The new MacBook Pros with T2 chips do indeed kernel panic randomly - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/bdkjones/status/1030140659729133568 <comment><USER2> IMO the 2015 Macbook Pro is one of the best laptops ever made. Don't know why they went and messed that up.

I solidly regret the 2017 version. I've had one keyboard replacement already (that required the logic board to be replaced, seriously). Since then, I've already lost two keycaps. I've been ordering replacements online because they wanted me to ship it out for repair.

My 2015 Macbook is being used daily by a friend and is still in perfect shape. Worst thing that happened with that one is that I wore the letters off some of the keys.

My next laptop will probably not be a mac.

<comment><USER3> "My next laptop will probably not be a mac."

Yeah, you aren't the only one. They are seriously throwing away all the goodwill and reputation they'd built up over the past 20 years, over features no one is asking for like the touch bar and a ridiculously short key throw.

<comment><USER4> Have to pile on here.

I have a 2017 and use it mostly with an eternal keyboard and monitors but I am shocked when I use the built in keyboard. It is really bad to type on -- all for what? A few fractions of an inch in thickness?

I had a first gen MacBook 12 and was ok with the horrible keyboard given its purpose of maximum portability. But on a desktop replacement / primary machine? What the hell were they thinking?

On this keyboard, 50% of the time when I type a single quote I hit the return key. Makes programming comically bad. It's just a couple of steps off typing on a touch screen at this point. (Which, I fear, is their endgame.)

Other joys of my 2017 (15, maxed out except for the absurdly expensive second TB of SSD):

1\. (Un)plugging external monitors will crash the window server

2\. Kernel panics -- usually related to IB in Xcode.

3\. Unresponsive power key

4\. Fingerprint reader that fails without any feedback

5\. Serious hacking required to run external monitors in HiDPI mode

6\. No more touch typing for the media keys, escape key

I'm professionally tied into the Apple ecosystem to a degree that it would be hard for me to leave, but I'm really unhappy with Apple these days. They seem to live in a fantasy world of unnecessary aesthetic goals and are alienating the small but extremely vocal community that have championed their products.

<comment><USER5> It's anecdotal, but Linux on my ThinkPad gives:

\- Rock solid stability, uptimes of months (until I reboot to upgrade the kernel). I've _never_ had a kernel panic in over a decade of use.

\- No problems with WiFi, sleep, printing or monitor hotplugging (dual wide- screen, displayport MST).

Linux is tweaked, optimised and hardened by so many people and organisations, it is seriously fast and robust. The various desktop GUIs available have also matured a lot over the last ten years.

For any developer of server-side software (which likely runs on Linux), it simply makes more sense to develop on a Linux desktop.

<comment><USER6> I use a X1 Carbon 2015 running Fedora 28 (Since I first installed Fedora 22)

You need to give Linux distros a few months to become mature enough to run flawlessly on newer hardware. I recall having displayport issues when I installed Fedora 22. Aside from that case, I can't remember the last time I've had issues.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's long past time for the tech world to start realizing that their anecdotal evidence is not valid. Every single tiny glitch some person with a Twitter experiences doesn't warrant a fucking XYZgate level media blitz.

@Apple @timcook my phone's battery discharged a little fast today. WHY ARE YOU HIDING FROM THE TRUTH ON THIS??? #draingate

In a later reply, guy cited a Apple discussion thread as his empirical proof. Do you know what, yes, even a thirty page, forum thread is compared to Apple's _daily_ sales? A rounding error.

<comment><USER8> It goes both ways. The media will blow up any tiny issue, and Apple and Mac fanboys will dismiss even major issues.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> The comments the user typed into the Problem Report screen are not constructive.

I think that comments field would be better used for entering any possibly relevant information the user might be able to provide. For example: what was the computer, or the user, doing before the point of the panic. I'm not saying the user has a strict duty to enter information... just that it's a good idea to add some valuable information if you can. The information doesn't need to be perfect or complete. Apple aggregates information from different users' reports and every bit (well most of it) helps.

Apple is engaged in a huge ongoing long project to make their stuff better and better for their users. It's not ever going to be easy, given the ever increasing complexity in the world. We can help, or we can cheer them on, or we can hate on them or whine when they fail. I vote for helping when we can.

<comment><USER10> I think the problem that most people have with Apple quality control is that the company has quite a lot of surplus cash and they don't appear to be using it to make their products better. If we could see that Apple recognized that a product had fundamental design problems and used their massive resources to correct it more people would be willing to give them a break.

Saying that "Apple is engaged in a huge ongoing long project to make their stuff better" doesn't really comfort me much. Especially as they just recently were dubbed the first Trillion dollar company. If some smaller systems manufacture (i.e. System76) had a problem with one of their designs and said that they were working to correct it, most people would give them to benefit of the doubt and cheer them on.

The other problem in my eyes is that Apple seems to be deaf to the users of it's product. I understand not listening to every single thing that the users complain about (8 cores vs 16 cores, etc.) but some things are fundamental. Things like making the MBP a desktop replacement, hence we really don't need it to be the thinnest & lightest laptop ever. We want a whole lot of things like a great keyboard and massive battery and if that makes the laptop thick and heavy then so be it.

<comment><USER11> > I think the problem that most people have with Apple quality control is that > the company has quite a lot of surplus cash and they don't appear to be > using it to make their products better.

People always think they know how to spend other peoples money better than they do.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Problem is not that T2 chips are causing kernel panic - that stuff happens. Problem is that nobody wanted the touch bar and thus the T2 chip there in the first place - another chip with its own OS running and handling the touch bar crap nobody cares about and many are annoyed by. Apple has gotten into NIH+Something fancy just to jack up the hype and prices too deep.

I might be mistaken - but tell me if I am - how is my X1 Carbon 6th gen meaningfully less secure/functional than the MBP? IOW, what am I getting in return for missing ESC, added complexity of the touch bar and significantly higher price? AFAICT nothing if I am not bound to the OS.

<comment><USER13> While I'm also not interested in the touch bar, the T2 also handles other security functions like disk encryption and certifying your boot. So you'd still have the T2 even without the bar.

<comment><USER14> Yep. As evidenced by the iMac Pro also having a T2 despite not having a touch bar. (It also has the kernel panics that are a feature of the T2.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Holding off buying a new MacBook Pro at the moment. It's like issues pop up every other week and I simply cannot buy a machine that is not reliable. Also looking into a Lenovo Thinkpad w/ CentOS as an alternative, even though it would be difficult. It's a pity.

<comment><USER16> Get a ThinkPad X1 Carbon 6th gen with Arch Linux or Fedora. Forget CentOS.

<comment><USER17> Time and time again, I cannot believe people recommend a company that installed spyware in their hardware.

I will never ever buy a Lenovo. It doesn't matter that it didn't affect the ThinkPad line.

<comment><USER18> Almost every larger company these days has done something bad like that. Lenovo had superfish, HP had a keylogger, Dell had its own superfish, Acer still installs search toolbars and browser hijackers, depending on how far back you want to go Sony had the BMG rootkit and a camera backdoor, ... Who are you going to get your laptop from now of you ignore all of those - especially if you're going to reinstall your OS immediately anyway?

<comment><USER19> Almost every company? Except the one this thread is about...

<comment><USER18> I listed other companies which did just as bad things. Why would you trust (for example) Dell more than Lenovo in this case?

<comment><USER20> The thread is about Apple.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Hmm, woke up to the same issue today. My 2018's lid was closed but the fans were spinning near full speed. I have a firmware password set so when it reboots it sits at the password prompt (why can't this timeout and shutdown after a certain period of inactivity?). The crash report indicated Bridge OS as well. This is also the second time it happened.

</comment><comment><USER22> Some of those replies scare me.

 _Your tweet says "MacBook Pros". Plural. I assume that means you have successfully replicated this error on other machines. Right? And I assume you did a full macOS reinstall to see if the problem went away before trumpeting to the entire world. Right?_

Wow, just wow. I mean, when you convince some part of your customer base that a "a full macOS reinstall" is required before you claim its an issue, well I guess you have some loyal but misguided fans.

<comment><USER9> I sort of agree that that's somewhat unreasonable to expect... but on the other hand, a full macOS reinstall is pretty easy. You can opt to preserve data and settings while doing it, too. Or do a clean install and restore from backup which is unbelievably easy as well if your time machine backups are in good shape.

<comment><USER22> Try walking a non-technical user through it over the phone. It is not fun and $DIETY help you if they have a problematic internet connection.

<comment><USER9> Well the guy was an accomplished developer so... no need to move the goalposts.

<comment><USER22> I'm pretty sure the advice from the tweet would be the same regardless.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I received one of 2018 machines a couple of weeks ago. It worked for a few hours until I tried to install the system update that fixes the CPU throttling issue, which I assume included a firmware update for the T2 chip.

The update failed, and the machine was bricked.

Apple have removed everything that isn't controlled by T2 chip. There is no power light on the machine or the charging cable. CPU temperature is the only indicator of power on/off status, as I discovered after removing a very hot machine that I thought was off from my backpack after arriving home. Despite being non-functional, it was actually powered on but spinning the CPU and/or T2 doing god knows what.

My replacement unit arrives tomorrow. Wish me luck.

</comment><comment><USER24> Did Apple refuse to hardware swap after the owner of the device performed a fresh install of macOS to see if the issues went away and they didn't?

Hardware defects occur. Get it replaced. If Apple refuses, _then_ make a stink.

<comment><USER25> He can tweet about errors, and also speak with an Apple rep. There's no practical nor ethical reason for him to stay silent. He didn't sign an NDA when he bought his computer.

<comment><USER26> Well, he certainly has a right to complain.

But there are good reasons, both ethically and practically, not to let your frustrations get the better of you and rant publicly without first making reasonable efforts to get the problem corrected in the normal way.

<comment><USER27> Counterpoint: complaining publicly gets you attention from a big corporation, and as long as you don't seriously threaten the company, employees don't derive any animus from it.

My default belief is that any large corporation is populated by fairly normal people on average without a deep loyalty to their employer.

<comment><USER28> While I understand your point, I think this guy really needs a chill pill. Give Apple some slack to fix a bug. There was, there is and there will always be bugs in software. Just report it. If one does not fix the problem on time, then it's fine to get angry. But overreacting like that won't help anything.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> This appears to be related to the issues I experienced with my MacBook Pro 2018. Namely, speakers crackling as I show in this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yOaLgF6yQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yOaLgF6yQ). Kernel panics would happen shortly after. I'm convinced T2 is to blame.

Upgrading to Mojave appears to have fixed the problem for me, but it's too early to call as I only upgraded a few days ago.

</comment><comment><USER30> Since the plural of anecdote is "data" all I can say is that my 15" hasn't crashed at all in the 10 days I've had it.

</comment><comment><USER31> I had a to dig around a bit to figure out what "Bridge OS" is.

[https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-t2-chip-may- be...](https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-t2-chip-may-be-causing- imac-pro-macbook-problems/)

Apparently, it's a firmware subsystem and interface for the T2 chipset?

</comment><comment><USER21> Does anyone know if you can view past crash reports? I sent the same crash report to Apple this morning but neglected to save it. Would be interesting to compare similar reports.

<comment><USER32> Console log has them listed

<comment><USER21> Thanks! For anyone else interested, this specific crash report for Bridge OS is listed under System Reports > ProxiedDevice-Bridge.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Why is the T2 panic any worse than a normal panic? It's a bug, they happen.

And before someone says that they're only needed for the Touch Bar, a) they chose to buy the Touch Bar version, and b) T2 and future chips will handle much more.

<comment><USER34> > Why is the T2 panic any worse than a normal panic? It's a bug, they happen.

They do happen. They shouldn't. No matter what subsystem causes the kernel panic I don't see why you would think they are acceptable. However, a problem with T2 is worse than other subsystems because...

> And before someone says that they're only needed for the Touch Bar, a) they > chose to buy the Touch Bar version, and b) T2 and future chips will handle > much more.

Exactly. T2 is supposed to work as a secure enclave, for instance (see [https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208862](https://support.apple.com/en- us/HT208862)). Any bug (especially one causing a kernel crash) related to the T2 chip is potentially a privilege escalation bug, with the potential to enable direct (after decryption) disk access outside of os access control, or the possibility to work around secure boot and boot non-signed kernels, or other problems.

The T2 chip is becoming a critical part of the security infrastructure for macs/mac os and any bug related to it should be taken very seriously.

<comment><USER35> How does one conclude that a kernel panic means the T2 is insecure? The kernel trusts the T2, not the other way around.

<comment><USER36> And you know that how?

<comment><USER33> Because that's the architecture?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> I still have my 2012 MBP with the nearly-dead battery, but for daily work I'm just using a $200 Samsung Chromebook 3 with Termux. Yes, I can't run everything, and it's quite slow, but as a result I end up spotting performance problems I wouldn't otherwise.

<comment><USER38> Bought a pixelbook to replace my 2015 macbook. It's been a great experience. Crostini is great (as is having Android apps). You can now find the low-end model for $750 everywhere these days.

A little slower, but I have fast desktop machines for when I run into those kinds of tasks.

<comment><USER39> I'm waiting a couple more months to see what happens with Apple, but I'm almost certain my next laptop will be a high end Chromebook. With crostini I would have all I need.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Some anecdata: I've been using an iMac Pro which has the T2 chip (and thus, can experience these panics) for a while now and haven't had a single kernel panic. In fact, I wouldn't have even restarted this whole time if it weren't for updates.

Similarly, I've used both second and third gen touchbar MBPs and haven't had any problems out of them at all. They've both been about as reliable as my old 2015 MBP.

Not to say that others aren't experiencing issues, but let's not forget that the internet can act as a magnifying glass that makes relatively uncommon/infrequent bugs look much more widespread than they actually are.

</comment><comment><USER41> Not just hardware, I regret every little software update I get from Apple. For example, I can't change the password of my Macbook anymore. A simple password change fucks up the whole system, and Google is full of people reporting this stuff for years.

<comment><USER42> Eh, at least that has a kinda good reason.

Stuff in keychain is encrypted by your password, so changing it means your encryption password is different from your login password.

Why that doesn't change with your login is beyond me.

<comment><USER41> I got that, but there is no interaction about it with the user. If you change your password from apple to banana, you will not be able to login anymore. Both passwords won't work until you open up recovery mode and set your password back to the old one. This is what happened in my case.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> Does anyone have a good alternative to Mac? My next laptop definitely will not be a mac, mostly I'm mad about the whole external GPU thunderbolt stuff. And no longer willing to pay Apple's Mac tax anymore.

<comment><USER44> If money is no object, the soon to ship Thinkpad P1 looks pretty great.

</comment></comment><comment><USER45> I've watched my 2017 thermal throttle before it became a thing.

I type on mechanical keyboard and plug the laptop into thunderbolt 3 dock to 32" 4" monitor.

I'm ok with the limitations it is a thin client survived and work fine still after a motercycle accident with some dings

I worked in the middle of the desert on the Pakistan borders and on trains across India.

I have kvm baremetal hypervisor and a nas so I rdp into win 10 vm for ops and research and have a remote docked vm that can build stuff way faster than laptop.

VPN access so tbh you have to change your workflow, people still think you should have a super high powered machine on you always when in realty my laptop is always set up without switching between desktop envs and I for the most part offload chrome and other heavy tasks to the win 10 vm

<comment><USER45> Who downvotes these comments how about you make an actually response.

Gave you personal anecdotes on why you might want ultra light 13" laptop with thin keys and just a downvote.

Starting to realise the people who actually know what there talking about don't comment to much because it's not really worth our time.</comment></comment>


Why we didn't make an app - <AUTHOR> http://wheatpond.com/2012/02/04/noapp.html

<comment><USER2> Awesome post. I think that we tend to focus too much on making a technological solution regardless of the problem, which can sometimes be solved in a better and simpler way by making a physical product. We have the programming hammer, and we see nails everywhere.

Tangible objects can delight us in ways that software has never reached yet, and which I personally don't believe will ever be equated.

A friend of mine (software engineer, heavy proponent of the "minimalist" movement) recently argued that he wanted more software in his life, and less objects that clutter and take up space. He wants everything to be controllable and accessible from his phone's touchscreen. He's not the only one, as evidenced by that Microsoft proof of concept video a few months ago which depicted a future made only out of touchscreens.

I think this is a very bleak thing to wish for- interacting with the world solely with the tips of our fingers is neither inspiring nor sensical.

(As a small aside, that's one of the things I really like about Kickstarter- the fact that most of the projects lead to tangible products.)

</comment><comment><USER3> Nice post Eric. This is why I can never imagine myself without my physical books, whether or not I have a Kindle. A world in which the only texture is glass is sad.

<comment><USER4> Exactly! There is a good article about it here, [http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesi...](http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/)

Our hands are amazing for feeling minute changes with the tips of our fingers. And we discard that ability if every device we interact with is a glass surface

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep. I didn't get to mention the purely tactile reasons we went with a printed map, but it was definitely a big factor.

If you have a look at the "Fold" section on the kickstarter page, we put up two diagrams from the original paper describing the folding method we used, that shows a light-traced image of how one's hands move when unfolding a conventionally folded map vs. a miura folded map. The latter simply <i>feels</i> much better!</comment></comment></comment>


Rdio Announces Ad-Free, On-Demand Music Streaming - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/06/rdio-announces-ad-free-on-demand-music-streaming-service/

<comment><USER2> I just pay for Rdio and don't think about the details. Rdio has saved me hundreds of dollars this year that I'd have otherwise spent on iTMS for music. I don't have the bandwidth to sit around thinking about how much music I have "left", or coming up with ever more devious ways to avoid paying for it.

Rdio is one of the better investments I've made in the past few years (I'm sure Spotify would be just as good). If you're considering forking a little cash over in order to stop wasting time planning what music you're going to have access to or how you're going to reach it, I say do it.

<comment><USER3> I also just pay for Rdio, and feel the same as you do.

And their interface is excellent! While they executed plenty of features in a great way, this was the biggest thing for me. I build UI's and interacting with Rdio's is truly fun.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is a great example of how competition spurs innovation. Rdio has always been a great service with a poorly done trial period that probably discouraged a lot of people from using it long enough to love it. The only reason I stuck with it past two weeks was because my fellow geek friends pushed me to give it a shot since they loved it so much.

Spotify definitely pushed them to re-evaluate this trial period and probably helped them push on the labels to offer them more profitable licensing deals for free users.

Great to see the rising tide lifting up some other boats in the music industry.

</comment><comment><USER5> I was going to try Spotify until they started requiring a Facebook login. I'll try this instead. I like the idea of a total per-month cap rather than a per- song per-month like Spotify apparently has.

<comment><USER6> I haven't used Rdio, but Grooveshark (to my knowledge) predates both Rdio and Spotify, and is aces in my book.

I don't know why it gets approximately one-millionth the press that Spotify and Rdio gets, but you should definitely check it out. Between Pandora (discovery) and Grooveshark (streaming catalog), all my music needs are met.

<comment><USER7> The thing that has always turned me off of Grooveshark (compared to Rdio and friends) is extremely-poorly-curated content. Albums are frequently duplicated, mislabeled, out of order, and so on. That, and it's much more legally questionable.

<comment><USER8> Maybe, but it has a big advantage.

It is available in my country.

I don't care about the blurry lines of legality. If you don't want to sell it to me, why should it matter were I get it?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> They didn't have many other options with Spotify being free and ad-supported. Good move by Rdio, this model works for the majority of users.

I'm not sure if the music industry is being dragged into this model kicking and screaming or they finally realized its potential. Either way, the consumer wins.

</comment><comment><USER8> Apparently it is not available in my country. The level of incompetence among music executives continues to astonish me.

If you don't want to sell it to me, why the fuck sue people for getting it from somebody else for free?

Maybe we should buy some shares and get those idiots fired.

</comment><comment><USER10> I hope they fix it up so that you don't have to have an account to listen to songs that rdio users send you (didn't work this way last I checked) ... I suspect it would be an incredibly smart way to get user to send rdio links to their friends and eventually have those new listeners sign up for accounts.

</comment><comment><USER11> I've tried both and love Rdio. The social aspects are so much better for music discovery.

</comment><comment><USER12> This is awesome. I was kind of shocked, however, that it only found a handful of people from both Twitter and Facebook. Thought there were more people using Rdio.

I am sure this new option will help!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> As a current paying Rdio user, I'm tempted to stop paying, use the free plan, and see if I listen to enough music a month to pay. Why not?

<comment><USER13> No reason, but personally-speaking, Rdio is one of the few apps I pay for every month that I appreciate so much and get so much value out of that I'll happily keep paying for it.

I haven't opened iTunes (apart from syncing my phone) since Rdio launched. And I had a large-ish library of 25,000+ songs. Rdio, Dropbox and CloudApp are the only products I can think of that have completely changed my day to day in the last year.</comment></comment>


Card sharp used infrared contact lenses in Cannes poker scam - <AUTHOR> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10336587/Card-sharp-used-infrared-contact-lenses-in-Cannes-poker-scam.html <comment><USER2> I don't understand how the "infrared contact lens" works. Do they convert the infrared light to visible light? Is that possible? Do they use visible light and the "infrared" name is only marketing? I couldn't find any information with Google, only lot of infomercials.</comment>


Ask HN: Structure of your side projects - <AUTHOR> New side project on the road!
I'm the kind of guy who always looking to the future of my project and tries to well-think (maybe over-think) the project architecture.
In my company, I'm obsessed with microservices and I'd to keep the same granularity on my side project architecture (code reuse for each service for a completely decoupled service...).
What's your POV about thinking a new structure on a side project? <comment><USER3> The thing about side projects is that you're free to go wherever you want, no one is watching over your shoulder any more. It's a damned shame when they get lost in tar pits trying to live up to someone else's standards. Side projects should be about passion, about solving interesting problems; and cutting corners is the fastest way to get there. And in the end, knowing which corners to cut and when is what separates the pros from the not yets, that's where 10x comes from.

</comment><comment><USER4> Currently, I'm trying to organize all of my game development code (such as it is) as sub-projects in Visual Studio, with a single location for external libraries (SDL2, Lua, etc.) and a single repo pushed to Bitbucket. Visual Studio doesn't seem designed for that, so it's awkward, but it works.

And for web development, Just a separate folder for each project and XAMPP. I'm a dinosaur and never even started working with a VM until recently, so I've got one Hack project running in Vagrant, but I still prefer XAMPP.

Other than that, I don't impose a lot of structure on my projects because my side projects are more about education and exploration than trying to come up with a MVP or resume filler (although I'd probably be in a better position if I thought more about the latter than the former.) Just enough structure to make it easy to start and archive, then as much anarchy as I want.

</comment><comment><USER5> Make architecture as below: 1\. Use common code where even possible like for crud operation a single class that handle operation based on entity provided(Dapper.Exention library for .net ORM). 2\. Try to create code generator using templates. 3\. Use common and well known libraries to manage common operation like logging, mail sending etc put those in sub project - <USER2> case need to change library just a sub project require changes.</comment>


Grad Student Rigs Cheap Alternative to $1,000 Air Purifiers in China - <AUTHOR> http://scienceblog.com/73679/grad-student-rigs-cheap-alternative-rival-1000-air-purifiers-smog-choked-china/ <comment><USER2> China, once again proving that:

Cost of healthcare + cost of making "clean air bubbles" for the people that can afford them < cost of actually having clean air for everyone.

Ah, that wonderful free market. Take a big, full lungful of that externalized cost. Don't worry, central government says it won't hurt you!

<comment><USER3> Using China as an example of the ills of free markets sounds like a bad joke.

<comment><USER4> Actually it is not. In some respect their are probably less regulated and less constrained by what we think are the true "free" market (US). The lack of constraints doesn't come from lack of laws or rules but from non-enforcement and corruption. And, well, nothing says free market like getting the quickest and fastest way to your goal -- bribe your way out, install and control lobbyists, buy up all the competitors and so on. So in that respect one can say they are more free than Americans. (But then again, if one considers the power of lobbying, and revolving doors between industries and agencies regulating then maybe US does have the free-est market of all -- the government is just a branch of each of the large companies).

On a side note of "free" markets: I often hear from deluded libertarians "oh man, FDA (or other such govt agency) is so evil, controlling our lives, so ineffective and corrupt it should be abolished, and people know better what it good to eat". That argument is fine and dandy because we know this "libertarian paradise" doesn't exists, so they can argue and compare a fictional (Ayn Rand-ian ?) universe with a real world and then criticize the real world based on it. Which like comparing Star Wars space ships to real world Navy ships. ("My dilithium crystals are 100x as powerful as your 2 nuclear reactors!")

My response is usually that I invite them to take a plane ride, not into another universe or the future, but across "the pond" to Africa or any 3rd world country with an effectively non-functioning FDA (or similar agency). Where anyone can sell you anything without any controls or checks or worrying about being punished. Vegetables laced with deadly chemicals but that look good on the exterior. You'll get cancer in a couple of years but good luck finding that one vendor. Things like that. The interesting thing is that these "free market" libertarian paradises exist, except they are always failed and corrupt states and they are pretty terrible places to live in.

<comment><USER3> Free markets require respect for private property. China is a place where private property has only been respected by the law less than a decade ago, where the State owns all the land and you can only lease it, and even then you can get beaten to death if you refuse to accept an expropriation.

You can't just say "deregulated == free markets".

 _A free market economy is a market-based economy where prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy._

This does not exist in China. China is a corporatist state, not a laissez- faire economy.

<comment><USER5> There are no functioning laissez-faire economies that I know of.

<comment><USER3> I don't disagree. It might be that they're impossible. All I'm saying is that China is not even close to one.

<comment><USER5> China is dysfunctional, where the maxim of ask for forgiveness (or avoid detection) reigns over ask for permission. Hong Kong and Singapore are often touted as the freest economically, but both are effectively smallish city states. Living in china makes you appreciate the USA's EPA, however.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I have four of them in my apartment in Shanghai. They definitely work; I verified it over and over with a laser particle counter. They're loud, but simply running them in the rooms you're not occupying (e.g. in the bedroom during the day, then in the living room during the night) is already a significant gain.

If you get some for your own home, make sure to cut down on the drafts first; running your purifiers full power won't help you if polluted air is always coming in. I lined all my windows with foam tape from the hardware store.

Rather than fighting every day to keep my indoor air clean (that still doesn't do anything for me when I head out) and my internet connection to foreign servers above dialup speeds (four VPNs and counting), I've simply decided to move back to the Bay Area though. :|

</comment><comment><USER7> $1000? I have a (true) HEPA air filter I use at home to keep allergies and dust down and it was only around $150. Still a lot more than this trick but damn that's expensive.

<comment><USER5> These $1k filters are designed for 2.5 ppm particles, not dust (10 ppm) and allergens. China's air problems are quite different from the west's. Your $150 filter would be completely unsuited.

<comment><USER8> The HEPA filter will also become ineffective really quickly unless you have a pre-filter to get rid of the larger particles first.

<comment><USER5> They have multiple levels of filters. We have plenty of 10 ppm also, but the killer is the 2.5.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I work for a manufacturer of higher end air purifiers. Air purification is not a single-problem market waiting for a single solution. People buy purifiers to relieve allergies, to generally have cleaner indoor air, deal with their chemical sensitivities, etc. That alone creates the need for a wide range of products. On top of that, user experience is important to a lot of people...so design, noise levels, UX, etc. creates even more options for people.

The point being that this inexpensive approach solves a very narrow set of problems...leaving many others that the rest of the industry addresses through a wide range of products (just like any other industry). For example, a $10 phone will work just fine making phone calls...yet people still pay $500 for certain smartphones that do/offer much more.

</comment><comment><USER10> HEPA is only for particulate contaminants. At least some of the expensive filters have activated charcoal and other chemical filters.

<comment><USER11> > At least some of the expensive filters have activated charcoal

Activated carbon is effective just to remove odors and nothing more. It's not expensive either, it's like $ 10/kg retail.

A high-end filter is more likely to work with ionization. [1]

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-FPA80UW-Plasmacluster- Purifier-F...](http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-FPA80UW-Plasmacluster-Purifier- Filter/dp/B0067X12EW/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> [https://twitter.com/BeijingAir](https://twitter.com/BeijingAir)

</comment><comment><USER8> I know people who've bought these kits. They say it's loud, but that it seems to work as they can see the HEPA filter get dirty over time.

My $1000+ air purifiers are quiet enough to keep on in the bedroom at night, even on full speed. Plus they don't just filter particles. Plus they are easy to wheel around when necessary. Yes, the manufacturer (IQAir) is probably making a killing on the machines and the (three) replacement filter modules, but it's worth it for the effectiveness and convenience.

</comment><comment><USER13> Here's Consumer Reports talking about doing this 3 years ago

[http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/07/why-not-a- do...](http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2011/07/why-not-a-do-it- yourself-air-purifier/index.htm)

</comment><comment><USER14> HEPA filter + box fan is very common, and very cheap. Not sure why this is particularly notable.

<comment><USER15> Apparently not very common in China, which would make it notable there.

Citing Talhelm as "grad student" in the title makes it a bit more clickbaity, gives it a sort of a "one weird trick" vibe, but reading the article it does sound like he's onto something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Earlier discussion: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6659091](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6659091)</comment>


If You Get the Chills from Music, You May Have a Unique Brain - <AUTHOR> http://neurosciencenews.com/music-chills-neuroscience-6167/ <comment><USER2> Unique in that two-thirds of the population experiences it.

[http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/201...](http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/05/getting_chills_when_listening_to_music_might_mean_you_re_a_more_emotional.html)

[http://www.humorthatworks.com/database/10-frisson- inducing-s...](http://www.humorthatworks.com/database/10-frisson-inducing- songs-and-the-definition-of-frisson/)

There's even a subreddit (of course there is): [https://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson/)

</comment><comment><USER3> I get chills when I listen to some music - I thought that was universal, or at least commonplace. Just how unique is getting chills supposed to be that it might be a marker for a "unique" brain?

<comment><USER4> I too get chills when listening to some music. I too thought this was universal or commonplace.

edit: sentence improvements

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I did get chills when listening to specific songs when I was in my 20s. Now 37 I havent really had it happen to me since.

Funnily enough, it was a song from the swedish band Kent. Which some say is inspired from radiohead. And a radiohead song was used as an example in the article.

I actually listened to the Radiohead song, and immediately felt it was a bit familiar to the kind of music that used to give me the chills.

<comment><USER6> Same for, but earlier. Listening to my stash is no longer as satisfying as it used to be.

I do miss them so much.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The first song I recall experiencing this effect from is Pat Metheny Group's song "San Lorenzo". And it still happens most times I hear it.

</comment><comment><USER8> I have never experienced 'chills' when listening to music.

</comment><comment><USER9> One could argue that everyone has a unique brain due to their subjective experience.

</comment><comment><USER10> I get a rush listening to Rush

</comment><comment><USER11> I get chills when listening to Tupac.

<comment><USER4> For me Hot Tuna, Asleep at the Wheel and Alison Krauss with Union Station. Jefferson Airplane and the Dead live many years ago. Some of Alison Krauss's new work Windy City.</comment></comment>


Hurd Progresses - Debian GNU/Hurd by end of 2012? - <AUTHOR> http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Hurd-Progresses-Debian-GNU-Hurd-by-end-of-2012-1279253.html <comment><USER2> Serious question: what's this for? It doesn't seem to be an interesting research project, and shows no sign of being useful in a pragmatic sense.

Surely a clean-sheet design started _now_ would be more interesting and perhaps even useful than a 21-year-old microkernel. Think about all the changes in architecture, networks, storage, etc.

We're in a world with consumer processors with 4-8 cores and hardware multithreading, GPUs that rival or exceed (in certain domains) the processing grunt of the CPUs, network cards that can talk to L2 cache, SSDs, etc.

Surely enough has changed that a clean-sheet design could be a lot more exciting - and even more practical - than trying to finish a design that hasn't succeeded for 2 decades. A clean-sheet design would at least be interesting - we already know you can build a workable system on top of a microkernel.

This isn't a claim to know what a clean sheet design would look like; I haven't really looked seriously at OS research in 15 years. I just strongly suspect you might do radically different, interesting designs in 2011 vs 1990.

<comment><USER3> _> Surely a clean-sheet design started _now_ would be more interesting and perhaps even useful than a 21-year-old microkernel._

Just curious, are there any such OS in development?

<comment><USER4> Sape Mullender and Noah Evans from Bell Labs announced last year that they are working on a system called Osprey. There's video of the talk floating around somewhere.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I've occasionally thought it would be an interesting project to try to organize some kind of "Let's finish Hurd for them" meet up, maybe in conjunction with some major conference that a lot of Linux kernel hackers attend.

<comment><USER6> Let's call it the Gathering of the _New Herd_!

<comment><USER5> I was thinking "Hacking Hurd for GNUmanity" as a play on "Habitat for Humanity".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> That would be nice, but honestly I doubt it since they have been trying to release it for longer than I have been alive.

Anyway the Linux kernel is good enough, so the effort seems wasted.

<comment><USER6> Rivalry is always good, it's essential for evolution.

<comment><USER8> Let's see, we have FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Solaris. Two of them have even been integrated in current GNU systems (Debian/FreeBSD and Nexenta). How does yet another kernel help?

<comment><USER4> Hurd isn't stuck in the seventies and aims to do more than re-implement a 40-year-old design.

<comment><USER2> The irony of this remark is that while it is literally correct, the truth of the matter is that Hurd is stuck in the early 90s and aims to re-implement a 20-year-old design.

<comment><USER9> ... while wrapping it to make it look like an early 1970s design.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I played seriously with Hurd in the early 2000s, and remember really loving many of its ideas. The user space file systems (which Fuse does for other OSes) were quite cool. I can't imagine that much of the good stuff Hurd promised hasn't already been adopted by others.

</comment><comment><USER11> It would be nice if everyone take some time off linux to help with Hurd. Participation and write 1 line of code can go a long way in helping them along :). I really want to see Hurd completed.

<comment><USER12> It might be nice, but from a purely selfish point of view I'd rather people (not just coders) spent time improving Linux (which is already in widespread use) than tinkering with Hurd.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> How well does Hurd compare to Linux?

<comment><USER14> Not well. It has only a better design (in theory!) and is GNU (so politically speaking is more Free Software than Linux...).

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Is Hurd licensed under GPLv3? There is a reason why Linux isn't.

</comment><comment><USER16> I think Debian already works with HURD using Mach 4 as long as the core libraries include extra header information(1). I believe this process is called "porting"(2) in Debian lingo but involves the whole distribution, i.e. just core libraries but driver frameworks as well. When I think of porting, I think of rewriting in another language. This is a patching job to me, massive as it may be, but whatever.

My information only comes from my research made the better part of a decade ago(3) when they were seriously looking to port the microkernel to L4 from Mach 4(4), but sadly it appears that work was abandoned around 2006 [Dunno, why? It might be started again]. I suspect the low level switch had a lot to do with interest in a better kernel in OS X than what Darwin(5), XNU(6) on the Mac, could provide(7). In the Panther, pre-Leopard days there was a lot of interest in this(8) kind of project: large-scale microkernels(9).

I don't know if this effort will include the port from L4(10) with the Mach abstraction API to "save" the prior work in getting Mach to work with standard Debian without the extra header requirements.

Anyway, I'm going to get some coffee and lunch. If anyone wants to fund an idea like this, I would like to any of the number of amazing things that they are doing with non-tricyclic antidepressants these days. Just look at the good it did for Tony Soprano.

(1) <http://www.debian.org/ports/hurd/hurd-install>

(2) [http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/porting/guidelines.htm...](http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd/porting/guidelines.html)

(3) <http://www.shakthimaan.com/installs/debian-t41.html> [Not me]

(4) <http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/microkernel/mach.html>

(5) <http://darwinbuild.macosforge.org/>

(6) [http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin...](http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/About/About.html)

(7) I don't have any insider information. I'm just a developer.

(8) Mac OSX Panther for Unix Geeks, Brian Jepson, ISBN-13: 978-0596006075, Chapter 7

(9) <http://www.ertos.nicta.com.au/software/darbat/>

(10) [http://kilobug.free.fr/hurd/pres- en/abstract/html/abstract.h...](http://kilobug.free.fr/hurd/pres- en/abstract/html/abstract.html)</comment>


Priceline kills its "name-your-price" feature - <AUTHOR> http://qz.com/776844/priceline-pcln-kills-its-name-your-price-feature-but-youre-probably-getting-a-good-deal-anyway/ <comment><USER2> It's about time! They hid it then broke it, what, a decade ago? Back in the early days I could get online one night on a whim & fill an empty seat the next day for mutual benefit to me & the carrier... I presume, unsure how $150 + 200 lbs over 2000 miles in the air compares to flying with an empty seat. Last time I looked, ~2008, no matter how many options I checked or unchecked their counter-offer was never below the static prices of standard, < 30 days advance booking prices.</comment>


Is anybody else having trouble viewing TechCrunch? - <AUTHOR>

Over the past week or so TechCrunch I've been experiencing weird loading delays, and hang-ups. I can't quite figure it out but no other site I use has been affected - on Windows 7 / IE8 browsing - wondering if anybody else noticed . . . <comment><USER2> I'm having trouble with techcrunch feeds, but I can access the site as usual, with no delay, but keep in mind they have shortly changed their Host , and they've been hacked.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm having trouble with Techcrunch loads as well. I'll click through a link (usually through HN), and the header will load. But most of the rest of the page hangs. (I call it "the spinnies," in honor of the small animated spinner in Chrome). I refresh usually gets it working OK.</comment>


Implementing queries on a GraphQL server - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/naresh-bhatia/graphql-concepts-i-wish-someone-explained-to-me-a-year-ago-6a55981f3a7e <comment><AUTHOR> When I started learning GraphQL, I used to put all my resolvers into one file

Part 2 of my @GraphQL series shows you how to properly implement queries on your server.

If you missed part 1 (GraphQL basics), here it is: [https://medium.com/naresh- bhatia/graphql-concepts-i-wish-som...](https://medium.com/naresh- bhatia/graphql-concepts-i-wish-someone-explained-to-me-a-year- ago-514d5b3c0eab)

I'll be releasing one part a day for the next week (in case you'd like some holiday travel reading). Here's what you can look forward to.

Part 3: Queries (client implementation)

Part 4: Mutations (server implementation)

Part 5: Mutations (client implementation)

Part 6: Subscriptions (server implementation)

Part 7: Subscriptions (client implementation)

What have you struggled with in GraphQL? I'd love to hear your stories and make it easier to get started.</comment>


Man of the Woods - <AUTHOR> https://maptia.com/brunoaugsburger/stories/man-of-the-woods

<comment><AUTHOR> Wonderful travel story by Bruno Augsburger. 72 days in the wilds of Yukon, Canada.</comment>


Uproar as Uganda telecom companies implement mobile money, social media  taxes - <AUTHOR> http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Uproar-telecom-companies-implement-social-media-tax/688334-4640676-tnxx7x/index.html <comment><USER2> So the government decided that it was a good idea to tax OTT services, defined as:

The transmission or receipt of voice messages over the internet protocol network and includes access to virtual private networks but does not include educational or research sites prescribed by the Minister by notice in the gazette.

Quite a nonsensical definition really. Might as well tax internet access (which you already do).

On top of that, the only way to pay this tax is via mobile money, which is taxed 1% at point of deposit, 1% at point of transaction and 1% at point of withdrawal. You're being taxed to pay tax.

And when you do pay the 200 shilling tax (which is actually 202 shillings), they only activate your social media access until 11.59pm today. Regardless of when you paid. So, if you pay the tax at 11.30pm today, you've got only 30 minutes of use.

</comment><comment><USER3> The most interesting quote is about the history behind the tax:

"President Yoweri Museveni reportedly wrote a letter complaining to the finance minster about online gossip and suggesting a tax be introduced to "cope with consequences.""

</comment><comment><USER4> Wouldn't it be easier for the government to tax the ISPs and data providers the 202 shillings and let that cost be passed on to the consumer?

<comment><USER2> (Ugandan)

I think it's legal gymnastics. Firstly, this "tax" is officially excise duty on OTT services. Data & voice already attract (heavy) excise duty. So if they tacked it onto your phone bill, it would walk and quack like a hike in excise duty on data and voice plans.

Second issue - what if I don't use any OTT services? But the phone company wants to just add 202/\- per day to my bill? (That's the route a few ISPs have gone down. Waiting for them to be challenged)

There are a few other issues, but those are my main suspicions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> My key takes on this article are:

1) Gov needed more $$$. They could either reform/progress the state and let the economy generate freely the extra $$$ in 2-5-10 years OR impose a new tax "on those slackers who spend all day in social media". They chose the latter as they can create a narrative to convince the masses on the validity of this new tax. Edit/addition: And the fact that reforming the state requires change, disrupting cliques, reduce corruption, reduce bureaucracy, so instead they thrash anything modern they cannot control and doesn't serve the "old ideas".

2) "Sample" of 2700 and then calling it "National IT Survey" in a 20.7m population is a joke/travesty. It looks like they shared some A4 pages in a couple of ministries, asked the employees to get their kids to fill them up and called it a day.

Apologies for over simplifying things.

<comment><USER6> > "Sample" of 2700 and then calling it "National IT Survey" in a 20.7m > population is a joke/travesty.

For well designed, stratified and representative surveys 2700 is actually pretty good sample size and will get you to +/\- couple of percent points accuracy. There's a whole well studied sciencee behind "design of experiments" that goes into pretty much any R&D or market research effort. Nothing will save you however if you don't design and administer the research well.

If you don't believe this and know a bit of programming, simply whip up a Monte Carlo program to repeatedly randomly sample 2700 without replacement from a dataset of 10 million a few thousand times, measure and histogram your estimtes and see the range where you end up most of the time. I actually do this when teaching introductory stats to new analysts and market researchers because seeing is the first step to understanding :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> To bring it back to the anglosphere, I predict mass anger towards the hobbling of social media companies by Western governments if it occurs. We have all these conversations amongst ourselves about the evils of these communication facilitating companies, often with good reason. But we should be cognizant that only the squeaky wheels are squeaking and the general public is happy with their communication platforms. Take the elitist approach of telling them what's good for them and affect their uses and the tides will turn. Not in mass media or on sites like this one, but groundswells of annoyed yet still mostly silent masses will make conscious decisions where they can and elitists will not understand what happened.

<comment><USER8> Uganda would be considered within the Anglosphere but not "core Anglosphere". It may not of been the most common use of the word before but Breixteers are trying to convince people that these countries will replace the trade they are stopping with the rest of Europe so will take as many as they can. I not sure if follow but you mention that the general public is happy and that is surely the issue. If the populous were made aware of the implications of what they agree to on most of these sites/messaging services, owned and controlled by "elites", there would be action. It's difficult to explain to people so that they are convinced. The general assumption is that if it is as bad as is being reported it would not of been allowed in the first place.

<comment><USER7> > you mention that the general public is happy and that is surely the issue

An issue to you maybe, but some people just don't value their privacy as much.

> The general assumption is that if it is as bad as is being reported it would > not of been allowed in the first place

I don't think this is true as is evident by the lack of public outcry/exodus. We shouldn't confuse the media narrative or the scandals as public outcry.

Many people just don't care that much. It's not your job to convince them because the opinion is ideological/subjective. It seems that many here think that if people don't see these often-voluntarily-provided privacy incursions as problematic, it is wrong and due to not being convinced properly or lack of education or whatever. In reality, people probably don't care (can't say for sure, I'm not one) because in the grand scheme of things, these problems are minimal.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm concerned from the perspective of VPN usage that I've seen happen during social media blockades. People invariably turn to free VPN services. Suddenly people are walking around with known malware injectors, and the worst of the worst behaved VPN provider apps giving them "protected" browsing because they don't know any better.

An app developer without ethics could probably create some template for generating apps and sites for "free" VPN services, and liaise with the government to create a perfect cycle of people using apps that spy on them. And people would still probably fall for it.

</comment><comment><USER10> I wonder what is more taxing - (A) Government's social media tax or (B) One's daily time spent on these social media platforms

For me it is definitely (B). I keep off Facebook but once in a while I get into it because an email appears "XYZ posted a new photo". Tempted to see the photo, I logon to Facebook and then I lose control - I surf through the endless news feed clicking those click bait headlines and funny videos. And an hour or more just flies by. Just like that I lost my time and some of my energy. Fortunately I am able to resist the temptation to comment on FB stuff.

</comment><comment><USER11> "Africa is poor because she is not free" \- George Ayittey

</comment><comment><USER12> Not sure if it's related but Facebook is building fiber backhaul for Uganda.

[https://code.fb.com/connectivity/airtel-and-bcs-with- support...](https://code.fb.com/connectivity/airtel-and-bcs-with-support-from- facebook-to-build-shared-fiber-backhaul-connectivity-in-uganda/)

</comment><comment><USER13> Depending on how they did this, this could be an interesting experiment on the possibility of kerbing people's "screen" addiction. At least it looks like they are whitelisting some "social value add" sites, but taxing other less necessary sites.

If let's say they allowed X-time free after which you had to pay this tax and that climbed such that it served as a deterrent against too much unproductive screen time, it might provide some data for some behavioralists to study and reach some conclusions which are lacking.

<comment><USER14> > reach some conclusions which are lacking.

This is strong premise. I don't think we need more data when you have studies that show that social media as the same effect as cocaine. We specially don't need another tax.

<comment><USER13> If aspects of it have the same addictive effects as cocaine, why not tax it like other vices but in this case use the revenue to address the problems which surface.

I'm saying if they are going to do this, let's do it again n a fashion such that we might glean useful information which could benefit all users.

<comment><USER15> >why not tax it like other vices but in this case use the revenue to address the problems which surface.

What problem?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Is there a term for the confusing use of comma in headlines like that?

I noticed it initially in USA print newspapers but it seems to be propagating over the Web.

It is no more efficient than using an ampersand.

In this case I wondered how "mobile money" and "social media tax" were related.

<comment><USER17> In print journalism, it's common to use a comma in headlines that way. The comma is more efficient than an ampersand because it is less wide in variable width fonts.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Url changed from [https://gizmodo.com/uganda-goes-through-with-social-media- ta...](https://gizmodo.com/uganda-goes-through-with-social-media-tax-and- people-ar-1827287611), which points to this.

</comment><comment><USER19> If all governments do that, it will instantly raise humanity's iq and eq up a notch and help govt get money too.

<comment><USER20> Social media has destroyed humanity. Turned everyone into attention deficit zombies.

<comment><USER21> Honestly, all censorship and free speech ideas aside, I wonder if a small socia media tax could be net positive on American society? Especially in terms of relieving diminished attention spans, etc.

I have decreased my own personal usage by adding a "time tax" — I always log out after a brief session on Twitter/Facebook/etc. I also use 2FA everywhere so there's extra friction in logging back in. That extra 30 seconds of effort can be enough to say "nah, I don't need to check Twitter twice today".

<comment><USER22> You can use things productively, or you can use things unproductively. This includes social media and Twitter. I have spent some time cleaning out so the only people I follow on Twitter post extremely valuable content. I block with extreme prejudice and will unfollow if they stop posting useful info.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Although implementation may be ugly and/ or shocking - the concept in itself has interesting roots.

Although social media in itself is vital - we are seeing more usage of it correlates with negative behavior pattern (as is excessive tv watching).

Should govt intervene?

They do intervene for substance addiction...

<comment><USER24> If you watched people spending time with their friends, you could probably see the same patterns. Most human behavior is not productive. It's been that way for a long time.

<comment><USER25> People spending time with their friends is not productive?

<comment><USER24> Not any less than spending time on social media or games.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


How to Crack Mifare Classic Cards - <AUTHOR> https://www.firefart.at/how-to-crack-mifare-classic-cards/

<comment><USER2> The oyster travel cards in London are Mifare cards (not actually classic ones though) but the system was designed in a way to be resilient to attacks on the card.

When you tap the card on the reader the transaction happens locally with the card and the reader, this means that there is no latency and the system can continue to operate even if the central server goes down.

Every minute or so the machines sync with a central server and if at any point a machine saw a card with a balance or journey history that conflicted with the server copy then that card gets blacklisted and no machine will accept it any more. This means if you clone a card you can use it to start your journey but by the time you get to your destination you won't be able to get out.

<comment><USER3> I'm under the impression all Vix-ERG designed systems do this as well. Examples are ClipperCard (SF Bay area) and OrcaCard (Seattle).

I had heard that the OrcaCard system had an issue early on where a number of cards were disabled as a result of a TVM not being synced back to the database. There certainly was a large number of completely dead cards for a couple of weeks in 2010.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> In the Netherlands, the public transport card "ov-chipkaart" used Mifare classic too [0]. Even worse, the "defensiepas", for access to military bases, uses it too [1], even as of today.

[0] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OV- chipkaart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OV-chipkaart) [1] [http://www.computable.nl/artikel/ict_topics/security/2735292...](http://www.computable.nl/artikel/ict_topics/security/2735292/1276896/gekraakte- chip-geeft-toegang-tot-wapendepots.html)

</comment><comment><USER5> A pretty detailed presentation from Defcon. I believe these people were one of the firsts to tinker with Mifare in real life scenarios (IIRC this was back in 2008). [http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N30/subway/Defcon_Presentation.pdf](http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N30/subway/Defcon_Presentation.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER6> The problem with any type of hardware/usage like this is that it's susceptible to offline attacks, which widens the attack surface greatly. A better way to do this would be to encrypt any data that you need to store on the card. And an even better way would be to communicate with a server and have it validate the transaction.

</comment><comment><USER7> Taiwan's EasyCard is also Mifare Classic (AFAIK), and been cracked a few times. Here's some more info: [http://www.fuzzysecurity.com/tutorials/rfid/4.html](http://www.fuzzysecurity.com/tutorials/rfid/4.html)

</comment><comment><USER8> I find the key is either using a purely online system that relies on the UID* or seperately encrypting the content stored on the card.

* Perhaps even using the UID combined with some encrypted data on card, as the UID can be changed on questionable mifare cards.

</comment><comment><USER9> ...which is, if at all, this type of card should be used for storing an user identifier which is linked to the UID of the card and both verified on a server.

Of course, this does not prevent cloning with chinese knockoffs where the UID can be overwritten.</comment>


New "Culprit" Found in Lou Gehrig's Disease  - <AUTHOR> http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2011/11/siddique-als-second-gene.html <comment><USER2> I could not tell from the article, but is this the type of mutation that's present at birth?

<comment><USER3> Yes, that is correct. Most neurons are post mitotic i.e. the cells do not divide in adult life so the mutation would need to be present early in embryonic development.

<comment><USER4> How does the brain grow if no (or few) new neurons are created post-birth?

<comment><USER5> Strictly speaking, there is still some cell division shortly after birth and into the early phases of post-natal development. So the brain increases in size, slightly, via that method. But mostly it is from the elaboration of the dendritic arbors of the existing neurons. The size and branching factors increase many times during development. Check out the beautiful (and stunningly accurate) drawings of the famous neuro-anatomist Santiago Ramon y Cajal.

For example, the Purkinje neurons of the cerebellum:

<http://www.gladstone.ucsf.edu/wp/2009/06/knowledgegrows/>

Note how the number of branches increases to sample more of the volume.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> More good new from Northwestern hopefully it leads to some form of treatment. My best friend's dad died from ALS a few years ago, it's an absolutely horrible disease--finding a treatment would would be spectacular.

<comment><USER7> [http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-als-drug-symptom- morta...](http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-als-drug-symptom-mortality- phase.html)

Not ideal, but it's something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> I would like to know of any diseases which are successfully treated by the techniques described above. Have there ever been any certifiably broken biological pathways, indicated through genetics, that have been corrected through drug therapy? It seems like most drugs have very broad effects and don't adjust an actually diseased pathway. Even monoclonal antibodies for inflammatory diseases seem to be a poor match for the specific treated diseases.

<comment><USER3> A large fraction of modern drug development is focused on specific biochemical pathways, often identified via the study of rare genetic disorders or genome- wide association studies. For example, patients with Familial hypercholesterolemia, a relatively rare genetic disorder, provided strong evidence for a causal role of cholesterol in ischaemic heart disease (a discovery for which Brown and Goldstein were awarded the Nobel prize). The enzyme inhibited by statins (HMG-CoA-reductase) is a key player in this pathway.</comment></comment>


Sparrow for Mac: a study in minimalist e-mail interfaces - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/10/sparrow-a-study-in-minimalist-e-mail-interfaces.ars <comment><USER2> Discussion from a few days ago: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1756993>

</comment><comment><USER3> Why is this using IMAP? IMAP is my biggest problem with Mail.app—every time I think of setting it up (for example, to grab the notes that iTunes syncs from my iPhone), it immediately deigns to eat 3GB of my laptop's hard disk by downloading and (redundantly) persisting every message I've ever received.

At least, in Mail.app, it's justified, as generic mail clients should use lowest-common-denominator technologies. However, Sparrow is _just_ for Gmail. Why isn't it using the Gmail API, the way the Android Gmail client does? Push notifications for free, no mailbox syncing, no indexing, etc.

<comment><USER3> Okay, looking at their website, they're planning on doing more than just Gmail as well, soon enough. Still, that's a bit disappointing; I've been wishing for a native pure-Gmail client that takes _fewer_ resources and _less_ loading time than the web version for a long time, and this is the closest anyone has come—but now they're moving in a different direction.

<comment> mike-cardwell If you want a light weight email client, have you tried Mutt or Pine?</comment></comment></comment>


Can I use my powers for good? - <AUTHOR> http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/71874/can-i-use-my-powers-for-good

<comment><USER2> For most skillsets, the answer is: pick the career that makes the most money, figure out what the best charity is, and give most of your money to that charity. Trying to be philanthropic _directly_ is usually less effective than making money and then paying others to do good on your behalf. On the other hand, maybe you can do more good directly, by working for a charity.

In either case, you need serious research and numbers to figure out what the right path is. 80,000 hours (<http://80000hours.org>; I am not affiliated) is a charity that's set themselves up to research and give career guidance for people who want to maximize their positive impact. They will probably give a better answer than StackOverflow.

<comment><USER3> Perhaps, but there's a dramatic difference in the psychological reward that one gets working for a charity verse supporting one. There are lots of tech savvy non-profits that need top-notch tech talent to help them get better, faster, stronger. Non-profits can't hire teams of 50+ programmers. Usually it's 1-10 people that move fast and ship constantly. Although it's not right for everyone to do this, they do need some people to do this. See my other comment with links.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> There are lots of tech-savvy non-profits that need programmers. Here are a few:

GlobalGiving - [http://www.globalgiving.org/aboutus/jobs/software- engineer-f...](http://www.globalgiving.org/aboutus/jobs/software-engineer-for- good.html)

DonorsChoose.org - <http://www.donorschoose.org/blog/category/job- opportunities/>

Kiva - <http://www.kiva.org/jobs>

charity:water - <http://www.charitywater.org/about/jobs.php>

Volunteer Match - <http://www.volunteermatch.org/careers/>

And thousands more at <http://www.idealist.org/>

<comment><USER4> The original poster is a mathematician, not a programmer.

<comment><USER3> Most of these non-profits either have or are hiring data scientists.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> He or she would probably enjoy _applied_ mathematics. They could work at a public health establishment as a biostatistician, for example, preventing the spread of illness; or controlling quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing; or designing infrastructure like highways to avoid congestion... Mathematics has applications everywhere.

My advice would be to stay in academia -- with a PhD and 4 years of experience they are overqualified -- but search out inter-disciplinary programs, especially in computing. Collaborating with computer scientists (or becoming one) is a sure bet.

</comment><comment><USER6> US universities need to re-think the 'publish or perish' dogma. It produces a lot of uninteresting papers and a lot of discontinued academic careers. The benefit of this system (presumably separating the wheat from the chaff) is questionable.

<comment><USER7> I'm not sure it's really being thought through so much as an emergent effect of the drive towards metrics. Universities want to (or are pressured to) quantify their researchers' productivity, which results in things such as impact factors, h-indices, number of papers in top-tier conferences/journals, and so on. Researchers then have to maximize these metrics.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> _what careers which make a positive contribution to society might be open to academic mathematicians who want to change careers?_

Perhaps a few mathematicians might join the fight against innumeracy among programmers?

</comment><comment><USER9> The question is incomplete ("contributing something positive or at least not actively doing harm").

Please define "good".

To me, good is where you find something interesting and worth doing.

Financial speculation makes the market more liquid and reduce the spread. You say you find that interesting. I would then call that "good".

If it matches your definition of good, you may want to engage in that.

If it does not match your definition of good, look at international finance, then international macroeconomics - you will see many people are actively looking to find ways to mitigate the effects of speculation.

Also, there are some interesting side problems where your mathematical skills could be applied (should monetary policy be used in a discretionary way?) for similar problems (if you define a stable economy as a "good" thing)

<comment><USER10> It's not hard to see where it comes from, but intelligent people should be able to see the financial sector with a bit more nuance than knee-jerk hatred. There are many good reasons not to enjoy working there, but hand-wavy self- certain assertions that everything that goes on there lands somewhere between net negative and plain evil is just disingenuous.

Go there, _learn about it_ , make some money while you're at it. Leave if you don't like it - it's not a sect.

<comment><USER11> Where do you read "knee-jerk hatred"? The poster doesn't justify his opinion of finance, but that's not really the point of his post.

<comment><USER10> Sorry, in the comments to the answers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> this is sort of the same thing i went through, except without 4 years of slogging through an academic position (i applied to two and achieved neither). there are, i think, an untold number of Ph.D.s out there who, like me (and the guy on SE), wound up not liking the realities of their field's practice but enjoyed the study and material.

i changed fields, but for this guy on SE, who enjoys algorithms and complex data, there are a wealth of openings right now to study all sorts of data in fields to "do good", including genomic and life sciences, weather, and much much more.

to anyone considering a Ph.D. in a field, i suggest you look beyond the material and instead look at the day to day of the field you think you want to get into (e.g. academic research) and train for it, and decide if you want to do it. if you don't, consider still getting the Ph.D. and exploring other things to do with it. i'll be honest, i don't think anyone would have given me the time of day in a new field without my Ph.D., so even if you change fields radically you'll still get doors opened to you!

<comment><USER9> Based on my personal experience, that's very true. A PhD is a highly valuable credential - it proves you can create knowledge. It's more a way to look at things that a certification.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> It seems to me, bearing in mind my numerous career changes, that honest self- assessment is in order so that you can identify: 1) other (complementary or divergent) strengths you have and 2) what intrinsic drives of yours could be harnessed in a next career.

At times (for me) it has even been helpful to get professional career- counseling to discover careers (or even avocations) whose shape and impact have changed in preceding decade since I last looked at it. There are useful psychological batteries for assessing the fit between fit/vocation that take such assessment far beyond navel-gazing/tea-leaf-reading.

Another approach would be to involve yourself with an organization (vocation or volunteer) with a project that appeals to your vision for a better world - and _discover_ what roles beyond traditional mathematician you find you can make a contribution to. Hope that's some help.

</comment><comment><USER14> I was in a similar boat, less than thrilled with both banking and academia. The property/casualty actuarial field was a very good fit.

</comment><comment><USER15> <http://research.google.com/pubs/pub38331.html></comment>


Ask HN: Questions you would ask a candidate for senior operations engineer - <AUTHOR>

<comment><USER2> This question has sparked some very interesting conversations w/ candidates for me lately.

"Explain to me your understanding of the devops movement and the value and relevance to our industry and specifically what has this meant for you over the last couple years."</comment>


Inflated Tech Valuations? Blame Uncle Sam - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/2010/12/26/inflated-tech-valuations-blame-uncle-sam/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OmMalik+%28GigaOM%3A+Tech%29

<comment><USER2> "valuations of private, VC-backed tech companies on the secondary market have risen a whopping 54 percent since June."

sounds bubbleicious to me ...

<comment><USER3> The essay isn't really arguing that there's a bubble, more using that as a stepping-off point. It's actually a (very weak) argument that the bubble is partially the result of Sarbanes-Oxley.

<comment><USER2> I know, but _I'm_ arguing there's a bubble so wanted to highlight this info

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> The author claims that Sarbanes-Oxley is partially to blame for the supposed valuation bubble, but provides no evidence.

He only provides two hard data points, seven paragraphs in. "A 2008 study by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission found the average cost of Sarbox compliance is $2.3 million per year. A whopping 70 percent of all smaller public companies said compliance costs have prompted them to consider going private, and 77 percent of smaller foreign firms reported considering abandoning their American listings."

The first point, about average cost, includes companies of all size. Larger companies will have larger compliance costs, smaller will lower costs. Without some correlation between size of company and costs, the average tells me nothing.

As for companies who "considered" going private, he doesn't say how many companies actually followed through due to Sarbanes-Oxley costs. My guess is it's much closer to zero than seventy percent, or else he would have used that number.

</comment><comment><USER4> It's a bubble because Sarbanes-Oxley forces companies to stay on illiquid secondary markets instead of going public, thus driving up the bid prices?

Yeah, that isn't a stretch at all.

</comment><comment><USER5> It should be noted that Eric Jackson, the author of this article, is known for being ultra-conservative in his views.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_M._Jackson>

I don't think everyone would agree that it's the government's fault that there's a valuation bubble, and I personally think that Sarbanes-Oxley has nothing to do with it.

<comment><USER6> It is important to separate the author from the ideas, regardless of whether we agree with the conclusion.

The non-public market is worse for retail investors. The 31% price premium and lack of liquidity are facts.

Sox has made it a much more challenging step to go public. IPOs are down.

The valuation bubble is red herring- there are always overvalued shares out there. However, Sox is contributing to a larger private market in shares which is disadvantageous to the retail investor.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Review my startup - GetWebColors - <AUTHOR>

I would really appreciate your feedback about my first toy project. It basically grabs the url you entered, and generates a color palette from it.
http://getwebcolors.com/
Thanks. <comment><USER2> Could we please stop calling those apps startups?

</comment><comment><USER3> I was expecting the app to just scan through the css and pull out the colours. I was presently surprised when the app grabbed the colours from all the images, including background images.

Good job!

</comment><comment><USER4> Worked for me, seems useful, bookmarked.

Not sure it's a startup though, more like a useful utility.

<comment><AUTHOR> Sure you're right, it is not a startup. I just copy pasted the title from another post, so it has startup word in it.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable: <http://getwebcolors.com/>

<comment><USER5> Edit: now it's working for me. Nice idea.

I tried it for my own site, parkgrades.com, and it just sort of hung up. Same for apple.com.

As a non-designer, I like the concept...

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very cool. Nice work...any way to make it run faster? As an aside, I think I might use this to look at the palettes on sites other than my own to see what colors they're using since I presumably have some idea of the ones that I'm using.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well thanks for your comments. I'm aware that it is somewhat slow for now, as it has no cache, or any other optimization. I just released it if any interest will arise. Hopefully I got enough motivation to enhance the performance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Is it down? I tried Google, Reddit, and Twitter and got an empty palette back.

<comment><AUTHOR> It has some stability problems, though it is working now.

<comment><USER8> I guess its down again, I can't reach it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> It'd be great if there was a permalink where I could go back to for the color palette (I'm in Linux, so no Photoshop for me). It would also probably reduce load as I wouldn't need to get the palette again.</comment>


ElectronCGI – A Solution to Cross-Platform GUIs for .NET Core - <AUTHOR> https://www.blinkingcaret.com/2019/11/27/electroncgi-a-solution-to-cross-platform-guis-for-net-core/ <comment><USER3> The author stating that using a webserver and a full web framework for a desktop application feels wasteful seems oddly ironic when you follow up by using a browser and full framework for a desktop application.

</comment><comment><USER4> Steve Sanderson (creator of Blazor) is working on something similar that doesn't use Electron:

[https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring- lighte...](https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring-lighter- alternatives-to-electron-for-hosting-a-blazor-desktop-app/)

From Blazor roadmaps a few months ago, I think the idea is that Blazor will become the recommended .NET Core cross-platform UI choice sometime after .NET 5.

<comment><USER5> That is a much better way to go on imo. No Electron and no Node involved. A tiny crossplatform webview + .net core is much preferable for me.

<comment><USER6> Check out this page: [https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring- lighte...](https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring-lighter- alternatives-to-electron-for-hosting-a-blazor-desktop-app/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How about Avalonia. [https://avaloniaui.net/](https://avaloniaui.net/) The assertion that there are no .NET core GUI frameworks and that resorting to the abomination that is electron is the solution is just false.

Or go full functional with an Elmish architecture using F#, .net core and Avalonia.

<comment><USER8> F# is a niche language among .NET developers, because adopting it closes the doors to lots of enterprise tooling (including Visual Studio designers), that only consider VB.NET and C#

<comment><USER7> Visual Studio designers are an abomination. Once beyond anything trivial it is slow and buggy and a pain. Look at FUNC.UI [https://github.com/FuncUI/Avalonia.FuncUI](https://github.com/FuncUI/Avalonia.FuncUI) to see how code only UIs could look.

<comment><USER8> I know how code only UIs could work, I've been doing UIs since Turbo Vison for MS-DOS, and lost count how many toolkits I have used since then.

No designer, I get to move into something else.

The Web being the exception here, as it keeps rebooting itself without ever learning from native toolkits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I always wonder why Qt5+/Qml/QtQuick have not taken the XP desktop development by storm. QML is JS like, there's an IDE and KDE seems to have built lot of good looking desktop software using Kirigami/QtQuick.

It's got to be better than anything Electron for sure.

Anyone know if .NET Core Qt bindings are a technical possibility?

<comment><USER10> Two replies mention licensing, with two different answers (It's easy, people just don't understand! It's hard, people just don't understand!). Personally, I've tried a couple of times to read the license information on the Qt site and sort out how the licensing really works. I still only have a rough understanding. It seems like information on the Qt site is intentionally vague so you'll be more inclined to buy a commercial license just to feel "safe" using it. Unfortunately, any commercial projects I work on can't justify the commercial license price.

Anyway, the point is, people may not want to use Qt without being _absolutely certain_ about how the licensing works and they (like me) probably don't have the time to try to understand the poorly organized information on the Qt site.

<comment><USER11> > Personally, I've tried a couple of times to read the license information on > the Qt site and sort out how the licensing really works.

You could just go to the repo and check the licenses there :

[https://github.com/qt/qtbase](https://github.com/qt/qtbase)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is a great step forward, but it seems like a great deal of overhead and complexity to have a cross-platform GUI.

If I were creating a new cross-platform desktop application I would probably reach for Java instead. I know that's not the popular answer, but if a .NET Core cross-platform GUI requires either using Electron or simulating a client- server setup with Node then it's not there yet.

To illustrate, here is the "Hello World" cross-platform GUI application in Java:

[https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/examples/sta...](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/examples/start/HelloWorldSwingProject/src/start/HelloWorldSwing.java)

Setting up a connection between two processes and building async handlers is _way too much_ if the application is running on one machine.

<comment><USER13> Good luck getting that Swing app to look nice, though. Which is a breeze with HTML/CSS.

<comment><USER14> Swing can look fantastic if you put in the effort as IntelliJ (based on Swing) shows. I'm not necessarily an IDE guy, but good luck with getting that kind of functionality with JS on Electron even remotely.

<comment><USER13> I wouldn't say IntelliJ's stuff looks -good-. It's a lot more workable than most Swing apps but it's still a long way from looking "good".

That said I haven't touched their IDEs in 2 years so maybe something changed.

<comment><USER15> I'd say IntelliJ looks like it belongs on the platform it is run on - <USER2> I'll take any day over some over-designed cross-platform 'styling'.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> What's really needed is a standard GUI markup language (SGML) and probably a dedicated browser, or at least a browser pluggin. Emulating desktop-like GUI's using JavaScript and DOM has proven clunky and unreliable, largely because HTML browser makers do what they want when they want. A dedicated GUI browser wouldn't break GUI's because doing GUI's is its sole purpose.

HTML browser makers usually don't care if they break a particular JavaScript library by adding or tweaking features. It's a matter of focus. The SGML browser's only job is to do GUI's right. But HTML browsers have 100's of jobs. If changes harm a few of those, they become roadkill.

But using JavaScript as the starting point of a SGML may be the only way to gain momentum. However, the end game should be using mostly markup to manage a GUI, not JavaScript.

Standard and common GUI idioms and behaviors should be done in a declarative fashion using such markup, such as having a button open (make visible) a given window. While some client scripting may be needed, most of the processing could and should be done at the server if the SGML browser does most of the UI grunt-work.

<comment><USER17> I like your idea and Microsoft probably hoped for XAML to become that standard.

<comment><USER16> It's fairly close to what I have in mind, but it's also mostly static, I believe. It would need enhancements to handle interaction and UI updates better.

And I'm not sure about its cross-platform abilities, but I haven't tested the limits.

<comment><USER18> > It's fairly close to what I have in mind, but it's also mostly static, I > believe. It would need enhancements to handle interaction and UI updates > better.

XAML Behaviors and Storyboards have been around since very early in XAML history. They aren't fun to write by hand, which is why originally they were a "Blend thing" focused for Designers mostly (and a lot of the XML namespaces still have "Blend" or "Expression" keywords in them) and the non-Designer Developer story for them has always lagged behind, which sometimes seems a shame because they can also be really powerful.

> And I'm not sure about its cross-platform abilities, but I haven't tested > the limits.

There was the brief period where Silverlight was very cross-platform. Xamarin and Uno and Avalonia all seem healthy and to imply that XAML works well cross- platform.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> If it uses Electron it is not a solution.

Even Microsoft's own React Native team bashes on Electron's resource usage.

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

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnajQqqKV8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZnajQqqKV8)

About 160% more resource usage, ideally to use a computer as heating replacement.

</comment><comment><USER19> Thinks using a web server is too much. Then recreates http. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

<comment><USER20> Reinwheeling is what the modern web is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Calling it CGI seems like an awful awful move.

</comment><comment><USER22> This is fantastic and long overdue.</comment>


Facebook engineering management essays by Yishan Wong - <AUTHOR> http://algeri-wong.com/yishan/engineering-management.html <comment><AUTHOR> I started reading the one about tools, went to hiring, and realized this needs to be reposted here. Timeless.

Most popular time from 5 years ago: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2078361](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2078361)</comment>


Fully Self-Driving Cars Are a 'Scam' and Silicon Valley 'Needs to Die' - <AUTHOR> https://youtube.com/watch?v=Nnh5TQ60hek <comment><USER2> He is absolutely right that driver monitoring is a necessary component of any SAE Level 2 and above. It will remain so until capable Level 4 and 5 systems are deployed and verified by billions of low accident rate miles in real world scenarios.

I will risk predicting the future here: Tesla will have to add a robust driver monitoring system (beyond steering wheel torque sensor) to their cars with "autopilot" enabled.

<comment><USER3> If that happened, it'd be analogous to iMessages going open-source. Even if most people pay attention in Autopilot mode, the current system is already somewhat demanding. If it were greater, I think it'd lose its appeal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I don't see how Levels 4 and 5 can happen without a massive civil engineering effort on the road design and construction side of the equation. Everyone talks about the work being done on the cars. What about an effort to better standardize the roads, markings, maintenance, etc.? Until that happens, we will never get there IMO.

</comment><comment><USER5> Are americans really dumb enough to kill off silicon valley. One of their primary sources of jobs, wealth and standard of living. Tell me its not true.

</comment><comment><USER6> This is a very thinly disguised ad/puff-piece for Comma.

<comment><USER7> Would you be more okay with it if it was Musk talking about Tesla, or Krafcik talking about Waymo?

<comment><USER8> There's nothing thinly disguised about musk talking about tesla

<comment><USER9> s/talking about tesla//</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What kind of Ethereum project(s) is Microsoft Working on? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> What?

<comment><USER3> Ethereum is a public blockchain platform with programmable transaction functionality - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum)

<comment><USER2> I know exactly what Ethereum is. I'm wondering why OP assumes that Microsoft is working on "some kind of Ethereum project"

<comment><USER4> Maybe because they read about the Microsoft partnership with Consensys and their Blockchain tools on Azure, but as far as I can tell Microsoft only provides hosting and some Marketing there.

[http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/microsoft-brings- ethere...](http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/microsoft-brings-ethereum- blockchain-tech-to-the-mainstream/381374)

[https://www.technologyreview.com/s/545806/microsoft-bets- tha...](https://www.technologyreview.com/s/545806/microsoft-bets-that-bitcoin- style-blockchains-will-be-big-business/)</comment></comment></comment></comment>