the inside…

So, when you build something as big and complex as an operating system, your single biggest enemy is: _change_. The more things change, the more you need to test and retest to be _absolutely_ sure that those changes didn't have any unintended side-effects. This is why, in the process of reaching a GM build, the ability for groups to change components is gradually locked down. The final lock-down is GM, and this usually happens around 1 month before the first customers see the next OS. This time is needed to "prime the channel". That is: you need to press the disks, prepare the marketing material and the packaging, do all of the final validation testing, and start shipping the software to stores.

In the case of SnowLeopard, that meant that development was done, and GM was declared, in the 3rd week of July. SnowLeopard shipped on Aug. 28th. Know what happened between those two dates?

Flash Player v10.0.32.18 ships on July 30 with critical security fixes: [http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.ht...](http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-10.html)

Remember all the fuss? No? Here's a reminder: [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/snow-leopard-ships- with-v...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/snow-leopard-ships-with- vulnerable-flash-player/4175)

In particular, people were incensed that installing SnowLeopard on top of their Leopard systems that already had an updated Flash player actually _reverted_ to the vulnerable version. Why? Because Flash was part of the OS. It was part of the install package that gets laid down fresh, instead of being part of the user installed software that gets migrated from old to new OS. And because Adobe didn't get the Flash update to Apple before GM was declared.

<comment><USER3> If you buy Snow Leopard today, has the disc been updated with all the security updates since its release? If not, that would have the same issue, that you are vulnerable for the time between you install and when you run system update for the first time.

I don't really see how Flash is special here.

<comment><USER4> The difference as I see it is that Snow Leopard will get the security updates via Apple's Software Update program. You're on your own for updating flash player, or at best you get notified by Adobe that a new version of flash player is installed.

Apple can control or at least heavily influence the updates for Snow Leopard. It can't for flash.

<comment><USER3> The example given was that Apple shipped an out-of-date Flash player because a new version was released after RTM. They then presumably updated that immediately with System Update. My point is that the same thing can happen with the actual OS. You can install Snow Leopard with a vulnerability that has already been fixed in a point security release of Leopard. So is it really a good reason to stop shipping Flash?

<comment><USER5> Huh? How does Apple get a security update in its own software too late for GM?

Apple handles the SDL for its own security flaws internally. It tends to know where it stands with them. Apple cannot say the same thing about Flash; Adobe (as a simple matter of course) may have tens of queued vulnerabilities, with some arbitrary subset of them having actual fixes in the pipe. That's the nature of software security on large projects.

Apple can't wash its hands of Snow Leopard vulnerabilities, but it essentially can do that for 3rd party software like Flash.

<comment><USER3> >Huh? How does Apple get a security update in its own software too late for GM?

Apple ships plenty of GNU code. What if an exploit is released between RTM and the ship date? That's the kind of thing I am thinking of.

But I don't disagree that this is Apple saying "this is somebody else's problem now". I just wonder if that somebody is Adobe or the end-user.

<comment><USER5> Apple has responsibility over the GNU code they ship. They had responsibility over the Flash code they shipped. By not shipping Flash, they no longer need to take responsibility for it. That makes sense. Apple never should have been responsible for Flash. Flash is a huge project, and Apple is not in the loop on Flash security updates.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I didn't think about the aspect of Flash updates. If Flash is no longer installed updated by Apple, I will have to download and install the Flash updates myself, or count on Adobe to handle updates. (Which judging from past experience with Adobe Flash player updates in Windows, might be suboptimal.)

Ultimately I would like to go no flash, and probably could today. I don't play flash games, so I won't have a problem there. Both YouTube and Vimeo, the two video sites I use most, have an HTML 5 version, so I don't even need flash for that.

Chances are if I uninstalled Flash today all I would miss are flash ads, and that would be a good thing, especially since getting rid of Flash closes another potential security hole.

<comment><USER7> You can install ClickToFlash to get a taste of it, so when you absolutely need to see some flash content, you can just click on it.

<http://clicktoflash.com/>

Actually I don't miss Flash at all except for one place: street view on Google Maps, which is done in Flash and I find it useful to take a look when I have to go in some place I don't know (it helps a lot being familiar with the surroundings once you are there).

Apart of that, I never enable Flash on other websites.

<comment><USER8> I would like to see clicktoflash pre-installed on Macs ;-)

<comment><USER9> Clicktoflash is the first thing I install on any new Mac - my own, or friend's. I find the internet unusable without Flash blocker.

Flash uses are as follows: \- Ads. Nobody needs those, and I actually dread the day Flash dies, because then these annoying ads will be HTML5 and maybe not as easy to block anymore. \- Games. I know lots of people who play nothing but Facebook games all day. \- Video. Not an issue anymore as most content is available in HTML5.

If Apple finds an alternative solution for Flash games, they can kill Flash off completely. I don't feel like they're going there though, probably knowing that the day they try to kill Adobe will be the day Microsoft buys Adobe out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Apple doesn't want to spend their time on any other platform's maintenance, make sense.

<comment><USER11> OK. So, shouldn't Apple remove perl, php, ruby, apache, and every other 3rd party software that it currently ships with since I'm sure Apple doesn't want to spend time maintaining those either.

Curious mind wants to know, why just Flash and Java?

<comment><USER12> How about because all those you list don't have user interface ties. Maybe because all those you list aren't heavily used by the majority where an outdated or exploit-prone version would matter. People who do use the examples you listed often install their own versions because the Apple versions are out of date.

<comment><USER9> Very good point there! Speaking of exploits - both Java and Flash run in the browser and are therefore susceptible to web based drive by attacks. None of the other technologies are exposed to the outside world.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> The first thing that crossed my mind was: "Apple wants to force Adobe Flash into the Mac App Store".

Now, the current App Store terms of service seem to preclude the distribution of plugins like Flash. But let's pretend, just for a minute, that they didn't. Apple would see the following advantages to having the Flash plugin on the App Store:

1) No need to worry about syncing Flash updates to OS X updates. No more risk of shipping an "outdated" version of Flash like happened with 10.6.4 back in the summer.

2) There is a visible, user friendly update stream (that is separate from the OS update stream.) This should enable users to easily always be using the latest version.

3) Apple can wield the hammer (as hard or as soft as it chooses) against bugs in the plugin--that's part of the terms of service in App Store. It makes it easy to push back on Adobe when they find bugs during the review process (even if the bugs they "find" are bugs that were known from previous releases.)

And, who knows? Now that Safari 5 has an official plugin mechanism, perhaps the App Store will open up for Safari plugins in the not too distant future.

<comment><USER3> It really does make sense to move non Apple stuff out of the system updater, and into the app store updater. Flash and Java being the two main items.

OTOH, it would make even more sense to wait until the app store exists.

<comment><USER14> Would Flash and/or Java even pass muster for admittance into the OS X AppStore?

<comment><USER15> They would not. No plugins, no system infrastructure, not even System Preferences panes, just single-package apps.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Ubuntu and just about any Gnu/Linux distribution haven't been bundling the Flash player for years, nice to see Apple doing the same.

<comment><USER17> Neither has Microsoft. I know people are interested in anything that has to do with Apple, but I'm still attempting to determine what makes this newsworthy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> 1st, what made macs awesome is how well they target multiple platforms. having access to apple, linux and windows user on one device was awesome.

2nd, chrome and firefox will still auto download flash, so really what this does is it makes safari users act like IE users in that they won't have all of the plugins.

it seems that apple is doing this so they rapidly iterate for Mac OS (next) without vendor support. sounds like apple is getting quite before something big in the next OS.

<comment><USER9> Apple is all about rapid iteration. With the iOS, they're moving at lightning speed. Perhaps they want to achieve the same on Mac OS. Steve Jobs has called Java a "ball and a chain" years ago, so this is not too surprising. Strategically, Apple doesn't care about cross-platform technologies because per definition they don't take advantage of platform innovations. See Job's Flash-on-iOS open letter. Nobody say Apple is not consistent in their strategy and vision - in fact, I've never seen such a razor sharp focus in a company that size.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> This is where "You need Flash to view this. Get it [here]" comes in.

Non-technical users aren't going to manually install Flash if all they're presented with is a blank space. Luckily for Abobe they only need to see the former once.

</comment><comment><USER20> The platform provider should always be responsible for installation/upkeep whenever possible. In retrospect it seems a bit odd that OSX ever included Flash in the first place. Adding that extra distribution layer may give the user the illusion that Apple is responsible for keeping Flash updated. No one wants that responsibility. Not even Adobe. As far as I can tell the only way to keep Flash updated is to check Adobe's website every so often. I didn't hear a peep from Apple or Adobe about 10.1 being released. No automatic update here.

</comment><comment><USER21> If Apple's serious about being anti-Flash, this is another way, over time, to reduce the overall number of copies of Flash in the world (they say there are 50M active Mac OS X users), if everyone has to download it first.

In fact, if they just drop the percentage of pre-installed Flash engines from 95% to 90% to 85% to 80%, etc., then the Flash ubiquity argument falls apart, and further hastens the decline of its influence.

(Personally, I'm all for it. I just see Flash as Adobe's cynical attempt to create an alternative (and lousy) operating system that runs on all the existing systems.)

</comment><comment><USER22> I really don't think it's a big deal. If people need flash they'll make sure they have it. This just throws the responsibility to the user. It's reasonable for apple to do this, but looks/sounds a little over the top.

</comment><comment><USER23> This is potentially a step backward for security. Apple had the right idea of providing Flash and Java through the System Updates mechanism. They have just historically failed to be timely with security updates.

Putting security updates in the hands of users is a recipe for no security.

</comment><comment><USER24> Look, people. This move was done because Apple totally has your best interests at heart and is absolutely not in any way any sort of anti-competitive thing, because Apple simply doesn't have any sort of Flash-competitor.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianduia_%28software_framework%...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianduia_%28software_framework%29)

It was done because Apple loves you and wants to protect you, like a soft warm blanket over your head, pressing down tightly.

<comment><USER25> Pardon me pointing out the difference between a plug-in and a web framework. Believe you me, this is a headache, but you have the right to your own opinion, not your own facts.

<comment><USER24> You probably ought to google "rich internet apps" to achieve a slightly greater level of understanding before commenting.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> This seems to confirm an interesting and decisive change of strategy from Apple, and totally parallels the Java decision very closely. If you put these three things together:

1) Deprecate Java on Macs

2) Deprecate Flash on Macs

3) Deprecate all non-Apple-controlled apps on Macs by introducing the store

If you put the three together it shows a strong and coordinated move to start reigning in free development on Macs and move it to a model where Apple totally controls the experience.

<comment><USER27> > 3) Deprecate all non-Apple-controlled apps on Macs by introducing the store

Seriously? Providing an additional distribution platform declares that "non- Apple-controlled" software is DEPRECATED?

Yarr.

<comment><USER26> You don't think that once established, the Apple software store will quickly become the preferred way to distribute software on the Mac? Any time a platform owner gives their official blessing to 3rd party software it gives a huge plus to that software. Hence why we have all kinds of Microsoft certification etc. you can do to have your app blessed.

"Deprecated" may seem a little strong, but they are Job's own words that he used to simply describe the fact that Java will be provided by a third party:

[http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#releasenotes/Java/Ja...](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#releasenotes/Java/JavaSnowLeopardUpdate3LeopardUpdate8RN/NewandNoteworthy/NewandNoteworthy.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40010380-CH4-DontLinkElementID_2)

<comment><USER28> I know people give Jobs credit for just about anything Apple does, but come on, he is not writing the release notes for minor OS releases. And what that release note says is that _Apple's JVM_ is deprecated. Not even Apple is bold enough to deprecate an entire third-party programming language.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I wish Apple would stop with these games and just do what's best for the consumer. Unless you can explain why it made sense to include Flash last week and it doesn't today.

OTOH it would make sense to move Flash to the OS X App Store when that is released, so that Adobe could manage their own updates. We'll see if that is an option, and it would be nice if Apple had waited until the App Store existed. Instead Adobe will need to have its own updater for Flash, right when Apple is coming out with a centralized update system. How dumb is that?

<comment><USER29> > just do what's best for the consumer

Apple got caught shipping a Flash player with known security vulnerabilities, that's not good for "the consumer". They also claim that half the reported OS X crashes are due to Flash - which seem exaggerated, but if true, also bad for "the consumer".

<comment><USER3> And now Flash won't be included in the system updater, so now way more people are going to be running back-level versions. Bet that will really help with the crashing and security issues.

This is exactly the reason Chrome moved to shipping with Flash included, and why Firefox now checks the flash version when it starts up. Apple is going backwards on this.

<comment><USER30> _This is exactly the reason Chrome moved to shipping with Flash included_

No, Chrome ships with Flash because it is in Google's competitive interests to do so both as a browser vendor and advertiser.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


MongoDB to announce scalable cloud offering at MongoWorld 2016 - <AUTHOR> https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mongodb-world-2016-big-reveal-john-de-goes?trk=prof-post <comment><USER2> Compose (now IBM) has been in this business for quite some time. If true, will be interesting to see if MongoDB can outdo them.</comment>


Broken boomerangs: Ten forward swept wing aircraft that never were - <AUTHOR> https://hushkit.net/2017/05/02/broken-boomerangs-ten-forward-swept-wing-aircraft-that-never-were/ <comment><USER2> > "North American Aviation's responded to this extremely demanding brief, > clearly after their draughtsmen had got smashed on martinis"

Where the hell did NAA find those draftsmen? They sure drew (and _built_ as the article mentions) some insane planes. I still find the XB-50 one of the most attractive planes ever (though thankfully the program was cancelled).

</comment><comment><USER3> The switch blade is pretty cool. They "The Switchblade remains to this day a mysterious concept" ... Any speculation on why?</comment>


Skype old version? - <AUTHOR> I only find this page https://www.filehorse.com/download-skype/old-versions/ for Skype old version? Another sites? Thanks! <comment><USER2> Haven't tested: [https://www.winytips.com/download-skype- classic-7-41-101-7-4...](https://www.winytips.com/download-skype- classic-7-41-101-7-40-104/)</comment>


How can I trigger an event in shell script when an USB device is removed? - <AUTHOR> http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/108082/how-can-i-triger-an-event-in-shell-script-when-an-usb-device-is-removed <comment><USER2> udev</comment>


Ask HN: Is it still safe to use Firebase? - <AUTHOR> I'm working on a side project and using Firebase would save me a lot of time and reduced technical overheads.
But Firebase is now owned by Google, who - lets face it - has a reputation of dropping paying clients without notice and with having less than optimal customer service.
I'm thus unsure of developing the foundation of my app on a service that might not be reliable.
Would Firebase still be a reliable service for the foreseeable future? Am I paying too much attention to the SAAS(and Google in particular) naysayers? <comment><USER2> A comment from a Firebase engineer at Google two weeks ago is encouraging that the project is still active, maintained, supported [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12527340](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12527340)

</comment><comment><USER3> Google is putting a lot of arrows behind Firebase (and cloud in general under Diane Greene), so I'd say it's not going anywhere anytime soon.</comment>


Automatically dimming your monitor at night - <AUTHOR> http://www.stackednotion.com/blog/2019/05/07/automatically-dimming-your-monitor-at-night/ <comment><USER2> I use an app that changes the colour to minimize blue progressively through the evening, and fade it back in over the course of the morning sunrise.

It looks great at night, but if you turn the lights on, you realize what looked normal in the dark is a really bizarre orange by day. And it totally works - doesn't burn out our eyes when I read in bed, and has significantly less impact on my ability to sleep.</comment>


Sunset notes from subscription service side project - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@dnfisher/sunset-for-saucedrop-and-some-things-we-learned-along-the-way-84624549f88d?source=linkShare-87255a5b1e6b-1508087479 <comment><AUTHOR> Here's a well written, and quick reflection on Saucedrop: a hot sauce subscription service that had sales for 2 years.

I've read a lot of post mortums on tech start ups, but can't remember many for subscription service.

I'm not a hot sauce fan, but I watched this product launch and thought it had found a sweet(hot?) spot for a nice niche business so bummed that it didn't work out.</comment>


Show HN: Pesky – a way to send multiple text messages - <AUTHOR> http://pesky.badideas.life <comment><AUTHOR> Back when I was freelancing, I noticed how other freelancers had to deal with non-payments and trying to get hold of clients to no avail. I've had it myself, and thought of the least professional thing to do with said toxic clients - send a daily email… It worked

But emails can be ignored, and WhatsApp too… Then something caught my eye. You've probably seen the videos of someone's phone going crazy with notifications and such… Bragging rights though.

So with that idea in mind, I thought of the one "app" that everyone has - <USER2> - and thought what if you could send a crazy stream of SMS messages to someone AND have the bragging rights of paying large to do it

It's a crazy and silly idea, but imagine sending 50, 1000, or 10,000 text messages each second to one individual?!

Here is [https://pesky.badideas.life](https://pesky.badideas.life)</comment>


Microsoft Edge now gets even more out of your battery - <AUTHOR> https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/09/15/edge-battery-anniversary-update/#STjfqEM1ZhdkQ3Xr.97 <comment><USER2> I'm a huge fan of Microsoft, heavy Azure and .NET stack user, and I can't find a single nice thing to say about Edge. Yes, it crashes constantly, but it's the easy stuff that is hopelessly and inexcusably broken.

Want a dozen tabs? No problem, just don't expect to be able to switch to the ones on the right because the hit boxes for selecting the tabs are hidden behind the hit box for minimizing the window. Want to resize the window? No problem, just don't try to do it by clicking on the top edge of the window because the hit box for resizing the window is hidden behind the hit boxes for selecting tabs. Want to set the default search engine to google or anything else? No problem, just don't expect to search for anything with a dot in the name because the unbelievably poorly written regex for detecting URLs overrides the search engine behavior in the address bar, preventing your search from hitting the search engine.

The list of unbelievable simple, horribly frustrating usability issues is so long and so easy to encounter, I refuse to believe anyone on the Edge team actually uses this thing.

Oh and it crashes constantly. Did I mention that it crashes constantly? Which is a shame because In my opinion it has the nicest developer toolset of any of the major browsers.

<comment><USER3> >Oh and it crashes constantly. Did I mention that it crashes constantly?

Slightly tangential but do you have your MS telemetry turned off? If you do, MS doesn't know you're having a problem.

Those who don't vote, don't get to complain about the problems caused by not voting.

<comment><USER4> > Those who don't vote, don't get to complain about the problems caused by not > voting.

Nice dichotomy there: privacy or quality. And people wonder why MS gets such a bad name.

What about their "walled garden" philosophy ? All tablets/laptops are one- size-fits all, only a handful of total models exist. All MS "updates" are shoved down the users' throats. There should be no need for telemetry to detect a bad user experience. The apps are all signed, binary blobs that run in their own private, signed environment. Unless MS has no QA department, they absolutely are aware of how crappy their browser runs.

<comment><USER5> I'm pretty sure that Microsoft actually does not have a QA department.

I can't seem to find a source which confirms specifically that, but after Nadella took over in 2014, he cut a bunch of jobs, which were mostly jobs from the Nokia acquisition, but he also specifically mentioned in this context that he wanted to go more into the direction of agile software development, which means no dedicated QA and rather the developers are supposed to test it as they build it.

Source for that statement is in this article under "Cloud Methods", second paragraph: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-15/microsoft...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-15/microsoft- said-to-announce-job-cuts-as-soon-as-this-week)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Hopefully this pushes Chrome team to improve the terrible battery management across the board. Even on OS X, Chrome eats battery significantly faster than Safari.

Which is becoming a larger and larger problem as apps are switching away from tiny efficient native runtimes to the Chromium driven Electron hogs :/

<comment><USER7> > Hopefully this pushes Chrome team to improve the terrible battery management > across the board. Even on OS X, Chrome eats battery significantly faster > than Safari.

Why would this push them any more than Safari blowing them out the water on efficiency for _years_?

<comment><USER8> Because no one really cares about doing better than Safari, mostly because the amount of users is small and they all consider themselves better browsers. Apple or even Webkit never made any kind of waves about it themselves either.

However, Microsoft is pretty big. Edge is the default browser on Windows, a platform that has a significant amount of users, and they're making quite some noise in the area. Others have taken notice and are at least ensuring they keep up. Which is good, we all benefit.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> So, I'm glad that Microsoft is focusing on a real-world pain point for people on Edge. I don't think people can be talked into switching browsers by stuff like the Cortana integration, but this might convince some. One problem is that Edge really isn't quite ready for primetime yet. There's a few sharp edges here and there that make using it about 90% pleasant enough and 10% really painful. Some of it is that I don't think the UWP is as fully-baked as the old Win32 ecosystem yet, and it makes weird compromises. The multitasking model of UWP seems to be phone-first, which is just out of place for me. When I have a desktop PC that's plugged in and has 16gb of RAM, my web browser should never just spontaneously CLOSE because I tab out to another window. I get why Edge does this, believe me. (I just got out of a two-week stretch of using a cheap Nokia Lumia as my smartphone because of problems with my main device overheating, and there's such a tension between being impressed at what Windows 10 for Phones or whatever the hell they're calling it now can do in 512mb of RAM and thinking that 512mb of RAM is incredibly frustrating to live with.) But it doesn't make sense on the majority of devices that Edge runs on. Leave my browser window open. I'm going to come back to it. Also, Microsoft really needs to break the link between Edge updates and Windows updates. This doesn't affect me much at home because I'm Fast Ring so I get Windows updates more often than I eat meals sometimes, but in general I don't think it's great for the ecosystem.

Also, if by any chance someone working on Edge is reading this thread, can you make it so I can resize the text box for adding comments to Hacker News? Chrome lets me do this, and I would probably increase my Edge usage significantly with just that fix.

<comment><USER10> > The multitasking model of UWP seems to be phone-first, which is just out of > place for me. When I have a desktop PC that's plugged in and has 16gb of > RAM, my web browser should never just spontaneously CLOSE because I tab out > to another window.

I haven't used Windows in a decade. This really happens? UWP programs just spontaneously close on desktop computers? I really can't believe that.

<comment><USER11> I guess there are a couple things this could refer to -

* On desktop Windows in desktop mode, modern apps are suspended when they're minimized or the user switches away from the virtual desktop they're on. Background operations that need to meant to continue are supposed to use various officially supported background task APIs. This is intended to be transparent to the user.

* AIUI in situations where the OS detects an app is hung and would put up a ghost window with a "not responding" message if it were a classic app, the OS will just straight up kill a modern app. The theory is that this will force developers to make more responsive apps.

So AFAIK there are no situations where a "well-behaved" app is supposed to spontaneously close from the user's POV, but for modern apps the OS is stricter about trying to enforce "good behavior". TBH though I think what the GP was seeing was probably just Edge crashing on its own.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> At home when I'm all plugged in, I have 3 Chrome windows, each with multiple tabs, spread across my PLP setup. Whenever I pop into a client, and awake from sleep, you can almost see the battery draining in real time. Edge to the rescue; and I'm glad they're putting the pressure on Google to do better.

Pro Tip: You think Edge saves your battery? Sheeeeit....Try using the Movies & TV app vs VLC someday. M&TV is a certified power miser - I caught up on several TV shows plus The Martian on a flight from Montego Bay to Frankfurt a few months ago, using my Toshiba Encore 10" tablet that isn't exactly known for its battery life.

</comment><comment><USER13> Unfortunately, Netflix uses DRM which limits Firefox's ability to have control over the better usage in this test. The video decoding and decryption is done by the Adobe CDM. It would be interesting to see a comparison without DRM'd video.

<comment><USER14> Exactly! It's even worse because Netflix has specific deals with Microsoft/Edge that use a different DRM technique - they announced so publicly as a reason to restrict Chrome and Firefox to non-HD video.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> > To validate our improvements and make sure we're giving our customers the > best experience possible, we monitor aggregated telemetry on power > consumption from millions of Windows 10 devices around the world.

I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, the telemetry data is obviously very useful and will allow products to be improved greatly. On the other hand, how many of the "millions" of people know the data is being collected? Did every single one of them click a button that said "I know what data you want to collect and I accept your request to take it"? Definitely not. To pull stunts like this, they need absolute transparency on the telemetry collected, the encryption/sanitation methods, how they ensure anonymity, the security of the protocols used for collection, and ideally be an opt-in not an opt-out. I don't care if they collect battery usage of my new laptop playing games, and anything important is disabled, but there's absolutely no way I'm upgrading my development PC to Windows 10 or ever installing a Microsoft product on my Linux install.

I'm waiting for the inevitable day when Windows messes with other OSes that have been dual-booted. One day we'll log in and see a pop-up saying "We've detected you recently installed <Insert Linux Distro here> to <Insert Disk Drive here>! To provide the best service possible, we've installed a full Microsoft driver/software suite and changed the theme to something more Windows-like."

Edit: As a fun side-note, when copying the quote to my clipboard it automatically appended "Read more at <link to article here." The joke about Microsoft pushing their products into Linux distros was exactly that: A joke. But secretly adding data (even harmless links) into local memory that could be unknowingly stored/put anywhere because the user has no idea is unbelievable.

</comment><comment><USER16> I run a virtual box VM provided by Microsoft to test my website on their new browser. It surprises me how much of a resource hog Windows can be... Is there really no way to turn off cortana and on access antivirus scan? I guess it is probably fine on a real machine but it sucks on a VM on a machine with a spinning disk where Windows is just a tenant among others.

<comment><USER17> > Is there really no way to turn off cortana and on access antivirus scan?

Cortana is a new name for an old process. It is SearchUI.exe. You can disable most of Cortana's functionality, it is currently "suspended" on my machine and using 38 MB of RAM, with 5 seconds of CPU time. Pretty low utilisation.

Here is a guide to disabling the anti-virus indefinitely:

[http://www.ghacks.net/2015/10/25/how-to-disable-windows- defe...](http://www.ghacks.net/2015/10/25/how-to-disable-windows-defender-in- windows-10-permanently/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Given that what's IN my battery is "power", that title could be taken in completely the opposite direction it's intended.

</comment><comment><USER19> sometimes I do wonder why Microsoft fanbois creep around in comment sections, downvoting everyone who doesn't fall to the ground at the amazing (not) quality of work Microsoft does

</comment><comment><USER20> It's really cool that they published details on their measurement methodology and even made their webdriver code open-source ([https://microsoftedge.github.io/videotest/2016-09/WebdriverM...](https://microsoftedge.github.io/videotest/2016-09/WebdriverMethodology.html)). Also cool that Chrome's energy use has been improving considerably in Chrome 53, and with this being a bit of a PR battle here's hoping that energy use of both Edge and Chrome continues to improve.

</comment><comment><USER21> They must have carefully curated the "general browsing" to sites that do not cause it to crash, as it always seems to pull a vanishing act if the site isn't coded specifically to avoid known crash points.

The most reliable way I've found to crash it is to use MutationObservers in a website. Even though Edge has support for them, I still have to pave over it with a JS version that doesn't cause the browser to crash after a few minutes of use.

Something is wrong if emulating browser features in JS leads to a better experience than using the feature as built in. Having to do so probably eliminates any battery life gains they have made.

</comment><comment><USER22> Now this is a competition I can get behind.

</comment><comment><USER23> Also super slow for JS. 1/5 the speed of Chrome working with our JS, which makes a huge difference in terms of usability and responsiveness.

Hope this new version is faster, but if it's optimizing for battery life then maybe it'll be worse...

</comment><comment><USER24> How does Microsoft tweaking the OS to make Edge use the battery more efficiently translate to industry-leading efficiency? A more reliable test would be to compare browsers on another Operating System.

</comment><comment><USER25> I don't use edge until now the only reason being no support for extensions. Since they are arriving soon it's very exciting. Finally to save some more hours on the battery!

<comment><USER26> Not "arriving soon", but rather "arrived very recently". I got them with the anniversary update.

<comment><USER25> Oops gotta update

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Since now Edge has the extensions now, I'll switching before upgrading hardware. I want to see how much longer my old battery would last.

<comment> V-2 Mine doesn't. They're part of an update that won't reach everyone until November.

<comment><USER28> It's pretty easy to get the update manually if you want it. Search for Microsoft's "Media Creation Tool" and run it. It'll offer to upgrade the PC you're on immediately, or download the installation media.

<comment><USER29> Alternately you can use the tool on this page, I think it skips some of the messing about you get with the other methods.

[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software- download/windows10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software- download/windows10)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I love Edge (and loved IE Metro). It's ideal for a device like the Surface.

</comment><comment><USER31> What about vs Safari? That's the real gold standard for battery life.

<comment><USER32> That would be unfair comparison in this case, because they are talking about browser vs browser comparison.But for safari , since neither support others platform, that would be whole stack vs whole stack.

<comment><USER33> Sure, it might be an unfair comparison, but the results will be far more meaningful to the end user.

Take a Macbook Pro / Surface Pro 4 with stock settings, put Edge / Safari under the same paces and see which one uses more energy.

<comment><USER6> You're testing the hardware and software stack then. Those tests are a dime a dozen.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> I like the text rendering in Edge, but its still pretty rough.

</comment><comment><USER35> Thank you Microsoft!

That is what I wanted: Mandated Telemetry in everything I do so the mothership knows everything I do everytime from a product I supposedly bought.

It is so great to know that today Microsoft and the US gobertment could use all this information to improve their products or directly control the people that use their computers.</comment>


Ask HN: Should you pay your customers for reporting problems that they have? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> To me - given my personal experience - it would be enough if the software developer would:

1) provide PUBLIC bug report/tracking

2) listen to reports/check them

3) do something about those reports

Besides bugs, more generally the software developer should listen to its customers.

Of course it depends on the specific "kind" of software we are talking of, but I have seen far too many examples of "vertical" software (those that I see as "tools") clearly written by someone possibly very good at writing software but without any idea on how the actual thing the tool is intended to help with is actually done in practice or with workflows very different from what is actually needed or that would be faster/easier/more convenient to the user.

</comment><comment><USER3> Interesting idea. If you can do it without creating perverse incentives and in a way which helps continuous product/service improvement, I'd say yes.</comment>


Why Larry Page Is Stepping Away - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-larry-page-is-stepping-down?intcid=mod-latest

<comment><USER2> Just a piece of opinion. Here comes the essence of it:

"No doubt, there will be conspiracy theorists who seek to explain the move. Some will say that it was his family, his health, his board, ambitious employees. These musings are worthy of the shredder. The one theory that I think is closest to the truth is that Larry Page suffered from Sergey Brin envy."</comment>


Ask HN: What music do you listen to when programming?(or do you not?) - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> Subtle, not too emotional, harmonizing, complex, repetitive, no words I can understand.

Some examples

Tabla: Ustad Alla Rakha -Ustad Zakir Hussain Jugolbondhi (complex, listen on low): [https://youtu.be/zcUZiuejt9g](https://youtu.be/zcUZiuejt9g)

* Ali Farka Toure (African, warm, joyful): [https://youtu.be/qI_h49D1xo8](https://youtu.be/qI_h49D1xo8)

* chill hop: axian's mixes do it for me [https://youtu.be/hdmSovWFhig](https://youtu.be/hdmSovWFhig)

* sometimes a pandora station seeded with Keith Jarred, bill evans.

* sometimes a pandora station seeded with Pugliese and Treilo because I'm learning Tango and those songs won't memorize themselves. Plus they're incredibly beautiful.

</comment><comment><USER3> Video Game Music for Studying: [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIKC2UBcyfT4y_zyJKQgsq...](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIKC2UBcyfT4y_zyJKQgsq7L40jrFUkfP)

</comment><comment><USER4> Spotify sometimes but I usually fall back to [https://musicforprogramming.net](https://musicforprogramming.net) when I really need to focus.

</comment><comment><USER5> I have a playlist that I've been working on for the last couple years[1]. It's mostly instrumental, and it's my pride and joy :) I listen to it every day for most of the day while working.

If you end up listening to it, feedback is welcome!

[1] [https://open.spotify.com/user/124904258/playlist/7gOx724pPSe...](https://open.spotify.com/user/124904258/playlist/7gOx724pPSepKwL5uBvmP5)

</comment><comment><USER6> I usually have no music or distractions, but sometimes I like music.

I tend to need music without lyrics, or in a foreign language, or sometimes that is so familiar to me that I don't pay attention to the words.

Usually I can't have music for high-focus tasks. Talking, either, so I use a linux shell command to generate whitenoise sometimes, it sounds a bit like ocean waves:

alias whitenoise='play -q -c 2 -n synth brownnoise band -n 1600 1500 tremolo .1 30'

<comment><USER7> I also don't like music or distractions when coding, maybe unless it's "mechanical" like another user commented. I didn't know about the play command and generating noise though, that's really cool! Saving that command for sure.

Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I don't code for work, but when I need to focus on what I am doing (excel, powerpoint etc) I use noisli.com (picking usually the rain soundtrack) or the noizio app on mac / iphone. I find easier to focus with these "noise" soundtracks (rain, train, river, cafe...) than with music/songs

</comment><comment><USER9> I've been on a hip hop kick lately (Tyler the Creator, Vince Staples, Kendrick Lamar, and related Spotify recommendations). Usually lyrics are too distract me but for some reason, not with hip hop.

</comment><comment><USER10> I listen to a lot of IDM. High energy instrumental music that keeps me alert and productive. This Pitchfork list is a great starting point if you want to get into the genre: [https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and- guides/10011-the-50...](https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and- guides/10011-the-50-best-idm-albums-of-all-time/)

I also listen to a lot of jazz, but I don't have any specific recommendations there. My jazz usually comes from whatever Spotify's algorithms decide to throw at me.

</comment><comment><USER11> I find that fairly fast and rhythmic, or 'spacey' instrumental or electronic music can help me get into a focused state, but I often turn it off after a while when I'm really into it. I particularly like psychedelic trance/goa, instrumental hip hop, or electronic video game/horror film music.

Some examples I've listened to a bunch while working: Trifonic, Govinda, Metaform, Hallucinogen, Shpongle, Blue Sky Black Death, Emancipator, SURVIVE, Trentemøller, Carbon Based Lifeforms.

</comment><comment><USER12> I don't listen to any music when I code, or have any background noise at all, like a TV or radio playing.

At times I'll shut off my phones and email app and anything else that might distract me.

<comment><USER13> Wow i thought I was the only one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> at work, I generally don't. It's more important for me to know what's being discussed around me.

At home, I don't either, though I generally have some sort of nonsense tv on.

<comment><USER15> >at work, I generally don't. It's more important for me to know what's being discussed around me.

I would like to that do. But open office and continuous chatting make it kinda impossible.

<comment><USER14> I also work in an open office environment, with all the associated chatting, and general office noise.

I just ignore everything that isn't important to me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I find I'm best "in the zone" for development while listening to electro-house or deep house. The genre lends itself to minimal lyrics (some of what I listen to might be in a foreign language, but even that which is in English is usually very 'shallow' and repetitive). Basically lots of deep bass thumping along at a reasonably consistent pace with a 'light' melody on top :)

</comment><comment><USER17> I find any kind of music highly distracting while programming.

</comment><comment><USER18> Melodic metal I know by note, sometimes I don't even notice it's there but it gives me a lot of background warmth: always Estatic Fear, Agalloch, Tristania, Empyrium, things like that. Sometimes with or immediately after caffeine intake, I'd like a bit of electronic stuff like Blusoul or Paul Oakenfold.

</comment><comment><USER19> One of two things depending on my mood:

1\. A Pandora station seeded with Moonlight Sonata. It plays calmer classical music, avoiding the more in-your-face classical like Bach's Toccata and Fugue. Sometimes plays modern stuff like Piano Guys. I frequently combine this with some rain noise from Noisli.

2\. Classic Trance. Stuff like Paul Van Dyk - Words.

I generally avoid anything with lyrics. Lyrics are incredibly distracting.

</comment><comment><USER20> For high-focus I reccomend rain.today (great site, btw). Great with noise isolation headphones.

For "mechanical" work, I prefer Metal: the faster, the better.

</comment><comment><USER21> Silence if possible, but in the open office, whatever repetitive instrumental music I can get my hands on to drown out the damn noise.

</comment><comment><USER22> I use brain.fm It helps me to focus.

<comment><USER23> I used to combine brain.fm with some kind of minimal music. Gets me zoning really good.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Mostly Bach and Mozart these days. I used to listen to mixes from [https://musicforprogramming.net](https://musicforprogramming.net) but they don't stimulate me like they once used to.

</comment><comment><USER25> I like music with hymns or mellow tones. Music I've been listening to a lot lately:

Moby Lindsey Stirling Solar Fields Imagine Dragons M83 The War on Drugs Gorkem Han Jr Tony Anderson Simon & Garfunkel

Definitely helps block out noise and gets me to focus.

</comment><comment><USER26> Dubstep. Minimal lyrics and heavy bass tones speed up my typing as well as thought process... also drowns out the sales bros an aisle away in our "open office" environment.

</comment><comment><USER27> [https://soundcloud.com/anninops/tzusing-met-byhzz- hol](https://soundcloud.com/anninops/tzusing-met-byhzz-hol)

</comment><comment><USER28> I find vocals distracting so when I listen to music while working, it is either movie or video game soundtracks or classical music.

</comment><comment><USER29> Mainly instrumental ambient house - also any Google Music playlist with both of the words "chill" and "hop" in it's title...

</comment><comment><USER30> Godspeed You! Black Emperor - I find that it's stimulating without being distracting. Plus it has amazing soundscapes.

</comment><comment><USER31> The Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis, of course.

<comment><USER32> "Track 45 left ... stop - enhance 15 to 23 bip bip bip"

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I usually listen to music i already know well and like. It seems less distracting than discovering new tunes.

</comment><comment><USER34> I prefer anything ambient by Trent Reznor; especially his tracklist for The Social Network.

</comment><comment><USER35> LoFi Instrumental Hip-Hop on Spotify(there are a few playlists), always puts me in the flow zone.

</comment><comment><USER36> LoFi hip hop beats generally. A good balance of punchy and relaxing.

</comment><comment><USER37> Thrash metal, like Metallica or Anthrax. Nothing too dark though.

</comment><comment><USER38> Iron Maiden and Classical Essentials playlist on Spotify.

</comment><comment><USER39> I usually have Law and Order reruns playing in the background

</comment><comment><USER40> Mostly Brian Eno + Celer on repeat :)

</comment><comment><USER41> Anything that will drown noise :)

</comment><comment><USER42> Hip hop instrumentals</comment>


Who Will Fill Bill Gates' Shoes? - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/27/who-will-fill-bill-gates-shoes/ <comment><USER2> "Who will carry on his legacy and define the current Web era of computing?"

The users. This is the way of the web now, and the torch will be carried by us all

</comment><comment><USER3> Larry Page or Steve Jobs.</comment>


Show HN: Focusd – A Calm RSS Reader - turn your feeds into a daily digest - <AUTHOR> https://focusd.co <comment><AUTHOR> For over a year I've been reading articles from RSS feeds once a day, and now I'm making it possible and easy for anyone to do that as well.

Here's a bit more info about why I built it: [https://thoughts.brunobernardino.com/there-is-a-better- way-t...](https://thoughts.brunobernardino.com/there-is-a-better-way-to-read- rss/)

Email me after signup and I'll give you $1.99 off per month for the first 3 months (usually $2.99 / month).

</comment><comment><USER2> > But this isn't really a reader app, it's just my email and browser! > > Exactly! Aren't those powerful?

I love this. I am building two email-only services right now, one released/beta, and one that I just started on the other day. I have a similar section regarding the email: [http://snpy.in/ADIhJ4](http://snpy.in/ADIhJ4).

Mind telling me a bit more about your stack? And the payment?

I went the weekend project path, as basic as it gets. All scripts are in PHP (because of ease of setup), the email sending is done through some mail methods in PHP via through SMTP from my webhost. My database is actually a simple JSON file. Email verification is done by generating a unique url/code which they click in their email.</comment>


Great Talks Most People Have Never Heard - <AUTHOR> https://jamesclear.com/great-speeches <comment><USER2> The best commencement addresses I have heard was by Dr. Temple Grandin, "What You Can Learn From Your Science Teacher", delivered at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, ten or a dozen years ago. Now, I haven't heard that many commencement addresses, but hers was head and shoulders above the rest that I have heard.

<comment><USER3> Is this speech available somewhere?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> James, can you make this an open source repo, so others can contribute? Your site could also allow comments for others to suggest more.

</comment><comment><USER5> The talk by Art Williams kinda shreds the the colleges to pieces. Not sure whether I agree with it, but it's nicely delivered.

</comment><comment><USER6> JK Rowling's commencement address is exceptional. One of the best speeches I've listened to.</comment>


Worlds.com Patent Lawsuit Could Set Off Chain Reaction  - <AUTHOR> http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.san&s=97617&Nid=50765&p=433434

<comment><USER2> Among all of the possible things I can so easily say about patent law, the thing that needs the biggest reform is what is patentable. The optimism that no idea will be turned away died when someone first decided to patent something that inherent technological capabilities demand; for instance the company that is deciding to file suit regarding the graphical representation of computer functions (or "icon" as I like to call it), and now this. It's a tough call to make, but it demands close scrutiny, and even closer judgment.

Ostensibly, on the surface this suit will not hold water since "enabling users to interact in a virtual space through avatars. " has existed long before Feb. 2007 (according to this article is the date the patent was applied for) and that's just the point I'm making right now. If it is something that is just inherent to the technology or market your "invention" is targeted to, deny the patent; capitalizing on natural processes and expected functionality is about as inane as the mass marketing of bottled water.

<comment><USER3> Unfortunately, this broad and absurdly obvious patent was filed in 1995. It wasn't granted until 2007.

<comment><USER2> Ah thank you for the correction.</comment></comment></comment>


Informatics Lecture Video Recordings - <AUTHOR> http://groups.inf.ed.ac.uk/vision/VIDEO/ <comment><AUTHOR> Is anyone able to view or download these recordings. Topics in these lectures are gold but I'm not able to view or download any of the lectures. Anybody know what's the technical problem with these?</comment>