Apple Pulls 500px's Mobile Apps From The App Store - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/22/apple-pulls-500pxs-mobile-apps-from-the-app-store-claiming-its-too-easy-to-search-for-nude-photos/ <comment><USER3> This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It will also, in a way, probably force developers to try out other marketplaces like the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Google Play store.

Now, I do understand 500px is trying to create a uni-platform experience for its users, but now that 500px isn't allowed to publish their app, I'm sure it's only a positive sign for other market places. More and more developers will start (slowly, but surely) to neglect Apple's Appstore by default due to the fear of the ridiculous approval process and the uncertainty that their development efforts for the iOS platform may go a waste, because they have seen the history of popular apps like 500px and others.

There is a very thin line of difference between being an elitist and being a d*ck. Apple is making it clear to everyone that they are the latter.

<comment><USER4> > This is good in my opinion. The more the rejection, the more the developers > will tend to flee away from arrogant Marketplaces like that of Apple's. It > will also, in a way, probably force developers to try out other marketplaces > like the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Google Play store.

People have been saying this for years, and it convinced me to make my Apps available on the android app store. The result, is a lot of messing around, and produced not much extra income.

Until Android starts to make the same sorts of money, which may never happen, this will not change.

<comment><USER5> Everything I've read to date suggests the Android user base is very different to the iOS user base. From a developer perspective, despite the enormous market share Android offers, it's users are reluctant to spend any money on software.

The iOS user base on the other hand seems to attract users willing to spend money.

I seriously doubt Android will be a viable platform for developers until this culture changes.

<comment><USER6> Just because the returns are lower doesn't mean it's not viable. There are plenty of Android success stories. Even Angry Birds makes more money on Android than on iOS last I heard.

One of the big challenges on Android is Google doesn't have many credit cards for Apps so right there non-free apps are in trouble. Android may have double the iOS market share but if they only have half as many credit cards their effective market share for paid apps is 1/4 their true market share. That's before you even look at customer demographics, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The app was rated 4+, yet would show pictures of naked people

[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:itunes....](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:itunes.apple.com/us/app/500px/id471965292?mt=8)

I think trying to paint Apple as bad in this case is pretty crappy, as it's very clear what the different ratings mean and 500px didn't follow the VERY CLEAR list of what each thing means.

[http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/wiki/apple%E2%80%99s-ap...](http://www.internetsafetyproject.org/wiki/apple%E2%80%99s-app- rating-system)

True nudity only belongs in 17+ in their system. 500px put it available for 4+.

<comment><USER8> By that logic, Safari should be 17+ only and should not be installed by default unless the user claims/proves that they are 17+. It's much easier to access nudity/porn via Safari. 500px's app required much more work, and contained "artistic nudity" not porn.

<comment><USER9> Safari can be disabled under parental controls for precisely this reason.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I recently launched an App for the iPhone for the first time ever. And the approval process can be ridiculous.

In my case, my meditation app allowed the user to optionally measure their heart rate while meditating with a heart rate monitor.

When I submitted for the App Store, I had to wait a week to find out I'd been rejected because they didn't have a heart rate monitor to test my app. It works without it.

And never mind there are literally hundreds of apps which also incorporate the Bluetooth LE heart rate monitors. Apple wanted me to send them one, so I ended up overnighting them one, only to have them take another week to let me know they'd taken a look at my app, then approved it.

I agree, this marketplace approval thing sucks.

<comment><USER11> Maybe it's just me, but I'm actually glad they wanted to verify that your app worked as advertised before approving it. They should probably have peripherals on hand for testing though.

<comment><USER12> I wouldn't be - such apps are not regulated medical devices. Why should Apple be giving such things the okay? It adds an air of at least implied reliability for such tools, and that's probably not a good place for anyone to be in.

(Not to mention, at least for me, such tools have proven horribly inaccurate.)

<comment><USER10> I want to address your last comment, about heart rate monitors being horribly inaccurate for you.

According to a large body of research ([http://www.polar.com/en/about_polar/who_we_are/research_inde...](http://www.polar.com/en/about_polar/who_we_are/research_index?cat=1)), the Polar brand heart rate monitors provide basically medical quality data.

Have you really tried one of the new Bluetooth LE monitors, and what sort of problems did you have?

It's vitally important to me, because my startup revolves around the rock- solid, years of research that have gone into developing these devices.

Thanks for letting me know.

<comment><USER12> Certainly, and it may actually be a red herring. I have a Polar and I believe it to be fairly accurate. My initial impression of a HRM-style app was the more gimmicky pseudo-pulseox LED flashlight and camera style. Apologies for the misleading!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> "...have been pulled from the Apple App Store due to concerns about nude photos."

The horror. It's a blessing the web came along before app stores became trendy. Now at least there's a huge vibrant world outside the walled gardens.

<comment><USER14> > _"...have been pulled from the Apple App Store due to concerns about nude > photos."_

Thank god the first-person shooter games are allowed to continue unhindered. We certainly don't want to jeopardize the future of our children by inculcating wrong behaviors.

<comment><USER11> The sad part is that most parents won't bat an eye while Junior guns down his opponents, but they would be up in arms at the sight of a nipple.

<comment><USER15> That strongly depends on the country. In the USA, probably. Here in europe there is no problem showing naked breasts in the evening news, when relevant. However, the US finds mild nudity the most offensive thing ever. Back on topic: unfortunately Apple applies its US based rules on all content worldwide: I know an app by a huge broadcaster that got rejected based on nudity in an item on, I think, breast cancer. Which is no problem here at al, to show on national TV.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've never bought into whats so bad about a naked body. We all have one.

From what I understand people get scared/agitated about nuditity because it makes humans seem more a part of nature, savage, and wild. People want to think of humanity as on a pedestal above "beasts". Still, this is a very strange aspect of our society

<comment><USER17> I'm from Germany, and whenever I have US friends over, they're aghast when they see our newspapers or magazines or TV ads, where nude bodies are nothing special and nobody cares if a kids sees boobs.

On the other hand, violent media, like gore, or blood depiction, is explicitly forbidden. In games that were to be sold for minors, the publishers usually color the blood blue before releasing it on the German market.

I tend to think that we're more open with the creation of life (nude, sexual intercourse) versus of the destruction of life (killing, gore, blood). While it is exactly the opposite in the US. I've never understood that, especially given that the us is so religious - isn't religion all about cherishing and praising life instead of death?

<comment><USER18> I'd say religion is the main cause of such attitude in US.

<comment><USER19> While that could be a historical cause, these days it's actively part of the American culture. Interestingly there is almost a kind of hypocritical attitude. A lot of American culture involves sexualisation, especially involving celebrities; which often extends to kids in varies ways (fashion, magazines, music). Then parents also try to keep sex and nudity from their children, because they deem it will 'damage' them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I wonder what a young Steve Jobs would have thought of his App store. The guy who went to India looking for spiritual enlightenment.

Forcing a certain level of quality is fine. Protecting users from scamware is also fine. Apple goes far beyond this. They nanny the user and force upon them what Apple perceive is right and wrong.

I got my first iMac 5 years ago and I thought Apple were awesome and innovative. Now I just find them overbearing. Like success has lead to the corporate types making decisions instead of those that originally drove development and change.

I have an iPad for testing. I avoided getting a new Apple computer in favour of a Linux computer. First time I turned on my latest computer i felt somewhat liberated being away from an Apple logo. Looking back I had the same feeling firing up my Mac for the first time. I felt free of a virus filled Windows and I remember thinking that the future had finally arrived.

Its interesting how feelings and perceptions change.

<comment><USER21> The impression I got at some point was that the reason for the absence of nudity or porn in apps sold on the iOS app store was not to nanny what users do with the device, but rather that Apple/Steve Jobs did not want to be the purveyors of nudity or porn in the same sense that if I owned a news stand I wouldn't want to sell magazines that promoted racism. I can see where the strictness of the current app store in that regard might be in line with the uplifting side of spirituality. Having said that, I'll add that I think there are things about the app store that don't fit with that quest for spiritual enlightenment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> A few years ago, I was in a big box store and overheard a young (~10y/o) child and his mother picking out a new video game. The kid excitedly picked up a box and asked his mom if he could get that one. She checked out the cover, then started reading the rating.

"Rated 'mature' for sexual content? No way!"

"Aw, man! Ok, how about this one?"

"Rated 'mature' for extreme graphic violence? Well... ok."

<comment><USER23> That's because violence is not relateable. When people see violence, they don't think, "Hey, I want to do that!" But when they see sex, they do.

<comment><USER24> When I see images of awesome looking food, I think "Hey, I want to try that!"

Same with pictures of people sky-diving, drinking, racing in fast cars, etc.

All of these things can be pretty dangerous, in fact far more dangerous than having sex. Better start the bans!

<comment><USER23> In the USA, they put disclaimers on skydiving and racing cars. Stuff like "don't try this" or "at your own risk" or "these are professionals, this is dangerous" etc. Also tobacco and alcohol companies are prohibited from advertising to minors.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> This isn't an awful decision just because Apple pulled it, it's an awful decision because Apple was finally starting to get a better PR stance from not hell banning apps for trivial bullshit on a large, public scale.

It is an awful decision though, rules being applied inconsistently across the board again.

</comment><comment><USER26> Oh look, one of these stories again. Why do people keep building on this pile of shifting sand?

<comment><USER27> People build on this pile of sand because "Apple can do no wrong" and "Everyone uses iOS products because they are soooooooo popular and hip" plus "Everyone else ripped off Apple, might as well develop for the original" and other logical fallacies Apple markets to developers.

<comment><USER28> Or, really, people build on this pile of sand because it's more valuable than not doing so. There is enough money to be had in the iOS ecosystem that even when you take into account the risk of being dinged for something stupid like this, it's still an expected net gain for many people to release an iOS app.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Well I was going to write: Time to pull safari

But then I checked tech crunch's comments and it seems that I would be very unoriginal. Same goes for any of the other apps mentioned...

So to trump them all:

Time to disable the internet!

<comment><USER23> Apple's response has always been: if you want content on iOS that we don't allow, make a web app. The App store is not a public place; Apple only puts things there that they like.

<comment><USER30> Which in the larger scheme of things is a moronic position because the same device they are trying to keep pristine and pure through their app store can be used to see dirty things through the Web. We know what Apple has always been responded to these arguments with - what we are pointing out is that is that it is extremely douche-y to take such a position.

<comment><USER23> It's not about keeping the _device_ "pure". It about not putting things in the _App Store_ they don't like. <https://xkcd.com/1150/>

<comment><USER30> And what strategic purpose does it serve Apple by "not putting things it doesn't like" in the App Store?

<comment><USER23> Apple doesn't want an app in the app store. Apple bans the app from the app store. Flawless victory! It's par for the course with Apple: unusual strategy, perfect tactics.

<comment><USER30> With all due respect, that's some priceless apologist BS. You still didn't outline the fucking strategic goal being served here with this "perfect tactic". If the course is to stay a major dick in the software world, then yes it is par for the course. But that doesn't make much business sense - does it?

<comment><USER23> Sorry, I don't know what you mean by "strategic goal". Maybe it's something mushy, like they want to make users feel more confident about what they're getting when they go to the App Store. Or maybe it's just about making metric boatloads of money!

Apple's MacOS runs on a very limited set of hardware. iOS runs on even less hardware. There are very few customization options for the hardware - <USER2> iPhone only comes in black or white, for example. And they decide what apps to sell on iPhones. Apple constantly makes decisions that their customers have to live with, sacrificing individuality or personal determination to suit some self-styled tastemakers at Apple.

The result? They have more money than Microsoft and Google combined! I don't buy Apple stuff, I just don't care for it. But to answer your question: yes, it obviously makes "business sense".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> A quick look shows any number 500px browsing apps still on the store. But they're all rated 12+ or 17+.

Which makes me wonder if 500px didn't mark their app accordingly? Or perhaps they used to, but then switched it to a lower rating thinking their 'safe search' toggle was sufficient?

<comment><AUTHOR> We were called by Apple to let us know; they specifically told us to completely block even artistic nudes. Although I'm not sure of their stance on photos of Michaelangelo's _David_ (see: <http://500px.com/photo/765271>). I'll have to get someone on the phone over there.

(NSFA warning: Nipples)

<comment><USER31> Just to be clear, I was wondering about some other circumstance -- perhaps naively -- because I thought Apple had seen the error in this sort of nonsense, so I wondered if there was some other explanation or consideration.

If Apple is indeed getting back into the game of selective, uneven enforcement of their guidelines, it's a monumental fuck-up.

<comment><USER32> > If Apple is indeed getting back into the game of selective, uneven > enforcement of their guidelines...

This never stopped. Selective enforcement is a policy that they enforce, and have freely admitted to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> This isn't the first time Apple do it. They've already removed Chan Elite [1] and every other 4chan's browser based on the same concern (and those were tagged as 17+ applications).

I wonder how Apple chose which apps are out, and which apps stay in.

Opera mini and Chrome are browsers, it's extremely easy to find porn with those. Yet they still are in the store.

Reddit has several subreddits for porn, and yet there are several application in the store that allow you to browse it.

This is just getting ridiculous.

[1] [http://legendarysoftwarelabs.com/2012/06/13/chan-elite-is- go...](http://legendarysoftwarelabs.com/2012/06/13/chan-elite-is-gone/)

<comment><USER34> > I wonder how Apple chose which apps are out, and which apps stay in.

If the process is in any way similar to the review process then it's just about luck. If you're lucky you get a reviewer who isn't too strict about the rules and lets your app through. If you're not so lucky you get one who will apply the rules like a robot.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> This is fairly absurd, any app that allows user generated content (including, dun dun dun, Safari) allows young precious eyes previously untouched by the horrors of boobies to be exposed so dangerously.

Still, this is a bit like writing a twitter app and then being sad when they flip their API on you.

Apple runs the game, they get to set the rules. If that bothers you, don't make iOS apps. I imagine if enough people did that, they may get the message.

<comment><USER36> Didn't you know? This just the walled garden protecting you from viruses! Without the walled garden you might have picked up an STD from that nude photo! </sarcasm>

[ Someone should post a bunch of sensationalist pieces about how Safari allows you to view nude photos, all of them insinuating / claiming that Apple supports the porn industry. If Apple wants to take some ultra-conservative view, let's hold their feet to the fire on it. If no app is allowed to possibly show a nude body, let's apply that to _all Apps._ ]

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> This is just silly. How does Apple justify pulling this vs Flipboard/Currents?

<comment><USER38> I would assume that someone made a complaint to Apple, which then forces Apple to take action and investigate - at that point there's likely a procedure that they need to follow mandated by Apple's Legal department for how it gets handled.

<comment><USER12> Apple is "forced" to do no such thing, any more than a parent can't sue Comcast because her son found a nude picture on the Internet.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> Why don't they pull the Chrome app because I can turn the default safe search off and search for porn?

<comment><USER40> Chrome is already listed as 17+, presumably for this very reason.

What was the 500px app's rating?

<comment><USER41> 12+

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> What about non-nude porn? Images that people find gratifying, but don't involve naked women?

</comment><comment><USER43> This is pretty good for 500px. I had never even heard of them before, and now they're going to be all over the Internet. I just downloaded the ISO500 app, which apparently they acquired, and which is still available on the App Store.

</comment><comment><USER44> And so the purist American norm is forced upon the rest of the world.

Yes I know I can buy a different phone, but that's not the point. It's about a company deciding for me what my morals should be.

</comment><comment><USER45> Now this is getting too much. Apple should be putting some sensible reviewers there. I wander what kind of people take such steps.

Additionally, "we also received customer complaints about possible child pornography", what kind of bozos report such things.

Dear Apple, Chrome and Safari let me access porn too easily, I just need to follow following steps: 1\. Open Safari 2\. Tap address bar. Then tap s,e,x,.,c,o,m keys and press return. 3\. PORN!

OMG, now will you block Safari as well!

</comment><comment><USER46> Here are the facts:

The app had a +4 rating which apple defines as "Apps in this category contain no objectionable material." Did 500px honor this rating? No.

Also, they shouldn't have been surprised. The review right on their iTunes page lists a complaint about nudity. I think if the app was properly rated Apple should put the app back up.

<http://i.imgur.com/GESYvRs.jpg>

</comment><comment><USER47> Funnily enough, Apple had their own snafu with app store searches for lewd words showing up kid's apps like Disney's apps: [http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/11/15/dirty- wor...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/11/15/dirty-word- searches-in-itunes-store-suggested-apps-for-disney-fox-washington-post-and- kids-games/)

</comment><comment><USER48> So anyone can use the web browser on their iOS device to view nude photos on the 500px website, but they can't download the app and view them via that? It's a bit ridiculous really. Are they going to start blocking websites they dont approve of as well?

<comment><USER49> The point is, if I have set my son's iOS device to block Safari as well as apps rated as mature, then he won't be able to do either.

If 500px's app was rated 12+ because it's default was 'Safe On" (according to one of 500px's owners: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5099607>), and my son can just toggle a "Safe On" switch in the app, it side-steps my parental controls.

</comment></comment><comment><USER50> Does apple restrict html5 mobile sites in safari? Seems like the best bet is to build as much in the website and use the app if certain native functionality is needed ...

</comment><comment><USER51> I've never used this app. But assuming I'm an adult and want to use an Apple device to show my penis to other adults with Apple devices, why should Apple care?

</comment><comment><USER52> Unrelated - but did TC switch off Facebook as their commenting system? This is their first post where I see Livefyre comments instead of Facebook.

</comment><comment><USER53> I'm sure they can just resubmit with an M-17 rating.

</comment><comment><USER54> I hope the App Store reviewers look over the Safari app. You can do the same thing, but there's no default safe search!! Scandalous!

<comment><USER49> It's funny how this comment comes up in this discussion.

It's not about Safari also being able to surf porn sites, it's about Apple wanting to protect the integrity of their parental controls.

If I've disabled mature apps as well as Safari on a child's iOS device, should I now worry that they can see mature content using 500px? Those parental controls are there for a reason and rely on accurate ratings for apps.

Yes, sucks that everything with web access gets a mature rating, but you must see how that's the point, right?

</comment></comment><comment><USER55> I bet they'll look back at this in a few months and think the publicity they are getting was the best thing for their business.

</comment><comment><USER56> Wait, so no artistic nudes but minors can send each other pictures of their genitalia via SnapChat?

</comment><comment><USER57> Thanks for sharing these great tips. I always find it difficult to come up

</comment><comment><USER58> Tumblr is rated 4+ and is full of animated GIFs of hardcore pornography.

</comment><comment><USER59> Uh oh, watch out Tumblr.

</comment><comment><USER60> As of 4:27 PM MST I can still find this app in the app store.

</comment><comment><USER61> This is exactly why I use my phone in airplane mode.

<comment><USER29> this made me laugh pretty good. thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER62> Apple needs to grow up and stop acting like a 12 year old.

</comment><comment><USER63> This is beyond ridiculous. And I know that what Apple is doing doesn't breach any laws, but imo it should be illegal in the same way that MS bundling IE breached anti-trust laws.

Personally I'm going to try Android when it comes time to replace my iPhone.

<comment><USER23> You can't get angry at someone else for not letting you sell stuff in their store. <https://xkcd.com/1150/>

<comment><USER64> The problem is not the store rules. The problem is that the store is made mandatory.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER65> What's with this Arab/Muslim mentality? What harm can non-pornographic nude photos do to kids?

<comment><USER66> What's with the racist mentality?

<comment><USER65> Well you have no idea how much shit and limits I have to go through because of these sickos.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER67> Apple announces mobile photo sharing app in 3, 2, 1...

</comment><comment><USER68> So Apple wants to compete in this space, and 500px is an active threat. The wonders of a closed ecosystem.

<comment><USER69> Assumes facts not in evidence.</comment></comment>


Three levels of addressing the Netflix Prize - <AUTHOR> http://hunch.net/?p=331 <comment><USER2> does an amateur stand a chance here?

i mean you have to be an expert and put in a LOT of work right?

<comment><USER3> You might find this wired article interesting

This Psychologist Might Outsmart the Math Brains Competing for the Netflix Prize

<http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-03/mf_netflix></comment></comment>


Tarsnap performance issues in late March, most of April - <AUTHOR> http://mail.tarsnap.com/tarsnap-announce/msg00031.html <comment><USER2> Good description, but I'm missing lesson learned #0: Do not wait too long before informing your users, even if only to tell them "we know about it and are working on it"

</comment><comment><USER3> For those that want to run a similar service using their own systems, I found that Attic [1] is a great open source backup tool that works in a very similar way, including deduplication and compression.

I backup some VPS servers to my NAS at home using attic over an SSH tunnel. Incremental backups are quite small and it's easy to automate with a simple cron job.

[1] [https://attic-backup.org/](https://attic-backup.org/)

<comment><USER4> How does this compare to Duplicity?

<comment><USER5> It uses git-style addressable blob storage, so you don't have to worry about deltas, because there _aren 't_ any.

It's also got more efficient deduplication, because it doesn't use rsync's naïve algorithm.

The downsides: it requires the agent to be remotely installed (a la rsync: no "dumb" backends), and supports less storage backends to boot.

YMMV :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> what the fu....Colin Percival used to be my cello teacher 12 years ago....and he is running tarsnap. My mind is blown.

<comment><USER7> Not me -- I'm a violinist, and I've never taught anyone violin either.

Maybe you're thinking of my bother (Graham)? He was teaching cello around that time period I think.

<comment><USER6> Oh wow. Yes! Now I remember it was Graham. I was his student around then. Saw your photo on twitter and looked exactly like him! Hahaha. How is Graham?

My mind is just completely blown right now.

<comment><USER7> Graham is in Japan right now, but returning to Canada soon; he'll be joining me in the West Coast Symphony for our June concert.

I don't feel that I should really be talking too much about my family in a public forum, but if you'd like to send me an email I can forward it to him.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I suppose I should have known that this would end up at the top of Hacker News...

<comment><USER8> It's the picodollars - tarsnap was the second business I fell in love with on HN (the late Kiko was #1) purely because of the awesome vibe I felt emanating from your enterprise (which I'm assuming is a reflection on you as well).

Years later, you've also become a _cause celebre_ for holding true to a clear business and lifestyle vision (again, perceived at distance), in spite of the recommendations and 'support' provided by Patrick and others, including myself. Keep being true, and I suspect the community will keep learning from you Colin.

<comment><USER7> _It 's the picodollars_

Hey Thomas, are you listening here?

In all seriousness, the picodollars do an excellent job of attracting exactly the sort of customers I want... and turning away the customers I _don 't_ want. They were originally part joke and part a way to avoid arguments with customers who don't understand that 1 GB < 1 GiB, but now it's way more than that.

 _in spite of the recommendations and 'support' provided by Patrick and others_

Don't be too harsh on Patrick. His vision for Tarsnap is not my vision for Tarsnap, but he has helped me to orient myself: The projection of "business" onto the subspace "geek" doesn't look very much like "business", but it's not the same as "kid right out of university who has never had a real job" either, and that's what you would see if I hadn't had advice (from Patrick, Thomas, various YC people, and the rest of HN).

Advice can be very valuable even if you don't follow it to the letter.

<comment><USER8> Don't get me wrong - I _probably_ still agree with Patrick and Thomas.

(Previous: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7731268](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7731268))

[Edit: And I think the competing theories are an excellent lesson for that "kid right out of university who has never had a real job".]

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> As an AWS user this type of thing gives me cause for concern:

 _At 2015-04-01 00:00 UTC, the Amazon EC2 "provisioned I/O" volume on which most of this metadata was stored suddenly changed from an average latency of 1.2 ms per request to an average latency of 2.2 ms per request. I have no idea why this happened -- indeed, I was so surprised by it that I didn't believe Amazon's monitoring systems at first -- but this immediately resulted in the service being I/O limited._

A sudden doubling of latency can have dire consequences on any system. Knowing that such unexpected changes are possible makes it built trust in your environment, even if it is running fine today.

<comment><USER7> Indeed, I didn't know such a change was possible -- that EBS volume went for years with consistent low latency before it suddenly slowed down.

<comment><USER10> You could have contacted AWS support or emailed me. Either way, we would have investigated.

<comment><USER7> It wasn't missing its guaranteed # of I/Os per second, so I figured the slowdown was just "one of those things" and not an out-of-spec issue. Happy to send you the volume ID if you think someone would want to investigate (and still has data from the start of April) though.

<comment><USER10> Yes, please do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This line: _I would have sent out an email to the mailing lists earlier; but since at each point I thought I was "one change away" from fixing the problems, I kept on delaying said email until it was clear that the problems were finally fixed" _ is such a common situation for most people, but I tend to see it with engineers especially. I find I struggle with it an incredible amount. In some ways, I guess it seems healthy or reassuring that incredibly smart people like Colin Percival suffer from similar challenges around fully understanding the scope of the problem and the solution.

All that being said, I really respect the detailed response from a technical perspective as well as owning up to (and the decisions that went into) a spell of downgraded performance.

Later edit because I don't want to spam the comments: I'd love some context (maybe from cperciva himself?) around the performance enhancement of integrating new Intel AESNI instructions. This is well beyond my depth and while Colin mentions that it didn't necessarily increase performance, I'm wondering if the hope is it would longterm? Or were there other benefits to such an integration?

<comment><USER7> _I would have sent out an email to the mailing lists earlier; but since at each point I thought I was "one change away" from fixing the problems, I kept on delaying said email until it was clear that the problems were finally fixed_

This ties in to the last lesson I mentioned at the bottom:

 _5\. When performance drops, it 's not always due to a single problem; sometimes there are multiple interacting bottlenecks._

Every time I identified a problem, I was correct that it was a problem -- my failing was in not realizing that there were several things going on at once.

<comment><USER12> > Every time I identified a problem, I was correct that it was a problem -- my > failing was in not realizing that there were several things going on at > once.

Very common! One thing that's been helpful for us is establishing predefined system performance thresholds that, if exceeded, initiate the chain of events that will lead to customer communication. "If X% of requests are failing, then we had better advertise that the system is degraded." Discussing and setting these thresholds in advance and the expectation that they'll result in communication helps drive the right outcome. It's not perfect, because one is always tempted to make a judgment call in the circumstance, which is vulnerable to the same effect, but it's a good start.

Thanks for sharing!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Why are you reinventing a scheduler when the OS (at least Linux) already provides a good one?

<comment><USER7> I'm talking about scheduling tasks within a single process.

<comment><USER13> Threads

<comment><USER7> Too much overhead. Also, concurrent systems are actively malicious.

<comment><USER13> I don't believe that you have too many active connections for threading to work. Passive connections can be handled by a single or small number of threads. Modern Linux on modern hardware has no problem with many thousands of threads and the overhead is minimal in $$$ compared to the time you wasted debugging a scheduling problem.

As for concurrent systems being harmful, you just have to design your program for threading in mind. Minimize shared state and be very careful when you can't.

<comment><USER7> One connection can have many outstanding requests.

<comment><USER13> I would redesign your protocol to be request/response based akin to http. Achieve performance by using multiple connections in the client. Simplicity > efficiency especially if you don't have the engineering resources of a company like Google.

And I'm out. The reply rate limiting is infuriating.

<comment><USER14> It's really easy to glibly criticize someone else's design decisions when 1) you don't have a full understanding of their problem, architecture, or rationale for that architecture, and when 2) the medium of the conversation doesn't lend itself well to providing you a satisfactory explanation.

It seems as though you've gotten the tiniest glimpse of some details about the system and went on to assume he made a boneheaded decision and you know better. Do you have some secret evidence that he's incompetent and doesn't have a good reason for his decision?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Sorry if this is offtopic, but can anybody explain the value proposition of tarsnap to me? It seems like a nice service and all, but the pricing is an order of magnitude more expensive than S3. If you are storing a few GB, this might not matter ("over half of Tarsnap users spend under $1 per month on storing their backups"), but if you have that little data, why not just dump it on a free Dropbox/Gdrive/etc account?

For more data, why not just use one of the many compressed, deduplicated, encrypted, incremental backup systems (attic comes to mind, I'm sure there are others) then just sync to S3 at a tenth the cost?

<comment><USER16> Because tarsnap is cheap, incredibly well documented, open source, and run by an awesome guy. It's an all around win-win.

<comment><USER17> Rsync.net is even cheaper, has no requirement for a custom client, and arguably are more dependable because they're not just reselling S3

Edit: not to mention they offer actual support not just "contact the author" email link as a last resort.

<comment><USER18> I contacted the author today. He responded to me in 30 seconds.

<comment><USER17> Try in 18 hours. Can you call him when something fails?

I'm not saying he isn't responsive I'm saying depending on a one-man-band who is responsible for the client software, server software and the underlying storage system (ie he is the owner of the s3 account) seems like a _huge_ risk.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> In case any other customer is wondering "Wait, I didn't hear anything from my monitoring about that and I'm retroactively worried. How worried should I be?" like I was: I just pulled our logs and reconstructed them, and it shows over the last ~30 days that the worse-case performance of our daily backup (~150 MB per day delta, ~45 GB total post deduplication) was about 40% longer than our typical case. This didn't trip our monitoring at the time because they all completed successfully.

n.b. Our backups run outside of the hotspot times for Tarsnap, so we may have had less performance impact than many customers. I have an old habit of "Schedule all cron jobs to start predictably but at a random offset from the hour to avoid stampeding any previously undiscovered SPOFs." That's one of the Old Wizened Graybeard habits that I picked up from one of the senior engineers at my last real job, which I impart onto y'all for the same reason he imparted it onto me: it costs you nothing and _will_ save you grief some day far in the future.

<comment><USER11> Hear hear on said Old Wizened Graybeard habit. The amount of pain inflicted from twenty jobs all starting up at :00 (or even :30, :45, etc.) when they could easily run at :04 or :17 can be huge. Anecdotally I once "lost" a sandbox server to a ton of developer sandbox jobs starting at :00 and not completing before the next batch started.

<comment><USER20> Funny part to that, was on a project with multiple teams with multiple crontabs. Each team took that advice to heart for some jobs. Sadly, we had too many Hitchhiker fans and :42 became a bit too common.

<comment><USER21> Use the following shell command to decide when to run cron jobs.

        echo $((RANDOM % 60))

It's not a CSPRNG, but good enough for this kind of load balancing!

<comment><USER7> Or schedule your cron job for :00, but add "sleep `jot -r 1 0 3600` &&" to the start of the command. (jot is a BSDism, but I assume you can do the same with GNU seq.)

<comment><USER22> sleep $[RANDOM/3600] works everywhere without requiring jot/seq etc. on BSD/Mac/Linux.

<comment><USER7> s/\//%/ I assume?

<comment><USER22> Oops

      s/\//\\%/

yeah.

      sleep $[RANDOM\%3600]</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Gamers are more aggressive to strangers - <AUTHOR> http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17868-gamers-are-more-aggressive-to-strangers.html

<comment><USER2> <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=849591>

<comment><USER3> Key comment from that thread:

 _This isn't a measure of gamers vs non-gamers, as the headline might lead you to believe._</comment></comment>


Ford Exec: 'We Know Everyone Who Breaks the Law' Thanks To Our GPS In Your Car - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1 <comment><USER2> I just bought a ford taurus. It immediately connects my cell phone to my car and I sorta get the feeling like the cops that sit on the eway have access to the computer in my car and also the cell phone connected to that computer. But hey thats just my paranoia.

On another note, it was very clear checking off do not track in the vehicle. The only reason they say they want to track is for data like the exec gives the example for, traffic analysis etc. not like daily tracking. But it is creepy and really I dont know if all the benefits balance out the potential drawbacks.

There is also this notification in the myfordsync system that is "911 Assist".. now this is a fine option, but literally the car will remind you everytime you start it that it is off and unless you select otherwise, it won't just alert you, but will give you the option to turn it on.

<comment><USER3> _> On another note, it was very clear checking off do not track in the vehicle._

I cannot see it remaining this way. It is just a matter of time before the OEMs buckle and sell your data to an enterprising third party in exchange for the ability to lower costs. The auto supply chain is notorious for being a bloodbath of cost-cutting. It's a perfect cultural fit.

Not saying that you won't retain the option to turn off tracking as these systems become more widespread, but it's just an illegible TOS away from being opt-in by default with a buried opt-out.

<comment><USER4> > It is just a matter of time before the OEMs buckle and sell your data to an > enterprising third party in exchange for the ability to lower costs.

Is anyone else getting sick of this trend? Especially with stuff that you pay full-price for. I can understand why gmail / facebook / etc do it - but for other traditional models to jump in on it seems like they're all too eager to destroy any traditional transactions.

<comment><USER5> I agree, but I also understand why it happens. For a lot of people the only thing better then paying what something is worth is paying nothing for something of worth. That you paid a value for a product doesn't mean you don't want to pay less money for that purchase.

Everybody complains about airlines cutting legroom, but no one seems willing to stop buying the airline ticket that comes to the top when you click 'sort by price, lowest to highest.

People say they value things--privacy, comfort, freedom, health, etc.--one way, then they act in a way that shows they value money more. It's enough to make you stop believing what people tell you and instead just looking at what they do.

Or maybe I'm just old and cynical.

<comment><USER6> It's possible you're just cynical... I think many people would do more than simply complain. If the travel aggregators listed legroom as a descriptor, you can absolutely bet I would be comparing it along with price, durations, and stops.

If my auto manufacturer made it clear that there was a hidden GPS in my car constantly reporting my position (hilarious that, for a GPS that _I_ can see, I have to pay a ridiculous extra amount for the "option") I would definitely ask them how to turn it off.

<comment><USER7> You supposedly value legroom, but you're not willing to spend the two minutes it takes to do the research yourself? I don't think you actually value legroom.

In case you just thought it was much harder to discover than it actually is, check out seatguru.com.

<comment><USER8> You might be able to research leg-room when you buy a ticket, but there is no way to guarantee you get the same plane or same seating configuration when you show up at the airport.

Over New Years my wife and I flew United from IAD to SFO. Checked in the night before the flight and was assigned row 38 seats E and F. Got to the airport the next morning and our seats were separate because the plane that actually showed up to fly us only had 37 rows.

If an airline can't even assign the correct seats the night before a flight there is no way they can do that months in advance when you are buying the ticket.

<comment><USER7> There's no guarantee, but the odds are very good just the same. Based on my experience, you have probably a 95% chance of getting the airplane they say you'll get.

And of course you can enhance this by explicitly paying for more room. Lots of airlines these days are offering coach-class seating with more room. United has Economy Plus, and most other airlines let you pay a small premium for exit row seating, bulkhead seating, or similar.

If you don't want to pay extra and you don't want to do the research that gives you a good chance of getting what you want, well, that's absolutely fine, but I'm not going to believe that you care at all about legroom if you do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Ford VP Jim Farley: _we don 't supply that data to anyone_

The only thing that remains to be seen is how long that stays true. Once the data exists, it's much easier for the state to appropriate it. It's far harder for the state to mandate collection of this data to begin with. Ford has already done the hard bit.

The UK's CleanFeed was similarly coopted in order to implement censorship of PirateBay. It's unlikely the courts could have forced ISPs to implement a censorship scheme. But the ISPs created one anyway, with the noble goal of reducing child porn commerce; and of course, it was only to be used for this purpose. But once the courts found out about the capability, they could force it to be used in much more ambiguous and less noble situations.

<comment><USER10> I want that changed to _we don 't COLLECT that data, much less supply it to anyone_.

Don't think I'll be buying a Ford until then, and will check for other manufacturers pulling the same intrusive stunt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I think perfect enforcement of laws would be great. Because traffic tickets are so random, nobody really changes their behavior to avoid them, and it becomes more of a reverse lottery than anything else. Meanwhile, children on their way to school also lose the reverse lottery, but instead of a $300 fine, they die.

Perfect enforcement also puts pressure on lawmakers to make reasonable laws. If it's just some guy that you don't relate to being burned by stupid laws, you're not going to care. If it's everyone, you are going to care.

<comment><USER12> Edit: op added his second paragraph after I, and several others, replied. While the second paragraph is more reasonable on it's own, I still highly disagree with the implied reasoning of the first paragraph.

I disagree vehemently.

People drive a speed they feel comfortable driving. Full Stop.

The only time a speed limit sign changes behavior in the vast majority of drivers (in the US anyway) is when a cop is present.

The smarter way to reduce speed in the sections of road that actually are more dangerous is to make them look more dangerous, for example by painting lines on the road that make you think you're travelling faster than you are.

There are major roads where, except for rush hour, 100% of cars on the road are travelling well above the speed limit because it is set far too low for a modern vehicle driving on a multi-lane, fairly straight highway.

This causes a fairly similar attitude toward speed limits that a large percentage of the population has toward pot: you scaremonger about something that obviously isn't dangerous in 95% of cases (pot / 35 MPH, 6 lane roads), which makes the remaining 5% of cases that are actually dangerous (Heroin / sharp turn with low visibility) seem less dangerous because you spent so much effort to conflate the two.

Meanwhile, we're unable to have a sober conversation about the subject that results in speed limits and road laws that make sense because of _think of the children!_ scaremongering, e.g., "children on their way to school also lose the reverse lottery, but instead of a $300 fine, they die."

<comment><USER13> The flaw in your argument is, "I trust myself driving, but I don't trust anyone else."

I am a great driver and people had been present when I got myself out of 'sticky' situations--avoided red-light runner t-bones, people merging into me, parking lot fender benders who don't check their rear, etc.

Problem is, there are plenty of bad drivers out there who would happily go 80-90 and drive recklessly in their parents' BMW (Palm Beach teenagers, anyone?). The deaths due to traffic accidents are staggering and it's a huge public health issue. If speeding is not illegal, then it could be difficult to show wrecklessness or other mitigating circumstances should there be a manslaughter case. IMNAL, but I think it could have wider and unexpected implications.

I agree that many speed limits are somewhat arbitrary, but I disagree with 'smart' means of reducing people's speed. People need to learn how to follow the rules or they don't belong in society... it's as simple as that.

<comment><USER12> The flaw in my argument is that I'm calling for reasonable and evidence based traffic laws and road planning, rather than making it a political fiasco that's more about revenue generation than safety?

Whereas your argument is, the status quo is fine, people just need to follow the current rules better, even though all evidence says people aren't going to do so?

<comment><USER13> I agree with the revenue generation/political issue... I think those unfairly influence traffic safety laws.

I think there are certainly some areas where speed limits should be much higher, but my point is that you need to balance your desire to drive faster with the risks of people who are not as responible as you causing major accidents.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Your car isn't the only person who knows where you are. Your cellular phone service, your smartphone manufacturer, all the apps that have GPS access, license plate scanners, people who upload pictures with your face in it with GPS coordinates. This is the inevitable future in developed countries. It's probably going to be a long time before this saturation reaches under- developed countries so you can probably make a nice life for yourself there if you really hate this.

</comment><comment><USER15> Does that mean they know the cop who wrote you the ticket and the judge who found you guilty, both went faster than the speed limit that morning when you all appeared in court?

This is kind of like how the NSA knows about every crooked cop in America based on financial and voice/data traffic but decides not to tell anyone because it might upset people they know this.

</comment><comment><USER16> This quote was taken out of context and generalized, I assume purposely, to unjustly raise the alarm level. According to the Business Insider article, he was specifically referring to speeding violations.

From [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec- gps-2014-1](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1):

 _" Because of the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles, Ford knows when many of its drivers are speeding, and where they are while they're doing it._" He also said _" I absolutely left the wrong impression about how Ford operates. We do not track our customers in their cars without their approval or consent."_

The iPhone in your pocket can do much more damage to you in terms of incriminating evidence than Ford can.

<comment><USER17> You are quoting the article, but the headline is from his quoted statement a paragraph later (later retracted saying it was hypothetical):

"We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," he told attendees. [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford- exec-gps-2014-1](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> It's not that there's GPS in my car and me breaking the law is knowable that concerns me... it's that this exec implies that the data is being uploaded without my consent.

<comment><USER19> My thoughts exactly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I get the sinking feeling that this trend is gaining momentum, rather than reversing course. If the trend continues, government standards may soon require tracking technology "For Your Safety (TM)".

<comment><USER21> I think a bigger threat is from insurance companies[1]. "Want insurance? Sure but first you just need to install this black box in your car!"

[1] [http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/car-tracking-devices-spark- pri...](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/car-tracking-devices-spark-privacy- concerns-1.1366687)

<comment><USER20> Agreed, the concerning theme is the required usage of tracking software, without the opportunity to opt-out in an effective way.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Original article: [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec- gps-2014-1](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-exec-gps-2014-1)

</comment><comment><USER23> Okay, this wasn't Denis Rodman or some other mindless crackhead speaking; it was high exec of Ford.

Think for a moment; why would he come on the record to state this and then back it down? Obviously, to protect the company! Its a PR stunt. Just like IRS learnt to scoop people's swimming pools that haven't been taxed via Google Earth, my bet is that the same way state/federalies are looking for extra places to milk you.

Everyone is speeding or sped at some point; the amount of money waiting to be collected must be humongous. Its just a matter of how they go retroactively with it. My bet is that they will make it "good news" that even if you speed 40 miles above, your license won't be suspended, we just gonna fine you $1,000. Can't pay? we leave it up to the IRS (the best mob to collect dues on the face of Earth).

But him coming out to say that is just introduction to "don't tell us later we haven't told u + you could opt out anytime by clicking some checkbox + we have to comply with Feds" combination.

Prepare for more.

</comment><comment><USER24> I drive a Ford (No GPS) and I'm not sure if any ford car here in India has GPS which uploads the data.

I'm curious: How does the upload happen - In-built SIM? Who pays for the Data?

<comment><USER25> Radio waves. There are GPS jammers. Many truck drivers use them:

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57597971-71/truck- driver-h...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-57597971-71/truck-driver-has- gps-jammer-accidentally-jams-newark-airport/)

<comment><USER26> GPS is receive-only. The article to which you linked involves a man with a GPS jammer that prevented reception of GPS signals in the local area and hence prevented derivation of location.

What the parent poster was asking is how Ford upload the derived location.

<comment><USER25> Ah, I misunderstood the question. Thanks for the clarification.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Privacy issues aside, a more interesting analysis would be to determine what percentage of car drivers do not break the law. Assuming analysis is purely on breaking speed limits, then further analysis could be done based on type of road (residential, motorway, etc), % above speed limit, number of miles spent breaking the law etc.

Correlate this data with accident black spots (insurance claims, type of accident, time of day etc).

You could even do route analysis and focus resources (e.g. a particular area has a large number of cars driving to schools and back, could a cycle/foot path help alleviate this).

This would be a fantastic set of data to get your hands on.

<comment><USER28> Sadly there is more business incentive for this data to be misused than used for good like you mention. While we are there we need to fix speed limits so they are valid.

I propose a >2 std deviations = ticket rule. Instead of the current "we all know it's illegal but were only be a little illegal so it's ok", that defeats the point of having laws I think.

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> I think there is another interesting angle here: while a death of a person from a car driving too fast is a horrible tragedy; for the society as a whole, it might be better to accept X deaths to get Y people to their destinations faster. This is a common mistake in the modern political practice to use one- time/rare events to justify stricter laws for everyone. Most obvious and well known recent example, of course, is the establishment of TSA after 9/11\. But the same applies to the speed limits on the road: a one-time car crash is usually used to justify lower speed limits.

<comment><USER30> You make a good point, but let's not pretend that crashes due to speed are "one-time" events. There is a certain roadway near where I live that frequently has these types of crashes. Lowering the speed limit doesn't help of course (these people are interested in obeying any posted limit).

<comment><USER29> I was talking about situations when a single crash on in a particular place of the road causes the speed limit to be dropped. I have no problem with lowering speed limits or doing other changes to the road when there is a history of incidents. E.g. I think police & other agencies did a fantastic job on hwy 17 a few years back to make it much safer and more pleasant to drive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> This guy should be indicted immediately, as an accessory to all of the crimes he knows about and hasn't reported.

</comment><comment><USER32> Why not link to the original source instead of slashdot? You might as well be linking to blogspam.

</comment><comment><USER33> how come no one linked the eula like on slashdot ? [https://support.ford.com/tools/account/sync- terms](https://support.ford.com/tools/account/sync-terms)

"Ford may use the vehicle information it collects, as well as information regarding individual access to Vehicle Health Reports at www.syncmyride.com for any purpose"

<comment><USER34> What's concerning about that is that you can't opt out. It's part of a service that is supposedly optional, but the linked document repeatedly emphasizes that the terms apply upon any use of the service, even by someone who's never seen the terms.

Hopefully that's not enforceable, but the judicial history with software licensing suggests that it would be.

<comment><USER33> well if you have enough money than no it's not enforceable. as it stands it's basically a you're giving me everything and i'm letting you know officially, sue me if you can.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> We're linking to Slashdot now? Why not a link to the original article?

</comment><comment><USER36> Universal tracking built into cars isn't the solution, but remember that speeding, especially in urban neighborhoods full of pedestrians, isn't a victimless crime: cars at 20mph have 5% odds of killing pedestrians in a crash, cars at 30mph kill ~40% of the time, and cars at 40mph kill 85% of the time[0]. So please stop speeding, and I'll keep advocating for automated traffic enforcement to protect my life.

[0][http://humantransport.org/sidewalks/SpeedKills.htm](http://humantransport.org/sidewalks/SpeedKills.htm)

<comment><USER37> Your use FUD to justify unwarranted spying and data collection for the use of prosecution is stunning. Not to mention it's a violation of the constitution.

<comment><USER38> It's a violation of the constitution for a private company to collect data on a product that they sell you, when they tell you ahead of time they'll be collecting that data?

Wow, those framers thought of everything.

<comment><USER37> > So please stop speeding, and I'll keep advocating for automated traffic > enforcement to protect my life.

Please pay attention. Things move fast around here.

<comment><USER38> What about automated traffic enforcement is unconstitutional again?

<comment><USER37> Aren't we discussing Ford privately collecting information and disseminating it to some company to send out violations? That is what this entire thread is about isn't?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER39> It won't be long until the Feds have technology that grabs metadata from the tech in your car as you cruise down the road. I suspect their definition of "metadata" will be broad enough to include things like speed, rate of acceleration, latitude/longitude (if car is equipped with GPS, of course), etc. Seems crazy, except that most of us probably thought the idea of government backdoors in Google, Facebook, etc. to be "crazy" until very recently.

<comment><USER40> What makes you think they don't have the technology now?

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> My issue with stuff like this is this: I don't get paid for them using data that is tied to my behaviors and I don't know what they do with that data once they get it. I'd be down with selling them the data if they were willing to bid on it, as long as I know what they did with it later (and got paid if they shared it with others).

</comment><comment><USER42> The traffic analysis case seems to be a lot like the way Google aggregates smartphone GPS data to do real-time traffic for Google Maps [0] [0] [http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of- sittin...](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bright-side-of-sitting-in- traffic.html)

</comment><comment><USER40> I'm not saying I'm ok with this but since OnStar was released I assumed someone was tracking vehicles. Especially when they announced the theft deterrent systems such as tracking and remotely disabling a vehicle.

<comment><USER43> They got themselves into some shit when they announced their plans to continue tracking vehicles that were capable of OnStar even if the owner wasn't a subscriber. Since making this announcement, they backtracked on this plan ... but makes you wonder whether they really did since it's clearly possible for them to continue collecting vehicle data unless you disable with with the correct jumpers.

[http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/onstar- backtracks...](http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/onstar-backtracks- on-collection-of-data-from-ex-subscribers/?_r=0)

</comment></comment><comment><USER44> [http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-jim-farley-retracts- stat...](http://www.businessinsider.com/ford-jim-farley-retracts-statements- tracking-drivers-gps-2014-1)

</comment><comment><USER45> The other way to look at it is they also know when you aren't breaking the law so maybe you could subpeona Ford's records to prove that cop was lying when he said you were speeding at 25 over.

<comment><USER46> I'd love to see large penalties for cops who could be proven to have lied about situations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER47> I wonder what are legal implications of running GPS jammer constantly.

<comment><USER48> Should be none, at least in the U.S. It's _your_ car.

<comment><USER49> I'm pretty sure GPS jammers are illegal in the US, though. I guess if you wanted to wrap the antenna in aluminium foil, that wouldn't be a problem.

<comment><USER50> Right, and you could also just disconnect the antenna. But GPS is useful for applications that have nothing to do with tracking, so it'd be nice to have access to devices which include strong, _legally enforceable_ guarantees against location tracking (aside from targeted, judicially sanctioned tracking by law enforcement, since making life difficult for cops _with warrants_ does little more than waste taxpayer money).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER51> Looks like they are fishing for a government contract.

</comment><comment><USER52> "The Hyperion grinder lottery is almost upon us! Mandatory tickets will be sent to each household next month."

</comment><comment><USER53> The telematics system, especially the radio, is _probably_ on a separate fuse.

</comment><comment><USER19> "...everyone who breaks the law..." Everyone? Hardly.</comment>


Tl;dr - <AUTHOR>

Writers on the web, please provide an abstract at the top of your articles, so I can decide if I want to read it or not, without having to skim through the entire article. <comment><USER2> I've heard that good newspaper writers write the most important information at the beginning of the article so that you can keep reading if you're still interested but get the main points quickly.</comment>


What makes COBOL such a hated language? - <AUTHOR> http://stackoverflow.com/q/2549399/127880

<comment><USER2> They missed COBOL's fixed-point math, which is unmatched in any other language and makes accounting a breeze and its fixed-length strings, which significantly enhances performance and make green screen/HTML layout easy.

</comment><comment><USER3> I wrote a production COBOL program in 1967. I swore that I would never write another one. So far I've managed to avoid it.</comment>


As of today, App.net is a freemium service - <AUTHOR> http://blog.app.net/2013/02/25/introducing-a-free-tier/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=introducing-a-free-tier

<comment><USER2> I'm going to look at this from their perspective. They have a ton of subscribers right now, but they have 2 problems on the near horizon:

1\. They know that a lot of subscribers have abandoned the service and probably won't pay again, but they don't want to have to report that the number of users is declining once those subscriptions start to expire.

2\. Acquiring new customers is not happening fast enough to keep critical mass or grow.

This move is to address those two problems. I also think it's a negative signal for the future of the company because I don't think a limited free account will get people to join. While they make clear that they are not a Twitter clone, the concept of following people is a Twitter concept, and you don't have those same limitations on a Twitter free account.

There's something in general that bothers me about App.net. In my career I've found that software engineers rarely are able to climb the org chart like business people are. The reason I've found is that engineers in general have a certain disdain for schmoozing and company politics, so they try to isolate themselves from it. App.net's marketing pitch I feel appeals to that isolationist desire and that's part of the reason it was such a hit.

<comment><USER3> What's your evidence to support claim #1?

<comment><USER4> Actually, I think the lack of active users was proven recently.

This "goodwill" move seems to reinforce that. This smells like Second Life's PR all over again.

edit: OP changed #1. Used to say they had a ton of users.

<comment><USER2> Are you talking about me? I didn't change my post in any way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> And the million dollar question is how do I convert my paid account to a free account? Will it happen automatically after the year I got from the KickStarter-like program runs out? Also being able to follow a maximum of 40 people sounds like a feature, not a bug.

<comment><USER6> The pledge was for $50. In October, the annual fee was lowered to $36. As a result, current members received 5 extra months on top of the first year. By the time your credit is up, in February or March 2014, I'm sure you'll be able to change your account to a free plan.

[http://blog.app.net/2012/10/01/app-net-pricing- changes/?utm_...](http://blog.app.net/2012/10/01/app-net-pricing- changes/?utm_campaign=emails&utm_source=emailsrc&utm_medium=email)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> First they charge for it.

Then they make it free.

Then they die.

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm sorry, all of the replies on HN begging for invites are kind of annoying.

<comment><USER9> If you have enough karma for that, downvote all of them.

<comment><USER8> I did.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Seems like a move to inject some momentum into a stalled growth.

<comment><USER11> In the MMORPG world, even handing out free trials, let alone going free to play, is often a sign that a game that's dying. It's a last-ditch effort to keep things going for a few more months.

<comment><USER3> Is World of Warcraft dying? They've been handing out free trials for many years now.

<comment><USER11> It's not always a bad sign, as both WoW & EVE Online have trials and are both running quite strong. In most cases, however, unless the game was launched with free trials/F2P in their business model, it's a sign that they're struggling to get/retain users.

<comment><USER3> Well, App.Net was launched with two Freemium services (GitHub and Dropbox) as their model for a successful service. I have no reason to disbelieve Dalton when he says Freemium was always the plan, especially since ADN users have been clamoring for a free tier pretty much since day 1.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> _So remember this: at its core, App.net is an ad-free, subscription-based platform, a backbone, a dialtone._ [1]

I had to go back and find that to make sure I wasn't misremembering. If the free tier includes a cap on the number of people you can follow, has the "we're not just a pay twitter" angle been abandoned?

[1] <http://blog.app.net/2012/08/>

</comment><comment><USER9> I have given more downvotes in this story comment section than in my whole Hacker News history.

<comment><USER8> Yep, me too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Anyone see the 40 people limit as a problem with this working? I would think limiting connections would limit the usefulness of the service, leading free users to dismiss ADN.

I would like to see ADN become a fully armed and op.. err fully sustainable service (I paid up when they started), but I'm wondering if they should have went further with the free tier.

<comment><USER3> For a lot of people, the only ADN functionality they really care about is that which replicates Twitter. How do you provide a free tier to these people that doesn't remove any incentive to go paid? Limiting the number of people you can follow seems like a great way to do this.

<comment><USER13> I'm interested to see what uses people come up with for ADN's storage. If there are some neat uses, that could be a great incentive.

I don't disagree with the limit providing a great incentive to go paid, but when a free user joins, there is a point where the user decides this service is neat/useful enough that he wants to pay for it. I wonder if this limit might hinder people reaching that point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Free as in falling.

</comment><comment><USER15> Glad to see this. I really liked playing around with their API and even wrote a SMS <-> App.Net gateway client thing (<https://github.com/Ell/appdotnet- sms/blob/master/app.py>)

</comment><comment><USER16> For those wanting to jump onto App.net backstitch (<http://backstit.ch>) has over 100 invites to give out.

<comment><USER17> Verified. Send a request to their twitter @backstitchapp

<comment><USER16> We are sending them out as quick as we can! :)

<comment><USER18> I can confirm that. Thanks for the instant access.

<comment><USER16> No problem! I am excited to see more people talking on App.net

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> App.net was a great refuge away from all the spammers, and I'm totally happy to pay to keep them out. Very disappointed in this change of policy.

<comment><USER20> You still shouldn't get spammers - if all of a paid member's invites go to people who get blacklisted as spammers shortly afterwards, that member shouldn't get any more invites to offer.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I thought that the paywall was supposed to keep degenerates like me away from those cliques that formed during the early years of the term "blogosphere" Wasn't the whole point of this to make you pay to listen to people like Scoble?

The only people who care about platforms are people like us. The average user doesn't care about App.Net being a "more civilized" Twitter.

</comment><comment><USER21> When do we deem the App.net experiment a failure?

<comment><USER22> If it's an experiment it's neither a success nor failure. It's just a data point.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> So this starts a new business model: app.net apps and their paid users prostituting for customers/followers with an invite?

</comment><comment><USER24> I haven't followed app.net too closely, but was that fact that "[...] [they] initially conceived of App.net as a freemium service" a secret at all? From the tone of the comments so far, it's like this entire thing is a surprise.

</comment><comment><USER25> Can the new (free tier) members also invite other people?

</comment><comment><USER16> If anyone is still interested in invites, backstitch (<http://backstit.ch>) still has a bunch to hand out.

</comment><comment><USER26> The paid angle was the only reason I never bothered with app.net. Seems like I need to ask around for invites now. :)

Anybody got one?

</comment><comment><USER27> I would love an invite jm[at]iesta.com Thanks :)

</comment><comment><USER28> I can invite three people.

edit: All gone.

<comment><USER29> peter dot hnusername at gmail. Thank you.

<comment><USER29> Thanks:)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> If this account gets an invite lovamova@gmail.com, I think I don't visit HN daily for nothing.

</comment><comment><USER31> Anyone with remaining invites, It'd be great if you could hook me up with one: sam(at)blork.co.uk

</comment><comment><USER32> Any more invites floating around? I'd love to have one :)

silentreign at gmail.com

</comment><comment><USER33> If anyone has an extra invite, would love to have one please: email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER34> Hopping on the begging train: gatesphere [at] gmail.

Thanks!

</comment><comment><USER35> Would love an invite if anyone has any left. My name at gmail!

</comment><comment><USER36> I would love an invite. josiahdthomas [at] gmail [dot] com

</comment><comment><USER37> I WOULD LOVE AN INVITE!!! matt [at] ingrouille [dot] net

<comment><USER38> Sent you one

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Any spare invite for dmalenko @ gmail.com, please?

</comment><comment><USER40> If you want an invite follow me on app.net.

<comment><USER41> I'll be happy to follow if you invite me :) Email in profile.

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> wow lots of people got invited. If anyone til got a spare invite, please send me [at] tuananh.us .Thanks a bunch.

</comment><comment><USER43> If anyone still wants an invite, I've got 3 available. Just send your email address to email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER44> Let me try some reverse psychology: No one send me an invite at adamnemecek(shift+2)gmail.com.

<comment><USER45> no invite sent!

</comment></comment><comment><USER46> would love an invite if anyone has an extra! nealpgardner at gmail

</comment><comment><USER47> I do have some invites, email me at firstname.lastname@example.com first come, first serve :)

<comment><USER20> I emailed to request one. If you're out, thanks anyway!

Edit - got it, thanks a million!

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> I'd appreciate an invite if anybody has one to share: chmacnaughton [at] gmail [dot] com

</comment><comment><USER49> if anyone has an invite left, kmlymi (at) gmail.com please.

</comment><comment><USER50> I wouldn't mind an invite if someone has one going: firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER51> Joining in the crowd...anyone else have an invite? calvin [at] selectout.org

</comment><comment><USER52> could you give me invitation, thanks, hsj717#126.com,

</comment><comment><USER53> Would love an invite to app.net please, firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER53> Can someone invite me, please? ronalds.vilcins [at] gmail.com

</comment><comment><USER45> invite plz wilcut.matthew at gmail dot com

</comment><comment><USER54> Would love an invite! :)

gaurav [at] dadhania [dot] in

</comment><comment><USER55> I would love an invite. My email is csmeder (gmail.com)

</comment><comment><USER56> Can someone spare me an invite? firstname.lastname@example.com

</comment><comment><USER57> Can I've an invite please? email@example.com

<comment><USER58> Me too. email@example.com

<comment><USER16> Sent you an invite!

<comment><USER53> can you sent me too? ronalds.vilcins [at] gmail.com :)

<comment><USER16> Sent!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> Anyone got an invite?

mcantelon at gm ail dot com

</comment><comment><USER60> Invite please? igfgt1 [at] gmail [dot] com

</comment><comment><USER61> would love an invite please, email@example.com

<comment><USER38> Here you go: <https://join.app.net/p/kvyxdfrbhj>

</comment></comment><comment><USER62> invite please? :)

<comment><USER63> email me for an invite: firstname.lastname@example.com

<comment><USER63> those went fast! all out people

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER64> The second that App.net was announced and I saw the prices, I was out. You don't pay money to develop for a service that only developers are using.

The price was extremely high in comparison to what it offered: Sure, Apple charges to develop for iOS, but iOS has a few hundred million credit-card enabled customers buying software. App.net had a bunch of already-paid developers using the service.

I tried to figure out the point through a few emails with the creator but ultimately it felt like a service for developers flush with spending money to join a sort of app vanity press.

I'm glad that it's opening up now and I'm suddenly starting to get interested in the project!

<comment><USER65> Meh, App.net always seemed to me like an elite club of rich Twitter haters...

Like by having an account you're saying, hey, I'm rich enough to spend $5/month just because I don't like a company.

Give it to charity for goodness sake.

<comment><USER3> Meh, Github always seemed to me like an elite club of rich Bitbucket haters...

Like by having an account you're saying, hey, I'm rich enough to spend $7/mo just because I like a pretty UI.

Give it to charity for goodness sake.

<comment><USER66> Bitbucket's free private repositories is a godsend to academic and other small-time projects. Github can keep their hold on "public code repos as social networking".

<comment><USER67> GitHub offers free private repos for academia.

<comment><USER68> Github offers five, whilst Bitbucket offers what is in essence an unlimited account to academic users.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> I prefer Twitter over App.net. So far there isn't any reason for me to switch. I have no complaints, so I have no need for a competing service.

Anyone else out there feel the same way? App.net's environment seems hostile (like following only up to 40 people), compared to the friendly environment and user experience with Twitter.

<comment><USER70> No complaints? The sponsored tweets haven't annoyed you yet? The inability to use some twitter clients because Twitter refuses to give out more licenses hasn't annoyed you yet?

I use Twitter a lot, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't jump at the first chance of a real alternative.

<comment><USER71> I haven't found the sponsored tweets annoying at all. I mostly don't even notice them. I scan my feed and I only pay attention to the tweets which interest me. Everything else could be an ad as far as I'm concerned.

The number of sponsored ads don't seem high enough to make me feel like it's annoying.

As for Twitter clients. Eh, not sure I care so much. I just need a decent client which doesn't suck.

I think their recent decision sort of suck but as a user I don't know that I care too much.

<comment><USER72> I feel like we as nerds should think in the long term.

Communication should be controlled by the users. Think about all the companies who were screwed over by Facebook's "Likegate." Decentralization is why I prefer Tent and IRC. App.net seems acceptable as well because of the open nature, though it is centralized.

<comment><USER71> How's it open? People keep saying that but there's nothing open about it except the creators keep saying it's open.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER73> Would anyone be able to spare an invite?

email@example.com

</comment><comment><USER74> I'd love an invite as well (email@example.com).

Cheers.

</comment><comment><USER75> Would love an invite :) john dot luxford at gmail

<comment><USER38> sent

<comment><USER75> Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> I have 3 invites. First people to answer these questions correctly gets one (only answer one question):

* What is the integral of "x + 2"?

* How would you implement coroutines with continuations? (Just a very brief description is fine) (edit, if nobody answers this in a few min I'll just invite people)

* What is memoization?

<comment><USER77> memoization, basically remember the results of methods that have a particular parameter values. so it does not actually execute the method it retrieves the remembered value

<comment><USER78> IOW, memoization is a pretentious way of saying result caching.</comment></comment></comment>


The Web in 1993: An academic's notes from the first WWW conference - <AUTHOR> http://scholarlydigitaleditions.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-woodstock-of-web-geneva-25-27-may.html

<comment><AUTHOR> Gets interesting at " __ __My trip report __ __" \- the unedited notes produced at the time (i.e. no hindsight)</comment>


When brain damage unlocks the genius within - <AUTHOR> http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-02/when-brain-damage-unlocks-genius-within

<comment><USER2> I have a rare brain condition, an arachnoid cyst, which is a type of non- cancerous brain tumour I was born with. It's between the parietal and occipital lobes in my left hemisphere, larger than a chicken egg. My neurophysiology is quite peculiar, and I have traits of hyperlexia and Non- Verbal Learning Disorder. The neuroscience team who are working with me have a lot of testing to do, but I'm certain my cognitive strengths, as well as my cognitive weaknesses, are partially to due with my cyst. It's considered to be congential brain damage.

Interestingly, my fiance (a rather brilliant computer scientist) has acquired brain damage from a car accident, and from the time he fell down a flight of stars and broke his neck and bruised the rear of his brain.

</comment><comment><USER3> There is also statistical correlation between genetic disorders which impact neurological function and high IQs. By definition, "genius" is an abnormally functioning brain in some sense. We don't sit around awe struck by people with normal jobs, who drive cars and what not, even though a lot of "ordinary" things today would leave people from even a hundred years ago awe struck. We just think it is normal. Those who can't do such things get viewed as defective.</comment>


Video tour of Google's data centers & their energy/water/space efficiency know-how - <AUTHOR> http://www.virid.us/blog/2009/04/google-shares-data-center-energy.html

<comment><USER2> dupe/blogspam: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=551938>

<comment><AUTHOR> Or a positive story about Google that upsets an IBMer...</comment></comment>


Building a Kick Ass Social Media Team - <AUTHOR> http://www.webguild.org/2008/06/building-all-star-social-media-web-20.php

<comment><USER2> i liked the article - i strongly believe that every company will require this kind of a team - in fact i was thinking on the same line from last couple of weeks that how someone can build a social media marketing team - it is a very diverse subject with unlimited number of tricks, tactics and techniques to create buzz for your product/service. The team has to very well organized and i think this article should be a good start. thanks ucdaz.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I totally agree. Social Media should not be underestimated. It's a great platform to reach out and connect with the community. Especially, if you're thinking about launching a product. The community is a valuable asset for feedback and word of mouth. Social Media FTW!!</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Software Unionization - <AUTHOR> It has been my observation that there exists a division between management and engineering in both smaller and larger software companies.  As a consequence, management in many software companies has become less about the advocacy of employees and more about controlling people's free will.
Are there any existing software engineers unions? Has there been any past attempts at creating them?  If so, do we know why they failed?
To be clear about what a "union" is in this context:
- Hours should be within "reason" (agreed upon during hiring and salary negotiations) and an employee should not be required to work beyond them, but should be permitted if they so choose of their free volition.
- Wrongful terminations would receive legal support from the community which prevented larger companies from abusing the legal system to prevent justice.
- Hostile work environments for all would be handled through cooperation between union mediators and company advocates.
There would of course be dues, but hopefully the very existence of a union would be enough to dissuade some of these companies from acting ruthlessly.
Any thoughts are welcome, even if they believe this to be a bad idea. <comment><USER3> Kickstarter recently voted for a union and was able to negotiate excellent terms for their layoffs.

Check out their website here: [https://kickstarterunited.org/](https://kickstarterunited.org/)

On another note, unions are a wonderful idea for increasing worker power. I don't understand how people expect others to care about democracy, voting, etc. when we're stuck in a dictatorship 8 hours a day at work. Unions make the workplace more democratic, which will overall make people care more about democracy in general, IMO.

<comment><AUTHOR> Perfect, thank you for sharing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Bro bro bro bro where to start on this one?

The fun loving my hobby is my work technology crowd ever getting serious about professionalism and unionizing when there are clueless eager greenhorns pouring in at an exponential rate who will work for the privilege of wearing casual clothing and pizza once a week? C'mon get serious you expect these people to be invested in their own careers apart from chasing approval?

In other news there seems to be a quiet revolution happening -> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23404116](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23404116)

As if it'll gain any traction but here's hoping.

<comment><AUTHOR> Unfortunately, you are probably right. But if we want software to stop being in various states of "broken" forever, we will need professionals not scared of losing their jobs for doing the right thing.

This sounds like syndicalism, and I think it's another great route to improving worker freedoms. I wish them well.

<comment><USER4> Yes it's on the shoulders of the hoi polloi who individually are utterly disempowered to do something about it -- I guess nothing has truly changed since the middle ages except tastes in music and dress.

I've done my part fighting false corporacy bro. It's always the same scenario played over and over a bunch of diddling directors and middling managers cuddling up to their overlords while the team is sold up the river based on their performance evaluations. You'd think we'd learn to DRY but we can't apply systems thinking to our corporate citizenship it's easier to be governed by morlocks.

Speaking of dress have you ever seen an engineering culture where people take their jobs seriously enough to dress up for work, outside of the movies? Huh me neither.

Ever wonder why the root word of investment is 'vestment' as in 'article of clothing?'

For me it was the millionth time I saw my manager wearing the same printed sweatshirt with an illustration of an astronaut that caused me to lose all hope for this industry as a whole.

Edit - I guess you may not see the correlation but it goes to attitude

Software people are so keen to fit in yet not seem organized that they refuse to dress up for work and this is a litmus test for whether they will ever be a strong group versus a collection of free radicals. Doubtful until a new generation able to see through the games comes through kinda like -> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23404186](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23404186)

The answer is always right under our noses but we refuse to see it. It's hard to wake up someone who is pretending to be asleep as it's said.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well written (I laughed), thank you for that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I would love to have a contract (union or not) that details the performance review policies and other aspects of the job. I'm tired of my company not following their own policies to the detriment of employees.

I hate that my contract is a one page document that says they can make new policies or change policies at any time without even making it known to you. I don't think anyone would play a sport where one team could change and enforce the rules on the fly and the other team had no power.

My one concern with a union is that it could lead to job losses. What I mean is that outsourced labor is already cheaper, so if there is a push for higher pay or hour restrictions on salaried employees, then we could see outsourcing increase. It really aucks to see your career dry up after spending 5 years becoming an expert just because the company wants to outsource the work.

</comment><comment><USER6> Here's what I understand and seen of Unions: Unions were made to protect workers because they were being overworked and in many cases, forced to work in horrible conditions where they could potentially die.

What the average engineer has to worry about: being over worked, emotionally abused or fired for any reason (at will employment).

Really good engineers/devs are pampered by tech companies. They will never get overworked or emotionally abused because their managers will do everything they can to make them stay.

Average / mediocre engineers get pushed out because they are compared to the productive ones, and will then begin their job hunt all over again, while the company goes and tries to roll the dice in finding another uber productive engineer.

Because you have this divide of pampered workers and forced out workers, I don't see a case where you can unify the two parts to be on the same page. The better engineers don't have any incentives to form / become a union while the average engineer has no leverage.

<comment><USER5> This, exactly this.

The only thing I would add, is that it isn't necessarily good engineers that have no incentive. I have mediocre engineers who have no incentive - <USER2> agree with their managers on everything so they are treated well.

The only civilized way to get money or power is to make people who have it like you enough to give you some.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > management in many software companies has become less about the advocacy of > employees

What? The companies were never paying managers to do "advocacy of employees".

<comment><USER5> Yep that's just the illusion to keep the peasants in line by making them think they have representation. A great comparison was the first Russian Congress (under Nicholas 2, I think)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> The subject of unionization among software engineers and other workers across the tech industry has been growing in popularity over the last few years (and months, in particular). As others have mentioned, workers at Kickstarter – including engineers – agreed to unionize recently. Employees at Glitch (a mostly remote workplace) also recently unionized[1].

While software engineers enjoy relatively advantageous working conditions compared to workers in other occupations and industries, overwork/exhaustion (also known as "burnout"), discrimination, a lack of due process in discipline/terminations (i.e., "at-will" employment), etc. remain commonplace within the industry and field. While software engineers have some measure of professional leverage with which to advocate for themselves, the inequality of power between employer and worker within the workplace remains unresolved. Collective bargaining and unionization directly addresses that imbalance.

I work as a software engineer and also volunteer with an organization called the Tech Workers Coalition in New York[2] that aims to educate people in our industry about the labor movement and provide resources to help people learn more about successful organizing and their legal protections in the workplace.

Several unions, including the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)[3] and Communication Workers of America (CWA)[4] have devoted greater resources to helping workers in the tech industry organize in their workplaces.

Throughout the history of the tech industry, there have been attempts to organize unions[5]. Many of those efforts have been unsuccessful. These failures have been explained in some cases as the result of the industry's "seductive" allure[6] or the stubborn individualism of professional programmers[7].

I don't believe that either are useful explanations. An alternative explanation, offered by the sociologist Peter F. Meiksins, is that organized labor in the United States entered a rapid state of decline beginning in the late 1960s, just as the modern technology industry and software profession was beginning to grow[8], i.e., software engineers and tech workers weren't joining unions because very few people were joining them in general, not because of any unique aversion.

There has been new, though extremely modest, growth in union activity in recent years, especially among younger workers in industries like healthcare and digital media (an aside: I was a member of the organizing committee of a union at a digital media workplace). With some renewed in the labor movement, it makes sense that software engineers and others would be looking toward unions and collective bargaining as a way to gain a stronger voice in their workplaces.

PS. I also gave a talk on tech workers and the labor movement at EmpireJS in 2018 that might be of some interest[9]

[1] [https://www.wired.com/story/how-kickstarter-employees- formed...](https://www.wired.com/story/how-kickstarter-employees-formed-union)

[2] [https://techworkerscoalition.org/nyc](https://techworkerscoalition.org/nyc)

[3] [https://www.opeiu.org](https://www.opeiu.org)

[4] [https://www.code-cwa.org](https://www.code-cwa.org)

[5] [https://archive.scienceforthepeople.org/vol-8/v8n1/rumblings...](https://archive.scienceforthepeople.org/vol-8/v8n1/rumblings- of-organizing-in-silicon-valley/)

[6] [https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19831225&id=...](https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19831225&id=JFpRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UwYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7041,5138834) "The union-free workforce is…the result of a mystique as likely to seduce production workers as millionaire entrepreneurs."

[7] [https://www.computerworld.com/article/2589356/programmers-- a...](https://www.computerworld.com/article/2589356/programmers--are- programmed--against-unions.html)

[8] [https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?a...](https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=clsoc_crim_facpub)

[9] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLpXPCXKGA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnLpXPCXKGA)</comment>


A Primer on Widevine and How It Can Be Abused to Download Encrypted Movies/Shows - <AUTHOR> https://fidusinfosec.com/breaking-content-protection-on-streaming-websites/ <comment><USER2> Any progress in breaking DRM is good news in my book. Convince me I'm wrong.

<comment><USER3> Nah, I'm with you for sure.

The only downside, perhaps, is that this of course continues the cat and mouse game, leading to more and more devices being infected with DRM (see HDCP, or browsers including proprietary binary blobs to play back DRMed content).

The only alternatives will then be free alternatives or piracy. The optimist in me wants to think that this means DRM free content will proliferate, but the realist in me is thinking that's unlikely, as the money will always be with the DRM camp.</comment></comment>


Quantum fluctuations and life (2004) - <AUTHOR> https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0403017 <comment><USER2> I can't take this paper seriously; for example, the author takes little care to understand the all of the important physical evidence surrounding the protein folding problem before attempting to claim that quantum fluctuations influence protein folding.</comment>


Warren Buffett: Berkshire sold all its airline stocks because of the coronavirus - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/02/warren-buffett-says-berkshire-sold-its-entire-position-in-airlines-because-of-the-coronavirus.html <comment><USER2> The interesting question is exactly when did Berkshire sell its holdings? Did it get out at a profit or did it lose a lot of money?</comment>


Seed.happyfuncorp.com - <AUTHOR> http://tech.co/happyfuncorp-happy-seed-will-simplify-standardize-app-development-2014-08

<comment><USER2> Powerful tool for new and experienced devs. Lowers the cost of creation and enables more awesome stuff to be built. Love it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Awesome concept,most of the time, I stuck what are things to start with. 100% is a must have.

Great initiative.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I do think this can really go a very long way for the development community, we hope people helps share and contribute.

</comment><comment><USER4> Awesome!

</comment><comment><USER5> I stopped dreading setting up a new project.

</comment><comment><USER6> this is really interesting, I'll surely use in future projects!

</comment><comment><USER7> Great to have such info handy!

</comment><comment><USER8> I use this for all my applications.

</comment><comment><USER9> Added to my toolbox!</comment>


Ask HN: User/lead acquisition for young singles? - <AUTHOR>

How would you go about reaching out to young singles in a single city? I've looked at facebook, but the CPC rates seem really high (~$0.50 cents). Initially we want to reach people in Seattle <comment><USER2> Young singles is a really broad demographic. Are you talking about college? Post-college? High School? Thinking of my single friends: There are those that like to go out and those that like to stay in (gamers, otaku). Social networkers and hard workers. Foodies, etc.

Segment your market and then try targeting them at where they spend their time. See which one is the most lucrative or cost effective. i.e. Sure most of them are on Facebook but from a CPC perspective and conversion rate, Facebook might not be the best. Facebook might be too competitive for whatever you are trying to do (i.e. singles matching) A booth at the anime/comic convention might do better when you look at paid subscriptions/cost.

</comment><comment><USER3> Have you tried www.seattlechamber.com/ypn ? Think about NGOs, clubs, and public/private college mailing lists...</comment>