Ask HN: Confluence alternative for internal documentation - <AUTHOR> My team/company uses Confluence for all of our internal documentation and I personally can't stand it. It's hard to navigate and create directories/documents, it has a painful text editing interface, and I personally never figured out how to effectively organize your personal pages. What are some of the other alternatives people use and how well have they worked out for your team?<p>Thanks! <comment><USER2> Any type of wiki engine? There are plenty, DokuWiki, MediaWiki, MoinMoin, TWiki, ikiwiki, Trac has one integrated... There is a whole page on Wikipedia that lists only wiki engines.

</comment><comment><USER3> Technical or non technical?

For technical I'd say markdown files in a git repo. I'm yet to find a non- aggravating non-technical one, confluence is about the best I've tried.</comment>


All of Bach - <AUTHOR> http://allofbach.com/en/ <comment><USER2> Man, am I going to love this. Can't wait for some of the cello solos.

If anybody from the website is reading this, I have a tiny criticism: clicking anywhere on the page while the video is running closes the video. I don't know if I'm representative, but I often click in empty space to make sure my keyboard focus isn't in the video. I was disappointed when the organist was so abruptly cut off!

<comment><USER3> [http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/listen/music_library?filt...](http://www.gardnermuseum.org/music/listen/music_library?filter=artist#go_2376)

Might keep you going for a bit. Colin Carr playing four of the six suites. CC licenced, lowish bit-rate mp3s

I can't play the All of Bach at all, suspect flash related (gnash/iceweasel on Debian Sid)

EDIT: yup, flashplayer-nonfree works. This being HN, do we think a flashplayer based solution is sensible for a long term project such as this? Is mass transcoding at some point in the future likely to be a trivial task?

<comment><USER4> Poking around it looks like they are hosted on Vimeo and that the default is HTML5/H.264 with fallback to flash. Assuming that iceweasel has H.264 support (IIRC there is a way to get it through ffmpeg) you can probably it could just be that they are doing UA sniffing and don't recognize your browser.

<comment><USER3> Good for them. I'll hack around to get the required codec. Thanks.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As a complete Bach nerd may I recommend this as the ultimate recording of one of his greatest works:

[http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Matthaus-Passion-Bostridge- Colleg...](http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Matthaus-Passion-Bostridge-Collegium- Herreweghe/dp/B00002R0ZL)

A search for Herreweghe+Matthaus on Youtube brings up a 'preview' for those interested to listen immediately.. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Ai171EQeU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Ai171EQeU)

<comment><USER6> I just checked the preview you mentioned on Youtube and it's absolutely incredible. I'm definitely adding that album to my collection, but I wonder if I could ask for some more help?

I don't have much experience with Bach, or even classical music outside of the really famous pieces. It's a genre that, though I've always been interested in, I've never invested the time to gain a real understanding. Recently, I got into Bach through this album:

[http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Goldberg-Variations-Glenn- Gould/](http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Goldberg-Variations-Glenn-Gould/)

Graduated to this:

[http://www.amazon.com/State-Wonder-Complete-Goldberg- Variati...](http://www.amazon.com/State-Wonder-Complete-Goldberg-Variations)

That link you posted reminds me there is so much that I've never even heard of. Do you have any other recommendations? So far, you're batting 1.000...:)

<comment><USER5> Glenn Gould is absolutely the definitive source in regards to Bach piano music. For me the beauty in Bach's music is the extreme technical expertise, which, like an extraordinary piece of architecture, unveils a perfect geometry and universal perfection that makes our hearts and minds meet in the same exquisite place. But you need an exacting performance to be able to appreciate it.

It gets so personal. Check out this thread just on Violin sonatas: [http://www.good-music- guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20...](http://www.good-music- guide.com/community/index.php?topic=20677.0)

You just have to listen to a few of the best and listen and listen, and if possible go see some play live, and you'll start to know what you love and what you are looking for. I am a fan of period instruments and technical performances, rather than the more mainstream recordings by someone like Yo Yo Ma.

So some great performances that I personally love:

Anner Bylsma, Cello Suites on a Baroque cello [http://www.amazon.com/Bach- Suites-Cello-BWV-1007-1012/dp/B00...](http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Suites-Cello- BWV-1007-1012/dp/B0000027TV)

Jordi Savall and Hesperion, The Art of Fugue [http://www.amazon.com/Die-Kunst- Fugue-Art/dp/B00005NTKF](http://www.amazon.com/Die-Kunst-Fugue- Art/dp/B00005NTKF) (I love all their recordings and Savall does a mean Sainte- Colombe)

For Bach's Musical Offering I have a hard time saying which is the best: I have too many favourites. Maybe just hit up Youtube until you find one that grabs you, but try and avoid anything that isn't in HD quality. [https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Musical+Offerin...](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Musical+Offering) Savall does a fine version here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4lwV3IMHMQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4lwV3IMHMQ)

<comment><USER7> > Glenn Gould is absolutely the definitive source in regards to Bach's piano > music.

I love Gould's performances, but it's worth saying that plenty of good musicians don't, so "definitive" is probably not the best word. So, anyone reading this: If you listen to Gould playing (say) the Well-Tempered Clavier or the Goldberg Variations and find it too mannered or mechanical or can't get past his humming, try Schiff or Richter or Perahia or someone more "mainstream". (And try Gould again later when you're more familiar with the music, just in case your tastes change; what he does, he does very well indeed.)

<comment><AUTHOR> Agreed.

I will especially vouch for Andras Schiff's recent recording of the Well- Tempered Clavier as an alternative choice. [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NR8YXC/](http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008NR8YXC/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> If you really like Bach and are interested in his complete works, you should definitely check out the Hännsler Bach Edition. ([http://www.haenssler- classic.de/en/series-and-editions/johan...](http://www.haenssler- classic.de/en/series-and-editions/johann-sebastian-bach-edition/the-complete- works/the-complete-cd-edition.html))

Its 199 Euros which is really not a lot if you consider its 172 CDs. And its not just a cheaply thrown together compilation but it was curated (and in large parts conducted) by Helmuth Rilling who is one of the premier Bach experts of our day. The quality of performance and recording is very good throughout. You certainly find superior recordings for some of Bachs works but I have yet to find a real disappointment in the set (I'm only about half way through).

<comment><USER9> Too bad there is not an online version of this. Hardly any device in my home is able to play CDs.

<comment><USER10> Even if I had a bunch of CD players around, the idea of swapping between 172 discs doesn't sound great.

<comment><USER11> There are CD ripping services around. In the UK they charge around ~60p/CD (gets cheaper at ~500 CDs). Some will rip lossless, which is what I was after for the 800 or so CDs I stupidly ripped at 192Kbps over the years.

<comment><USER12> I've found myself in a similar position. I even ripped some CDs at 128kbps, back in the day when my computer had a 4GB HDD. I really need to go back and redo them all, but the amount of effort required is really demotivating. How do such services work? You take all your CDs to them? I imagine postage costs would be astronomical otherwise!

<comment><USER11> Most will collect. Some will let you drop your collection off. Some[1] will ask you to load your CDs into their spindles. I think all of them want your CDs out of their jewel cases. Note that I've only looked at services in or around London.

[1] [http://www.russandrews.com/product-CD-Ripping- Service-4300.h...](http://www.russandrews.com/product-CD-Ripping- Service-4300.htm)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Another remarkable projet regarding Bach is the Open Goldberg Variation ( [http://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/](http://www.opengoldbergvariations.org/) ), a project that freely offer a high-quality version (they hired a world- class musician, rent a world-class piano and studio) of the Goldberg Variations. (I have no stakes in that project; I do enjoy listening to the album as work music though)

<comment><USER14> Should be the harpsichord, not piano :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> And to think, his music was almost forgotten. It wasn't until Mendelssohn almost single handedly revived his music nearly a hundred years after Bach's death. A surprising number of great composers that came after didn't even know of him, yet when they were exposed to his music suddenly started picking up select elements of his style.

He was one of the few composers Mozart admired. A stunning triumphant genius who's music has remained relevant and flexible from ancient instruments and playstyles through the digital age and all of this was nearly lost to the tides of fashion. Whenever you hear a Bach piece thank Felix.

<comment><USER16> Bach's friend Telemann is also relatively unknown today. He was extremely productive and there are lots of great pieces, I especially love some of his trumpet works. They are played on the radio occasionally.

<comment><USER15> Thanks for bringing up Telemann. I wouldn't say he's unknown today, but definitely not in the "pop" composer category the way Bach is. His music is definitely in the repertoire of most serious violinists while studying late Baroque.

Here's one I studied for a while when I was studying the instrument many years ago.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OQ0jPy8FrQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OQ0jPy8FrQ)

and another I never had the chance to study but enjoy

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2rt5sPHc98](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2rt5sPHc98)

I was always torn between playing Baroque music in the modern style or in the contemporary style. I find incredible enjoyment in hearing the music on period instruments played in the style. The music's texture changes so much.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTqpmHu5yg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTqpmHu5yg)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vosK- NKq9FQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vosK-NKq9FQ)

<comment><USER17> Telemann produced such an enormous number of works. I'm still discovering new pieces. Thanks for the links!

I think my absolute favourite Telemann work is the 12 fantasies for solo violin: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UO...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UOnA2w0XEZA) (Spotify link: [http://open.spotify.com/album/0XlgfMIccHwIVouK0G0lOF](http://open.spotify.com/album/0XlgfMIccHwIVouK0G0lOF)).

Two other favourites: The trumpet concerto in D (TWV 51:D7; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUyeMe- _j4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKUyeMe-_j4)) and the oboe concerto in E minor (TWV 51:e1; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i39yf0OHXG8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i39yf0OHXG8)).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Bach is great on many counts - I did a visualization ([https://github.com/hadley/ggplot2/wiki/Bach-2-Part- Invention...](https://github.com/hadley/ggplot2/wiki/Bach-2-Part-Invention-in- F-Major-BWV779)) in R awhile back of a Two-part invention that reflects how well structured his counterpoint is.

<comment><USER19> Have you by any chance read both Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"[1] and Douglas Hofstadter's "Gödel Escher Bach"[2]? If not, meet some kindred spirits!

I love the fact that so much of Bach's music explores numerical relations and patterns. And I've still not heard of anyone creating a piece as complex as his Musical Offering[3] that sounds at all listenable, let alone sublime. Any person who can compose a 6 part fugue is superhuman IMO.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently's_Holistic_Detectiv...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Gently's_Holistic_Detective_Agency) [2] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach) [3] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Musical_Offering](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Musical_Offering)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is excellent, thank you.

I recently found myself wishing there was a website with curated, high-quality performances of Bach, after realizing how big the difference in quality can be.

I ended up working on a Spotify playlist for myself, which I've been editing on and off for months, just trying all the recordings of each particular piece until I found a good one. (The only thing making it possible, with Spotify's terrible organization of classical music, is being able to search for literally "BWV 140" or whatever.) So I'll definitely be visiting this site.

<comment><USER21> I would absolutely love subscribing to that list, would you be open to share the Spotify link?

Thanks!

<comment><USER20> Here's what I've got, grouped by broad swaths of BWV numbers:

* 1-224 (cantatas): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/0RkVeCJ3iMVc1My...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/0RkVeCJ3iMVc1MyOdK6E4T)

* 225-524 (various works, mostly vocal, sorta dull in the 300s): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/2sCCwEMpTXPsOBa...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/2sCCwEMpTXPsOBa0si9Ei2)

* 525-771 (organ works): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/1aGTiGWlnSiGNcJ...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/1aGTiGWlnSiGNcJ0HPwqxt)

* 772-994 (mostly keyboard works): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/4ka3cJd5UCg5EoJ...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/4ka3cJd5UCg5EoJqGtwknt)

* 995-1080 (solo suites and complicated stuff): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/4v8NejHWIKDDSmc...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/4v8NejHWIKDDSmcTH8ABgV)

* 1081-1128 (discovered since the 1950s): [http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/5dmTRLVqUi8dB0M...](http://open.spotify.com/user/rspeer/playlist/5dmTRLVqUi8dB0Mhil5wlB)

Of course this isn't close to finished. I'm guessing it would take a year or so, given the rate that I listen to Bach while working.

<comment><USER22> Thanks so much for sharing these. I subscribed and have been listening since Friday.

I noticed yesterday that some of my favorites are no longer there. Have some pieces been removed since Friday?

Some of the pieces from AllOfBach.com were there, as well as the concertos "after vivaldi". Can't find them now. Thanks so much!

<comment><USER20> I do shuffle around pieces because I'm trying to pick the version I like the best. I don't think I'm removing that much overall, but this is a work in progress.

I also decided to fact-check myself after posting the links, so I deleted some things that multiple sources say are spurious (not by J. S. Bach at all). If all of those happened to be your favorites, it might be that there's another Baroque composer you like better than Bach that you should look for!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Especially to Bach newcomers, I would recommend the Brandenburg concertos and orchestral suites. I love the performance by Trevor Pinnock / The English Concert: [http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Brandenburg-Concertos- Orchestral-...](http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Brandenburg-Concertos-Orchestral- Suites/dp/B0000057D8)

My favorite Bach recording has to be Glenn Gould's The Art of Fugue (but it is perhaps not as accessible).

The Mass in B minor is also incredible (don't have a specific recording to point to there).

<comment><USER24> As with Vivaldi, I'm partial to Il Giardino Armonico.

e.g.

Bach: Concerto for violin in A minor [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmlsxr_ceSc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmlsxr_ceSc)

Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 violoncellos, strings & b.c. in G minor [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQCUACBxTo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gQCUACBxTo)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> So you don't have to do the math yourself... it will take 20.71 years to complete the project.

Pretty neat.

</comment><comment><USER26> I can't seem to find an RSS feed for these... that would be really helpful.

This seems like a great way to consume large volumes of things that one might not otherwise ever get to... 10 minutes a week for 20 years seems a lot more doable than committing several months to consuming all 1080 works. Now I'm thinking about how I can apply this to other large-volume things that I've wanted to consume, like reading the entirety of Tolstoy's _War and Peace_.

<comment><USER27> re an RSS feed, I'm hoping this will work: [http://page2rss.com/rss/2e0975882fe2ca00334efc6c462fd272](http://page2rss.com/rss/2e0975882fe2ca00334efc6c462fd272)

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> The performance in video of Toccata and Fugue is just wow! Incredible, to say the least. It's a total must. I've always loved it because it reminds the old gamer in me of Sabrewulf's theme in Killer Instinct for arcades in the 90's. Also, I can't wait for The Well-Tempered Clavier's Prelude I (C Major). It's almost corny these days but it's still such a marvellous piece, it instantly talks to your body and you know that's beauty being played back to you.

EDIT: nearly all his work on The Well-Tempered Clavier is awesome, it's worth a whole afternoon listening to it [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well- Tempered_Clavier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Clavier)

<comment><USER29> I really can't decide if the music, the organ or the performance was more impressive! As the final notes faded away, I realised I had been crying for most of the piece. It was truly beautiful in every aspect.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> This is probably like the experience of the people who attended the Thomaskirche and heard a new work by Bach every week. I could take 21 years of this!

<comment><USER31> I like to think about those people. I'm imagining a bored little boy kicking the pew in front of him, not realizing he's hearing some of the greatest music that will ever be written.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I find the Toccata and Fugue just amazing to watch and listen, an the performer is even adorable.

[http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-565/detail/](http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-565/detail/)

<comment><USER32> One wo/man's adorable is another wo/man's tiresome. :-) But he's good, the organ is beautiful, and the production quality is fantastic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> The duration of the project implies that not all those that are recording today will be alive when the project is completed. Incredible how productive Bach was.

</comment><comment><USER34> I'm finding this impossible to navigate. The pages are basically frozen in Firefox and Chrome.

Anybody else have this problem?

<comment><USER35> I'm using Safari on an iPad, and for a moment I can see the page, but then it quickly disappears behind an impenetrable solid-black screen with nothing on it but the prompt:

"Tilt your screen."

It's a shame, and it doesn't befit the wondrousness of the content. Whoever came up with this brilliant UI idea should seriously re-evaluate what _usability_ means to them.

<comment><USER36> Same here. If anyone is curious, here's a screenshot[1] from an iPad mini. Tapping, tilting, reloading do nothing.

[1] [http://i.imgur.com/lW3gZOw.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/lW3gZOw.jpg)

Edit: Figured it out after actually looking at the graphic. You need to turn (not tilt) the device to landscape.

<comment><USER37> Even looking at the graphic, I didn't understand --- I thought they wanted me to tilt my iPad along the horizontal axis (pitch). When that didn't work I tried tilting on vertical (roll). It wasn't until the tablet slipped in my hands enough to rotate sideways that I got a clue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> If you want to discover Bach, there's always the nice, free, complete organ works by James Kibbie: [http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/](http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/)

</comment><comment><USER39> [http://youtu.be/olW6-jhSgMg](http://youtu.be/olW6-jhSgMg)

BWV 1003 Fugue on classical guitar. This is one of the most amazing things I've heard and seen.

</comment><comment><USER40> I'm not into classical music, except from the very famous composers and everything Tchaikovsky has ever written (my sister took ballet classes since I can remember myself).

That said, what's exactly the reason Bach's work made everyone here so excited? Can't we find these compositions on YouTube?

ps. I'm listening as I write. Bach sounds really cheerful :-) Awesome music.

<comment><USER41> Paul Graham's essays discuss how the most exciting work in many media was done by the generation that invented them. For example, the most interesting paintings were done centuries ago, when oil paint was new. Bach is like that. When he was writing, the piano was a new invention, and a system of musical scales had been found that allowed you to change key mid piece, without retuning your instrument. Those things are old now, but Bach lets you feel the thrill they gave when they were new.

<comment><USER42> von Bulow said something along the lines of Bach being the old testament of piano music and Beethoven being the new testament. Bach for the first stage of development and Beethoven for the end of the development stage.

Maybe an answer to OP could be Beethoven is a reaction to, or maybe, completion of, Bach's work. Or Beethoven is a bit more playful and experimental than Bach in general?

Or TLDR is physical development of the instrument didn't end with Bach it ended with Beethoven. So its kinda hard to talk about one without talking about the other.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> This is very cool. A similar project, called J. S. Bach-Stiftung, has been recording all of Bach's choral works. Check them out on Youtube: [https://www.youtube.com/user/Bachstiftung](https://www.youtube.com/user/Bachstiftung)

</comment><comment><USER44> Not a terrible place to start to get a nickle-tour of J.S. Bach, and from Bach's biggest fanatic, Glenn Gould: [http://fixyt.com/watch?v=crQ8YEUkUjg](http://fixyt.com/watch?v=crQ8YEUkUjg)

</comment><comment><USER45> I'd love to watch this on my large living room television via Roku+Vimeo, but apparently the AofB people have decided to make their Vimeo-hosted videos private and only viewable via their own site. Pity.

</comment><comment><USER46> If anyone is looking for a way to understand music "from the beginning" so to speak, I can't recommend "How to Listen to and Understand Great Music"[1] enough. It's around 35 hours worth of lectures, I'm only half way through but it's fantastic so far. It's also available on Audible.

[1] [http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.asp...](http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=700)

<comment><AUTHOR> If you happen to see this reply a week later: thanks for that recommendation. Found the audio version on sale on the Great Courses site and bought it. Looking forward to listening.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> "Keep up to date"

I can't, you don't seem to have an RSS feed.

</comment><comment><USER48> To sad, that there is no mp3 or ogg download version available.

<comment><USER49> youtube-dl -x --audio-format=mp3

;)

<comment><USER50> Thanks for the tip. I wrote a simple Python script to help download currently available "All of Bach" works using `youtube-dl': [https://gist.github.com/anonymous/fb7de0d81dfdb8ee2191](https://gist.github.com/anonymous/fb7de0d81dfdb8ee2191)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> This is cool. The title reminds me of some crazy art project I attended when I was in France (in a nifty very steampunk club) called "Mozart in 30 minutes" where they used some wicked math to overlay all of his tracks into one huge 30 minute one. Sounded mostly like an aircraft turbine to my unenlightened ear but it was a fun idea.

Can't find it via Google or the likes, I have searched for it a year back and came up empty then as well.

</comment><comment><USER52> You can only scroll down with a scroll wheel or trackpad. You can't use your arrow keys or the native scroll bar. That's a huge accessibility problem.

<comment><USER53> It also does not work at all without a NoScript exception.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> I love how this kind of craft can still earn a decent profit and even more, make it to the #1 spot on HN. Keeps me coming back. Thanks OP.

<comment><AUTHOR> You're welcome. I discovered this last week, and today when the new performance came out I thought "huh, wonder if HN would like it?" Apparently so.

A little surprised it got this much traction here, but it's appropriate... there's not a book entitled _Gödel, Escher, Mozart_ after all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> As a family we've been taking a week and learning a little bit about composers. This week was Bach, so the timing on this post was perfect. I've watched two videos so far and was completely blown away! Beautiful music, fantastic camera work and stunning performances by the musicians. This site is going to occupy a Chrome tab for a very long time.

Thank you for posting.

</comment><comment><USER55> I recently subscribed to [http://CalmRadio.com](http://CalmRadio.com) for their uninterrupted 24/7 streaming of different composers and classical music in general.

Actually, I signed up to listen to Bach (I wanted to become familiar with his music), but I discovered Felix Mendelssohn and I like his works even better.

</comment><comment><USER56> Wow, thanks for posting. Bringing the topic back to startups/tech, I'd love to integrate these performances with my interactive sheet music player, Soundslice ([http://www.soundslice.com/](http://www.soundslice.com/)). It would be amazing.

</comment><comment><USER57> BTW, here's a translation of "Ich habe genung" ("I have enough"): [http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/notes_translations/translations...](http://www.emmanuelmusic.org/notes_translations/translations_cantata/t_bwv082.htm)

</comment><comment><USER58> Why did Beethoven get rid of his chickens?

All they talked about is Bach, Bach, Bach, Bach!

He just couldn't Handel it.

<comment><USER59> A pun that bad deserves a Haydn.

</comment></comment><comment><USER60> -1, not viewable on an iPad in portrait orientation. There's a giant popup that covers the entire screen displaying "tilt your tablet" when in portrait mode. Who designs this stuff?

<comment><USER61> Same on Nexus 10. Didn't bother me, but I thought it was weird.

</comment></comment><comment><USER62> I love bach and the music. It takes quite a bit of a clicking effort to get to the actual performances. Then when it plays clicking anywhere closes the performance.

</comment><comment><USER63> This is marvellous; but I can't find any indication on the site of the terms that they provide the music under. Is it public domain, CC By licenced, what?

</comment><comment><USER64> If they had an email box to get the tracks emailed to me, I would have signed up right then and there. As it is, I probably will forget about this.

</comment><comment><USER65> That's a gorgeous website design. Can anyone point me in the direction to create something similar? (I'm a non-technical person on HN).

</comment><comment><USER66> Layout: absolutely broken on small screens.

Applying something like overflow: none; to your body or main container is seriously not cool for a fixed-width layout.

</comment><comment><USER67> None of the videos work on Chrome version 34.0.1847.131 / OS X 10.9.2. Just a black screen and the play head stays at 0:00.

</comment><comment><USER68> Thank you so much for this link.

Centuries after all of us are dust people will still be discovering and falling in love with Bach.

Life is good today.

</comment><comment><USER69> took me while to find how to play a performance. Once you get there it's easy to keep playing pieces, and it's really not THAT hard to find. But putting a big play button when you see the big title would be much quicker and intuitive than first clicking a small tab in the bottom of the screen.

</comment><comment><USER70> For fellow non-flash-users, this seems to work ok with the get-flash-videos package.

<comment><USER71> Vimeo's HTML5 detect is the inverse of right: they use Flash unless you send an iOS user agent, at which point you get better quality and battery-friendly CPU usage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER72> I like the x-webkit-airplay="allow" parameter in the <video> tag.

</comment><comment><USER73> Wow, this is really beautiful. I was expecting audio only. Glad I was wrong :).

</comment><comment><USER74> I think this is a beautiful example of the power of the public domain.

</comment><comment><USER75> It says ``This video can't be played with your current setup'' I guess must be some super-advanced new audio-codec. Please, recommend me how to get around this restriction!

</comment><comment><USER76> I just red "all of bash"...

</comment><comment><USER77> I guess you could say…

All of Bach belong to us?

</comment><comment><USER78> props to the Netherland Bach Society!

</comment><comment><USER79> no RSS? :(

</comment><comment><USER80> Many thanks.

</comment><comment><USER81> Background information: [http://allofbach.com/en/about-all-of- bach/](http://allofbach.com/en/about-all-of-bach/)

</comment><comment><USER82> Worthless. Useless. A disaster. Flatly, on Windows XP SP3 with one of the latest versions of Firefox and Flash, the site essentially doesn't work. So, I clicked, and clicked, and clicked, and waited, and waited, and waited, and clicked, looked at the system monitor and saw no activity on either network data or CPU, waited, clicked, waited, clicked, had much of the screen content go off the screen, kept lowering the screen magnification, clicked, clicked, clicked, and finally did hear the Toccata but couldn't hear or get any other content, not voice or text, etc.

Worst Web page programming on the planet.

Sorry 'bout that.

For Bach, which I nearly worship, devoted a significant fraction of my life working to play Bach on violin, back to my CD collection, YouTube, etc.

Looks like some really good music totally train wrecked by some absurd Web site programming. I'd have no idea how to make such a mess out of some Web pages -- maybe have to use JavaScript to do that. So, ditch the JavaScript.

<comment><USER83> Not even Microsoft supports Windows XP[1]... why do you expect this web developer to support an OS that the OS vendor, who repeatedly extended the sunset date, finally stopped supporting? Time for an upgrade, friend. Either that or stop expecting new websites to accommodate your abacus. :)

1: [http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-support- help](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/end-support-help)

<comment><USER82> > Not even Microsoft supports Windows XP[1]... why do you expect this web > developer to support an OS that the OS vendor, who repeatedly extended the > sunset date, finally stopped supporting?

Nonsense. XP and SP3 have NOTHING to do with it. You can go through the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and TCP/IP standards and never once find that XP doesn't work or that Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 is needed. The main compatibility issue would be Firefox, not the OS.

The operating systems and Web browsers meet the Web sites over the standards; if the standards are being met, then XP, Windows 7, Firefox, Chrome, IE, etc. just irrelevant.

I have a copy, new, quantity one, retail, sealed in the package, DVD of Windows 7 Professional on my bookshelf, but installing it would take DAYS and maybe WEEKS of work, considering all the re-installation of other software, when some of that other software ruined my installation and I had to start over, etc.

So far, there is no good reason for me to change operating systems. Besides, there is considerable question if Windows 7 is an UPgrade instead or just the same or even a DOWNgrade. Windows Vista and 8.0 were really DOWNgrades. As far as I am concerned, since I don't want to use a touch screen or the 'Metro' interface, Windows 8.1 is a DOWNgrade into the sewer.

I will change to Windows 7 Professional and later Windows Server but hopefully never anything like Windows 8.x.

For now, for me, XP is fine.

Again, once again, over again, to be more clear, asd should be plenty clear at HN anyway, if recent versions of Firefox and Flash run on my OS, that should be sufficient.

For more, I am a heavy Internet and Web user, and as I stated, that music Web site is the worst I've seen. What I described is just what happened. When the Toccata played, the video was in a tiny window in the UR corner of the screen -- absurd. Worst site I've seen. Sorry 'bout that.</comment></comment></comment>


Photoshop: What's wrong with the sliders. - <AUTHOR> http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/237227166/slide-different

<comment><USER2> Previously on Hacker News: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=928566> :)

<comment><USER3> This is a different article. It's a follow up to the one you mention.

<comment><USER2> You speak the truth :)

(I know that this is a different article. I just wanted to add to the follow up what people here on Hacker News said about the slider thing.)</comment></comment></comment>


My Startup Ideas (that you can steal) - <AUTHOR> http://stumbleintobusiness.tumblr.com/post/69611463942/my-ideas

<comment><USER2> \- Thank you for this.</comment>


The Anti-Donald Trump - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/magazine/the-anti-trump.html?scp=1&sq=jerry%20speyer%20anti-Donald%20Trump&st=cse&pagewanted=print

<comment><USER2> I read somewhere that if Donald Trump had taken the money his father gave him and simply put it in a standard savings account then he'd be richer than he is now with all his wheeling and dealing.

<comment><USER3> Citation?

<comment><USER2> Nothing concrete, but I did some Googling:

<http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/list/trump.html>

That article claims that he was in serious debt the mid nineties and needed to get 20 Million in loans from his siblings in order to bounce back (they all got 35Million each went his father passed away).

So that means after about 20 years he had actually made negative amounts from where he started, which obviously wouldn't happen with a savings account. How much he's bounced back since then is debatable, particularly as several links I find suggest that he regularly overstates his own wealth by as much as an order of magnitude, and has done since the early 80s so it's hard to keep track:

<http://ddo.typepad.com/ddo/2005/12/tracking_donald.html>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> "one of the very few architecturally daring private homes in Manhattan". Are Manhattanites really so conformist?</comment>


Elegant token-based API access with AngularJS - <AUTHOR> http://engineering.talis.com/articles/elegant-api-auth-angular-js/

<comment><USER2> Loved this post. Though I would consider myself an intermediate Angular dev, I had a really hard time understanding how the config block was written. Will probably spend a fair amount of time reviewing the structure of the promise returns.

One question --> If a user needs to re-authorize via a login screen, let's say they login successfully and the server returns a token. How (or does) the code continue the original request?

Thanks</comment>


'Like sending bees to war': the deadly truth behind your almond-milk obsession - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/07/honeybees-deaths-almonds-hives-aoe <comment><USER2> The writing is on the wall. It IS a war on bees. We are spraying them to extinction. You WILL be gagged and tarred and feathered if you say anything about Monsanto(now Bayer)..and Other companies as they are not the only ones.

Bees need diverse habitat. We are destroying habitat and growing food in open air factories. They are not farms. They are factories.

Round and round we can go and talk about consumption, but the root cause of over consumption, destruction of our natural resources and ecology and habitat is the insatiable demand for cheap food. Key word being cheap. For 8 billion mouths and growing. We have gone way beyond carrying capacity of the planet.

Most of the almonds goes Asia and China and rest of the world. How is even remotely possible that our current population is sustainable for the planet?

Do all of us ABSOLUTELY need almond milk? It's expensive to grow food and why can't we pay for food? Cheap food is not a right. The externalities will eventually do us in...because there is no price or number on nature that we have destroyed.

Forget about honey bees(they are not even native to California, btw. Most of them are Italian bees)..there are hundreds of thousands of insects that have gone extinct..or endangered. Bees are not the only pollinators.

If there are no pollinators and have given trucked in, what does it really mean?

This..this below...I am not a generational farmer and I am not an almond farmer but I consider myself a steward of the land and nature..that's why I came to farming. This is reality. There is nothing natural about farming anymore. It's cut throat.

[..] Beekeepers attributed the high mortality rate to pesticide exposure, diseases from parasites and habitat loss. However, environmentalists and organic beekeepers maintain that the real culprit is something more systemic: America's reliance on industrial agriculture methods, especially those used by the almond industry, which demands a large-scale mechanization of one of nature's most delicate natural processes.

Honeybees thrive in a biodiverse landscape. But California's almond industry places them in a monoculture where growers expect the bees to be predictably productive year after year.

Commercial honeybees are considered livestock by the US Department of Agriculture because of the creature's vital role in food production. But no other class of livestock comes close to the scorched-earth circumstances that commercial honeybees face. More bees die every year in the US than all other fish and animals raised for slaughter combined.

"The high mortality rate creates a sad business model for beekeepers," says Nate Donley, a senior scientist for the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's like sending the bees to war. Many don't come back."[..]</comment>


Twitter releases new policy to ban dehumanizing speech - <AUTHOR> https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/25/17900620/twitter-dehumanizing-speech-policy-comment-period-ban <comment><USER2> I fully expect this to be consistently enforced, with outcomes applied evenly.</comment>


Japan's nuclear reactor overreaction - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/03/14/the-japanese-nuclear-reactor-overreaction

<comment><USER2> Yeah there was the fraudulent fallout map. Yeah somebody who hadn't slept in a week may have misspoken and used the term "nuclear explosion" when they really meant "conventional explosion involving nuclear material".

I haven't seen a lot of overreaction. People are still in Tokyo even while detectable radiation levels rise to many times background levels.

What I have seen is a huge number of media outlets and bloggers falling over themselves to assure everyone that everyone is safe and everything is under control. And they look more and more wrong with every new explosion and every new fire at the plant.

The real heroes are the 50 plant workers who are there putting water on the melting fuel rods.

<comment><USER3> > What I have seen is a huge number of media outlets and bloggers falling over > themselves to assure everyone that everyone is safe and everything is under > control.

Perhaps in response to a huge number of media outlets and bloggers falling over themselves to link Fukushima to Chernobyl and gloating over being right that nuclear power is going to kill us all.

<comment><USER4> my previous 2c : <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2324723>

Read more about Chernobyl and nuclear technology and you'd be able to see yourself where similarity is and where isn't.

<comment><USER3> At Fukushima, the core reaction is shut down, all activity since seconds after the quake are secondary. This is bad enough, but it's _fundamentally different_ from Chernobyl, where the core melted down with the control rods only 1/3 inserted.

<comment><USER2> It's fundamentally different to a nuclear engineer, but we still face an uncertain potential of fire, explosion, and radioactive contamination.

To any of the thousands who are evacuating, especially farmers, it probably seems like a distinction without a difference at this point.

<comment><USER3> And striving for accuracy and consulting domain experts is a bad thing since when?

And if significant technological differences doesn't interest you, here's a political one: People have actually been evacuated, even though the Japanese government claimed no risk at the time of doing so. Even if these people lose their homes and farms, and no-one can return to the region for 50 years, they still have their lives and health.

<comment><USER2> Don't be ridiculous, I never said either accuracy or experts were a bad thing.

I've been watching the translated coverage on NHK World from their site and ustream since the beginning. This coverage seems be 30 minutes or more ahead of other English media.

The Japanese government has warned since the early hours of the possibility of the release of "radioactive gases" from the pressure release.

The elements in that gas were said to have very short half-lives and not pose a risk to population. On the other hand, it blew up the reactor building. (According to Wikipedia they tried to hold it in the building to let it decay before releasing it to the atmosphere.)

Since then the officials have been warning about possibility of release of "radioactive substances".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Yeah because it's best to under-react to nuclear danger.

I know the trend is to reassure everyone everything is a-ok, but as others on HN have pointed out, things are not a-ok, and we won't know for some time.

We should continue to overreact for the good of everyone.

<comment><USER6> I would like to propose this crazy concept to you: appropriate reaction.

Over-reaction is as damaging as under-reaction. Much like the cries of "standing idly by" that are thrust on under-reactors, over-reactors become "wolf criers", and when the situation actually warrants extreme action, people won't take it because they assume it is mere over-reaction.

I don't know why you would champion a crappy course of action, but I guess I know where not to get advice in the future.

<comment><USER7> Whilst I agree with the general point, I don't think the rapidly-backpedalling author of the linked blog post or many of us here are qualified to determine what the appropriate reaction is. Most of the reaction is simply a case of people with limited understanding of the relevant facts (either the current condition of the reactor or the underlying science) attempting to communicate to people with no understanding of the facts.

I also suspect that well-orchestrated overprecaution and explanations of worst case scenarios are better for public safety than feeding them constant reassurances they don't believe and leaving them to get their sensationalism from demagogues

<comment><USER6> Strategically, I think it is also easier to recover from "a bit too far" in terms of over-reaction, since it can be written off as "better safe than sorry", however there is still a line and balancing act between "crying wolf" and "being extra careful".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The picture is very misleading too a big black column of smoke rising up and the headline about nuclear reactors yet no clarification the picture isn't a reactor on fire, it's probably an oil refinery.

</comment><comment><USER9> I dislike the medidiots who conflated a hydrogen explosion with a nuclear explosion. There is however one risk here that neither folks in the media, nor have I seen yet on HN, and that is the danger of old fuel meltdowns.

There are reports now [1] that the pond where expended fuel rods are stored is boiling. While fuel is removed from a reactor because it is 'spent' that doesn't mean that it cannot still reach criticality, that is why it is stored in a pond where the water provides the moderation. Normally this wouldn't even be considered but given the challenge of getting water into the reactors, the use of sea water and venting the steam (which makes the room around the reactor temporarily dangerous), it seems the ponds are warming up and not getting the attention they need. It would be unfortunate to have the pond evaporate. Note that in some cases this pond is the holding area for new fuel as well (during a refueling operation) but there is no information available on the quantity, and current composition, of fuel rods in these ponds.

So I remain confident they will be able to get the reactors cooled off without causing them to be 'abandoned in place'. I'm cautiously watching reports about the ponds.

[1] <http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20043127-503543.html>

</comment><comment><USER10> It's pretty clear that reactors are designed quite well, and it seems the design is working.

What people forgot were those storage pools. It looks like the radiation is coming from those, and not the reactor itself. It's clear those needs some serious design attention as well.

A passive cooling system to start with.

</comment><comment><USER11> much kudos and respect for the brave workers working to safely retire the reactors.while all the various news reports state some version of what they have heard or read, we won't know the entire truth of what is happening, since the updates and articles change by the hour. the sheer volatility in the markets (japanese market fall, solar companies rising, etc.) shows the entire picture isn't clear yet.

</comment><comment><USER12> I fail to see _any_ evidence of "overreaction" except for the usual chatter on the blogosphere.

Is the author of the article saying that the area around the reactor should not have been evacuated? Who is he accusing of "overreaction" except for some anonymous (and inconsequential) internet map-maker?

<comment><USER13> The German government, for one.

[http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/germany-nuclear- id...](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/15/germany-nuclear- idUSLDE72E17620110315)

<comment><USER14> Many of the german reactors were meant to have been shut down a long time ago. The "conservatives" prolonged the uptime. The germany chancellor will be talking with the lobby about measures, how backwards is that.

<comment><USER3> It's called a lifetime extension. When you build something expensive, you make a conservative estimation for how long it will be operational _at minimum_ , so you can write off your investment in a responsible fashion. Then, at the end of that period, you see if your plant can keep working in a safe and profitable manner, and if it can ( _gasp_ ) you let it. Of course the "greens" (scare-quotes, since, after all, we're both adults) are against this kind of, hmm, we could call it "re-cycling".

<comment><USER15> They are because the vast majority of "but"s related to this event are about how this reactor is 50 year old technology and how it's been running for 40 years so it's somewhat excusable that it melts. Since 40 years is a standard reactor life[1] and many countries pursue life extensions on their reactors it is _not_ exceptional that of the roughly 450 active reactors in the world the majority of them is not up to the latest greatest tech standard or safety measure because it's expensive to keep up with all the upgrades and it's even more expensive when you just spent 10 years and $7B building a modern nuclear reactor[2]. So if it's ok to extend the life of a plant to 50 or 60 years as some would want then they need to upgrade them to latest standards.

[1]:<http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2007/npp_extension.html>

[2]:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Pressurized_Reactor>

<comment><USER3> I don't care is it melts, I care if it's going to leak significant amounts of nasty stuff to the environment(1) - which WOULD be inexcusable, and which would prompt me to seriously reconsider my support of nuclear power.

I'm not opposed to everyone running old reactors taking a step back saying "uh uh, could this happen to us?" - I'm opposed to the hand waving assertion that when the initial lifetime runs out, you're supposed to just scrap the thing.

1: (Those events may or may not be the same. Apparently the third containment is designed to hold a melted core indefinitely, but there are reports of containment breach - however it's unclear _which_ level of containments we're talking about)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> The most disappointing aspect is the amount of ambiguous information floating around, which leads to speculation and consequently misinformation. Couple that with ignorance that most people have on the subject and you get a lot of people under/over-reacting.

</comment><comment><USER17> Overreaction? History will view this as "underreacted".

It has been days now since the earthquake, and at the reactors they are having trouble _pumping_ _water_. Japan and the world is full of equipment that can pump water, but for some reason not enough is on hand.

</comment><comment><USER18> This link is simply wrong. Japan is indeed facing the release of a large cloud of highly radioactive steam carrying radioactive particles that were once part of the core. Right now both the cores of several reactors and the spent fuel rods that are stored on site face the possibility of turning entirely molten and ending up in the atmosphere. The reactors are fail-unsafe. If everybody walked away now, a disaster worse than Chernobyl would result. And as the situation at some of the reactors deteriorates, it becomes increasingly likely that workers are going to have to depart the area. Remember, Chernobyl was actually better off than Fukushima in many ways - while one reactor was screwed, the others at the same plant were undamaged and could continue operating normally - cooling systems could continue to run, and so on. The other 3 reactors were never in any danger at Chernobyl. That is not true at Fukushima.

It is entirely possible - even likely at this point - that the fuel rods in at least 3 of Fukushima's reactors going to end up significantly spread over the Japanese countryside. Overreaction is not really possible at this point.

<comment><USER19> While I don't want to discount the risk of real badness happening, what you are saying is not possible. At Chernobyl, there was a fire in the reactor moderator and fuel itself. Loss of cooling in the present case will not cause that kind of massive dispersal of radioactive material. Even if the fuel melts, it does not vaporise. There will be lots of radioactive release, to be sure, but the fuel will stay in a molten clump.

<comment><USER20> Few points:

There are multiple reactors, each larger than Chernobyl, including the fuel rods in unit 4 which was down at the time of the accident so the fuel isn't spent.

The real worst worst case is that loss of cooling causes a containment breach, the fuel melts through the bottom and contacts ground water, causes a steam explosion which is able to spread material over a decent distance. This would be comparable to Chernobyl.

As the whole world is pulling for the workers doing their best to prevent such a scenario it's not too likely but it is not out of the question. We've already experienced failures at these reactors that were previously considered enough to be impossible.</comment></comment></comment>


Topo – A library to create in-process topologies of goroutines - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/mdmarek/topo

<comment><USER2> I think you misunderstood the blog post and go channels. Shuffle is absolutely not want you want to use (in the README example). Sending to a channel blocks until the message is accepted by the receiver (unless you're using buffered channel).

What you want to do instead, create 1 channel, and make multiple goroutines (Sinks) read from it, then whenever goroutine is finished with the task it would take a new message from that channel.

By picking a channel to dispatch yourself you don't take into account busy- ness of it, so you might wait on a channel even though there are others that are idling waiting for messages to be accepted.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> The library handles a lot of what is covered on this golang blog post: [http://blog.golang.org/pipelines](http://blog.golang.org/pipelines).

</comment><comment><USER3> I've been using this library which helps with composing channels, and also has some nice implementations of useful patterns:

[https://github.com/eapache/channels](https://github.com/eapache/channels)

Unfortunately Go's lack of generics hurts in letting me use these helpers in a way that guarantees the data types going in/out of the generic channels.

<comment><USER4> Right. Everything gets converted to Go's "any" type, "Interface{}". At the output end you have to use a type assertion to get it back into the actual type. Note that an "Interface{}" is a pointer; you're not queuing the data, you're queuing a pointer to the data. So you're sharing data between goroutines. The sender must allocate a new variable for each send.

(This is my biggest complaint about Go. It's too easy to accidentally share data between goroutines, because so many things are implicitly references to mutable objects. Slices, for example, are references. Erlang and Rust, which also use queues heavily, avoid doing this.)

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hi @epimenov thank you for the feedback. The shuffle method starts a goroutine for each inbound channel, so one busy outbound channel will not block the whole system. That being said I probably should add two more features, one of which is to add a channel size rather than always using a 0 size channel, and the other is to change it to select the first non-blocking outbound channel. I don't consider the blocking part always negative, because handling back- pressure is need at one point or another, but you are right, the method should not introduce starvation.

<comment><USER2> You're using one input source in the example. I think the main issue that it promotes bad usage pattern.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> You probably know this already, but "topo" means mouse in Italian.

Looks like an interesting project. It'd be interesting to see someone who knows both Erlang and Go well explain this in comparative terms. I know Erlang reasonably well, but not Go.</comment>


Ask HN: Working on an open source business model for my company. Suggestions? - <AUTHOR> I have joined a startup two months ago as CTO.
I am in charge of building the open source business model for the company. My goal is to do something good both for the company and the community at large.
Any suggestions, tips? Anyone would like to have a coffee in SF/SV to discuss in person? <comment><USER2> what do you mean by an open source business model?

<comment><AUTHOR> Let me explain:

1) the company is building a software; in short, it's a way to streamline enterprise IT, optimize, etc.

2) the company wants to open source the core component, and then build services and support around it. Perhaps it will also build additional proprietary products around the core.

3) from an external perspective, what matters is that the core is open source. There will be a chance for the creation of an (hopefully thriving) ecosystem around it.

4) the company needs to understand how to make this model work financially, while at the same time respecting the fact that other people will contribute, and count on, the open source part.

Let me know if this is more clear. Thanks.

<comment><USER3> Can't help you much, but I think a good example of what you are trying to achieve is SugarCRM.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting. Why you think SugarCRM is a good example?

<comment><USER3> Their community edition is an open-source version of their product. They used to have a fairly strong base of users contributing to the product through add- ons. Try a Google search for their "community edition" for more info. It's been a while since I used it.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


United Kingdom to introduce security labelling on connected devices - <AUTHOR> https://mender.io/blog/united-kingdom-to-introduce-security-labelling-on-connected-devices <comment><USER2> No matter how great security labeling may be, I fear the incentives are completely and utterly in the wrong place.

An _individual consumer_ who purchases a poorly protected network device is unlikely to suffer any meaningful individual harm, like having their computer ransomwared.

Rather, it makes things like botnets possible that can be used for all sorts of things, e.g. DoS attacks against a third party.

So why should a consumer do anything but ignore the label? It's the rational choice if the less-secure product is cheaper.

If we want security standards, they need to be legislated democratically and applied to _all_ devices -- not left up to consumer choice.

Now whether a legislature is capable of doing that effectively is certainly an open question. But I'm afraid labeling may be no more than an ineffective band-aid.

<comment><USER3> > _An individual consumer who purchases a poorly protected network device is > unlikely to suffer any meaningful individual harm_

It opens the door to liability for companies who purchase insecure network devices. If your peers are buying good hardware while you're buying self- identifying garbage, someone harmed by a botnet running on your metal has a better argument, now, that you were knowingly reckless.

<comment><USER4> Why even allow the sale in the first place. We don't allow the sale of faulty seat belts and say "well the consumer knew when they got it"

<comment><USER5> The only sales you can control are the ones that happen in your own country. I'm sure you can buy seat belts from Ali Baba at a fraction of the price, they'll probably be hilariously non-compliant to your country's safety standards, whether or not they work can be modeled by a fair dice roll, and I'm sure your insurer will deny any claims you make after installing them. But you can certainly buy them.

<comment><USER6> You may not be able to import them.

It's likely that if you literally fly out, buy them, pack them in a suitcase and fly home they'd make it, but if you try to buy a crate of obviously non- compliant Product X and it arrives at a port there's a reasonable chance somebody says "This Product X is non-compliant, so, why the hell is that here?" and you're not going to receive it.

You might think well, surely they don't look in most crates. And they don't. They don't look in the forty identical crates of compliant seatbelts going to Ford, because why would Ford be like "Hey, let's order 39 crates of complaint ones, but order 40 crates with #8 non-compliant to kill a few customers as a joke" ?

They're going to look in your crate because you never ordered any crates of seatbelts before, and "Bo Yang Belts" never sent anybody in your country a crate of anything before. Because their products aren't compliant to anybody's standards and so you're their first foreign sale.

But actually you may never even get to buy them. The huge first world economies like the EU and US order such enormous volumes of _stuff_ and require compliance to their standards that it just often doesn't make sense to make Product A for them and then also Product B that's much worse but a bit cheaper for domestic use. I wouldn't like to guess if seatbelts are such a product.

<comment><USER7> Your answer seems logical but it is a real problem, see this article about Amazon repeatedly called out for selling deathtrap infant seats: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51497010](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51497010). They really do exist and really do make it across the fairly strict borders in the UK regularly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Trying to work out what I'd want in a first pass. At an absolute minimum:

* A commitment and ability to update any critical security issues for a specified amount of time

* Standardised mechanisms for reporting critical updates to users which are not used for marketing

* A basic checklist of best practice for internal self-audit (SQL injection, plaintext data, enumeration attacks)

A low bar, but still far better than what we've currently got. (External audits are probably silver tier?)

<comment><USER9> > A basic checklist of best practice for internal self-audit (SQL injection, > plaintext data, enumeration attacks)

I think this is a massive ask/knowledge expectation for the average person. A simple warning label about changing the device password from the default would be a major step in the right direction for consumers.

<comment><USER10> The average consumer probably has no idea what a growth hormone is either, but it's all over food labeling. It might be enough if there is a label that security experts know and understand, that consumers can learn to say yes/no about without having to know what it _really_ means.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> from the press release linked to in the article ([https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to- strengthen-...](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-strengthen- security-of-internet-connected-products)):

\- All consumer internet-connected device passwords must be unique and not resettable to any universal factory setting

\- Manufacturers of consumer IoT devices must provide a public point of contact so anyone can report a vulnerability and it will be acted on in a timely manner

\- Manufacturers of consumer IoT devices must explicitly state the minimum length of time for which the device will receive security updates at the point of sale, either in store or online

<comment><USER12> I don't see a time limit on that second point. For how long will companies be expected to act upon vulnerability reports? What's a reasonable end of life?

<comment><USER13> My guess is that this is covered by the third point - if you EOL security patches for a device I am guessing you are no longer expected to act on vulnerability reports.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> The question to me is: how do we avoid another FIPS-like disaster, where the government standards fall behind the times and lead to worse security then you'd otherwise get?

<comment><USER15> We can't. That's pretty much how government works in the best case. In the worst case we'll get both mandatory worse security _and_ a rentseeking monopoly granted to donors and ex politicians to supply/enforce it as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I fail to see how this really improves anything for the average consumer. Government getting involved in this sort of thing just feels like more of the same TSA-style security theater nonsense. I'd prefer my network device manufacturers focus their efforts on the actual hard stuff rather than spending time and money getting certified for some bullshit box label.

<comment><USER17> > focus their efforts on the actual hard stuff

The trouble is, they (or at least, a good number of them) aren't doing so at the moment. This will get them to at least address the easy stuff.

<comment><USER15> They are extremely good at focusing on "the hard stuff", of shaving tenths of a cent off production costs. To a first approximation, nobody cares about anything except price in the low end of gadgets.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I often wonder why IOT devices aren't regulated more analogous to cars, since the Internet is a bit analogous to a road system [0], i.e. a shared resource where mistakes and misbehaviour impact other participants.

A couple of car analogies might be, that car manufacturers are required to have cars repairable for x years, and that recalls to repair dangerous defects are mandatory. In the case of IOT, the recalls could just be mandatory updates.

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

<comment><USER4> Because technology progresses faster than laws and by the time the laws catch up there are already powerful corporations established based on the lack of those laws.

For example its an obvious public and environmental benefit to require that all phones have a user replaceable battery but until recently they almost all did and now it's too late because every phone maker would lobby against it.

<comment><USER19> > Because technology progresses faster than laws and by the time the laws > catch up there are already powerful corporations established based on the > lack of those laws.

I see another aspect of this. Societies have allowed tech companies to run unregulated in a trader-off between safety and technological advance.

Medical equipment, cars or planes are examples were regulations were put in place as safety failures have more dangerous consequences.

As devices are more ubiquitous and the economy and lives depend more on them, further regulation will be pushed forward.

> and now it's too late because every phone maker would lobby against it.

I agree that will take political will to regulate the tech industry. But, in the same way that phone manufacturers do not want replaceable batteries the rest of industries will see their costs reduced by such a regulation. So, there is also opposing forces that want big tech to play nicer with the rest of the industry ecosystem. And, in democratic countries, population will also push for change as their lives are disrupted by the lack of regulation.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> > The idea is that similar to how bluetooth and wifi labels help consumers > feel confident their products will work with these wireless communication > protocols, a Security label will instill confidence in consumers that their > device is safe and secure according to standards.

I would like a _warning_ label if the device requires an internet connection for normal operation or features that don't really need it, so I can decide not to buy it if the requirement is unreasonable.

</comment><comment><USER17> This is a good point to remind citizens to keep an eye on the Government consultations that come out from time to time - at least in the UK, we all have the opportunity to contribute to this type of regulation through responding to the relevant consultations.

[https://www.gov.uk/search/policy-papers-and- consultations?or...](https://www.gov.uk/search/policy-papers-and- consultations?order=updated-newest)

</comment><comment><USER21> I think some kind of indicator that networked devices are at risk is a smart thing to do. I posted this "Show HN" a little while ago:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22343786](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22343786)

Part of the idea is that people will modify their behavior when there's visible indication they're conducting a risky activity.

</comment><comment><USER22> Could be worth them looking at the Trusted Technology Mark which has been doing the hard work of figuring out how to certify connected devices:

[https://web.archive.org/web/20190212185530/https://trustable...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190212185530/https://trustabletech.org/about/) (edit: linking via archive.org as the site appears to be redirecting at least some clicks to scam sites)

The axes are interesting and a good starting point. From their site:

* Privacy & Data Practices: Is it designed using state of the art data practices, and respectful of user rights?

* Transparency: Is it made clear to users what the device does and how data might be used?

* Security: Is it designed and built using state of the art security practices and safeguards?

* Stability: How robust is the device and how long of a life cycle can a consumer reasonably expect?

* Openness: How open are both the device and the manufacturer's processes? Is open data used or generated?

<comment><USER23> That URL opened up a scam site for me claiming I was going to win something, I think a phone. I closed the tab too quickly to see

How did that happen? I have JavaScript disabled and an adblocker installed...

Edit: My browser's history:

* [https://trustabletech.org/about/#](https://trustabletech.org/about/#)

* [http://www.wosemdesy.site/](http://www.wosemdesy.site/)[...loads of crap here...]

* [http://competition5783.primeluck26.live/*******/](http://competition5783.primeluck26.live/*******/)[...loads of crap here...]

<comment><USER22> Looks like a Wordpress hack. I've dropped a note to the site maintainers and heard back already -- they're on it.

<comment> Digit-Al The irony :-/

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> > Both the United Kingdom and Singapore have aligned their IoT security plans > and programs with the draft European Standard EN 303 645 'Cyber Security for > Consumer Internet of Things'.

> > [https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/303600_303699/303645/02...](https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/303600_303699/303645/02.00.00_20/en_303645v020000a.pdf)

About 30 pages of broad points. Judicious use of "where applicable".

</comment><comment><USER25> These are stickers; I was hoping they would be cryptographic labels that you could validate over the network.

Still, it's a start.

<comment> toby- It's a start of sorts; I seriously hope it develops into a wider set of reasonable policies and practices. The UK gov't does a lot right when it comes to IT and security, but it also gets a lot wrong — I'm hoping this develops sensibly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I think a reasonable basic set of requirements would be the following:

\- There is no non-free firmware or other software on the device.

\- The consumer is provided full source code to the software and can effectively replace the preinstalled version with a version they have compiled themselves.

\- The manufacturer provides updated versions of any software or firmware (again, including full source code) to patch any discovered security vulnerability for the expected life of the device: at least three years for most devices, but perhaps as long as 30 to 60 years for some devices. This lifetime is disclosed.

\- The device does not transmit any personally identifiable information back to the manufacturer in its default configuration; for example, audio recordings, power usage measurements, accelerometer readings, temperature readings, or customer login names or account numbers.

Unfortunately, I don't think such requirements are viable in the current political situation. That doesn't change the fact that any device that fails to comply with them introduces a serious security vulnerability: there is no way for the users to defend themselves against malicious actors who penetrate the manufacturer. The Dieselgate scandal and the Huawei prohibition are only the mildest taste of what we are in for.

Of course it is not practical for every person to audit the source code of the firmware for every TV remote control and power brick they use, but it is possible for people to organize consumer watchdog agencies that do perform such audits.

<comment><USER27> Replacing the firmware should require physical access for security reasons imho.

<comment><USER26> I think that's a good idea in most cases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I saw this design on /r/security and thought it was a good idea:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22343786](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22343786)

It seems like if we want to solve this problem we need to somehow modify users' behavior by making them aware that indiscriminate browsing is a risk.

</comment><comment><USER29> Q: is this content (at mender.io) supposed to be hard to read, or is it just my eyeballs?

<comment><USER30> Definitely not our intention to make it hard to read! Now that it's been pointed out, we've changed the text color on the blogs. Hopefully that will make it easier to read for everybody.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> I would even read it were it not for light grey text on white background. I am declaring personal vendetta against visual design decisions that ignore any common sense.

</comment><comment><USER32> So is this like the "Smoking kills" labels on cigarette packs and limits/warnings on beer cans or what? I'd say literally everyone ignores those.

<comment><USER6> _All_ the packs of cigarettes say "Smoking kills".

I presume the idea is that your Apple Foozle is safe, and so is this Famous Brand Foozle and this Obviously Rebadged Generic Foozle that's half the price of the Apple product, but the foozle your mate got from the geezer who used to get him pirate DVDs doesn't have the sticker. No surprise when your mate gets ransomware a few months later. They saw him coming.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> At the very least a required disclosure that shows how long the product will receive security updates would be really helpful.

</comment><comment><USER34> Let me write the source code for the label printer...

        def IsDeviceSecureEnoughForUKGovernment():
          if manufacturer=='Huawei':
            return "Not Secure.  Use sparingly"
          return "Certified Secure"</comment>


Ask HN: How do you organize scientific literature? - <AUTHOR> I look for research papers frequently and it's becoming difficult to manage them all.
My current system is a local directory synced between computers. There are subdirectories for fields of study, and each field has further subdirectories for topics of interest. Right now this is adequate. Problems it has: 1. Difficult to browse through topic directories 2. Need to manually rename papers to a common filename format (e.g. Author Year Title.pdf) 3. Can't annotate papers
I've tried PaperPile, a web-based literature manager, and it generally works pretty well. However I dislike that it requires Google Apps login, and it costs money which feels contrary to the principle that knowledge should be free and open.
Calibre is a software usually used for ebooks that also seems promising for research papers. It's licensed under GPL v3 and supports tags, search and metadata download (via plugin with some configuration). It doesn't seem to have good annotation support.
I'm interested in ways you manage your scientific literature. If you could share them I'd really appreciate it! <comment><USER2> Check out Mendeley, ReadCube and Citavi.

ReadCube (www.readcube.com) is focussed on organizing your personal library, though it also has an inbuilt PDF viewer with annotation capabilities and a browser for searching PubMed, Scholar et al. It is cross-platform: Windows, Mac, mobile - not Linux though. A very nice interface and the basic version is free. The Pro license brings you cloud storage and syncing.

Citavi (www.citavi.com) is probably the ultimate desktop software for managing scientific literature. Apart from organizing your library, annotating PDFs and writing notes, it also has plenty of tools to help you write your own articles. Unfortunately, it only runs on Windows and comes with a hefty price tag (though many institutions have a site license - check if you are eligible).

Mendeley (www.mendeley.com) might be the best choice for you. Like ReadCube, it concentrates mainly on library management and paper annotation. However, it also provides plugins for browsers and word processors that add some neat functionality (such as automatic citation insertion for LibreOffice). It is multiplatform (Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile) and free. Syncing is included in the basic free plan, the premium plan gives you more storage space and teamworking functions.

Sadly, none of the above is open source, and only Mendeley works on Linux. Otherwise, take your pick :-)

</comment><comment><USER3> I used Zotero, mostly for it's automatic database filling feature (eg from a journal website). I sort-of classified papers in in a directory-like structure by topic. When it came time to find stuff, the search worked pretty well, considering most papers had the abstract filled out in zotero and therefore was indexed for searching.

Good support for shared libraries if you work with other people.

Combined with a plugin called lyz, it made for a very streamlined integration in my thesis workflow (in lyx).

Bonus: free and open source.

</comment><comment><USER4> BibDesk for filing (and of course as a citation manager). Any notes for an article I store as an identically named plain text file generated by text-to- speech dictation while I'm reading, e.g., "page 7, column 2, VERIFY they used 0 point 1 molar thiosulfate, but I believe that 0 point 5 would be necessary to reproduce their results". I rely on Spotlight to find things.

<comment><USER5> I too use bibdesk. While the file format is open, I haven't found an equivalent Windows editor. Do you know of one?

<comment><USER4> JabRef?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> there is more arbitrary web-tool

it is possible to organize information into folders, properties and relations. so you may implement arbitrary classification and efficiently search through it. it is possible to make annotations. it is possible to share your information to other people.

it is free.

however it requires google login and no file uploading - you may use your google drive and post links.

[http://project-identity.com](http://project-identity.com)

I have started entering my own worth to read book list, if you can read russian you may enter search request to get it: name: тема value: книги которые стоит почитать

or browse user Dmitry.Bryliuk@ directly</comment>


Ask HN: How does illegal movie streaming services survive? - <AUTHOR>

Just quick googling "watch movie/series xyz online" will avail many websites on the first page of Google results that streams movies/tv-series for free, smoothly.
With the DMCA and other laws in act, how does this kind of websites still continue to survive? Not only about the DMCA but I am assuming many (almost all) countries will take this as a serious offence on illegally streaming 3rd party contents online without appropriate permission from the content creators. And these online services are not just some small website but websites with millions of hits everyday. Comparing these to mediafire or thepiratebay these are smaller, but these are not just storing illegal contents but also directly streaming them causing millions of dollars in loss for the content creators such as hollywood/bollywood.
Albeit these service operators might use some kind of method to hide themselves, their servers, domains, contents are always visible to everyone and should be easy to take them. Google doesn't remove them from their search results, they get advertising network operating on their website. And they keep operating as just another "paid service" (but with a crappy UI).
How do they survive? What prevents original content creators to stop them? <comment><USER2> There's two types of sites:

1) Portals/search engines which just link to the content. These claim they are not doing anything illegal because they are not hosting anything illegal.

2) Video sites that host the illegal content. These sites do take down the illegal content when they find it or receive a takedown request. The illegal content is uploaded in so many places that it doesn't matter if a few are taken down. The sites in 1) point to about 20 sites for every TV episode/movie

</comment><comment><USER3> >>How do they survive? Churn and burn. So long as the cost to bring the site up on a new domain is lower than whatever the profit is (ads?), the DMCA is just playing "whack a mole" ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-A- Mole#Colloquial_usage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whac-A- Mole#Colloquial_usage))</comment>


Ask HN: Review my web app, PrintedYelp.com - <AUTHOR>

Today I noticed, for the second time this week, a local shop here in town prominently posted a few positive Yelp reviews (they literally printed them out and taped them to an interior wall)
Not a bad idea.  Twice in one week.  Maybe it's a trend?
A few hours later (thanks Weebly, Google Checkout, Pixlr!) and behold: PrintedYelp.com - an easy way for any small business owner to get a nicely layed-out, printed, and wall-ready Yelp review.
Obviously this is just an embarrassingly simple MVP and a way for me to gauge demand for something like this.  I can imagine more elaborate output types (like wood mounded plaques, or Art.com like customization with matting, frames, etc.) and additional features (multiple reviews on one output, various layouts, etc.).
I am not affiliated with Yelp in any way.  I love Yelp.  Just trying to make it easier for business owners to do what they're already doing.  I hope Yelp thinks its OK.
What do you guys think? <comment><USER2> I think it's a good idea, much better than those Yelp stickers I see stores putting up.

I have some concerns regarding Yelp's ToS. The solution they mention is to contact them. Better to be forward and honest rather than go behind their back.

Also, IANAL, but they might have to go after you for Trademark infringement for having Yelp in your name (and possibly their logo on your site). I believe it is a "pursue it or lose it" thing.

Below are the ToS parts i think apply to you (in varying degrees).

      6. Restrictions of Use

      You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to:

      c. use the Site for promotional or commercial purposes, except as expressly allowed in writing by Yelp;

      k. modify, adapt, appropriate, reproduce, distribute, translate, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display, sell, trade, or in any way exploit the Site or Site Content (other than Your Content), except as expressly authorized by Yelp;

      o. use any robot, spider, site search/retrieval application, or other automated device, process or means to access, retrieve, scrape, or index the Site or any Site Content;

      q. reformat or frame any portion of the Site;

edit: formatting, grammar

</comment><comment><USER3> You are asking for legal trouble in a major way. Yelp seems fairly forward- thinking, so I doubt they'll come after you with their lawyer-guns blazing, but they could. And if you don't change your name, you'll leave them with no choice.

Then there's the whole TOS issue of reproducing Yelp content, and on top of that you're violating the copyright of the Yelp users who posted the reviews -- they gave Yelp permission to publish their review, but they didn't give you permission.

I like the idea, and I'd like to see you make it work -- not just for Yelp, but for all the major review sites. If you get the Yelp trademark out of your domain name, serve reviews from multiple sources (Citysearch, etc), and then use excerpts in a defensible fair-use way, then I think you might have something more workable.

Also, sell them framed. No one wants to find frames, and it's a great opportunity for you to create additional profit margin.

<comment><USER4> I agree that something like "PrintedPraise.com" or something would suffice, and then you could also print praise on other review sites without it being weird.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great suggestion. Changed to PrintedPraise.com. Added CitySearch. Going to add plaques shortly (solid wood, lacquered, just like the fancy magazine article plaques).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I think this is a great idea. The prices seem REALLY high and of course the legal implications are also pretty obvious.

Where do you get these things printed?

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks guys for all the feedback. Today I will drop the "PrintedYelp.com" name. This way I'll avoid the greatest legal concern and "abstract" the site to enable prints from other review sites.

Also, I will contact Yelp and let them know what I am doing.

Prints with frames are definitely high on the list. I just need to source some good frames, try them out, etc.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> <http://www.PrintedYelp.com>

</comment><comment><USER6> This looks pretty useful. Obvious revenue stream, restuarants especially want this but I would try to promote it to local businesses in your area also.

</comment><comment><USER7> They have to defend their trademark, or lose it. There's no way you can keep that domain. I don't think this falls under fair use either.

E-mail their lawyer, Laurence Wilson at email@example.com.</comment>


Cassandra data store at Facebook - <AUTHOR> http://glinden.blogspot.com/2008/08/cassandra-data-store-at-facebook.html

<comment><USER2> This is the second major infrastructure component opensourced by Facebook. What's next? Search?

How is Google going to respond to it? Should we expect BigTable opensourced any time soon?

<comment><USER3> It seems to me that this has nothing to do with Google. Facebook is not a Google competitor...and Google would see no benefit from open sourcing their infrastructure. Google is an infrastructure company--the value of Google is in the strength of their search and related technology. The value of Facebook is the network of people--technically, it's simply not a difficult problem. Take away the user community and Facebook has almost zero value. Facebook happened to hire a lot of smart people who wanted to work on interesting things, and so NIH has led to lots of new technologies being created.

Their solutions may be optimal for Facebook, and they may even be generally useful to folks building large scale websites. But, their Open Source tools are no threat to Google, and would have no impact on Google's decisions about what to Open Source.

Hadoop/HBase has already been offering BigTable like capabilities in an Open Source project. This is merely another option--and frankly, one that sounds a bit half-baked at the moment. But I could be wrong about that. And, of course, Thrift is yet another RPC system. It makes pretty bold claims about being uniquely lightweight and cross-language, but the RPC and data interchange problem has been solved many times in the past in many ways. I don't think the world has been set on fire by Thrift.

<comment><USER2> I use Thrift and it is underhyped. I looked at Cassandra, and it offers more than HBase with a lot cleaner and smaller codebase. That's not just NIH, that's some really important thing happening here: standard tools like relational databases do not work for companies like google or facebook. Suddenly to process these volumes of data you do not have to worry about the back-end. That lets small startups compete on the same terms with big guys.

For example JS-Kit.com generates 10G-100G worth of data a day. They had to create an equivalent of Amazon's Dynamo to handle it. Easily half of their resources are dedicated to maintaining and extending this infrastructure. Now imagine if they could just use Cassandra and focus on their core? I do not know what Disqus or FriendFeed are using (probably mysql?), but they can benefit from it too once they grow.

That could affect Google too, there will be more competition from smaller startups like webmynd or cuil because of it. And if startups adopt Facebook's tools instead of Google's, that would make them less attractive to Google as an acquisition target.</comment></comment></comment>


Cracking the code behind Apple's App Store promo card design - <AUTHOR> http://blog.equinux.com/2017/07/cracking-the-code-behind-apples-app-store-promo-card-design/ <comment><USER2> That mysterious font actually is an adaptation of one of the oldest typefaces around specifically designed for optical character recognition. OCR-B (1968), by Adrian Frutiger. It's used everywhere still, on credit cards, wire transfer forms, license plates, etc. etc. It's even an industry standard (ISO 1073-2:1976).

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR-B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OCR-B)

So, it's as 'custom' as Apple's (pre San Francisco) systemfont Myriad, compared to Frutiger's Frutiger, who said of the adaptation: "not badly done" while feeling that the similarities had gone "a little too far"… — [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_(typeface)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myriad_\(typeface\))

</comment><comment><USER3> It's likely that they use custom font not as a deterrence measure, but merely because it's specifically designed to simplify their recognition code.

<comment><USER4> Exactly. Also the box and placing was no 'security measure', just the way it worked. It is very interesting to see how the view of the person trying to 'break the cipher' is different to the mindset of the team that had to get it to work. They were probably security paranoid about the hackability of their work but in a totally different direction to that 'seen' by someone 'breaking the cipher'.

<comment><USER5> While I imagine it's not a security measure, I don't think it's "just the way it worked" either. It sounds like a conscious decision to limit false positives.

<comment><USER6> To elaborate what the parent was talking about when they said "the way it worked" (it might also be what you're talking about). My guess is that the box is useful to straighten, unskew, and scale the image before applying the OCR.

You could /try/ to do it looking at the baseline and cap heights of the text itself, but you wouldn't know the scale in either direction. I imagine those font identifiers would have been a lot better if they could have known those things.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> At first I thought this was going to be some kind of sketchy "keygen" thing, but I was glad to see they've just deciphered the way to make your own iTunes- scannable promo code printouts! Very cool. :)

</comment><comment><USER8> I feel like I've seen that font before, on non-Apple electronic products, where it was used for similar serialisation and part numbering purposes. It actually looks like a monospace version of [http://www.identifont.com/find?font=code&q=Go](http://www.identifont.com/find?font=code&q=Go)

I wonder if Apple actually designed this font, or just asked for permission and extracted it from the built-in font of some industrial printing machine.

<comment><USER9> That font is extremely different from the one Apple is using. Compare the Q and K for the biggest differences that wouldn't be effected by 'monspacifying' it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Wow this is really cool! So how do you get the promo codes at all? Do you buy those through an API?

Are you considered Apple will shut you down somehow?

<comment><USER11> You can generate promo codes on iTunes Connect. They're fairly limited: you can only get 100 promo codes per app version, and you're not allowed to use them for commercial purposes.

As long as you're not selling these cards, I don't think Apple would have a problem with them.

<comment><USER12> Starbucks used to have cards that would let you download individual apps that worked like this.

<comment><USER11> I think I remember that. Were they paid apps Starbucks had a deal with, or free ones?

<comment><USER13> I never saw it for apps, only music.

<comment><USER14> Lots of paid apps, games and even e-books, I have several cards for Monument Valley.

<comment><USER15> If you have an extra one and don't mind sharing, I've been waiting to get into stardew valley... If you could email it to me (in my profile page) I'd be so happy :)

<comment><USER16> Psst... He said monument valley, not stardew valley. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> _> Surrounding box, w/ proportions of the box (ratio 3 width : 1 height)_

I don't understand this part. The aspect ratio of the box seems much more extreme than 3:1.

<comment><USER18> It is. I downloaded their image and it's like 540x128 or so. If it were 512x128 it would be 4:1, but it's slightly larger, like 4.2:1 (er... 21:5?). I was highly confused by that as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Any technical reason not to use a QR code?

<comment><USER20> Probably so it's human readable.

<comment><USER21> Yep, since you can also manually enter the code.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Am I right in assuming that we could use this in our apps to do different things other than a promo?

<comment><USER7> I don't think so - it's only used when you trigger the Redeem Code action and you scan the code via camera ...

<comment><USER22> I can't catch that before it triggers a "call" to Apple to very the code and do something else? I'm thinking of rerouting to a feature inside my app that's special to users of that code.

<comment><USER23> Users redeem codes from inside the App Store app on their phone.

You can generate codes to give you app away for free, or to grant a free in- app purchase, but that is all. There's no callbacks from the app store to your app to intercept.

Possibly you could do what you want with QR codes and launch URLs, or by doing camera+OCR stuff yourself inside your app.

<comment><USER24> It's also likely a copyright violation to use that font file without permission.

Typefaces have never been copyrightable in the US, but digital fonts implementing a typeface have been since the early 90s.

<comment><USER25> This all sounds like it was done without duplicating the font itself (aside from installing it, which does make a copy in one of the Library/Fonts folders, but afaik that isn't been considered duplication for copyright purposes). And it could be done easily enough without even making that copy (a symlink would likely do it).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> > Or you could use Mail Designer Pro to share your promo codes, e.g. to send a > nice promo code email to a journalist. It adds a bit of magic to the > experience if your email is scannable

Yeah, sounds very convenient... How exactly would that work?

<comment><USER27> It's one step removed. You would use your phone to scan the email displayed on your computer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Can someone explain what these promo codes are for? If they are just scanned by iTunes wouldn't you need to register them somehow in order for them to be useful?

<comment><USER29> A developer can generate these promo codes for their app, so a potential customer or reviewer can get a free copy of the app.

<comment><USER28> But surely if you just printed off a random code it wouldn't let you download the app for free?

<comment><USER30> It would, but only once.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I've never used one of these cards, but the one in the photo has a barcode on it. Why doesn't the software just read that instead?

<comment><USER32> That'll be the GTIN - what the store scans on their till when you buy it. It's the same on all cards of that type.

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> Is this the same font used by the (scannable) homekit activation keys, which are usually printed on the box/device?

</comment><comment><USER34> Very cool stuff.

</comment><comment><USER35> So does this mean that the iPhone camera is always awake and scanning for said box with code?!

<comment><USER36> if you are worried about any of the sensors on your phone always being on, remember that Apple and Google need their relative OSes to make battery charges last as long as possible. So always on stuff is problematic. For a good user experience Bluetooth and wifi usually need to be on, but GPS, camera and microphone usually don't.

<comment><USER37> GPS is basically always on - on iOS if you have a background location app, you're being located every 5 minutes at least.

<comment><USER38> For iOS the GPS chip itself is only turned on when 1) a foreground application is using location 2) a navigation app is using location and you task switch (that blue bar you get at the top) 3) for background location, when the device reassociates to a new cell tower</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Go compiler needs to be smarter - <AUTHOR> https://lemire.me/blog/2020/06/04/the-go-compiler-needs-to-be-smarter/ <comment><USER2> I think the poor optimisation performance described in this post is really a deliberate tradeoff made by the go compiler team. Rather than producing highly-optimised code for the best performance in some cases (which is often a fool's errand anyway), the compiler produces good enough code; quickly, and its architecture is not overly complicated by advanced optimisation procedures.

In my experience, go's high compilation speed compared to C++ is a great help to development, and I would gladly give away complicated optimisations for this enhancement. For high-throughput programs, time spent on manual optimisation or architectural work has a much higher payout than the marginal improvements of optimising compilers, when considering the continuous cost of slow compilation.</comment>


Show HN: Compare the big 4 US carriers (android) - <AUTHOR> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mosaik.cellmaps This is our first jump into mobile app development and I'd like some feedback from you guys. Enter "hackernews" under Settings->Enter Coupon Code and it will unlock the paid upgrades, but please try it without first to get a feel for what is different. U.S. only for now. <comment><AUTHOR> This is our first jump into mobile app development and I'd like some feedback from you guys. Check it out and then enter "hackernews" into Settings->Enter Coupon Code to unlock the upgraded features.

</comment><comment><USER2> The ui is slick, simple, and fast. handles orientation changes well and preserves state. good job</comment>


Reeder apps will support Feedbin - <AUTHOR> http://blog.feedbin.me/2013/03/27/reeder/

<comment><USER2> Now Feedbin just needs to import read/unread/starred status from Reader and the world will be a happy place.</comment>


Where Feeding Cows Matters More Than Feeding Future Economic Refugees - <AUTHOR> http://www.citizenorange.com/orange/2011/06/horrific-coverage-of-ethanol-s.html

<comment><AUTHOR> I've been a long-time reader of Hacker News but this is only the second link I submit. It's not tech related but I hope that it would gratify folks' intellectual curiosity, here.</comment>