As Barnes and Noble Struggles to Find Footing, Founder Takes Heat - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/12/business/media/barnes-noble-leonard-riggio.html <comment><USER3> The big figure that stood out for me in this article was that the number of independent bookstores in the United States has increased 30% in the last ten years. And there's enough people who love brick-and-mortar shops and physical books to warrant Indigo to expand into the U.S.

I think the article was spot-on about following the Waterstone model of making it a chain of hyper-localized stores, instead of a homogenous behemoth trying to be everything to the masses. Book readers are thinkers, and are turned off by mass marketing.

It's like how local coffee shops continue to survive and thrive, in spite of the ubiquitous presence of Starbucks. People like local, special things. What people on 35th Street in Chicago want to read is not the same as what people in Haight/Ashbury in San Francisco want to read.

If one wants to explore something from the other, there's always in-store ordering, and online. Plus the more-popular-than-ever-in-spite-of-the- zeitgeist libraries.

<comment><USER4> Speaking of coffee shops, I can't for the life of me remember where I heard/read this story, but there was a guy who owned a coffee shop who said that they got a big boost in business when Starbucks opened across the street from them. His claim was that Starbucks was approachable enough to turn more people in the town into regular coffee drinkers, and once they became regular coffee drinkers, they would often seek out something they liked better than Starbucks and end up in his shop.

<comment><USER5> My uncle in Kansas City runs a coffee shop that ran Starbucks of out business[1]. Starbucks brought coffee shops to the masses, but once people get hooked they generally like to support local craft shops that often taste better and feel more personal.

1\. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30sbux.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30sbux.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Hard to feel any sympathy for them when they've been doing stuff like this (Feb 2018) [http://audreyii-fic.tumblr.com/post/170886347853/the- entirel...](http://audreyii-fic.tumblr.com/post/170886347853/the-entirely- unnecessary-demise-of-barnes-noble)

<comment><USER7> Yeah that was gut wrenching. I'll be a typical HN reader, however, and point out this

> B&N is the last thing standing between Amazon and a total monopoly of the > publishing industry

This is total hyperbole. There are plenty of publishers and book stores with online store fronts. When you shop there instead of Amazon, a greater portion of your contribution supports the authors and editors. And as always, once B&N closes up for good, we will see a resurgence of local booksellers, anecdotally I already see it happening in my town. In a lot of ways, your local coffeeshops have also turned into mini bookstores as well, we could see this niche expand.

<comment><USER8> When you say you see it happening in your town, are you referring to an urban or suburban area? Not trying to contradict you here, just legitimately curious. I would think more of the local coffee shop customer would go to this sort of place rather than a Starbucks customer, if I had to guess.

<comment><USER7> It's a fair question -- I live in a suburban town, but I spend a lot of time in the urban center. Thinking of it from this perspective I would say the local bookstore revival is coming to the suburbs, and the coffeeshop quasi bookstore trend is more urban.

<comment><USER9> If one were smart, that would be the obvious chink in Starbuck's business model: create a chain of neighborhood-aware, individualized, community-focused coffee shops / bookstores / office-lite / meeting place.

Essentially blend Starbucks, WeWork, Half-Priced Books, FedEx Print & Ship with hyperlocal zine creation and publishing. Offer logistics support and deals to franchisees, then let them be unique.

Starbucks wouldn't be able to compete, because they've essentially defined themselves as "We're the same, wherever you go." Your moat would be the social integration of place and community. And you'd actually be inspiring local creation instead of corporate consumption.

Call it 'Nubucks', slap a shoe logo on there, and make a billion dollars and a better country.

<comment><USER10> Something like that yes, but they would be high price because supporting corporate overhead requires high margins

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Unfortunately, I have no sympathy for the company, as they recently laid off much of their full-time, expert-level employees for a quick and dirty buck, likely accelerating their demise. It is a shame, though, because in some places - despite the rise of local bookstores - they are the only place left to not only _buy_ books, but a place to "hang out" around books. They also host readings for smaller writers. Yes, libraries also fulfill this function, but where else can you bring your kids, buy a coffee, look at/buy some books or magazines and then go to the nearby mall?

I've always been amazed at how well-stocked B&N stores are, even in small towns like Fresno, CA. Likely one of the only places to buy a philosophy or classic literature book in the whole town.

<comment><USER12> You have a fixed asset (facility) and variable assets (employees). If you are trying to keep your failing company from hemorrhaging money, you can cut the liquid assets, because you have to keep lights on.

The situation at Barnes and Noble is dire. Anyone of us in the same position would have done the same thing, if you cannot admit this, then you need to look at financial sheets and what it takes to run a business.

Bearing this in mind, a similar action was undertaken by Home Depot where they cut their experienced staff loose to save monies, but were not in dire straits, I was on the same bandwagon as you about the move.

<comment><USER13> Nonsense. If you can't properly staff a location, then you close that location. What B&N has done is made a system-wide staffing reduction. So now busy stores have fewer employees to help customers. This ends up hurting sales in all stores, ending in a death spiral.

B&N management has been incompetent for the better part of a decade; Riggio is mostly to blame since he can't seem to either delegate or let go.

<comment><USER14> Unless they targeted higher numbers of experienced staff at said slow stores where their higher pay and experience didn't result in significantly higher sales and largely left experienced staff at busy stores in place. I have no clue if that's how it was done, but it isn't required to do this sort of reduction evenly across the entire business.

<comment><USER13> The firing of the receiving managers and other positions were system-wide. Didn't matter what the store sales were, they lost these positions. At the store near where I live, they often have only 4 employees working at a time, for a very busy location. One at the register, one at the Cafe, one manager, and one bookseller. So good luck if you get a large group of customers who don't want to wait 30 minutes to purchase their books, much less find them on the shelves. It's a death spiral...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Remember when we all hated B&N because they put all our local booksellers out of business?

<comment><USER3> Yep. Amazon did to B&N what B&N did to local bookstores.

Just like China did to Mexico in the 2000's what Mexico did to American factories in the 1990's.

(For those of you not old enough to remember, in the 1990's there was panic over Mexican maquiladoras just across the borders, just the same way that Americans today complain about Chinese factories.

And in the 1980's the same panic, but it was about the Japanese.

My prediction: East Africa will do to China what China did to Mexico.)

<comment><USER16> Does East Africa have the infrastructure and law enforcement necessary to compete with China in manufacturing?

<comment><USER17> I thought china was bankrolling infra in east africa to kind of offshore their manufacture even further

<comment><USER18> Yup, manufacturing will move from China to Africa, and it'll be China reaping the benefits.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> The bottom line is that it's not possible to compete on price with Amazon. Amazon does not need to operate storefronts (although ironically it is starting to open them), has a massive selection, and offers very fast shipping.

Amazon also does not need to deal with shoplifting, which is a huge problem for bookstores. I worked at a Border's Books back in college and it was just amazing how many DVDs were stolen. People would fill backpacks with them.

The only way to outcompete Amazon is by becoming a niche player, not by becoming a worse version of Amazon, which is the outcome of the Barnes and Noble strategy.

<comment><USER14> And those Amazon stores, ironically, are hyper-localized. The one in San Jose has a bunch of "popular in your area" and "highly rated in your area" shelves, and I'm guessing other purchasing decisions are influenced heavily by other local data they have available. B&N aren't just playing against Amazon's supply chain but also their insane data collection.

<comment><USER19> Ironically the Amazon store in Santana Row is across the street from a former Border's location that closed years ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> We've been trying to make all the purchases we can from our local B&N store to try to keep them open as long as possible.

It's a small effort but if everyone does this maybe it will make a difference.

I love going by our local B&N to look at books, games and legos.

Hopefully they can fight this out and stay open.

<comment><USER21> Just curious. Why choose B&N over a local bookstore?

<comment><USER22> In many places I'd guess B&N is the only option. Having a chain bookstore is significantly better than having no bookstore.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I'm kind of surprised that they say they are still struggling. B&N in my area is one of the few chain stores I go to where I am actually interested in their inventory and often but things. I agree that the Nook seemed weird as it was a lesser device to the Kindle at launch and never really differentiated. The fact that they are my go-to shop for interesting gifts is an easy choice. They are one of the few places I can reliably buy interesting Lego and other fun junk. It's usually better selection and selection that seems to rotate inventory than a target and walmart where the experience is static and feels like it hasn't changed in a decade.

Do I buy books there? No, they usually struggle to have anything that meets my interests or are appropriate for my level of expertise. But the fun junk? It's my first stop as it doesn't have the home and house thing like a homegoods or pier 1 style place or an accessory or clothing store. They have a place in the neighborhood marketplace but I am wondering if the square footage is too high per store to make a meaningful conversion. Americans really don't like empty stores and empty shelves even if they have no interest in buying what's on it ever. Once I saw them going the mid-upscale gift shop route I felt they nailed it.

</comment><comment><USER24> I always enjoyed going to B&N to drink a coffee and read a magazine and have thought that they should do something to capitalize on this. I wouldn't mind being able to rent or check out magazines while I drink coffee, then give them back when I leave.

I'm not sure if they can even turn a profit on this though.

<comment><USER25> You invented a library. This is what a library is. Visit your local library.

<comment><USER24> My local libraries don't have cafes. And my local coffee shops don't have good reading material.

<comment><USER26> I've been to libraries with cafes in them.

Alternatively, I've also been to urban libraries where cafes were within walking distance of the library. Less than a block even, closer than a bus stop.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Smaller stores in higher traffic areas, a few bigger stores that serve a larger suburban metro, and they need some exclusives and maybe a paid membership program.

</comment><comment><USER28> What should B&N do???

Support the efforts of reading epub's in browsers, get rid of "an app for that" and simply have Edge/Chrome/Firefox be your front end for reading as well as a limited selection of nook branded tablet devices included 1-2 7" tablets and 1-2 paper white devices. your part time sales can't be good at selling 4-5 different devices you have now. Make your ebooks universally readable without the expense of "an app for that". Have a simple discovery service that is http so it works on anythimg/everything as store front.

work with indy publishers and such to fast-track publication of books to nook devices - promotion at stores, promotion on wifi login - allow people to buy this space and self-service taking advantage of online and offline premium presence.

maybe ditch printed magazines entirely and push electronic delivery and have ipads or samsung galaxies at stores with read at store capability and a simple way to buy and subscribe and deliver - save the retail/stocking space of magaines - maybe even offer something like "subscribe to 5 magazines, get 7" nook for free" \- offer this approach to bloggers who write good blogs/online magazines so you can help indy publishers and indy content.

Make the B&N discount program universal - apply to all purchases at B&N - <USER2> up the price if need be.

Follow amazon's footprints - if you're a B&N member have consistent pricing online & offline - monopolize on 600+ locations. Who cares if they buy on or offline, make pricing the same.

keep the cafe's up and the service up. Make sure wifi doesn't suck ass like it does at a lot of stores supplied by shitty ATT service. Just like you allow Nooks to read at the store, allow anyone with a browser to read at the store. Instead of copying the mile long receipts of CVS, use wifi login to make it stupid easy to purchase/have a coupon or funnel customers to an experience that builds a sales funnel.

Fix the "pickup at store" to be stupid easy rather than painful process.

Work with favor or city delivery services to offer B&N "now" in major cities for ~ 2-hour delivery service and use this to incentivize purchasing and sales funnel - no need to do your own delivery, capitalize on other services. Offer this as a discount to B&N members so they choose you for fast books even if they can't make it to a store or don't want 3-5 day delivery from website.

Update the 7" nook asap - keep using android, make it known it can use any ebook service out there too even if its not yours - add 512MB of ram (1.5gb total or so), increase CPU speed slightly - fix the local storage to be faster and 16gb - the current 8gb model requires massive nerding to be useful by any means - if your customer is older people who read tons of books - make it stupid easy for them to do so with nook / B&N branding all over the place - even if they're reading google books or amazon books or microsoft books - having a Nook that can easily read all of that means you own the fucking start page to reading. Hell, hack the price up to 69 bucks to make the 7" nook just that much better - if you had iterated on it i'm sure the nook experience would be killing it rather than festering.

help monetize podcasts - just like blog/magazine content above - use your branded nook devices to offer a simple channel - it can't cost much to acquire and develop a simple solution that could be built into a web service and branded on nook devices. allow podcasters to join in with monetization to allow you to fill these with pre-roll commercials or "supported by" and allow others to buy these spots just like web presence, end caps. learn to grow your digital market not just in commissions but in creating a person two person market - get out of the way of defining the product but allow people to create products that you have experiences to sell.

hire me. :)

<comment><USER29> More than beefing up their current small tablet lineup I'd love to see a well- supported large screen reading device. I know I can get a 10 inch tablet from whoever, but a decent e- ink option would be an amazing thing for both large format books and aging populations.</comment></comment>


Uber Acquires Part of Bing's Mapping Assets - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/29/uber-acquires-part-of-bings-mapping-assets-will-absorb-around-100-microsoft-employees/ <comment><USER2> This acquisition plus the Carnegie Mellon robotics lab acquisition [1] makes it pretty certain they are doubling down and putting huge technical investments into autonomous cars. They are perfect for it too - but damn if that isn't quick considering how long they have been on the market.

[1] [http://www.wsj.com/articles/is-uber-a-friend-or-foe-of- carne...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/is-uber-a-friend-or-foe-of-carnegie- mellon-in-robotics-1433084582)

<comment><USER3> Agreed, and another thing they're doubling down on: disentangling themselves from Google. Eventually they'll stop using Google Maps, and I'd guess Google Ventures will sell their stake in Uber at their next stratospheric private financing raise, if they haven't already.

It's vaguely reminiscent of Google/Apple's friendly status up until 2007, when it quickly deteriorated to "frenemy" then "direct competitor in nearly every market."

<comment><USER4> Ah, but wouldn't Google want to keep it's investments in sectors that it believes will grow, even if they're competing with them, a la Microsoft & Apple[1]?

[1]: [http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2010/05/apples...](http://arstechnica.com/information- technology/2010/05/apples-stock-rise-could-have-meant-5-billion-for- microsoft/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Any idea on how this affects their alliance with OpenStreetMap? [http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Bing](http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Bing)

<comment><USER6> _There are no planned changes to this._

[https://twitter.com/rbrundritt/status/616028862531530752](https://twitter.com/rbrundritt/status/616028862531530752)

(from the Bing Maps program manager)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This is notable in my mind as I can't recall a "reverse-acqui-hire" of this size quite like this. What I mean is, usually it is the MSFTs/GOOG/APPLs of the world scooping out chunks of tech talent from smaller firms or taking them over altogether, not the other way around.

</comment><comment><USER8> I particularly like the part where the assets^Whuman resources^W^Wemployees are bundled off with the tech.

Hopefully they got some kind of decent compensation?

<comment><AUTHOR> Usually when there's an acquisition like this, there's some sort of bonus as long as the employee stays for X months/years. I think 2 years is pretty common but considering how young Uber is, it may be different.

<comment><USER9> If they're getting Uber options it could be a real blessing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Does this mean that Uber now has an engineering presence in the Seattle area? Or are they acquiring the old Vexcel team based in Boulder?

<comment><USER11> Uber has had an engineering presence in Seattle for at least four months: [http://www.geekwire.com/2015/uber-opening-seattle- engineerin...](http://www.geekwire.com/2015/uber-opening-seattle-engineering- office-led-by-isilon-vet-tim-prouty/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> At first glance this seems like a terrible business decision by Microsoft.

<comment><USER13> How is bing anything but an enormous gift to google?

What I see is a marginally profitable business (finally, following years of huge / $4B per year losses) that obscures google's true monopoly in the US. For all the claims of 20% search marketshare, on my personal blog, google has 98.7% marketshare in the last 10k search visits. It's an open question if bing is worth the hassle -- is it foreseeably profitable enough that msft should continue in that business?

imo, it would quite damaging to google if msft shut bing down, reallocated the engineers to more profitable projects, and let google own their 75% + bing's 20% == undeniable monopoly search marketshare, with the immediate antitrust implications, in the US.

Microsoft's biggest threats appears to be things like chromebook, google apps, and ios/android rendering windows and office largely unnecessary. I don't see how having a search engine helps any of the above.

<comment><USER14> A lot of microsoft's cloud expertise comes from running bing. Also how do you expect them to push stuff like cortana if bing (the brain) shuts down.

<comment><USER13> Why is cortana important? They will be competing with similar free products that are hardware subsidized or ad subsidized. Where and how does this turn into income? msft just sold off a big chunk of their ad operations, and almost certainly will not be selling large amounts of hardware. Xbox one has sold ~10mm units, and as a road into the living room has been mostly a complete failure. That's neither large enough for ad subsidies or hardware subsidies to work. What am I missing?

<comment><USER15> Cortana, siri and Google now are the future of advertising and sales. "Okay Google, order me a pizza". "Hey siri, call me a cab". "Cortana, I need restaurant reservations at 8. Something nice".

The virtual assistant's job is to pick a supplier and spend your money on your behalf. Everybody wants a piece of that.

<comment><USER16> Maybe - but users won't go for it if there's a principal-agent problem. Google and Apple will face a temptation to choose suppliers that pay the highest commissions and they'll have to overcome that temptation if they want their services to take off.

They won't get users to say "Siri, book me a flight" if it books you a $500 American Airlines flight when you wanted a $300 Southwest flight.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Charles River Ventures Trolling for Startups on Facebook - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/26/charles-river-ventures-trolling-for-startups-on-facebook/ 6% for 100k vs. 6% for 10-20k <comment><USER2> Trawling.

<comment><AUTHOR> I actually think that in this case the word trolling is more appropriate. If Charles River were "trawling" they would be conducting an extensive search to look for what they want. If they are "trolling," they are using bait to see what comes along.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_>(angling) <http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/forums/viewthread/440/>

But, I hadn't actually heard the word "trawling" before -- thanks.

<comment><USER2> I get what you're saying, but I still think it's a misuse of trolling due to conflation w/ trawling.

Even if I am 'right', though, I will be wrong in a few decades if enough people continue make this mistake. (Usage = correctness.)

<comment><AUTHOR> hah. well it's a good thing you're correcting people on YC then! :)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Joy of Coding - <AUTHOR>

Last year, I thought of an idea for a mobile app and decided to code it myself. This is significant because my prior programming experience was limited to some PHP, along with HTML and CSS. I hadn't worked with Objective-C before and I am a self-taught programmer--I knew I was in for some work.
So I signed up for O'Reilly's Safari bookshelf and added some books to it (several from Apress) and started reading.
Next thing I knew, I was building some basic-level apps. This gave me the confidence to build more complex apps, so I tried my hand at some more challenging tutorials. I was so engrossed in coding that I would routinely look up to find that it was 1 or 2am. In the morning I would wake up, make sure my laptop was charged and get cracking.
This went on for 2 weeks (mostly over the holidays) and then I realized that I had other matters that needed my attention. After missing an important phone call because I was so distracted with coding, I wondered if I should set up an Automator task to remind me of appointments (I eventually caught up with the person and everything worked out great).
These days, I am reading up on OOP and writing up use cases. And I'm still coding. All this in addition to the work I normally do.
I gave coding an inch and that sucker took a mile.
I guess the point of this is to say (and of course you all know this already) that coding is awesome. On some level, I knew this from my previous programming efforts, but OOP has opened my eyes to a whole new world of coding. Now that I've gotten started, I can't stop.
I wish more people understood the joy of coding.
JFC
P.S. I know that coding, like everything else, has its downside, but let me enjoy my coding honeymoon for a little while longer, okay?
P.P.S. I've built over 30% of my app at this point. <comment><USER2>
      > P.P.S. I've built over 30% of my app at this point.

The other 130% will take 50 times as long ... <grin>

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, starting to see that.

<comment><USER2> Some advice?

Pick a date and release it whatever state it's in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I've been at this for about 10 years now, off-and-on.

These past two weeks I've been stuck in the grind with a mountain of projects, just growing tired of clients and growing scope and blah, blah blah.

Seeing your enthusiasm is helpful to me. It reminds me why I started in the first place. I do love what we get to do, and I hope you file what you've written away and look back on it from time-to-time to remind yourself why you're doing what you do.

Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin have a great podcast out called "Back to Work" (<http://5by5.tv/b2w>), and Merlin had a great part around 20 minutes of episode 4 where he talks about getting bummed by deadlines, and by how much work he has to do, and how hard it is, and then he says:

"Then I caught myself and said 'waaitaminute', I dick around on the internet for a living and write about whatever I want. Oh my God, I am so not allowed to be that sad about this. If I can't figure out how to be happy doing what I'm doing, I might as well give up."

Good reminders. Thanks for posting, and for your enthusiasm. :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Appreciate the comment. Will definitely check out the podcast.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The more you code, especially in mobile, the more you realize that there is a better way of doing things. It's ok to throw away old code and start over. That's part of the fun. Otherwise, we'd be copy and paste monkeys. I've personally gone through six or seven iterations of how to deal with UITableViews.

Watch the WWDC sessions. Or if you do Android, watch the Google I/O sessions and study their methods. It's fascinating and interesting to learn from people whose main passion (and day job) is making app code more efficient, more responsive, or a better user experience.

WWDC10 session #104 "Designing Apps with Scroll Views" is an amazing look into how Apple's own Application Engineers make iOS apps. You may not ever work for Apple (most people aspire but probably won't) but engineering code like they do will be a subtle way to differentiate your product from the unwashed apps out there.

The more you learn about design, the more valuable you will be. The best coder I know is a better designer. And that is saying something. Strive to be a better designer than coder and eventually things will balance out. Anyone can code - that is a commodity - but being able to code and craft a beautiful user experience - that is something quite rare.

Good luck and keep going, do it for the journey not for the paycheck! Even if you don't get paid, it's an investment that will pay off.

<comment><AUTHOR> Appreciate the advice and resources. Really good call on the WWDC sessions; am planning to watch a few of them later on. I've got alot to learn, but it feels good trying.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> One thing I like about coding is the projects that are hard that you actually finish. I struggle with these, not understanding, fighting bugs, and just going slow in general. But I keep at it. At some point I look back and I see I've actually coded something that very nearly works like I wanted it too. That is very satisfying.

<comment><AUTHOR> Ditto. It's a great feeling to see an application that I've coded actually do what it's supposed to do. My second favorite thing is when an error message disappears.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I agree. I run a service business, but am constantly learning new languages, recently using Python to script access between Endicia (US postage app) and Fishbowl (inventory/ordering app).

And unlike surfing, a crowded field can be useful, so no need for a "coding sucks, don't try it" bumper sticker.

</comment><comment><USER7> If you love the language you're coding in, the honeymoon may never fade. Get me working on some old school C or Python and I'll have the same problem. "Crap, its 3am...did I eat?"

Keep at it! I hope you keep enjoying it.

</comment><comment><USER8> congrats, dude.

its turtles all the way down from here.

</comment><comment><USER9> Which of the books you read for learning iOS would you recommend?

<comment><USER10> I've tried a couple of the books. First used Beginning iPhone Development, from Apress, then looked at some others in a bookstore. The problem I found with all of them is that they teach you a few specific things to accomplish common tasks (clickable button, lay out data in a table, etc) but once you want to get more complicated, you're digging into Apple's documentation to figure out how to do it. Once I got to that point, I realized that Apple's documentation is actually pretty good, so I've given up on the books and started just using Apple's stuff. Once you get used to the official documentation, when you want to go back for more details you're going to the master source that has all the information, not just a book chapter with some high points. You have to be a registered iOS developer to have access, but if you want to release to the App Store you're going to have to anyway.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> PHP is the gateway drug. Welcome aboard!</comment>


From Apple to Nest Labs, Always a Designer - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/jobs/from-apple-to-nest-labs-always-a-designer.html?_r=0

<comment><USER2> Slightly o/t: PG recently tweeted about YC's dissatisfaction with the Nest[1], but didn't talk more about it. If anyone from YC could tell us a bit more about their experience with the Nest, that'd be awesome. I personally like mine a lot, but I've noticed amongst my friends that it's a "love it" or "hate it" product. Then again, my thermostat needs aren't draconian either.

[1]: [https://twitter.com/paulg/status/358420997591941120](https://twitter.com/paulg/status/358420997591941120)

 _" We installed Nest thermostats at YC and frankly it has been a disaster. Design does not end with the case, guys."_

</comment><comment><USER3> What's most intriguing is how/when Nest will move beyond thermostats. Most of the appliances in our homes are still lacking "good design" (how many buttons does your microwave have again?)

It's also interesting to put Nest in the context of "Build Something People Want." Very few average consumers asked for a nicer thermostat, and there was little prior evidence that one would do that much better in the marketplace, but Nest seems to be doing quite well.</comment>


The Big Little Man from Brooklyn (1968) - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/11/16/the-big-little-man-from-brooklyn <comment><USER2> This is as good a time as any to recommend Orson Welles's mesmerizing documentary, "F for Fake" about the now infamous art forger Elmyr de Hory.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory)</comment>


SAS Rescue 3 Trapped British Diplomats in Albania - <AUTHOR> https://www.mydiplomaticlife.com/sas-rescue-trapped-diplomats-in-albania/ <comment><USER2> The reason for the "civil disturbance" in Albania in 1997-1998 is very interesting to study: the collapse of nation wide Ponzi schemes.

Several different Albanian Ponzi schemes were basically marketing themselves as banks, and they were real legitimate businesses with IT employees and salesmen and everything.

Eventually almost every Albanian had money tied up in these schemes in one way or another, and one by one they all started to go bust as the leaders ran away with the money or were otherwise unable to payout interest on deposits, or even return initial principal deposits.

As a result, the nation rioted, and the PM decided to flee.

Realizing this, certain elements in the Albanian population decided to raid the local police armories for military equipment of all times. And what resulted was an interesting and tragic case study of what happens when several different armed factions and many thousands of bandits begin to commit violence against anyone and everyone under the guise of "re-establishing law and order".

<comment><USER3> Indeed, a very good case to learn from for people saying "such things can't happen" in a modern civil state country.

Albania is of course not the best examples of a "Western" country, but it is far more than, say, what ex-Soviet states were.

Imagine a few big banks falling in the same manner in a particularly low point for ones country. In a few breakdowns of civil states so far, since the WW2, the prime majority fell to "lightning out of the blue"

<comment><USER4> Is Albania considered a western country at all? I never thought of it as such.

<comment><USER5> Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009, and (just this year) has begun negotiations to join the EU.

Not every "Western" country is a NATO member, but NATO members are usually counted as "Western". Similarly, EU member states generally count as "Western", and a country formally negotiating to join the EU probably falls in that bucket too.

Turkey is possibly the big exception to the generalisations that "NATO member"="Western" and "negotiating to join the EU"="Western". However, Turkey used to have much more of a pro-Western orientation when it was ruled for decades by secular nationalists. It is only in the last 20 or so years, with Turkey being ruled by the religiously conservative AKP, that Turkey has been moving away from a "Western" identity. But Albania's politics are very different from those of Turkey. Albania's politics are dominated by secular parties. While both Turkey and Albania are majority Muslim, the kind of religious conservatism which is the driving force behind the current Turkish government is far less popular among Albanians.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> As an Albanian who had left the country 4 days before those events, I think I should add a few comments.

While there had been unrest in 1997, there had been no civil unrest at the capital, Tirane, for about a year before this happened. Many embassies, including the U.S.A. one were opened. What sparked this unrest was the killing of an opposition politician. There were accusations that the government killed him. It is now mostly clear that the government didn't do it.

It is not clear to this day if the revolt was an attempted coup or not. There is a video, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WjksCDho2Y), of the office of the prime minister burning on that day. One would assume that if there was a coup they wouldn't burn the office they intended to occupy. But protesters did occupy briefly the State TV and a member of the opposition appeared and said the situation was under control. The prime minister had left the country. The situation was stabilized by the American embassy who told the opposition that they would not recognize their government if they created one. That was enough to calm the situation in a few days. That was also the last time there was a major civil unrest in Albania (though the office of prime minister has been attacked a few more times).

No matter which side of politics would be in charge they meant no harm to the British interests. Given the respect that the people have for Britain and the legendary good treatment that the Albanians reserve for their guests, the risk to the Britsh embassy was very small. Clearly there could always be opportunistic criminals that can use the occasion to act while the police is not around, but the fact that no foreigners were hurt before, during or after the events should be good enough proof.

I take issue with the article's characterization that the protesters were shooting at his car. While I clearly wasn't there, unfortunately I had been present at other similar events and it was always the case that the protesters and anybody else involved were generally shooting on the air. If a bunch of armed men were really shooting at the car, the car would have been hit.

</comment><comment><USER7> Albanian here, want to clarify some things:

1\. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....

It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a police precinct).

2\. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored (never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this thing.

3\. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as 'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird, but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility' that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.

It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...

4\. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country from further unrests.

I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.

Ps. Also, Albania is a very beautiful Mediterranean country... while it is lacking in infrastructure, It is just as beautiful as neighbors (southern Italy, Greece or Croatia, which most americans are familiar with).

[https://pixabay.com/images/search/albania/](https://pixabay.com/images/search/albania/)

[https://www.thetravel.com/20-breathtaking-photos-that- will-m...](https://www.thetravel.com/20-breathtaking-photos-that-will-make- you-want-to-check-out-albania-asap/)

<comment><USER8> Bodies lying in the street as described is pretty bad

<comment><USER6> Press accounts of the day speak about only one protester dead and 4 policemen wounded. See for example BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/170367.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/170367.stm). It's almost sure that all of them were hit by ricocheted bullets or bullets falling from the sky. So most likely the body that he speaks about was one of the wounded policemen. The policemen most probably had just been wounded and was rescued soon after the diplomat saw him. There are no known cases of wounded or dead bodies lying on Albanian streets for long periods of time at any time in the history of the country.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> That's a cool site.

As someone who spent most of my childhood overseas, it warms my heart to see this kind of thing get a bit more exposure.

My father was in the CIA, then was an administrator for NGOs. I grew up in some... _interesting_ places.

</comment><comment><USER10> I spent a week in Albania last year and my experience couldn't be more opposite (obviously there's no civil war on at the moment).

I love the place and it's mostly because of the people. Never have I met more friendly laid back and helpful people. For example, my airbnb host that I stayed with, for all of 2 nights, kept my large suitcase so I could spend the week in the south with just my carry-on bag. When I got back to Tirana not only did his brother come and meet me with it, he also dropped me off at my next airbnb across town and carried it in for me.

Somewhere I wouldn't hesitate to recommend others visiting. I'll be going back when I can and for longer this time.

<comment><USER11> It's pretty comical to compare your tourist visit to Albania last year against a Special Air Service operation during a civil war 23 years ago.

<comment><USER10> mm I get what you mean, but it was more like: Today Albania is a great country to explore and you'd be missing out if you were in the region and skipped over it.

Another thing is their reputation within Europe is... well to put it as one Albanian said to me laughingly: "They're scared of us. They think we're all gangsters"

Most people don't know a lot about the country so if they just read the article or go from what they have heard a European say, they might have an impression that doesn't truly represent it.

<comment><USER12> > Another thing is their reputation within Europe is... well to put it as one > Albanian said to me laughingly: "They're scared of us. They think we're all > gangsters"

As an fellow European, I think most people around here would just lump it together with the rest of Balkans; so nothing personal against Albania specifically :) And having couple of (internal-ish) wars does tend to leave memory, especially if they happen on your back yard (from global viewpoint)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> You can tell that they're well seasoned professional troops by the fact that they were comfortable enough to stop and get pizza.

<comment><USER7> Albanian here, want to clarify some things:

1\. The situation was never that bad as the post makes....

It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of a police precinct).

2\. That politician, was not killed by the government, but it is rumored (never verified) that he was setup by his rival leader of his own party. The same guy who very conveniently then went to the streets and demand the government step down. His own bodyguard was somehow intermingled in this thing.

3\. Also, 0 foreigners were harmed during these protests, or past ones... I know Embassies have to take precautions, in Albania foreigners are treat as 'guests' of the house, and treated well. (even during protests). Sounds weird, but that's how it is. It is like the whole nation has the 'responsibility' that the foreign guests have a good time when they visit.

It is from old traditions/customs, dating back to ancient times...

4\. This is an example of good American intervention, by then Bill Clinton's cabinet, which was very competent. They basically called the 'bad guy', and told him that the US would not recognize this government, as it was not democratically elected, and you will be considered an outlawed gov. and isolated from the rest of the world. That was enough, for the 'bad politician', to step down, and let a provisory government with members from all major parties to take over until the next elections. The coup-de-ta was over in two days with just one phone call, and probably spared the country from a massive bloodshed/unrests.

I know for some reason American involvement gets a lot of flack, but great examples of 'just/correct' and successful intervention almost never make the news. It is always the failures that do, unfortunately.

<comment><USER12> > It is similar to the current June events in the US (unrests/protests), but > sans looting of random businesses, just burning of the PM office (instead of > a police precinct).

Wikipedia claims 2000-3800 deaths during the Albania crisis, in a country with population of <3 million; US protests have 26 deaths (again from wiki), with US population being >300 million. That is like 4 orders of magnitude difference there.

<comment><USER7> That was in March 1997, completely different thing from this one...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Never mind the SAS, who are sauntering around with flak jackets and armed to the teeth, it's Benny the driver, who volunteered to go on patrol with them, who is the coolest character in this story!

<comment><USER6> I wonder if Benny was a local Albanian. The fact that he spoke Albanian suggests that indeed he was. In that case his actual name would have been Beni (but pronounced Benny).

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Awesome blog. The Libya one was even better. I have a picture of Hermes Conrad stamping the forms at the border, using every trick in the book to rescue those foreign workers. British civil service at its finest.

</comment><comment><USER16> Interesting how quick the squad was able to deploy, clearly bypassed any diplomatic decision making

<comment><USER17> There was a civil war in Albania since 1997 and most other countries had their embassies evacuated. The US Marines cleared the US embassy in Tirana cleared already: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Silver_Wake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Silver_Wake)

They were probably prepared to deploy for some time (assuming this was 1998 and not 1997): [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Civil_War)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> [2020 article about a 1998 occurrence]

<comment><USER15> Yes I did a double tape originally. And it was the driver who residue the diplomats, the sas turns up later to fortify the embassy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Very nice article. It was a very troubling time, with Greece even wanting to basically invade the south of Albania to "protect minorities".

</comment><comment><USER20> This is one of those weird titles that I would interpret differently based on whether I saw it on HN or in a newspaper.

I was wondering how something called "SAS Rescue 3" would have trapped any diplomats anywhere.

It also probably has to do with American vs British English and the use of "Rescue" vs "Rescues".

<comment><USER21> It's mostly to do with shitty Click Bait Title Casing. You'd never think 'SAS rescue three' was the name of a military unit.

BTW HN turns submitted titles into Shit Casing if they contain a certain amount of caps (happens easily with acronyms). If you edit it again, it will accept the original. Wish it would just take what you submit in the first place though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Recommended watch on Youtube: SASA who dares wins. I'm hooked.

</comment><comment><USER23> EU started accession process with Albania in March this year. It appears to be following the same model as Ancient Rome, Napoleon and Hitler, relying on a constant stream of newly acquired territories to continue its existence.

</comment><comment><USER24> This is not about Scandinavian Airlines.</comment>


Irrational markets: people reject free money out of anger - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/06/irrational-markets-people-reject-free-money-out-of-anger.ars <comment><USER2> "Private Impunity Game, in which the person who made the offer wasn't even informed of whether it was rejected or not—they simply walked away with their share of the cash."

I wonder if they reject the cash to feel more justified to punch the other person in the face if they meet them after the test. While still irrational, that would cater to an internal sense of fairness.</comment>


Self-Driving Cars: End of the Human Driving Era  - <AUTHOR> http://nesteduniverse.net/2012/06/self-driving-cars-end-of-the-human-driving-era.html#.UFgeFq4d_qA

<comment><USER2> just wanted to say that if alcohol is related to 31% of the deaths in driving crashes. Then being sober accounts for 69% of the deaths therefore it is safer to be drunk then to be sober. Woohoo!</comment>


Earning Your Stripes: An Interview with Patrick Collison - <AUTHOR> https://www.fs.blog/2018/05/patrick-collison/ <comment><USER2> Transcript: [https://s3.amazonaws.com/fs- lc/2018/Podcast/Transcripts/Patr...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/fs- lc/2018/Podcast/Transcripts/Patrick+Collison.pdf).

<comment><USER3> I thought the

>It's very striking to me how Warren and Charlie at Berkshire and how the folks at Koch Industries are so into a kind of epistemology, and structuring of doubt, and accounting for biases, and mechanisms for a clarity of thinking, to a very striking degree.

bit was interesting

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I've always admired Stripe but the way their support has gone down is baffling. They always had the "developer first" approach but I can get better support from my legacy bank in terms of payment gateways now than from Stripe.

<comment><USER5> I second this (and I'm someone who admires stripe too). I seem to only get generic support emails from Stripe, with an emphasis on closing the ticket, rather than answering the question. This may be a side effect of growing at the pace they have. Incidentally, I got cold called by wepay a week ago to integrate with my app ([https://usebx.com](https://usebx.com)) and their support has been rather impressive - for me, they are winning on the customer support front.

<comment><USER6> It's long ago been observed that support doesn't scale. Small companies have an edge over large companies and it is a real pity that even Stripe seems to fall to this rule, though two comments in this vein do not yet indicate that the line has already been crossed it is source for worry. Anybody that ever manages to crack 'support at scale' will run circles around the competition.

<comment><USER7> Amazon? I've seldom heard bad things about Amazon's support. (amazon.com that is, not AWS; not that I heard bad things about AWS support either)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Stripe is probably the only company i am desperately waiting for them to open up a palo alto office. No brainer to work for them, except i dont like city/commute.

Great work, great company.

</comment><comment><USER9> Really enjoyed this talk, especially the stuff about the Irish emphasis on making people feel at ease. I wish I had more of that.

He has just the amount of humility for his age/CV!

</comment><comment><USER10> It seems like Stripe is doing a media blitz this week. They are on "How I Built This" and a couple other sites. Do they have a major announcement coming up?

<comment><USER11> Both podcasts were recorded months ago... just coincidence how they landed.

<comment><USER12> I listened to you on this and erza klein a while about (i found them both very interesting, and im a happy customer of stripe) - question about your reading habits - do you find that with the success of stripe you have had a lot less time read these days, or have you been able to maintain reading a lot regardless?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Very enjoyable episode, whether or not you like Stripe or startups in general. Lots of great pointers and ideas. Personally I especially enjoyed the segment on "optimal algorithm for reading." Thanks Shane and Patrick.

</comment><comment><USER14> Unfortunate title; noncommissioned officers are sadly few and far between at tech companies.

<comment><USER15> Former Marine Corps NCO checking in. I'm about to start at Stripe in a few weeks. You're not wrong, but we do show up now and again.</comment></comment>


Fortnite: Ninja won't play with female gamers - <AUTHOR> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-45169157 <comment><USER2> Both points of view have something to them. Sounds like ab annoying decision to make because you will either offend some strangers, or risk people questioning your personal life.</comment>


No, a Tesla didn't predict an accident and brake for it - <AUTHOR> http://ideas.4brad.com/no-tesla-didnt-predict-accident-and-brake-it <comment><USER2> This post is misleading or just wrong. Perhaps the author is stuck on the word "predicting" as in I figured out soon there will be an accident using magical AI techniques.

As the author says, the tesla saw 2 cars (things) in front of it, the one farther ahead rapidly slowing down, the one directly ahead was very likely to need to slow down to avoid a crash, so the tesla slowed down. I don't understand the issue using a word like 'prediction', but it did slow down ahead of time, because it noted the situation and computed a likely future state.</comment>


Rental camera gear destroyed by the 2017 eclipse - <AUTHOR> https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2017/09/rental-camera-gear-destroyed-by-the-solar-eclipse-of-2017/ <comment><USER2> It's a shame that Lens Rentals had to suffer such material loss, but that report is absolute gold-plated first-hand evidence for my perennial debates with other photographers who insist that they don't need Solar protection for eclipses.

"But I took a landscape shot at midday with the Sun in frame and it didn't melt my sensor". The difference being the length of exposure and the concentrations of energy.

<comment><USER3> > And of the things returned, we were equally impressed with our customer- > base, and their guilt and owning up to the damage.

I thought the renters would be paying for it?

<comment><USER4> They still probably lose out on some revenue until a replacement is in stock. Having a working lens is always better for business than getting reimbursed to buy a replacement lens. (That's the nature of the business, though.)

<comment><USER5> LensRentals do all possible repairs internally, so I suspect that the downtime on an expensive lens like that is minimal if possible. Roger mentioned on the photography subreddit that the aperture replacement was a $200 part and 3 to 4 hours -- it only took so long because it was that tech's first time replacing that part.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/6xg8a7/lens_re...](https://www.reddit.com/r/photography/comments/6xg8a7/lens_rentals_shows_some_of_their_rental_camera/dmga5m0/?context=3)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> At one point during the eclipse I used a pair of binoculars to project an image of the sun onto the ground. Of course, it was a double image, so to fix that I covered one of the eyepieces with my hand. It took about three seconds for the pain to register. Hard to say which hurt more: the small, first-degree burn on my palm or the rest of me from kicking myself afterwards.

<comment><USER7> Should have covered the _intake_ side.

<comment><USER6> _Now_ you tell me! ;-)

<comment><USER8> Well, you're good for the next one.

<comment><USER9> only if you live to 300!

<comment><USER10> ? There's another total eclipse coming through North America in 2024. Passes right over my city, hurrah.

<comment><USER11> What state is hurrah in?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think my favorite part of this article is how the author is so understanding and positive about his users. I think if I had rented out cameras to people, told them not to point it at the eclipse, and then got a bunch of damaged cameras back, I'd be pissed. In fact, I might have choice words for those customers.

I think there's a lesson here in targeting inexperienced consumers. Perhaps a good preventative measure would have been handing out protective lenses before the eclipse so that customers would have really had to try to mess it up.

<comment><USER13> Why would he be angry? The customers are paying for the damage.

<comment><USER14> There's still a potential opportunity cost from temporarily not having those damaged items in stock.

<comment><USER15> IANAPhotographer, but many other rental businesses (cars, boats, bicycles, etc.) make lots of money on overcharging for repair/theft. It wouldn't shock me to learn that camera rentals are the same.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Now imagine that kind of damage being done to your eyes.

It hurts just thinking about it, yet some people don't seem to really believe the warnings.

<comment><USER17> I'd argue this is slightly worse because the cameras have higher magnification lenses* vs our naked eye. This might be more akin to looking into a telescope with your eyes.

Edit: To elaborate - Higher magnification lenses (depending on the camera lens used of course)

Edit 1: - /u/corndoge Suggests that people may take this the wrong way. I mean to say in the amount of physical damage it's worse for camera's because of the extra (and typically higher magnification lens). I don't mean that a burnt camera is worse then a burnt eye - I'd rather anybody loose tons of $$$ for a camera then have eye damage.

<comment><USER17> Could somebody tell me why this comment is being downvoted? I didn't feel like I was being rude (I'm sorry if I was), and I'm pretty sure it's a correct statement.

Our eyes have lenses but as /u/jmiserez said the lenses in the cameras lenses magnify it far more. It'd be like us looking into a telescope looking at the sun (Obviously depends on which camera lens you use).

Edit: I edited the main comment to explain that the difference is that camera's typically have higher magnification lens then our eyes.

<comment><USER18> probably because you suggested damage to a camera is worse than damage to a human eye in the first sentence and hn is full of reactionary children

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Those were some expensive mistakes. Some of the gear mentioned: Canon C300 Mark II ($9,999) and Canon 600mm f/4L IS II USM ($11,499).

<comment><USER20> Nobody is going to throw that gear away. They'll replace the diaphragms but the glass and body should be fine.

<comment><USER19> No, but expensive things have expensive parts/repairs. Just pointing out for those not in the field that this was pro level gear.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Interesting! My assumption is that this could not happen with a phone camera though, correct? Because then one would think just leaving one's phone face down on the table in sunlight would ruin it.

<comment><USER17> The sun would have to be dead center middle so it's probably unlikely. The lenses on the fancy cameras definitely make it a far worse problem for them vs our phone cameras though.

An iphone 6 camera only costs 5$ and is easy to replace(with a screw driver and spudger (maybe an igizmo) most hacker news people likely wouldn't have issues.), so it's not the end of the world (source:I repair phones)

<comment><USER22> Most people don't mount their cell phones to tripods or celestial tracking mounts so there's enough movement it would never be an issue. It would be interesting to mount one to a celestial tracking mount and see what happens. Honestly, I've got some old cell phones laying around here and might just give that a try.

<comment><USER17> That would be really cool to see! /u/tzs posted some links, so it looks like people a somewhat unsure. I'm guessing that if the sun is well tracked in the center for long enough that it would damage the lens. I guess we don't have a ton of hard data for it.

<comment><USER23> So I've photographed lasers a bunch and burned a few sensors, I guess I should toss in my experience. As far as I can tell, it really depends on the specific phone that you're using, and also the damage is usually fairly minimal. I've damaged fancy sensors with lasers and they almost always have major problems afterwards, but for years I used a phone with a very severe amount of laser damage to the sensor and the photos were quite good and the damage was barely noticeable (as a series of black lines on the image.) There was no damage to the lens.

I also doubt it would be the lens damaged in the case of a smartphone. The lenses are built to take a tremendous amount of abuse and almost certainly would be fine. The sensors are by far the more fragile component.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Anyone who _doesn 't_ take their glasses off and look at the total eclipse for a moment when the sun is completely covered, is missing out. It's a beautiful sight.

Caution is needed of course. Get ready to put those glasses back on any moment now!

Incredible hues and glow and the surrounding twilight. Can't see any of that with glasses on. At totality, sneak a peek with your naked eyes, it's fine.

Same for camera equipment, it's the setting up and pointing the camera at sun before the eclipse that does the damage. Keep lens cap on until last moment, then take off, and nothing will happen to camera. I've done it at two eclipse festivals, no clouds, didn't even use ND filter! Cameras and eyes fine.

</comment><comment><USER25> Since others are posting their images figured I'd pitch in: [https://g2.img- dpreview.com/8D7D9675C7AE4E6EAEF707CB4AEABB2F...](https://g2.img- dpreview.com/8D7D9675C7AE4E6EAEF707CB4AEABB2F.jpg) Canon 100-400 @400mm +1.4x tc, solar filter removed.

</comment><comment><USER26> I got lucky while testing my camera, which is mounted at prime focus in a refractor scope. I had it in Live View which meant the mirror was up, and I removed the solar filter for just a second.

The camera said "error", turned off, I replaced the solar filter, and it was fine. Much longer, and I'd have had a burn. The telescope really collects and concentrates a ton of light.

<comment><USER27> According to the thread above, the telescopic lens is safer to use than a shorter one. Only here would someone give a mathematical proof!

<comment><USER28> No, a slower lens (higher f-number, or, actually, T-number) is safer than a faster lens. It's only a practical accident that a long "telephoto" lens is usually significantly slower than a lens closer to _normal_ for the format (and that the long end of a consumer zoom is usually slower than the wide end). A 600mm f/4 lens is an eye-wateringly expensive hulking monster; a 50mm f/1.8 lens is the proverbial cheap-as-chips (with some exceptions), but will let about 5-6 times the amount of light through to be imaged on the sensor - it'll burn a smaller hole, but do it much more quickly. Should you be able too find a 600mm lens with the same T-number (similar to the f-number, but taking transmissivity losses into account), it'll do the job just as quickly, but much more thoroughly.

<comment><USER26> Actually, this was a self-built telescope. It was a 3.5" apochromatic 900mm focal length lens adapted to a T-mount.

If you remove the camera, and point the scope at the sun, there's a good sensor-sized beam of intense sunlight at focus.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> I can almost feel the LensRental writer's pain of having to write this article without calling a bunch of dumbaxxes dumbaxxes because they are their customers. _sigh_

</comment><comment><USER30> Does the eclipse make the sun stronger or something? I've pointed my camera at the sun for all day long taking timelapses and nothing bad happened to it. I guess maybe you need a really hardcore zoom lens to get damage like that...

P.S. Here's the video pointing at the sun all day long: [https://youtu.be/HgbG --t3Bd8](https://youtu.be/HgbG--t3Bd8)

</comment><comment><USER31> On the day of this event I was at the hospital and everyone just used X-ray films. They work well enough. I also did try a pair of sunglasses, and I could last maybe for a second or two. I am not sure if my eye sights have been damaged since then. I hope not... I repeated a few times but all done around 1pm-ish in NY, so not at peak. It was more like looking directly at the sun during noon everyday.

</comment><comment><USER32> I wonder, did they include a solar filter with all their rentals? If not, I wonder if that would have saved everyone some trouble.

<comment><USER33> Probably not, they are expensive, fragile and have very limited utility outside a major eclipse event.

[https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1335775-REG/formatt_h...](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1335775-REG/formatt_hitech_fc95eclp5_4_firecrest_95mm_eclipse_5_4.html)

<comment><USER34> Most people don't buy expensive screw-on types like these for a one-time event. You buy some solar filter film and fabricate yourself a lens cover out of cardboard for about $10.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I was shooting with a d800 200mm lens, no filter. There is no visible sensor damage, both when examining images and the sensor itself. I have to check out the lens. I left it on the sun for a good 20 minutes in live view but there doesn't seem to be any damage. Thoughts?

<comment> 549362-30499 Were you using a motorized tripod set to track the sun? I would guess that was the cause of the most extreme damage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> It is not just at the focal point but

multilayered lenses can be destroyed as the expand and contract and heat is emminated from the join and also

Any lense with coatings to correct for chromatic abberation, the coatings get destroyed on the surface of the lenses just by being pointed at the sun.

</comment><comment><USER37> A lot of phone cameras seem to have come through (apparently) unscathed. Both pictures and video. Too small a collector/concentrator, or enough shaking because hand-held to keep the focal point moving?

</comment><comment><USER38> I used a Canon 80D with a EF-S 55-250mm lens and a solar filter film over the lens. My camera was fine.

[https://imgur.com/a/OmPQP](https://imgur.com/a/OmPQP)

Taken in rural Oregon (just two shots I selected at random for this post)

</comment><comment><USER39> The amusing bit is at the end, where the author tacitly admits that their add- on camera insurance is somewhat crap. Someone who damaged a rental camera by pointing it at the eclipse would, ironically, have been better off if they then proceeded to "accidentally" drop the camera from a height onto concrete:

 _Unfortunately, these types of damage are considered neglect, as warnings were given out to customers before the solar eclipse. Our LensCap insurance plan, which can be added to rentals for a small nominal fee, does not protect from neglect but is an excellent tool for those who are worried about their rental and want to protect themselves from any accidental damage._

(but perhaps not really - there are enough wiggle words in that policy that I wonder if they ever pay out on expensive damage at all: [https://help.lensrentals.com/26475-damage-lenscap- protection...](https://help.lensrentals.com/26475-damage-lenscap-protection- plans/203113-what-is-covered-by-the-standard-lenscap-protection-plan) )

<comment><USER40> Intentionally using gear inappropriately in ways that are highly likely to result in damage isn't what insurance is for. Reasonable guidelines around what insurance will cover keeps it cheaper for everyone.

<comment><USER41> Especially with an explicit warning sent out about the eclipse.</comment></comment></comment>


Look Before You Leap: Seeing what's in front of us in portraits from the past - <AUTHOR> https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/look-you-leap <comment><USER2> A récent exhibition of the Paris musée d'Orsay is in a similar vein: Black models: from Géricault to Matisse

[https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the- muse...](https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the- museums/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay/article/le-modele- noir-47692.html?cHash=f010ade30d)

Can't comment more on it right now but did want to at least provide the connection.</comment>


If you can't code, you have no business managing engineers - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@geoffbourne/if-you-cant-code-you-have-no-business-managing-engineers-5a2b81e40c56 <comment><USER2> BS. When a manager is managing a department rather than one scrum team understanding business and people management is much more important. Delegate the technical stuff to architects and team leaders. The worst managers are the top engineers that has to be promoted but does not understand people management or business and insist on doing technical work instead of their actual job. There is simply not enough time to keep up with the coding if you are doing your best to actually be a good manager.</comment>