Mysterious Avid Issue Knocks Out Mac Pro Workstations Across Hollywood - <AUTHOR> https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/avid-mac-pro-corrupted-hollywood-1203347033/ <comment><USER2> yikes. having written aax plugins for a while, i have to say, i'm kind of surprised this came from AVID. from what it sounds like (having scraped the surface), it's not their editing software (Pro Tools, et al.) but their copy protection management tool/device driver - iLok.

i'm sure there are some very anxious engineers in the AVID offices today.

<comment><USER3> > their copy protection management tool/device driver - iLok.

They're still using that? These things were successfully cracked in the nineties, I was convinced nobody uses hardware dongles anymore.

<comment><USER4> Oh, it's not just Avid. Some audio production software such as ReFX Nexus still uses a USB dongle. There is no way to use the software without it plugged in.

It also has a policy where if you damage the dongle, you have to buy again and get a 10% discount off the FULL price of the VST.

In the age of people gigging on laptops, I'm not entirely sure how they think they are gonna sell any more of them. I fancy it myself as it has quite a few 'familiar' sounds on it, but not with all the downsides.

<comment><USER5> To add to that, it's not just media production.

In the medical field, almost all software for performing and analyzing EKGs, X-rays, MRIs etc. comes by default with some sort of dongle-based protection. Apparently, it's not enough that you need the biggest dongle in the world (i.e. the machine itself!) to use the software. Some vendors do offer alternatives if you fight them hard enough but the default still is a trip to dongle town.

<comment><USER6> Ah, but they need to control that CD recording device on the workstation, just in case you're handing out CDs to your patients WITHOUT A CD RECORDING LICENSE. They have the weirdest licenses.

<comment><USER7> So there is software on a medical device concerned with users copying a Billy Joel CD?

<comment><USER6> They sell every functionality as an aditional "license" or "plugin".

So, for example, it's not unusual that, by default, your half a million USD scanner, that includes a powerful workstation to control it (the one the technician uses behind the window) will only let you write CDs (for example, to give your patient a copy of his/her scan) if you pay an additional "CD Writing license"

Now, with PACS and centralization that have changed a bit, but still...

<comment><USER7> Thanks for the explanation. Still gross but not as bad as RIAA checks being performed somehow.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is what Avid sends you after creating an account:

Your iLok account allows you to:

      - Use the free iLok License Manager application to manage your licenses
      - Take advantage of Zero Downtime and Theft & Loss Coverage premium services to help protect your investment

_Take advantage of Zero Downtime_ I never understand what they mean with this, but now it definitely lost all its meaning.

<comment><USER9> Zero Downtime is a paying option provided by PACE (makers of the iLok and the copy protection software) for extended support if one loses their licenses. It covers a broken/lost/stolen iLok, not sure how it would fit in this case.

A few years back I was working for a company that used iLok protection and had a major outage like this, we nicknamed it the iLokalypse.

<comment><USER10> From what I recall zero downtime simply meant if a ilok went missing then PACE would assist you in replacing license(s) to a replacement ilok from their end. Trouble is often times you couldn't quickly find a replacement ilok without a guitar center nearby and would still have to order it through avid store and wait for it to arrive if you didn't plan for this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> rule 1 of hollywood tech support:

Always take what the editor says with a massive pinch of salt.

I spent ten years in the movie industry, and the people that were the most forthright, and almost universally wrong about technical things were editors.

"The monitor is out of grade" No, you've set the background lights to red.

"The sound is out of sync" No, you've turned off the amp and somehow managed to get the crappy test tv to play sound

"the hardrive is corrupt" no, its clearly asking you to update OSX

my personal favorite:

"my station is slow" No, what you appear to be doing is copying 135 TBs of data from one share to another.

<comment><USER12> What you're describing sounds like industry-specific anecdotes from a very common, cross-industry reality about non technical users.

<comment> jon-wood I'd revise that to the far more irritating segment of users who think they're more technical than they really are. Actual non technical users are fine, because they generally know when they don't understand a thing. The thinks- their-technical users will bravely throw in whatever phrases they've heard mentioned in relation to a completely unrelated problem.

<comment><USER13> I don't understand this.

> The thinks-their-technical users

English was not my first language and sometimes I get tripped up. What does this mean?

<comment><USER14> They meant "thinks-they're-technical", which might clear things up.

Putting dashes between a bunch of words isn't really a correct way to do this, but it's a way to smash a bunch of words together and pretend it's one word. In this case an adjective describing the users.

<comment><USER15> It's perfectly cromulent to hyphenate words this way. Doing so causes them to become adjectives. For instance, you would say "fast-paced agenda," not "fast paced agenda," or "fast, paced agenda." The latter two have a different—and in this example, weird—meaning.

In this case, I think it's a poor style choice, because there are two verbs and an adjective being combined, but there's nothing 'incorrect' about doing so. It might be clearer to say "users who think they are technical," but fixing the mixed pluralization and incorrect use of "their" would go a long way on their own.

<comment><USER16> What you did there, it has been seen. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Someone on Reddit posted some more details.

Apparently it's iLok removing the /var directory.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/d8nxhk/mysterious_av...](https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/d8nxhk/mysterious_avid_issue_knocks_out_mac_pro/f1bnun2/)

<comment><USER18> It now looks as though it might be Google Chrome. Whoooops.

[https://mrmacintosh.com/google-chrome-keystone-is- modifying-...](https://mrmacintosh.com/google-chrome-keystone-is-modifying- var-symlink-on-non-sip-macs-causing-boot-issues/)

e: hn discussion here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21064663](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21064663)

<comment><USER19> I can't wait for the post mortem, I wasn't expecting anything with Avid/PACE but if it's Google's problem then maybe we'll get info.

I work in this space (and am a casual user in the space) and I really want to know why /private/var was getting unlinked through a normal update and why Avid got pinged for it.

<comment><USER17> > why Avid got pinged for it

I think that was just because it was Avid users discovered it on the FB group[1].

I thought it was cool of their CEO to talk to the community, despite no evidence of it being their fault.

[1] [https://www.facebook.com/groups/mediacomposer/permalink/1015...](https://www.facebook.com/groups/mediacomposer/permalink/10158340050634460/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Sounds unlikely to be a virus. Certificate expiry seems probable if it's happened suddenly to everyone using this software and dongle.

<comment><USER20> Whatever it is, it's changing operating system settings, so not just certificate expiry:

[https://twitter.com/MarcusPun/status/1176369954255331328/pho...](https://twitter.com/MarcusPun/status/1176369954255331328/photo/1)

<comment><USER21> huh .. to the point of changing what groups a user is in (or corrupting the local user info).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> This site says Chrome Updater is the cause of the problem: [https://mrmacintosh.com/google-chrome-keystone-is- modifying-...](https://mrmacintosh.com/google-chrome-keystone-is-modifying- var-symlink-on-non-sip-macs-causing-boot-issues/)

It only happens on Macs with SIP disabled, which includes a lot of Mac Pros with Avid (for third-party video card support)

</comment><comment><USER23> Sound like someone messed up a removal routine, equivalent to "rm $base_dir/$temp_dir -rf".

<comment><USER24> Not possible with SIP. The OS files are read only. Not even root can change them.

<comment><USER25> Someone else in thread mentions an kext for the iLok dongle AVID uses, so are kexts covered by SIP? Or are they counted as part of the kernel, and thus all powerful?

<comment><USER24> Looks like some situations AVID requires SIP disabled for external video cards?

So dumb. Why do companies pull this crap instead of fixing their issues with the vendor instead of leaving their users vulnerable

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Sounds like the case when EvE Online removed some Windows boot files: [https://www.eveonline.com/article/about-the-boot.ini- issue](https://www.eveonline.com/article/about-the-boot.ini-issue)

<comment><USER27> Ah bless, I recall that (played at the time), I was fortunate to of had separate drives for programs and temp/swap to the OS and didn't have eve installed upon th C: drive, but knew many who didn't. That said, it was somebody who did the same kind of thing that tested the update and equally had no issue and it rolled out. Though fair play, they put their hands up fast and if needed, paid for peoples to get a tech to fix the issue for users who just gamed and unable to handle the minutiae of fixing themselves.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Sounds like another 'DRM so strong you can't even boot anymore!'

<comment><USER29> DRM so strong they can't even produce the film.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Oh man I'd hate to be on the receiving end of this shit storm. There's a film called swimming with sharks [1] that perfectly illustrates the wrath of producers

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

</comment><comment><USER31> Did anyone else get a drive-by download from synchroscript.deliveryengine.adswizz.com?

<comment><USER32> Yes, what was that?

<comment><USER31> I have no idea. It was a 0 byte afp.php file. You only really get those when a webserver isn't setup to process the PHP files and ends up sending it out like a download.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> Is this really an issue localised to LA? I've worked for companies equipped with Avid suites that were (at least in geographic terms) as far away as you can get from LA.

</comment><comment><USER34> Well, looks like Google has some splaining to do in this incident.

</comment><comment><USER35> One Twitter thread I followed said something was trashing /var.

<comment><USER36> Its unlinking /var from /private/var and laying down a new incomplete /var

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> Isn't this just the Google Updater issue that removes the /var link on Macs that have SIP disabled? Perhaps that is required for Avid?

</comment><comment><USER38> Hm, I'm not using any AVID software, but I had to re-install from Time Machine after trying the 10.14.6 update on my Mac Mini 2018 last week.

</comment><comment><USER39> I switched to Adobe Premiere under Windows 10 with NVIDA 2080 for accelerated rendering and have been very satisfied.

<comment><USER40> It's really warming to me that Avid and Premiere, two applications I learned video editing on at school when I was 10, are still big things today.

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> Why people still use Avid?

<comment><USER19> Because it's the industry standard when you need to work with more than one person. Most other offerings don't scale with team size/production pipeline like Pro Tools/Media Composer.

And there's a certain class of professional who resists change/upgrades at every turn, specifically because of stuff like this where updates would typically break everything.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> How is this possible with SIP in modern MacOS?

Did they turn SIP off?

<comment><USER42> SIP is a whitelist, not a blacklist. It's possible they (Apple) missed something.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> The use of 'trashcan' to refer to the MacPro by multiple users in the link is pretty amusing.

> Has anyone had their trashcans go down today out of nowhere?

<comment><USER44> That must really be annoying someone over at apple. Spend all that time design something beautiful. And... Everyone calls it garbage

<comment><USER45> Beautiful? There's a reason why it got the name, it looks like a trashcan. And the old mac pro is filled with garbage(how fitting, right?). If it was any good then apple would have stuck to it, but it was garbage, so they didn't.

Now we have the new mac pro, and it's a big step up from the trashcan.

<comment><USER46> Yes, and lots of very smart designers have put lots of time over many decades into making trashcans look good.

The apple trashcan certainly looks _vastly_ better than other commercially available workstations.

<comment><USER47> It's a shame really, I feel like we've lost something from the years of SGI workstations that looked like they came straight from the future.

<comment><USER48> You mean bright LED's and transformer-like mods?

I don't think so, seems like ALL gaming PC's are like that.

<comment><USER49> SGI workstations had hardly any lights. Their essential distinguishing feature where that they sometimes had slightly rounded corners and came in 'fun' colors. Kind of like this

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Tezro#/media/File:Silicone...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Tezro#/media/File:Silicone_Graphics_SGI_Tezro_Workstation.jpg)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Octane#/media/File:SgiOcta...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Octane#/media/File:SgiOctane.jpg)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2#/media/File:Silicon_Gra...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_O2#/media/File:Silicon_Graphics_O2_Plus.jpg)

<comment><USER50> Those unfortunately now just remind me of the Hot Wheels PC [https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/azdp7i/hot_wh...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/azdp7i/hot_wheels_pc/)

I'd rather see more like the SGI Indy workstation: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Indy#/media/File:Silicon_G...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGI_Indy#/media/File:Silicon_Graphics_Indy.jpg)

<comment><USER51> I think Sony's got your back there. Looks like a source of inspiration for the PS4

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> >Film and TV editors across Los Angeles were sweating Monday evening as their workstations were refusing to reboot

The irony of something refusing to reboot in Hollywood. Hopefully the production of Star Wars 12, Rambo 8 and Terminator 9 has not been too disrupted.

<comment><USER53> The rebellion has got to start from somewhere. Humans are still consuming mindless reboots, but the machines have decided it's too much and have given up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Whats with this kneejerk advice?

Honestly who turns off their macs? Are they talking about sleep mode?

<comment><USER55> I had an issue recently with Virtualbox which caused my iMac Pro to crash and power cycle. That, as well as certain Xcode updates (required by other software), meant I lost my 200+ days of workstation uptime.

<comment><USER56> Do you have any idea how exactly did VirtualBox crash your iMac Pro? I'm pondering installing it on mine and your comment is scary.</comment></comment></comment>


This Bikesharing Program Lets You Lock Your Bike Anywhere - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcoexist.com/1680664/this-bikesharing-program-lets-you-lock-your-bike-anywhere <comment><USER2> I used to be a fan of this service in Germany for a while. Features are the same (Track it online or grab one from the street, unlock it with your phone, leave it everywhere you want _), it's operated by the 'Deutsche Bahn' railway comp.

It was cheap, easy and the bikes were of good quality, plus you can't beat the flexibility of grabbing one of those to meet a friend on the other side of the city.

Great to see that the concept spreads further and further.

_) They define a general area in their TOS/contract. You're not supposed to leave it outside of the city limits, for example. You can leave, of course, but need to drive back into the city limits to drop it off.

<comment><USER3> Here are some details, basically you lock/unlock with your phone by calling a given phone number: [http://www.callabike- interaktiv.de/index.php?id=401&&...](http://www.callabike- interaktiv.de/index.php?id=401&&f=500)

The bike lock is controlled from a central point. Also, as they have a GPS, they also propose an iPhone/Android application which can give you the nearest free bikes around you.

This system is running in several cities in Germany.

<comment><USER2> Or ckeck the following link to see where the bikes are right now:

[http://www.callabike- interaktiv.de/kundenbuchung/process.php...](http://www.callabike- interaktiv.de/kundenbuchung/process.php?proc=bikesuche&f=500&&f=500)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The article's statement that these bikes wouldn't get stolen didn't really assure me, so I looked at the stats for my city's bike sharing service. According to one news report:

> One bike went missing the first year and it was later recovered. Last year > all were accounted for. This year three or four are missing, but Dossett > expects them to turn up.

I suppose the distinctiveness of the bicycles has something to do with it, plus, they're relatively difficult to maneuver.

<comment><USER5> Depending on the particular program, you may not be able to break it down and sell it for parts as some of them use custom parts that wouldn't otherwise work on a regular bike.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> >The bike still need to be returned to designated spots at the end of the ride.

can't you lock any bike sharing bike anywhere, as long as you return it to the designated rack at the end of the ride? what's new here?

<comment><USER7> I understood that it can be locked and trip ended at any 'designated' bike rack (as in its location is in some database), but the rack doesn't need any additional hardware since the bike locks itself.

But yes, the wording "ensures that users don't need to lock their bikes at designated docking stations [...] the bike still need to be returned to designated spots at the end of the ride" is pretty bad and unclear.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> We've had a similar program to this in Germany for some years now: <http://www.callabike-interaktiv.de/>

Within inner city limits, you can use your smartphone to get an unlock code (or call a hotline), then use the bike for 8 cents per minute as long as you wish and drop it off anywhere (again, within city limits).

</comment><comment><USER9> Ummm, no it doesn't. From the article:

> The bike still need to be returned to designated spots at the end of the > ride.

<comment><USER10> But... then... what is the point of this?

<comment><USER11> These bikes have integrated locks so that between endpoints you can attach it to any solid post and it will be safe. If you wanted to carry around your own chain-lock you could accomplish the same thing with any bike-sharing bike.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> "If you live in certain parts of the world, like France, Spain, China, Italy, or Germany, you already are familiar with the joys of having an extensive bike-sharing system readily available. North America is slowly catching on, with cities like Boston, Washington, D.C., and New York City gradually rolling out bike-share systems. "

Or, you know, Canada, where Bixi developed the system that now powers Boston's, D.C.'s, and NYC's shares.

<comment><USER12> Yeah, that bit was weird -- it implies a contrast in maturity and scale between North America and Europe that seems not to have basis in fact. Germany's largest bikeshare system, per Wikipedia, only has 3,000 bikes, which is smaller than Montreal's. Even DC's, currently the largest in the US, is on the same order of magnitude, at ~1700 bikes, and is a well-established system at this point (over two years old, with somewhere around 2.5 million rides so far).

<comment><USER2> Call a bike, just one of the available systems, has 7000 bikes acc. to the German Wikipedia entry (source is from 2012). Other national systems are listed, with one quoted as 'starting out as biggest service in 2010', having around 3000.

But let's ignore the numbers for a second (absolute numbers make not a lot of sense anyway, imho. Per capita, maybe?). The real feature is what the headline of this article (wrongly) implied. That you can drive to your friend's place and 'return' the bike in front of his door. Or in front of your favorite pub. Or cinema. No docking stations, period.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> General Question: What is power supply on the bicycle? Both for GPS theft recovery and for the E-unlock device? Did not see that mentioned in the post, wondering of any of the users might know?

<comment><USER14> The article mentions solar panels.

<comment><USER13> Makes sense, must have missed it. thanks.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Social Bicycles is another company doing something very similar based out of NYC -- <http://socialbicycles.com/>

</comment><comment><USER15> Its a cool idea, Google started the 'G-bike' idea when I was working there and it was fun to be able to grab a bike and head from the center of campus to one of the outer buildings.

But there were some hilarious failure modes too, all company meet at Shoreline, huge pile of bikes at Shoreline Ampitheater and none on campus.

Bike fail? No clear way how to get it fixed, 'dead' bikes would accumulate in the periphery buildings.

And of course there was 'diffusion' into the greater Mtn View area :-)

<comment><USER16> I know a guy who has one in Pleasant Hill. Talk about diffusion.

<comment><USER15> One of the folks was threatening to take one on a world tour and send pictures back. Never got to see if that was implemented or not.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I've love to grab a bike at Embarcadero or Montgomery BART and ride it to near pier 39, where I work. I'd even return it in the evening. I'm not sure about having to make it available at some designated spot, though. Use the GPS!

<comment><USER17> Just buy a cheap bike and leave it at the Embarcadero bike storage area. It's something stupid like 3 cents an hour. <http://bartbikestation.com/></comment></comment>


Show HN: Measure negativity you consume on Facebook - <AUTHOR> https://socialsentiments.asadmemon.com/ <comment><USER2> I haven't used Facebook for over 2 years so it doesn't affect me.

<comment><AUTHOR> I wish that was possible. But all my friends are on Facebook so I have to use it (even if as little as possible).

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I don't pay any attention to anything other than baby pictures, hunting pictures. Ads don't phase me either. I go to reddit for my negativity.

<comment><AUTHOR> Lately I have been seeing a lot of rants on Facebook. Maybe that's just my 'echo chamber' only but the upcoming election is a big cause of this. So I decided to code this little extension on a weekend. Just for lolz.</comment></comment>


Reddit thread on what it's like in correctional facilities for troubled children - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/c7ldpc/seriousformer_teens_who_went_to_wilderness_camps/ <comment><AUTHOR> > I also worked at a treatment center in Utah, and I ended up quitting because > of the horrors I witnessed. I'm actually very sorry to say that it was just > like the Stanford prison experiment. The staff turned into the guards and > the children into prisoners. I am ashamed at the things we would do to the > kids to get them to comply. Like many of the survivors here, there were > times when we would have to follow one child around to make sure they did > not speak to another person and if they did, they would be isolated even > further, not allowed to go to the school on site, etc. If a child got upset, > we would put them in an isolation room which was akin to solitary > confinement. we took books, makeup privileges, phone calls home, small > things that would grant some normalcy in a child's life that also served as > coping mechanisms for the tiniest infractions. We made them point out flaws > in other children to their faces. We forced children with eating disorders > to eat their food or they would get in trouble with their therapist. > Management once told me that if they have any issues or are upset with these > methods of punishment, we were doing our jobs.

> Everything the kids did during the day was reported to the therapist and > then twisted to keep them in "treatment" longer. The only way to get out was > to comply and become robotic basically doing everything they're told in the > way that staff prefers them do it. And there is different staff all the > time. Oh wait, if insurance stops paying, then they kick you the very next > hour. All the facility cared about was money.

> I couldn't believe how many children were there who did not need to be. I > have a master's in psychology and I spent way more time with the kids than > any of the therapists, so I can say that some kids were just placed there by > parents who were likely too busy or didn't care enough to pay attention to > their kids. Yes, some were drug addicts that needed treatment, and some had > oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, PTSD, and bipolar disorder. > But many were lost. It broke my heart. The only good thing I can say about > the facility is they accepted transgender children.

I don't understand how any of these were (and still are) allowed to operate. It's very evident from the Reddit thread that this stuff has very long lasting effects, and has been the cause of many, many suicides.</comment>


Code of Merit: A meritocratic approach to project management (2016) - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rosarior/Code-of-Merit/blob/master/CODE_OF_MERIT.md <comment><USER2> Do you know who's going to gravitate toward projects with a Code of Merit instead of a Code of Conduct?

People who are ostracized by projects with a Code of Conduct.

Or, to put it another way, if you're a jerk and you argue with other contributors about an on-topic issue in a jerky way, then under a Code of Merit, you still come out on top as long as you're technically correct (the best kind of correct!), even if it leaves other contributors feeling put down.

Granted, there is some overlap. For example, both the Code of Merit and most codes of conduct disallow disparaging remarks based on protected characteristics. But the Code of Merit disallows them because they're considered irrelevant to the project, whereas codes of conduct disallow them because they're affronts to dignity.

I do take issue with many codes of conduct in the tech space, because I think they tend to be written in a bubble world where everyone assumes that everyone else thinks just like them, but a Code of Merit sounds like it's even more problematic.

<comment><USER3> I have never understood why people feel strongly about "Code of Conduct" statements. It seems insane to me that someone would profoundly object to guidelines that effectively say "don't be an asshole".

But it happens!

There are people rage-quitting stackoverflow/stackexchange communities expressly because of they can't abide with the new initiatives/CoC that say one has to be nice and get along with others.

I guess this is yet another manifestation of that impulse. Maybe someday someone will write up a psychological analysis of this kind of behavior. I sure don't understand it.

<comment><USER4> > Maybe someday someone will write up a psychological analysis of this kind of > behavior.

I would like to read that; both what's driving the thinking behind adoption, and the responses.

You could apply it to any organisation that requires you to sign up to its rules before joining.

> It seems insane to me that someone would profoundly object to guidelines > that effectively say "don't be an asshole".

Does this help? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18075200](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18075200)

<comment><USER3>
        > Does this help? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18075200

Very well put.

But I still can't fathom a _real_ situation where CoC would cause me to reconsider participation, let-alone quit and look for alternatives which serve up something like that "Code of Merit".

In the high-profile spaces which have implemented CoC's, they've been a reaction to long-established patterns of bad behavior (I am thinking specifically about stackoverflow). It remains to be seen whether the CoC in stackoverflow helps, but I don't think it hurts.

In general, I think online communities are much more prone by being overrun with assholes than face-to-face communities. In the case of stackoverflow, they've game-ified the interactions to such an extent that it has become a very weird place to ask a question. In their quest for quantifiable objectivity, they've attracted personality types that think it's OK to be hostile in order to satisfy what they think "the mission" of stackoverflow is. It has gotten bad enough that people are reacting and their new CoC is their attempt at making amends.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> > Individual characteristics, including but not limited to, body, sex, sexual > preference, race, language, religion, nationality, or political preferences > are irrelevant in the scope of the project and will not be taken into > account concerning your value or that of your contribution to the project.

This sounds good, but a clause like this can easily backfire. What happens if a high ranking member is (whether they know it or not) a bigot or sexist? Anytime someone tries to challenge them calling out their behavior, they're likely to point to this Code and say "stop making this about gender/race as that violates the code of merit". They can use the very rules meant to stop them as a weapon to silence those who would criticize.

The document presumes good intentions by all those participating. Good intentions don't work- mechanisms do. I see no mechanisms here.

<comment><USER6> you have to assume good intentions. otherwise it will end in a mexican standoff, everyone with weapons drawn and waiting for someone to fire first.

but to get to your point: on a merit based system every reason to decline a contribution should be based on the contribution, not on the contributer. everyone should be able to validate those reasons. if you got a sexist and he declines your contribution with a sexist reason that should lead to consequences for him. thats what your quoted line entails. the high ranking member violated it because he took your sex/gender into account when considiering your contribution. did he decline with racist remarks? he violated it again because he took your race into account. for me that would be a far better system because it does not put the control in the hands of the few maintainers, it puts the control in the hands of the whole community.

<comment><USER7> What are "sexist remarks"? Is allowing men to be rude because that's the social stereotype of productive men, and telling equally rude women that they're shrill and need to tone it down and be less emotional, a sexist remark? It only overtly references the individual contributor, not their gender.

<comment><USER6> why allow someone to be rude? we are professionals, we should not be rude to another.

> Is [...] telling [...] women that they're shrill and need to tone it down > and be less emotional, a sexist remark?

if it targets all women i would say yes. if its in a discussion and alice IS too emotional and shrill i would say no (but its badly phrased).

everyone should be able to take a step back from a discussion and reflect. am i too emotional? did i maybe take a wrong turn? dont take everything personal. sometimes text does sound angry and agressive, but wasn't meant to be. people are not good at communication. allow some room for misinterpretation.

<comment><USER7> So there is a gray area. Are you permitted under the code of merit to ask in good faith, "Is Bob acting like this towards all women?" It seems like if the answer is "No, just Alice," you are the one who brought up unrelated demographic topics and accusations of bias and have violated the Code—which means the code serves to have a chilling effect on good-faith discussions about whether the Code is being violated by established, "senior" contributors.

<comment><USER6> thats where "you have to assume good intentions" comes in. if you ask that in good faith, to get a clear picture of bob and resolve misinterpretations, no harm is done. i dont care where you ask that, but you can do that. the CoM does not prevent discussing those topics (e.g. to resolve misunderstandings). it just states that they are irrelevant for "your value or that of your contribution".

<comment><USER7> So at the point where you have a good-faith question about whether someone is violating the Code and harming the project, you must assume good intentions? Do you expect a sexist Bob to say out loud, in a project space, "Yup, I'm judging contributions on things other than technical merit" (especially when Bob can just tweet "Broads can't code lol" and it's defined as a thing you can't pay attention to in the project)?

Why not just replace the code with "No one can possibly behave poorly for the project, just believe everyone" and be done with it? Seems equally effective.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The author who coined the term "meritocracy", Michael Young, meant it as satire.

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

> _" It is good sense to appoint individual people to jobs on their merit. It > is the opposite when those who are judged to have merit of a particular kind > harden into a new social class without room in it for others."_

Here are the two key criteria from the _Code of Merit_ governing how contributors are rewarded:

> _4\. Authority or position in the project will be proportional to the > accrued contribution. Seniority must be earned._

> _5\. Software is evolutive: the better implementations must supersede lesser > implementations. Technical advantage is the primary evaluation metric._

However, these are inherently subjective measures, dependent on who is among the project's "managing members" and thus in a position to propose candidates and render judgement. At the very least it is an unstable system in the absence of formal governance mechanisms (e.g. 2/3 majority rule on proposed candidates) and committed leadership.

Ultimately, it is frighteningly difficult to avoid calcifying into an exclusive group, fulfilling the satirical prophesies of "meritocracy".

<comment><USER9> Ultimately, the person who originally created the project had a good idea and has a claim to the products [it is _their_ "original fork" anyhow, and anyone else can fork the project if they want.]. It is difficult for _any_ open source or self organizing group to come up with good leadership. The default is the originators and those who they think are contributing. That is what forking is for, if something calcifies, re-vitalize it with a new repository and your own control. Open source gives you control over things, either as a creator, or for your own purposes as a fork. You can fork it and put it under a CoC if you want, then see who contributes where. That's what the _free_ part of open source refers to.

It is difficult for _any_ group to not calcify into a leadership position, but I'd rather have the calcified remnants of those who produced something at some time, instead of having an arbitrary committee based on modern liberal ideals and pushed by an external group.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I don't get why this would be an alternative - those two can and should supplement eachother.

<comment><USER11> No, this is clearly a direct contradiction of a standard code of conduct; its intent appears to be to rule all the behaviour of the participants, especially the established ones, out of consideration.

<comment><USER10> Please point me to paragraph that says something like that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This to me looks like the "all lives matter" equvialent. It's basically an idea that no one can object to on face value, because there is obviously nothing objectionable about it, but when being presented as an _alternative_ to something else it makes it completely different.

This type of code will be chosen by the kind of people that were angry about the linux CoC. So sadly even though this document has nothing obviously wrong with it, it will be a huge red flag on a project.

<comment><USER13> Like the CoC was a red flag for others. Given, I doubt that anything significant will change with or without its adoption. It was political though and therefore leaves a bad taste.

It is something, but it is clearly not about inclusion or anything. Not that harassment was ever a significant problem in any repository or mailing list I visited.

I think a general request for being polite is always a good thing. Mandatory behavior expectations are not. And this CoC reeks like it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> I think the whole concept of "final say" is both poorly defined and poorly thought out. Should people not be allowed to speak their mind? Should they not be free to do work (merit) in the direction of their choosing? It should be up to the project owners if the work should be included in their project or not, but "final say"? Pffft.

</comment><comment><USER7> If you actually believe in meritocracy, it seems like a problem that the Contributor Covenant is in use by several high-profile projects that have had no noticeable loss of technical quality or failure since adopting it, and the Code of Merit is in use by ... no one. (Google the phrase in the README to confirm that.)

So, the meritocratic option is to adopt the Contributor Covenant and the incident-handling practices it comes with, which empirically help produce great projects. The only reason to adopt the Code of Merit is ideological attraction to its worldview outweighing the desire for a better technical project.

<comment><USER15> To be fair, according to the page, it was created 4 years ago. Google and other were already large and successful before that, so it's highly unlikely it's due to said document. And inertia can explain why it hasn't affected the quality yet (if ever).

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> If you have to write this down and formalize it, you have already lost.

<comment><USER9> In a private context yes, but in a public context where there are outside influences and attacks, it can be useful to have group norms that are explicit. It tends to attract people who believe implicitly in the norms. It is a way of signaling overtly what sort of culture the original maintainers possess.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> While this is an interesting idea, I'm not sure such an approach is going to work long term. This establishes that nothing outside of the project has an impact on the project itself. To make a rather extreme example (Godwin says hi), if Hitler picked up coding, a code-of-merit based project wouldn't object to him contributing to it, while most of the code of conducts I've seen would not. So it really comes down to: where do we draw the line?

<comment><USER18> >if Hitler picked up coding, a code-of-merit based project wouldn't object to him contributing to it, while most of the code of conducts I've seen would not. So it really comes down to: where do we draw the line?

There's no need to draw the line. As long as Hitler writes good code and behaves well on project's mailing lists, issue trackers etc., I would have no problem with him being a project member.

<comment><USER19> Could anyone who is downvoting here explain why?

Why should we prevent someone from contributing something good, thus hurting ourselves in the process, because they otherwise do something bad?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> This establishes the "dictator for life" idiom without bothering with the figleaf of "benevolent".

<comment><USER9> Not really; it just establishes that people who do work and create things of value have some kind of claim to continuing that work and controlling its growth.

The alternative is probably the "tyranny of the outside majority". You can't do things _other_ people, unrelated to your work, don't like.

<comment><USER20> That's not the alternative. E.g. the Linux CoC explicitly only governs activity inside the project, or while representing the project (the latter is an interesting but IMHO necessary scope problem). The board tasked with enforcing it is entirely built from high-ranking contributors.</comment></comment></comment>


Advertisers Avoiding YouTube - <AUTHOR> http://mashable.com/2008/03/16/youtube-ad-sales/

<comment><USER2> The only thing this article told me was that advertisers don't understand the best way to advertise on YouTube. Buying adspace on the page may or may not work. Well-done viral videos WILL work.

A friend of mine got his start out of college making viral videos for companies. He made one for a company called Winward Reports which has over 1.6 million views. That's a lot of people, the vast majority of which wouldn't have ever heard of Winward Reports, if not through the video.

<http://youtube.com/watch?v=wOTBWlt0-Y0>

So buying adspace? Questionable. Creating a good, entertaining, engaging ad or viral video and hosting it (free of charge) on YouTube? Awesome.

<comment><AUTHOR> Another way to look at it is that Google is not working with the advertisers. At the end of the day they are customers and Google is not providing for them.

See there were always problems with monetizing video given the results of eye- tracking results (people just don't see the ads, but quickly fix on the video). This article tells me there is another problem - being associated with certain videos - albeit YouTube-specific.

You're right though about the more efficient way to use YouTube for marketing.

Pierre</comment></comment>


Show HN: A Recursive Photo Mosaic Experiment - <AUTHOR> http://www.mailmosaic.com/

<comment><USER2> Cool. If it was possible to make the processing faster then I think that would help. It took mine almost a minute to show up.

</comment><comment><USER3> If its got grumpy cat im happy!</comment>


Naval Academy to name its cyber building after Grace Hopper - <AUTHOR> http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/federal-workplace/bs-md-naval-academy-cybersecurity-grace-hopper-20160908-story.html <comment><USER2> I am very happy to hear that such an important will be named for such an instrumental woman. I did a paper on the woman in history who most inspired me for a contest in middle school on Ada Lovelace. Had I known of Rear Adm. Grace Hopper at the time I would have chosen her instead. I learned about her from my comp sci textbook and was amazed she wasn't covered in more general sources where her story would have more of an opportunity to reach young women.

I am however, not happy to see the dumbing down of America's relationship with technology, the careful manipulation of language to strip meaning and understanding from the words we use.

We are in the middle of a struggle, between disclosure of exploits and retaining them for tactical or strategic advantage, where information can be "shared" by a private company with a government, but under a veil of secrecy. Where we talk about defensive capabilities, but fall victim to the most basic attacks on our network infrastructure, due to a lack of coordination within government. We buy hardware with a name brand badge but an operating system with 14+ year old vulnerabilities. But at the same time endeavor to place privately owned networks under government protection for critical infrastructure protection.

</comment><comment><USER3> She was a great mind and could explain simple concepts, but also go nose to nose with some of the best. She was very strict but very polite. Every time I saw her she would take time for questions, and would stay late to get as many in as possible.

Big fan, we need more of her today.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm glad to see her so honored. For those who have never seen or heard her in action, here is a two minute dose of the Admiral: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEpsKnWZrJ8)

</comment><comment><USER5> For those that don't know: she wrote the first compiler.

<comment><USER6> IIRC the first compiler was for FORTRAN, and I don't think she was involved in that.

Edit: Wikipedia says I'm wrong. TIL.

<comment><USER7> They are referencing [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-0_System](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-0_System).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> This is great, but they're missing a great opportunity by renaming a "the cyber building" anything other than "the cyber building".

I mean, have you ever been in a cyber building? I wish we had a cyber building at work.

<comment><USER9> 'Cyber' is the internationally accepted term within that field. It may sound a bit 90s to you, but it's become the widely adopted standard.

I understand the term comes from the Greek for 'helmsman', and is used to mean governing systems, such as the systems that govern our infrastructure and businesses, and then cyber operations are presumably attacks or the defence of these systems.

So they are neither ignorant of etymology nor wider industrial understanding of the term. I don't know why people have a problem with it therefore.

<comment><USER8> I wasn't suggestion ignorance. In fact, you're reading sarcasm where there is none - I think it's a cool name.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Grace Hopper and Hyman Rickover might be the two greatest minds the Navy ever produced.

<comment><USER11> They're way up there but have you read on the Naval Research Laboratory? They have some smart people. Several people that helped invent and develop INFOSEC ended up over there at CHACS as an example. Myers wrote the definitive reference on subversion threat as well. Tor got developed by some others.

I think Grace Hopper has more impact than those via compilers and COBOL. Still worth considering NRL if we're measuring Navy's brains. Might be something great in there.

<comment><USER10> Oh, I don't think they're not super-bright people at NRL, but Rickover invented the nuclear navy _and_ nuclear power. The culture he invented has created an extremely safe power industry that has had essentially two major accidents world-wide in 60 years (I don't count Cernobyl because the Soviets caused that accident, not the Rickover-quality-psychos.

<comment><USER11> I didn't know he was the one behind that. Yeah, that's amazing on another level. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> "It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission" -Grace Hopper

</comment><comment><USER13> Can anyone tell me what a Rear Admiral is?

<comment><USER14> A one-star or two-star admiral.[1]

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

<comment><USER15> To help sargun out more, Hopper was an O-7, where naval officer's ranks go from O-1 (ensign) to O-10 (admiral). This rank -- along with O-8 (rear admiral (upper half)) -- was previously called "commodore," and in some other countries still is, as in Commodore Matthew Perry.

e: What was previously commodore was split into the current two rear admiral ranks.

<comment><USER16> Nit: although the 'pedia says rear admiral outranks commodore, in the U.S. Navy the rank is equivalent to commodore in other navies.

<comment><USER17> Thats because the US Navy has two rear admiral ranks. The lower rear admiral is a 1 star officer and is equivalent to commodores in other navys. The upper rear admiral is a 2 star officer is equivalent to "normal" rear admirals in most other navies.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The Rear Admiral Grace Hopper Center for Scary Machines?

(I'm lamenting "cyber building" there, not in any way mocking the admiral)

</comment><comment><USER19> Read that as "cyber bullying" and was really confused for about 5 minutes. It's time for bed.

<comment><USER20> It's only two letters different, and "cyber building" seems far less plausible of a term today than "cyber bullying", so that's easy to explain - the "mental autocomplete" did the same thing for me too.

<comment><USER21> I'd be interested in a directory or database of these "mental autocorrects" \- it seems like the applications of these errors that you don't even notice could be interesting.

For another example, notice the the fact that I incorrectly used "the" twice in a row earlier in this sentence.

<comment> happy-go-lucky It makes me wonder how the brain excels at correcting and completing stuff. In doing so, it keeps jumping backward and forward until it's done doing its job so well!</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Twitter gets its 'million dollar homepage' scheme - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-gets-its-million-dollar-homepage-scheme-2009-3

<comment><USER2> $1 per tweet is a little cheap. $1 per character would be better

<comment><AUTHOR> Ha, yeah.</comment></comment>


Linux and Open Source Humble Book Bundle - <AUTHOR> https://www.humblebundle.com/books/linux-book-bundle <comment><USER2> Can anyone comment on the quality of the books? A lot of the covered topics are of interest to me (Docker, nginx, git) but I'd like to know if those books are worth the read.

<comment><USER3> Your best bet might be to skim Amazon reviews.

I read a book by the same publisher about Apache ( _Pro Apache_ by Peter Wainwright), and it was good.</comment></comment>


Patching Your Personal Suck (2005) - <AUTHOR> http://www.43folders.com/2005/01/15/patching-your-personal-suck

<comment><USER2> The page he links to 50 Strategies For Making Yourself Work, [http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/50-strategies-for-making- yoursel...](http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/50-strategies-for-making-yourself- work/) , is even better.</comment>


To make a better sensor, just add noise - <AUTHOR> https://phys.org/news/2020-09-sensor-noise.html <comment><USER2> This has been known for a long time. For example, it's discussed in the final chapter of "Instruments and Experiences" by R. V. Jones (1988).</comment>


My New year resolution: Release an app every month - <AUTHOR> http://appamonth.blogial.com/

<comment><USER2> How about a "Hacker New App Status Tracker" app? Something where HN hackers can post a list of the apps they're working on, basic details, start date, expected completion date, etc. Make it searchable by username, programming language, category, etc. Have a "hall of fame" for users who complete lots of stuff, and a "hall of shame" for, well... you know.

I don't mean a project management tool, or anything that has a lot (if any) of formal value. More like something for people here to use to A. stroke their ego, B. show off to their peers, and C. (most importantly) get encouragement from their peers. Maybe have something like Facebook's "poke" button where you can poke somebody who's behind on delivering their app. :-)

Anyway... just an idea.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great idea. I am adding this to the <http://appamonth.uservoice.com> page. edit: [http://appamonth.uservoice.com/forums/94045-general/suggesti...](http://appamonth.uservoice.com/forums/94045-general/suggestions/1342375-project- status-tracker)

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Um, I'm no hater. But I think making a good app is more important. So put more into one rather than a bunch.

Nothing is more beautiful than a well thought out app.

</comment><comment><USER4> _cnu_ , as I see you are the author of the post, I had a couple questions to ask you.

1\. Do you ever plan to release any of the apps on the App Store?

2\. Are you going to create a formal way for your blog readers to give feedback on what app to create next (e.g. poll)?

I love what you're doing and I'm going to be sure to keep track of all the apps you release. Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> 1\. For me "Apps" doesn't means just iPhone/Android apps. Right now, my skillset allows me to create only webapps :-), though I am thinking of using this "App a month" as an opportunity to learn to do mobile apps.

2\. Sure, I have created a uservoice site. Please suggest ideas here <http://appamonth.uservoice.com/forums/94045-general>

Thanks a lot for the support.

<comment><USER4> Thanks for answering my questions. I'm not sure why I assume the apps you were going to make were mobile apps. I guess that's just what has been in my head recently =)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm already following you on Twitter and am looking forward to seeing your work. Best wishes!</comment>


Ask HN: Can/should I sue for discrimination? - <AUTHOR> I had a job interview last week for a software engineer position. The interviewer lasted a little over an hour and he was really interested in me, but towards the end he asked me if I was married and what my age was (I said I was single and 32). I didn't think anything of it at the time, but him asking my age made me uncomfortable. At the end he said I would move to the next step which would be a technical challenge and that he would send it over. But then two days later he emailed me saying that they wouldn't move forward, stating that "they couldn't match my ambitions". I thought it was odd because he was so interested, it didn't seem honest. I think he didn't go forward because of my age (and possibly marital status)<p>Can/should I sue for this? and if so how would I go about it? <comment><USER2> Definitely No.

Suing companies is much harder than Internet comment sections imply. You would need an airtight case for any reasonable lawyer to proceed with such a case. From your post, you don't appear to have any smoking gun evidence that they declined you due to marital status. You can't win a lawsuit based on a hunch.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not necessarily illegal to ask candidates about their marital status in the US. It would, however, be illegal if they used the answer to this question in a way that influenced their hiring decision. Frankly, it's more likely that they were playing the "getting to know you" game with some poorly-advised small talk.

Before you consider suing, ask yourself what you expect to achieve: If you want an easy payout, remember that your lawyers will take a significant amount of anything you receive. If you lose, are you prepared to pay the legal fees yourself? Your lawyers won't work for free and suing a company is an easy way to accumulate huge legal fees.

<comment><USER3> Also consider this: if you do sue, any future potential employer who googles your name will see the lawsuit. This will dramatically reduce your chances of getting future jobs.

<comment><USER4> As a former hiring manager, I can say I have never taken the time to google a candidate for lawsuits. If you settle out of court before going to trial, there is usually a nondisclosure and no public record.

<comment><USER3> If you settle, the complaint and other docket records are public record. There are sites that now publish lots of court records, so just googling a name may bring up lawsuits filed by that person. You don't need to google specifically for court records.

<comment><USER4> My point was about settling _before_ filing in court. The sequence is this:

      1. Have your lawyer send a demand letter
      2. Request a case management conference/arbitration
      3. Reach settlement
      4. File in court (filing now public)
      5. Reach settlement (settlement private)
      6. Court judgment (judgment public)

The goal is to stop at step 3 where it is not yet public. The company will not want the filing public because of bad publicity. If it gets this far, they would rather stop at step 5 than 6.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Yes you can and should sue. Contact a lawyer and you can get a free consultation. Many will take your case for free if it is strong enough. Here are two data points:

When I worked for Kaplan test prep we "auditioned" teachers, asking them to teach any topic for 5 min. One candidate was great, but had a thick accent. One of the managers made the mistake of telling him we would not proceed because of the accent. He sued because of discrimination based on national origin and Kaplan settled for about $100k.

When I left my old company as director of engineering I recommended one of the team as my replacement but the CEO declined, saying there were "communication issues" (the team member is deaf). I told him what the CEO had said and recommended he sue. They also settled out of court.

<comment><USER5> That may be legally permissible, but is it morally acceptable? It just sounds like thinly veiled blackmail to me.

If you have a thick accent, then that can obviously cause some problems, and likewise for being deaf.

The only thing this will result in is that companies become more ambiguous; instead of telling people they were rejected because of their accent, they'll just not get back to the duds after interviewing them.

<comment><USER4> Note that Arnold Schwarzenegger has a thick accent. It has not stopped him from succeeding in movies and politics. And a deaf person can work with reasonable accommodation (face him when speaking so he can read lips, use email/chat whenever possible. Note that these are good suggestions for the hearing as well).

<comment><USER5> Thick accent, but not hard to understand, and the fact remains those are not ideal for a public-facing role. I mean, German, sure, but "Indian tech support representative" just isn't a good look no matter how you slice it.

Deaf people could work with some accommodation, but why bother? For leadership roles, "using email/chat whenever possible" is clearly not ideal. You'll get a worse result and/or pay more for an equally good result.

The proper solution to labour law isn't to favorize the concerned groups, but to come up with more opaque hiring procedures so as to render them toothless.

<comment><USER4> I'm feeding the troll here...

 _German, sure, but "Indian tech support representative" just isn't a good look no matter how you slice it._

That is discriminatory to suggest that one country's accent is more acceptable than another's.

 _Deaf people could work with some accommodation, but why bother?_

Because in the US that is _literally_ what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires: [https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/Accommodations.htm](https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/Accommodations.htm)

<comment><USER5> >That is discriminatory to suggest that one country's accent is more acceptable than another's.

In the abstract sense, maybe. But it still isn't a good look. If I call the support and hear someone from India, my first impression is that they outsourced it to the lowest bidder. If I call the support and hear someone from Germany, my first impression is that it's a German living in America for whatever reason.

You may not like it, but that's how it is. You can either make your customers happy or be politically correct. "Indian tech support" has the reputation it does for a reason, and it's foolish to tarnish your brand with it.

>Because in the US that is literally what the Americans with Disabilities Act requires: [https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/Accommodations.htm](https://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/Accommodations.htm)

Right, but what's the business case here? If it's only "the potential fines exceed the potential gain," it seems like there are much easier ways to go at it. For example, screening out disabled people early in the hiring process.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Feedmo – Let users decide your next product feature - <AUTHOR> https://feedmo.io <comment><AUTHOR> Hello! We are launching a product that we have been working on. This idea came from working on another project we launched over a year ago. We saw that deciding which features to build next for our users wasn't always easy. Sending out emails would mostly go unanswered to get user feedback. We didn't want to build features that our users weren't looking for.

With that, we decided to create Feedmo. It is a simple widget that allows you to engage directly with all your users and gives them the ability to upvote or request new features they are interested in. You can also send notifications to your users to let them know when a feature launches.

Check it out! Any feedback is welcome! :

[https://feedmo.io](https://feedmo.io)

</comment><comment><USER2> McLoven it. I'll try this on [https://gif.com.ai](https://gif.com.ai) there is a GIF shop inside that is prefect for this product. I'll have to replace Drift, but it looks like this has a lot of the same features so it's not a problem.

<comment><USER3> Let me know if you have any issues getting it setup!

<comment><USER2> Ok. Feel free to reach out to me. E-mails in my profile :)</comment></comment></comment>


Chinese scientists row over long-sought protein that senses magnetism - <AUTHOR> http://www.nature.com/news/chinese-scientists-row-over-long-sought-protein-that-senses-magnetism-1.18397 <comment><USER2> "Zhang [...] says that he was justified in publishing the results because Xie's work was merely biochemical identification, whereas he had the idea of using magnetic fields and the protein to control cells. Xie says that this idea is obvious, and that he included it in a patent he applied for last year."

You have to love that sentence:

"The idea was obvious - I included it in my patent application!"

<comment><USER3> Yes, he _included_ it in his patent application. He didn't say that the idea was the _novel_ part of his patent application.

<comment><USER2> I get that, I can read, and I have taken special care to include that word in my shortened version, as you can see.

It's still funny, though!

Wherefrom the need to even include obvious uses in a patent application? It must obviously make some kind of difference if you do or don't! Think about that.

<comment><USER4> Have you ever filed a patent? Gone through the whole process from end to end? Been involved with patent litigation? These things make huge differences. Basically every patent that involves a computer in some way has a big section at the beginning describing a computer and the obvious uses. THis is because case law rules, and somebody once lost a patent case because they left out some obvious thing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It is notable that the 'original author's' paper was still in review. And that the review started, by a big-name journal, in Dec. 2014 - over 9 months ago. While the newer paper was reviewed and published, by a no-name journal, in under a week. The discrepancy is huge - professionally, and scientifically. There is no reason a discovery needs a year in review - that is simply laziness on the part of the big prestigious journal. And that they're now being scooped by a competitor puts them in a poor light. This seems as much about the various journals as it is about the authors, and the universities.

The new journal eLife is a wonderful happy medium - month-long high-quality reviews for a high-quality paper.

<comment><USER6> Someone must put his authority and prestige under test when reviewing a paper. Good editors will prefer delay over errors. As such, people will sometimes put some papers under microscope before signing them on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> The one that backs down can be the Chinese Walter White in a few years.</comment>


Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 1 - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/y-combinator-demo-day-summer-2016/ <comment><USER2> Honest question: have the specific funding goals of YC changed to accommodate more pedestrian "lifestyle" businesses? A number of these companies look like they could make viable businesses turning out respectable multi-million- dollar-a-year profits without ever being a target for a billion-dollar acquisition.

(My understanding is that YC specifically targets opportunities that have hundred-million- to billion-dollar potential, so perhaps my underlying assumption is wrong here.)

Does this mean YC is hedging their bets, or are they amenable to funding "low" potential companies now? That would seem to jive with their recent public statements about wanting to expand, since not all viable businesses see huge exits.

<comment><USER3> Not at all. All of these companies have the potential to be worth billions of dollars or else we would not have funded them. Of course it's not always easy for people reading a short summary on a blog to see that potential, as you can easily verify by reading the comments on early articles about uber or Twitter.

<comment><USER2> Thank you for your response, Mr. Buchheit. I really appreciate it.

This is the answer I was looking for, one that explains your driving intentions. I'm nothing like a venture capitalist or investor, so I appreciate that I may not have any kind of good read on these companies' potentials.

All the best to each of them and to you.

<comment><USER4> Not a snark, but why do you address him as Mr. Buchheit and not Paul?

<comment><USER5> I assume he's just trying to disambiguate, because for some reason the thread got hung up on which Paul is which.

Let's discuss more important things now?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Really dig Go Go Grandparent. About a month ago my 93 year old Grandpa was hospitalized for pneumonia. His license was taken for 30 days (either by his doctor's recommendation, or by mandate, I'm not sure) so he was house bound.

My Grandpa's daily routine starts by getting out of the house. After a couple weeks being stuck in the house it was really starting to get to him.

He doesn't really like asking people for favors, so, he resorted to calling up the local cab company and having the cab take him to the bank, grocery store, and his 2nd bank.

Feels like Go Go Grandparent could exist for many other things besides rides, like placing an order for groceries or submitting a prescription.

<comment><USER7> +1, it's the most interesting of the lot. On the other hand, it seems to assume proficiency with those automated voice menus, which my grandparents can't use either. I wonder if "fully human" system would be profitable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Idea: a marketing/e-commerce company that takes existing unbranded consumer products, invents generic startup names for them (Noun & Noun), and resells each on its own simple, well-designed site with hipster aesthetic. Piggyback on Amazon fulfillment. Get better margin by reusing the same tech and overhead on each site. Employ low-paid "founders" who can tell a good story but don't have any particular business skill to create some marketing material to try to build buzz for "their" startup. The 2016 version of the dropshipping hustle.

</comment><comment><USER9> It seems startups are coming to consumer goods. It's likely that dollar shaving club's success initiated a new trend. All that knowledge from previous startups about lean development, marketing, growth hacking etc will be passed together with contacts and influential backers. Even here we see Tampons! (which I though is ridiculous first). Interesting how it will pan out. PG and similar companies should be at least a little bit worried.

</comment><comment><USER10> > Those tiny seat-back screens cost airlines a fortune because of installation > and the weight they add, and they make you feel trapped on the plane. > Skylights has developed its own VR headsets and software so passenger can > strap in and watch 2D and 3D movies on a giant virtual screen

How is a headset less heavy than a screen on a seat? On top of that, good luck for the hostess when trying to serve you a drink or dinner and you are fully absorbed somewhere else.

<comment><USER11> Building in an interrupt "Hey, pay attention to the real world now" feature would seem important. On the other hand, it'd still be awkward when you had to climb over someone to go to the toilet or something.

I'd be interested to try inflight VR. It could be really good, or it could just be a one-way ticket to airsickness.

What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a few cameras on the exterior...

<comment><USER10> > What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery > currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You > could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a > few cameras on the exterior...

Wouldn't that make you sick by itself though ? :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Strange, almost no data-economy (collecting and selling user's data - the way "social" is monetized) or data-science startups.

A thin layer of encryption over cloud storages is a clever idea! And this is exactly how tech entrepreneurship should be - even if the project would fail due to non-technical reasons, the technology being developed could be reused and sold.

"Lifestyle startup" meme is crap.

<comment><USER13> > Today's startups were focused on consumer, developer tools, security, > hardware, marketplaces, and non-profit. We'll see a different set tomorrow > concentrated around enterprise, B2B, biotech, edtech, and fintech

From the article

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> If I was to invest in any of these it would be

[http://www.aptonomy.com/](http://www.aptonomy.com/)

I have often thought about this myself. There are som really interesting problems to tackle (like drone clustering and continued surveillance and tracking of intruders using a series of drones (as they run out of energy)

Their challenge is going to be legislative more than anything else but things are working in their direction.

<comment><USER15> Agreed, I too had this same idea! So many security guards are paid to patrol parking lots. This could be cheaper and way more effective.

<comment><USER16> Security guards are paid to patrol parking lots because experience has shown that the presence of human security guards patrolling the parking lots reduces crime, even compared to comprehensive and visible remote monitoring with obvious (and advertised) cameras.

I'm not sure putting the cameras on drones changes the psychology that leads to this effect.

<comment><USER14> Sure but there are many other situations for instance first responder which allow for best allocation of human guards by being able to better monitor where they should be.

<comment><USER16> Oh, sure, and I don't mean to imply that security drones don't have plausible value in some circumstances, I was just addressing the one specific and significant aspect of the "security guards paid to patrol parking lots" scenario...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Sixa, has an intriguing pitch:"your powerful computer on the cloud , fit for virtual reality , with just 10ms latency".

Does anybody knows how does it work ? And is there a free 10ms in the VR latency budget ?

<comment><USER18> I'm not sure but I did like one of their features: ensuring your proof-of- concept will work for your client evaluating it as well as it does for you via same box. Previously, I'd have recommended virtualization or simply mailing them a demo appliance if profits justify it. The virtualization software usually is a heavy install requiring admins that digs all into the system. The second option costs a box per evaluator plus they have to put it together on their end. There's also containers these days as evolution of virtualization approach that similarly require configuration and training.

I think a simple solution for two people using the same desktop and configuration with low-latency is a powerful alternative. I could see all kinds of users wanting that combo of convenience and effectiveness for $0.45/hr [assuming no hidden fees]. Potential for lots of growth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Simbi (the bartering marketplace) looks interesting. Wouldn't it be functionally equivalent to building something that allows people to trade their skill for money directly?

Also, does the user on Simbi pay ... taxes right now? It would be interesting if they don't and Simbi becomes big, cause IRS is really the one government agency you won't ever fight and win.

<comment><USER20> I had the exact same idea which I just sat around on...more along the lines of open requests ("I will do X in exchange for Y")

Oh well, good for them - they executed

<comment><USER21> It looks a lot like LETS [1], those non-profit through which you can exchange services with other members. There is often a social aspect in these systems and the exchange rate is more related to efforts than to the economical value.

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

<comment><USER22> My wife ran a Time-based currency market in Madrid 6 years ago, it even got the attention of the press.

It's a slightly different model from LETS since time is the currency and different tasks are, therefore, all valued the same. I was the one to install and maintain the software behind it (called Cyclos, project.cyclos.org).

I'm glad someone can turn that into a business, people really love to get help from others and/or offer their own services. Although my feeling is that there's considerable churn in both supply and demand.

<comment><USER21> Turning it into a profitable business could increase this type of market by investing in the software infrastructure and promoting this type of trade.

But I wonder how they plan to extract a part of the value that is traded on this market. It's not really possible to take fees.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Cool. Really looking forward to that calorie counting thing. If that works and can be hooked up to beeminder and corporate welfare programs, that could potentially be a game changer in terms of obesity.

<comment><USER24> Thanks for the implicit Beeminder plug! And funny Freudian slip there with "corporate welfare" instead of "corporate wellness". :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> [https://getexponent.com/](https://getexponent.com/)

Does anyone know definitively but doesn't react native have issues with performance on android ?

<comment><USER26> React Native on Android has gotten way better over the last year. In general, Android phones just have worse performance than iPhones (even when they have better specs -- I'm not totally sure why) regardless of whether you're dealing with React Native or not.

Sometimes you might have to spend some time wrangling your code to get the performance results you want, but that's usually the case in building software.

Check out [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp) . It is built with Exponent/React Native and has pretty great performance. Got featured in the Play Store.

<comment><USER27> was the ios app for list created with exponent also ?

<comment><USER28> The iOS app was made with UIKit. Exponent could be a good fit for companies in similar positions who have just an app for just one platform (more often iOS) and want to build an Android version but find it hard to hire that talent.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> > JustRide – Getaround for India

Just curious, is that image of a bridge in India?

<comment><USER30> That's actually from the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco — tower on the right is 1 Rincon (there's already a few more next to it going up now). Curious if this was a case of "just throw up something that looks halfway decent" or if they're intentionally trying to appeal with the US car culture?

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> "Flex – The modern tampon"

You mean menstrual cups, that are worth like 20 bucks and you can keep for more than a year ?

<comment><USER32> It's tough to give an in-depth description of a product with a short blurb. It sounds like Flex is significantly different from a traditional menstrual cup:

[http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex- company/](http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex-company/)

<comment><USER33> From the interview:

> ...they don't like the fact that you have to rinse and reuse a menstrual > cup. Plus, they're difficult to insert and remove.

I guess that's how Flex is different from a menstrual cup. Not being a woman, I can't say how important those things are. I'd guess that they're not worth the extra $20/month, but maybe they are.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> Exponent - ROR for React Native sounds really interesting - anyone using it ?

</comment><comment><USER34> startup era of 2009-2014 is long over.

<comment><USER35> What do you mean?

<comment><USER34> Startups thrived then because mobile technology was just getting big and bigger tech companies were largely late to the party (including FB, GOOG) giving startups a chance to hit it big (IG, SC, Messaging apps, etc.). Now these giants are innovating as fast if not faster than most small startups and the small guy barely stands a chance.

I can't think of a startup that started in the last 3 years that has really "made it." Snapchat is 5 years old, Lyft 4, Uber 6, Airbnb 7+, Reddit 10+.

<comment><USER36> As Paul said it takes longer than that to make it, but Twitch TV sold for almost 1B less than 5 years after launch, and just turned 5 in June.

<comment><USER37> Twitch is Justin.tv. It launched in 2007 (iirc), and pivoted to games in 2012. The company changed its name a few years after that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Wow, so many "lifestyle" BS.

</comment><comment><USER39> I see DSC every on this thread, looks like the acquisition of Dollar Shave Club is going to do to the Consumer packaged goods (CPG) the same Netscape IPO did to internet companies.

</comment><comment><USER40> How many startups presented off-the-record?

<comment><USER41> None...I thought. Right? Do they do that?

<comment><USER42> Yes, they have definitely done that in past demo days (meaning, reporters at Demo Day can't write about these startups).

<comment><USER41> Interesting I never knew they did that. Now I'm curious what compan(ies) they've done that with, why and if they are still in a "stealth" mode.

<comment><USER42> What I heard is that often the startup feels it isn't ready to launch yet, so it wants to wait before doing a press blitz.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> Every idea you have will be done by a better prepared YC startup, eventually. Makes me sad...

<comment><USER43> Your sadness is based on incomplete information. Many YC companies flame out every year far all sorts of reasons, even with all the advantages that come from participating in the program. If you want to make your thing work badly enough you can make it work, competition or no.

<comment><USER44> Right. There are still more "successful" companies that are _not_ YC than those that are. While there are some advantages to YC, there are advantages to other incubators, or other angels, or completely bootstrapping, etc.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER45> FYI, Venning, I don't believe parent is PG. It's a different Paul. PG's user account is [https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg](https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg)

<comment><USER2> I know: [https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its- manage...](https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its-management- as-altman-shifts-focus/)

Edit: I didn't provide much context. He is Paul Buchheit, a (the?) managing partner at YC Core.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yep Paul Buchheit runs YC Core. Here's a more in-depth article about the "new" structure: [http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit- ali-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit-ali-roghawni- on-revamped-y-combinator-2016-2)

I also enjoyed reading this interview: [http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-...](http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-combinator- latest-batch-was-a-record-but-bigger.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> A bit of a stretch to make claims like "growing 13% per week!" and "20% margins!" on tiny businesses.

<comment><USER47> You misunderstand. Most folks don't even do that. If you can't grow from small numbers then it will be impossible to grow at large numbers. These stats are table stakes.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Anyone else seeing 500's from Google Maps? - <AUTHOR> Google
500. That's an error.
The server encountered an error and could not complete your request. <comment><AUTHOR> It's working for me now, don't know how long it was out for.</comment>


Free Fonts Download Website - <AUTHOR> https://ohfont.com <comment><USER2> This is actually quite amazing. I like how everything is organized!</comment>