Ask HN: Am I a bad person for not using Make? - <AUTHOR> I maintain a small handful of embedded C projects. Originally, I copied a Makefile from somewhere and did the standard thing with it. For basic dependency tracking, it's pretty straightforward of course. But every time I needed to do something "different" I had to go chase down how to do that (autogenerating a versions.c file for example).
I don't remember at what point I snapped, but on one of these sojourns, I thought to myself: "The basic problem I'm solving here is driving gcc compile/link phases. I know how that works well. I want to do as little as possible. I know Python really pretty well, and I can generally get it to do anything I want. Why not just write a python script to do this? I'm tired of trying to figure out how to make do one more thing with .phony or whatever. I've got enough languages/systems/frameworks in my head already."
So that's what I did. Took an hour or two to write it. It's ~200 lines long. It does fast threaded dependent builds. In addition to compiling, it does various other side related tasks. Peers have taken it and tweaked it multiple times to do interesting things. I just got tired of those Makefiles that evolve and over time, there's only one guy that understands it anymore. It's served us well for years.
Am I the only developer to ever take this road less traveled? <comment><USER2> I've done it. I have a large project that involves generating .cc and .h files from other files. I wrote a custom script in Javascript (for node.js) that drives the build process, and it handles all the dependencies and parallel builds.

One tricky part was getting the header dependencies right. I run the compiler with -MD and it outputs a .d file listing dependencies, which my script parses.

I wish there were a simple library to build this kind of stuff on top of. Often you need a real programming language (which Make is not) and parallel dependency tracking (which is tricky to get 100% correct when you write it from scratch each time.)

</comment><comment><USER3> You're a very long way from the only developer to take this road, and it's a road that's very well traveled indeed.

Writing your own build tools seems to be an attractor task for programmers. Every year there are a few more build systems made public by eager developers who started simply by solving their own problems; almost every one of them having started life as a lash-up of scripts by frustrated programmers just like you. I suspect the number of people who have ever traveled as far along this road as you have so far numbers in the millions.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I was attracted to it. If nothing else, it made my Python skills that much fuller.

Its never something I wanted to turn into a reusable solution though. I have 3 of these right now, each time, I took the old one as a starting point, and then changed to match the newer needs (and only those specific needs) and maybe whatever was my latest approach to solving.

For me, the utmost guiding principle has been to keep them simple so that someone can casually tweak/change it with not too much work.

I've worked in automation (food processing, nuclear manufacturing, and agriculture) for a lot of years. One thing I've discovered is that while you _can_ automate _everything_ in the real world, there really are some parts of the process where an adaptable human being is the best tool for that particular part of the process. I've viewed these efforts in a similar vein.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Something I've done in the past is treated Make like a well-known API. Even if the logic is in separate scripts, I still implement a simple Makefile with common targets like "build", "clean" and sometimes "install". This allows people picking up your project to build it and work with it right away, without having to understand the details of the scripts.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes. Did exactly that.

</comment></comment><comment> radford-neal I recall a hearing a seminar a few years ago by a computer scientist, about getting physicists and other non-CS people to write better software. He mocked one physicist who had defined a shell file called "make" that simply contained the one line

      cc *.c

How clueless can one be?

Except... that's a perfectly reasonable approach to compiling your program if it's small enough that this takes only a few seconds - ie, if your program has no more than about 50,000 lines of code - and there's nothing more complex to be done than compile a bunch of C source files. Physicists have better things to do with their time than learn about "make" just so they don't get mocked by computer scientists.

</comment><comment><USER5> I don't blame you for not using Make (It's nice and easy only in cases that are too basic for real-world projects. Once you start supporting out-of-tree builds, configurable components, portability, etc. it grows into something tricky and fragile).

However, I'd suggest using another existing build system rather than inventing a millionth-first one. It's easy to make 95% sufficient build system, but the effort to reach 100% is asymptotic.

In one project I refused to touch autotools, and hand-crafted my own ./configure script. It seemed simple at first, and ended up being a time sink. I've been getting bizarre bug reports about broken platforms where /dev/null doesn't exist, grep doesn't understand basic flags, /tmp/ is read-only (why do you hurt yourself like that!?). If you make your own build system, all of it it becomes your problem that you'll reinvent it like everyone before you.

The only problem is that no matter which build system you choose, you'll find both people who think it's the only right choice, and people who insist it's total garbage and they will never touch it.

</comment><comment><USER6> You should use the tools that work best for you. If your Python script is that, then I say that's excellent, run with it!

Myself, I've moved through trying several different make replacements (including custom-built ones) but moved back to make a couple of years ago. It offers benefits that matter in my situation that I've not been able to reasonably find elsewhere.

</comment><comment><USER7> There are also other build alternatives. Cmake comes to mind.. There's a new(ish) one that the gnome project is using now (also written in python): m..something.

Anyway, rest easy. You aren't the first. You won't be the last. (my favorite: someone released a /bin/ls clone in go recently)

<comment><USER8> Meson, btw.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Build scripts predate Make. [0] is one example from Research Unix V6.

[0] [https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history- repo/blob/Researc...](https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history- repo/blob/Research-V6-Snapshot-Development/usr/source/rat/run)

</comment><comment><USER10> I maybe a contrarian, but i really hate custom made build tools. They contain a lot of "black magic"(no documentation nor community help) and are difficult to debug and extend. I think it is much better to stay with standard build tools. Time spent in learning them is well worth it.

In your case i might have gone with SCons+distcc+ccache rather than a custom made one.

<comment><USER6> I hate having to use custom build tools made by others, and I agree with you if we're talking about code that is going to be distributed.

But for personal projects that aren't intended for use by the rest of the world, I don't see any problem with them. Back when I played with custom build tools, I split the difference and made sure to implement a means to export a makefile equivalent. (Since then, I've moved back to just using the standard tools).

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I did a similar thing with static site generators. They annoy the hell out of me and knocking something up in NodeJS, using libraries like fs-extra, marked, moustache etc. 100 lines JS is understandable and infinitely more flexible than whatever your static site generator has me locked into.

</comment><comment><USER12> Google 'maven for c++' and you'll find many others have gone down this road. I'd checkout some of the work that's been done in this matter just so you don't have to maintain your own make system. Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER13> I switched from make to mk and never looked back.

The syntax is saner. It took some time to learn it, but typing `mk` instead of `clang --many-flags-I-do-not-remember` is so much better.

</comment><comment><USER14> A python version is Nox.

[https://nox.thea.codes/en/stable/](https://nox.thea.codes/en/stable/)</comment>


Lefora launches next generation forums for free - <AUTHOR> http://www.lefora.com Figure this would be quite relevant to any startups that need collaborative tools.  A new startup I saw up on techcrunch is offering up super simple forums and many to many group discussions for free. <comment><USER2> Nice service. Super easy to use.</comment>


Netherlands Moves to Only Allow EV Sales by 2025 – End of Gas, Petrol - <AUTHOR> http://insideevs.com/netherlands-moves-to-allow-only-all-evs-by-2025-no-more-gas-diesel-sales/ <comment><USER2> Between proposal and vote, this was changed from "forbid sales of gas-powered cars by 2025" to "push to not sell any gas-powered cars by 2025". Chances are there will be discussion over how hard to make that push.

Also, sales of electric cars in the Netherlands were very high because subsidies made then extremely cheap for some people; if you managed to let your company buy a Tesla model S as a business expense for you to drive in instead of paying you its cost in (taxable) income, after subsidies and tax breaks, it could cost around €25,000 (less than $30,000)

</comment><comment><USER3> I imagine this will help air quality a lot with the Netherlands having such a high population density.

However, it might be an issue if you want to leave the country and go driving down to the Alps or Italy for vacation. The infrastructure in other countries might not be there to support fast charging of electric cars.

The best solution in my opinion would be to require all cars to have electric as their primary mode of propulsion, but allow them to also operate on gas, much like the Volt or the Plug-In Prius.</comment>


Show HN: Turf, a geo-social warfare app, my NKO submission - <AUTHOR> http://turf.no.de/ <comment><USER2> Very cool idea, kudos! Just minor nitpicks:

You could do with a clearer message regarding the actual rules of the game. I'm logged in right now and I still don't know the exact mechanics of what it is I'm doing there.

It's spelled "Independent" ;-)

Clicking on user names shouldn't trigger an internal server error. I think it's actually fine if you don't have user pages right now, just link to their Twitter profiles.

All in all: for a 48h node-learning session this is awesome work!

<comment><AUTHOR> yeah, as a one man team it was a scramble to be allt he "vanity pages" up in time - user pages being one of them, i cant commit anymore and linking to twitter profiles would have been far better, but having an ap that didnt crash was higher priority.

lots of the features that dont work now are there in code, but commented out cus i couldnt afford for them to influence the apps ability to stay online. a shame really. :)

thanks tho

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> I know its not finished, and it pains me to no end, but as a solo contestant just starting out in Node, twas the best I could do in 48 hours.

EDIT: Pity/consolation votes welcome :)

</comment><comment><USER3> Any relation to the Android app turf? (<http://www.turfa.se/>)

<comment><AUTHOR> Whoa, nope, never heard-of/seen that one before now, (I hate it when that happens.)

<comment><USER2>
      (I hate it when that happens.)

We all know the feeling. Don't be discouraged, it's nearly impossible to do anything that hasn't, in some way, been done before. Just stick to your original idea and ignore the rest.</comment></comment></comment>


Matz: We are mere mortals - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/yukihiro_matz/status/1082418360501948416 <comment><USER2> Seems worth reminding ourselves of the old Ruby community motto: "Matz is nice, so we are nice."

<comment><USER3> It always seemed so incongruous to me that the Ruby _language_ community could be so nice, while the Rails community (following the self-aggrandizing example of DHH) would be so aggressive to anyone with unorthodox thoughts.

<comment><USER4> > aggressive to anyone with unorthodox thoughts

do you have some specific examples? (not a rails user, so if there are obvious things, i'm unware)

a bit ot, but i've noticed an uptick in what seems like a reductive/straw-man characterization of disagreeing with particular ideas as summarily dismissing "different ideas" in general.

<comment><USER5> I don't have any examples, having not touched Rails in an extremely long time, but as I recall the core philosophy of Rails was "we're opinionated about things so you don't have to make decisions", and it's no surprise at all to me that a framework that prides itself on being opinionated would be hostile to differing ideas.

<comment><USER6> I think this might be a mischaracterisation. Rails merged with Merb because they were accepting of new ideas, and didn't see the point of 2 groups wasting their time implementing the same kinds of stuff.

Rails is an opinionated framework in that it has strong opinions for what the default configuration should be. They realise it can't be general purpose and stay as effective. But if you're doing CRUD apps, on the web, those defaults save you a bunch of time.

That's not hostile to differing ideas, it's just saying that some ideas don't belong in rails or rails itself becomes less good.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's a sad state of affairs when a high profile open source maintainer like Matz has to literally say "don't ruin our lives."

<comment><USER8> Is it the People's fault, or is it Twitter's?

<comment><USER9> People. You don't get a free pass on being an arsehole just because the platform makes it easy to do.

<comment><USER10> Ok, people are terrible. Now what? The platform that brings out the worst in us is something that can be changed.

<comment><USER11> I get frustrated at times, but still never go on any twitter/social rants. I hate to break it to you, but the platform is merely allowing every individual to behave as they please. There are plenty of folks who never have their worst brought out.

<comment><USER12> Its the classic freedom / responsibility tradeoff.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I feel for him. When my old machine learning email filter, POPFile(1), was popular there was a great community around it. But sometimes I would get hate mail. I still recall one person who accused me of having destroyed his computer (I guess something bad happened to his disk) in an email filled with swear words, threats and more.

(1) [http://getpopfile.org/](http://getpopfile.org/)

<comment><USER14> I quote from myself: Among those haters, idiots hurts the most.

Been an idiot myself, I know how many damage I can cause & caused. Lucky, through out many years, I've learnt to investigate the problem first, before deciding whether or not to send hate mail/comments.

Sometime, during the investigation, I'll found out the fact that _I_ was the one who actually caused the problem, because I'm such an idiot. When that happens, I will just sit on my chair for few seconds to appreciate the time that I've saved for not to write the hate message with my broken English.

Sadly, investigating is a skill not everybody have.

<comment><USER15> Congratulations on the success of your investigation and reflection! Undertaking that effort makes you an exceptional individual IMO.

The medium of the internet brings out the worst in all of us -- even the most empathetic among us are worse people on the net than IRL, because we are all missing that feedback.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I had a similar thing happen. The CTO of a company was using a library I wrote, and he ran into things he wanted to change. When I disagreed, I was accused of sabotaging my own library, by refusing to fix it's obviously broken aspects. Guy went on a smear campaign on hn, Reddit, Twitter, Wikipedia. Literally made me miserable for weeks.

I wrote about it, more here if you're curious:

[http://charlesleifer.com/blog/your-idea- sucks/](http://charlesleifer.com/blog/your-idea-sucks/)

<comment><USER17> Here is the list of closed issues/PRs said CTO made in case anyone was curious: [https://github.com/coleifer/peewee/issues?q=author%3Akeredso...](https://github.com/coleifer/peewee/issues?q=author%3Akeredson)

<comment><USER18> If you don't mind the feedback, I get the point of your post but you came out pretty aggressive very often. "This is horrible", "wtf is this", "this is awful" are not useful.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I met Matz briefly once. The most striking thing about him to me was his calmness, and desire to listen. I never felt like he was just humoring me, and he had some good pointers for me too.

This thread resonates with that to me. He's just a guy, like any of us, trying to make something beautiful and good for the world. There may be issues, bugs, or even serious design issues, but we're all in this together.

</comment><comment><USER20> I believe he Tweeted that after he read the Reddit thread [1].

While we may criticise and want Ruby Improve, ( Guild, GC, JIT, etc ). Lets not forget to show him some love, after Guido quit Python Core, I believe the worst for Ruby would be Matz also quit being Core Dev.

And a Reminder the Unofficial Slogan of Ruby, "Matz is nice, so we are nice."

[1][https://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/ad46f9/whining_ruby_e...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/ad46f9/whining_ruby_evolution_is_taking_too_long/)

</comment><comment><USER15> It's incredibly important to a lot of toxic people -- in open source, on HN, really everywhere on the internet -- that this thoughtful piece from Matz be questioned and then forgotten.

Because toxic people enjoy a disproportionate advantage on the internet.

<comment><USER21> It's rather toxic "us vs them" opinion. You shouldn't hate on other people. Most hate on the internet is actually manufactured and people are just hostages to their emotions.

<comment><USER15> I disagree with that both-sider-ist perspective. The abuser and the abused are not equally at fault.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I'm grateful for Ruby and the Rails community. Ten years ago those tools allowed me to support myself as a freelance web developer, and provided a springboard for my transition into iOS development.

Then I got a taste of the hate mail :)

It's incredible how people will spend $5 every day on a coffee, but spend that same amount _once_ on an app, and (some) people feel entitled to say the darndest things over email. Doubly impressive when they receive years of free updates. Add to it the real financial pain an angry one star review...

I can't imagine the scale of emotion Matz has had to wade through, all for providing an awesome, amazing, free tool to anyone who wants it.

He's probably not reading this, but just in case: Thank you, Matz.

</comment><comment><USER23> The problem is that public figures are exposed on social media to everyone. And even though 95% of the population might be reasonable and decent, you have those 5% who are simply not. Then you catch them on their worst day and so I am sure Matz gets bombarded by all kinds of garbage.

I have noticed this problem in other places where people have to deal with the public at large without a filter. For instance, a retail or waiter might encounter all kinds of rude people on a regular basis.

I wish there was an AI quality filter on social media. Sort of like what @dang does here.

<comment><USER24> Wait, @dang is an AI?

<comment><USER25> No, it's a real person. As far as we know.

<comment><USER23> Maybe we can start rumors and this will end up second only to emacs vs vim as the primary debate in tech circles. (Or third if you count rails vs django)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> I can only imagine what would happen to the Bitcoin creator's life if he decided to be a public person.

<comment><USER27> Most of the Bitcoin core developers were gerting lots of death threats during the blocksize ,,debate''.

They blamed the devs for the price of Bitcoin not going up.

Often I just wished that core devs stop reading all this and share more videos that I can learn from, but I understand that they couldn't.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> There's a book called positive négociation, while I don't like the title much, the core idea is to share and try to find better for all. I think it's a good Idea to follow.

Thanks to matz for his kindness, and to other of the same kind.

<comment><USER29> Sounds similar to habit 4 of the 7 habits of highly effective people: Think Win-Win.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> What triggered this is a post on the /r/ruby subreddit getting 100+ upvotes complaining that ruby development is too slow.

<comment><USER31> Can you provide the link to the one in particular?

<comment><USER32> [https://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/ad46f9/whining_ruby_e...](https://www.reddit.com/r/ruby/comments/ad46f9/whining_ruby_evolution_is_taking_too_long/)</comment></comment></comment>


Ballots will be fixed to read 'Whitney' instead of 'Whitey' - <AUTHOR> http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/ballots-will-be-fixed-to-read-whitney-instead-of-whitey.html

<comment><AUTHOR> They've buried the lede in this article. Check this out (third paragraph):

> _The mistake in the Green Party candidate's name appears on a review screen > that allows voters to double-check their selections and not on the screen > where the vote is registered. It also is not on paper ballots, Neal said._

This means not only that the voting machine data files are not autogenerated from the same sources as create the paper ballots---which is disappointing but not very surprising---but also that internally, the machines use _different data_ for the "actual vote" screen and for the "confirmation" screen. This fact is _very_ alarming when it comes to potential system hacks and other voting system hijinx.</comment>


THe joys and sorrows of deep work - <AUTHOR> http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/10/23/the-joys-and-sorrows-of-deep-work/

<comment><USER2> >I spent hours today doing intellectual battle with a set of formalisms that still largely confuse me. In the long run, I know this type of battle is crucial (past experience has shown that even just a few dozen hours of such grappling can lay the foundation for multiple publications). But in the short run, it leaves me feeling like I accomplished nothing concrete with my day.

I know the feeling.

Personally, I've had great success relating this to physical exercise, strength training in particular.

I don't expect to be able to lift more every day, week or even month that I go to the gym, but I understand that every day I do go and fully apply myself is building toward the next goal.</comment>


Ben Taskar, 1977-2013 - <AUTHOR> http://news.cs.washington.edu/2013/11/18/ben-taskar-1977-2013/

<comment><USER2> It's a shame to lose someone at such a young age. It seems he certainly contributed more than his share to the world.</comment>


TechCrunch50 Feed - <AUTHOR> http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-techcrunch50#utm_campaign=fupcoming&utm_source=1&utm_medium=events-conference

<comment><USER2> Paul Graham on the 2:30pm - 4:00pm PST panel on advertising and monetization with Marc Andreessen.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Here's my ratings for the morning session (Product / Presentation) out of 10:

1\. Penn & Teller - Product: 3 Presentation: 2

2\. Story Something - Product: 7 Presentation: 7

3\. Clasemovil - Product: 6 Presentation: 5

4\. ToonsTunes.com - Product: 5 Presentation: 5

5\. Sealtale - Product: 2 Presentation: 2

6\. iTwin - Product: 3 Presentation: 5

7\. iMo - rescheduled for evening, their first attempt was painful

8\. FluidHTML - Produuct: 5 Presentation: 6

9\. Toybots Woozees - Product: 7 Presentation: 7

10\. Spawn Labs - Product: 7 Presentation: 8

11\. Clicker - Product: 8 Presentation: 7

<comment><USER3> yeah I was really disappointed with Penn and Tellers' presentation - guess I wasn't suspecting a sub par Iphone app ..

\- surprised apple let them emulate the SMS / box bubbles and everything while spoofing a fake text.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> FYI, the full agenda can be found here: <http://www.techcrunch50.com/2009/agenda/>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Anyone know if there's a live chat, or IRC channel to go with the feed?

<comment><USER5> IRC Channel is chat1.ustream.tv #techcrunch-50

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Can't believe they did a demo with a guy that doesn't know how to type on an iphone (picture: <http://grab.by/4cL> )

<comment><USER7> Don Dodge is a MSFT man

<comment><USER6> My point still remains.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> it says off air - is this actually going live at some point?

<comment><USER9> It's live now - event hasn't started yet though.</comment></comment>


DHH: Sun surprises at RailsConf Europe 2007 - <AUTHOR> http://www.loudthinking.com/posts/11-sun-surprises-at-railsconf-europe-2007

<comment><USER2> [http://media.arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.media/540/su...](http://media.arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.media/540/sunstrategy2.gif)

</comment><comment><USER3> Breaking News : Sun Microsystems (JAVA) to change stock ticker symbol to RUBY

"The Ruby brand and technology have evolved to be among the most pervasive on the internet, yielding extraordinary awareness for Sun and opportunity for the community that leverages it," said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO of Sun. "More than a billion people across the globe, representing nearly every demographic, market and industry, rely upon Ruby's security, innovation and value to connect them with opportunity. That awareness positions Sun, and now our investor base, for the future."

:)

</comment><comment><USER4> Yeah Sun's support for Ruby was also pretty evident at their JRuby hackfest a few months back in the SF Bay Area...

Free beer and food to boot - not to mention a good overview by Joyent on Sun's efforts to get Rails running on the JVM

</comment><comment><USER5> Has anyone tried Mongrel clusters on Niagara CPUs? Google is silent on this one.

</comment><comment><USER6> In the same vein as 'Rails is just a WAR', there's 'PHP in a WAR' -- Quercus, by Caucho, the makers of the Resin Java app server. See:

<http://caucho.com/resin-3.1/doc/quercus.xtp>

I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more attention... though perhaps the way quercus.caucho.com is currently giving servlet errors is part of the problem. :(</comment>


Starting Small but Aiming large – Ambitious Entrepreneurship - <AUTHOR> http://www.getvue.co/blog/entrepreneurship/starting-small-but-aiming-large-ambitious-entrepreneurship/

<comment><USER2> Interesting you used the word AI. Would you say that your goal is really to be more proactive than reactive instead of AI? Maybe explain what you mean by AI in this context.

<comment><AUTHOR> Imagine in the future, you have any question about your data, instead of spending weeks or months creating data warehousing, combining data, etc. you could simply ask the AI to show you information that you want, as well as it being smart enough to notice things about the data you aren't already looking at, it would be both proactive and reactive for you

<comment><USER2> Sounds like we are still talking about predictive analytics ..though im not expert ...I think folks are almost ready to pay for signs that things are going to fail or fall off the cliff...not sure if they are ready for much more than that ..

nonetheless, i think you are in a sweet spot possible to far ahead to think about mobile data points... the world is on the mobile wagon just not sure what it means yet ...

I see it all the time at my current job...if we could tell the customer when an engine could fail ... Not sure if customers are ready for that ...

then AI is a level above that re: Marc recent AI tweets ->[https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/462722339541504000](https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/462722339541504000)

<comment><AUTHOR> ^^ this. also sam altman did a good post on AI [http://blog.samaltman.com/ai](http://blog.samaltman.com/ai)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Node.js Ecosystem Is Chaotic and Insecure - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/commitlog/the-internet-is-at-the-mercy-of-a-handful-of-people-73fac4bc5068 <comment><USER2> Agree about the silliness of some npm modules, however, after 20 years of building enterprise application in Java, I find NodeJS / npm / TypeScript refreshing and a surprisingly robust platform to develop serious backend services.

For example, many libraries are better maintained in the npm/node world than in Java. For example, Node's Google SDK , feels well throughout and maintained, while its java counterpart is cumbersome to use and actually out of date. Java Google Bucket SDK supports all legacy privilege only, whereas the node has to be expected support.

For image processing, finding any well-maintained image processing library in Java is a pain, and at the end, we are back to using something that binds to C++. In node, because the default is binding to C++ for those kinds of things, you have very robust implementation from OpenCV wrapper to sharp binding to libvips.

So, all in all, we have found that we have more chance to find a well maintained high-quality module in npm / node world than in the Maven / Java one. Yes, it was counter-intuitive to us a well, but we have learned the hard way.</comment>


Ask HN: What are some companies that have a Stripe-like interview process? - <AUTHOR>

I had a fantastic experience recently with a company that had an interview process very much like Stripe's: http://www.quora.com/Stripe-company/What-is-the-engineering-interview-process-like-at-Stripe.
Two hours ago I had the exact opposite experience with a company that conducted a far more traditional interview.
I am considering changing my job search strategy such that I only consider companies whose hiring strategy is similar to Stripe's. However….is this a sane thing to do? Are there many tech companies who have adopted Stripe's strategy? Don't suppose anyone has a list of such companies? <comment><USER2> I've done something similar and it has worked very well for me. Whether or not it's sane depends on your needs/savings/etc.

Honestly I'd said don't look for "only Stripe-like interview processes" but look for the tells that can give away the information you care about and don't be shy about ending the process.

I've started ending interview processes when I see that the company has poor internal communication skills, expects unreasonable, or has to roundabout- reason in favor of, ideologies, etc. This has allowed me to weed out companies that aren't a match faster and find companies that I want to work with.

<comment><AUTHOR> _I 've started ending interview processes when I see that the company has poor internal communication skills, expects unreasonable, or has to roundabout- reason in favor of, ideologies, etc. This has allowed me to weed out companies that aren't a match faster and find companies that I want to work with._

This is good advice :), thanks.</comment></comment>


Italian police raid of neo-fascist militants finds air-to-air missile - <AUTHOR> https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/italian-police-raid-of-neo-fascist-militants-finds-air-to-air-missile/ <comment><USER2> Anyone with more insight into all of this than me who can explain why they went to fight on the _Russian_ side? I mean, there surely were neo-nazis around on both sides of that conflict, right? Just different flavours? I wonder how you pick who to support if your core ideology is that "people different from us are bad".

<comment><USER3> They didn't fight on the russian side. For some reason english media mistranslated original press release.

[https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/225d2c47fb2c9ef299497...](https://www.poliziadistato.it/articolo/225d2c47fb2c9ef299497390) It says "avevano combattuto nella regione ucraina del Donbass contro gli indipendentisti". So they were fighting against separatists.

<comment><USER4> Ars Technica needs to issue a correction to the story. Otherwise I'm going to lose considerable respect for them.

There's a fine line between making a genuine mistake and lying to your readers.

<comment><USER5> I think if you point it out to them with a correct translation from the Italian police site they will correct it. Also, they're not the only one who made that mistake. The independent said the same thing. It would be interesting to know where the original mistranslation originated from.

<comment><USER6> I guess it came from the origin of the main suspect Fabio Del Bergiolo. He was was a candidate for Forza Nuova in 2010. FN is a pro-Kremlin far-right party.

\- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Force_(Italy)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Force_\(Italy\))

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> What's the yellow weapon that they showed in the haul?

[https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp- content/uploads/2019/07/Scree...](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp- content/uploads/2019/07/Screen-Shot-2019-07-15-at-12.57.53-PM.png)

<comment><USER8> That's the receiver and stock group for a Steyr AUG. There are complete examples in the top right corner.

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

<comment><USER7> Ah thanks, I see, it's just missing it's barrel

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> How dangerous is one of these things without the surrounding targeting system? And how useful would this be to a foreign government that somehow doesn't have access to other air-to-air missiles?

It seems to me like a bit of a sensationalist headline, and the more dangerous weapons are actually the small arms.

<comment><USER10> The 530 is a SARH missile. It requires a radar system (found in the French Mirage aircraft for example) to lock and paint it's target the entire time for the missile to track and eventually detonate. It would be pretty difficult to do and the acqusition/targeting radar would need to be cooled and energized for the duration of the flight. Launching A2A missiles from the ground is pretty rare but it is possible as evidenced recently by Yemen ground launching a Russian R27T infrared missile successfully at a Saudi F15.

<comment><USER11> For anyone else not familiar with military hardware: SARH = semi-active radar homing. The missile itself passively detects a radar signal reflected off a target by an external source, such as the launching aircraft.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi- active_radar_homing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-active_radar_homing)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This is being reported elsewhere with other details. Reports that there were multiple raids across the region on a number of groups who were connected, although details are scarce. I've seen it reported that the weapons belong to a member of a Juventus Ultras group.

Links:

[https://www.football-italia.net/140792/juve-ultras-neo- nazi-...](https://www.football-italia.net/140792/juve-ultras-neo-nazi-raid)

[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/01/nside-talys- ul...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/01/nside-talys-ultras-the- dangerous-fans-who-control-the-game)

</comment><comment><USER13> They were only a few steps away from development of a milkshake capability.

</comment><comment><USER14> How useful is this in actuality?

Could I launch it from the ground, or does it need to be launched from the air? Could i just strap it to a Cessna, or does it need other systems (radar?) to work? Does it need the original war head, or can you attach any old explosive device.

In short, if I as a potential terrorist wanted to shoot down a plane, would this be a reasonable starting point?

<comment><USER15> Not at all useful, needs to be fired from the air, from a specific outdated French jet weapon system that essentially nobody uses any more. Speculation was that _maybe_ Libya would have a use for it. And yes, its target needs to be painted with a radar for the entire flight.

30kg of high explosive could be useful to a generic terrorist but it's unlikely that the missile itself would have been used.

[https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28976/italian-cops- rai...](https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/28976/italian-cops-raid-neo- fascists-and-find-air-to-air-missile-that-france-had-sold-to-qatar)

<comment><USER14> That's kind of what I thought.

But then the asking price seems high, it doesn't seem to have a warhead so this is just the missile.

<comment><USER10> I would be much more concerned about the Chinese MANPADs that Qatar acquired and made their way into Syria and beyond.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


GitHub New Features: Rendering and diffing images - <AUTHOR> https://help.github.com/articles/rendering-and-diffing-images

<comment><USER2> Simple (UI wise, I'm sure the implementation is tricky), yet very useful.

I wonder if there's a way to represent changes that might not be easily seen - say you ran an image through pngcrush.

<comment><AUTHOR> "The main purpose of pngcrush is to reduce the size of the PNG IDAT datastream by trying various combinations of compression methods and delta filters." \- Wikipedia.

So there will not be any change in the image visually. The 'crushed' image will have the same quality as the source image. So even if you run an image through pngcrush, this new github feature should not find any difference between the original image and the 'cushed' one(I think).

<comment><USER3> 1\. This isn't a new feature, its existed for years. 2\. Git detects a difference, so github will detect a difference.

That being said, there wouldn't be a visible difference when comparing the two images.

<comment><AUTHOR> So, what kind of change will the git detect when an image is crushed (when there is no visual difference between original and curshed) ?

<comment><USER4> As far as git is concerned, the PNG file is just a bag of bits. It will record the changes in the IDAT chunks just as with changes in any other files. The images would appear identical on GitHub because they haven't changed visually.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


E.U. And U.S. Release Details on Trans-Atlantic Data Transfer Deal - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/technology/eu-us-trans-atlantic-data-transfer-deal.html <comment><USER2> > Penny Pritzker, the United States commerce secretary, said in an interview > in February. "The challenge was to show Europe how our system works, because > we don't have a single overriding privacy law."

There's no single law overriding, because the USA has no privacy protection at all. It only cares about military and cooperate protection. The USA is acting under military powers against foreigners and under martial law against their own civilians (NDAA, Patroit Act, USA Freedom Act, FAA, ...) when they see fit. It's no challenge at all to show Europe how your system works, because we know that you don't care at all about privacy and give all illegally snooped private information to various US agencies acting without any oversight _and_ sell it to the highest bidders by pointing to inacceptable terms of services which in many points violate any civil law. Under EU law unlawful civil terms of services are void. Of course there can be no overrides. When the US at some time will come back to international standards of the common and civil law and the democratic society, such trade agreements will not be needed anymore. But calling it "Safe Harbor" now is a fabrication.

"The proposal foresees no legally binding improvements. Instead, it merely relies on a declaration by the US authorities on their interpretation of the legal situation regarding surveillance by US secret services, as well as the creation of an independent but powerless Ombudsman, who would assess citizens' complaints," Albrecht said.

Germany's federal and regional data-protection authorities said 2015 they wouldn't approve any new transfers of data to the U.S. — even for transfers based on arrangements different from the trans-Atlantic data-transfer pact knocked down by the European Union's highest court.

<comment><USER3> I don't think it's correct to say the US is operating under martial law.

They're not calling it "Safe Harbor" anymore, but "Privacy Shield". </nitpicks>

<comment><USER4> Doublespeak

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Ars Technica's take on the deal makes it sound completely different; [http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/privacy-shield- do...](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/privacy-shield-doomed-from- get-go-nsa-bulk-surveillance-waved-through/)

</comment><comment><USER6> While it's good that there is debate about access to data by US security services, we should remember that there are a lot of other players in this game. Having an arrangement where EU businesses can work with US businesses and EU customers know that their data isn't being passed on to non- governmental organisations (advertisers, credit agencies, whoever) once it's outside the European safeguards is still helpful. How this gets audited in practice is a different question of course, but then that's true for European businesses as well.

</comment><comment><USER7> Can someone explain why Times uses wording "E.U.", I haven't seen European Union shortened like that. It's usually just "EU". Is this some curiosity in this specific deal?

<comment><USER8> I believe the Times does that for most acronyms as part of their style guide. For example, they also write FBI as F.B.I. The exception is acronyms that are pronounced as words instead of initials (like NASA or NATO).

<comment><USER9> The Times uses periods for initialisms (where you say each letter individually) but not for acronyms (where you say the word the initials spell).

That said, I think the Times style looks terrible in most typefaces, and that such extraneous punctuation should just be eliminated. Ms Jones, a CPA who worked at the FBI in the 90s, agrees with me.

<comment><USER10> It's primarily American English, as far as I know, hence it may be a bit more foreign and unusual to those of us in the EU.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Somebody explain to me why 1/3 of the planet is not a big enough area to do business in ? (EU, USA)

EDIT: maybe for some import goods ?</comment>


NASA now seeking candidates for Astronaut positions - <AUTHOR> http://astronauts.nasa.gov/content/broch00.htm

<comment><USER2> You know this already, but it's ridiculously hard to get in. I know two people who have applied. One's a PhD cosmologist who does aerobatics on the side. One's a PhD geophysicist who's also an experienced pilot and a mission data scientist. They didn't get in.

OTOH, I know another person who's also qualified who doesn't want the job, because you have to live in Houston, do a lot of PR and outreach, and the chances of actually flying are not very good.

<comment><USER3> You didn't say if the cosmologist is theoretical or experimental. A scientist would need a solid experimental record to be very competitive as a mission specialist astronaut candidate. (And of course an applicant for pilot astronaut has basically zero chance without top performance as an experimental test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base on her resumé.)

<comment><USER2> All I'm saying is, they're both exceptional (among the class of serious-about- flying hard-science PhDs with extensive publication records and > 10 years mission experience) and they did not get in. Just calibration.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> When I was in college I made a laminated pocket-size printout of the Astronaut Candidate Basic Qualifications and carried it in my wallet every day, and it actually inspired me often to study harder and to go running.

I think it's hard to overestimate how much benefit the space program has had just in terms of how much it has inspired people to study math, science, and engineering -- or how much further that inspiration would go if we were sending astronauts to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit.

</comment><comment><USER4> I liked to imagine astronauts as individuals who excelled so much in their given fields that they stood out and were actively recruited by NASA. Instead, I find out that NASA posts job postings and interviews people just like everyone else. This would be mildly concerning other than the fact that it appears to be working.

Edit: I wonder if they are asked silly interview questions such as "If you were stuck on the moon with only three items, what would you want them to be and why?"

<comment><USER5> _I liked to imagine astronauts as individuals who excelled so much in their given fields that they stood out and were actively recruited by NASA. Instead, I find out that NASA posts job postings and interviews people just like everyone else_

Possibly if your job is "test pilot" then you might still get recruited by NASA. For scientist-astronauts, though, I'm guessing that being spectacularly brilliant in your particular field is neither sufficient nor necessary to be a good astronaut; better to hire good but not necessarily field-leading science- trained types who also excel in the various other qualities which you need in order to strap yourself to a giant bomb and perform brilliantly in adverse circumstances for several days without enough sleep.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Early this year, the NY Times had an article about NASA losing astronauts to private companies (like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic) because NASA cancelled the Ares I and Constellation programs. Who wants to be an astronaut if you are unlikely to fly?

[https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/science/space/24astronaut...](https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/science/space/24astronaut.html)

<comment><USER5> I'd still do it just to pick up chicks.

I guess NASA frowns upon getting "I'm an astronaut, bitch" printed on your business cards, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> "Frequent travel may be required"

<comment><USER5> The best perk, as far as I'm concerned, is that when they _do_ need you to go to another city they apparently give you one of these:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_T-38_Talon>

and tell you to make your own way there.

The worst part is that you have to live in Houston.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> "Applicants for the Astronaut Candidate Program must be citizens of the United States"

:-(

</comment><comment><USER9> job perks: competitive salary

<comment><USER5> Actually, the base level GS-11 pay grade, with a location adjustment for Houston, apparently translates to about $65K. I really hope that, like military pay, gets boosted with all sorts of crazy allowances, because $65K just seems... unbecoming.

<comment><USER10> really? money would be a concern for you when you were going to space?

<comment><USER11> Exactly. I'd take a negative salary (I'd pay them) for that job.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


OpenStreetMap reversed DWG decision on Crimea complaint - <AUTHOR> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2018-December/081781.html <comment><AUTHOR> Finally, OpenStreetMap Foundation reversed latest OSM DWG statement of Crimea, where DWG claimed that Crimea was marked as "Russia only territory".

OSM released _version 1.4_ of "Proposed features/Mapping disputed boundaries".[0]

 _Embassy of Ukraine to UK_ already posted[1] reaction on new decision:

> _We welcome the decision of @openstreetmap to review its position regarding > the Autonomous Republic of #Crimeaisukraine and to include it into the > territory of #Ukraine._ [https://goo.gl/6Gt3eT](https://goo.gl/6Gt3eT)

 _OpenStreetMap Ukraine_ (Ukrainian OSM community) also reacted[2]:

> _Українська спільнота @openstreetmap вітає рішення ОСМФ щодо неділимості та > теріторіальної цілісності України / The Ukrainian #OSM community welcomes > the decision of the #OSMF on the indivisibility and territorial integrity of > Ukraine #crimeaisukraine_

At this moment previous DWG statement is in power, where Crimea at this moment is disputed territory between Ukraine (Crimea is part of Ukraine according international law) and Russia (Crimea annexed by Russian Army since March 2014)

P.S.: Two weeks ago _Embassy of Ukraine to UK_ officially few times requested OpenStreetMap to correct information on [http://www.openstreetmap.org](http://www.openstreetmap.org) with regard to the status of the temporarily occupied #Crimea.[3]

As result of this story few OSM users published their suggestion that "OpenStreetMap Foundation silently sides with Russia".[4]

[0] [https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Mappin...](https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/Mapping_disputed_boundaries)

[1] [https://twitter.com/UkrEmbLondon/status/1072468324263571456](https://twitter.com/UkrEmbLondon/status/1072468324263571456)

[2] [https://twitter.com/osm_ua/status/1072181574173634561](https://twitter.com/osm_ua/status/1072181574173634561)

[3] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18557418](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18557418)

[4] [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18661699](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18661699)

</comment><comment><USER2> All world maps are political, so?</comment>


War Games (1983) - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHWjlCaIrQo <comment><USER2> For anyone interested, here is a complete list of the scenarios tried in that sequence:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/24ujzq/for_fans_of_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/24ujzq/for_fans_of_the_movie_wargames_a_list_of_all_the/)

Alternatively, with links to screenshots:

[https://nick- black.com/dankwiki/index.php/WarGames_strategem...](https://nick- black.com/dankwiki/index.php/WarGames_strategems)</comment>


Lyft Set to Claim Third of U.S. Market in 2017 - <AUTHOR> https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-11/lyft-set-to-claim-third-of-u-s-market-in-2017-document-shows <comment><USER2> I always wish we as riders could set a "preset" for what we'd like in a ride.

Most times I take a lyft/uber I have something else to do in the car ride + rarely want to talk to the driver. Maybe that's rude, but if I take a taxi or a bus, I just want to get somewhere, not have a conversation.

With the advent of "tips" and "compliments" \- I've noticed how much more drivers talk to you just because they think it will help with tips, when really - I'll tip them more if they get me there faster w/ less hassle.

Maybe this makes me a bit cold, but I feel like it could be a trivial thing to fix considering each rider has their own preferences. Seems like you could set a default on your profile "I like chats", "just business" etc - and let your driver know ahead of time and avoid the "I don't really want to talk right now" type of chats that have no way to not come out rude.

<comment><USER3> If I need to work or nap or just think quietly, I just tell the driver upfront. Never had anyone take offense or bother me after that. Not sure why that needs to be automated.

People tend to talk out of social anxiety or the perceived need to entertain a passenger who looks bored. I do not think the majority of drivers talk as a mercenary plot to try to get a bigger tip - simple human sociability seems just as likely an explanation.

Also, Lyft's "thing" from the very start was to be a more friendly ride, with drivers encouraged to offer bottled water/snack/phone charger and chat.

<comment><USER4> I agree that just saying you want to work is totally acceptable and I've never had an issue, but I think it's naive to think driver's don't strike up a conversation, at least part of the time, as a way to build camaraderie and generate tips. This is a ubiquitous technique in the service industry and there's nothing wrong with it.

<comment><USER5> If Uber driver conversations were mostly tip-motivated then you would have seen an increase in the frequency of them when Uber introduced tipping a few months ago. I haven't observed that. Something like 80-95% of my drivers have started conversations.

<comment><USER6> It's not just tips. It's the 5 star rating.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Whenever I take a rideshare I have a habit of asking the drivers how they like the app they're driving for — Lyft/Uber.

Hands down Lyft drivers have better things to say than Uber drivers. Lyft pays more, reportedly treats the drivers better and was the first to build tipping into the app.

Anectdotely as a rider, Lyft drivers tend to friendly. Good to see Lyft growing.

<comment><USER8> Whether Lyft treats drivers better is very debatable. After 180 days of change campaign that Uber did many drivers believed Uber is better for them than Lyft. But Lyft also takes smaller cut of fare compared to Uber (Lyft also charges way less in my city so drivers get paid pretty much the same.) Both companies screw their drivers in one way or the other but Lyft does it with smiles and fist bumps. Source: I spend more time on uber/lyft drivers subreddits than i would like to admit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Lyft is a good example for startups that are 2nd or 3rd place (or worse) behind a competing market leader. Perseverance can pay off tremendously. You never know what the market forces will dictate, when your competitor will be tied in some massive scandal, when the #1 market leader will get bought out and have their primary product shut down a short while later, etc.

<comment><USER10> Avis rent a car used to embrace that attitude: [https://visual.ly/blog/wp- content/uploads/2014/06/avis-1.jpg](https://visual.ly/blog/wp- content/uploads/2014/06/avis-1.jpg)

[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QjhMFKRvyqo/SODNmsNEHCI/AAAAAAAAAk...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_QjhMFKRvyqo/SODNmsNEHCI/AAAAAAAAAks/v4Awy6s_vjQ/s400/AvisNeedsYou64.jpg)

<comment><USER11> They could scratch everything save "The Line at Our Counter is Shorter." That sounds powerful enough.

<comment><USER12> I'm surprised there aren't rental car counters that are just a bunch of automated kiosks, like they have for flight check-ins. It seems like there's rarely anything that actually requires a human at the desk when I've already booked the car rental a while ago.

<comment><USER13> Enterprise at LAX has kiosks but every time I try to use one I end up having to go to the counter anyway. Possibly due to using a business travel agent but I'm not sure.

I think Hertz has a VIP feature for frequent renters where they can just walk right to the car.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This makes me happy. I started using Lyft in SF back in 2012 and I've always thought their drivers were friendlier and flat out more fun to ride with than Ubers.

I understand that a lot of people may not enjoy that kind of ride, but it's nice to see that level of customer service start to win out.

<comment><USER15> These days 80% of the rides I take are with drivers who are running both Lyft and Uber, and there is little to no difference between the drivers attitude or the ride.

The rare exceptions are not always in Lyft's favor (over-the top theme decorated cars with annoying sound effects and props, or super chatty drivers who don't stop talking even when I take out my earphones to explain that I'm on a call or watching a training video etc).

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Uber is like the classic movie evil villain. They had their enemy dangling over the pit of alligators, but they spent too long giving their final speech and the good guy got away.

If Uber had better direction in the last 2 years they would have completely crushed Lyft, even put them out of business.

But I'm glad they didn't. I like Lyft more and the competition is good for users of both.

<comment><USER17> I'm not sure this is bad for Uber. Having competition can be helpful politically. It reduces claims of monopolization and makes laws that help "ride sharing" services less likely to be perceived as a favor to a single company.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> After $1B investment from CapitalG, Lyft may also go public before Uber:

[https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/new-york-times-digital- lyft-...](https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/new-york-times-digital-lyft- exploring-i-p-o-raises-1-billion-led-by-googles-parent.html)

It will be very interesting if their two paths diverge. With Uber aggresively investing in autonomous systems, logistics and emerging markets. While Lyft provides its Open Platform to car manufacturers. And pivots to a more "experiential" consumer-centric culture and service.

</comment><comment><USER19> Here's the source: "a private Lyft investor document." I'll take it with a grain of salt.

</comment><comment><USER20> I like that lyft is getting more marketshare. But could we create an opensource rideshare server and a nonprofit that lets drivers keep 99% of the fare? There is nothing these companies are doing that the drivers couldn't get done themselves with a handful of developers. The lawyering/lobbying part is taken care of as long as they follow in uber and lyft's footprints.

<comment><USER21> isn't that a bit optimistic? while you're at it, why not create an open-source ticket-selling site where fees are only 1% of the ticket price? and a short- term home/room rental with tiny fees also? oh, and a global auction (or BuyItNow) marketplace with virtually no fees, because open-source. when you're finished with those, don't forget a worldwide social network with no ads, because why not, its gonna be opensource, right?

<comment><AUTHOR> Do any of those sound crazier than (1) a free open source OS that anyone can just download and modify or (2) a free encyclopedia created by people on the Internet that has the same quality as EB.

Dream big. All the best ideas sound impossible until someone does it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Google was coy on their plans in Arizona involving Lyft. They did share there would be news in the not too distant future. Google ride sharing in Arizona need to be supplemented with human drivers for trips Google can not do automated. My guess is Google will use Lyft will this service for the humans.

BTW, Google also owns 9% of Uber.

</comment><comment><USER23> Why is there no Lyft in Europe?

<comment><USER24> Lyft is very focused on winning the US market before doing aggressive international expansion.

<comment><USER25> It appears they are also willing to follow the law.

<comment><USER26> What do you mean by following the law in this case? And how would they be different from Uber in this regards? Uber has recently worked closely with regulators in both London and Brazil to create regulation where little existed before.

<comment><USER27> What regulation have they created in London? AFAIK, Uber London Ltd has always just operated as a private hire firm; the only notable things with regards to regulations was what ended up with the court case as to whether their use of GPS distance-tracking was considered a taximeter.

<comment><USER26> In Brazil it's passed regulation while in London it's currently a WIP according to press.

You did not answer my question though. How is Lyft any different in this regard? Quite to the contrary Uber is as far as I know breaking ground in this regard in Brazil and London with possible replication of these efforts elsewhere.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> A whole _third_ of a market where no one is making money, and hasn't for a decade now? What a great achievement.

<comment><USER29> Would you please not snark or post unsubstantive dismissals? We're trying for better than that here.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)</comment></comment>


Disruptive: uBeam Lands $750K To Let You Charge Gadgets Without Plugs  - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/11/disruptive-defined-ubeam-lands-750k-to-let-you-charge-gadgets-without-plugs/ <comment><USER2> Here's how uBeam actually works:

Ubeam emits Ultrasound frequency waves from a base station. These sound waves are converted into mechanical energy by a crystal inside a flash-drive sized dongle attached to the device. The crystal resonates at that sound frequency and the mechanical energy of the vibration is then converted into electricity by the dongle.

The shit works. And everyone told her that it couldn't.

<comment><USER3> 50kHz ultrasound in the demo.

I expect the efficiency to be terrible, which will be the failure point. Do you want to have an always-on 300W device just to avoid finding a cord?

<comment><USER4> Radial power transfer efficiency drops off proportional to r^2, as does omni- directional sound. Unless there is some sort of directional beam established to focus the energy transfer, I imagine these power losses will indeed occur. Note that room effects may well be non-negligible - reflections may mean more power arrives at the receiver than the naive estimate.

So I would imagine the ceiling mounted charging station would be a fairly heavy duty outfit with a multi-kW rating if it is to be able to service a large room.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> As already pointed out, they use ultrasound to beam the energy, and they claim to have filed some patents applications. Alas, there's a ton of prior art in this space, and I wonder how they're going to navigate them.

For example, ultrasound is already used to wirelessly charge pacemakers:

[http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/11/wireless- pace...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/11/wireless-pacemakers)

And here is a very pertinent patent in this space (2004) that also contains a nice review of prior art:

[http://www.google.com/patents?id=508SAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&...](http://www.google.com/patents?id=508SAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=ultrasound%20power%20transmission&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false)

The central difficulty in this idea, as pointed out in the above patent, is automatically aiming a sufficiently focused beam at the receiver. Otherwise you get killed by 1/rˆ2 power decay. And this is a non-trivial task, which will force them to either go the royalties way or dodge the existing patents.

I don't doubt the team can move forward, but I wonder if the undergrads (and their investors) have underestimated the difficulty and history of the problem.

That being said, it's refreshing to see folks inspired by real-world problems that don't involve "social".

Wishing them best of luck!

</comment><comment><USER6> Wireless charging/power is something that has been around since Tesla and still not fully taken off.

Maybe the Tesla patent expired or they have managed to patent the crystal radio!

"uBeam has "several patents" filed regarding its technology for wirelessly charging gadgets such as laptops and smartphones without plugging them into wall outlets or other energy sources, and she is being aided by a team of other people"

So they have applied for patents, not been awarded them. Though even if there are prior art/products that already do what they plan on doing they may still get awarded the patents for something that IMHO is in the public domain with the prior work by Tesla and cystal radio's. Not sure how they can expand upon that. But without a product to scrutinise, then there is nothing too see here.

<comment><USER7> There is _a lot_ of published research on wireless charging and several products on the market.

My guess is that the patents are more for something on the periphery than the core technology.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Anyone know how different this is from e.g. powermat?

Powermat has no plugs either. By the "closest thing to magic" comments, I would guess uBeam can charge your phone while still in your pocket (whereas powermat and similar systems require ~2mm distance from the charger).

Which, if true, is kind of scary -- it means that a bug or bad estimation would target nontrivial energy to your groin (5W charges your average modern phone; that might not sound like a lot, but cellphones are limited to 0.6W so that they don't raise your brain or skin temperature too much, and most phones in most locations use less than 0.1W when talking, about 0.01W on average in standby. 5W is a lot)

edit: pressed submit permaturely.

<comment><USER4> From the video link further down the comments it clearly states that it uses ultrasound at around 50kHz, which is then transformed back into about 30V, but I didn't pick up any information about how much power is actually transmitted.

As for safety, they state that it is above human hearing, and bounces off skin, so does not penetrate tissue like the high frequency ultrasound used for medical scans. Not too sure about the high freq claim, as some "ultrasound" devices give me a headache even though they are supposed to be above human perception.

The idea seems to be to charge a battery in the flash-drive sized charging adapter, and then use this to charge whatever appliance you plug into it. They mentioned about 3hrs for full charge for this adapter, but again, not sure how much power this equates to.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> [http://live.wsj.com/video/d9-video-ubeam- demo/7332C7FB-8AEC-...](http://live.wsj.com/video/d9-video-ubeam- demo/7332C7FB-8AEC-409D-9CA5-5A1DA2DBF0D1.html#!7332C7FB-8AEC-409D-9CA5-5A1DA2DBF0D1)

Demo.

</comment><comment><USER7> Did anyone else notice that the founder just graduated with a degree in Paleobiology (Astrobiology)? I wonder how she got involved with hardware.

</comment><comment><USER10> Hardware needs more investment. It's hard work, requires significant seed money just to get rolling, and in my opinion is far more important than the latest web app or similar.

It will be interesting to see how this goes. I'm certainly hoping that they can achieve something good.

However, as others have said, ultrasound for wireless charging must be horrifically inefficient. It will be interesting to learn more when they've got something working.

Not only are you contending with inverse square law (which can probably be negated to some extent by directing the beam of sound) but also losses due to air, losses in picking up the sound waves with a crystal and losses in converting that vibration into electrical energy.

If the efficiencies are much below 80%, it'd be a highly impractical method for charging any high power devices. Phones would probably be OK, but laptops with large batteries really wouldn't be.

</comment><comment><USER11> Every year there is some new gadget at CES that charges wirelessly in some new, innovative way, but is never heard from again. I guess I'll be a believer when I see it for the first time as a consumer somewhere.

</comment><comment><USER12> Hardware startups are pretty rough, and they're giving this fresh grad (with apparently no track record?) 750k to figure out the technology, design the circuitry/mold, setup manufacturing, distribution and so on. That's sure a lot of faith in the team. Good luck.

<comment><USER13> This fresh grad of Paleobiology (Astrobiology). No engineering anywhere.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> How can you disrupt an industry that either does not exist (wireless charging) or one that is highly commoditized (USB chargers) and with no clear path to grow any of it?

</comment><comment><USER14> I wonder if they've thought about marketing it as a remote, in situ denture cleaning system.

</comment><comment><USER15> The only way it will be disruptive is if it finally catches on. Wireless charging is nothing new. I personally think Palm and then HP did it best, integrating wireless charging with device functionality via API. I am curious what they mean about not plugging it in to ANY energy source.

<comment><USER16> I suspect that means that you don't plug it into a docking station.

I also suspect that the only thing it'll disrupt is your genome :)

<comment><USER17> Probably operates like wifi, where you're connected to a socket through a device that broadcasts to whatever you're charging.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Is "uBeam" seriously the best they could come up with?

At this point, we know nothing about the product, beyond the fact that it raised that much on potential.</comment>


Cluster2 on nodejs - <AUTHOR> http://ql-io.github.com/cluster2/

<comment><AUTHOR> Your thoughts on this? Would you rather use native cluster or this one? (native: <http://nodejs.org/docs/v0.6.0/api/cluster.html> )

Back in time when node didn't have clustering built in then the cluster (1) was great but do we need one now?

</comment><comment><USER2> After finding that the learnboost cluster version doesn't work with the latest node release, I've switched to cluster2. It's pretty easy to get going. I thought about building something with the native cluster but didn't have the time.</comment>


GoDaddy is Going Public - <AUTHOR> http://fortune.com/2014/06/09/godaddy-ipo/ <comment><USER2> Bob Parsons has an interesting life story: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Parsons)

\- Grew up poor, flunked high school, enlisted in the Marines during the Vietnam War

\- Graduated from college, self-taught programmer at age 25

\- Started Parsons Technology at 34

\- Grew it to 1,000 employees and sold it for $64M at 44

\- Started GoDaddy at 47

\- Exited Godaddy in 2011 for $930M at age 61 ([http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2014/06/go...](http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/blog/techflash/2014/06/godaddy- files-for-100-million-ipo-bob-parsons.html))

Great entrepreneurs never develop overnight, this game only gets better with age.

<comment><USER3> You skipped the chapter where he killed the elephant.

<comment><USER4> I'm no fan of poachers, but it's pretty irrelevant to his business career. In fact I'd put money down that there's a positive correlation between successful entrepreneurs and psychopaths.

<comment><USER5> You'll probably have a blast reading this (I know I did):

[http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais- principle-o...](http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or- the-office-according-to-the-office/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> GoDaddy's advertising is horrible and their policies are questionable. I personally find myself hoping that the IPO doesn't go well.

<comment><USER7> I guess I need to learn to take offense easier, however with two personal sites maintained for family members both registered through GoDaddy I honestly never had a single issue. So what am I missing?

<comment><USER6> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Daddy#Controversies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Daddy#Controversies)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> They are losing money... and lots of it. Wow.

GoDaddy has been around a long time, one would think they would be profitable (at least barely) by now. And they are going public with this?

<comment><USER9> How did they get into a situation where they're losing >$200M per year -- and with only $100M cash in bank and $1B revenue? Even more perplexing... they recently took on $1B+ in debt, of which they immediately paid out 30% as a dividend to investors?!

I'm not an expert or anything... but their "growth" story stinks; it looks like they're just trying to milk a dying cow. That, or I'm just way off base...

<comment><USER10> This smacks of a firm being raided by private equity funds. Leverage, debt use it to do a stock divident to the owners (Private Equity firms), launch an IPO, use the IPO funds to finance more debt, keep the company above water long enough to walk away.

Also the current CEO is a former Yahoo! exec, not exactly confidence inspiring.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Direct link to GoDaddy's S-1: [https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609711/000119312514...](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1609711/000119312514230425/d728713ds1.htm)

</comment><comment><USER12> We have 50 reader reviews of GoDaddys website builder at Site Builder Report. Of the 50 reviews, 48 have received the lowest possible rating (1 star out of 5). [http://www.sitebuilderreport.com/reviews/godaddy/user- review...](http://www.sitebuilderreport.com/reviews/godaddy/user-reviews)

No other website builder we cover is the target of as much outrage from readers.

</comment><comment><USER13> I found there S-1 Registration statement insiteful--especially about competition, and how domain names are not as important as they used to be. I'm a customer of Godaddy because I'm a sucker for a bargain(99 cent names). I think the company would benefit if they stoped trying to outwit their customers; like stop changing the renew automatically, and don't assume I want to spend more than 1 year with you. Oh yea, we all know Godaddy is the big daddy in domain names--you don't need to spend countless millions on eye candy. I understand spending a lot on advertising in emerging markets, but not in the U.S.--pass those saving on to your customers. Yes--I know the Super Bowl ad put you in the game, but we know the system now--we know what you do, and when we are being gouged. My final thought is this, if you want repeat customers--stop playing tricks like pricey privacy options, holding domains hostage because they are a day late in payment, and constantly changing automatic billing settings. Bye--

</comment><comment><USER14> Surely it's a little late for an IPO from GoDaddy. They've been around for a long time, they're already established as a market leader, there'll be little to no hype.

Forbearing a massive success with the new TLDs that seem to be given out like candy, I can't see any huge growth areas for them to move into. Maybe China, but that's always going to suffer from preferential treatment to incumbent local competition. (If the Chinese allow free DNS registration at all?)

The only way I'm seeing this is that the owners want to sell, but the financials are so bad they couldn't find a private buyer. I'll give it a pass unless anyone knows different?

<comment><AUTHOR> Bob Parsons pulled the IPO back in 2006 because of market conditions: [http://www.bobparsons.me/archive_article.php?entry_id=121](http://www.bobparsons.me/archive_article.php?entry_id=121)

<comment><USER14> Thanks, that at least explains why they're IPO'ing so late. Still not enough to convince me it's a good buy though :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I had assumed GoDaddy was already public. Seems like the sort of company that would have gone public ages ago when it was still growing aggressively.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I think they have a few things to fix before they go public, like the insane amount of money they've been spending on marketing.

<comment><USER15> Does it not work though? They are known for being shitty yet they are one most popular(if not the most[1])

With this bad reputation and even some boycotts like "leave godaddy, they support sopa" it is obvious they don't have a good reputation and their service is "good enough to not bother switching"

I don't think they'd grow without massive marketing.

[1] I dont know how accurate this data is, although it doesn't look too far from truth [http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top- registrars/global/...](http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top- registrars/global/?pi=1)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> "The self-described "outspoken" executive called the quiet period "suffocating" and didn't want to give up his weekly radio show, or other planned radio and TV appearances."

Oh sure, right. As if he didn't know that when he got involved in the process and hired investment bankers.

</comment><comment><USER17> Given who owns the company now, I'm pretty sure that they'll be looking for acquisitions to tack onto their upsell activity. Pretty sure that's what this IPO will do. GoDaddy will be buying some companies in a year.

</comment><comment><USER18> I remember reading about how private equity takes companies and leverages them for a handsome payout, only to dump them in an IPO to let the public assume an untenable balance sheet.

1B in revenue on 1B in debt...its right at the limit for healthy.

</comment><comment><USER19> How do I purchase put options for an IPO?

<comment><USER20> The regulatory body that governs options restricts them for IPOs. There is a period of time (I believe it's 2 weeks) after IPO that options are not allowed to be traded in public markets, so you have to wait until then. At that point, you can buy puts from any full service brokerage (and many discount brokerages).

If you are a sufficiently high net-worth individual or investing on behalf of a sufficiently large fund, you may be able to make a private deal with one of the investment banks participating in the IPO, but I don't know much about that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Does that mean they have to stop being awful at PR (shooting elephants, objectification of women, etc)?

</comment><comment><USER22> For some companies an IPO is the final frontier just before they really start to cook. For others it is the final round in a game of pass-the-buck.

My hope is that it is the former, my fear is that it is the latter.

Even Facebook eventually ended up above their IPO price so maybe GoDaddy won't do so bad. Give it a few years.

</comment><comment><USER23> I changed from GoDaddy to domainsite 5 years ago.

<comment><USER24> Me too, it seems domainsite is acquired.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Why are companies like GoDaddy allowed to just lose hundreds of millions of dollars every year? I don't get it!

The cheap domain thing is not a capital intensive industry, there are thousands of IT companies that can sell you a domain out there, it is not as if you need a factory or hundreds of thousands of staff to get into the business, so cheap isn't necessarily going to get you into a monopoly position - e.g. de Beers - so that they can have the market to themselves.

If they were making cars instead of domains and selling everything at what amounts to a loss year in, year out, some EU type of organisation would come along with an anti-dumping tariff to put an end to it.

Why is it with tech companies that GoDaddy style business models are allowed to persist? Sure some of those losses are due to acquisitions, but, again, why can companies that don't make money allowed to buy up companies that do make money?

<comment><USER26> In case you are serious about not getting it: you can operate at a loss in a number of situations: if you have profits in reserve, if you have available credit to float the difference in revenue, or a combination therein. You cannot bleed forever, only as long as you have capital to push onward. If you have access to a ton of credit, or have a ton of money in the bank, you can take losses for quite some time.

I haven't looked too deeply at their internals, but some companies choose to (properly) mark down existing assets or investments on their books to current market value at certain times for strategic tax purposes. Eg. if you have a warehouse full of stuff you can't sell, but profit from other divisions the right thing to do is to write down those assets to market value (sometimes that is zero, but not always)</comment></comment>


The biggest (meaningful) number of them all - <AUTHOR> http://woodside.blogs.com/cosmologycuriosity/2007/08/the-biggest-mea.html

<comment><USER2> Seems punily human-centric. How about the number of states in the biggest possible brain?

<comment><USER3> Then we need to apply astronomical numbers to neural configurations. Using the mass in a galaxy to make a computer where the logic is on the atomic scale...

10^9 stars, each with 10^57 atoms. The logic of the post is that a group of 10^7 nuerons can have a thought, and there are 10^70000000000 ways to group them. But there are 10^59 groups of this size, each operating independently, which implies 10^(7*10^69) states in a galactic brain#, but let's call it 10^10^70 to be neat and account for dark matter in the galaxy :).

There are around 125 billions galaxies in the universe. Also, we might one day find a way to create matter.

# if my logic is right, that is. I might need a bigger brain.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> How about the number of connections between all objects that obey gravitation?

</comment><comment><USER5> If all atoms in the universe would form a single brain...

<comment><USER4> That's the plot of the Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect, it's about a Singularity where a Strong AI gains control over all matter and energy.

<http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/index.html>

It's free.</comment></comment>


Naming scheme for efficient collaboration on documents using Dropbox/GoogleDrive - <AUTHOR> http://datascience.codata.org/articles/abstract/10.2481/dsj.8.18/ <comment><AUTHOR> You know the problem: You are working with a colleague on a PowerPoint/Keynote presentation and have a file hosting service like Dropbox/GoogleDrive/Box for synchronising your work. Revision control with Git or SVN is not an option. So, how do you collaborate efficiently? Try the following naming scheme:

[project name][timestamp in yyyymmdd][a-z]_[initals].pptx

An example would look like:

\- "findings20170105a_pm.pptx" :: yesterday's (20170105) 1st draft (a) from Paula Myo (pm)

\- "findings20170105b_dl.pptx" :: yesterday's (20170105) 2nd draft (b) from Dimitri Leopoldovich (dl)

\- "findings20170105c_dl.pptx" :: yesterday's (20170105) 3rd draft (c) from Dimitri Leopoldovich (dl)

\- "findings20170106a_pm.pptx" :: today's (20170106) 1st draft (a) from Paula Myo (pm)</comment>


Show HN: Smooth open-source Tetris clone with a few surprises - <AUTHOR> http://www.toothris.org/index.html

<comment><USER2> Very slick! Love seeing Python built games like this. Well done, sir.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you! My love to Python started with this game. Though now I'd rather use something like C++ and Lua for games. It'd make it much easier to port and distribute.

<comment><USER3> javascript.. the actual wora.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point, I actually considered Javascript too. Though it seems like there's no one-size-fits-all tool, but right tools for right problems. I'd use Javascript for in-browser games, but something different for standalone ones if high portability is the requirement. Lua seems to be a good choice, because it's de-facto industry standard in gamedev and runs on anything but my door bell ([http://luajit.org/luajit.html](http://luajit.org/luajit.html)). So my current best idea is to write all control logic in Lua, and platform-specific low-level stuff in C++. Regarding the speed concerns, both Javascript and Lua have JIT, and anyways, no Lua or C++ code should be visible in the profiler at all if we're talking about performance. It seems to me most computations should be done on GPU instead.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I love the testimonials :)</comment>


Show HN: Immutable and type-checked state and actions for Redux - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/gcanti/redux-tcomb

<comment><USER2> I really like this. I've been following gcanti's work in tcomb for a while now, and I feel that it's way too unpopular for how well designed it is. I think I should just replace all my Immutable.js records with tcomb structs, and time is the only reason I haven't.

Does anyone know whether there's any immutable collections that work well with tcomb? I'm a bit weary of adding yet another data structure thing to my code (after Immutable and Ramda), so I'd prefer to _replace_ Immutable by tcomb but I'm afraid that'll make add-to-immutable-sequence kind of operations significantly slower. Any tips?

</comment><comment><USER3> Type checked state is known as "typestate". A Google search will bring up the typestate paper.</comment>