iOS 11 Dock and Gesture Controls to Replace 'iPhone 8' Home Button Entirely - <AUTHOR> https://www.macrumors.com/2017/08/30/dock-gestures-home-button-iphone-8/ <comment><USER2> The thing is that the button always works reliably while all their interface swipes are laggy and become unusable under heavy load, in battery saving mode and as usual, in a few years after they stop optimizing for the old hardware.

<comment><USER3> But isn't that an implementation detail?

I would assume that if they want, they can assign a non-changeable interrupt to the swipe recommendation call.

<comment><USER4> The swipe needs to be recognized as such before the prioritization, while a separate home-buttom IRQ feels more immediate and hence "reliable" under most mental models.

One could argue that _any_ tactile event would generate an IRQ so it shouldn't matter whether the interrupt handler is from the screen or home button, except that there intuitively seem to be many more branches and CPU cycles required to determine the actual priority/intent of a tactile interrupt versus a smaller set of branches required for the home button.

<comment><USER5> Are there comparative latency numbers between SW dock and HW button, as Apple reports for the Pencil?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> A bezel-less and home button-less iPhone sounds cool but but what are they going to do with all the functionality the home button delivers? It does currently does the following

1\. Home Button(Obviously) 2\. Access Siri 3\. Music App Controls—When the phone is locked 4\. Accessibility Controls 5\. Dismiss Control Center 6\. Touch ID 7\. Reachability

<comment><USER7> 9\. Hard Reboot

10\. DFU mode

<comment><USER8> On the capacitive touch iPhones these functions use a combination of the power button and volume rocker instead.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Worried they're too busy chasing the industrial design dream of an entire screen surface that usability and sensibility is being thrown out of the window.

Normally I'd have faith but honestly things are getting weird over there.

<comment><USER10> Let's see what they do about the iPhone SE. Its success already appears to be an issue for Apple (lower margins) and a radical redesign of the flagship version could steer more people towards the SE (esp if it receives an update). Wouldn't be surprised if they discontinue the SE.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I remember reading that the reason for getting rid of the home button is that certain cultures around the world strictly do not use it, out of fear that it might break and require repairs. Instead, they use the on-screen accessibility button to replace the features of the home button.

The fear of using the home button has gotten so bad that even store employees are recommending to use the accessibility button and advise against pressing the hardware switch.

<comment><USER12> This fear is well founded. Assuming that a person doesn't accidentally crack their screen the first thing to break on an iPhone is the home button. Long time heavy users of iPhones almost always have to resort to the accessibility buttons.

<comment><USER13> I have never encountered this myself nor heard of it happen to anyone I know.

<comment><USER14> You have now. That's -exactly- why I use the onscreen accessibility menu.

I figure, given how many times a day I use the home button, if I can half that, I double the lifespan of the device (over my previous iDevice, on which the home button stopped working & I thus had to throw out).

<comment><USER13> One outlier doesn't translate to "long time heavy users of iPhones almost always [do]".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> That cutout on the front would be so non appleesque. I a sure I'll get used to it, but it seem like they should have found a better way to put it. I still can't stand that android watch that had a black bar on top or seomthing

<comment><USER16> Remember the camera bump?

<comment><USER15> I actually don't mind the camera bump. I don't see it and it does not bother me at all. Not sure why people make such a big deal out of it. Also if you put a case on your phone which 95% of people do - the bump won't even be noticeable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Hmm, I'm not sure about the dock. I have iOS 11 on my iPhone 7 Plus and my 10" iPad, and I do like the dock on my iPad, but it's an iPad-only feature. I'm not convinced they'd exclude the "Plus" size phones from the dock but include it on an iPad and the iPhone 8.

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I would expect that if the dock was coming to iPhones, it'd be in the beta for current large iPhones. As of right now, it's an iPad-only feature.

</comment><comment><USER3> Seems like a logical progression. Why waste screen estate if you don't have to.

</comment><comment><USER18> I hope this is not the case.

I love the elegant simplicity of the home button.

this part of the original iphone launch is one of my favorites:

"And on the front, there's only one button down there. We call it the home button. Takes you home from wherever you are."

</comment><comment><USER19> I think everytime there's a change being introduced fear and uncertainty have clouded initially but eventually we've gotten used it.

* New Flat Icons on iOS as opposed to the earlier skeuomorphic ones

* FB Messenger

* Snapchatish features on FB

* Windows 10

<comment><USER10> None of those radically changed the way you use it. Windows 10 changes many features but most users only use the browser anyway (plus Office at work).

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Do we really think that on their flagship phone, they're going to remove TouchID and thus the possibility of Apple Pay? I can't see it making sense for them.

<comment><USER21> The rumor is that the sensor is on the back.

<comment><USER20> The flaw there is that then interferes with payment because your hand is in the way of the payment doodad - a lot of the ones in the UK that I've encountered are designed for flat contactless credit cards, not "phone with hand underneath".

<comment><USER22> NFC is short range but not _that_ short range. You usually need a finger on the back of the phone anyway just to hold it.

<comment><USER20> But for stability, it would need to be high up the back - I can't physically hold the phone stable and have my index finger sufficiently on the back for sensoring unless it's at least halfway up and central.

Also, having just tested, this completely blocks thumb usage - there's just no way it can be done!

<comment><USER22> I don't get it. I can comfortably hold my phone pinched between my thumb and index fingers at just about any location. The finger on the bottom just needs to be a little closer to the center of gravity. A sensor where my 6+ says "iPhone" on the back (about 1.5" above the bottom) would work fine. But even if the sensor was up high, so what? It'll still work if your finger is between the phone and the reader.

As for the thumb, just flip your phone over. Although this would suck if you need any visual feedback, obviously.

<comment><USER20> > I can

Yeah but you != me. And I am by no means the least dextrous person I know.

<comment><USER22> I can't picture how a lack of dexterity would prevent this. But even if it did, we're back to my original point about range: it's OK to have your fingers in between, it'll still work.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I really hope they embrace "shake to undo" or as I like to call it "break to undo".

That's such an absurd feature.</comment>


WhatsApp Message Hacked by John McAfee and Crew - <AUTHOR> http://cybersecurityventures.com/whatsapp-message-hacked-by-john-mcafee-and-crew/ <comment><USER2> This is probably the most sensational text I've read all weekend. Yes, Android has security flaws (that have been previously covered in-depth).

The bar for "hacking WhatsApp" should be dramatically higher than installing an app on the very device that decrypts the message. Heck, you could probably just use the NotificationListenerService[0]. There, I hacked all messaging apps that use notifications. I didn't even need "servers deep in the remote mountains of Colorado".

[0]: [https://developer.android.com/reference/android/service/noti...](https://developer.android.com/reference/android/service/notification/NotificationListenerService.html)

<comment><USER3> See my other comment.

For governments (the groups that ostensibly WhatsApp cares about the most) and "hackers" it is fairly trivial to get an install on both ends of a communications chain - especially if the target/mark is high enough priority. So that doesn't absolve them.

<comment><USER4> WhatsApp stops you from getting caught in dragnets and requires someone to explicitly target you, with an actual cost for the attacker - when the malicious app is detected, the vulnerabilities it uses will be patched, requiring new ones to be found or bought. The more people targeted, the greater the odds of detection. So, while every single person is pretty much as vulnerable as ever, as a population this is still a big improvement.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Reading through the post, it looks like WhatsApp wasn't broken. The attack seemed to use a security vulnerability in Android.

<comment><USER3> False distinction.

If I can use the carrier/hardware system to implement an attack, then the entire system is not secure. As a result you can't claim that {system{sub- system in question}} is secure because the system security is implied.

This is the whole point of defense in depth.

<comment><USER5> I'd say it's a crucial distinction. It affects not just WhatsApp, but the mail app, Messenger, SMS, Hangouts, etc.

<comment><USER3> Very true. Which means it's an insecure platform. Which means any application claiming security on it is insecure - and thus they shouldn't claim security.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Looks like they installed a keylogger on Android without root. WhatsApp has absolutely _nothing_ to do with this, it might as well have been notepad. Yay clickbait.

</comment><comment><USER7> Why are they calling it WhatsUp on multiple occasions? Are those typos? (I am not a Smartphone user, but I thought it was WhatsApp?!)

</comment><comment><USER3> People are commenting that this isn't really a hack because it exploited Android, rather than WhatsApp.

That is exactly how exploits work in the wild, so the distinction is false. If I can get the info I need through a side-channel, no matter what it is, it's still a vulnerability. Full stop.

If it really is just an Android problem and doesn't carry over to iOS, then if WhatsApp is truly dedicated to _security over everything_ , then they should disable on Android until the vulnerability is fixed on the Android side.

Given that that course of action would kill the vast majority of WhatsApp's base I don't foresee that happening.

edit: Also if you read the article again you'll see that the focus is on Android/Google vulnerabilities - and they used WhatsApp to demonstrate it as it's the widest distributed and used "secure" system on Android.

<comment><USER8> Well they said SnapChat is vulnerable to the same attack.

As a developer you generally have to assume that the end-user devices are trustworthy, since that is where you render the message into something the end user can see/read/use. You can assume the network is hostile, and that the sender may be hostile, but if your phone/PC is also hostile it's pretty much game over.

Related -- never check your email or bank accounts on a public kiosk.

<comment><USER3> _As a developer you generally have to assume that the end-user devices are trustworthy_

Absolutely not. If you are designing for security, literally nothing in the chain is assumed to be secure by default - including the BTS and carrier networks.

As someone who has designed these systems I ALWAYS take the device security into consideration, for this exact reason. As I mentioned elsewhere, the defense in depth model covers this in detail.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_in_depth_%28computing%...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_in_depth_%28computing%29)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> The opener photo says it all. Maybe we gonna see J. McAfee in a Hollywood production soon, this guy for sure has enough stuff to fill a movie. jm2ct.

</comment><comment><USER10> when I think of WhatsApp being hacked, I expect a man in the middle attack. Not an attack from both ends of the exchange...

</comment><comment><USER11> Pretty sure this is just a stunt for his political campaign.</comment>


Teleport: Postgres replicator in Go that works without superuser permissions - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/pagarme/teleport <comment><AUTHOR> There were no solid Postgres replicator that supports schema migrations and real-time data updates when you don't have superuser permissions on the database (read: AWS RDS), so we wrote our own in Go.

</comment><comment><USER2> If teleport machine itself dies during replication, you'll have an inconsistent replica, wouldn't you?

<comment><AUTHOR> No, because changes are saved by triggers that run directly on the database. When the teleport instance is back up, those changes will be batched and transmitted.

<comment><USER2> I think I get it now. Essentially your replica is always in an inconsistent state, you cannot ever guaranty for anything, that happened on one replica, to be present on another. It's mostly for backups, disaster recovery, when it is ok to lose some data, right?

<comment><AUTHOR> No. Teleport installs triggers on all tables the first time it starts. After the first start, consistency is guaranteed because triggers will save _every_ data mutation in a separate table (that teleport reads to generate batches for the target instance).

<comment><USER2> Yes, I understand that triggers will save every data mutation, but no matter what you do second replica is not going to see them synchronously. It's always behind and inconsistent, if first one dies - you lose some data.

EDIT: Maybe you should rename it to something like "trigger-based asynchronous replication", so people would get the right idea about the guarantees it provides.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


On how Flash games shaped the video game industry - <AUTHOR> http://flashgamehistory.com/ <comment><USER2> I don't think any of the new development platforms have gotten even close to how accessible it was to make games in flash - pre as3 was the perfect combination of ease of art creation and programming

<comment><USER3> Rpg Maker, GameMaker, JS itself, Unreal Engine. - it's true Flash gave way to allowing creativity to flourish easier but accessibility has come and gone - at this point it's personal preference and CPU usage that dictate the expanse of your games

<comment><USER2> I'd argue that none of those can do both the art and programming side of things as well (for beginners) as flash did

I haven't used RPG Maker in a decade, but when I did you had to import sprites, same with GameMaker. JS doesn't help you with art. Unreal Engine has a basic modeller but you have to use Blender which is quite complex for beginners

Flash was like an animated paint, super accessible

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is anyone doing a WASM flash por

<comment><USER5> There's been a few flash runtimes in javascript and other languages. Most of them have been long abandoned.

[https://github.com/tobeytailor/gordon](https://github.com/tobeytailor/gordon)

[https://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/](https://www.gnu.org/software/gnash/)

In development:

[https://github.com/lightspark/lightspark](https://github.com/lightspark/lightspark)

[https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle](https://github.com/ruffle-rs/ruffle)

And then the most recent one, CheerpX, which as I understand it runs the Adobe flash runtime itself via wasm: [https://leaningtech.com/pages/cheerpxflash.html](https://leaningtech.com/pages/cheerpxflash.html)

Which brings me to Java. Java left the browser even before flash did. Not all of these are javascript jvms, but all of them are intended to run Java applications in the browser (some are transpilers, others require code changes):

[https://leaningtech.com/pages/cheerpj.html](https://leaningtech.com/pages/cheerpj.html)

[https://github.com/java2script/java2script](https://github.com/java2script/java2script) (this links to some less-complete projects)

[https://github.com/Jivings/jsJVM](https://github.com/Jivings/jsJVM)

[https://github.com/nurv/BicaVM](https://github.com/nurv/BicaVM)

[https://github.com/st-js/st-js/](https://github.com/st-js/st-js/)

[https://github.com/plasma-umass/doppio](https://github.com/plasma- umass/doppio)

[https://github.com/jtulach/bck2brwsr](https://github.com/jtulach/bck2brwsr)

[https://www.keithschwarz.com/+script/](https://www.keithschwarz.com/+script/)

[https://github.com/robterrell/orto](https://github.com/robterrell/orto)

[https://github.com/jdstroy/JavaPoly](https://github.com/jdstroy/JavaPoly)

[https://gitlab.com/neoexpert/jvm/-/blob/master/jsjvm/README....](https://gitlab.com/neoexpert/jvm/-/blob/master/jsjvm/README.md)

<comment><USER4> Wow, cheerpx looks promising. Thanks for sharing!

Java in the browser reminds of classic RuneScape and my favorite old game site Javagameplay. Great times</comment></comment></comment>


Getting Started with Django Lesson 4, Start Lending - <AUTHOR> http://gettingstartedwithdjango.com/en/lessons/start-lending/

<comment><USER2> Maybe it's just me, but this seems like a very... convoluted process.</comment>


How Mediavine handled image load in a 50M+ page-views Rails site - <AUTHOR> http://cloudinary.com/blog/how_mediavine_handled_image_load_in_a_50m_page_views_rails_site

<comment><AUTHOR> This blog post describes the challenges of Mediavine while managing, manipulating and delivering images of their very popular network of websites built with Ruby on Rails. The post also describes Mediavine's experience in integrating Cloudinary to answer all of their image related needs.</comment>


More software engineers over age 40 may join a lawsuit against Google - <AUTHOR> https://finance.yahoo.com/news/more-software-engineers-over-age-195308179.html <comment><USER2> To all those younger programmers who might drift by these sorts of articles saying "Don't care, not my problem" \- I can guarantee with 100% absolute total certainty that (unlike other racial or gender etc. bias issues) this one WILL become your problem in the future unless you become part of the movement to stamp it out...

</comment><comment><USER3> Hey dang, could we change the title to something closer to the actual title ("More engineers over 40 may join lawsuit against Google")? It doesn't seem neutral in my opinion.

As written, the title implies that Google is guilty of doing this, but it's still unclear what the outcome of the case will be (as the article itself states).

The only update here is that a judge ruled that this could become a collective action. It remains to be seen what the ruling will be.

<comment><AUTHOR> I don't necessarily think that saying "Google sued over refusing to employ engineers over 40 years of age" implies guilt or innocence - it merely states the subject of the lawsuit. Nonetheless, you are right, it is an editorialized version of the actual article's title. I have changed the title.

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> As a 49.9 year old programmer who is only just getting used to being ignored by startups and journalists, I can sympathise and support this.

But the onus of proof is going to be difficult to come by, isn't it? Unless the HR rep has specifically said "You are too old to be employed here" then they can simply cite a myriad of other excuses as to why they couldn't employ you.

Will be interesting to see what the published median age of developers at Google is. The article said 29 but I wonder if that is an official figure or done via some other form of guesstimation.

<comment><USER4> I somewhat agree... There's definitely a different response you get when you say you have two decades of experience... Some strong assumptions come with that. The harder part still is when you don't even get any response at all. You just don't know, and it's hard to tell for certain. Legally age discrimination isn't allowed, but proving it is nearly impossible. Of course given the background of the people behind the suit, it's pretty easy to show given the number of times they reached out and only after face to face interviews declined to offer a position.

As someone who's not getting any younger (42), fat, and doesn't have a formal education, three things that shouldn't be a factor in my job. They really do count against you.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I was hired by Google in 2007 at the ripe old age of 43. I worked there for 8 years and there were lots of people who were my age or older and we were never treated with anything but respect by everyone at the company. I think this is simply sour grapes by some people who couldn't make the cut.

<comment><USER6> So as soon as you turned 51, they just got rid of you.

<comment><USER5> Not really. Our team spun off and my boss worked really hard to keep me. My good friend left last year to go to a startup and just rejoined there (working for You Tube) at the age of 53.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Good, this "Age Bias" trend is worrisome and more attention should be brought to it.

I wish them luck in their lawsuit.

</comment><comment><USER8> Extensive discussion of an earlier article:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12661187](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12661187)

</comment><comment><USER9> Yeah, requiring graduation dates so they can know an applicant's age, and telling the applicant that's the reason, is pretty blatant. Unsurprising though.

<comment><USER10> good thing I took my sweet time getting through school.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The reason 40+ don't get hired is that the first thing the guy hiring worries about its not hiring someone who can take his job.</comment>


Challenge HN: A reference implementation of HN on different platforms? - <AUTHOR>

Hello HN,
This thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1342353 has got me thinking.
That usually leads to nothing, but this time something popped out that may be workable.
I'd like to propose a 'reference' implementation of a non-toy website on various platforms, showing what the best practice way is of solving the various challenges that you run in to when creating a web based application.
The goal is to get a common problem solved many times over for comparison purposes. It can help with learning a new platform (I think the main goal) when coming from a platform that you already know, so you are concentrating on studying the platform and the solutions when you already understand the problem.
Sort of a Rosetta's stone for web applications.
The idea itself is not original, in the middle ages of computing a guy called Lance Leventhal had a series of assembly language books that would re-implement the same programs on different platforms and it helped a lot when switching from one architecture to another to have both implementations in front of you.
Because we are all very familiar with the HN website I'd propose that we would spec HN down to the last bolt with respect to how it works as experienced by the user, and then use that to build the various implementations off.
Some languages may have more than one implementation (for instance, because there are multiple frameworks or because someone rolled their own or did not use a framework at all), but that only adds to the general body of knowledge of how things are 'done' in a certain environment.
Is this a viable idea?
Any takers? <comment><USER2> It's a great idea.

I already have a reasonably functional PHP implementation <http://hackernews.zopte.com>, built using my startup, which is a web application builder for non-programmers.

</comment><comment><USER3> I've noticed recently that writing a simple Twitter clone has become almost the new Hello World (or the next step). These all obviously have differing numbers of features and polish but that might be a good starting point also.

</comment><comment><USER4> Idea is certainly viable. Spec-ing HN will be hard though, even with (almost) everything being open-source.

</comment><comment><USER5> A Java webapp of Hacker News would be cool.</comment>


Sam Altman in London: Startup School, AI and Future Tech - <AUTHOR> https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=nLMZothlRNM <comment><AUTHOR> Sam gave a great talk in London yesterday, with AI and Startup School rightfully getting lots of attention.

I came along with 8 London based founders who are doing Startup School together when it begins on April 5th. Right now there are 28 of us signed up to do Startup School London (two new additions last night at the event!), looking to do the course together and recreate as much of the YC experience as possible. We have weekly dinners lined up with some brilliant speakers and a London business school is kindly offering its space for us to work together during the ten weeks. We're also looking at plans for a London demo day at the culmination of the course.

So if you're a founder near London who wants to do the course with us, please post a message here or email me at:

firstname.lastname@example.com

We'd also love to have YC alumni come along to some dinners and share valuable insight with our collection of founders. Even if you can only spare 30mins, any alumni assistantance would be amazing. We're a friendly bunch who are passionate about building things.</comment>


2 months ago I had never touched code. This is my first app. - <AUTHOR> https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/habit-streaks/id888808618 I had never touched code until May. After 2 months of trial and error with teamtreehouse.com and stackoverflow.com I have finally released my first app. Check it out! Any advice/comments/critique/reviews would be extremely helpful! <comment><USER2> What resources did you use to learn how to make it?

<comment><AUTHOR> Teamtreehouse.com is where I learned, and communities from around the internet helped me alot. Specially stackoverflow.</comment></comment>


Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers - <AUTHOR> http://radio-astronomy.org/ <comment><USER2> I started with a chicken-wire corner reflector and a shortwave receiver back in the 70s. Great fun, especially when clouds block photons from my other telescopes.</comment>


How I knew I was done with my company - <AUTHOR> http://sivers.org/done <comment><USER2> I'm curious how you deal with someone else running your company now. Do employees email you with horror stories of what's going on now? Do you try to keep an eye on the company from a distance or try to keep it out of your mind? Do you try to help the current owner?

<comment><AUTHOR> Completely out of mind. For me, it was total detachment on that day described. Like moving to a new home, your mind and time is best invested in your new place, not your old.

That was part of my condition of sale I told the 3 companies before we even talked: on the day of sale, I'm gone. No consulting or anything. I had to make a clean break.

<comment><USER3> How did they respond to that? Obviously, they were still interested enough to proceed with the offer, but do you think they offered less because of that condition? Also, what went into preparing them to take the reins? I guess you probably had key employees that you could transfer your responsibilities to before the sale. Were there any other logistics that went into it?

<comment><AUTHOR> I left the day-to-day operations in 2002, and had been living in California and London (while the business is in Portland Oregon). So it had been running without me for 6 years.

Yeah I might have made more if I promised to stay with the company, but that was completely out of the question for me.

There were no super key employees. (Some great people, but everything quite documented so someone new could step into any role at any time.) It was just a working system.

The two main techies were probably the most key in explaining the system to the new techies.

I set it all up this way to give myself personal freedom, but it definitely helped for handing over the keys to the new owner.

<comment><USER4> Do you have any advice about building a business that is, "just a working system"?

<comment><AUTHOR> This is the best book on that: <http://sivers.org/book/EMythRevisited>

Then this: <http://sivers.org/book/UltimateSalesMachine>

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I liked the linked article where he tolds why he switched back to PHP after trying 2 years with rails. He doesnt hate Rails, but he loves it because he learned how to write better php.

[http://www.oreillynet.com/ruby/blog/2007/09/7_reasons_i_swit...](http://www.oreillynet.com/ruby/blog/2007/09/7_reasons_i_switched_back_to_p_1.html)

</comment><comment><USER6> Anyone else have any experience with business/life coaches? I can't really see how I'd get anything out of something like that.

<comment><AUTHOR> Isn't that a lot of what Y Combinator is about? It just means access to someone whose opinion you really respect, that also knows you well enough to give you wise customized advice.

<comment><USER6> I'd say YC is more like a business partner. They know everything there is to know about your business and offer advice -- but that's because they've been there before and have an invested interest in making sure you succeed. So it's important they're honest with you and guide you as best they can.

But a coach is in a different position. How do you get someone with enough knowledge in your area to provide insightful advice? How do you make sure they're not blowing smoke up your ass to keep you as a client?

My guess is you just make sure you get the best or have an old friend in the business who won't pull punches. In that sense it's nice that something like YC is around for the upstarts that can't yet afford the best or don't have a prebuilt network.

But not every small startup can get into YC, obviously, which I guess is where sites like Hacker News and a good network of like-minded friends can fill in the gap.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It's not as hard as I thought it'd be to let go of stuff. Selling a company shouldn't be too tough when there's nothing left to do except steer the ship.</comment>


The Mammoth Pirates - <AUTHOR> https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth-pirates/27939865.html <comment><USER3> Sales of mammoth ivory should be banned, just like the sales of elephant ivory. Distinguishing mammoth ivory from elephant ivory is pretty hard and as a result sales of mammoth ivory can act as a cover for sales of illegal elephant ivory.

<comment><USER4> I wonder whether raising elephants for ivory (and meat?) could actually work?

<comment><USER3> No, it wouldn't. Besides the ethical problems, it's not possible economically and zoologically. I'm kind of disturbed that this suggestion is so prevalent.

<comment><USER5> > I'm kind of disturbed that this suggestion is so prevalent.

I don't think you should be. I'm glad people are thinking up solutions, even if they turn out not to work.

It isn't an unreasonable naive idea. After all, domestication (turning them into symbiotes) has helped some species enormously. Others that could not be domesticated (e.g. whales) have survived only thanks to technological change. Even "wild" animals like deer and trout survive through a symbiotic relationship.

Yes, I understand it doesn't make sense for elephants in particular, and of course domesticating some animals usually spells doom for others. So I understand there's an argument to be made that domestication is inherently bad -- one I disagree with but there's a legit case to be made. But I'm glad people actually care.

<comment><USER3> > It isn't an unreasonable naive idea.

It's fundamentally misguided and it's not a solution. Between elephant extinction and elephant suffering, I will go with extinction every time.

Elephants are important for the ecosystem, IIRC something like 70% of all species in certain areas rely on them. If you remove them from the ecosystem by domesticating them, you are doing a damaging the ecosystem in multiple way.

No, elephants can't be contained on a farm. They are meant to roam whereby they disseminate seed of certain plants that rely on them to be disseminated.

Is that enough of a reason? Libertarianism is the answer only when you care about simple answers, not about working answers.

<comment><USER6> > _Elephants are important for the ecosystem, IIRC something like 70% of all > species in certain areas rely on them. If you remove them from the ecosystem > by domesticating them, you are doing a damaging the ecosystem in multiple > way._

I'm not sure why you think this is an either/or proposition. I mean, I accept that farming elephants isn't practical for a lot of reasons, but no one's talking about putting every living elephant on a farm.

<comment><USER3> Effectively that's what would happen under a legal ivory sales system. Poachers would effectively wipe them out in the wild.

<comment><USER6> Which they're doing anyway. It might not improve the situation, but it can hardly make it worse.

<comment><USER3> No universally no. Countries that have shoot in sight poaching policies have very low poaching rates.

<comment><USER6> Why would that change if elephants were also farmed?

<comment><USER3> There are other ways of making the situation better?

<comment><USER4> The perfect is the enemy of the good?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Can't help but think that this is one of the utterly bizarre and wide ranging consequences of extreme income disparity.

The original article is at [1] (they link to it, but it's kinda easy to miss); the post on Bored Panda does contain additional photos.

[1] [https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth- pirates/27939865.html](https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth- pirates/27939865.html)

<comment><USER8> Bored Panda appear to have ripped off the original source wholesale .. wonder what is up with that.

<comment><USER9> They did so without our permission, as you can see from the watermark on the photos.

<comment><USER8> Oh man, I suspected it but to have it confirmed really sucks.

I just noticed their post had 1.1M views and they _still_ haven't updated the story or left a note.

If you're thinking about what to do next - try a DMCA to them and copied to abuse@ for their hosting provider. Ditto same report to their ad networks or exchanges (that can sometimes be _really_ effective in changing behavior)

edit: btw brilliant work, I really enjoyed it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I was suprised to see that none had commented on draining the possible genepool for Mammoth yet?

These "miners" are bound to reduce the available DNA for researchers that do work within this field, humans likely killed off the mammoth - if we brought it back it could serve to upkeep large quantities of open grounds (believe it or not but herds are important to grasslands and soilvalue).

Either there should be a larger rewards than the bones can offer and a get out of jail freecard for the offense if fresh DNA or what to is believed to be such is found (so that scientifical extraction is possible on site).

Or the regulation should be strengthened, both the governement and the criminal networks should realise what a potential goldmine living and breeding mammothherds could be for russia...

<comment><USER11> [http://www.bbc.com/news/science- environment-32432693](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32432693)

AFAIK the problems with creating a living mammoth are not in extracting DNA but in the other "implementation details", since we already know the complete genome.

<comment><USER12> Sequencing the genome of a species means you have a typical (or maybe modal) sequence of an individual. The GP is specifically talking about the gene pool, which is the set of variations with respect to the modal genome.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> This is almost like improvised strip mining. The RFERL article states that one of these teams went through 5 tons of gasoline for the water pumps blasting that mud apart; it's obviously also a major investment that you may simply gamble away..

<comment><USER6> And usually do. The video I saw said that something like 30% of tuskers break even; the rest wind up penniless, and often with large loans.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Josh Gates and crew went and documented this for an episode of Expedition Unknown [0]. I don't envy those guys, but I found the process fascinating.

[0] [http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/expedition- unknown/episod...](http://www.travelchannel.com/shows/expedition- unknown/episodes/woolly-mammoth-part-2)

</comment><comment><USER15> Those mosquito feet. That's like a photograph of pure misery.

<comment><USER16> As someone who is like a delicacy for mosquitos, that photo was seriously disturbing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Fake ivory/lab grown, drop prices. Is that a viable solution?

</comment><comment><USER18> There's still adventure out there.

</comment><comment><USER19> Here's a link to the actual work - which is impressively presented - <USER2> of this BoredPanda nonsense which is little more than bootleg theft.

[https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth- pirates/27939865.html](https://www.rferl.org/a/the-mammoth- pirates/27939865.html)

<comment><USER9> Thanks! I produced the piece. Nice to see it here on HN.

<comment><USER20> Great article thanks. How did you get agreement from the tuskers to go with them, or even find out where to try meeting them?

<comment><USER9> I'm not the photographer, I put the site together. Our photo journalist, Amos, met one of the tuskers on another reporting trip (which I also produced), called On Siberia's Ice Highway.

<comment><USER9> Here's the other piece: [https://www.rferl.org/a/on-siberias-ice- highway/27706633.htm...](https://www.rferl.org/a/on-siberias-ice- highway/27706633.html?nocache=1)

<comment><USER21> I really enjoy reading these types of interactive stories. Good work!</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Syntax across languages - <AUTHOR> http://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax-across-languages/

<comment><USER2> Something that recently caused an interesting amount of problems for me was the simple fact that the modulo operation with negative numbers changes its behaviour depending on the programming language: [http://rigaux.org/language- study/syntax-across-languages/Mth...](http://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax- across-languages/Mthmt.html#MthmtMdl)

For a more complete list: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#Remainder_calc...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulo_operation#Remainder_calculation_for_the_modulo_operation)

<comment><USER3> This is why Racket has both.

<comment><USER4> And Common Lisp, despite this page not having it listed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> There's a great guide like this for Lisp dialects that I often refer to here: [http://hyperpolyglot.org/lisp](http://hyperpolyglot.org/lisp)

They also have a number of similar comparative guides on their main page now: [http://hyperpolyglot.org/](http://hyperpolyglot.org/)

<comment><USER5> Interesting, but it seems to be unaware of some Clojure libs. It suggests,

      (.trim " foo ") ;; Java interop

instead of,

      (trim " foo ") ;; With clojure.string

Clojure.string is available from Clojure 1.2, which is ostensibly the version used in the comparison, yet is for some reason not actually utilized. (By the way, we're approaching Clojure 1.7 at the moment)

<comment><USER3> I did notice it seemed to use the Java fallbacks a lot, yeah, but I don't use Clojure much so didn't realize it was that out of date on the CLJ side.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I just skimmed this, but a large fraction of their information was just wrong for common-lisp, even if you assume a standard readtable.

One example: they state "anything without a space and is not a number" for identifiers; it's hard for that to be more wrong.

The actual rule is: a single token that could either be a symbol or a number should start with any non-macro character, and can be made up of any combination of non-macro and non-terminating macro characters, as well as any escaped characters. For example:

        a\ b

Is a valid symbol.

Now that we have a token that is either a symbol or a number, we need to distinguish which; that's slightly more complicated, so I'll link the spec (which includes an EBNF): [http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/02_ca....](http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/02_ca.htm)

</comment><comment><USER6> Now I kind of want to cross-reference this with the TIBOE index and make a frankenlanguage with the most popular syntax.

<comment><USER7> Didn't PL/1 try that? (Or maybe they made the classic error of "worst syntax" instead... not sure. Been a few years since I looked at it =)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Disappointed there's no integer division, or explanation of the different division operator behaviours (some languages have separate integer and float operators, some use floats if indivisible but otherwise integers, some do integer or float depending on the operand types, etc.)

</comment><comment><USER9> I personally find the site "Rosetta Code" [0] much more useful for this sort of thing.

[0]: [http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rosetta_Code](http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rosetta_Code)

</comment><comment><USER10> Fun read. A nit, if the author is reading:

C# allows Unicode letters as identifiers, so the variable regexp should reflect that. This might be handy: [http://www.regular- expressions.info/unicode.html#category](http://www.regular- expressions.info/unicode.html#category)

Also, would love to see Go in there. Similar identifier regex.

<comment><USER11> So does C, although compiler support is limited.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> A cursory skim leaves the impression of just how alone Haskell is on many syntactic choices (though supposedly with alot in common with "Merd".) I never took the time to learn Haskell, but it always looks beautiful on an aesthetic level, which differentiates it from the other loners in the list.

Can anyone point me to any papers/documentation/discussion on WHY certain syntax decisions were made? Many could have been arbitrary choices to match the constructs, but the way the community presents itself makes me think there's more to it.

<comment><USER13> The best part of Haskell is that function application is just whitespace.

        f x = f(x)

I would attribute almost 90% of it's elegance to that idea alone. (This is not an exact number or measured estimate.)

I also have a major thing for pattern-matching, and it always seems nice when you know that's what you're looking at. For instance, it is far easier to understand what `int * * var` is in C if you see it as a kind of pattern de- structuring.

<comment><USER14> >The best part of Haskell is that function application is just whitespace.

It's the worst part, in my opinion. Is A B C D equal to A(B(C(D))), A(B,C,D), A(B,C(D)), A(B(C),D) or A(B(C,D))? Often you need to disambiguate with parentheses, so I guess there is some default interpretation that you can assume when reading code, but in the end it just looks like an unnecessary mental translation step.

Lisp has weird syntax, but lisp has a reason to have that syntax. Haskell has a weird syntax because it wants to either be different for different's sake or to just be plain inaccessible.

<comment><USER15> Consider that, in Haskell:

1\. all functions take a single argument (i.e., are curried)

2\. function application is left-associative

So "a b c d" is just applying the function "a b c" with the argument "d", the same as "(a b c) d". "a b c" is the application of "c" to the function "a b", which, in turn, is the application of "b" to "a". So "a b c d" is the same as "((a b) c) d".

I personally find using the space symbol for a core concept of the language (function application) very elegant, and not dissimilar to other languages that strive to have simple and consistent syntax, like Smalltalk, where "obj meth1 meth2 meth3" is the same as "((obj meth1) meth2) meth3", even though Haskell and Smalltalk might be as different as programming languages can get :)

<comment><USER14> How does currying help? You still have to figure out which argument belongs to which function. GHC demands parentheses if you try to write A(B(C(D))) as A B C D, so I'm pretty sure I'm right.

<comment><USER16> No, you're wrong. `A(B(C(D)))` is different from `(((A B) C) D)` (which is the parenthesized version of `A B C D`).

Currying allows simple partial application; if A is a function that "takes 3 arguments" (i.e. it has type `w -> x -> y -> z`, which means that it takes an argument of type `w` and returns a function with type `x -> y -> z`, which takes an argument ...), you can say e.g.

      A_ = A B C
      E1 = A_ D1
      E2 = A_ D2

where `A_` is the partially applied function `A`.

<comment><USER7> > No, you're wrong.

And you and he both gave evidence to the initial assertion that "it's confusing".

<comment><USER17> I'm not sure if "confusing" is fair -- just different than C-family languages.

The rule is simply "The first expression is a function, all following expressions are arguments to that function"

It's no different than "The first symbol is a function, all comma-separated, parentheses-bound expressions are arguments to that function"

Both are pretty easy syntactic rules, I think.

<comment><USER18> Its arguably confusing, due to the lack of parentheses factoring a list of functions into one or more invocations. How is the nesting done here? Something more subtle. A lifetime of reading parenthesized functions is going to be confounded by changing the convention - which equals 'confusing'

<comment><USER17> I think you're probably overestimating the difference. Here is an algorithm for mechanically transforming a C function call to a Haskell function call:

        for all arguments in the function
            if the argument is not a symbol surround it with parentheses
        delete all commas
        delete the two initial parentheses

And an algorithm for converting Haskell calls to C calls:

        put an open parenthesis between the first expression and second expression
        put a close parenthesis at the end of the expression
        put commas between all expressions between these two parentheses

The fact that it's so easy to convert between them highlights to me that they are both pretty easy.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> "NB." for comments in J made me laugh.

</comment><comment><USER20> To me it makes it more obvious that succinct != more readable: (top two) [http://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax-across- languages/Fnc...](http://rigaux.org/language-study/syntax-across- languages/Fnctn.html#FnctnFnctCall)

</comment><comment><USER21> I'm really missing TeX. Could someone add it?

</comment><comment><USER22> the seed for random number in CL: (make-random-state &optional state)</comment>


Elixir and the Internet of Things – What's in a Process? - <AUTHOR> http://www.neo.com/2014/01/30/elixir-and-the-internet-of-things-part-2-what-s-in-a-process

<comment><USER2> This idea of modeling multiple concurrent things in the world (TCP connections) with multiple concurrent and isolated things in your application is very popular.

That is often the point of Erlang (and now Elixir) and other Actor based frameworks -- starting to think in terms of actors and mailboxes to model your problem.

Now it doesn't have to be about Erlang. You can spawn OS processes, or threads, or processes on different machines and use RabbitQM or 0MQ. Erlang and Elixir gets you the ability to spawn millions of isolated processes. Typically this not possible if using regular OS processes or even threads. It is possible with goroutines in Go for example, but those are not isolated.

If anything just being aware of this mode of developing when today callback- based concurrency and async/deferred/promise is talked about is important. I think it is a better way to model a problem in most cases.

<comment><USER3> Even outside of web, I find modeling problems the Erlang (and Elixir) way is oftentimes worth thinking about, even if you end up not using it.

Concurrency is notoriously difficult, and so a lot of people 'solve' it by avoiding it. That in turn causes you to think about problems in certain ways. Just being free to treat concurrency as essentially free, and in fact, encouraged, starts a real paradigm shift.

For instance, from something I had to work on, assume you want to write a cron-like.

An 'obvious' way of doing it is to create a priority queue or similar, and keep repeating pop -> execute -> pop -> execute.

Then requirements change, suddenly each task you fire has multiple steps to it. So you pop -> execute -> push -> pop -> execute -> push.

Then you realize these things take -time- to execute, and that is causing some times to be missed, so you pop -> grab thread from pool -> execute in thread (thread pushes) -> pop. Crap, there's a race condition; is the thread going to push the next thing this item needs in time for the pop? Well, maybe change it, the thread handles all the remaining action items for that job? But what if it's long lived, how does my thread pool look, will we exhaust the pool? Suddenly you have complexity.

In Erlang, you just start by defining each scheduled job as a process whose job is to figure out when next to execute the next step for -that job-. You don't need to know about the others. Done.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> So Elixir is now production ready?</comment>


MakerBot ($750 3D Printer) is a million dollar plus startup - <AUTHOR> http://replicatorinc.com/blog/2010/01/makerbot-math/ <comment><USER2> In a program that has since ended, MakerBot has also pioneered crowd-sourced manufacturing. If you had some way of making the pulleys they needed, be it on a MakerBot or otherwise, they would pay you $2 per pulley. They would, in turn, sell those pulleys in the MakerBot kits they sold.

([http://blog.makerbot.com/2009/08/06/makerbot-is- pioneering-d...](http://blog.makerbot.com/2009/08/06/makerbot-is-pioneering- distributed-manufacturing-get-paid-to-make-parts-for-future-makerbots/))

</comment><comment><USER3> Just in case some people are interested in doing this as a DIY project, it's based on the RepRap (<http://www.reprap.org/>).

<comment><USER4> You can also do the makerbot yourself, as it's also fully open source.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> My favorite thing about these printers is the ability to print replacement parts for parts that you know will wear out first. <http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1553> Hardware bugs that can be solved by emailing a model file. :)

<comment><USER6> Sounds like the eventual goal of the Reprap project. "RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. It is the practical self-copying 3D printer" - See <http://reprap.org/> for more info.

<comment><USER7> That's not surprising, since MakerBot founder Zach Smith is a RepRap contributor and also runs the RepRap Research Foundation (<http://www.rrrf.org/>). MakerBot's fabricators are based on RepRap designs and software, and they also sell RepRap parts in their store.

The two projects still contribute code and ideas to each other, for example: [http://blog.reprap.org/2009/08/one-of-my-partners-at- makerbo...](http://blog.reprap.org/2009/08/one-of-my-partners-at-makerbo..).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The video on the homepage showed the finished product. It's a set of salt and pepper shakers shaped like eggs. You can plainly see that it's built layer by layer. I think MakerBot is really cool, but it fails to please the eye with rounded surfaces.

<comment><USER9> That'll change eventually.

Web apps had clunkier interfaces than desktop software ~10 years ago. Personal computers had less computing power than mainframes 20 years ago. They all had their disadvantages at first, but they make up for it by advantages along other dimensions while slowly eroding their disadvantage.

When something like that becomes cheap enough for kids and hobbyists to get their hands on it, you should keep your eye on it.

<comment><AUTHOR> The only thing I would challenge is the comparison to the speed of development in computer hardware/web apps. PC's have been a multi-billion dollar business with hundreds of million in investment since the Apple II. 3D printers are still a niche r&D tool 20 years after their invention. For instance 3D systems, the #2 player in the market only spent $8MM on R&D last year. Assuming the 4 majors did the same it is still under $40MM. More has been spent on real time web R&D this year.

That said, I hope the pace increases.

<comment><USER4> To be fair, in an industry that's as encumbered by patents as this one is, you can't expect things to innovate that quickly. There _are_ some innovations coming down the pipeline, however. Expect to see costs fall rapidly in the near future, making the tech even more accessible...

There's even business method patents on half of this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I'm a member of CCCKC, a hackerspace in Kansas City. We picked up one of these a while ago, and one guy is even using it to print out parts for a RepRap Mendel.

I find it inspiring that this project was born right out of the hackerspace concept via NYC Resistor.

</comment><comment><USER11> I wonder what their profit margin is per unit.

<comment><USER10> My guess is probably around $100-150 per unit, and I'd also guess that the main part of the profit is in the laser-cut parts, at $200. Now, they take quite a bit of time to cut, and laser cutters aren't cheap, but look at the numbers. That's a lot of profit.

My hackerspace mix-and-matched a whole bunch of stuff from makerbot industries because one of our members had a laser cutter and could make those in his basement. The MakerBot "Laserless kit" is modeled after the order we put in.

We compared a lot of part prices to those found in catalogs, and the price difference was so negligible that it would have been more of a pain in the butt than anything to buy all those parts (hardware, motors, microcontrollers, pulleys, bearings, belts and the like) from catalogs. Sure, they order in bulk and get a discount. There's profit being made on the small stuff, but I'm still betting the laser cut parts are the cash cow for them.

<comment><USER4> Actually, compared to 3D printers themselves... laser cutters are pretty cheap.

<comment><USER10> Not $750 cheap.

<comment><USER12> Ours was cheaper :-)

(Ok ok it was a dead one from craig's list that we fixed)

<http://www.andrewkilpatrick.org/blog/?page_id=914>

<comment><USER10> I knew you guys had a laser cutter at hacklab, but I'd never heard the back story. Thanks! That was a great read!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> Does anyone know what next cheapest 3D printer is, after the Reprap and Cupcake? I imagine in the 5-figure range, so at $750 and quite a bit of self- assembly, the Cupcake is an absolute steal - and very much affordable for schools, or even an individual, creating a new market where there was none before.

<comment><USER4> If you're really on a budget, you might also want to consider leasing. You can get them as cheap as $300/month, roughly.

5 figures is right, but low five figures. A uPrint starts at $14,500. However, for really low cost stuff, check out a company called M-Cor. They're not available here yet, but coming soon. They print with regular A2 printer paper and glue, and you end up with a material that's comparable to wood. If I remember right, the machine is $30k, but you're talking a dollar or two per part.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Here at the Metalab in Vienna, Austria, there is quite a MakerBot clique doing very interesting things .. OpenSCAD integration with MakerBot is also very intriguing, in that OpenSCAD gives you a platform to design things on the basis of formula, and then quickly print it out .. so the screw-lock boxs and other mathematically integrated devices are all the rage around these parts, lately. Good for stash-boxes! :)

It has been very fun to see the MakerBot rise in Metalab, from the mad-cap getting-ready-for Roboexotica days to the 'hmm, if I make one small tweak this will become that' enthusiasm to be had in Metalab late on a Friday night ..

Best use of a Makerbot/RepRap yet: printing replacement parts for Nintendo Game & Watch battery covers! :P</comment>


The Hipster PDA (2004) - <AUTHOR> http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda <comment><USER2> Broken link?

BTW I remember that article... Here's the archived copy: [https://web.archive.org/web/20190401163644/http://www.43fold...](https://web.archive.org/web/20190401163644/http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing- the-hipster-pda)</comment>


I made an overview of the changes in Tensorflow version 1.3 - <AUTHOR> https://www.infoq.com/news/2017/07/changes-tensorflow-1-3 <comment><AUTHOR> Hey everyone, I'm the author of this article. Tensorflow releases go very fast nowadays, and I noticed it's hard to keep up. This weekend I spent some time going over the changelog, searching for changed parts of Tensorflow that might be important for me and others. If you have any questions about this version update, or in general about Tensorflow, leave a comment here or under the article!</comment>


Rise and fall: Lessons for Entrepreneurs - <AUTHOR> http://blog.asmartbear.com/three-entrepreneur-lessons.html

<comment><USER2>
      "Don't mix business with pleasure"

Out of curiosity, are there any examples to the contrary to this? Any long- term successful couples who've built a business together?</comment>


Developing for iOS 7 and supporting iOS 6 - <AUTHOR> http://roadfiresoftware.com/2013/09/developing-for-ios-7-and-supporting-ios-6/

<comment><USER2> Posting's nice.

But, should we support users who don't even update iOS - which needs only one button tapping? Wishing them to search and install extra apps?

<comment><USER3> Since you're asking... Had I updated to iOS 7, every single animation on my phone would have become jaggy, and the camera would just take forever (instead of current 15 seconds) to load.

Oh wait, my iPhone 35s doesn't support iOS 7 at all (for these reasons). But I know people with iPhone 4 who don't upgrade because iOS 7 lags too much even on iPhone 4.

Of course we gotta update our devices once in a while, but for those of us who don't live in the US and buy them unsubsidized, it costs some money. All I'm saying is, there are some reasons people won't upgrade right away even if they'd hell like to. Whether to support them for a while is up to you of course.

edit: and there's this iPod Touch thing of course.

<comment><USER4> I noticed this with Evernote.

I am still on my iPhone4 with iOS6 and now, everytime I try and sync my phone with iTunes I get the pop up notice that Evernote will not be synced as it requires a new OS version.

I have 100 apps on my phone and that one is the only one that does this. Why on earth did the developers require iOS7 as minimum? What is wrong with supporting iOS6 seeing as iOS7 is still in its "1.0" and not even 4 weeks old?

I get that they wanted to include iOS7 as early as possible. Hell, every app basically did. But Evernote is the only one of my apps that now apparently refuses to work with anything <iOS7.

I guess I was lucky that I still had it on my phone cause otherwise, I would be left without the ability to install it now.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good points about Evernote - I'm not sure what went into their decision to support iOS 7 only, but I'm sure they considered it.

"I guess I was lucky that I still had it on my phone cause otherwise, I would be left without the ability to install it now."

That's not entirely true any more - Apple is now allowing users to install the "last compatible version" of apps. More on that from Engadget: [http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/17/apple-ios-last- compatible...](http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/17/apple-ios-last-compatible- version-app-iphone-ipod-ipad/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> And at another thread here people were saying how they add a fake hardware requirement (e.g front facing camera) just to deny people from installing in older phones because 'it run slow there'.

<comment><AUTHOR> If you want to deny people from installing on older devices, you can just set the target to iOS 7, meaning you need iOS 7 to install it. Doing that means it can only be installed on iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, and iPod Touch 5th gen and later.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Great post. I've been holding off on an update due to the navbar issue and not wanting to deal with it at the moment. Thank for the write up!

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, that navbar issue killed my productivity for at least a day. Glad I finally found the topLayoutGuide property so I can align my views properly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Thanks for posting this, Josh! Really came at the exact right time for me as I work with our first production-worthy RubyMotion app.

<comment><AUTHOR> Glad it was helpful to you. Tell me - do you build views in RubyMotion programmatically? If so, I suppose that -[UIViewController topLayoutGuide] would be useful, right?

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Not really necessary - more than 90% users upgrade anyway.

<comment><AUTHOR> Eventually, yes, most users upgrade. But Apple's stats showed about 6% of users still on iOS 5 a full year after iOS 6 was released. I'd imagine we'll see similar numbers with users going from iOS 6 to 7 - lots of them won't upgrade for a full year, and some will never upgrade. Mixpanel is currently showing 36% of users on iOS 6 - that's not an insignificant number. I'll be supporting iOS 6 for probably another year.</comment></comment>


Apple's iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 a Month - <AUTHOR> http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20091102/apples-itunes-pitch-tv-for-30-a-month/

<comment><USER2> No, I wouldn't pay $30 a month for TV. But I might pay a-la-carte for certain channels or shows, if it was cheap enough.

To me, the "fixed cost for a fixed set of channels you might not like" model is the first thing the internet should destroy about TV.

<comment><USER3> Most cable and satellite, digital at least, will cost around $50 a month and that's if you purchase internet as a bundle.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> As other articles have pointed out, this is interesting timing with Hulu's recent announcement of possibly charging for content (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=897853>).</comment>


IPv4 addresses in the USA now have les than a year before exhaustion - <AUTHOR> http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html

<comment><USER2> They had less than a year before exhaustion 3 years ago.</comment>


Do open source software developers listen to their users? - <AUTHOR> http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3640/3171

<comment><USER2> Absolutely...not, well some do. I stopped using/contributing to Gaim/Pigdin a long time ago because of this. Ask for a simple feature and explain why it's helpful for you as to show meritorious reason for requesting said feature, only to be insulted, disrespected, or at the very least turned down without consideration.

I stopped reporting bugs to ubuntu as well. Because real bugs were turned into questions or closed, or ignored.

So I took up programming and will never use it again. there are plenty others out there. I always thought open source software was a great idea. It's starting to seem like capitalism in disguise.

<comment><USER3> On the contrary, it's the _lack_ of capitalism that you've run up against.

The maintainers of projects don't care overmuch about your opinion _because they don't have any reason to_. If you want someone who's eager to please, you should be looking for someone whose ability to keep the bills paid depends on whether you're happy enough to keep giving them money.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Judging from what people are saying here, I guess we're lucky. The open source code we're using to publish our iPad magazine is run by AWESOME people who have a lot of passion for their work. They're clear about what the road-map is and let people know that when features are proposed that aren't in it. I can't say enough good things about them, check them out - <https://github.com/simbul/baker>

</comment><comment><USER5> TL;DR - no. And that's before considering the validity of their data collection method.

The general OSS project tend to start when someone has an itch to scratch. They build something which solves that problem and upload the source somewhere. The next step is determined by 2 questions:

1) Does the developer keep having the same itch? 2) Does the developer get support from a company or someone else who has the same itch?

If not, the code becomes part of the Sourceforge wasteland of unmaintained, unused code.

Github is an interesting attempt to keep the itch-scratching alive by making forking easy, but when there are 10 different forks for similar functionality, all by people of unknown coding ability, rewriting or reforking becomes the safest option.

<comment><USER3> Expanding on that -

Independent FOSS developers are also doing it _for fun_. I don't think that detail gets enough credit. It means that by default most FOSS developers aren't going to be nearly as interested in making significant contributions to an existing project as they are in starting their own project. For most of us maintaining existing code, fixing other people's bugs, and dealing with project politics are sure-fire fun killers. So getting involved in an existing project would defeat the purpose. On the other hand, the fact that my from- scratch project may not ever be useful to anyone else is at best a remote concern.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's a shame they didn't include window managers/windowing environments. I'd be very interested in the responses they'd have gotten.</comment>


What Ails Europe? - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/opinion/krugman-what-ails-europe.html?hp

<comment><AUTHOR> Simplifying, the "new world order" is all about (i) masses of well-educated people in _relevant disciplines_ , which are mostly technical, (ii) cheap labor, (iii) a cutthroat competitive spirit and a feeling of urgency to "make it" and (iv) financial machinery to fuel and oil (iii) and thereby incentivize (i). Having one of these is good, but having a number is a sure sign of success.

Now, it can be argued that US doesn't have (i) and obviously not (ii), so how can it still be on the top? It's world class in (iii), e.g. the Valley and it has the world's most trusted (iv). North Europe, e.g. Krugman's example of Sweden, has (i) in abundant supply. Israel, with the most startups per capita in the world obviously has (iv) and (i).

Unfortunately, many European countries lack most and in some cases all of these qualities. They're laid-back, risk averse with little VC machinery. The prevailing culture is one of "intellect" rather than hackery, i.e. tech people are not idolized as, e.g. US or China.

I would argue that these attitudes lie at the bottom of the problem of what "ails Europe" rather than the unified currency.</comment>


Classic Mac icon designer Susan Kare takes the stand: live from Apple v. Samsung - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/7/3225646/susan-kare-testimony-mac-icon-apple-samsung-trial <comment><AUTHOR> "I remember when I was at the law firm about being a expert witness in this case there was a big conference table with many phones on it... I could see the screen and went to pick up the iPhone to make a point about the UI graphics, and I was holding a Samsung phone. I usually think of myself as someone who is pretty granular about looking at graphics, and I mistook one for the other. So, I guess in addition to my formal analysis I had the experience of being confused." -- Susan</comment>


Ask HN: I'm writing a design book for programmers, what would you like to see? - <AUTHOR>

Hey all,
I am a former designer, who has moved on to front-end development. I spend a lot of time working with developers who want to know more about design and how designers think. So I am working on an eBook that is focused on design basics for programmers.
I am just curious what types of topics would you all be interested in having covered? I obviously would talk about the basic concepts of design, but I am thinking about a more useful focus on UI and UX and how designers think about users.
Thoughts?
Thanks! <comment><USER2> I really want to know how designers came out with mixing and matching colors.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! Color theory seems like a never ending study, but I can put together a topic on this.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> How to focus on usability when we design UX/UI?

<comment><AUTHOR> Sure! Thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Red lining.</comment>


The Blueseed Project - Opening Silicon Valley To The World - <AUTHOR> http://www.blueseed.co/ <comment><USER2> I have some experience living close-offshore of a larger country for legal related reasons :) (Sealand/HavenCo, around 2000)

I'm glad they picked something relatively inoffensive to governments (visa regulations for people who would otherwise be H1B/O1 or not local at all, supporting local popular high-tech businesses). There has been a lot of talk about offshore drugs and other things which would have been really quickly shut down.

If they're smart, they'll regulate everything ELSE more strictly than the US/California, and just focus on one very PR friendly "one thing" -- the visa/immigration rules, which they'd be 100% in compliance with by being offshore. You absolutely do NOT want to put that at risk by fighting drug laws, environmental laws, underaged sex laws, prostitution laws, etc. all at the same time.

<comment><USER3> I'd love it if you told your story with respects to sealand. I was fascinated with it when I first heard about it many years ago, especially to learn that the UK govt seemed to have allowed it to exist without shutting them down.

For others reading this who don't know the story my recollection of events is that it goes something like this:

(1) UK builds large offshore firing platforms in the english channel to target german bombers in WW2 then abandons them after the war.

(2) A military family moves to one of the platforms after the war and declares it to be an independant state. The UK government lets them get away with it.

(3) Over the years they remain there and allow others to come and live on the platform. They issue passports etc. At one point they were the base for a pirate radio station. At another point they fended off an armed invasion/attempted coup of the platform.

(4) In the late 90's havenco set up a business on the island. The idea was to provide secure hosting outside the scope of any legal harassment from authorities. The business didn't work out.

(5) A few years ago the platform burned down in a fire.

I'd love to hear accounts from people who have actually been there & seen it for themselves.

<comment><USER2> In between (1) and (2), the "military family" had experience with fishing in the area, and with pirate radio (from boats, and from other platforms (unambiguously in UK waters).

Pirate radio was big because there was no popular music or commercials on UK public radio at the time; pirate radio was largely killed by removing both of those conditions in the UK by the government, not through regulation. (although they did increasingly ban it)

(4) didn't work out for a combination of internal reasons and the macro implosion of both tech and the bandwidth/colo market (we started working on it in 1998/1999 when stuff was going for $2k/mo; by 2002 it was $150/mo, and our cost basis was high.

Our biggest fundamental problem was not having a payment system option; I wanted to fund an anon ecash development thing out of our first investment, but cofounders vetoed that. This led to really limiting the kind of businesses which could operate "purely offshore"; they all had to incorporate in places like Nevis just to get a bank account, at which point they could just host there (or in Canada, or whatever) for a whole lot less.

5) The platform was basically restored to the mothballed condition it had between the end of pirate radio (early 1970s) and HavenCo (2000) after 2002; there was a fire, which caused damage, but didn't destroy it. It's still there; just irrelevant.

I'm still sort of interested in interesting jurisdictional arbitrage (free trade zones, differences in laws across places, multi-national structures), but I'm much more interested in purely technological solutions to problems (i.e. using crypto, hardware, etc. to solve the same problems as sealand)

<comment><USER3> Hi. I don't have anything to add but I just wanted to say thanks for sharing :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> As crazy as it sounds, ideas like this might be necessary to save America from completely trashing its own economy and position in the world.

If putting innovators on boats 24 miles of the coast is what it takes to maintain America's innovation edge, so be it.

Regular Americans have no understanding of how wealth is created and how once dominant empires can lose the very things that originally put them on top. They somehow imagine that, even in the face of imminent systemic collapse, America will always remain on top and always be somewhere that immigrants will clamor to get into.

American life is MASSIVELY subsidized by the fact that the dollar is the world's de facto reserve currency, but that will only remain the case if American continues to lead economically and China is already playing a far longer, far smarter game.

American industry is MASSIVELY subsidized by the fact that, for now, the U.S. is where the investment dollars gravitate to - but that can change overnight.

American power in the world is ultimately dependent upon economic power but, ironically, cripplingly expensive and completely unnecessary militarily adventures over the past decade have hastened the day when China becomes the world's preeminent economic power by approximately two decades.

America has become wholly dependent upon the manifold privileges and advantages of being Number One. That means that there can be no graceful decline; once an unknown tipping point is reached and it becomes clear that this is no longer the case, the advantages currently supporting everything that Americans take for granted will slip away in rapid succession.

So, yes, today, it is possible to treat foreign innovators and highly-skilled workers with disdain, to force them to jump through hoops and subject them to bizarre, dehumanizing visa processes, Hell, you can even force them to sit in boats off the coast of San Francisco ... but it is already true that the best and brightest are at least looking at what is available elsewhere, that countries like Singapore and Chile are waking up to the possibilities and I wonder how many more economic crises it will take before the proposition of dedicating your hard work and talent to a people that clearly hate you begins to look less attractive.

So, embrace this seemingly crazy notion and any other idea that routes around self-destructive tendencies of the American voter, do all you can to put tomorrow's breakthroughs as close as possible to American soil but, just remember ... we're going to need a bigger boat.

</comment><comment><USER5> Nice but unrealistic!

Living at sea full time even surrounded by bright, talented and driven peers comes with many challenges that a start-up probably does not need to deal with (not even addressing the cost issue).

My credentials for saying so: I am a "geek" and a Yachtmaster 200t Ocean Instructor who worked on yachts and sailed across 2 oceans.

On the other hand, using a yacht in a harbour in SF bay, with "crew" on a b1/b2 visa working on startups should be investigated (yet again boats are expensive :P).

<comment><USER6> I think there may be some merit to your idea about the "live aboard" concept. It might work best someplace like Anacortes, where the boat could be moved across the border to Vancouver for a period of time.

Sailor here as well (out of Morro Bay, CA) and sail offshore regularly on my own boat.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm not sure what the point of living off the coast of SF is if you can't go in to land now and then. The whole point of being in SF is the networking possibilities, not some magical sphere of influence that surrounds the area.

If you still can't enter the country you might as well be in your own country working in comfortability.

<comment><USER8> A few weeks off on 'shoreleave' every couple months might be both practical and compliant with border controls.

Oil platform 'roughnecks' spend 2-4 weeks working 12-hour days, then get 2-4 weeks off on shore, for work that's much more physically draining and dangerous than tech work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'd believe this if Patri Friedman were running it, but not otherwise.

<comment><AUTHOR> The guys are from the Seasteading Institute team. Patri is essentially resigning from operations and getting ready to focus on related commercial ventures (start-ups). You can get the full story in the latest newsletter: [http://seasteading.org/blogs/main/2011/07/31/the- seasteading...](http://seasteading.org/blogs/main/2011/07/31/the-seasteading- institute-july-2011-newsletter)

There are several companies that allow people to live on cruise ships for >3 months (like the "Semester at Sea" offerings). And, there is at least one cruise ship that sells cabins as condos and is essentially a permanent residence.

Keep in mind that you can spend a good amount of time on US soil and still avoid paying income tax or needing a resident/work Visa. I expect the ship will speed a good amount of time at port in California if they're able to get funding and execute.

I think this is a great alternative to say opening an office in London or Dublin to deal with immigration problems for EU people. Leasing and operating such a cruise ship probably (I'm just guessing here) wouldn't cost much more than leasing and operating an office in London. This has the added benefits that country of origin doesn't matter (it's not just EU), that the people would be in the same time zone, and that it is so close by that travel to SFBA would be relatively inexpensive (compared to travel from London).

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> "live, work, and play in close physical proximity to the fertile grounds of the Bay Area"

Among other problems, how will people on this ship take advantage of the "fertile grounds of the Bay Area" when the CBP agents at the port catch on to the fact that anyone coming from that ship is probably coming into the city for business meetings (as opposed to touristic purposes) and purposefully skirting various bits of immigration law?

<comment><USER8> I know to be wary of DHS/CBP arbitrariness, but they aren't against all visits, just those that run afoul of often-stupid regulations.

If they know...

• the ship itself has no contraband

• the business visits are short in duration

• the presence of the ship (and the ship's economic interests) makes it even more likely you'll stay exactly for your stated duration and no longer

• the employment technically is outside US jurisdiction

...they might actually _prefer_ orderly visits from a ship, over more complicated less-understood visits from faraway. Provide CBP with a non- threatening, transparent, technically-compliant model they can understand, and they may not be your enemy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I'd believe it if every online community hadn't already fantasized, written, prepared wikis, appointed Financial Ministers and plotted to buy the Principality of Sealand at one point or another for this same goal. Thanks for the chuckle though, it was nice to daydream about visa-less US entrepreneurship.

<comment><USER12> Exactly. If someone was going to do actually this, instead of fantasizing and appointing Financial Ministers, they would have to be doing international law research, engineering studies, raising millions of dollars, talking to real entrepreneurs....which is exactly what I've been doing at The Seasteading Institute has been doing for the last 3 years, to pave the way for ventures like this.

When something is usually done as a fantasy, I can understand why you'd pattern-match it to fantasy. But just because it's usually done wrong doesn't mean it can't be done right.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> So instead of improving on the state-of-the-art of telepresence and have people work remotely from any place in the world, certainly possible with today's global communications infrastructure, they want to put actual physical boat with developers on it close to shore, to avoid immigration laws?

And from all places it's a silicon valley enterpreneur proposing this? This is so bizarre and inefficient I don't have words for it... It's crazy in an anachronistic way like putting a horse in front of your automobile to avoid fuel taxes.

</comment><comment><USER14> What laws govern ships in international waters (or planes flying in international airspace)? From my quick research, it seems like the laws where the ship is registered applies, is that right? (and that many ship are registered in a sovereign state, known as "Flags of Convenience" which seems to have no real law?)

</comment><comment><USER8> I've seen this idea before; can't recall if it was at the peak of the last bubble, or since, and it's really hard to search for references.

If I recall correctly, one previous variant suggested a ship off Los Angeles.

</comment><comment><USER15> The Pacific Ocean can be anything but peaceful at times.

</comment><comment><USER16> "Our Satellite Internet lane will be really fast! Just with high latency..

And our security system will actually have to repulse not only cyber pirates, but real ones as well!"

<comment><USER17> Even though it is outside their territorial waters, I do believe the US Navy would object in the strongest possible terms to pirates there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> evil organization detected.

<comment><USER19> s/evil/good/

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> This is pathetic and not resourceful. I have more respect for the fanboys/fangirls that will stay nights and days in line to get the new iPad 3.

<comment><USER21> They've got a boat, a business plan, and an important problem. What have you got?

<comment><USER22> how big is this boat?</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Retreats in the Bay Area? - <AUTHOR>

I'm in need of a good retreat, anyone have any recommendations for a digital detox style retreat, perhaps 3 or 4 days long?
Any suggestions are welcome, even places that don't restrict internet. I'm interested in any suggestions across the broad, from no restriction, to total restriction. Just somewhere relaxing.
I'd preferably still want to still be able to access email once a day just to make sure the world hasn't ended.
What would be fantastic, is a place that also provides healthy meals etc. <comment><USER2> Hi EleventhSun, if you know of 4-6 other people who would be interested, I can set one up through [http://www.bodyhugs.org/](http://www.bodyhugs.org/), but in the Bay Area. Healthy, homemade meals, and we can go over the dates and what you'd like to focus on (meditation, massages, relaxation, yoga, etc.). Anyway, if you're interested, feel free to email me at bodyhugs1 [at] gmail.com.

</comment><comment><USER3> Tassajara

[http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/](http://www.sfzc.org/tassajara/)

Amazing area and an amazing retreat.

</comment><comment><USER4> Check out a vipassana retreat.</comment>


Ask HN: Can you introduce me to some good tech sales people? - <AUTHOR>

I'd like to meet some good sales reps who sell telecom, hardware, consulting, web services in a "consultative sales" model. I'm considering on a new company which will focus on Fortune-1000 firms, and whose sales cycle will require a high level of consultation as the model is proven. At previous companies I've found it quite difficult to identify sales representatives who fit this role.<p>I'm not looking to hire, but rather hoping to barter a nice meal in exchange for picking their brains on how to build realistic expectations for the productivity of a sales rep. I would appreciate any referrals! <comment><USER2> Sure, contact me offline if you like.</comment>


Lock Washers Don't Work - <AUTHOR> https://www.boltscience.com/pages/junkertestvideo.htm <comment><USER2> I use nylon insert nuts, threadlocker (of the proper type), and sometimes inner or outer bite toothed lock washers because spring lock washers have always been useless in my experience. If you really need locking-power, use a castellated nut and cotter pin, or lock wiring (safety wire).

The important bit is either preventing the holding fastener from turning either directly to prevent rotation or stretching the bolt such that friction under all vibration modes prevents jumping and loosening of the holding fastener.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> More info: [https://www.boltscience.com/pages/helicalspringwashers.htm](https://www.boltscience.com/pages/helicalspringwashers.htm)

Most types besides helical spring don't work either: Page 9: [https://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/NASA- Generic/NAS...](https://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/NASA-Generic/NASA- RP-1228.pdf)</comment>