The Elephant is Not its Trunk: Stop fooling yourself about marketing - <AUTHOR> http://slash7.com/2009/12/11/the-elephant-is-not-its-trunk/ <comment><USER2> Some salient and insightful points - but hard to reach because of all of the shameless anti-geek stereotyping (coming from an alleged geek no less).

Protip: When trying to convince a bunch of programmers that you're right, painting them with a broad, stereotypical brush is generally not helpful to your cause, like:

 _"But only stupid people fall for marketing"_

 _"Please tattoo your name in binary on your forehead. It would make social interaction ever so much more functional."_

 _"I failed Art class because my teacher took exception to me pointing out that her grading formula was calculated incorrectly!"_

 _"Geeks tend to think that marketing is nothing but deception."_

... etc. I've met _very_ few people, computer geek or otherwise, who actually think/talk like this. By filling your article with caricatures and stereotypes like these, you're simply reducing the ability for people to identify with it (not to mention being insulting to the reader's intelligence).

There are some good insights in the article - but I do not think these points are as mind-shattering to the average geek as the author seems to believe. Marketing is not intrisically scummy and scammy? You don't say! Marketing need not be deceptive? What a concept! Marketing can be honest about its products? Woaaaaaah, duuude.

<comment><USER3> >"I do not think these points are as mind-shattering to the average geek as the author seems to believe. Marketing is not intrisically scummy and scammy? You don't say! Marketing need not be deceptive? What a concept!"

So all you really have is a different set of stereotypes about geeks than the author has. Who's right?

I'm starting to think the question "what is a geek" is the ultimate elephant of our time - no two geeks anywhere are feeling the same body part. (No jokes, please.) We all mistake our own local, small sample sets for the totality, and anyone who tries to make a general assertion just gets picked apart by a million people who have exceptions to bring up.

It's distressing to me, because we need powerful marketing conversations, and conversations that are all about exceptions aren't very powerful.

<comment><USER4> >I'm starting to think the question "what is a geek" is the ultimate elephant of our time

The very definition of geek tends to include words like "non-conformist" and "totally focused on some tiny tiny niche that no one else knows anything about"

<comment><USER3> That's the crux of the problem, yeah. We're like Tolstoy's line about families: normal people are are all just normal, but geeks are all weird in ways different enough to prevent us from having any kind of collective self- definition. Which leaves the job of defining who we are to others, who inevitably get it wrong.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> "Geeks are used to being smart and thinking about things, so they assume that if they hold an opinion, there must be a smart and thoughtful reason for it. Everybody on the face of the planet does this little Post-Hoc Justification Dance a million times a day, but geeks are used to being proved right by outside circumstances. So they believe it even more than other people."

I agree 100%, the more you realize you do this the better your company will be in the long run.

</comment><comment><USER6> Heh, she's marketing marketing. I think my brain exploded. A lot of other threads are taking issue with her style and some of her points but you're really missing the point. She's trying to make marketing sound like something you want to do and dispel impressions of it that I know that I (and some of my friends however small a sample that may be) had at one point. It's not about logical implications, it's about creating an amenable atmosphere. Can you see yourself doing marketing? If not, then this might be an article you should read.

On the other hand, I would hope that any serious entrepreneurs on HN would already have grasped the point that marketing is good for business, so it might be a bit redundant.

</comment><comment><USER7> To be honest, I don't believe much from that article... No, not the things that the author writes. I mean the general image of marketing. It's like I would talk about software that does everything you want and never crashes. It would be a really nice thing if it existed outside of some completely separated mini-universe.

"If people don't like reading about unicorn tears on the sales site, there's no way they're going to like the book. [...] Only one person has ever taken advantage of the 30-day refund."

Yes - that's because people are a) lazy, b) trying to justify their choices. They did not bother to return the book; they got it as a present; they resold it on ebay; etc. etc.

Marketing in real world that we walk through every day is about selling you as many products as possible as fast as possible. That's how the performance is measured typically. That's why it doesn't matter anymore if a real person calls you. It's cheaper to do an automated call to 100 times more people, because someone will respond. That's why spam works!

"marketing is about support" may work for a 1-person shop. Sure - you will get the information you need, because that person knows his business. Then at the size of ~100 people there will be a buffer of 2 managers between him and the standard worker - each manager with their own decisions and measured by performance. They know that there's a support department and they know what it's for - answering the questions about the shit people bought. That's why you'll get a call to ask you whether you want to upgrade your service from a person who doesn't know what they're talking about.

Both marketing people and programmers have the same problem - there are loads of drones in their business. It would be foolish to judge marketing by the article's author and it would be foolish to judge programming by DJB's code. They're one in a million. And the rest will work great together - one side will create millions of lines of crappy code and the other will sell it like it was the best thing since sliced bread.

The author may be describing correctly her own environment and her workplace, but... please, stop fooling yourself about marketing ;)

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, I'm on my iPhone so I will write a more thorough response later, but --

My book is an ebook, not a physical object. I offer a very strong refund policy and getting a refund is as easy & instant as emailing the address listed on the site & book. Typical return rates for other ebooks range fro 3-5%, based on my convos with other people selling info products.

Also, when I say "support," I mean it in the traditional sense. I don't mean "customer support" as in "answering emails." Remember that that term predates that particular meaning.

Support, as I explain in my article, means helping people. I create products, first, with a goal of helping my customer make themselves/their lives better. That is my guiding purpose.

Then, with my marketing, I help them decide - really - if the product is for them or isn't for them. I make it extremely clear who the product will help, I don't cast as wide a net as possible.

Helping people realize "this product is NOT for me" is respectful of them & their time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> She lost me at "Or their cute little taily-wailies."

<comment><USER9> Then you missed the part where she says she doesn't water down her marketing messages, because it filters out people who won't be satisfied buying her product. Doing that lead to a < 0.1% return rate on her Javascript ebook.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why did you change the title when posting it here. Odd choice of wording...

<comment><USER11> I would guess that the original is too long for the length filter.</comment></comment>


25 Things I Hate About Google - <AUTHOR> http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/060313-161500

<comment><USER2> There are some valid points in this article, but the overtones of someone whinging about a free product "grinds my gears"

At some point did we come to expect perfection from a company that largely offers unprecedented services for free?

Take twitter as an example, its new and full of problems, no where near perfect. Yet all their issues are blindly written off as teething issues, even though we pay the same amount to use it as google.

Personally, I applaud googles efforts. There is a reason the tech savvy choose their products over others, because they are the best of the bunch, especially in the free arena.</comment>


Ask HN: popularity, traditions, mix of both? - <AUTHOR> In a company, an architecture team main directive, should be, governance of technologies used without the need to baby sit developers.
Let's make an assumption the former was true, empirically, what is the best approach for governance of new user based web applications. Let's make an assumption about users. Company is highly customizable and almost all users are internal employees.
Should the approach for building and hosting the new web app be to use a new and more popular technology stack like react with rust added? Or use a framework where most 'legacy' apps are already supported and being upgraded to less legacy counter parts like ASP / .net.
I don't want to put personal opinion on the text here but hopefully I'll keep up with the conversations!
I understand to some things like spinning up servers, vms, and more network related protocols may drive the choice of stack, but for arguments sake we should ignore the relevance of these items.
Thanks for your feedback! <comment><USER2> Yes

<comment><AUTHOR> :D

I think this is the best answer that there can be.

Just curious to practical approaches rather than pragmatism and dogma!!</comment></comment>


Show HN: Twincl Editor – A WYSIWYG/Markdown dual-mode editor - <AUTHOR> https://twincl.com/site/help/*68a <comment><USER2> My favorite model for editing markdown is the one that usecanvas.com and FoldingText (an OSX app) use.

They present the document as WYSIWYG with markdown hidden, but unhide any markdown surrounding or directly adjacent to the cursor. (So the markup from an italic or link span are only visible if you are adjacent to or within the span.)

It's a nice balance between looking pretty and letting me edit markdown directly. I'd love to have an open source editor library that acts like this.

</comment><comment><USER3> The ability to toggle between markdown syntax and HTML on a _per-paragraph_ basis is an awesome feature! I often prefer the HTML/wysiwyg version but have to occasionally insert something complex which is trivial in markdown. This hits the sweetspot!

</comment><comment><USER4> It doesn't let you use Markdown by default as a seamless input method like Typora[1]. This editor seems much less productive as you are forced to use your mouse to click on GUI elements.

[1]: [https://www.typora.io/](https://www.typora.io/)

<comment><AUTHOR> It does not force you to use mouse click on GUI elements. You can use `⌘`+`/` (or `Alt`+`/` on Windows) to switch between WYSIWYG/Markdown modes. Actually it's the preferred way unless you are on mobile devices.

The default mode is WYSIWYG since Markdown syntax frustrates people who don't know Markdown well.

Thanks for mentioning Typora! It's an interesting implementation. I've thought about that approach (in-place real-time preview as you type Markdown text) before, but inside a browser, it's too cumbersome to fight against the inconsistent _contenteditable_ behavior.

<comment><USER5> Fun fact: there's no "/" key on the German keyboard layout (and possibly others too): to type "/" you need to press Shift + 7.

<comment><AUTHOR> Wow, that's fun. No wonder few applications use "/" for hotkey combination. Maybe I should use a different key, say, ".".

<comment><USER6> Yeah, European keyboard layouts are annoying like that. Too bad that it seems unlikely that they would ever change even if there is some talk in France that they want to reform their keyboard: [http://arstechnica.com/tech- policy/2016/01/france-says-azert...](http://arstechnica.com/tech- policy/2016/01/france-says-azerty-keyboards-fail-french-typists/)

There was a project in Finland to reform keyboard layout ("Kotoistus"), only thing they managed to do is to add more dead-key accents and make the keyboard even more annoying to technical users. In all their great wisdom they decided to add non-breaking space character to altgr-spacebar key combination. In isolation that might seem like a good idea, but when also | character required the use of altgr-modifier it was a mess: working with the command line, you tend to have stuff like ... | grep foo. Soon enough there were plenty of users wondering why bash complains that grep is not found: [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/218637](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/218637)

Personally, I have abandoned national keyboard layout and adapted US layout instead. Makes both programming and general use much more comfortable. Its amazing how much less I need to use modifier keys now, especially the painful altgr.

<comment><USER7> The French project would be even worse for us French coders.

Symbols used for code would be hidden behind several layers like altgr combinations. While, imo, archaic symbols (ÇÀÉÈàçê, etc) would be on the first layer.

I'm planning on doing the same as parent, using the US layout, but I can't change my keyboard at work, and although I can type in qwerty, I don't know all the layers like I do azerty, so I can't just type without looking.

<comment><USER8> You can't change your keyboard at work? That's odd... Where do you work?

<comment><USER7> Large org, windows, non admin rights. Don't have the rights to plug non approved usb devices.

I can't even use another text editor than the one I have. All those 'vim vs emacs' war-jokes make me laugh. What I wouldn't give to use vim...

I can change the software layout, but as I said, I don't know enough the sublayers of the qwerty layout to be able to type without looking.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> "(If you post any article by 8/31, the membership will be extended to the end of 2016; then we'll see how things go and decide what to do next.)"

aren't these rather crazy terms for a text editor ?

<comment><AUTHOR> Those terms are for the site, not for the text editor. :-) I might open source the editor when I have time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Any chance it is or will be open sourced?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not yet. I might do that later, but it requires some cleanup work.

The code has three parts: Markdown to HTML text, HTML DOM to Markdown, and the editor. The total size is about 30KB uncompressed (27KB JS + 3KB CSS). It didn't use any icon font or images.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I must admit that the way Jupyther/ipython notebooks do markdown is my favorite.

It has all the markup showing, and italize, boldens and changes size of text according to the tags, as well as color coding.

</comment><comment><USER12> Does it use a "standard" like CommonMark or GFM?

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes it follows CommonMark, but is stricter for safety consideration (e.g. does not allow scripts).

<comment><USER12> Nice ! Thanks for the answer.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Does this use CommonMark standard?

<comment><USER12> Yes, see my question and the answer of the poster below.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Any Github page?

</comment><comment><USER15> it's pretty basic, I made a more extended one [https://caub.github.io/cms/wysi/](https://caub.github.io/cms/wysi/) markdown isn't really helpful there, since anyway you're just using execCommand

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, its HTML editing is pretty basic. I did not intend to make a full-blown HTML editor. There are already many ones.

My goal is to make Markdown and HTML editors working together. I want to support Markdown because it's very productive for long-form article writing.</comment></comment>


Prostitution cases dismissed because cops' cameras mistakenly recorded audio - <AUTHOR> https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/men-caught-in-bellevue-prostitution-sting-get-off-because-cops-recorded-audio-with-hidden-cameras/ <comment> wu-ikkyu >According to the city of Bellevue, detectives used hidden cameras to document elements of the crime of patronizing a prostitute. "Unfortunately, audio conversations were unintentionally captured between the suspect and the undercover officers in 61 of the 110 cases," the city wrote in a news release. State law requires two-party consent to record audio conversations.

So it's legal to do surveillance by video recorder but not audio recorder? I don't know what to think about that.

<comment><AUTHOR> FWIW, the _majority_ of states allow for one-party consent audio recording -- i.e. one person secretly taping a conversation without telling the others: [http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2011/0...](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2011/03/broken_record_laws.html)

Not sure what the history of case law regarding audio vs video recording, but it seems video recording is almost always legal in public areas (i.e. not a dressing room). Video being subject to a two-party consent rule, or even one -party consent, would make most video surveillance illegal, such as security cameras outside of stores.

[https://lifehacker.com/what-you-need-to-know-when- recording-...](https://lifehacker.com/what-you-need-to-know-when-recording- your-enemies-1795226719)

<comment><USER2> "security cameras outside of stores" would be in public areas, yes? The Lifehacker link you pointed to says "Generally speaking, you have the right to record video in all public spaces without need of consent."

Now for the fun part - it can be possible to extract audio from video, by careful processing of the small motions the sound induced in objects in the frame. See [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXOucXB4a8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKXOucXB4a8) . High-speed camera is best, but at the end they show how a regular consumer- level camera can also be used.

<comment><AUTHOR> Right, that's what I meant. If video were subject to 2-party consent rules like audio, many public security cameras (such as those that overwatch a parking lot) might be illegal, particularly without signage.

With audio, 2-party consent makes it illegal to record audio anywhere, including public places, without informing the other party.

<comment><USER2> I don't think that's a correct interpretation of 2-party audio recording laws, and therefore don't think the parallelism to video recording applies.

The relevant Washington law for audio recordings is at [http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.73.030](http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.73.030) . It applies to:

> Private conversation, by any device electronic or otherwise designed to > record or transmit such conversation regardless how the device is powered or > actuated without first obtaining the consent of all the persons engaged in > the conversation.

A conversation outside, in a public area, which can be overheard by others, is not a private conversation, so outside the scope of this law. I think.

Looking at [https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/LAWS- ON-R...](https://www.mwl-law.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/LAWS-ON-RECORDING- CONVERSATIONS-CHART.pdf) , the entry for Illinois says it's a two-party (rather, all-party) state, but adds that after an earlier version was found unconstitutional, "On December 30, 2014, the statute was amended to permit recording of conversations in public places, such as in courtrooms, where no person reasonably would expect it to be private."

That looks to me like there is no necessary conflict between being a two-party state _and_ allowing audio recording of public conversations without consent of any party.

<comment><AUTHOR> What you cited -- _Private conversation, by any device electronic_ \-- makes no mention of private vs. public when it comes to _areas_. IANAL but that would mean that "private conversation" is open to interpretation and could very well include conversations that occur in public places.

I can't speak to Washington state specifically, but it seems successful lawsuits and charges have been brought against people in 2-party consent states who have recorded conversations that took place in public areas:

\- Pennsylvania high school student was criminally charged for secretly taping bullying in his classroom: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh- conspiracy/wp/201...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh- conspiracy/wp/2014/04/14/crime-for-high-school-student-to-secretly-audio- record-his-tormentors-in-the-classroom/)

\- Project Veritas is facing a lawsuit for a Florida sting that took place at a teacher conference: [https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/a-teacher-is- suing-br...](https://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/a-teacher-is-suing- breitbart-and-project-veritas-for)

\- In MA, which is 2-party-consent, there appears to be an exception for recording of public officials in public areas: [https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2015/04/24/how-a- bost...](https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2015/04/24/how-a-boston-case- won-you-the-right-to-record-police)

<comment><USER2> Washington state law is different from PA, FL, or MA. What is illegal there may not be illegal in WA.

My conclusion was that there "is no necessary conflict between being a two- party state and allowing audio recording of public conversations without consent of any party".

That doesn't mean that a two-party consent state _must allow_ public audio recordings. It doesn't mean that a two-party consent state _must prohibit_ public audio recordings.

But it clearly is legal in some two-party consent states, in some contexts, to allow audio recordings of public conversations.

I agree that the definition of "private" is definitely open to interpretation under WA law.

Montana, another two-party consent state, specifically excludes "persons speaking at public meetings".</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Just submitted Y Combinator application - <AUTHOR>

I'm quite excited :) <comment><USER2> Congrats! Now pat yourself on the back, pour a drink and get back to work :]

</comment><comment><USER3> Good luck!</comment>


Jury: Roundup weed killer major factor in man's cancer - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/jury-roundup-weed-killer-major-factor-in-mans-cancer/2019/03/19/fcf3d948-4a8f-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html <comment><USER2> Kind of terrifying that we know so little about the chemicals which agrochem industry (many of which grew from humble roots as chemical weapons manufacturers) which soak our food supply.

</comment><comment><USER3> After being on a jury once deciding a DWI case, I wouldn't be surprised with any outcome involving an understanding of scientific evidence. What's terrifying is realizing that there are only two of you on the jury that really understood what happened in the trial.

<comment><USER4> You should see a jury deliberate in an IP lawsuit.

<comment><USER3> I can't even imagine. I remember reading an article by someones experience on a lawsuit jury and they described the deliberations as "wheel of fortune". (It was an edition of Medical Economics, not my profession by interesting nevertheless.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> A jury of your "peers" isn't a jury of hacker news readers.

I've been on one jury, and I wouldn't say the outcome of their deliberation was random, but it may as well have been.

</comment><comment><USER4> FYI the word "substantial" in the legal standard is not synonymous with "major."</comment>


Google Font Alternatives to Popular Fonts - <AUTHOR> https://madebysidecar.com/journal/google-font-alternatives-to-popular-fonts-pt-2 <comment><USER2> Weird that the article says "Read part 1 first" but doesn't have a link to part 1. Or did I miss it?

<comment><USER3> I think it's this one: [https://madebysidecar.com/journal/how-we-find-value- in-or-wh...](https://madebysidecar.com/journal/how-we-find-value-in-or-why-we- use-google-fonts-for-branding-projects)</comment></comment>


Judge Rebukes Harvard for Placing Critic Under Guard While Wife Was in Surgery - <AUTHOR> http://www.cancerletter.com/articles/20151103_11 <comment><AUTHOR> More on the Harvard/Brigham & Women's power morcellation debacle: [http://www.cancerletter.com/articles/20151103](http://www.cancerletter.com/articles/20151103)

Harvard subjects former physician employees to a physical search for security threats when they return for urgent cancer surgery—because of their public criticism of Brigham & Women's Hospital leadership in the controversy over power morcellation, a surgical procedure routinely used by gynecologists. The couple sought a restraining order against the hospital for retaliatory action. A Boston judge ruled in their favor, finding that the hospital had violated the couple's First Amendment rights by discriminating without reasonable justification.

"I am completely outraged. This is nothing other than pure, unadulterated harassment," said Richard Kaitz, a Boston real estate lawyer whose wife, Erica, died in December 2013 from leiomyosarcoma upstaged by power morcellation at Brigham. "Hooman worked at Brigham for almost a year after Amy's morcellation. They know Hooman; they know he's not a threat. He's the furthest thing from a physical threat to walk this earth!

"I'm absolutely and completely appalled. To do this to a guy when his family is down and undergoing serious medical issues requiring lifesaving treatment at Brigham—it is the height of arrogance, aggression, and bullying."</comment>


How the Japanese IT Industry Destroys Talent - <AUTHOR> http://www.japaninc.com/node/2674

<comment><USER2> Japan's IT industry is so thoroughly messed up I don't even know where to begin. However, for the scope of this article, I would say that Japanese enterprise solution companies (this is where the so-called "system integrators" live) is a tangled, incestuous mess. I'm only going to talk about one small aspect of it. One of the great tragedies of the Japanese software industry is how it seems to have taken on the worst aspects of the construction industry and the manufacturing industry. Many of the large companies dominate the industry, at least in terms of large contracts from major corporations and government. Some names that come to mind are NTT (the telecoms giant has a whole universe of IT subsidiaries), NEC, Fujitsu, etc. Yes, all companies from Japan's past glory days. Naturally, these companies get the lion's share of stable income. Of course, they have more work than they can handle or do so they naturally close the contract THEN find a company to implement it for them.

Middlemen Casual students of Japan might have heard of "shitauke" which roughly equals outsourcing but the concept is completely different. Just as many Japanese car manufacturers have their own go to parts makers, these parts makers might have their own go to parts makers ("magouke" or grand children outsourcing). So basically, you have this massive web of IT companies that are inter-connected and related in some way.

So big corporations get contracts, little companies get the scraps. This distorts the market because naturally the companies with big name brand value keep a greater share of the profit while the weaker outsourcing companies make it happen. So even within these outsourcing companies, they might try to cope by hiring temp programmers (yes, this is common in Japan and they live in internet cafes no less) or even outsourcing it to a third world country.

In most cases, the big IT corporations (that hire top recruits from the best colleges) are filled to the brim with project managers who might have the raw ability or potential to code but spend their front line career simply writing up specs and enforcing ridiculous deadlines.

As an anecdote, many symptoms of this malaise abound. ATMs malfunctioning because of bad system code (prevalent when upgrading systems created by mega bank mergers, the latest and most notorious being on the recent earthquake when a donation account took down the entire bank), the Tokyo Stock Exchange shutting down from massive trade volume (despite having nothing like American high frequency trading), the pension system database not designed to give people unique keys (or something like that), etc.

<comment><USER3> > Just as many Japanese car manufacturers have their own go to parts makers, > these parts makers might have their own go to parts makers ("magouke" or > grand children outsourcing).

I've worked for a "great-grandchild" outsourcer. Megacorp A outsourced to B, which hired C, which hired my company. I actually worked at A's offices so personally it was a good experience for me, though my salary was crap -- around my 2 year anniversary I talked to a recruiter, who kindly informed me that sanitation workers in the US earned about the same as me.

Once I went to Europe for a business trip. Though A's employees had all their expenses paid, my own contract with my company didn't predict that clients would ask grunts like me to go on international business trips, so they only paid a fixed daily allowance in yen (for meals and the like). To make it worse, the euro was really high against the yen, so my allowance amounted to 7 euros or so. After 2 weeks in Europe I was in the red. It was still a good experience though, and I always boast about it in job interviews in Japan.

<comment><USER2> Yeah, I've worked in fancy offices too (in my case earning more on contract than regular employees, without plump benefits but hey). My experience is that being the outsourced to is a polar experience. You're either a hired gun with special status or some dispensable clean up crew. It's a symptom of the rigid labor laws that limit everyone from achieving their potential.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Actual Article <http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_nov-dec_2007_it-talent>

Also Part I - My struggle at the Frontline of Japanese Enterprise IT [http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_spring_2007_frontline_japanese_i...](http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_spring_2007_frontline_japanese_it)

</comment><comment><USER5> Aside from this, can anyone in the know give some info about the startup community/hacker culture in Japan. Is there one?

I'm in Australia, and I've always had a suspicion that China or Japan would be the closest hub of innovation and interesting stuff outside of Aus.

<comment><USER2> It's not nearly as open as what you'd expect in other countries. The hacker community is really inward looking like Japan as a whole. You could check out, ON Lab. Hiro Maeda runs it and is a cool guy educated in the states.

<http://onlab.jp/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Apparently it's managed to destroy even the minimal level of talent needed to construct a readable PNG.

</comment><comment><USER7> "Instead of being evaluated on their capability to manage the overall system architecture, Japanese IT project managers are often assessed on how they can personally relate to the team members. Taking team members out for a drink, listening to their personal issues, serving as both counselor and cheerleader, are important to strengthen a project manager's people network. "

OTOH, I've worked for several western corporate orgs where we have no shortage of PMs, stuck in meetings and forwarding emails and not doing any of the above.

+1 Japan

</comment><comment><USER8> as the main picture is too small to view, it remains a mystery why the Japanese IT industry destroys talent.

<comment><USER9> I zoomed right in and found it has something to do with three spirals and pixelated text surrounded by jpeg artifacts...

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> 1\. This article is four years old, it was published in 2007. Have things changed since then?

2\. The graph is unreadable and clicking to get a larger image goes through a cycle of pages that don't have larger images but take a long time to load.

</comment><comment><USER11> There are a few currents working against startups in Japan:

\- Smart, ambitious people tend to join large, prestigious corporations, or government agencies

\- Up until a few years ago, forming a company was very expensive (3 million yen minimum)

\- Seniority is a powerful force in the Japanese workplace, which I suspect prevents young college grads from introducing the latest technologies in their companies.

\- Japan has struggled to transition to a post-industrial economy, and IT is still dominated by hardware companies.

</comment><comment><USER12> any opinion from Patrick or any other HNers in JP? The article seems plausible but is the opposite of what I'd have expected

<comment><USER13> I have a different take. Should write a blog post some day.

The usual disclaimer: Japan is a big place and not all Japanese companies/people act the same, just like not US company is Google.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I thought Ruby on Rails came from Japan. Hard to believe they don't contribute to Open Source - per article.

<comment><USER15> I thought it was just the Ruby language, not the Rails framework.

<comment><USER16> That's correct - Ruby is from Japan, Rails was developed by a Danish consultant working for a US-based firm. (He now lives in Chicago I believe).

<comment><USER17> Ruby Creator and chief Designer - Yukihiro Matsumoto Rails Creator and Maintainer - David Heinemeier Hansson

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> can i get a cliff notes...

<comment><USER19> "To summarize, Japanese corporations lack concrete IT strategies and the ability to envision the appropriate enterprise architecture that aligns with their business needs. As a result, SI services vendors adopt a 'body shop' strategy that gives no incentive for engineers to polish their skills. Japanese software vendors are not encouraged to provide solutions with the latest architecture that meets the needs of the global market. Being locked into such a vicious cycle, even the most talented engineers have very little opportunity to develop their skills to a world-class level."</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Review my micropayments startup, RubyPay - <AUTHOR>

I just launched my new startup, and was hoping for some feedback.  It's a micropayments site based around selling digital content, with a focus on making it dead simple for sellers to set up.<p>https://www.rubypay.com <comment><USER2> _RubyPay has zero transaction fees._

I like the way you've worked around the transaction fee issue by offering different rates for buying and redeeming. The cheapest points are $0.00769 to buy and redeeming gets you $0.00667. So, on average, for every $57.69 coming in (or more, if people buy in smaller amounts), you're paying out $50, plus any interest you earn on parked balances.

</comment><comment><USER3> Hey there, great initiative, make sure that you get approval to run a 'wallet system' or you could find yourself in a ton of trouble. Maintaining a balance on behalf of customers comes with a ton of responsibilities, in the EU you would be considered a bank.

<comment><USER4> Even if it's these elusive "points"?

<comment><USER2> It's basically the same setup as iStockPhoto. There, you buy "credits" for some arbitrary exchange rate that you can use to buy photos from other members, who then exchange the points for payouts. There is a period of time where the credits are bought and not used for purchase, and a time where they are used but not redeemed. There are plenty of businesses who handle this without a problem, so I doubt he'll have trouble setting it up.

<comment><USER3> No, that's definitely not the same. There is no potential for fraud and / or tax evasion and / or money laundering in that situation. With a wallet system you have those in spades.

<comment><USER2> Actually, it's exactly the same. In both systems, I deposit my money with the company (RubyPay or iStockPhoto) in exchange for a certain amount of points/credits. They hold onto my money until I buy something. On iStockPhoto I buy a few pictures, on RubyPay maybe I buy access to a premium blog post. The points are transferred from my account to the seller's account. The seller then redeems the points/credits for a payout by check.

Is there a difference between the two that I missed (besides the fact that iStockphoto screens submissions)?

There are ample opportunities for fraud on both sites. For example, say I'm a drug dealer and I need to collect illicit funds from customers. I could post a digital image on iStockphoto and require my customers to buy it before I give them the drugs. Or if I already had a stack of cash I needed to clean I could set up fake accounts to buy my own images, and pay taxes on the profit.

<comment><USER3> That must be why VISA has explicitly forbidden stock photo bureaus from using their cards without special permission in their merchant account contracts.

Oh, wait, that was wallet systems after all...

<comment><USER2> So maybe both RubyPay and iStockphoto fall into the same category that is quite different from wallet systems? A category that includes sites that use virtual currency, but don't store your VISA credentials for future purchases.

<comment><USER3> RubyPay is - as far as I can see at this moment - a textbook example of a wallet system, and iStockphoto is a typical example of a pre-pay system.

The public could not pay each other using iStockphoto points, it's stricly a one-way street where the photographers get an automatic payment based on the number of credits worth of stuff that got sold. They're not going to go and re-use their credits to buy other stuff.

<comment><USER2> _iStockphoto points, it's stricly a one-way street where the photographers get an automatic payment based on the number of credits worth of stuff that got sold_

That's what RubyPay describes here: <https://www.rubypay.com/pages/points>. If I sell 7500 points worth of whatever, I get $50. The only difference between the two is that RubyPay lets you prepay for an arbitrary service, not just stock photography.

 _They're not going to go and re-use their credits to buy other stuff._

On iStockPhoto, you can use the credits you earn to buy other items. RubyPay doesn't make it clear whether points you earn can be used to buy other services or whether they have to be redeemed for a check. iStockPhoto looks more like a wallet system than RubyPay actually.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> How much time have you spent with lawyers and consultants on your verbiage, terms and agreements with payment processors? The thing that worries me about any new payment startup is whether they've covered all the right bases... if they haven't, they can be out of business overnight when they realize what they missed. It's a fine line between selling points and factoring (processing payments on behalf of another business), where factoring is contractually forbidden in almost every merchant account and 3rd party processor contract.

</comment><comment><USER6> You should really find a way to incentivize people who want to pay to join the site. I can't even figure out how to join as a payer, let alone a reason why I should.

<comment><USER7> I agree - A 'buy RubyPoints' image/link might be desirable; and similarly to parent comment, what is the major incentive here? What site(s) currently offers redemption of Rubypoints?

> Thanks for the suggestion, for now if you'd like to see what a paid link > looks like: <https://www.rubypay.com/i/9c7wfUo4ACZ>

Rather than having to sign-in to view how a transaction is done, can you have a demo page that includes 'dummy' rubypoints that can be redeemed to view a pdf/mp3 - for me, it would help make a decision about whether the service is useful or not.

In general, cool idea! I'm just the type of person that would like to see the service in action without having to login/create an account first.

<comment><AUTHOR> I added a demo area for you, hope it gives you a better idea of how the app works.

<https://www.rubypay.com/pages/demo>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> \+ points: Like the simplicity, if customer experience is good I would definitely try this for my blog

\- points: Need to support more payment options e.g. Paypal and Google checkout. No way am I putting my credit card into your application. If you are storing these details I also hope you know you have to be PCI-DSS compliant Small bug: edit profile to add address etc gives you an error because the change password verification box is empty

</comment><comment><USER9> If you setup a demo site with sandboxed transactions, it will be very useful for publishers to evaluate quickly if they'd want to use your service.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the suggestion, for now if you'd like to see what a paid link looks like: <https://www.rubypay.com/i/9c7wfUo4ACZ>

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's a good idea. I like the idea that this can get around the high transaction costs per transaction, but the points system is a little confusing. The one line of code thing is cool and should be easy to get publishers to try it.

</comment><comment><USER11> I could see myself using your service to charge monthly for access to a webapp. Do you have any plans for that, so that a user has to pay only once per month instead of each click? Apologies if that is already in place.

<comment><AUTHOR> Subscriptions are not available yet, but they will be in a few weeks. Just to clarify, the user does not pay per click, but rather per link. If a user has already paid for a link, clicking the link a second time will forward the user to the correct content.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> what's the phrase... content drives adaption... you are going to need some very compelling content providers to make this work.

have you considering to find a niche of content that people might pay for? istockphoto does seem like a relevant example... there are also lots of niche services that people pay for... like elance, 99designs, trada...

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for everyone's feedback. I've closed the service.

</comment><comment><USER13> clickable: <https://www.rubypay.com></comment>


A New Age of Power - <AUTHOR> http://ubeam.com/ <comment><USER2> If this thing really works a lot of people on HN will be forced to eat crow.

</comment><comment><USER3> These are the same guys who, last year, had a little ultrasonic power transmission link made from old camera ranging sensors.[1] They were very vague about efficiency and range then, and they're very vague about efficiency and range now.

The first picture shows the Earth from space. Ultrasonics don't work in vacuum, guys.

Covered on YCombinator last year.[2]

[1] [http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/07/ubeam-wireless-charger- ul...](http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/07/ubeam-wireless-charger-ultrasound/) [2] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8542091](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8542091)

</comment><comment><USER4> They link to this, and leave out the latter part:

A Study on the Effectiveness of Ultrasonic Sound Emitters [in Controlling Bat Populations]

They're practically parodying themselves at this point.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm guessing ubeam is also the subject of this wsj article, though I can't get past the loginwall: [http://www.wsj.com/articles/soon-power-will-be-delivered- to-...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/soon-power-will-be-delivered-to-your- device-by-air-1444017661)

I believe the CEO Meredith Perry was on TED or some such preaching about ignoring scientists and techies when they say something is impossible, just believe, keep pushing, and it'll all come good.

Maybe this is the next unicorn.

</comment><comment><USER6> _" The most recent paper to investigate the safety of ultrasound was just published [...] Of note is that this study used energy levels to tissue that were orders of magnitude higher than levels that uBeam's system uses."_

The abstract at [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041624X15...](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041624X15001973):

 _" Demonstrated in vitro, 0.6 W of transcutaneous ultrasound power transfer to an implant.[...] with an average RF input to electrical charging efficiency of 20%"_

So, at best, 3W is _" orders of magnitude higher than levels that uBeam's system uses"_. That will charge your remote, but not your phone.

</comment><comment><USER7> To distribute sound over long distances 'wirelessly' you need to make it loud. That typically means cranking up the power. And ultrasound can be harmful at high power [1].

[1]

"Occupational exposure to ultrasound in excess of 120 dB may lead to hearing loss. Exposure in excess of 155 dB may produce heating effects that are harmful to the human body..."

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

<comment><USER8> uBeam's name is a killing word.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Human ears can't hear ultrasound. What about other animals[1] on this planet? [1][https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasound#Animals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasound#Animals)

<comment><USER10> They noted dogs in the write-up so I assume they are using extremely high frequencies far beyond what animals can hear.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Any time someone starts off with a review of when scientists were wrong, you know snake oil will follow. In the section on bats they specifically mention how quickly ultrasound power drops off, but never discuss how that same bit of physics affects their main value proposition (hint: a lot). The irony of them going on to say "it's terrible that companies sell these devices because they're ripping people off" is pretty thick.</comment>


The hottest JS framework, according to Google Trends - <AUTHOR> http://www.google.com/trends?q=jquery,+yui,+dojo,+mootools,+scriptaculous

<comment><AUTHOR> Google Trends will only show 5 trends. Prototype got left out, but still won't beat jQuery (it gets a huge peak in mid-2009 due to the release of a video game with the same title).

</comment><comment><USER2> This is interesting. I did my first web project of any meaningful scale in early 2008. When it came time to look for a JS framework, the people I spoke with and searches on the net seemed to recommend Dojo. But it was confusing, because I heard just as much about these other frameworks as well.

A bit later, when I started doing some more front-end work, I found jQuery, and I dropped Dojo entirely because I found I was much more effective with it (a little bit / [lim -> 0] is...). Since then, my anecdotal experience has been that jQuery is the first-choice JS framework among the circle I regularly interact with.

All this is to say: I feel like my preferences toward JS frameworks as a relatively new developer are quite similar to this chart.

</comment><comment><USER3> Is it just me or does it bother anyone else when libraries are referred to as frameworks?

[http://hluujavablog.blogspot.com/2005/01/framework-vs- librar...](http://hluujavablog.blogspot.com/2005/01/framework-vs-library.html)

</comment><comment><USER4> I think the reason is likely that people started releasing 'plugins'.

eg "jquery plugin to add 2 numbers!!!!"

I don't think that really tells you much about quality though.

<comment><USER5> That is the inherit 'problem' with javascript/jQuery having such a low barrier to entry. Anyone can copy and past a couple of lines of javascript and before you know it they are a 'freelance jQuery expert'. Don't get me wrong its amazing the power jQuery has for something that is so 'simple'

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I lived in Indonesia a few years. I believe YUI is a common name in Indonesia, but not sure of that.

</comment><comment><USER7> I like jQuery and use it a lot, but I don't think popularity is a good measure of quality.

<comment><USER8> Don't more users of an open source product cause better quality?

<comment><USER9> More _developers_ might, but it's just one of many factors.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I wonder why YUI is so popular is Indonesia.

</comment><comment><USER11> it's missing prototype, but has scriptaculous, it's UI-part... I the search term and got a different picture

<comment><USER12> "Prototype" surpasses everything else but that's because Google finds everything not related to the JS framework as well.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> jquery is fun to use.

</comment><comment><USER14> I ever only had to go for jquery for the plotting libraries.

other then that, YUI is much more professional to use.

most web searchs for jquery keywords you got a zillion blogs with 'plugins' on how to do stupid little things. yui has a nice documentation and is consistent even when you account community created widgets.

yui can be a little too OO centered, i recognize.

and on the end. diversity is always awesome!

<comment><USER15> What makes YUI more professional?

I've used both quite a bit and I've found the YUI documentation to be frustrating to navigate and overly complex. YUI reminds me of the standard Java libraries in all the wrong ways. jquery has fantastically straight- forward, simple documentation.

<comment><USER14> I agree. jquery is more straight-forward for the Funcional crowd. which is not everyone. it's almost everyone that do javascript. but even I like to use OO for frontend as it's something i usually write-once-read-four-months-later. and I need that OO constrains to live well with that.

About the documentation. it's a reference guide. it's like reading a well formated source code. and the search feature there is top notch. I like it. That's the main advantage to me. jquery tries to patronize me sometimes.</comment></comment></comment>


Devhaven.io – Clean, responsive programming forum with rich text editor - <AUTHOR> http://www.devhaven.io/ <comment><AUTHOR> Description: Devhaven.io is a clean, responsive programming forum that features a sophisticated text editor, and syntax highlighting for HTML/XML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, C, C#, and C++. It was programmed using Python's Django web framework and is hosted on Heroku's cloud servers.

</comment><comment><USER2> Looks pretty neat. The text editor and syntax highlighting features are well done.</comment>


Ask HN: Curated, crowdsourced how to guides? - <AUTHOR> I had an idea for a how to guide website, similar to wikihow or e how, but with user driven curation. Sort of like product hunt for learning resources and how to guides. I think it would be very useful for beginners trying to learn a new craft, like programming! <comment><USER2> You might find these resources useful:

[https://metacademy.org/](https://metacademy.org/)

[https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/knowledge- map](https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/knowledge-map)

[https://github.com/open-source-society](https://github.com/open-source- society)

</comment><comment><USER3> I think that would be a cool idea. I really like Product Hunt lists. It's great for discovery of new apps, resources etc.</comment>


Get A Job With Reddit Jobs. Or At Least Vote On One. - <AUTHOR> http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/15/get-a-job-with-reddit-jobs-or-at-least-vote-on-one/ <comment><USER3> Greetings! If you're hiring, here's 50% off a 30day job posting: coupon code "HackerNews" (no quotes).

Granted, it's the same deal as the TechCrunch coupon, but it says HackerNews in the coupon!

And if you'd like to learn more about redditjobs (and the meaning of life) read this entry: [http://blog.reddit.com/2009/06/reddit-already-helps-you- wast...](http://blog.reddit.com/2009/06/reddit-already-helps-you-waste-time- at.html)

<comment><USER4> I may have missed it, but are all jobs listed on redditJobs also shown in the advert spot on reddit itself?

If so, cool. If not, how will job hunters come by redditJobs?

<comment><USER3> There's a nifty widget we're dropping in later today. In fact, we're doublechecking with our sales team to make sure removing banner ads from programming.reddit altogether (replacing them with the job widget) won't interfere with any signed deals. I think proggit readers would prefer that over traditional ads.

<comment><USER5> How many proggit readers even see ads?

<comment><USER4> I'd say about 90-95%. Also if the ads are served locally, adblock etc won't block them by default unless you do something silly like call your page advert.html.

<comment><USER5> I can't recall the last time I saw an ad on reddit, but it's quite possible I blocked them myself at some point. I would be genuinely surprised if most technically-savvy people didn't do the same.

<comment><USER6> I've been developing for several years, and I usually visually tune them out.

I only adblock the companies that do pop-ups/pop-unders, or verbal ads. Flashblock tends to take care of the worse offenders anyway. If the ads are supporting a community then, I figure they deserve the change to appear, even if I'm probably not going to do anything with them.

Same thing with the PVR ... if it's an interesting looking commercial, I'll occasionally go back to watch it the first time I see it.

Of course, that might just be me.

<comment><USER5> I block ads I notice - a nice catch-22 for ad purveyors.

<comment><USER4> You're an outlier - an oddity. For example, on mibbit.com (Very tech audience) adblock usage is about 6%.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4>
      Server: Microsoft-IIS/7.0
      X-AspNet-Version: 2.0.50727
      X-Powered-By: ASP.NET

Lisp!!!->python->asp??? I'm just damn confused now ;) What's next? Frontpage? ActiveX?

Cool idea though :)

<comment><USER3> _hurriedly shuts down Frontpage_

Oh, uh, what do you mean?

Actually, these gents are responsible for everything you see on redditjobs.com except for the alien in a suit: <http://www.jobalchemist.com/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> A couple of things:

a) The site should say a ton more on the front page. Frankly I don't really understand what it does. Is it a standalone job board, or do the listings automatically appear on the the actual reddit site?

b) Starting price is fairly high. If the thing will automatically appear on reddit, then it might be justified somewhat, but even then, its pretty easy to get frontpage on programming reddit. If the thing doesn't appear on reddit, then the prices are just plain insane, why would I pay $300 or even $175 for something that gets no traffic.

c) If I like the job, why would I upvote it so that I get more competition?

<comment><USER8> RedditJobs will definitely leverage reddit's (large) community - the volume will be there.

as for (c), voting doesn't affect the ranking of the jobs. We record the votes and share them with employers to get them some feedback on how their jobs are perceived.

<comment><USER9> Do you really want employers getting into a popularity contest though?

It may change how a company presents itself but I can't imagine it'll cause any of them to really change their company to make it more developer friendly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Cool idea, but what I'd really like to see is a better way to find short-term freelance gigs. The options I'm aware of are currently so unsatisfactory I'm half considering making a startup to fix it.

I love the inclusion of alignment in the profiles, though I don't think companies can be trusted to accurately rate themselves on the good/evil axis.

<comment><USER3> v2 will let users rate them, too :) should be some interesting data to compare a company's perception of itself vs. reality

<comment><USER10> The companies as a whole, or the accuracy of individual parts of their self- description? It would be very interesting to have the latter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> How long until "/b/ jobs"?

</comment><comment><USER12> If you like a job why would you vote it up when it will increase competition for the job?

</comment><comment><USER13> The voting feature is as close to a useless feature as I can imagine. Not only is the voting prone to abuse since it is not in the user's interest to promote jobs to others. But if you do vote, it's more like an Iranian voting system. Your vote has no effect on the user experience of the site itself. It's just information that's tallied for statistical purposes for the companies who post jobs. Hard to see what sets this site apart from, say, Craigslist, except that Craigslist provides a more reliable indicator of job popularity - <USER2> applying for jobs. So another social site launches a job board - does this really need to be on Techcrunch or Hacker News? Very disappointing.

<comment><USER3> I think you're overlooking the added value of the company profile attributes. To wit, where else would you learn that your potential employer can't roll a Paladin? e.g., (see _Alignment_ ) <http://www.redditjobs.com/Companies/reddit- com-1.aspx>

<comment><USER14> Awesome job JomAlchemist and Reddit. The company profile attributes is a funny, but strangely useful tool, especially the "good vs. evil alignment"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Is it me, or is it funny that on the job postings are the bevvy of links (Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, etc) when this is supposed to be Reddit?

Also, 'reddit this' is nowhere near as catchy as 'Spreddit', which is a verb, and a clever word.</comment>


CloudFlare vs Incapsula vs ModSecurity - Comparative penetration testing [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://zeroscience.mk/files/wafreport2013.pdf <comment><USER2> I tweeted CloudFlare asking for a statement about this, as a few of us commenters have asked for (and wanted), and this was the response from their co-founder...

> " _@bluetidepro @CloudFlare flawed testing strategy that assumes a last- > generation, rules-based WAF. We've always worked differently._ " > <https://twitter.com/eastdakota/status/307604650436210688>

> " _@bluetidepro @CloudFlare that said, we'll have a significant release soon > that allows the people who want a rules based WAF to have it._ " > <https://twitter.com/eastdakota/status/307604791054434304>

> " _@bluetidepro @CloudFlare but it's kinda silly because it's certainly not > the future. Feels like taking a step backward._ " > <https://twitter.com/eastdakota/status/307604919605661698>

(My tweet: _Hope @CloudFlare can make a statement about this:<http://zeroscience.mk/files/wafreport2013.pdf> \- I'm pretty annoyed as a paying customer._) <https://twitter.com/bluetidepro/status/307603272645111808>

<comment><USER3> Wait, what? That is, I'm sorry... but a stupid response on their part. A SQL injection attempt (successful or not) is an SQL injection attempt. If it makes it to the server how is anything the 'future' or 'working differently', it still made it to the server and the service isn't doing the job one is paying for.

This response is so bad that I just did a literal _facepalm_. Needless to say we will be getting in touch with them as well...

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Page 18:

 _"Though CloudFlare is presented as, besides other things, a very proficient web application firewall, we concluded that that's just a marketing sales point and nothing more. ... CloudFlare does NOT protect from web attacks!"_

I'd really like to hear from Cloudfare on this statement.

<comment><USER3> As a Cloudflare user whom has been protected by these kinds of attacks in the past... I too would like to know what the eff is going on here.

They supposedly (according to tech support in the past) USE mod_security... so what did they break?

<comment><USER5> You were protected from DDoS attacks or security attacks?

<comment><USER3> Both. We were victims of up to something like 21GBps DDoS attacks (sorry to any other clients on that segment of the Cloudflare network... _whistles and walks away_ :P).

We've also seen directed attempts from toolkits and the like for SQL injection attempts, etc.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Anyone else tried testing the security claims of CF? This particular test looks pretty bad but it's just 1 case...

<comment><USER7> Here is another test (October 2012) with similar findings: [http://tonyonsecurity.com/2012/11/13/protecting-your- website...](http://tonyonsecurity.com/2012/11/13/protecting-your-website- cloudflare-or-incapsula/)

SQL Injection: Incapsula blocked all 30 attacks and CloudFlare blocked 1

XSS: Incapsula blocked all 12 attacks and CloudFlare blocked 0

RFI: Incapsula blocked 0 and CloudFlare blocked 0

I really like CloudFlare and hope they can improve this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I am getting a "Invalid Http Request Header" when I try to reach incapsula.com with Firefox 19. Perhaps because I am currently located in Bolivia. A bad false positive and they lost a potential client.

</comment><comment><USER8> CloudFlare does about as much for protecting you from web attacks as a condom does in protecting you from a rabid pitt bull.

In fact it might even make things worse, since CF can be tricked in to refreshing its cache of pages pretty easily, making it easier to create a DoS.

Also with very little work you can trick CF in to thinking a site is under attack from Google's IP range which will trigger it to block Google, seriously hurting your search rankins.

</comment><comment><USER9> Waiting to see if eastdakota or jgrahamc will chime in...

</comment><comment><USER10> I think it's worth mentioning that CloudFlare, while advertising its WAF as a "pro" feature[1], gives it a one-paragraph blurb halfway down its feature page. Don't get me wrong--I'm _not_ saying that it's okay to fudge features-- but CloudFlare is not primarily marketed as a WAF.

Among other security features, CloudFlare is designed to load balance and protect sites from DDoS attacks, which it does well (though, like any service, not perfectly). Additionally, it looks like they assign visitors "reputation scores" that can have different effects based on the status of the application. They also seem to use heuristics to "learn" about new attacks, which while not the _fastest_ way to block attacks can produce some alright results.[2]

I'd be interested to see whether the Zero Science Lab study used CloudFlare's feature to allow them to manage mod_security rules or not, and whether that would have made a difference. The PDF does state:

 _> Remember, we are using their Business Plan which should be an enterprise WAF solution for your company._

... but it's unclear which features they enabled.

Last point: I've done a _lot_ of web application security assessments, and while, yes, WAFs can help an organization defend against XSS, SQLi, LFI/RFI, CSRF, etc., they are really just bandages over the much more serious issue of _insecure code_. Developers have a tough job, sure, but there is _no_ WAF that will protect you against all attacks. Maybe _' OR 1=1;--_ won't work, but there are a _lot_ of ways--even emerging attack vectors--that security software won't protect against.

That said, though, if you're going to rely heavily on a WAF, going with a "sub-feature" like those presented in CloudFlare is definitely not the way to do it.

\--

As I finished up this comment, I realized that bluetidepro posted some comments from CloudFlare about the report:

 _> @CloudFlare flawed testing strategy that assumes a last-generation, rules- based WAF. We've always worked differently._ [3]

This statement in particular furthers their own marketing; they're trying to create security via heuristic rules, rather than a static ruleset. Really, a combination would probably be best.

\--

Lastly: Although this comment might read as a defense of CloudFlare, I'd like to note that I have no affiliation with the organization whatsoever; it just seemed like a very one-sided argument.

[1] <https://www.cloudflare.com/features-security>

[2] [http://blog.cloudflare.com/thats-freaking-awesome- cloudflare...](http://blog.cloudflare.com/thats-freaking-awesome-cloudflare- automatical)

[3] <https://twitter.com/eastdakota/status/307604650436210688>

<comment><AUTHOR> > .. but it's unclear which features they enabled.

they turned everything on/set to "high". It's mentioned in the report with screenshots of the UI.</comment></comment>


Delta workers seeking to unionize say they are 'under siege' by management - <AUTHOR> https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/12/delta-workers-pro-union-report-threats-management <comment><USER2> >Avery has filed a complaint for wrongful termination with the National Mediation Board . A Delta spokesperson told the Guardian: "Ms Avery's position on unionization had nothing to do with our decision to end her employment. She was terminated after refusing to comply with Delta's conflict of interest policy."

Yeah, I wonder what the conflict of interest is here.

</comment><comment><USER3> These union organisers want jobs in the union they want elected so they can steal members money(indirectly by hiring friends, family, other union members etc). I am constantly amazed at how companies they get unionised end up with fewer jobs, and the companies get less profitable as well - they call it a lose-lose scenario. Russian hackers behind it no doubt...

<comment><USER4> > and the companies get less profitable as well

Imagine how high profits could be if they didn't have to pay a wage at all!

<comment><USER3> Lincoln eliminated that. When unions kill car companies and set up the scenes for Japanese, Korean and European car companies to decimate USA car sales. The strikes forced a high degree of automation on US car makers = 75% of jobs gone over 40 years. Japanese, Korean and Eurpoean car makers delevloped huge RoRo car carriers ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll-on/roll- off](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roll-on/roll-off)). In 1960 cars were lloaded by cranes on slings and 10% had damage and each one took an hour os so to load/unload. The RoRo were built like parking lots. Drive the car down the long ramps on 7-10 levels, 5-10 cars wide. Park the car and go for the next car on foot while a rigger tightens chains to hooks on the car. Now you know what those hooks are for - RoRo loading. A ship could be loaded in a day, and unloaded as there were many drivers and ramps going at the same time. Unions killed US car industry, it is true. They struggle on byautomating and eliminating jobs and fasteners etc. Often woder why things are not repaired any more? Automation in assembly eliminated screws = now welded or rivetted = no repairs possible. They hate Tesla and want the unions to ruin Tesla so they can force their lame electric cars on you. American electrics have failed because the car makers built in huge dealer work potential. Ever wonder why Tesla has no dealers? Electric cars do not need dealers. Do you have a toaster dealer? Take in your toaster every few months for service etc. The whole car industry will be wrong out like a chickens neck by electric cars as allmost all dealer work will be gone. No engine work - electric motors run 1 million miles. No mufflers at all, brakes last 5 times as long, tires can lasy 500,000 miles if made with urethane etc. on and on. Tesla is your greatest friend. Conventional Car makers are spending millions in bribes to kill Tesla via crooked politicians....(yes, I mean paper bags of cash - the political donations by cheques are small and are within the legal limits)

<comment><USER5> I'm glad to see anti-union rhetoric hasn't really evolved in 40 years.

Strikes didn't "force" automation, the market did. Consumers did.

The reason why the US car industry really died is that the US car industry _refused_ to compete, getting Congress in their pockets to ban their competition instead. So blaming unions while designing four-wheeled boats that got 15 MPG downhill, then legislating yourself to be the only choice... is hilarious! It's also against the entire spirit of the free market.

<comment><USER6> If I understand you correctly you're saying American car manufacturers were speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

"Free market" when it comes to labor.

"Necessary protections" when it comes to international competition.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


MIDI.js - Sequencing in Javascript - <AUTHOR> http://mudcu.be/midi-js/

<comment><USER2> Since tim cook removed midi support in mt lion, I've been looking for ways to get the midis that play on my professional homepage to work again. I tried this one and it's cool, but as far as I was able to use it, it was limited to just one instrument.

<comment><USER3> >midis that played on my professional homepage

We're partying like it's 1995 again!

<comment><USER4> You should actually check it out; even the title marquees.

<comment><USER5> For the lazy: <http://bitfission.com/>

1995 might be a bit generous; fun!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I see a lot of jokes about the mid-90s, Geocities, & by extension the Crescendo plugin, but that comes from a misunderstanding of what MIDI is. It's a set of instructions, not a sound format. The awful music you might associate with MIDI was your crappy soundcard interpreting note instructions. When you send those MIDI instructions to a more capable device, the results can be much better.

Where this is exciting is not in that you can embed background music in a web page without the bandwidth required of compressed audio, so much as that it is a step toward further opening up the realm of building interfaces for professional musical instruments (and not so professional musical instruments).

Anecdote time: In the late 90s, I'd bought a Roland drum machine that I felt had a really horrible programming interface, and I wanted to put my budding programming skills to use and build a nice visual interface that emulated the more intuitive devices from the 80s - and I had no idea where to start.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, and in the heat of the "HTML5 can do anything Flash does" debate, I decided to try emulating one of my drum machines using only HTML5 & CSS - <http://bitrotten.com/dr110/> \- because while I felt it was impossible to do something like <http://www.audiotool.com/> in HTML/JS/CSS, I wanted to put my money where my mouth was. (Result: Javascript timing is horrrrrible, audio handling is a work in progress, playback is inconsistent between browsers... Flash still wins by a very long mile on this front) But aside from the audio, I felt I could actually do a decent job of building out an interface.

I guess the point I'm getting at is that in the coming years, not only will audio improve, but with the ability to output MIDI, a very accessible set of free tools (as in, a text editor, and a web browser) means that fewer people will experience the frustration I had over 15 years ago when I wanted to roll- my-own interface for external music hardware.

Having said that, I think that solid timing will prove to be a formidable foe, particularly in a realm where you still have holdouts from the DIN SYNC era who say MIDI isn't responsive enough.

</comment><comment><USER7> I've recently used this library to make an ear trainer app (<http://www.earbuilder.com>). It's pretty easy to use and the creator responds really quickly - the only issue I have at the moment is playing sounds simultaneously within Chrome.

<comment><USER8> This is really cool! I had some trouble with the harmonic setting at first (in Chrome), but after refreshing the page it seems to work fine. It's crazy how much harder it got once that setting went on.

<comment><USER7> Thanks - chords in Chrome has been an issue a few people are having. I'm still looking for an answer. :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment> iso-8859-1 Sounds absolutely terrible on Firefox 18.0.2/Linux... I think it's sad MIDI isn't in the Web Audio API, the code for 95% of this is written already, just not accessible. The web really needs to reinvent everything in JavaScript I guess.

<comment><USER9> Yup; crackles abound. I pulled it up in Chromium 24.0.1312.70 to see if the sound was any better, and (most of) the crackles are gone. When > 4 notes play you still get a bit of crackle, but it's far, far better.

It's sad that everything HAS to be re-invented, but I am frequently excited to see what can be done with ES5. I'm eager to see what ES6 brings us.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Wow @ <http://mudcu.be/midi-js/js/MusicTheory.Synesthesia.js>. That's super interesting.

Looks like it came from here: <http://rhythmiclight.com/archives/ideas/colorscales.html>

One of the most disappointing things about my time at Berklee was that I never met anyone with Synesthesia.

</comment><comment><USER11> The examples are pretty impressive. Would be a great way to learn piano with a bit more work.

<https://github.com/qiao/euphony> and <http://mudcu.be/piano/>

And Simon Says: <http://labs.uxmonk.com/simon-says/>

</comment><comment><USER12> This is fantastic! A Javascript library that can transport you back to 1996 Geocities! Seriously, it is nice to start seeing sound tools for Javascript. Javascript, CSS, and HTML5 were to be the great Flash Slayers, but the things that Flash are "good" at, Video and Sound, seem the be last on the list of items to be implemented.

</comment><comment><USER13> I'm seeing an indefinite "Loading: Soundfont..." spinner. Looking at the console, it looks like a few assets take a long time to download and then fail before finishing. Could it be your server is serving assets itself and killing the connection after ~10s?

</comment><comment><USER14> This page really needs to show the title and composer of the song it's playing.

</comment><comment><USER15> Holy shit, this is really really awesome! I have so many awesome ideas in my head right now. Thank you!!! :D

</comment><comment><USER16> Very nice, and the soundfont sounds a lot better than the stuff that comes with most operating systems

</comment><comment><USER17> Dosent work . Shows Loading Soundfont indefinitely ..

</comment><comment><USER18> I don't hear anything on Chrome for Android.

</comment><comment><USER19> also: <http://www.multiplayerpiano.com/>

</comment><comment><USER20> still loading ... after 10 minutes.

</comment><comment><USER21> same here</comment>


You should start playing with flying robots - <AUTHOR> http://setpixel.com/post/63547909781/you-should-start-playing-with-flying-robots

<comment><USER2> I wish, I really wish. But as the article says, it's an expensive hobby. I wish I had around 5000$ to throw away into building my own. The Shadowrunner in me scream with joy (and fear) upon seeing these. Who wouldn't want to be a rigger?</comment>


If you aren't embarrassed by v1.0 you didn't release it early enough (2007) - <AUTHOR> http://successfulsoftware.net/2007/08/07/if-you-arent-embarrassed-by-v10-you-didnt-release-it-early-enough/

<comment><USER2> I'm working on an app at the moment and despite my intention of releasing early, I find myself adding additional features for the initial release.

Here's my logic; tell me if I'm out of line:

1) As a user of my own product, I have a pretty good idea of what the first set of features users are going to ask for. I could release a simpler version, but since I know some additional features are important, I feel like I might as well implement them prior to the launch.

2) You tend to get a big spike in traffic right after launch. The better the site, the better that initial feedback is going to be and the more people who will convert. Why waste that large influx of traffic? Counterpoint: the people that make up that large spike of traffic are largely tech-geeks, who are not my target audience anyway so it doesn't matter.

<comment><USER3> I think this is pretty typical of developers scratching their own itch, but I would launch now:

1) You may not be scratching the itch you think you are. Users may love your software or they may hate it, but both might occur for reasons you never even thought about, because your users are different from you and may use it completely differently.

2) Don't launch. Seriously, a big launch event with PR and hype is overrated. Put it out there, get feedback, iterate based on that feedback, and do marketing and PR later. Here's a much better post on the subject:

[http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont- launch.htm...](http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2009/03/dont-launch.html)

<comment><USER2> Ryan, great points.

I have mixed feelings about listening to users. On one hand, I'd like to think that my vision for the app should lead me and that users are there to keep me on track. On the other hand, what good is a vision if your users don't like where you're headed? Put another way: as the developer, am I there to implement the users' collective vision or are they there to guide mine?

I think there's got to be some sort of healthy balance. You can't (and shouldn't) do everything your users want, but you need to listen to their feedback because in the end what good is business without any customers?

<comment><USER4> Agreed.

I'm often shocked how obsessed everyone is with "getting user feedback so you can iterate".

In my experience, users have no idea what they want and the ones that do are usually just trying to get you to implement their pet piece of functionality that will make their lives easier (usually at everyone else's expense).

User feedback is good for validating your design and feature choices not driving them.

<comment><USER5> They may not be very good at telling you _how_ they want to do something, but they are usually pretty good at telling you _what_ they want to be able to do.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think most people commenting so far perhaps didn't read the article entirely. I find the headline a little misleading - it does not advocate shipping buggy software, but simply a minimal feature set to get the idea out there, start seeing what features people use, what features people want, etc. Sounds pretty familiar to me.

</comment><comment><USER7> Counterpoint: <http://www.cuil.com/>

Embarrassment ruined them and few will ever give Cuil an honest second look, regardless of their future additions/improvements.

<comment><USER8> Cuil was also hyped a lot before its initial release. I think if it had stealth-released, done some research and refined, they might have done better.

Or at least realized the concept was something the market simply didn't want (alternatively: hasn't wanted yet).

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Is anyone else tired of this aphorism plus wild generalization format?

</comment><comment><USER4> Can we please stop giving out this bullshit piece of advice?

People expect polished applications that are better than what they already have. If you're not proud of your product wait until you are to release it. Believe me, it will make standing in front of a room full of investors or potential users a much more pleasant experience and you'll be able to sleep at night.

<comment><USER3> Completely disagree. The biggest risks for almost any piece of software done as an entrepreneurial project:

      1) The developer never ships it
      2) When they finally do, no one cares

Shipping early even with flaws and bugs solves #1, and if #2 is a problem, you find out a lot faster and can move on to the next thing. The truth is that early adopters expect bugs and flaws, which is why they're early adopters. Most people are surprisingly forgiving of new software [1], provided the developer engages and regularly addresses their concerns with bug fixes, new features, etc.

1\. Obviously, this depends on what market you're in. Developers of avionics, for example, probably shouldn't follow this advice.

<comment><USER10> Yes. And you can just call it version 0.1 instead of 1.0, if you are cautious.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> On a semi related note, Intype is an example of a great piece of software that should have been released as v1.0 already.

If it were to be released, I personally would pay for it and know many others who would also (in order to feed their development). But in its current (development) state I opt for something with backing assured.

</comment><comment><USER12> Macintosh System 1.0 was AWESOME.

Even Mac OS X doesn't match it in terms of usability.

If you're not willing to put polish on your 1.0 product, YOU FAIL IT.

<comment><USER3> Counterpoint: Microsoft's (and Google's) products are hardly perfect when released, and has a bigger market cap than Apple (and Google is close).

And to take it even further, you're cherry-picking. Apple's products are usually polished, but not always. MobileMe? Or their first product:

[http://www.landsnail.com/apple/local/design/images/computers...](http://www.landsnail.com/apple/local/design/images/computers/apple1.GIF)</comment></comment>


The Myth of the 99 Cent Book - <AUTHOR> http://www.baekdal.com/opinion/the-myth-of-the-99-cent-book/ <comment><USER2> I fail to see how receiving 70 cents per e-book sold is a _radically_ worse proposition than seeing $2 for every on-dead-treebook sold.

You know what you call an author's principle source of income? A day job. This is true for the overwhelming majority of authors and has been since time immemorial. A change in market power from publishers to Amazon will not wipe out the stunningly lucrative career option that being a midlist author was.

<comment><USER3> This.

Most people don't realize that the _vast_ majority of authors -- even your J.K. Rowlings, Stephen Kings, and John Grishams -- make their money over a big volume of works, rather than on any individual work. Amanda Hocking, with her much-storied, self-published millions, is no different. She didn't get rich off a single book; she got rich because she cranked out 20 bajillion books at once.

If anything, the new economics of publishing will push things further in this direction. The pressures of this market will favor prolific authors over one- hit-wonders. It's debatable whether that's a good thing or a bad thing for authors and, ultimately, readers. You could certainly describe it as the fast foodization of the book world. But the new dynamics would simply represent an acceleration of an existing model. After all, the John Grishams of the world were already massively richer than the modern-day James Joyces of the world before Amazon showed up. That's not a new or particularly startling phenomenon.

<comment><USER4> A prolific writer is in a better position to make a killing but bad user reviews may eventually put an end to it. A big difference from the past is that self-pubbed authors can receive up to 70% of the sales whereas they would get 10% or less with legacy publishing. This greatly reduces the threshold of success (if measured as being able to live off writing).

<comment><USER3> A fair point, but then, middling to bad user reviews don't seem to have slowed down mass-market juggernauts like Dan Brown and James Patterson. In theory, user reviews help keep a check on absolute fast foodization. But in praxis, they haven't really mattered all that much. Though I suspect they will matter a lot more a few years from now, when we'll be seeing more and more authors get their starts in self-publishing. (And right now, they seem to matter more at the extremes than in the middle: people pay attention to one-star reviews and five-star reviews, but the muddy middle doesn't seem to register as easily).

As for the treshold of success: agreed on most counts. The costs of entry and the barriers to making a successful living have been lowered. But the tricky part is that authors will increasingly bear the burdens for their own publicity, marketing, etc. Successful authors of the future will probably have a lot in common with successful entrepreneurs in the app market.

<comment><USER5> In my experience, if the book isn't a blockbuster with a huge marketing budget, ratings make or break it. If someone searches for a book on amazon, and finds a "maybe," they look at reviews. If the reviews are consistently good, they buy. If there are bad ratings, they don't.

I've had books go from selling consistently to selling almost nbothing just from one or two negative reviews.

<comment><USER6> I think this is where small presses (or specialized imprints/brands from larger publishers) can make a big difference, even in the post-paper-book world, for authors that appeal to a niche market.

Last week I was browsing the SF shelves at the local about-to-close Borders, and I ended up buying a book I had never heard of by an author I had never heard of without even reading the first chapter. One reason I took that risk, of course, was that it only cost my five bucks. But the reason I picked _that_ book out of all the titles on the shelf, most of which were even cheaper, was that it was put out by Haikasoru (a small press specializing in translations of Japanese SF), and I really liked the last Haikasoru book I bought, and I read the editor's LJ, and I like his taste.

<comment><USER4> Quite true. And going beyond ratings and prior knowledge, are the recommendation engines that may also create some networking effects. Also, an anti-thesis for the submitted article can be found in many articles by Joe Konrath: <http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> This post makes the same mistakes many critics of the Laffer curve make. The Laffer curve, despite their simplistic criticisms, does not say that lower taxes increases revenue, it says that there is a "sweet spot" where tax rates maximize revenue; if your rates are higher than that, then lowering them will increase revenue, but if the rates are lower then raising them should increase revenue.

Similarly with pricing schemes; there is some price point which will maximize revenue, often it is lower than the seller believes, but not always. J A Konrath on his blog has discussed his experiments with pricing and revenue several times over the last few years (<http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/>).

<comment><USER8> The concept you want is "price elasticity".

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm not sure this author actually reads the 0.99 books from Amazon. I read quite a few of them (kicked a bad video game habit), and it appears many authors of the SciFi multi-volume publish book 1 at either free or 0.99, with the rest of the books in the series around the 2.99 price point.

Like apps, I will buy almost anything at the 0.99 price point. But at 2.99, I'd probably skip the first book unless I had a recommendation, and for all of these "long tail" authors, there is little chance of me discovering them. But with this pricing model, the top-100 books are always churning up a few new authors every week for me to check out.

It's very interesting because it is so different from the app or standalone- book models.

</comment><comment><USER6> Nick Mamatas (who is both a writer and a small-press editor) once argued that the true market value of an ebook, at least for fiction, is around 99 cents, because that's how much a typical book costs in a used bookstore. (Not having visited a used bookstore in a while, I have to take his word for it.) In other words, if you want to read a novel and you don't care about its format, you can get one for 99 cents.

<comment><USER10> Seriously, I've replaced my new book buying habit with used bookstore visits, NOT with ebooks (I've never payed for an ebook, but I do like Project Gutenberg)!

It helps that I mostly look for obscure sci-fi, which is quite under- represented in new book stores.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Taking logic to absurd extremes doesn't prove it is wrong in general, it just proves it is wrong at the extremes.

Look at games on the iOS App store. Would anyone sell a polished game for $1 back in the day? No way! A game is worth $20-30. Yet developers are making a killing selling them for $1, the minimum allowed price. And yes, this does hurt the people who think they need to charge $10 for their game, because they think there is only a small market. But that doesn't mean the people charging $1 are wrong.

<comment><USER12> New delivery mechanisms have changed the, er, game. When the audience has to get in a car, drive to a game/book store, physically peruse voluminous units, etc. just to identify and purchase the product, the practical audience is much smaller than the potential audience. When the acquisition process is simplified to tap-tap-tap-[password], the practical audience equals the potential audience.

A ballpark guess is Angry Birds is probably selling some 10x as many copies via on-a-whim instant downloads vs. the go-to-a-store-and-get-a-cardboard-box model.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> "Another example is if you write a book for a nice market, totaling 20,000 potential readers. And you predict that for the price of $9.99 you will reach 35% of that audience."

If you're able to reach 35% of your total possible audience at $9.99, then of course you're not going to make more money by slashing to $0.99. But where did the 35% figure come from?

How about I pluck the figure 1% out of the air instead? And pluck 50% out as the figure I'd reach at $0.99? Suddenly the economics look totally different. I'm now making 5 times the amount at $0.99.

Unless he's got any particular basis for his figures, mine are just as valid as his (and based on my personal buying habits on the iPhone, mine are not entirely unreasonable. I have spent far more in total on $0.99 apps than I ever have on $9.99 ones and I very much doubt I'm the only one. I know books are different, but there's no fundamental reason why you couldn't see a similar pattern).

I'm not suggesting that authors definitely would make more money. But basing your argument on what seems to be a figure plucked randomly out of the air isn't a good way to prove your case.

Oh, and whilst we're at it, why does the long tail apply to $0.99 books but not to $9.99 ones?

</comment><comment><USER14> It seems to me that this article is pretty clueless

The part about the relationship between price and sales shows a total obliviousness to basic economics

> _A 99 cent book may bring authors a lot more money than $9.99 one._

> ... _I don't know where they got this idea from. It is not true._

> _Sure, providing something at a discount yields a higher sale, but it is not > at the same rate._

The author has sort of independently reached _some_ of the conclusions of simple economics, but honestly you'd be far better off just reading the wikipedia page of Elasticity of Demand (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_elasticity>).

The question is pretty much just " _Is demand for ebooks elastic or inelastic?_ ". I don't hold it against the author, but they're really reinventing wheel, and the wheel they've come up with is kind of wonky.

> _Every other type of product cost more today than 10 years ago. A bottle of > milk costs more today than in the past. A bicycle costs more than in the > past, a meal at a restaurant cost more today than ever before. The gas > prices are off the scale (but for other reasons as well.)_

That's just dramatically factually untrue (in real terms). Yes, with inflation, a lot of things now cost _a larger number of currency units_ than they once did, but in real terms bicycles (to use their example) are a lot cheaper than they were, because they can be mass produced in enormous numbers in China.

> _Content is the only industry in which the price of content has dropped. ... > Every other product costs more. Content costs less._

I might be wrong here, but I believe just about all manufactured goods have substantially fallen in price in real terms since the 60s.

tl;dr This person needs to read a high-school level book on economics (or just the chapters about Inflation and Elasticity of Demand) before telling people how to price their goods.

</comment><comment><USER15> The whole article is based on a strawman. Who contended that reducing price per unit by an order of magnitude would result in an equal increase in volume?

Pricing at a dollar is a definite advantage for certain products which have mass appeal and have potential for massive volume ( Ex: Angry Birds ). People are significantly more likely to buy something that's only mildly interesting if it costs an insignificant sum like a dollar.

If you sell a textbook on Applied Thermodynamics for a dollar though, you sir are an idiot!

<comment><USER12> Per a prior post, a book is only worth what it costs used. Amazon lists used books titled "Applied Thermodynamics" starting at $0.51. If you're one who realizes education is nigh unto free (personal review & certification being the expensive bit), such textbooks are only worth a buck.

Note that that the textbook market is skewed to artificially favor expensive titles per school requirements and publisher racketeering. Considering it is AFAIK a fairly settled topic, at least in an educational setting, without such price-fixing the introduction of yet another textbook on Applied Thermodynamics would command a far lower price than the typical $50-$150.

Yes, the simplified lead premise is a strawman. So is saying selling a textbook dirt cheap is idiotic. Both are used as a lead-in to a valid detailed discussion of what does constitute reasonable pricing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> "Every other type of product cost more today than 10 years ago. A bottle of milk costs more today than in the past. A bicycle costs more than in the past, a meal at a restaurant cost more today than ever before. The gas prices are off the scale (but for other reasons as well.)"

Lying so egregiously to _this_ audience is insane; ever heard of computers?

<comment><USER6> There's no Moore's Law for novels.

There have been some technological improvements that make writing more efficient (e.g., word processors), but the process for making most other consumer products has become efficient at an even faster rate. The Baumol effect predicts that this imbalance will lead to more expensive novels and/or cheaper novelists.

<comment><USER17> Cheaper novelists. Like with apps, the new publishing model lowers the bar to entry, resulting in a substantial increase in publishing authors.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> This guy is seriously misunderstanding the long tail. First of all the long tail is an opportunity, not something that "dies" (his words). It's an opportunity for authors because what authors have today is the opportunity to self publish and instantly receive global distribution and in the case of say Amazon sit on a store shelf that has millions of visitors a day. On top of that, they take 70% of the books retail price.

So all this and he's going to cry about the price point dropping?

For the record my book buying rate has probably gone up 10x since Kindle, partly due to price partly due to convenience.

</comment><comment><USER19> Prices float toward the marginal cost of production.

Saying that's heading in the wrong direction is like saying that we could make a better plane if we just had less gravity.

<comment><USER8> Despite how poorly this guy describes price elasticity, I do think he has one decent point: that if the "customary" ebook price becomes $1, that is too low for most authors to make it. Based on just a gut feeling, I think the sweet spot would probably be $3-6 for ebooks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Making $10 of ad revenue is actually very good for a small blog. People don't just do these things to become millionaires but for a mix of recognition and for fun. Doing things for fun is still very prolific...</comment>


Show HN: I'm working on a book about Meteor. You can read it online for free. - <AUTHOR> https://leanpub.com/meteortutorial

<comment><USER2> Nice! I am in the process of a similar project that I am releasing for free on a collaborative publishing platform called Penflip. I am actively looking for contributors if you know anyone who would be interested :) twitter handle is in my profile.

</comment><comment><USER3> Excellent book. I didn't, and couldn't put it down since I downloaded it today noon. Almost done reading it. I plan to finish this part of the book before I go to sleep! Looking forward to the next batch of chapters. God sent.

<comment><AUTHOR> Awesome, man. I better hurry up with the writing then! If there's anything specific you want me to cover, feel free to send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Or if there's any parts that you were sort of unclear about, etc, just let me know.

<comment><USER3> Sure, I will be sending specific notes in the next 15 minutes or so. Guys, trust me, this is the best introductory text to Meteor out there.. and I have the other book iykwim.

<comment><USER3> did you get the notes?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Looks good! I'm looking forward to reading it.

</comment><comment><USER5> Looks great!! Can't wait to see more :)

</comment><comment><USER6> Looks promising! Good luck with the book :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks Sacha. :)</comment></comment>


A new challenge for the fans of labyrinth and maze games - <AUTHOR> http://dungeons.sh/ <comment><AUTHOR> dungeons.sh is a new site for those who like to play maze games. Either if you are in a timerun mode trying to get out as fast as possible, or you just wander through a maze trying to find loot, killing skeletons some fun time is promised for those brave souls daring to enter the Dungeon of Perish.</comment>


You could be kicked out of Dev Bootcamp - <AUTHOR> http://natashatherobot.com/kicked-out-of-dev-bootcamp/

<comment><USER2> Oh dang</comment>


Dave McClure On 500 Startups: "If Sequoia Is The Yankees, We're The Oakland A's" - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/10/dave-mcclure-on-500-startups-if-sequoia-is-the-yankees-were-the-oakland-as/ <comment><USER2> Heh. When was the last time Dave McClure followed the Oakland A's? I mean, to take his analogy of "Moneyball" to his investment strategy to it's (il)logical conclusion, you'll have a bunch of start-ups that will make it the playoffs (seed) but never win the important game (series A).

Oh and other 'teams' will read the book, understand the new metrics that help predict success, spend more money, and win the World Series (e.g. Liquidity event). Maybe even do it twice in 3 years =)

<comment><USER3> it's a headline, not a business plan.

don't take everything you read too seriously.</comment></comment>


"They're Watching You" – LinuxFest Talk by Bryan Lunduke - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tabVaoeNtdk <comment><AUTHOR> This was posted 2 years ago but bears posting again.</comment>