Booth Babes, Street Clothes, and GDC: Thanks But You sort of Made It Worse - <AUTHOR> http://blog.katylevinson.com/booth-babes-street-clothes-and-gdc-thanks-but-you-sort-of-made-it-worse/ <comment><USER2> Hey guys, Katy here, just wanted to thank everybody for the support and super insightful feedback. I will continue to edit the post and post here with clarifications, mostly after work hours :)

And yes, I know everybody's probably sick of gender issues, and that's why I almost didn't bring it up, but I hoped it would be a chance for a good civil discussion, and I'm really glad to see it turning into that. Hopefully someday soon everything can be awesome, we'll never have occasion to talk about this garbage again, and we can all go back to nerding. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to that day.

But, seriously, the civility and respect here have totally blown me away. Really proud to be a part of this community. Thanks everybody, you give a lady hope!

<comment><USER3> Never stop blogging about it, please. Did you see the post the other day from the woman who works at Game Informer ([http://meagan- marie.tumblr.com/post/46396481491/what-would-y...](http://meagan- marie.tumblr.com/post/46396481491/what-would-you-do-if-you-werent-afraid))? Her experience at PAX East was one thing, but her work stories were even worse. I'd recommend it to everyone here.

<comment><USER2> I read this with the chorus of Journey

"Don't stop, belieeeeeeving! Streetlight! People!"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Wait, I don't get it. I'm at GDC. A very large portion (maybe even a majority) of either gender is non-technical. It's an industry event so there are lots of salespeople, hr, biz-dev, etc. I wouldn't assume a man I met here was a developer.

There are some pretty obvious booth babes (the energy drink girls, ones with swords, etc.) There are women who, while perhaps non-technical, legitimately work for the companies they're hawking. I don't get the impression they're hired guns, though I haven't done a survey.

Perhaps it's easy to say because I'm not a woman, but I think I'd feel less uncomfortable here than anywhere else where I was outnumbered 10:1.

<comment><USER5> So GDC isn't the Game _Developer_ Conference? I thought E3 was for the marketing and sales types.

<comment><USER6> E3 targets the consumer/sales end of the game market. GDC targets the developer (in the general sense, designers, 3d modelers, etc.) ... so there are marketing and sales types trying to sell developer tools (maya, perforce, etc.)

<comment><USER4> Yeah. It's more technical and less consumer than E3 for sure. So instead of ads for games, you see ads for game development tools. The ecosystem is huge now that there are multiple platforms (console, pc, mobile, web, etc.), ad channels, payment methods, etc.

All of those tools are still b2b companies, and b2b software companies have lots of non-technical people. Sales, support, execs, etc. I haven't done a poll but I'd bet even here the non-technical people are at least 50%.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Seems like a hard problem to solve.

Sending people to do product promotional is perfectly legitimate depending on the type of event. Even if you weren't deliberately targeting a male audience with attractive females (although I'm sure that was the case), odds are that if you were recruiting for that kind of work 90% would be outgoing and attractive young women. Just like recruiting programmers will get you 90% geeky white males.

<comment><USER8> Are PR people really 90% attractive young women? I would be very surprised to find that out.

<comment><USER9> While trying to learn how to sell I once tried to sell charity on the street for a single day.

Already in that first day one of the less attractive, but probably more skilled, co-workers told me that in most cases you're actually selling 'having an attractive person be very friendly to me for a while.'

<comment><USER10> > I once tried to sell charity on the street for a single day.

This sentence intrigues me. Were you working for a specific charitable organization or were you out there trying to sell one of the cardinal virtues as an abstract concept?

> in most cases you're actually selling 'having an attractive person be very > friendly to me for a while.'

This is true, and it has been rediscovered over and over again in many industries in many ways. Some industries are really that and nothing else, and they have long, honored, and storied traditions in some cultures (so denigrating them means you're an ethnocentric swine, in case you missed my hint).

<comment><USER9> I don't know if it exists everywhere in the world, but this was basically an organization that would run campaigns for specific charities.

One week you'd try to get people to donate to a child cancer charity and the next to WWF and the sales company would get the first few months to half a year of that person's donations.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> If I'm understanding correctly, the author would prefer it if non-technical female expo floor workers were scantily-clad so she would be less likely to be assumed by other conference-goers to be non-technical herself..? I'm sorry, but I find that pretty offensive.

I don't claim to know what it's like to be a woman in a heavily male-dominated field (or just your de facto patriarchy, for that matter), but I also don't assume anyone I'm talking to at a conference has any reason to believe I possess any sort of prowess or authority without my convincing them of such even while donning my geekiest T-shirts.

More importantly, I assume anyone representing a product or service at a show is knowledgeable about its inner-workings until they give me some reason to believe otherwise regardless of their gender or attire.

While I appreciate that it is often difficult dealing with misogyny at conferences, I think it's unfair to lump a proper PR employee in with a model in a Princess Leia slave bikini who knows nothing about the product.

<comment><USER12> > If I'm understanding correctly

You most certainly are not.

The author is simply pointing out that ending the booth babe situation isn't a panacea. The real issue is the shortage of actual technical contributors who are also women:

> Goodness knows, if I had the power to bring tons of other technical women at > the conference that would be an optimal solution

<comment><USER2> (I added that after he posted, because s/he brought up a good point.)

<comment><USER13> Could you mark your edits in the article as such? It's making the discussion here difficult to follow as people are referring to outdated versions.

<comment><USER2> Done, edits are italics, thanks

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Women were being very clearly, intentionally objectified with the "booth babe" thing. Now, rather than something obnoxious and sexually overt, we have something that I'd call far worse in its subtlety: Using women for _exactly the same purpose_ but in a much more approachable, casual, and probably effectively interactive way.

How did this happen? I seriously doubt it's because girls in bikinis stopped being effective. But when you can't get away with sexualized advertisement without being martyred, you're going to look for similarly effective marketing that won't offend the people throwing the stones, and in my opinion they've done exactly what we should have expected in this situation.

I'm not saying it's right or that women shouldn't expect to be treated as equals. I am saying that the tech community (and several others) have tried and are trying so hard to reject sex and sexuality and any application of it that might possibly offend someone that we're finally making it worse. Before it was just an obnoxious inability to be comfortable with ourselves. Now that we've gotten to the point where everyone knows how prudish and hyperconservative we are, they've also figured out how to keep marketing to us effectively without offending our delicate sensibilities. And we're still upset.

It's a shame that so many men have such a hard time conducting themselves well in mixed professional company. It's also a shame that we are so utterly unable to _be men and women_ without pigeonholing ourselves and harassing each other over it. It's a sad situation.

<comment><USER15> _> we have something that I'd call far worse in its subtlety: Using women for exactly the same purpose_

Let's get this straight: It's not a _sin_. _Objectification is just a particular functional state._

There is only a problem when there is a systemic imbalance that either consistently robs a particular group of agency. There is nothing inherently wrong with objectification. When you are being a spokesperson, you are voluntarily being objectified. You have basically taken on the role of an information appliance -- one with a friendly face and engaging manner, hopefully. This is fine. What would be wrong is if everyone treated you this way depending on some trait, like your gender or race. (Which is what happens when people assume female developers are paid shills or when people assume that the females in the current context are just decorative.)

The notion that "Objectification = Sin" is onerous nonsense. Denizens of a complex multicultural world need to turn on the brains and understand functional implications. We should stop using labels and tribal knee-jerks. Our new world is too complicated for those old heuristics.

<comment><USER14> I'm not sure if you're just adding your two cents, which is cool, or wherever you're trying to suggest that I made or agree with the assertion that objectification is a "sin." I do not, and never suggested as much, I simply stated that it was clearly happening.

<comment><USER15> You can just assume I'm adding my two cents.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Beautiful people, both male and female, work well in sales positions because they can draw you in by faking interest in you (the fake interest may be in the form of a question, familiarity, body language, etc.)

A lot of people find it hard to resist sales pitches from attractive people. Very few people can stay aloof of the social advances of attractive people.

Believe it or not, most companies with an attractive sales person, also have a technical sales engineer on hand to talk to you once you are hooked. I used to be a technical sales engineer, so I'm familiar with the hustle at the GDC. You have the attractive woman pull people in, and then she stands around while the engineers talk about the product. A lot of times the people have no interest in the product, but sometimes someone who came for the girl stays to hear about the product, and three months later is a client, because it turns out he needs your software after all.

It sucks, but its just the way most males work.

I'm used to this hustle, that is why at trade shows I avoid eye contact with the marketing/sales people and make a beeline directly for the materials/people I'm interested in.

</comment><comment><USER17> Hmmm ... I'm not sure I can agree with the idea of dressing _more_ of the booth babes in bikinis (seems like a step backwards), but I can understand the need to be viewed as technical. And at a conference like GDC, it can be hard for the guys to know who is technical and who isn't.

I propose the people that want to talk technical and be treated as "nerds" all wear propeller beanies from now on. That way we'll be able to tell our fellow hackers, and it will also root out those annoying fashion conscious nerds.

<comment><USER18> > I'm not sure I can agree with the idea of dressing more of the booth babes > in bikinis

I don't think that was OP's point, per se. It's that the bikini-clad "uniform" tended to provide an automatic distinction between the women hired to staff booths from the women attending the conference. Once that distinction was removed an unfortunate bias and/or numbers game kicked in: attendees started implicitly assuming "woman == hired help."

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire" has never been such a depressing turn of phrase. :-P

<comment><USER19> Might be worth noting that even if a woman is there staffing a booth, that doesn't disqualify them from being technically inclined.

<comment><USER18> I'm quite aware of that, thanks. View that sentence as a verbal experiment whilst trying to generalize around the hornet's nest my mind has accrued around the phrase "booth babes."

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Sex sells. Actually one of the more popular search terms associated with E3 was "booth babes." Are companies willing to sacrifice their "dignity" in order to have their brand appear in more searches? Absolutely. Some of the most visited sites on the internet are pornography sites. Lets not kid ourselves - we were genetically designed to reproduce and value sexual attraction.

The problem is that every one treats women using their sexual attraction like it is a bad thing (or it somehow undervalues their intelligence -- which it does not; just because you value one thing does not mean you don't another). I don't think there is any shame in it. We have been promoting products with sexual appeal since the dawn of advertising. Everybody get off their high horse already and accept that we are beasts of nature. :)

<comment><USER21> I find it ironic if women fight against sexual attraction, effectively depriving themselves of one of their powers. The same pattern can be seen in lots of feminist positions, like deriding of housewives and thereby eroding the privilege of being able to take time off for family.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Interesting read, but I have to say I'm a little put off by the conclusion

> [...] if I could have substituted them all for traditional booth babes, I > would have done it in a heartbeat. Then I'd be free to have a great time > being what I normally am at conferences: a curiosity, an anomaly, and an > excitable nerd.

In my opinion, this trivializes what was, prior to its inclusion, a worthwhile lament. The conclusion makes it sound as if the author is ultimately dismayed not that she was dismissed as being unworthy of unadulterated engineer-speak, but more so bothered by the fact that she was no longer the center of attention and no longer unique. I'm sure in reality she cares much more about being the former, but it was quite a shallow consummation to an otherwise interesting piece.

<comment><USER23> I don't think that was the point of her statement. I think she was basically saying "At least before, the booth babes were obvious, and other women were assumed to be engineers who belonged there for their technical merits. Now, companies are sending attractive, non-technical female product promoters and others outside of the engineering field dressed in street clothes. Now, it is harder to tell which women are engineers and which are PR/marketing/booth babes/whatever." Seems a valid observation, though I think the real issue is that women need to vet themselves as engineers at all, while it is assumed that men at a conference are technical unless proven otherwise.

<comment><USER24> Yeah, but you could (1) wish all non-technical women went back to dressing like hookers, or (2) wish there were more technical women at the conference or that there was some other means to distinguish between techie and non-techie.

<comment><USER25> Don't read too much into it. It was just a wry observation that something that looks very much like progress actually made her life harder.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I'm not familiar with this kind of event, but are there not usually badges that designate different kinds of participants? The writer could have a "attendee" badge, while advertisers and pushers would have a different color/label on their badge.

</comment><comment><USER27> I wish we had more men who dressed up as booth babes. Don't we have enough body builders in the game industry yet?

<comment><USER28> I just hired a split of both genders for the booth of a client at an event next week. Not sure if it's a coincidence that no-one else around me thinks of doing that and that I'm gay, or not..

<comment><USER29> Even if you hire a 50/50 split, it doesn't solve the problem because the ratio in conference attendees is far from even. The conditional probabilities still lead to the conclusion the article complains about.

<comment><USER28> Actually this event is a consumer tech exhibition where ~43% of the visitors will be female - however the vast majority of hired, good-looking booth staff will still be female.

(And my comment wasn't so much addressing the article as the GP comment which said "I wish we had more men who dressed up as booth babes.")

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> This problem isn't limited to conferences. I'm a woman and an engineer, and I can't count the number of times I've met someone at a casual tech meetup and the first thing out of their mouths was "You must be in PR." If you want to make a small difference in making the world a nicer place, just ask me what I do.

Booth babes and female sales reps are an interesting thing to discuss, but we can't individually change the whole marketing culture. But we can individually make the tech scene more inclusive just by being more sensitive about the way we interact with other people. So please, please, please don't make assumptions about me or start presumptuously explaining things to me without asking what I do.

<comment><USER21> Why is it such a problem, though? It is statistically unlikely that a woman is developer, so people react accordingly. Does it really hurt so much to say "no, I'm a developer"?

<comment><USER2> Yes, it makes the very demographic people are trying to reach out to the most feel very unwelcomed. It also means that many people never challenge their assumptions and the lady doesn't get to correct them.

<comment><USER21> I don't understand why it supposedly makes them feel unwelcome.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I can see how this could be a significant problem for women at GDC. I'm a guy who has been going to GDC for over a decade. Pretty much every year there are a few promoters using fairly aggressive "stealth" tactics to hook people walking around the expo floor. As in, reasonably attractive woman in plain clothes glances at your badge, waits a bit, then walks up quickly saying "Hey, Corysama! Good to see you! Hey, what do you think about..." After a few of these highly awkward encounters, the promoters have pretty effectively trained many of the men to insta-dismiss reasonably attractive women in plain clothes at the show.

</comment><comment><USER32> Maybe a compromise: instead of extremes like latex bikinis or just plain- clothes why don't use a subtle corporate uniform? That way is not sexist nor something that a non-employee might be wearing.

</comment><comment><USER21> Since in general few women are developers, I rather doubt the hiring of pr women has any bearing on the situation. If it is really so frustrating, maybe dressing accordingly would alleviate the pain - don't know, carry a Linux book, a T- Shirt that says "no, I won't fix your computer", or something like that.

<comment><USER2> So I like the core of this idea, but since many gentlemen have been trained to not stare at a girl's boobs and make a great point of keeping their eyes up, I'm not sure if they'd read my shirt at all. It would probably have to be a different piece of clothing

<comment><USER21> Argh, tough problem indeed. Short of a tattoo on the forehead, maybe Google Glasses or a geeky cap might work?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> I think I'm missing where the friction is in dropping your credentials? You don't have to storm in and say, "Do you know who I am??!". Isn't it easy and actually very polite to introduce yourself and what you do?

"Hi I'm {Name}, This topic fascinates me as I'm also a developer..."

And go from there?

<comment><USER34> The issue is that as a man, you don't _have_ to. I know it seems weird, but as men we have a blind spot -- there's a lot of bullshit we have to deal with, but there's a lot of bullshit we don't have to deal with by the mere fact that we'r male.

Women in technical fields (and nearly every woman in tech whom I've befriended mentions this) get subtle cues that men don't even notice, because we're not the target.

(Worst yet is that women have a tendency to do it to each other as well!)

It's as if you have the bozo bit dropped on you before you've spoken a word, and you're continually fighting an uphill battle.

<comment><USER35> Hmmn. It's just an odds game isn't it?

Our sales guy came to a conference and between the talks was desperate for people to talk about something other than code, anything else. And everyone seemed happy to oblige once aware.

Seems to me like these are just examples of people taking branch prediction optimisations.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> It was an interesting blog post, that puts a new spin on the Booth Babe controversy. Thanks for sharing. Saying that she was less uncomfortable with a bunch of drunk guys yelling "take your shirt off!" at Defcon than at GDC is saying something...

<comment><USER2> When the guys were shouting, the rest of the crowd and security was frowning at them. It was really easy to see this problem was something everybody knew about, that good people had my back, and something we would solve shortly. It wasn't fun at the time, but I knew it would be done soon.

GDC was a worse experience because it was profoundly isolating, and made me feel like an outsider. Also, I don't see an easy solution coming to fix it, which makes the situation feel more depressing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Maybe wearing a beat-up t-shirt that says "Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies. " would help establish the OP as an engineer.

<comment><USER38> That's why I prefer to be an engineer, so I don't have to F#@$ing dress up like anybody! "Dress up like an engineer", WTF is that supposed to be? Am I the only person who is dumbfounded by this? We're all about judging worth based on who someone is and what they've done... The only time I ever "dress up" is when I have to deal with certain business types who are perfectly comfortable with a monocle & a pocket watch.

<comment><USER39> > _"WTF is that supposed to be?"_

A de facto norm that arises out of any subculture. When you have enough people all hanging around each other all the time, all kinds of things develop, including fashion.

> _"We're all about judging worth based on who someone is and what they've > done..."_

> _"is when I have to deal with certain business types who are perfectly > comfortable with a monocle & a pocket watch"_

So... you balk at being judged on your fashion choices, but you're more than willing to judge others for _their_ fashion choices? These two sentences refute each other.

<comment><USER38> Monocle & a pocket watch aren't exactly fashion choices. I was hinting at "dress codes" as being more reflective of the 18th-early 19th century thinking and not quite so relevant in the 21st century and the Information Age. I was trying to be succinct.

<comment><USER39> Those two concepts aren't as separate as you want them to be. At the end of the day you're still suggesting a link between a mode of thinking and a mode of dress - while at the same time objecting to that link being drawn for yourself.

You can't make a post complaining about people stereotyping engineers, while stereotyping "business types" in the same sentence.

<comment><USER38> Congrats, you win!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> jack-r-abbit Holy Shitsnacks! Did I really just read that? We can't fucking win.

Last year: Holy mother of God we have so many hookers at this event. This has to stop! Now!

This year: Holy mother of Dog... we have too many regular looking people. This has to stop. NOW!

I can't keep it all straight. I'm pretty sure the only solution is for everyone to wear the same colored body suit that masks all indications of gender, a mask to cover the face and an auto-tune device to cover the voice. And everyone will just have a number badge so names are not a hint. I guess we should probably have a different color suit for the non-technicals?

</comment><comment><USER40> I can't imagine how frustrating that must be.

But I hate the concept of giving up fighting for yourself. Why not put a few people in their place? If that's just not in your nature, fair enough; but I say make a few guys feel like idiots by stepping up to the plate with your expertise. If they don't like it, that's their problem.

And if that fails, I like davidrobert's idea as well -- maybe wear a shirt that has a really nerdy programming joke on it. Or, better yet, the HN shirt ^_^ -- <http://teespring.com/hntees>

<comment><USER2> OP here: I can put people in their place all day, but if my goal was to make friends, that's not the best foot to start out on.

And yes, I have a lot of geeky T-shirts. I don't like the idea of having to dress a certain way to be taken seriously, it seems very "un-engineering."

<comment><USER40> Fair enough, but don't give up! If someone is going to be put off by your knowledge, that's probably not someone you'd want to spend time with anyways. I hate the concept of having to pretend that you don't have a wealth of knowledge to offer just because you don't match a stereotype.

The shirt comment was more cheeky, not intended as a serious recommendation =)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Holy cow! I had never thought of this before. Thank you so much for sharing!

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> My solution is to (as much as possible) __assume that women at technical conferences are technical. __If they aren't, it's not awkward, generally. At least it's less awkward than the inverse.

That is something that is in all of our power to do.

</comment><comment><USER42> Here's the problem.

Humans of any gender perceive women to be less of a potential threat, and therefore more friendly, than men. This is why onboard computers for US jet fighters, and the American version of Siri, have female-sounding voices. And it is why the employment of women for promotional purposes will no doubt continue: if you want to persuade someone to buy your product in a way that comes off as friendly, hiring an attractive and friendly-seeming woman to promote the product is an easy and effective choice to make.

<comment><USER43> You are mistaken about the reason for the voice in jet fighters.

"Bitching Betty" [1], the voice warning in aircraft such as the F-16 and F/A-18 was originally female because female pilots, especially in the military were relatively rare, although there were some female controllers. The female voice was more noticeable above the normal male pilots chatter on the radio. The wiki entry is somewhat inaccurate on the historical detail, so I included some info from F-16.net

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitching_Betty#Voice_gender> [2] [http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-1950-postdays-0-p...](http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-1950-postdays-0-postorder- asc.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> I hope this is a short term pain point to getting a real sol'n to a better gender equalibrium among developers.

Face it, the only real sol'n is to have really technical women working in our field because we can't go back. GDC has progressed, but as an industry it needs to keep progressing.

Maybe we can highlight booths that go above and beyond for the sake of the GDC? Like a best booth award selected based a set of criteria that includes having technical women available and knowledgeable. Then give them 5 mins to make a presentation.

</comment><comment><USER45> Can we talk about tech things instead of gender politics please? I'm just here for rampart, err, technical things.

<comment><USER3> The state of the industry punishes a sizable amount of people that want to talk about these types of things too. If you really care about tech, you'll care about issues that keep people out that otherwise could have had a profound impact on you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> I went to GDC in 2011. I remember that there was a country trying to talk game companies into opening a branch in their country. It was Germany, I believe. They had a beauty pageant contestant dressed in full garb at their booth. It made absolutely no sense at all.

</comment><comment><USER47> I feel like there was a time when gender politics wasn't so abrasive in computing. It wasn't healthy, but it didn't make you constantly feel mired in some swamp of unsolvable problems. I preferred the swamp of (un)solvable problems that is computing.

<comment><USER48> Did the problem not exist before, or was it just invisible?

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Hacker News: your go-to site for Gender Politics! Bring your grievance to Hacker News, and let our expert commentators put your resentments under the microscope. We've already analyzed dozens of fascinating complaints just like yours, and our appetite for endless debate grows day by day!

<comment><USER50> First ten participants get a free "My feelings for dongles are modern and nuanced" t-shirt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> oh for gods sake. Girl doesn't get any attention at GDC. Why is this news.

<comment><USER25> This is already buried, but I feel compelled to say: that is clearly not her complaint.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Favorite talks [video] on software development? - <AUTHOR> I'm (re)designing a course on software project management which has morphed into a survey of agile approaches, scrum, version control, DevOps, testing, and other pieces of the modern software development business.  I'm looking for recommendations of videos (TED talks, conference presentations, lectures, whatever) that I can add to my syllabus as recommended viewing on each of these topics.  Can y'all help me out with some recommendations? <comment><USER2> This is a good one on version control:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XpnKHJAok8) (Linus' Git talk at Google)

And as far as the business of software, especially the internet, surveillance, trust, and marketing:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3NJ- Ow2Lvg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3NJ-Ow2Lvg) (Bruce Schneier talk at Google shortly after Snowden revelations)

<comment><AUTHOR> I think I saw that one by Linus on Youtube but didn't have time to watch it. I'm going to have this class use Git to submit all their work (project and otherwise). I've used it a lot for my own work, but never on a team project, so I will need something of a primer on how to do branching, merging, and so forth.

I understand there's a typical workflow in which you have 'master' for the releases, 'dev' for the latest working version, and feature branches are branched off 'dev'. If there's a good video on how to do that, it'd be ideal.

<comment><USER2> I don't know of a video. But you should check out this project and its readme:

[https://github.com/nvie/gitflow](https://github.com/nvie/gitflow)

edit: oh, the readme links to screen-casts! Also, I've worked on teams that require gitflow so I assume it's useful experience for students to have.

<comment><AUTHOR> That link led me to another, which led to this original article on the git- flow model: [http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching- model/](http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/)

Thanks! That's just what I was looking for.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> More specifically, I'm looking (at least) for talks on the following topics:

\- Agile requirements definition, user stories, and/or backlog grooming. I'd like something that emphasizes how you can use acceptance criteria or BDD to make user stories more informative than just a sticky note.

\- Continuous integration; maybe something that involves automated deployment to a cloud hosting service like Heroku or Azure.

\- Maybe something about building an open source project, creating an identity, finding community, promoting the software, etc.

\- Something about careers in development, or software project management, or scrummastering, that would be relevant to college seniors about to be kicked out into the world.

Other great talks or videos would be awesome, too, and maybe I'll find a place for them if they're good enough.

</comment><comment><USER3> Probably not exactly what you need, but as far as inspiration is concerned, it doesn't get much better than this:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv66718DII)

Check out Bret Victor's talks in general (worrydream.com). He is quite interesting.

</comment><comment><USER4> I asked a similar question a while ago and got a lot of great answers.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609584](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7609584)</comment>


Komments – Simple comment embedding - <AUTHOR> https://komments.net <comment><USER2> Add a WordPress plugin that replaces their comment system, the same way Disqus' does so, and you'll instantly work with over 1 in 5 sites on the web -- 80 million websites or so. If you really want this to take off, that'd be what gets the growth going and gives you a large enough userbase to figure out what's going to break and what features you need. It also addresses early adopter concerns about what happens if Komments goes away: a WordPress plugin can simultaneously store all the comments in the native format as well as in Komments so that it can be swapped out at any time.

<comment><USER3> There is also Isso, a open source and self-hosted comment tool that implements on your site just like Disqus.

<comment><USER4> Do you have a direct lsso? Can't seem to find it anywhere

<comment><USER5> Looks like this is it:

[http://posativ.org/isso/](http://posativ.org/isso/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I can't find the repo. Is this open yet or is it just going to be the hosted version? If it's the latter, I can't find any pricing info, are you planning to charge?

<comment><USER7> Hi, I'm the author of that thing.

It's free and I'm not planning to charge unless it'll actually take off and maintenance cost gonna rise to much for me to keep it free.

<comment><USER8> This is for ruby/rails? Is there gem or a repo?

<comment><USER9> Setup really is just javascript on the page but I do have a gem to aid in getting configured.

[http://github.com/mattpolito/komments_gem](http://github.com/mattpolito/komments_gem)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I see that the footer says "a Hashrocket open source project". Is the source available on GitHub/Bitbucket or similar?

<comment><USER7> Not yet.

<comment><USER11> So then this project isn't open source. I understand that it will be, but it seems disingenious to add the comment about it being open source.

<comment><USER7> Removed the "open source" mentions. Sorry for the confusion. I didn't post it on Hacker News, I've just mentioned it in twitter for people who follow me. Didn't expect that much attention from HN.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The website doesn't do a very good job of describing the integration,and I've seen a few people asking about it. Basically this is just JavaScript that you embed on your page, no back-end integration required. All your comments are actually hosted by them so you don't have any direct access to comments on your back-end. I have been looking for a simple solution to comments for a personal site, so I tried this out. Integration was dead simple, copy & paste into your HTML. Wouldn't use on any bigger projects until I see the full source, but I will continue to use it for now.

</comment><comment><USER13> This seems like a good idea - there need to be more solutions in this area. Although I'd prefer something entirely self-hosted, still, I look forward to seeing the source code somewhere.

</comment><comment><USER14> I asked this in the 'Komments' as well, but:

Is there any option to export my site's Komments if I ever choose to leave?

<comment><USER7> Gonna reply here as well. For now I can do this manually for you. If there's gonna be a lot of people asking for it, will consider building an export feature.

<comment><USER15> It sometimes convinces me to go ahead with a service if I know I can get data out later down the line. It might be worth building it anyway to encourage more people to sign up, even if most users never end up using it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Why does it need these permissions for Twitter oauth?

Read Tweets from your timeline. See who you follow.

<comment><USER2> Because the OAuth flow for "Sign In with Twitter" only has two permission levels to the account: read or write.

There is nothing more granular like "read only e-mail address and name". They're requesting the minimum possible access to your account already.

[https://dev.twitter.com/oauth/reference/post/oauth/request_t...](https://dev.twitter.com/oauth/reference/post/oauth/request_token)

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Out of curiosity, why can't I authenticate via Google? Or with a komments ID?

</comment><comment><USER18> I can't get to komments.net. HN server overload?

I'm getting this error message:

Application Error

An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. Please try again in a few moments.

If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.

</comment><comment><USER19> Currently getting this:

> Application Error

> An error occurred in the application and your page could not be served. > Please try again in a few moments.

> If you are the application owner, check your logs for details.

<comment><USER7> I put it back online, but seems like there are some segfaults happening in the markdown parser. Will look into it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> is markdown support necessary/desirable for the majority of users? while i don't think it's hard to learn markdown, it remains true that only a small subset of technically-inclined users will use the syntax as intended, while everyone else will be more comfortable with WYISWYG editors

</comment><comment><USER21> This looks really cool. I really wonder how hard this will be to embed into a site manually.

<comment><USER12> Took me literally 5 minutes to embed into my site. It's just copying over some HTML. Super easy.</comment></comment>


The Iraqi who saved Norway from oil - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabdc0.html

<comment><AUTHOR> Comments from previous submission, if you're interested: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=794116>

<comment><USER2> Comments from yesterday's submission of the same article: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1430316>

<comment><AUTHOR> :)</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Any simple alternatives to the getsatisfaction.com widget? - <AUTHOR>

Are there any simple implementations of widgets that can be used which provide the basic [idea,question,problem,comment] feedback for small websites - ideally similar to the Feedback sidebar button.<p>getsatisfaction.com seems like a great product but it's too much complexity for a small webapp. I don't have a brand, nor a company, but a simple small webapp which I'm trying to build a user base for. Is there something like this out there or should I roll up my sleeves and do it myself? <comment><USER2> Some suggestions in these Quora threads:

[http://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-feedback-plugin-that-I- can-u...](http://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-feedback-plugin-that-I-can-use-for- my-web-app)

[http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-website-feedback- widge...](http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-website-feedback-widget- available-for-free)

Or, a couple of jQuery examples (there are probably others):

<http://plugins.jquery.com/project/imfeedback>

[http://wpaoli.building58.com/2009/08/jquery-animated- feedbac...](http://wpaoli.building58.com/2009/08/jquery-animated-feedback-tab- thingy/)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Found something close to what I need: <http://getbarometer.com/>

</comment><comment><USER3> I've been thinking I'd like to build a simplified open-source version. It's so simple, you shouldn't need to go through the complexity of getsatisfaction if you don't need the whole custom community aspect.

<comment><AUTHOR> exactly my point

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Kiss Insight</comment>


How to steal a Facebook identity - <AUTHOR> http://blog.mostof.it/how-to-steal-a-facebook-identity/

<comment><AUTHOR> A case study on why you should use HTTPS for all sites you have an account on.

So you want to know how to steal someone's facebook identity. How to impersonate the poor victim. How to post embarrassing status updates, pictures in his/her name. Naughty, aren't we? Let's view this as a tech challenge instead, forget the nasty things we could do with it. This howto touches basic online security issues and some networking internals. Prepare for the journey, fasten your seatbelts</comment>


How I got 1 Million pageviews in 7 months - <AUTHOR> http://www.3by9.com/entry/how-drawar-got-1-million-pageviews-in-7-months/15

<comment><USER2> That works out to an average of less than 5000 per day. Not bad but also not that great. The good news is that there is an increase in the number of pageviews per day, so he seems to be on the right track but it's a long way to go before you could really call it a success from a traffic point of view.

Pageviews as a goal is not too great a metric anyway, better things (that result to some extent from pageviews) are turnover and conversion rates.

Just a few pageviews per day with a very high conversion rate (to paying customers) is a lot more effective than to simply trying to maximize pageviews alone.

I don't really understand the business model behind drawar, other than that it is a web design and developer community, there does not seem to be any attempt at monetizing that traffic (as far as I can see, maybe I'm wrong), which makes it even harder to appreciate the increase in pageviews, after all that makes it a hobby project (more pageviews -> more costs!) instead of a business. But he's on the the right track and if he adds a businessmodel and quadruples the number of pageviews he'll be able to pay for the hosting and have some money left over.

<comment><USER3> "That works out to an average of less than 5000 per day. Not bad but also not that great."

Depends how much each page view is worth. That could easily be bringing in $10K+ per day depending on the business.

<comment><USER4> I really doubt there is a website business out there getting 2 dollars per _page view_.

<comment><USER3> Then why do you think there are people paying $40+ per click for traffic via Google Ads?

<comment><USER2> Wow, they must have better websites than mine, averaging about $0.04 / click.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The million is a serious milestone, but pageviews[1] are still a shallow metric.

I wish him nothing but continued success, and his advice is spot-on, but I also hope he'll care more for promoting things like the number of people an item has been re-sent to from current readers, effects of efforts to encourage repeat readership, or any other metric that comes from the actions of that community. Dig deeper and segment your numbers, its well worth it!

[1] formerly known as 'hits' before people who do web analytics for a living exposed it as How Idiots Track Stats.

<comment><USER6> A pageview consists of many hits.

<comment><USER7> My pageview:hits ratio varies between 1:3 and 1:5, on a WP blog with minimal images, FWIW.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> 1 million pageviews is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but just getting there for the first time is a still a big deal. Congrats, and I hope this founder finds that the first million pageviews is the hardest million.

<comment><USER9> 1 million _per month_ , though, and you've got full-time (equivalent) income potential (unless your site is in a low value niche). Heck, even half of that will do for high value niches.

<comment><USER8> Oh snap - I guess I shouldn't have tl;dr - ed. 1 million PV / month is awesome.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Congrats! What is your site built on?

</comment><comment><USER11> (offtopic) The white drop shadow under the body text is quite annoying.</comment>


NASA's "intriguing planetary system" press conference @ 1pm EDT - <AUTHOR> http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html

<comment><USER2> Why oh why does an organisation like NASA use something like EDT without qualification? I've had to go look it up on Google, then follow the link, and now I know that it's UTC-4, or Zulu-4.

Why couldn't they say that? It's almost as if they think everything happens in the USA, and surely NASA of all organisations should know better.</comment>


New dutch political party wants € 1,000 basic income for everyone - <AUTHOR> http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hetkanwel.net%2F2013%2F10%2F22%2Fnieuwe-politieke-partij-wil-e1-000-basisinkomen-voor-iedereen%2F&act=url <comment><USER2> I assume this is akin to Milton Friedman's negative tax: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpgkX588nM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpgkX588nM) I think it's brilliant. The major issue would be how to do a transition to it and what the "magic number" is.

<comment><USER3> I agree. However, this will never happen. Our Dutch society is entrenched with 'big governement' on a scale a US citizen could not grasp. Such a proposal would delete most cival servants (and their contractors).

Wikipedia: "While the private sector is the cornerstone of the Dutch economy, governments at different levels have a large part to play... In addition to its own spending, the government plays a significant role through the permit requirements and regulations pertaining to _almost every aspect_ of economic activity. "

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I'd be very happy to replace unemployment benefit/welfare with this - and then to remove the income tax allowance, so that people pay income tax on everything they have over it.

This instantly removes the "benefit trap" whereby earning can make you worse off.

<comment><USER5> I agree with you and with the idea of unconditional basic income, but I would only support it if means tested welfare were completely eliminated and the basic income amount were inflation indexed to a broad spectrum of consumer goods.

<comment><USER4> I'd settle for indexing it to median salary. Say at 24% or 33% of it.

<comment><USER6> I'd say to index it to GDP.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Dutch guy here. Would totally spend all my time on OSS development, I can already live of 1,000 a month. Let's make this happen :)

<comment><USER8> I agree -- and I think the amount of innovation that would happen would be unprecedented. I'm deeply disappointed in HN, that it killed this discussion. This is one of the most important ideas around.

<comment><USER7> Indeed, if I think of how much time I waste working on project that the world doesn't need... so many people could spend so much more time on things (also out side of software development) that matter more.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> We've discussed this here before.

I like to think I am progressive but I think this is the wrong approach.

Costs will rise to the minimum that everyone is known to afford (or higher to deny the minimum income).

So rent will go up, food costs will go up, clothing etc.

You are just transfering wealth from the state to a few individuals who own property and own chain stores.

Better to have rent control and other cost-of-living regulation.

<comment><USER10> _Costs will rise to the minimum that everyone is known to afford (or higher to deny the minimum income)._

How do you support such a claim? If I was a business and all my competitors did this, I would undercut them and make a killing!

Basic income (or something similar) is an inevitable outcome of our development as a civilization. As technology continues to drive up productivity, the demand for labour falls. As the demand for labour falls, so does employment and consequently the demand for goods and services fall as well.

It may be a very rough transition to get there but eventually we will have a society where robots make everything we need and we are forced to devise a system for allocating these products to the people.

<comment><USER11> Because you are setting a floor. First, if you make a minimum income of 1,000, anyone making less or around that will demand a raise, after all why would I work if I could get the same amount loafing around the house. So the mid-lower tiers get a raise, and now the tier above that doesn't want to make the same as the lower tier and they get a raise, so there is inflation as everyone suddenly as a lot more money to spend.

Which feels great for maybe a month or maybe a day, but with everyone making more money, goods in that area will rise in price, as landlords find they can make more money etc... and then we're back in the same situation. In theory goods outside of this economy with a floor would remain the same, but since the people that need to import it, store it, etc... would also be affected by the inflation in the end it doesn't net anything.

TLDR; a basic income is an illusion, and inflation would quickly catch up.

<comment><USER12> Not sure it would happen as you describe it.

I don't understand why peoples with small income will suddenly feel entitled for a raise. After all they just got a 1000 euros raise on top of their small income?

For inflation I think the macro economic of Europe will not allow a drastic increase in prices. At least not in the prices of goods. Shops will still have to compete on prices and as there will probably be some people trying to live on the 1000 euro alone you might see very cheap shops flourish.

If there is enough vacancy in real estate, people that have now more money will be able to afford a nicer/bigger apartments and might just drive the price of the least interesting ones down. Landlords will be forced to fix their apartment or lower the price.

The situation at the end is that there a wealth redistribution that is guarantied and equal for everybody.

<comment><USER13> "people that have now more money will be able to afford a nicer/bigger apartments"

No not at all. The median dude will always live in the median house and nothing about this will change it.

The primary real estate related effect is a dramatic change in macro societal debt to income ratios which in the long term has some interesting effects on bank assets and liabilities. Its very much like a stealth interest rate cut, with pretty much identical effects. The price of real estate will of course increase across the board, because the sellers know the buyers will have more money to pay mortgages with. The median guy will still sit in the median home, it'll just involve larger numbers in some bank account.

"equal for everybody."

LOL capgains are going to asset holders aka land and business owners and banks, not the joe 6 pack. The primary effect on J6P is getting kicked into a higher income tax bracket thus paying more taxes on a percentage basis. So .gov wins. Pretty much everyone wins but J6P as usual, as designed.

<comment><USER14> > Its very much like a stealth interest rate cut, with pretty much identical > effects.

No, it's even better. The basic income can create an effective negative interest rate without giving the bankers an infinite Santa Claus, and most of the money will turn the crank of the consumption machine instead of being parked in safe havens.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is huge: this definitely seems to be the seeds of a real movement and, if so, it would be one of the most important movements of our lifetime.

<comment><USER15> Communist countries tried to do this in the 20th century and failed.

<comment><USER16> I thought communism (theoretically) was more similar to a universal shared maximum income.

<comment><USER17> Very, _very_ theoretically. Communism definitely had many people much more equal than others. It seems that if you hand over all the power to a glorious central authority they will, you know, _use it_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I think that this is a great idea. I would rather people got their $1,000 and stayed at home playing with their kids or studying on Udacity (or watching movies and eating junk food) than flipping burgers for 12h a day.

</comment><comment><USER19> Google translate gave me this gem: "Even the Republican Nixon was a form of basic income."

<comment><AUTHOR> Haha, yes it does funny things with some sentences. :) The original text uses a relatively rare dutch way to phrase that the Republican Nixon was in favour of a certain type of basic income.

Similarly, the dutch expression that's oddly translated here to "with straw money" would perhaps be better translated as "throwing money around".

<comment><USER9> What is more funny (or less in that it is sad) is that by today's standards for Republicans, Nixon was a liberal.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Christian Engström Pirate MEP (Sweden) has been talking about this for a couple of years already

[http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=htt...](http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fchristianengstrom.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F11%2F20%2Fmedborgarlon- ar-effektivt-for-samhallet-2%2F)

[http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=htt...](http://translate.google.se/translate?hl=sv&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fchristianengstrom.wordpress.com%2Fcategory%2Fmedborgarlon%2F)

</comment><comment><USER21> Listen to this: [http://podcasts.tvo.org//bi/audio/2076107_48k.mp3](http://podcasts.tvo.org//bi/audio/2076107_48k.mp3)

</comment><comment><USER22> I would be totally in favor of a basic income as long as it was a replacement for (some of) unemployment insurance and the minimum wage. We as a society really want people to have an incentive to work and don't want to price out people who are only marginally employable, but we also want to help poor people. There is some disincentive effect to a basic income since working for $6/hour when the alternative is nothing is more alluring than when the alternative is just getting by on the basic income.

But on the gripping hand, it's ridiculously simple to administer and doesn't have breaking points like other policies. I think that people consistancy underrate the importance of simplicity in government programs, especially in democracies where voter attention is often the binding constraint on good policy.

And if robots do eventually replace human labor - something I'd say is unlikely but possible, then we'll be needing something like this.

<comment><USER23> Robots may not replace human labor, but a combination of automation and outsourcing to another nation could significantly reduce the required labor for the original nation.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> The Netherlands may wish to reevaluate its immigration policies before subsidizing citizenship. There are many billions of people in the world who are not being paid to reside in their respective nations. A basic income coupled with open borders would likely act as a draw for further economic migration.

<comment><USER25> I have always found this to be the deep irony embedded in socialism. Let's make things really nice and humane. But only for the people born between these lines.

You could argue that globalization and a true free market don't make this nationalistic distinction, and are in essence fairer to the human population on a whole.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable link to original (Dutch): [http://www.hetkanwel.net/2013/10/22/nieuwe-politieke- partij-...](http://www.hetkanwel.net/2013/10/22/nieuwe-politieke-partij- wil-e1-000-basisinkomen-voor-iedereen/)

<comment><USER26> For comparison, Dutch students receive between 200-400 euro monthly (and do pay a heavily discounted 1800 euro college tuition), "bijstand" (which is sort of a last resort income) is 600-700 euro, unemployment compensation is 70% of the last earned wage for a limited amount of months.

People above the 65 receive a "basic income" called "AOW" (algemene ouderdoms wet) which is between 750 and 1400 euros (in addition to a pension).

Minimum wage for a fulltime job is around 1400 euro (1200-1300 after taxes). A starts position for someone without college pays around 10-13 euro per hour before taxes.

With the current high un-employment numbers a lot of students and young people have to life on a income of 400-800 euro per month which is incredible tight.

1000 euro is a lot of money, I guess I could support something like a 400-600 "basic income" with strong incentive for people to work.

Then again the AOW is incredible high and although I do support the idea behind it I do wonder how we're going to support AOW payments with the coming demographic shift.

<comment><USER23> The situation is somewhat similar in Sweden, especially regarding the 'bijstand.' In our case, you'd have to re-apply each month and they would audit your spending for the previous 3 months (so that, for example, you didn't spend it all on alcohol or an Xbox.) It's also not a fixed sum but based on what they consider necessary, but beyond what I know about U.S. (specifically, California) welfare.

This is not the same as unemployment benefits, but, as you say is a last resort. Unemployment benefits here are given on the condition that you show that you are currently applying to jobs. We used to get a few of these applications at our old office. People would come who weren't remotely relevant to the job, but did it just to keep getting the payments, so that's something to think consider when you mention "with strong incentive for people to work."

Thanks for explaining the overall situation. I wish I knew more about Sweden's but maybe someone else can post Sweden's corresponding information with details.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I think if this was implemented in the US, the best way to do it would be to include a mandatory financial education class every x time (one a year, every quarter, etc). Have it online or at local community (YMCA, library, etc). If I had an extra 1k coming in every month, I would totally put all of it back into blasted student loans. How many would love to be able to have it go directly to student loans, mortgage/rent payments, car/credit/other loans? Get rid of a majority of the personal debt in the country, see a boom in the economy. Teach everyone (children and adults) how to save for education, emergency, health, retirement, large purchases- healthy economy.

</comment><comment><USER28> I think this is a good idea. However, this does seem dangerous for drug addicts.

<comment><USER29> The Netherlands has a rather liberal drug policy, and because of that, considerably less drug addicts than other European countries.

Also, addicts will be addicts. I'd rather they get the money than steal it or kill for it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Economic growth has historically brought much more wellness and brought up more people from poorness than any kind of State initiative. Let's keep this in mind when reading these news. What we are doing here is saying that taxing more the "rich" and giving to the "poor" brings more wealth than leaving these money to who earned it for investing.

Edit. Please, do remember that disagreeing!=down voting

<comment><USER31> No sorry. The labor movement and state initiatives have brought much more wellness and brought up much more people from poorness than any kind of investor.

Also, historically speaking, state initiatives have created the most economic growth.

<comment><USER30> Please, go look at the charts of GDP and GDP per capita growth and see it yourself.

What we need is growth. Look at our public loans. We have been betting for _decades_ that we would grow more than we are. What do you think will happen if we miss the growth bet with an aging population in need of expensive health care?

<comment><USER31> Looking at GDP per capita over the past century it looks like it rises sharply around WWII and there is a slight rise in the 80s, but for the most part it has steady growth.

Considering WWII and the 80s saw the highest increases in deficit spending, I think that just proves my point?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> This won't work. Prices will rise because ultimately there won't be enough supply to satisfy the increased demand of goods required at the most basic level of living. The only way to help the poor and unemployed is to find innovative ways to increase supply, which will lower the cost of producing said goods. This is why, in the United States, even the poorest citizens have access to food and housing - our government subsidizes the production of these products, which spurs an increase in supply and lowers the price.

<comment><USER33> Why would the demand for basic goods change? The poor are are already getting fed and clothed in much the same way as they would on basic income.

<comment><USER32> Because it puts an extra $1,000 in everyone's pocket, not just the poor, so everyone will have additional money to spend on higher quality goods, driving up demand along the entire spectrum of price/quality for a given item.

I'm not a huge fan of subsidies because it distorts international markets and hurts other countries (mainly poor ones), but a better alternative might be to give large corporations a tax incentive to pay their minimum wage workers more, or provide them with additional benefits. Redistribution of wealth through the government is a great idea in theory, but it eventually breaks because you get a crooked politician in office or someone who can't manage the redistribution program effectively, as we're seeing in the US (look at our current debt problem). Plus, redistribution programs involve the government, which is an unnecessary step and complicates the process. If you encourage corporations to just pay their employees more, governments don't need to 'tax the rich' to 'feed the poor'.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> Here we go, already declining Europe turning even more socialist. The problem is that most countries in Europe are not like Switzerland where the common culture is economically educated and work oriented. If this passes in Switzerland or Netherlands it may actually work, but if it spreads to and passes in e.g France, Spain or some post communist countries in EU it may lead to completely different outcome and EU economies are increasingly co- dependent.

Even worse thing is that there is a lot of populism in Europe spreading lately, I fear this will be quickly adopted as a tool to get more voters in countries that respond to populism well, eventually gaining support for economically illiterate parties.

<comment><USER35> Turning socialist...

Have you any concept of the percentage of GDP that most European governments take in through taxation or on what sort of programs that money tends to be spent? Europe has already been socialist for a long time, some places much more so than others.</comment></comment>


Spaceship: Ruby Library for Exposing Apple Developer Center API - <AUTHOR> https://spaceship.airforce/

<comment><USER2> I just love the domain.

<comment><AUTHOR> right?! didn't recognize it immediately until later</comment></comment>


Coding Is Over - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@loorinm/coding-is-over-6d653abe8da8 <comment><USER2> "GraphQL will completely replace REST in the coming years." What the hell? Where's your source for that?

She says the solution is that product managers should be able to make an app do whatever they want to do and skip the engineers. This makes her sound very inexperienced. Don't you think we would have gotten there by now if possible?

So her new mission is to create a drag and drop interface that can build every app every company would ever want, and she doesn't have a clue how to do it "but probably with React." Nice.

Does she think the only thing requiring code are websites? Does she think we can just drag and drop Google search algorithms and space shuttle software into existence?

This almost seems like a troll article.

<comment><USER3> I am pretty sure it is satire. It has to be, right?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> > When many products are essentially the same app with different color schemes > and copy, why are we still coding?

Self driving cars, virtual and augmented reality, the automation of everything, consumer level fabrication, the explosion of machine learning and data science into everywhere... I think there is plenty of room in the world for more code!

</comment><comment><USER5> Such clickbait. "Coding" will never be over. We've come along way from punch cards and it will continue to be abstracted further and further.

<comment><USER6> Abstracted further and further, up to the point where someone without programming experience can tell a computer to do the thing it should do, making "coding" (or at least how we know it now) redundant. Have you thought about it this way?

<comment><USER7> Actually abstracted further and further until AI takes over and they meet. That is the moment coding will be over.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Previously submitted here (over the past four days):

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11957926](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11957926)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11957544](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11957544)

</comment><comment><USER9> Clickbait-y headline. But the author makes some valid points. Software engineering is in the end just problem solving. And re-implementing already resolved issues from scratch does not a good engineer make. (And by that I mean in a professional context, not in the beginning for purely educational purposes. I learned web dev by re-writing a simple Twitter clone from scratch and still recommend that as the best way to get one's feet wet.)

There are untold opportunities to make the tools we use to build software more capable and reduce the cognitive load that a large code base imposes on it's engineering team. The next few years should be interesting.

<comment><USER10> The thing is the problems are never solved. They might be solved in one way, for one given case, but problems can't be generalised at that scale.

Just look at the tyres. You use different width, different patterns for different road types, per season. And the industry is still evolving!

Even a programming language can't fit to all scenarios!

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> > My current undertaking is to build an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface.

We tried that in the 90's with Rapid Application Development (RAD), massive code-gen, and clunky workflow abstraction tools.

It didn't work. Coders simply cannot be replaced easily with power user's tools.

Unless you are building a product that is not differentiated in any way from your competitors. (Cost, functionality, services.. etc.) But if not, then how do you hope to stay in business?

Wix and Squarespace are nice, but lets acknowledge they are targeting a completely different market than corporate startups.

</comment><comment><USER12> > This makes her sound very inexperienced.

[https://medium.com/@loorinm/becoming-a-software-engineer- is-...](https://medium.com/@loorinm/becoming-a-software-engineer-is-hard- bc125c5eb69d#.in3ac9834) She was admitted to "Hack Reactor" in October 2015. Well that escalated quickly.

<comment><USER13> Whoa, that crosses the line. If you think someone is wrong, explain why substantively, not by digging up details from their résumé. Your snarky swipe at the end is particularly distasteful. Please don't do that when commenting here.

Edit: I see that we've had to warn you about this before ([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11624990](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11624990)). This is really not ok for this site, so if you do it again we will ban you.

We detached this subthread from [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11981661](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11981661) and marked it off-topic.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Donate food to those made vulnerable by COVID-19 crisis - <AUTHOR> https://foodfortheworld.love/ <comment><AUTHOR> With the Corona Virus, people have lost their jobs, their loved ones, and their homes. We implore you to give love and food to those in need, the ones that are less privileged than we are right now. You can donate to these food banks and support us by adding to this list by mailing us at hello AT foodfortheworld DOT love

You can also raise a PR on our GitHub. [https://github.com/darkstark/food-for- the-world/](https://github.com/darkstark/food-for-the-world/)</comment>


The Key Threats and Risks That Third-Party Apps and Tags Create to Websites - <AUTHOR> https://www.reflectiz.com/the-key-threats-and-risks-that-third-parties-create-to-websites/ <comment><AUTHOR> Learn how 3rd-party apps can damage websites and how to keep your website protected against the risks they create.</comment>


Everything you need to know on Magecart Attacks - <AUTHOR> https://ferrucc.io/magecart/ <comment><AUTHOR> Hey there HN author here!

This is my first post of this kind.

I'd love to have some feedback of any kind from you (possibly constructive).

I don't know if what I'm proposing is the best idea and I'm sure that here on HN there's at least someone with great ideas I could benefit from :)</comment>


Design Guru/Intern...really? - <AUTHOR>

I came across this job posting on Craigslist, from a SF startup backed by seasoned entrepreneurs and blue chip angel funding:
Web Designer/Front-End Guru Intern
• Demonstrable years experience creating consumer web/mobile applications • Masterful command of the Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator • Sophisticated knowledge of HTML, XHTML, CSS • Experience with JavaScript, AJAX, and a JavaScript framework such as jQuery, MooTools, etc • Knowledge of browser compatibility issues and web standards • Embrace the practice of rapid prototyping, and working in a fast-paced environment where constant change is the norm and the bar for performance is set high. Sense of humor and a positive attitude are non-negotiable. Brownie points for: - Advanced Flash skills - Illustration - Experience with mobile application design
compensation ... it could easily turn into a full-time job
//
I'm wondering what people here think about this job posting; do you think it's fair/wise/viable? Is it possible that a Design guru can/would also be an intern? What would be their motivation? It is fair/wise/viable to ask an intern to do heavy lifting of this nature? Is it fair/wise/viable to ask a professional designer to be an intern? Discuss, please. <comment><USER2> It's the "demonstrable years of experience" that gets me. Anyone with years of experience with front end shouldn't need to be taking an intern job. Isn't the point of an intern job to be for people fresh out of school and trying to build up experience?

</comment><comment><USER3> This sounds like someone who is engaging in wishful thinking. Perhaps they have control freak issues as well. Either way, it reads like a giant red flag.

</comment><comment><USER4> They want top talent but don't want to pay for it, all the while dangling the 'could easily turn into a full-time job' carrot in front of them.

Problem is, top talent is not this stupid.</comment>


Show HN: Impressi | a WYSIWYG editor for impress.js - <AUTHOR> http://www.impressi.me

<comment><USER2> Interesting start. Looking forward to your progress. I think it'll really start to come into its own when you add the ability to include images. I tried using markdown image syntax but I guess you haven't built that functionality yet.

Also, it will take a quantum leap when you make a way to customize the path and zooming, of course.

But for a start, it's really nice and easy. I dig. I signed up. Keep going!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback!

I'm glad you enjoyed it so far. I agree that getting image support in the product will go a long way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Impressi only supports webkit based browsers

<comment><USER4> i'm not sure how developers overlook that most browsers on the web are NOT webkit. i'm not about to leave my FF nightly to test your app because you were too lazy to finish it, sorry :(

not supporting the latest browsers (and they are all more than good enough) is a shame. would be happy to test it when it works in FF though!

<comment> hippee-lee Take a look at reveal.js - <http://lab.hakim.se/reveal-js/#/> && <https://github.com/hakimel/reveal.js>

Even though it seems to work best in Chrome it does work in ff and I was able to hack it to go full screen. I have noticed that It will bog the browser down on larger presentations with 20+ slides or more.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Nice, where can I sign up?

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi, Arek!

You can sign up here: <http://impressi.me/users/sign_up>

Or, just create a new presentation, and you'll be prompted to create an account when you attempt to save it.</comment></comment>


The people who choose to be alone at Christmas - chestnut-tree http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30512529

<comment><AUTHOR> I become anxious and annoyed dealing with holiday travel. I'm always worried my flight will be delayed and I'll miss my connection (has happened). I therefore decline my family's pleas to come home and visit in the off months. Sometimes I spend an informal Xmas with friends at home, but I'm equally likely to just bum around the house. I'm content, but I'm also an introvert, so there's that.</comment>


AlphaGo and the Future of Computer Games: Conversation at U. of Alberta [video] - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMm0XaCFTJQ <comment><USER2> AlphaGo's 1st incarnation included an input scalar that the Net was taught represented the level of Human Play to Emulate (handily included in the dataset).

Thus AlphaGo plays as a human (before MCTS), it's choices model a challenging oppenent.

If the dataset included the name of the player in the Dataset then AlphaGo could play in the style of that player.

This offers a human experience, and for teaching one can show what different experts at differing levels would choose.

<comment><USER3> This (along with the Neural Algorithm for Artistic Style paper) opens some interesting questions about simulating specific humans and the relationship of such simulations to mind uploading. Obviously it's a huge distance away from a proper upload, but with enough input data maybe this could form the basis of Alastair Reynolds' "beta simulations".

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Most computer games these days have terrible AI. I'm starting to think that it's intentional. Otherwise I would fare much worse in the game.

<comment><USER3> The purpose of video game AI is not to beat you, but to lose to you in a fun way.

<comment><USER5> It's much more fun for a human to win with a small force against seemingly overwhelming number of enemy mooks.

If computer games had awesome AI trying to beat you, you'd need the overwhelming superiority of numbers just to stay alive.

That applies to the computer competing with you, though. There are games, like eg RPGs, with more space for cooperative AI.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I wanna play civilization vs a crowd trained (and probably intentionaly crippled) AI of this kind.

</comment><comment><USER7> The sound seems pretty poor so I'm not going to listen to this. Anyone want to summarize?

<comment><USER8> Nobody? Come on, somebody help the poor guy out.</comment></comment>


iOS Playgrounds Part 5: Editing real code - <AUTHOR> http://ericasadun.com/2016/06/21/ios-playgrounds-part-5-editing-real-code/ <comment><AUTHOR> Sounds like the conversion from Swift 2.x to 3.x won't be bad because Apple has done most of the work.

<comment><USER2> I just spent an entire day porting. It wasn't fun at all.</comment></comment>


How Fucked is the T? - <AUTHOR> http://howfuckedisthet.com/

<comment><USER3> I did, in fact, make the site. :-)

I made the site to be fun and useful, and it was just a side project for me. I understand what you're saying, and I'm going to be making a SFW version - <USER2> Cee Lo did. Other people have mentioned that too.

I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for the feedback! :-)

</comment><comment><USER4> Have you stopped to think that the URL you have chosen is counterproductive to getting people to know about your otherwise really useful site?

How is any TV station looking to fill 45 seconds with an upbeat technology story going to talk about you? How is any newspaper going to mention you?

How is the local college radio going to plug you as a new public service?

Obviously there are some trendy upstart independent papers, and some edgy people will tweet about you, but that will never build to critical mass.

And how do you put that on your resume? How do you use it to get your next client or gig?

Do you think Angry Birds would be the success it is today, if it had been called "Kill the Fucking Pigs"?

<comment><AUTHOR> You raise quite a few valid points. But I didn't make the site; I just submitted the link because I thought it was pretty funny. :) My intent wasn't to offend or get anyone in trouble, and I apologize if that happened.

I did originally censor the title, but someone (moderator?) changed it to uncensored. There appears to be no way to censor URLs. There have been a few stories on HN that hit the front page with "foul language" in them. It would be nice to have a NSFW category/option.</comment></comment>


Expedia Acquires Airbnb Rival HomeAway for $3.9B - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/04/expedia-acquires-airbnb-rival-homeaway-for-3-9b/ <comment><USER2> This is an interesting deal. There was an article posted on HN a while ago that talked about investors pouring money into publicly traded companies who directly compete with private tech companies who have insanely high valuations.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/technology/investors- find-...](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/technology/investors-find-ways-to- indirectly-profit-from-valuable-start- ups.html?hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well- region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1)

HomeAway Vs AirBnB was specifically mentioned. Turned out well for the guys who made this particular bet.

<comment><USER3> Time to invest in Lyft :)

<comment><USER4> Lyft is not publicly traded.

<comment><USER5> GSV Capital (ticker: GSVC) is an investor in Lyft. As of June 30, its investment in Lyft represented 2.9% of its portfolio.

Alibaba (ticker: BABA), Rakuten (which is listed on the Tokyo exchange) and Tencent (which is listed on the Hong Kong exchange) are also investors in Lyft.

I believe GSV Capital participated in Lyft's Series D, while the others were Series E investors.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Based on a recent experience, Homeaway's search for properties available between two dates is pretty much a non-working facade.

The UI is all there... but after after entering credit card info etc. and attempting to book several different places, only to then receive emails stating that they were not available on those dates despite showing up in search as being available, and "please call us directly because maybe we have something else..."

It felt like shopping for NYC apartments on Craig's List... "we don't have the one you want but what about this one?"

<comment><USER7> This is no different than AirBnB and infact AirBnB is worse IMO.

AirBnB has "instant booking" for like 10% of listing but for all the rest you click "request to book" and you've instantly committed to giving the host 24 hours to respond. If they respond in the positive you're booked. In other words, once you pick one place you're on the hook for it. You can't go looking for other places just incase the host says their place is not available.

Worse, the UX has 2 buttons "Request to Book" and "Contact Host". THEY DO THE SAME THING!!!! If you click "Contact Host" it will just send a booking request. The host can charge your credit card even though you only clicked "Contact". How do I know? It just happened to me

<comment><USER8> This isn't quite true.

Contact Host allows you to send an enquiry to the host and is in no way a booking request. You should always do this before committing to a booking to ensure the place is actually available.

Request to Book commits you to a booking and your card is charged there and then, regardless of if the host accepts your request. It then takes up to 7 days to get your money back if the host declines - pretty frustrating.

Instant Book means the host can't decline your booking without their search ranking score being negatively affected.

<comment><USER7> I used "Contact Host" and was still booked. Steps

        1) Enter dates
        2) Pick Place
        3) Pick "Contact Host"
        4) Host says place is as available
        5) Get message from AirBnB saying I've been approved by host
        6) Get message from AirBnB saying host has charged my card

At no time did I pick "Request a Booking". I thought it would stop at #5 and I'd have to then login to AirBnB to finalize the details but no, the host was able to do that without me even though I never picked "Request a Booking"

<comment><USER9> Between 4/5 the host pre-approves you for booking (without you requesting to book) that should be the case.

Have been using AirBnB for stays since 2012 and hosting since 2014. Never had an un-requested booking.

\+ Host does not have a way to charge you

<comment><USER7> I've used AirBnB 18 times in the last 2.5 years. It happened. Give me your credit card. I'll go through the process and see if I can get you booked. I'll video all of it.

Or if you're from AirBnB, give me a fake account and all make it happen again. If you think this is how it works I'm telling you there's a bug in your system

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wonder if they were waiting on SF.CA.US Prop F to announce or finalize.

<comment><USER11> I think that is the case :). If so, very strategic and well played by Expedia.

<comment><USER12> how so? It wouldn't have had any effect on Prop F passing or not and would not affect the price Expedia is paying for HomeAway since this deal was probably in the works for months.

<comment><USER13> It is more about gauging public sentiment. If Prop F passed Expedia would have been wise to reconsider the deal. The last thing you want to do is spend all that money into an industry headed for heavy regulation that was voted in by citizens.

<comment><USER12> You act like prop F was a national proposition or somehow international, this was just one city. Even if prop F passed it would not bring airbnb down as they operate in 34k+ cities around the world. Expedia is also targeting the int'l market. I doubt they would reconsider just over SF.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> HomeAway has been positioning themselves to be bought by Expedia for about 12-20 months.

If you are in the travel industry you'd not actually think this news is a suprise.

The timing is also 3 days after the close of the VRMA (a large travel exhibition for vacation rental managers this year held in New Orleans)

I had the severe misfortune of going to last years VRMA. I travelled over from England... anyway, the VRMA (which is suposed to be a somewhat neutral organization looking after managers best interests) decided in their infinite wisdom to give the spotlight to HomeAway's COO (Brent) and CEO (Brian).

The keynotes speech shocked everyone!.. Essentially, Brian Sharples turned an event that was suposed to be generic advice for the betterment of the entire industry into a marketing pitch about HomeAway and it's vision for the future. This wasn't abstract advice.. this was specific details about how managers will use HomeAway in the future. This was the KEYNOTE of an event that 800 managers paid several thousand dollars to attend.

Anyway, he told all managers that within 24 months they will be on "Instant Book". This is a shock because the transition to Instant Book signalled that they are trying to phase out the listing model.. (The listing model has always been in favour of managers because it meant that they can handle their own enquiries and bookings/payments). Pushing people down the instant book route has always visibly been because they need the numbers to be attractive to Expedia and because after increasing the listing modules from $300 to over $1000 per listing (this is for platinum) they need more ways to increase shareholder value.

PS. On return back to England, the forums and community boards were in uproar about this. Our company paid to get the recordings of the event.. guess which speach out of 48 different lectures and presentations were missing... the keynote by Brian Sharples.

It's actually obscene that we were paying over $100k per year to HomeAway for platinum listings and then users on a basic listing were being ranked higher than us because they had "Book in Now" enabled on their properties. This is all because transparently, they need the bookings to be processed through their system to prove they are a valuable purchase for Expedia. (It's been no secret that everyone has known it's going to be Expedia buying HA).

Further proof/conjecture(?), is that for a long time they stopped providing us emails of enquiries made for our properties through their system. This is as they assure the community because of "phising" fears etc...

I've long said, the best thing that can happen to the industry is for Expedia to buy HomeAway. I think this is going to be a really good thing. Expedia is going to force book it now, which isn't practical for managers who can't handle the instant bookings (due to real time availability and calendars issues).

Bit of a rant. I've never hidden my criticism of HomeAway. They've always been the gorilla in the room who force you to play by their rules and demand control of the entire booking process. (Keep in mind that they are long before AirBnb. They might not be as glamourous, but HomeAway and VRBO have done amazing things for the short term rental travel industry.... which can't be forgotten.)

<comment><USER15> This is very interesting, especially the part about the keynote. That said, I disagree with this point:

> It's actually obscene that we were paying over $100k per year to HomeAway > for platinum listings and then users on a basic listing were being ranked > higher than us because they had "Book in Now" enabled on their properties. > This is all because transparently, they need the bookings to be processed > through their system to prove they are a valuable purchase for Expedia. > (It's been no secret that everyone has known it's going to be Expedia buying > HA).

Having used HomeAway / VRBO before, this seems like the sensible approach. Instant booking provides a much better experience for the user - I don't want to have to email a bunch of places to determine which are available. They definitely should be ranking these higher than other listings.

<comment><USER16> If you want those ranked higher, fine, but they're basically lying to the people that buy preferred listing. At that price level it's disgusting.

<comment><USER17> Indeed, that's a lot of money to spend for no benefit. If you let people pay to adjust search order it's always a conflict of interest, though. It's just that in this case, they preferred the little customer (who pays for the bookings) instead of the big customer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I used ownersdirect, a subsidiary of homeaway to book a villa for a holiday - it was fantastic but the experience on their website was poor. It looks like the homeaway site itself is much closer to the airbnb experience though - messaging on site instead of by email, payments on site instead of through PayPal.

They seem to charge to make listings though, and to rank listings at least in the first case by how much you paid (subscription level) and to feature listings solely for paying more. I expect airbnb has much better sorting by not having that kind of pay to come up top/be featured mess.

[https://www.homeaway.co.uk/info/tipsandtools/subscription- le...](https://www.homeaway.co.uk/info/tipsandtools/subscription-levels)

"Your subscription level is the most important factor you can control to appear higher in search results and therefore improve your performance." [https://www.homeaway.co.uk/info/tipsandtools/rank- higher](https://www.homeaway.co.uk/info/tipsandtools/rank-higher)

</comment><comment><USER19> Does anyone have thoughts on the impact (positive or negative) the acquisition will on the Austin tech scene, given this is where HomeAway is headquartered?

<comment><USER20> If Expedia keeps the company/team intact (which it sounds like it will in the news story), I don't think very much will change in Austin as a result. Homeaway is typically touted as one of the Austin unicorns, and now I guess they will go down in lore as one more success story.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Sold it for way less than what it could have become.

<comment><USER22> That's an interesting question. Growth has been modest the last few years, and has slowed to a crawl in 2015.

They've never made much money, with relatively slim operating income margins.

Yet they managed to sell for 300 times 2014 earnings (with the first two quarters of 2015 being negative on net income). That's an extraordinary multiple to say the least.

They managed to sell themselves for what they might have potentially been worth ten years from now, if you priced them similar to how the market prices Expedia or Priceline. That's assuming the competition doesn't gradually erode them of course.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> How is something no one has ever heard of worth $3.9b?

<comment><USER24> You've never heard of HomeAway? They and VRBO (which they own) are the 2nd and 3rd biggest players in the home sharing economy, after Airbnb.

<comment><USER25> FWIW, I've had consistently better experience with HomeAway/VRBO than with AirBnB

<comment><USER26> Same here. For things like vacation houses, VRBO has been much better. I feel that there is a lot of high-end inventory there. Plus, house owners are familiar with the site, so they stick with it, even if the experience is not great. There's untapped potential on VRBO.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HC: Suggestions on customers for this algorithm? - <AUTHOR>

A few weeks ago, I posted "How to package this algorithm" at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=389526
By then, I was thinking of building our own customer oriented software/web site.  After some in-depth discussions, we decided to focus on what we're good at, ie algorithm design and tweaks, and partner up with others to sell it.  So we built it into a paid web service called Purifyr:  http://www.purifyr.com/
Please give it a try and let me know what do you think of it.
Here are some usage scenarios:
- Semantic analysis processing: The value of semantic analysis is the ability to 'understand' a web page. Purifyr could help to remove 'noise' contents to make the analysis work much faster and easier.
- Printer friendly web: Never waste paper and inks! By using purifyr to clean up the web pages first, you could print only what your users want. Even better, you could apply customized stylesheets to keep all print-outs in a consistent look-and-feel.
- Mobile ready content: Mostly of today's web pages are for desktop monitors, not mobile devices. Using Purifyr to extract the content, you'd make any urls readable on mobile devices.
Thanks, Alex <comment><USER2> You should run a spell checker on your website: instaniously, algorihtm, even your pricing @ $299.00 (!!) a month all look unprofessional.

Will people doing serious semantic analysis be okay with using your service in a black box manner, not knowing how your algorithm works?

<comment><AUTHOR> @jacob: have done another run of spell checking.

Just curious about your comment on $299 monthly fee, why would you call it 'unprofessional'? I have read about Joel's articles on setting the price a bit higher will actually help the sales but not sure how should I play in my specific case.

Suggestions?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I might use this if I felt like you were going to last, but I'm having trouble seeing the longevity in this type of idea as the market you are targeting is exceedingly small. Consider selling the software + license, with premium fees for support and source code. This type of algorithm is definitely something I would pay good money to own, but as a service, it doesn't make much sense.

<comment><AUTHOR> @henry: "This type of algorithm is definitely something I would pay good money to own, but as a service, it doesn't make much sense."

We're pretty flexible with the business model. Selling license with source code is actually what our first paying customer is doing. Just thought making it a service will make things, such as evaluation, a bit easier. Maybe you'll disagree?

I don't have that much experiences selling 'naked' algorithm, specifically where to find prospects for this one. Any hints?

<comment><USER3> I'd sell it as some sort of library. You'll have to add a lot more features, bells and whistles to make it seem worthwhile. Here's a premium math library for .NET: www.dewresearch.com. We've also stumbled upon recommendation engine libraries for PHP or Java.

I'd be interested in speaking with you further about licensing your library. Email me at hanyangliu (gmail)</comment></comment></comment>


Some practical questions to ask oneself to get more stuff done - <AUTHOR> http://blog.aparicio.org/2010/02/01/getting-stuff-done/

<comment><USER3> Did you know that only 2.5% of males and .5% of females are INTJ? Yet software companies are full them.

<comment><USER4> How on earth did someone find that stat?. Just curious.

<comment><AUTHOR> I think they come from this:

[http://www.mypersonality.info/personality- types/population-g...](http://www.mypersonality.info/personality- types/population-gender/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _Is this work worth my hourly rate?_ The question isn't stated accurately - <USER2> needs to take into account the overhead of organizing someone else to do it, the risks and hassles of miscommunication and so on.

However, he's likely thinking of tasks where the answer is clear enough - things like laundry and cleaning. The margin for error is so great, it overcomes any reasonable overhead. As Buffett/Munger say, you don't need to know a man's exact weight to know if he is fat.

</comment><comment><USER6> With regards to the second question, it seems that sometimes a hack today to save time could cost a lot down the road, when the hack becomes some integral component somewhere. It's not always that easy to decide whether the short- term benefit of using a hack is greater than the long-term benefit of doing it right.

<comment><USER7> YAGNI(UYD) ;)</comment></comment>