IE6 Offenders: report companies that still require the browser. - <AUTHOR> http://ie6offenders.com/

<comment><USER2> I am still amazed people have stayed with IE6 with the excuse of "Security fears."

They fear having security?

<comment><USER3> Someone should have a little ActiveX fun with these people

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Well, the one good thing about this is it screams a simple truth that the haters never want to address which is that proprietary software is what locks most companies into IE6. So all those people yelling about IE6 should leave the CIOs alone and spend their time going after the small businesses unwilling to rewrite their shitty html.

</comment><comment><USER5> Canonical is on that list?! They're "Unaware of the problem with IE6."

For real?

<comment><USER4> Unlikely. General Electric has separate IT departments for its various divisions and each of those departments has it's own CIO and as a consequence it's own set of rules and requirements. That said you have to ding them a little bit for having the corporate CIO (which all the other ones report to) be a person who has seemingly no formal IT credentials ([http://www.ge.com/company/leadership/bios_exec/gary_reiner.h...](http://www.ge.com/company/leadership/bios_exec/gary_reiner.html))

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Where can I report companies that require Netscape?

<comment><USER7> Which ones do? I've never seen one.

<comment><USER6> I work for one.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Airypi – a simple way to control your Raspberry Pi from a browser - <AUTHOR> https://www.airypi.com/

<comment><AUTHOR> Feedback about my explanation about what airypi actually does would be appreciated. The goal was to abstract away communication between the Raspberry Pi and the server by monkey patching popular Raspberry Pi GPIO libraries so that GPIO calls were replaced with a message between the server and the Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately, some people seem to be confused about what part runs on the Raspberry Pi and what runs on the server.

<comment><USER2> Haven't tried it yet but it's really not clear what runs where and how the airpy service itself (registering/login) is related to all that.

Is there a plan to add camera service as well to airypy? That would be neat as well. I'd like to have my pi monitor the house and a way to hook it up to the outside world would be really nice.</comment></comment>


Founders: It's not 1990. Stop treating your employees like it is - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@tikhon/founders-it-s-not-1990-stop-treating-your-employees-like-it-is-523f48fe90cb#.undbv9dhb <comment><USER2> Startups thrive on taking advantage of early employees and as long as there are naive employees willing to take the risk and work for nothing I don't think we'll see any changes.</comment>


Ask HN: Funding for a teen startup - <AUTHOR>

I am 17 years old and have had an idea for a new educational app for almost a year.  I have been thinking about it and fleshing it out in my head and I want to go for it.  There are a few problems though.  The biggest one being capital to build the product.  The education industry isn't an easy market to tap and I doubt I would be able to find good sales people to work for equity.  I was wondering what I should do?  Any advice or suggestions? <comment><USER2> It's not a great territory for startups, because the buying decisions are made by such bureaucratic organizations. There's no group of clever, poor early adopters for a startup to start with.

<comment><USER3> So you need a longer runway and perhaps even friends in the bureaucracy to crack the traditional mass education market... things a teen (or ultra-lean startup at any age) might find especially hard.

But maybe the idea can appeal to the growing nontraditional markets: tutoring, distance education, self-education, corporate training, for-profit higher-ed (U of Phoenix, ITT, etc.).

Also: internet in the schools brings advertising at a level far beyond the controversies that affected ChannelOne/Edison in the 90s. Not all school computers have ad blockers, do they? So perhaps even an ad-supported model would work for a really lean educational web-app startup -- and there's little more lean than a single teen founder.

<comment><USER2> I think you're better off finding something that can start outside the education market, then have it be adopted by them when it reaches the point that it would be ridiculous not to.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> What funding do you really need? Living with your parents takes care of all your biggest expenses. All you have to do is write code. And you have plenty of time to learn how to write code if you don't know how to.

</comment><comment><USER5> Quizlet (<http://quizlet.com/about/>) seems to be successful and is run by a teen. I'm not sure if they've taken funding though.

</comment><comment><USER6> build it yourself. If you believe in the idea that much, take the time to learn how to do it.

</comment><comment><USER7> Apply for funding from ycombinator: <http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html>

And you will know.

<comment><AUTHOR> I thought that ycombinator was more into the consumer web app side of things but I will give it a try. And the other thing is that I don't have a cofounder as of yet.

<comment><USER7> Well, single founder is not good, but it's possible.

Just see if you can do it alone, if you can't, then try to ask one of your friends to do it with you.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why can't computer verify Mochizuki's proof of ABC conjecture? - <AUTHOR> I'm not mathematician, but I remember from my logic classes that proof in mathematics is very well defined: it consists of either axioms or their consequences according to set of inference rules.
I understand that it is very hard for computer to generate such a proof, but shouldn't it be very easy to check if proof is correct?
I've recently read an article about Mochizuki's proof and all the controversy, discussions and lack of understanding by community.
Beside it's huge volume (~600 pages) and huge work necessary to transform it to format understandable by appropriate software - are there any other reasons that prevent automatic verification of that proof?
(for those who don't know what I'm writing about: https://www.quantamagazine.org/titans-of-mathematics-clash-over-epic-proof-of-abc-conjecture-20180920/) <comment><USER2> Those 600 pages are not so well-formalised to be processed by the computer. If they were, that could be 6000 or more pages. Even a simple statement is a lot more verbose in formal form. Also, this is hard algorithmically, even SAT problem [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_satisfiability_problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_satisfiability_problem) is NP-complete, verifying a generic proof is a lot harder.</comment>


Ask HN: What are some alternatives to Unity? - <AUTHOR> I have recently switched from mac to ubuntu but don't quite like the unity desktop. What are some stable, aesthetically pleasant alternatives to unity? <comment><USER2> Cinnamon and Mate... though I am not sure if either is available on Ubuntu, but they should be!

<comment><USER3> both work like a charm under ubuntu for me

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> cinnamon desktop

</comment><comment><USER5> Macbuntu?

</comment><comment><USER6> Elementary. Not sure if it's an Ubuntu desktop, or just a debian-based distro. Also like Cinnamon, Mate on Mint.</comment>


Backlinks for Small Business - <AUTHOR> https://serendipz.marketing/backlinks-for-small-business/ <comment><AUTHOR> author here. we wrote this article keeping small businesses/startups in mind. it starts from really basic stuff and gradually introduces complex concepts. this article aims to be a living document to backlinks. We'll keep it updated.</comment>


Post-Scarcity Economics - <AUTHOR> http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=1845&fulltext=1 <comment><USER2> Investment bank ex-employee here. I'm pleasantly surprised that Hacker News front-page has finally landed an article on the history of modern macroeconomics whose author knows what he's talking about instead of masking their ignorance with popular voodoo buzzwords like "Ron Paul" and "Bitcoins".

Ironically but predictably, very few karma points are given. I'm happy to find this little gold nugget and the intellectual satisfaction that comes with reading it.

<comment><USER3> Articles like this (semi-political stuff) tends to get flagged and thus, disappears from the front page at speed. When I clicked the link to read the article, it was around #6 with 20-something points after 2 hours; when I refreshed HN ten minutes later, it had gained ten points but fallen all the way to the second page (~30 odd places).

I'd say there's a not unreasonable chance that the article was flagged because a reader didn't like the history it puts forth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> "On the one hand, technology has made us all much more productive ... on the other, jobs have evaporated."

"Most of us are working harder, for less money and with no job security."

My econ classes taught me that increased productivity causes short-term pain for displaced workers, but results in long-term higher standards of living for everyone.

That relationship seems to have broken down. What if the internet destroys more jobs than it creates?

Is it really "post-scarcity economics"? Or is it the effect of digital networks and rising inequality?

Jaron Lanier argues in "Who Owns the Future" that digital networks make the economy work differently. Now the benefits of higher productivity get hoovered up the elite few, leaving most people worse off.

Lanier argues that there has always been inequality, but the internet enables a winner-take-all economy that keeps productivity gains from trickling down to ordinary people.

I'd love to see a mathematical model that quantifies jobs and salaries lost to "disruptive" new entrants, and how many jobs at what compensation levels are created in their wake.

<comment><USER5> > _My econ classes taught me that increased productivity causes short-term > pain for displaced workers, but results in long-term higher standards of > living for everyone._

That's ideology, not science. Economists sell ideology instead of science all the time (for one, it helps them tout the "free market" from cushy government or teaching positions).

The outcome described above is not inevitable, like gravity. It depends on who has control of the situation and what the increased productivity is used for.

If the elites owning industry etc can get by by employing far less people, why would they care about huge parts of the population not having a job or living in slums? As long as they get to sell their products to a market (which can even be abroad), they are fine.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> "There is a long history of exaggerated concern, rightly derided by economists, with the replacement and hence displacement of workers by machines."

\- Judge Posner

[http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2013/03/automation-and- emp...](http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2013/03/automation-and-employment- posner.html)

To be fair, the tone is stronger than his ultimate argument. He goes on to outline four or five examples where the short term effects could be pretty devastating.

It's important to note that in the long run, labor markets reach an equilibrium, adapting to any current technological capabilities.

Then again, it's also important to note that in the long run, we're all dead.

</comment><comment><USER7> Can anyone with more economic insight than myself comment on how increased automation leading to higher unemployment (ie, self-driving car) might change the recommendations? Are we back to the Basic Income? Seems to be an increasingly relevant proposal.

<comment><USER8> I'm a software dude, not an economist, but as a guy on the Internet who reads reddit and hacker news, I feel 15% qualified to answer this question!

I want to quote some passages from the article, which is kind of long, and I think misses some of the point. All personal internet nerd opinion.

> Unemployment would drive wages down until, at some certain level, workers > would be so cheap to hire that once again, men would be put to work and > growth could return.

I think this is still true. The problem is that the price for human labor right now is below the rate of a living wage. Since your productivity goes to your bosses, but there are so many laborers looking for income, the ratio is that all labor roles can be filled by those already subsiding on other income sources, so the real value of labor is abysmal. How else do you have a massive dine in restaurant industry where waiters are paid $3.50 an hour and hope for the charity of their customers to make ends meet?

When human labor is no longer worth the cost of living, people just don't work. So even if you make more $7.25 jobs, there is little incentive to pursue them, especially through picking up and moving across city lines, because you will still be in the red and still stuck in a perpetual cycle of debt and despair.

> Only one thing makes entrepreneurs expand capacity and that has nothing to > do with government tax policy.

Tax policy has a _huge_ impact on expanding a business. Taxes are, in the short run, a direct percentage loss of productivity. You take a portion of profits and that directly influences future hiring gains. The taxes might long term provide benefits beyond the short term costs (ie, roads, power, police) but those are not in the span at which businesses make hiring decisions. However, reducing taxes today doesn't cause a hiring boom if there is no demand. It is a downward cycle of a dozen factors, but tax rates _are_ a factor on the bottom line behavior of businesses and consumers. Taking their money by gunpoint to use it elsewhere only works if the elsewhere gets you some significant returns on your investment, from an economics perspective. A _lot_ of government spending doesn't do that if it is for the purpose of playing empire or placating special interests.

> I favor government spending targeted on making the lives of citizens richer > and more cultured. Some may say, this is elitist of me, to which I reply, > what is wrong with elitism?

I strongly diagree with this on the principle that culture is relative. I may not want your culture. You argue your culture matters because it contains the _wealth and power_. Which I feel is the root cause, and back to your topic, why basic income is relevant.

Money has concentrated itself _so heavily_ away from the masses and into the owners of the means of production and the capital that supports it that it causes the majority of economic slowdown because people spend incrementally less on incrementally less immediate things the richer they are. You eventually get to the point where the wealthiest are putting their money not in immediate goods and services that churn money and keep the engine going but into longer term finances like bonds or dividend investment. Investing money doesn't have the immediate return effects spending it does, especially when the best companies to invest in are also the ones _flooded_ with money, with no demand to grow their business into (because the only people with the income to realistically grow their profits by real percentages are already the wealthy sponsors of the business) so they can just sit on troves of money and the dividends that come out are the slow siphoning of capital out of the abundant laborers and into the rich, because they don't recoup the absurd amount of money they make their employers through the combined productivity of technology and automation.

Automation isn't any different than how the green revolution worked. You take the work of many and, with machines, are able to perform it with many fewer. The reason for basic income is that we, economically, have collectively agreed _we don 't need idle hands anymore_. We don't have hay to bale, we don't have crops to pick, we don't have anything we are willing to spend a living wage on to pay anyone for to have them exert their meat bag appendages to perform basic tasks.

Which drops the floor out of the middle class, because as the article describes, the entire system of the 60s / 70s worker boom was the ability to walk into town and find a dozen windows looking for fleshy arms to move and interact with things. Today, your machines do that.

Principally, the solution is that everyone should have equal shares in all businesses and from there profit off the productive gains all this innovation and automation gives society. If everyone was equally invested in automated work that produced more than the labor is worth, and gained equally the fruits of this process, there would be no recession, everyone would be getting checks from the productive overhead of society. That would also drive up labor wages, because if you don't have to slave for food, you probably won't. If you have a choice, you will demand more for the trace menial work left, where every year more and more of it is being sent to obsolescence.

However, we don't have that. We have an absurdly imbalanced class system where the supermajority of people hold no assets of any form and live day to day on whatever they can scavenge, and we have very few who control the capital, infrastructure, and productivity, and also gain all its fruits.

I think the root problem is inheritance. Entirely. If resources were redistributed through the masses when someones life ends, then their remnant productivity goes back into the collective, and each person has an opportunity, from a foundation of plenty, to collect more of that prosperity and concentrate it for accomplishing great innovations or productive gains. If you can be born into wealth and plenty, it perpetuates the concentration of wealth and plenty over generations. The richest today can sometimes be traced back to the richest of a thousand or more years ago - prosperity breeds prosperity, and you get the cards stacked profusely in your favor when you are raised amongst plenty in a society of scarcity.

But just eliminating inheritance today doesn't solve the problem, because the problem is that too much is concentrated in too few. Inheritance _caused_ it (in the way Bill Gates became the wealthiest man in the world by virtue of his parents already being wealthy, that combined with a brilliant intellect and probably well instructed business sense available only to the already prosperous was able to create Microsoft - so if you are born genius with rich parents, you have a much better shot at becoming the richest man in the world, though I won't argue there aren't outliers).

Likewise, I'm not arguing "boo hoo, Bobby got his Dad's millions and I just got the furniture and funeral costs". It is that by being privileged, and being able to pass that on to your children, over _centuries_ , enables class, and that enables the powerful elite to out-compete the rest by virtue of status, and by having an elite, they can restrict new admission to prosperity through their own connections and back doors. They get not just the equity, they get the networking, which is cultural, and spans generations. If everyone got reset, the elite culture would be the entrepreneurs and geniuses that can move the world, not the ones who rolled a good set of birth parents and got beyond-world-class education.

So the problem at hand is how to peacefully get that absurd concentration of capital reversed, but market economics won't do it, because we are already beyond a threshold where consumers had any power in the relationship. Globalization infused the powerful with absurd amounts more markets to extract revenue from, and the article touches on this, but I don't think reaches the critical aspect - globalization enabled the privileged of small spaces to extend their reach, _economically_ over the entire world, where previously they could only extend their reach in that way _militarily_.

So the problem is getting the prosperity of society back into the hands of everyone, because if everyone were investing, buying, and providing goods and services, the economy would be at its peak efficiency.

It isn't just employment that contributes to economic growth, it is the prosperity and wealth of everyone. The article documents clearly how debt artificially grew the economy, but that is the negative of wealth, and it stripped the middle class bare. Now we are entering another spree of concentrated wealth and the means of production by automating the creation of goods and services, so that whoever holds the keys to the machine makes all the money. That is honestly unsolvable in traditional economics, and the article also hits that - the economics of last century don't apply to the modern global economy, and you have to question your assumptions.

PS: 1600 words. Might be my HN record. Fuck.

<comment><USER9> > Tax policy has a _huge_ impact on expanding a business.

No, absolutely not. As someone who has run a small business, there is exactly one thing that made me hire a new employee: too much work (aka demand). That's it, period, absolutely nothing else. Taxes did not have a single thing to do with it. Barring tax policies far removed from everyday reality in the U.S., hiring a new employee to meet demand will always be more profitable than letting that demand go unmet (or to a competitor). On the other side, regardless of how lenient tax policy gets, no business owner will hire an employee if that employee is unnecessary to meet demand. This is Management 101 (I mean that almost literally, my degree is in Business Administration, but the actual class was probably 302 or something).

<comment><USER8> The new hire puts you up a tax bracket, and you lose profit to gain productivity.

Your immediate finances can't support adopting a new hire or division because tax proceeds from your profit margin limit your growth potential.

If you can immediately make a return on a new hire, with instant productivity gains and immediate bottom line improvements, yes, you absolutely make the hire. But that doesn't always happen, and in major skill movements across the labor market it never happens. You need financial capital to invest in broadening or transitioning your business rather than just increasing labor to meet more demand, principally because in this modern age it is easier to automate increased demand (circumstantially, but frequently) than to hire more workers to cover it. IE, if your market grows 10%, you might as well invest in a contracted software team to automate your systems to enable your current labor staff to be 10% more productive than to hire 10% more people.

<comment><USER9> That's not how tax brackets work. Tax brackets in the US are marginal, which means that the increased rate only applies to income above the threshold. It is impossible for an increase in income to be accompanied by a larger increase in tax burden.

(I guess I should mention that the Business degree came with a Professional Accounting option.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I once wrote a very ranty essay on the same topic: [http://kmkeen.com/post- scarcity/](http://kmkeen.com/post-scarcity/)

It needs some work yet and is not terribly well written. But it goes along well with the original post, providing things for we (as individuals) to do that don't require massive policy changes that the article suggests.

</comment><comment><USER11> Good luck getting any of that done in America with the current house of representatives. It is currently politically impossible to get anything done at all in Washington. Our current congress can't even vote on simple stuff like raising the debt ceiling.</comment>


A Fresh Graduate's Guide to Software Development Tools and Technologies (2012) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~seer/book/2e/ <comment><USER2> Note that is a very old version of the book. I found the current version from:

\- The very bottom of the 2012 PDF page [1] mentions the related doc generation project, MarkBind [2]

\- The MarkBind site mentions two software engineering courses whose materials were written using it.

\- One of these is TE3201 [3], which links to the current version of the book [4].

[1] [http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~seer/book/2e/](http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~seer/book/2e/)

[2] [https://markbind.github.io/markbind/](https://markbind.github.io/markbind/)

[3] [https://nus-te3201.github.io/website/admin/index.html](https://nus- te3201.github.io/website/admin/index.html)

[4] [https://se-edu.github.io/se-book/](https://se-edu.github.io/se-book/)

</comment><comment><USER3> It is frustrating how widely applicable this book is. Universities across the country are struggling to adequately prepare students for software engineering jobs.

It is also frustrating that this book from 2012 is still applicable in 2018. I'm not sure what the solution is or what would drive change here.

<comment><USER4> In my opinion, it is not the mission of universities to prepare students for jobs. Universities are research institutions that prepare students for research. That's why all professors have to do research. Vocational schools exist for the purpose of job training. Big companies can also train their own workers.

<comment><USER5> In Australia, we intentionally collapsed most of our vocational schools into our public universities a couple of decades ago. I guess that was fairly unique because it was such a conscious decision. Universities in the modern world _are_ in fact vocational schools for many professions. Class sizes and student numbers alone often show this.

And while big companies can train their own workers, many choose to off-load that competency to the universities as well. In Germany, many of the largest export employers have a symbiotic relationship with local (to the factory) Universities. The companies help determine the course structure and syllabus, and in return the graduates are offered good living wage jobs straight out of university with continued training and certification.

Australia is a long way off of the German model, so all I know is what I've read in the Economist and a couple of other publications, but there are certainly murmers of moving to such a model in Australia as well.

"University" just doesn't mean what it used to mean.

<comment><USER6> As I say elsewhere, just look at other disciplines taught by universities. This is a totally untrue view of what universities are.

They are learning and research institutions. They've never just been research institutions. And the vast majority of fields don't really bother teaching any R&D to under-grads, they just teach them the subject and practical application of it in the real, job, world.

In the UK we used to have vocational schools too, that all got changed to universities. It didn't mean no vocational training went on in universities.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Version control should be chapter 1!

<comment><USER8> Agreed, this was missing from my college curriculum and learning git well has been a huge asset in terms of productivity.

When you understand version control, you can make changes without fearing that you can't get back to where you are right now.

<comment><USER9> We were introduced to version control in our first year. The only problem was that till we started managing large code bases, most people found it very difficult to understand why we used Git in the first place.

<comment><USER10> Yes! Git is not merely _version control_ but a specialized sort of version control. I've run into the opposite problem, when I've tried to use Git for projects that weren't source code.

Without thinking about it, just by reflex, I'd create a project directory for a new project: Web pages that were almost entirely English text, or a Photoshop project, or an e-book project...and init my git to track it and set up my server to push it to.

Before long, usually while trying to come up with a good commit message, I'd wake up and ask myself, "Wait, why am I tracking this? Am I just assuming it's the responsible, proper thing to do?"

It's not enough that the project be something that iteratively improves. Git's usefulness comes mainly from _text_ data with extremely demanding constraints (hard to get it to work, easy to break, harder to repair than to start again, working/broken is not just a matter of taste), especially when you have multiple contributors, each of whom is more likely to break something than to fix it.

If you have non-text projects (ex: photo editing) or text that can usually be "fixed" by just pushing forward rather than starting again, Git still has benefits, but they may not be worth the costs.

You don't really see the value of Git unless you're writing code that you're a little scared to write.

<comment><USER11> I have to say I don't agree. I find git useful every time I do work that is even just a bit exploratory - which is almost all of it. E.g. doing a mockup in Inkscape - I'll commit, then create a new branch and try out some idea. If I'm not satisfied, I'll just checkout master and keep working on the previous version.

In fact, I think this is a common behavior; almost every PC I've seen has a poor man's version control implemented by the user by copying the file and renaming it (e.g. Report_1.doc, Report_2.doc, Report_2_valid.doc, etc), despite none of them being programmers or working with code.

<comment><USER10> But that's my point. I'm not saying that other things don't need version control at all but that many don't need the specialized, heavyweight version control features provided by Git. For many things that need version control (I'm not saying they don't), the lightweight "poor man's version control" of saving named copies is fine, so it will seem puzzling to someone doing only that kind of work why anyone would go to the trouble of learning something as complex as Git when a much easier solution is available.

It's when doing a specialized kind of work with more demanding constraints that you see the benefits that justify the cost of learning and using Git. If you never do that specialized work, the specialized VC of Git might not be worth it. "Poor man's" VC might make more sense.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Did anyone read this book? Any thoughts about it? I looked at it _really_ quickly and it seems good, but I haven't read it and then used the knowledge. So how useful is the actual knowledge itself in a practical context?

Also, I would be curious to know if there is a 2017/18 version of it.

<comment><USER13> > Did anyone read this book?

Just skimmed through a few pages, found a small name error:

> Java millennium (Java ME) which is made to create Embedded Systems

<comment><USER14> Thought Java ME stands for Java Micro Edition

<comment><USER15> It does. OP is saying that "Java Millenium" is an error.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I really like the structure / topics of the book, except EJB - the bloatware packaged with Java for years.

</comment><comment><USER17> No section for "Embedded" development? I think its missing a big part of the current picture ..

<comment><USER18> We're always the first to be forgotten.

<comment><USER19> If anyone has a book similar to this for embedded - I'd love to know.

I've recently been reading Elecia White's _Making Embedded Systems_ which is the closest thing to this book I can think of.

<comment><USER18> That would have been my first suggestion.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Where can I get a full PDF version of this book?

Really wanna read this!

Edit → Got it! The links there are PDFs to each chapter. I can download them individually and create a book :) Thanks all.

</comment><comment><USER20> Cloud computing should come later in the order. Students should build their foundation from the basics. Cloud computing is more of an advanced topic.

</comment><comment><USER21> well written. Quick previews for all you need to get started as software engineer</comment>


Rms has his bag stolen in Argentina - <AUTHOR> http://www.devthought.com/2012/06/09/richard-stallman-robbed-in-argentina/ <comment><USER3> Something similar happened to Tom Preston Werner of Github when he was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Conference organizers have a responsibility to emphasize the high incidence of theft and assist them however possible - <USER2> people coming from developed countries do not have experience with this type of danger. This seems like a situation that could have been avoided if someone was keeping an eye on Rms' bag.

<comment><USER4> rms, he himself, should have kept an eye on the bag, not somebody else...

<comment><USER5> I don't understand the downvotes. Care to explain?

<comment><USER6> It's a technical talk, not a subway car. He's a guest. It's not realistic, or hospitable, to expect him to watch his belongings while he's interacting with his audience. Plus it's a new account that's trolling.

<comment><USER7> It's his responsibiity to make sure someone is watching it for him or to watch it himself, though. In the ideal case, someone would offer to watch it for him, but I'm guessing that didn't happen here.

That said, I do like the idea (suggested elsewhere) of pooling some money to get him a new one right away.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I understand that Stallman is an important figure in the software community, but this really doesn't qualify as news in my opinion. To be fair, the server went down so I can't access the article, but unless he had something really important in that bag, like the only copy of a new C compiler written from scratch, this article is just a minor inconvenience in the life of a celebrity.

<comment><USER5> He had his passport.

I believe he is currently traveling through South America to give FOSS talks in many universities. I believe part of the issue is that because of this very details, it puts an end to his trip which has been rough and marked by health issues.

What I don't understand is why the post's author dares mentioning how RMS reacted. A bit of decency is always a nice thing to have, not to mention due respect.

<comment><USER9> Decency? We're adults, we respect him like other humans and we can handle the real story. At least we should have the decency to.

<comment><USER5> You're right on your last point however the way he initially reacted didn't add anything to the story. It was the nervous reaction of a man who realized the trip he had spent days organizing was being called off because of one individual.

Having personally met RMS and knowing other persons that have the same type of condition, I would say that those people need some respect in the way they handle emotions and other social artifacts.

Simply throwing a verb doesn't give enough depth for a correct understanding. In that regard, it's disrespectful.

<comment><USER10> Whoah, wait, what condition? I wasn't aware that Stallman had any condition that would cause him to react that way. I even just posted a comment that touches on that topic. I hope I didn't just sound like a jerk picking on someone with a mental/emotional disorder I didn't know about.

<comment><USER5> Read the second comment on the link.

<comment><USER10> You mean the second comment on the actual article page? I did. It mentions how distressed he was and why he was distressed but mentioned no condition. We are talking about a medical condition, right? I'm sorry, if that's not it then I might need it spelled out for me. If that is really it then I still think it was a little bit of an overreaction. I can definitely relate to being _that_ upset but to be punching yourself in the head and carrying on that way where others can clearly see you is strange to put it nicely.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Damn, this is not nice. Maybe HN can pitch in to get him a new laptop? I'd donate a few bucks.

Edit: What the heck? What's wrong with what I suggested?

<comment><USER12> I am not so sure that rms cannot afford a laptop. He is in need of more free models to choose from than a few bucks

<comment><USER13> According to <http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com> RMS would like to have a real laptop with an open BIOS.

Shouldn't a laptop like the Thinkpad X60 or T60 with Coreboot installed fulfill that requirement? They are supported according to the coreboot site.

Are there any other potential problems I'm not thinking of? Possibly a firmware issue with the Intel chipset?

<comment><USER14> Well, there's probably graphics (?) or something else with proprietary firmware on it...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Considering RMS a careful person, he probably had backups for all the important information. However, for a person like him, that laptop is probably much more important: he needs to get a specific laptop that respects his freedom, as that one did, so he's probably going to be a bit behind on his e-mails until he gets a proper replacement.

<comment><USER4> the joys of cloud computing. oh wait...

<comment><USER16> "Most of the time I do not have an Internet connection. Once or twice or maybe three times a day I connect and transfer mail in and out. Before sending mail, I always review and revise the outgoing messages. That gives me a chance to catch mistakes and faux pas." <http://richard.stallman.usesthis.com/>

Oh well. The interview is from 2010 though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Well he is not the first celebrity to get robbed in B.A. Bush daughter was visiting the city, the whole neighbourhood was crawling with CIA agents and her purse was still stolen...

<comment><USER15> Maybe I'm downvoted for this, but I feel a lot worse for RMS than for Bush's daughter..

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > Despite his controversial views on a variety of topics, his evangelism work > all over the world is a true inspiration for countless people

I disagree, I think his evangelism is dangerous and offensive. He goes around telling programmers that they should give their code for free and he belittles anyone who doesn't follow his advice.

<comment><USER19> Except he doesn't actually care if you charge for your code. All he cares about are the rights of the consumer. Now, supporting these rights _does_ make it somewhat more difficult to charge for your software, but it clearly isn't impossible: there are companies built around free software. Moreover, if _everyone_ provided free software, it would actually be easier to charge money for it because you wouldn't have to compete with proprietary software and drm.

<comment><USER14> Exactly. Look at Canonical. They give away Ubuntu completely free, yet they make money out of selling cloud services and support.

<comment><USER20> Even then, RMS has _no problem_ people selling and buying software, he only cares that, once a user _has acquired_ the software product, he can alter it (that's the "free as in freedom" part, as opposed to "free as in beer" which RMS — as far as I know — doesn't really care for).

Now building a business with these constraint is not — as far as I know — a solved business model in the general case, but saying that RMS wants developers to "give their product for free" is a complete and absolute misrepresentation of his position.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> With so much traveling, all around the world, and dealing with thousands of people, something's bound to happen.

I hope RMS has an enrypted backup of his data on his home server. It isn't that hard to do, even if you care deeply about privacy and freedom.

As for the rest of the stuff ... I really hope that the organizers can obtain the medicine for him in short order. It's the least they can do. The stolen passport does slow him down, but he should contact the nearest embassy or consulate and they can help him:

[http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/lostpassport...](http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/emergencies/lostpassport/lostpassport_1197.html)

The stolen laptop sadly is unlikely to be recovered. The conference organizers should buy one for him.

Does RMS actually have any money saved up, or just the bare essentials? A public figure like that should make quite a decent amount of money from speaking engagements.

<comment><USER22> Most medicines have already been obtained for him. He has friends and the foundation helping him in Argentina, the main thing is the laptop.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> That sucks. I would have hoped that the university / event organisers would have provided any help possible to at least get his paperwork back in order though. The article makes it sound like he was pretty much left on his own devices after the theft.

<comment><USER15> Yep, he was. Although I find it difficult to think that RMS would find himself helpless and with no one around that would care for him, I do believe that the University/Event organizers couldn't care less for what happened.

<comment><USER22> He comes pretty often to latin-america and he has friends and the foundation helping him at all times. One is still to get pissed of at the amount of time and work wasted because of this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> > The report goes on to convey the truly heartbreaking image of a hopeless RMS > sitting at the university staircase, crying.

Words fail me.

</comment><comment><USER24> That has to be perhaps the worst site ever. Without javascript enabled, the entire article is covered up by a CSS overlay telling me I need to enable javascript.. all while the actual content I want to read is behind it.

</comment><comment><USER25> The passport replacement is relatively easy, right?

The bigger concern is the medicine. How does that work with prescription medicine outside the US?

The laptop is rather unique, so if someone pawned it you would think it could be hunted down.

<comment><USER5> My experience in countries that are less "developed" is that you'll get any kind of medicine you may need if you're ready to pay the price for it. I'm sure he'll be fine.

Passport are simple to replace but Visas simply aren't replaced at all. He could get new Visas under no delay, unfortunately I don't think he has the _right_ connections for that kind of "fast lane" service.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I wonder if he'll add some basic security precautions (a locking area for his stuff while speaking) to his fairly detailed rider.

</comment><comment><USER27> Had his bag stolen -- glad that he's okay! Normally, though, we wouldn't call this "robbery" in English. Strictly speaking, robbery is used for a theft where force (or threat of force) is involved.

<comment><USER28> "Robbery" is often used when force isn't involved. If the object is stolen while you're nearby, people will often refer to it as a robbery. Outfielders rob batters of home runs all the time.

The word "rob" is particularly useful because lets the victim be used as the direct object. If you want to emphasize RMS as a victim of personal theft, that's the verb to use.

<comment><USER27> Some people may use it that way but that doesn't make it right.

The baseball example is a figure of speech, not a description of an actual crime. This was a real crime.

<comment><USER29> I'm pretty sure peoples' use of the word is the definition of how it is used.

<comment><USER30> The words have a specific technical meaning in this case, so it's important to use them correctly. A robbery and a simple theft are treated very differently under the law. Prescriptive grammar is the only way to go when you're dealing with a technical system built out of ordinary language, like law or programming.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> That's sad, even though I don't like a lot of things he say I hope he can recover it soon.

</comment><comment><USER32> On android the page is unreadable (at least in Dolphin) because of the undismissable menu.

</comment><comment><USER33> I gnu I had a great quip about his property and identity being open sourced, but can't quite put it together.

</comment><comment><USER34> Hope he had backups...

</comment><comment><USER10> Reading about Stallman's reaction to this makes me wonder about his mental stability. "Punching himself in the head"? And cursing? Now, cursing I can understand but the picture painted in the story makes it look like Stallman was throwing a tantrum, screaming obscenities, punching himself in the head and then crying. We all knew he was an eccentric fellow but when you're punching yourself in the head, in public no less, you have to wonder what else is going on there. Losing a bag with such important items in it would put anyone in a pretty upset state. Putting aside who we're talking about I think a reaction like that definitely deviates from the norm to the point of maybe crossing the line from eccentricity to instability.

<comment><USER35> _"Punching himself in the head"?_

FWIW, I don't think the author is a native speaker of English, and may mean something closer to "facepalm" than "beating the shit out of himself".

<comment><USER36> I don't know if you're quoting me or someone else, but I can tell you I saw him doing that. It was a bit scary. He also yelled many times and, when he was at the stairs, he bit his own arm while shouting.

<comment><USER35> I've been a human for most of my life, and from what I can tell, this is a pretty typical reaction to losing all your possessions in a foreign country.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Sorry to hear what happened.

It's interesting that he was at a conference, presumably speaking about what he always speaks about.

This means his bag and things were to advance his mission, which is kind of to advance a 'commons'.

it nicely illustrate's RMS's philosophy (gpl). Even though he was speaking to advance the public good, a private enterprizer took his bag, removing it from the commons he worked so hard to advance.

RMS's philosophy, code, and bags require the protection of law.

</comment><comment><USER38> if he had a chromebook he wouldn't be crying in the stairs. childish

<comment><USER5> Seriously, how old are you? I've seen, read, done, ... a lot of stupid things but you beat all my expectations.

</comment></comment><comment><USER39> Most of us have cloud backups like Mozy or Carbonite, or keep our documents in the cloud with tools like Google Docs, iCloud, or Zoho. To us, losing a laptop is an inconvenience... but not a cause for canceling future engagements. But RMS is different. He's ethically opposed to the "cloud," calling it a "trap." That is his prerogative. But you can't cry when you lose your data!!

<comment><USER40> Could you explain how to pass through immigration using a passport stored in the cloud?

<comment><USER41> Well why not?

A serious question: what's the advantage of physical identity cards over digitally-signed documents + two-factor?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> I can't resist wondering if RMS has brought up the licensing of his medication with his doctor, who looked at him quizzically.</comment>


Show HN: One-click time zone converter - <AUTHOR> https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/time-zone-converter/eojaekhfpeakafmjnmkpkccjlmbkmceg <comment><AUTHOR> It's been a while since I built this, but recently received a bump in users and some great feedback so I thought that it could be useful for you as well.</comment>


Galaxy S III beats out iPhone 4S as top selling device in US - <AUTHOR> http://androidandme.com/2012/09/smartphones-2/galaxy-s-iii-beats-out-iphone-4s-as-top-selling-device-in-us/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=galaxy-s-iii-beats-out-iphone-4s-as-top-selling-device-in-us <comment><USER4> "The overwhelming success of Apple's iPhone 4S has finally hit a lull" - <USER2> 2 weeks before it's due to be replaced as the flagship iPhone. The iPhone purchasing cycle is very cyclical - huge sales after the new model is introduced, gradually declining up to the next model (which repeats the cycle). It would surprise me if the S3 _hadn't_ taken the lead over the summer.

<comment><USER5> Has this ever happened in previous years (before new iPhone releases)?

<comment><USER6> Yes. Every year.

Edit: archgrove speaks of the pre-release lull, not the competitor's sales figures. By 'this' MatthewPhillips can only be referring to the lull. If MatthewPhillips had meant SIII sales numbers, he should have clarified the antecedent of his pronoun. Ergo, sp332 is still correct that this is the first time a competitor has outsold iPhone and I am still correct that this lull happens every year - these facts are not mutually exclusive.

<comment><USER5> The 'this' I was referring to was the subject of the article (which was iPhone being outsold by a single handset).

Being correct shouldn't always be the goal in discussion, by the way.

<comment><USER7> A good friend of mine once told me:

Don't just defend your right to be wrong, _EXERCISE IT!!_

Truly words to live by.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> People are all pointing to the fact that the new iPhone is coming out, and for obvious reasons, the iPhone4s will not sell as well.

That said, people are forgetting that this is basically the FIRST TIME that any smartphone has sold more than the iPhone in the US. It's not as big news as it could be, but its definitely big news, and could be indicative of a trend in the US, namely, not just cheap/mid-range Androids are being sold, but a lot of high-end Androids, _that cost as much as iPhones_ are being sold. This is a very interesting and important distinction.

<comment><USER9> Anecdotally, the release of the Galaxy Note was the first time I witnessed average people anticipating and being excited by an Android phone. I witnessed the same to a much greater extent with the S3.

I do think it's indicative of a trend. I'm very interested in seeing what happens with the momentum I perceive once the next iPhone has been revealed.

<comment><USER10> Samsung kinda came out of nowhere with their original Galaxy S, and, along with other people, I absolutely love mine, which I've beaten the hell out of, left in the back of a taxi (this weekend - but got it back), and generally mistreated like a lover for 2.5 years, and it is still in perfect condition. There must be a gradual market effect from the fact that they've made some really good quality kit. I've seen so many iphones with cracked screens!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Doesn't it blow your minds how many people are adopting a linux as a primary user OS? And how irrelevant that is, since they don't even know that's what they're running?

Also, the S III has a barometer. How cool is that?

<comment><USER12> Similar situation for *BSD on the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch, it is a golden age for Unix/Linux but, like you say, invisible to the end-user.

<comment><USER13> Does Apple contribute back to BSD on any meaningful level?

<comment><USER12> Not anywhere as much as they should. A few things I do know of:

Clang/LLVM (which has substantial support from Apple) will be the primary compiler for FreeBSD.

Apple's Grand Central Dispatch (libdispatch) has been ported to FreeBSD.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Central_Dispatch>

The TrustedBSD Security Event Auditing and OpenBSM are based on the Mac OS X BSM audit implementation and donated by Apple.

As well, CUPS has been ported to FreeBSD.

<comment><USER14> >As well, CUPS has been ported to FreeBSD.

Well CUPS did not originate with Apple, they bought it when they needed a mature printing system. It existed for BSD prior to Apple's purchase.

I don't know if the BSD's have made any use of anything from Apple's Darwin release? Perhaps it's not possible due to the licencing (Apple Public Source Licence) which is copyleft'ish.

<comment> X-Istence There is quite a bit of sharing between Apple and FreeBSD. For example libdispatch has been ported to FreeBSD. Also when Apple imported pf into Darwin; FreeBSD used that same port to update their port of pf from OpenBSD.

As others have mentioned, stuff like the TrustedBSD and Audit framework came from Darwin, and features such as Seatbelt and sandboxes are slowly being considered or improved upon by Capsicum for example.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> While comments about iPhone 5 being due soon is probably correct, I suspect this is the first visible sign of a tend which began quite a while ago: iPhone has peaked (just like the iPod did) and right now Android us exploding _everywhere_.

The question is just when we officially start treating iOS as the minority OS, the one we develop for last.

To those thinking I disregard Windows 8 tablets, I don't. I know they're out really soon now, but it's just too early to predict its impact on the market. My guess is that it will eat into both Android and iOS's market-share for tablets, but how much is impossible to say.

<comment><USER16> > The question is just when we officially start treating iOS as the minority > OS, the one we develop for last.

At least for me(as an indie dev), probably never. Developing for the Android is not enjoyable at all.

<comment><USER17> I'm curious about what makes android development not enjoyable. Is it the fragmentation or development tools or low economic incentive ?

<comment><USER18> Not trying to troll here, but can someone explain this "fragmentation" issue please? There's a single API for Android; there are also different versions of the API, but there's a same issue in iOS. Is the issue the different screen resolutions? Does all the Android developement require low-level access to hardware?

<comment> X-Istence The biggest issue with fragmentation is the extra hardware and the screen size.

The company I work for does Android development for the gov't, and we have had a lot of issues with difference in camera support for example. Yes, there is one API, but for each camera in a phone it behaves slightly differently.

The worst still is the different screen sizes. It will look and work perfectly on one or two devices, and then you try it on a third and all of the elements are laid out differently or are rendered wrong and we have to add a work- around for that specific device.

The other issue we have found is the different versions of the libraries that various different versions of Android ship with. For example BouncyCastle is extremely outdated, or sqlite versions differ enough that it works on one device but doesn't work on the other.

We've also had issues with the phone switching between the cellular network and then wifi whereby sometimes our app will get sent up to 50 notifications in rapid fire saying it is switching between the two, which causes our app to tear down/restart the connection process. We ended up putting a timer in that waits a couple seconds and uses the last notification that came in ...

That's not to say that iOS development also doesn't have its issues. I had one app that if you used the switch on the iPad for screen orientation lock that it wouldn't output sound due to the switch not being recognised correctly. A bug that still exists in the latest version of iOS, and still hasn't been fixed (here is hoping for iOS 6 (which I have not yet installed on this device), my radar got closed as duplicate). But iOS has less of an issue with fragmentation due to the fact that most of the hardware is the same, and people with iOS devices tend to upgrade en masse to the latest version when it is released so it becomes less of an issue to have an app require a new version of iOS and no longer function on older versions of iOS (although, I am still targeting iOS 4 for now when doing consulting/client work).

<comment><USER5> Thanks for your comments. I was hoping you would elaborate on what makes the screen sizes so problematic? Web developers have had to deal with different screen sizes and different resolutions for a long time. Luckily we have CSS which makes it much easier (and especially now with media queries). Is it that Android layout doesn't give you enough control?

<comment> X-Istence The issue isn't layout control, although that could definitely be better, the issue is that even with all their fancy auto-resizing everything sometimes depending on the device/OS version you HAVE to hard code a pixel perfect layout or it just won't render correctly.

This means that even if you use Android's layout tools and create automatically resizing and fitting layouts it may not work correctly, and render incorrectly for example when you move from landscape to portrait, or move from one screen to the next. Highly annoying.

We've also had bugs that we could not reproduce on any of our test devices (all 27 of them that we have now ...) but that a customer had out in the field. We then attempt to locate the same device with the same OS version to test on.

Sometimes it has to do with themes that a manufacturer has installed not working correctly... this gets annoying fast when you've got the same phone on multiple carriers and they each customise it their own way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I recently bought an S III and gave it back.

At least on my device, the back cover felt cheap and flimsy.

But more importantly, that PenTile screen just looked terrible to me. I constantly noticed a faint checkerboard pattern in bright surfaces. None of my friends see it, but it drove me insane. Am I the only one to notice that?

Apart from that, not a bad device, though.

<comment><USER20> PenTile is a complete joke, Boggles the mind how anyone can ship that on a premium device.

<comment><USER21> To be fair, you have to be < 2 centimeters from the device to see the pentile on the SGS3 due to the resolution (and at 2 cm your eyes will hurt. Mine do.)

I had a SGS (pentile), SGS2 (no pentile), SGS4 (pentile), various iphones (no pentile) and others.

I can only see the pentile on the SGS.

If that's not enough, I score 21 on EU visual tests (maximum is 20, above is/are bonus points for exceptional vision)

I believe the only jokes here are this post and the parent :P

<comment><USER22> I don't understand people who say this. My friends have pentile phones, and say they don't notice, but I looked at a GSIII, and it was immediately obvious to me. The screen looks sort of grainy, and the colors are all weird.

I prefer Android, so I've been holding out for a high-end one with a great camera and a non-pentile screen. If there isn't one this year, I might have to switch :(.

<comment><USER23> HTC One X has great screen and camera.

<comment><USER24> I've owned a HTC One X; the camera was far inferior to the SIII's, while the screen was way better. Not happy about the tradeoff.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> I think the challenge Apple has, even with the 5 around the corner is this. Not sure I'll explain it as well as I'd like but it goes something like this:

iPhone "1" is mind blowingly awesome. A fantastically complete device. Subsequent updates to the hardware and OS make meaningful but incremental improvements. So an original iPhone 1 is 80% of what a 5 will be.

Android early phones are fascinating but generally pretty average - <USER3> compared to an iPhone. Yet/Therefore every new hw and OS update provides substantial improvements over what's come before.

Therefore two things happen. Android phones close the absolute gap to iPhone helping for competitive wins. Secondly, Android new/upgrade phones excite the heck out of existing Android owners because they (along with the OS) are a real improvement.

I see iPhone 5 sales driven by people who held off getting an iPhone for the last two months because of the news. I don't see that other afterburner of sales though - 4 and 4S users who see a real driver to upgrade.

<comment><USER26> I bought the second iPhone. 2 years ago I bought an HTC Evo 4g to test the Android waters. I still use it (upgrading soon) and never really loved it. But it "converted" me for a few reasons:

\- The screen size. I write iOS apps at work and get annoying having to use that tiny screen. I had hopes the iPhone5 would address this. Making the screen a little taller is a weak answer.

\- More customizability. The Verge had a thread recently where they asked you to show off your phone/tablet home screen. It was a stark contrast to see the way android users personalized their home screens vs. the same grid of icons the iOS users posted. The widgets I have on my home screen tell me all kinds of things without having to run any apps.

\- More control. I can run whatever app I want on it, and I can sell my apps to other android users however I want with my own billing methods if need be. Selling Android apps is easier than dealing with the iOS App Store.

I (obviously anecdotally) think the scales have tipped. I'm running into more people loving their Android phones instead of tolerating them. The latest fad apps have launched with Android counterparts (Draw Something, SongPop). When we show our software to potential clients running on a SGSIII and an iPhone4s, they all want to touch the SGSIII phone and play with it. Side by side with the screens turned on, there's no comparison.

It's a fun "fight" to watch, and we're benefitting from it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> This is obviously just a subjective opinion, but I was using both these phones the other day (in the UK), and I was blow away to the extent that the S3 just demolishes the iPhone in form factor and just overall "sexiness."

</comment><comment><USER28> After being on iPhones for years, I've just bought an S3 for my wife. She broke the iPhone's screen last week and needed a new phone fast and.. Apple's lawsuit both made me aware of Samsung _and_ somehow put the thought in my head that the S3 must be a pretty good phone. I'd have never even thought of buying non-Apple before.

As it turns out, it's not a perfect phone but I've been pretty wowed so far while setting the phone up and might even skip the iPhone 5 and get an S3 for myself too. Oops, Apple..

</comment><comment><USER29> Given that the iPhone 5 will be announced next week, a lull in 4S sales isn't so strange.

</comment><comment><USER30> I'm sure those sales numbers will plummet once Apple pays off some other judge to block the S III from being sold in the US.

</comment><comment><USER31> Samsung's new phone is _crushing_ last year's iPhone!

<comment><USER32> Are you Macalope? :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER33> I'm pretty sure we all read this same story last year, at least once. Well, at least twice, if we count the "Verizon subscribers don't really want the iPhone" stories that came out in Q2, as iPhone sales on Verizon tapered off as people expected the new iPhone to launch around July.

<comment><USER34> Or more likely anybody who bought an AT+T iPhone 4 when it launched went out of contract in July and is waiting for the launch of the '5' before signing on again or switching to another carrier.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I think number of sales is not anywhere as important as the percentage of total profits, and Apple has an overwhelming dominance in that area. The reason I say profits is more important is because you end up with more money to allocate to R&D and innovate more. In addition, the bigger your war chest is, the better of a position you are to jump on opportunities that come up.

Perhaps this is why Apple managed to come out with two revolutionary products (iPhone and iPad) within the span of just one decade, whereas competitors are mostly stuck in reactive mode.

</comment><comment><USER36> I'm certain Galaxy S3 has tremendous success.

But I also think iPhone is in a league of its own, yesterday my jaw dropped when I saw this 'news' on TMZ <http://www.tmz.com/2012/09/04/iphone-5-release- date/> . I really don't know how to interpret it, but I think it is safe to assume it is not common for a smartphone to have an entry on this kind of site.

(don't ask me how I ended-up there, I don't remember. But I'm sure ashamed of myself.)

</comment><comment><USER37> I don't see enough numbers in the link to do the analysis, can anyone tell whether this is more due to iPhone slowdown or due to Samsung consolidating premium Android device market share with the Galaxy S III? In other words, is the iPhone really stumbling badly or is the Android market coalescing around Samsung and we are seeing the result of a 2 horse race rather than one big horse (iPhone) vs many little horses (Android)?

</comment><comment><USER38> It's also the second most popular Android device in use at the moment, according to AppBrain[0].

[0] <http://www.appbrain.com/stats/top-android-phones>

</comment><comment><USER39> It's not directly comparable. Basically iOS users have the 'choice' of one model, while Android user have dozens of models to choose from.

</comment><comment><USER40> Enjoy your 1-2 weeks at the top, I say... The 5 is around the corner

</comment><comment><USER41> I like that

</comment><comment><USER42> Isn't Apple looking to ban the S3 in the US? The new iPhone (based on rumour sites) is looking like just a taller version of the current.

<comment><USER43> Apple is looking to ban all Android devices in the US and abroad. From what the iPhone 5 looks like, they've run out of ideas and are now resorting to litigation to keep their profits up.

<comment><USER44> To be fair, we should probably wait until the product launch to comment on that. Apple are very good at keeping new features secret, so who knows.

<comment><USER42> I doubt they will change the width, there must be 1000's of apps that will break or look wrong if they change that (without updating).

<comment><USER44> That's not what I mean. They could release a new integrated service, do something with the sound, make the thing out of some new material.

They almost certainly have something their sleeve to hype that they can claim competitors don't have. If they just make the screen bigger and some minor changes to the case, they will just be seen as playing catch up.

<comment><USER30> > They could release a new integrated service, do something with the sound, > make the thing out of some new material.

Those are all relatively absurd examples. They tried the integrated-service route with Ping, and it was an unmitigated failure. What could they possibly do with the sound or the material?

Something tells me I'm going to be severely underwhelmed in a week or so.

<comment><USER44> They weren't intended to necessarily be good examples. By an intergated service, I meant something like Siri.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Supersimplesearch – Super simple search widget for your website - <AUTHOR> https://getsupersimplesearch.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> We were building a new feature for our FAQ-bot[1], that would allow us to perform a search as a fallback, when the bot doesn't have an answer. We then realized that this is actually a useful thing in its own right, so we made it into supersimplesearch. For now we're using Bing as a search engine, but if there is enough interest, we might build our own search engine around this.

[1] [https://dialogbar.com/](https://dialogbar.com/)</comment>


Bypassing the Linux kernel for high-performance packet filtering - <AUTHOR> https://blog.cloudflare.com/kernel-bypass/ <comment><USER3> We've developed packet BRICKS for this: [https://github.com/bro/packet- bricks](https://github.com/bro/packet-bricks)

Packet BRICKS is a Linux/FreeBSD daemon that is capable of receiving and distributing ingress traffic to userland applications. Its main responsibilities may include (i) load-balancing, (ii) duplicating and/or (iii) filtering ingress traffic across all registered applications. The distribution is flow-aware (i.e. packets of one connection will always end up in the same application). At the moment, packet-bricks uses netmap packet I/O framework for receiving packets. It employs netmap pipes to forward packets to end host applications.

(Credit goes to Asim Jamshed, who pulled this off as part of an internship at ICSI.)

<comment><USER4> So is the advantage that it's more performant than iptables+virtual interfaces? If I use iptables to distribute traffic over virtual interfaces do IP headers get parsed twice by the kernel in some inefficient way?

<comment><USER3> Iptables sits in the kernel and is also not available on non-Linux platforms like FreeBSD. With packet bricks you bypass the kernel and expose "virtual" interfaces to your applications by means of a simple configuration. Here's an example from the README:

            bricks> lb = Brick.new("LoadBalancer", 2)
    	bricks> lb:connect_input("eth3")
    	bricks> lb:connect_output("eth3{0", "eth3{1", "eth3{2", "eth3{3", "eth2")
    	bricks> pe:link(lb)

This binds pkteng pe with LoadBalancer brick and asks the system to read ingress packets from eth3 and split them flow-wise based on the 2-tuple (src & dst IP addresses) metadata of the packet header. The "lb:connect_output(...)" command creates four netmap-specific pipes named "netmap:eth3{x" where 0 <= x < 4 and an egress interface named "eth2". The traffic is evenly split between all five channels based on the 2 tuple header as previously mentioned. Userland applications can now use packet-bricks to get their fair share of ingress traffic. The brick is finally linked with the packet engine.

<comment><USER5> So the goals of packet bricks are portability and ease of configuration, not performance gains?

<comment><USER3> The goal is to have both. In fact, the whole point of kernel bypass is performance, so just having ease of configuration would defeat the point.

We're using packet bricks primarily for high-performance network monitoring in environments with more than 10 Gbps aggregate upstream traffic.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> In this essay the author forgot to mention PFQ, that at the time of writing represents a performant and innovative approach to packet capture and in- kernel functional processing of packets (running on-top-of vanilla drivers). The software is available at www.pfq.io.

<comment><USER7> PFQ is impressive: "Rx and Tx line-rate on 10-Gbit links (14,8 Mpps), on-top- of Intel ixgbe vanilla drivers." [http://www.pfq.io/](http://www.pfq.io/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Great prespective.

Thinking of the future: Recent experience suggests that we are able to do around 50-100 Mpps of traffic dispatching in Snabb Switch using one CPU core. I suspect that dedicated software traffic dispatchers will displace hardware (RSS, VMDq, etc) in the immediate future.

We are planning to explore this soon in the context of software dispatching for 100Gbps ethernet ports.

<comment><USER9> So would you recommend giving Snabb the NIC, letting it drop the DDoS traffic, and then injecting what's left into the kernel stack via a tap interface or something?

<comment><USER8> Great question actually.

That is one solution: take a 10G port into Snabb Switch, filter and sort the traffic, then feed a slice to the kernel e.g. via a tap device with multiqueue /dev/vhost-net acceleration (same interface that QEMU/KVM uses).

The risk I see here is that maybe it is even harder to tune your kernel when it is using a software interface for I/O instead of a hardware one. The kernel can depend on so many things (multiqueue, TSO, LRO, checksum, encap offload, etc) that can behave differently between hardware/software NICs and you would need to be confident that this will work out well. Otherwise the risk is that you take your hardest problem - tuning the kernel - and make it even harder.

If we are only talking about 2x10G ports per server then one alternative would be to connect Snabb Switch to the kernel with a physical 10G port instead of a software one. That is, separate the DDoS-protecting frontend (Snabb) from the backend (kernel) with a network cable. You could still run the Snabb application on the same server but with a dedicated network card cabled directly to the kernel. (You could also run it on a different server if you prefer.)

End off-cuff braindump :-)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> For those not at cloudflare level and don't want to reinvent the wheel, try IPSET instead of iptables

[http://daemonkeeper.net/781/mass-blocking-ip-addresses- with-...](http://daemonkeeper.net/781/mass-blocking-ip-addresses-with-ipset/)

TLDR: [http://daemonkeeper.net/wp- content/uploads/2012/05/ipset4.pn...](http://daemonkeeper.net/wp- content/uploads/2012/05/ipset4.png)

</comment><comment><USER11> This reminds me of the work the Arrakis folks are doing:

[https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/osdi14/osdi14...](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/osdi14/osdi14-paper- peter_simon.pdf)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG3b2hE4i6U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG3b2hE4i6U)

</comment><comment><USER12> The article appears to be inaccurate. Why? AFAIK it's possible to make use of netmap on a box with a single nic. I tried this out for myself about 2 years ago on a VMware virtual machine. How does it work? A user land packet filter can "forward" certain packets on to the kernel -- e.g. ssh packets in my case -- while others stick around in shared memory for kernel bypass. This means that I can ssh to the box and the ssh packets flow via the kernel, while the rest of the packets bypass the kernel, but all packets floor over the same nic. Nice :-)

<comment><USER13> Well, sure. You can use netmap and use a "host ring" to inject the packets back to the kernel. While good for toy app, this won't work in real workloads. For example host ring doesn't support multiple RX queues. The article goes into details how to work around it and just leave most of the network flows to be dealt with by the kernel, while opting-in to the kernel bypass for only selected flows.

<comment><USER12> This is the inaccurate sentence: "Snabbswitch, DPDK and netmap take over the whole network card, not allowing any traffic on that NIC to reach the kernel." Obviously with netmap traffic to the NIC may reach the kernel...

<comment><USER13> There are many ways to inject packets back to kernel. Tuntap, raw socket on loopback, "dummy" device, etc. So by this count you can always make packets reach the kernel.

There are two problems with doing the "take over the nic" techniques:

1) I don't believe you can actually push, say 2M pps back to the kernel with any of this techniques. There is a reason RSS exists, and even if you can process 10M pps on one CPU, it doesn't mean it's easy to insert them back to kernel.

2) I don't think putting a piece of custom code between CloudFlare kernel and network card is feasible on the architectural level. You really want to stand in the way and have to actively forward all these packets?

<comment><USER12> The title of the article does not mention CloudFlare; only bypassing. The fact that the CloudFlare architecture pushes a higher bandwidth of packets into the network kernel and bypasses the rest does not make it a good technique or to be recommended. If you are primarily interested in the best performance with a single NIC solution then I believe it is suboptimal. Why? You are asking the CPU to do two different types of work; optimized and unoptimized. Because of cache line pollution then the "unoptimized" work via the network kernel will pollute the other work. I may be wrong but I would bet you'd get better performance by separating your CloudFlare specific workload onto two boxes, each with one NIC. In this scenario then no cache line pollution can occur. Of course, these two boxes might not be easily possible within three existing CloudFlare architecture. But this has nothing to do with the general idea of packets bypassing the kernel. After the bypass you want the CPU to process those packets in the most efficient way...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> It doesn't mention in the article why the kernel is so slow at processing network packets. I'm not a kernel programmer so this may be utterly wrong, but wouldn't it be possible to sacrifice some feature for speed by disabling it in the kernel code?

<comment><USER15> One thing to remember is that high-speed packet filtering is an unusual workflow and CloudFlare operates at a much greater scale than most of us see: most Linux devices are not connected to 10G, much less 100G, networks and they're usually doing more work than looking at a packet to decide whether to accept or reject it. The fact that the APIs and the kernel stack were designed many years before those kind of speeds were possible doesn't matter because most sites don't have that much traffic and most server applications will bottleneck at doing other work well before that point.

The example in the article found a single core handling 1.4M packets per second. If you're running a web-server shoveling data out to clients those packets are going to be close to the maximum size which, if I haven't screwed up the math, looks something like this:

1.4M * 1400 bytes (assuming a low MTU) * 8 (bytes -> bits) = 15Gbps

That's not to say that there isn't still plenty of room to improve and, as lukego noted, there's a lot of work in progress (see e.g. [https://lwn.net/Articles/615238/](https://lwn.net/Articles/615238/) on work to batch operations to avoid paying some of the processing costs for every packet) but for the average server you'd find bottlenecks on something like a database, application logic, request handling, client network capacity, etc. before the network stack overhead is your greatest challenge. The people who encounter this tend to be CDN vendors like CloudFlare and security people who need to filter, analyze, or generate traffic on levels which are at least the the scale of a large company (e.g. [https://github.com/robertdavidgraham/masscan](https://github.com/robertdavidgraham/masscan)).

<comment><USER16> Sorry if I sound mean, but this is just a long apologist post about how things are just so hard. Really? Why? Why can't Linux match BSD's performance?

Also, 10gb servers are not rare by any means. Take a look around the next time you walk in a colo. 10 gb servers everywhere.

<comment><USER15> > Sorry if I sound mean, but this is just a long apologist post about how > things are just so hard. Really? Why? Why can't Linux match BSD's > performance?

Mostly I just wish you'd read it again: you appear to have missed the part where I said that this is a real problem which needed working on.

The point I was making is that it's not a problem for most Linux users. Linux includes millions of devices attached to sub-100Mb networks but even if you want to look solely at things in modern data centers ask yourself how many of them are running network-limited applications or are providing services to internet users over an uplink which is actually fast enough to stress modern hardware. For all but the most demanding users the Linux vs. BSD decision will be made on other factors.

<comment><USER16> Those millions of sub-100Mb network devices aren't pushing Linux forward though. Sure, they're using Linux, but they're not the ones pushing it forward. It's colo and datacenter use cases that are. A basic MySQL OLTP load with SSD's and a modicum of compute power will easily saturate a 10gig NIC. It does start to die shortly after that due to network/kernel stuff. I'd really like to get a lot more out of my existing hardware if i could.

<comment><USER15> You mean "pushing it forward in this particular direction". Again, it's great to have people working on this and better if the companies using Linux support developers working on the problem but it's only a deal-breaker for a much smaller number of people.

Just to use an example which you see a lot today: how many of the developers jumping on Docker care that much about network performance at this level? I would argue that continued development of the container system has done more to boost Linux usage than low-level networking performance, even though both are entirely legitimate and worthwhile concerns worth developer sponsorship. (ZFS has pulled in the opposite direction for people who care about storage)

From the other direction, imagine if *BSD had gotten serious about package management by the mid-to-late 90s when it was obvious how much better the experience was on Debian so that a generation of developers wasn't trained to favor Linux to avoid getting sucked into dependency management. That doesn't have anything to do with the kernel but it mattered more for many, many people. This would have been really interesting if kfreebsd had hit critical mass and made the cost of switching that much lower.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I feel like there's a disconnect between the HPC community, which has publicly deployed these techniques for years, and the broader tech community. Even some enterprise hardware uses InfiniBand (with kernel bypass) these days.

Yet you never hear about Google or AWS using kernel bypass in their load balancers, for example (possibly a trade secret, possibly the result of Linux monoculture).

<comment><USER8> I reckon that networking is transitioning from being a system programming problem (interrupt - switch to kernel - grab packet - process quickly - <USER2> back) to being a HPC problem (infinite stream of packets arriving in memory).

ISPs are where I expect to see the disruption of HPC-oriented x86 servers being supremely capable of handling work previously done by specialized hardware.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> At this point, they could presumably just use FPGAs. There are plenty of dev boards with 10GiB+ interfaces precisely because FPGAs are such a good fit for this kind of processing.

<comment><USER13> Please factor in development and support cost. There is a reason why people prefer general purpose computers to dedicated hardware. I think only big players like Google can afford dedicated hardware teams.

<comment><USER19> Not to disagree about the need to factor in the dev cost, but there's plenty of companies smaller than Google doing TCP stacks on FPGAs.

Pretty much all high-frequency trading today uses FPGAs, for instance, and that's often with teams of fewer than ten people.

<comment><USER13> This is very exciting. Can you give some examples?

<comment><USER20> [http://www.argondesign.com/case-studies/2013/sep/18/high- per...](http://www.argondesign.com/case-studies/2013/sep/18/high-performance- trading/)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDy_8Q0GdTk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDy_8Q0GdTk)

IIRC, the FPGA has been incorporated into a switch. When a market data packet starts to arrive, the system starts sending a response packet before the input packet has completely arrived and before the system has actually made a decision. While the input packet is read, the system decides whether or not it will cancel the response market order by intentionally corrupting the checksum of the output packet at the last possible instant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I've been following these posts for a while and it looks to me they've decided to go with Solarflare but haven't really explained why. I would be interested to see a fair comparison between Solarflare & openonload and their competitors such as Dolphin & super sockets, Mellanox & VMA, Chelsio & rdma. Also, if they're looking at pure PPS stats a good FPGA with a built-in hardware TCP/IP stack could be a very powerful filter.

<comment><USER22> Have they? They just noted that Solarflare's proprietary library EF_VI has an interesting approach to kernel bypass, then indicate that you can replicate that approach on other NICs and show how.

<comment><USER21> Right. The fact that it's the only proprietary platform tested biased my mind too quickly :)

<comment><USER19> It's worth noting that OpenOnload is GPLv2.

The issue is that Solarflare has patents on some of the underlying techniques. They were very open to licensing those patents for a reasonable figure when I last talked with them about it, but that wouldn't work for a general-purpose OSS project.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> ( _I wasn 't expecting so many downvotes for this question_)

I am curious about packet filtering in Windows. Anyone with experience in HN?

Now, in my company, we are doing some tests using different methods: WinPcap, WFP, NDIS, and WinPcap is the winner in a VM but we will start to test with real 10gbps ethernet cards next week.

<comment><USER24> For my Masters' work, I needed high speed tx/rx on Windows and looked into the same things you did. I can't find the statistics for the tests I ran, but WinPcap's speeds weren't much better than Winsock's, which was fairly poor. The solution I used was an NDIS kernel filter and protocol driver which pushed the packets into user-space memory. Luigi Rizzo has recently added a Windows port of netmap to his repository, so you might want to look into that: [https://github.com/luigirizzo/netmap](https://github.com/luigirizzo/netmap)

<comment><USER25> Did you look into registered I/O?

[https://technet.microsoft.com/en- us/library/Hh997032.aspx](https://technet.microsoft.com/en- us/library/Hh997032.aspx)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Good post.

And I have performance numbers with OVS-dpdk that make kernel bypass compelling since its off-the-charts while comparing with kernel datapath.

For those interested, my ovs-dpdk experiments which also include patches, README etc. for others to carry it themselves can be found here:

[https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nfe70cgksmy543k/AABD_0qsQ15e2GItX...](https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nfe70cgksmy543k/AABD_0qsQ15e2GItXDNCpxBaa?dl=0)

The perf results directory has the ovs-dpdk perf for all the use-cases in the dataplane performance pdf that you might be interested in.

Has use-cases covering up to 11VM or 11 containers with 11 IP flows to measure dataplane performance.

Also you really need a server with 1 gig hugetlb support (and also enable that for guest) to extract maximum performance.

Expected I guess ...

</comment><comment><USER12> Wouldn't it be more efficient to just have all or nearly all packets bypass the network kernel? Why compromise?

<comment><USER3> That's exactly the idea behind packet bricks (see other comment): you have one single tool that takes all the packets directly from the NIC (say eth0) and then exposes them according to your bricks configuration to a bunch of other interfaces (eth0}0, etho0}1, etc.). Very similar to Click. This layer of indirection obviates the need for shared NIC access, which is what CloudFlare works around in a more cumbersome way.

<comment><USER12> Looks interesting. I'll take a look. You might also be interested in mTCP ([https://github.com/eunyoung14/mtcp](https://github.com/eunyoung14/mtcp)), or possibly adding mTCP functionality to packet bricks?

<comment><USER3> Excellent follow up, because the main developer of packet bricks is also a co- author of mTCP :-).

<comment><USER12> :-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> > I do hope an open source kernel bypass API will emerge soon

Or how about a faster kernel? :)

<comment><USER17> The cost of kernel I/O isn't just the direct cost of time spent in the kernel. Even a really, really fast kernel will pollute the CPU caches and TLB.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Given the overhead of context switches, is it possible to take a general purpose application like nginx and use a user-mode TCP stack? For instance if I had a network adapter that is solely dedicated to nginx, and don't need any of the kernel TCP services. Is this even a viable consideration?

I've done high performance nginx, in the million request per second range (there are situations that benefit from these, though unfortunately such discussions always get waylaid by people insisting that performance doesn't matter), but there is enormous system overhead at this rate that I'd like to get around.

<comment><USER29> It's possible, you'd need to override the relevant system calls with LD_PRELOADed library.

I don't know if a complete drop-in solution is the right solution though. If your application is performance sensitive enough to require embedding a full networking stack, you might as well make use of better APIs. For example it'd be silly to indirect the event dispatching through something poll/select-like. Instead you'd much rather just have the core IO loop call the handlers directly. Or as another example, zero-copy will be impossible with a recv()-like interface where the client provides the buffer that data needs to go to, but will be trivial with an API where it's the network stack giving the client a buffer that already has the data.

If you want to experiment with this, mTCP ([http://shader.kaist.edu/mtcp/](http://shader.kaist.edu/mtcp/)) is probably the right starting point.

<comment><USER30> this is exactly how openonload works, it's pretty impressive that they get nearly all weird behaviour of the Linux socket API correct (correct behaviour across fork, select/poll/epoll, multicast behaviour, etc).

presentation: [http://www.openonload.org/openonload-google- talk.pdf](http://www.openonload.org/openonload-google-talk.pdf)</comment></comment></comment>


Scientist Transplanted a Rat's Head onto Another Rat - <AUTHOR> https://futurism.com/scientists-transplanted-one-rats-head-onto-another-hoping-to-replicate-it-in-humans/ <comment><USER2> Although ok, in this case it was head transplant, I think we should get accustomed to be talking about body transplants. The only thing that really counts for the "uniqueness" of an animal is its brain. Everything else is to support that brain and as peripheral effectors/sensors.</comment>


Public Comment: Proposed Amendment 3 to the .COM Registry Agreement - <AUTHOR> https://www.icann.org/public-comments/com-amendment-3-2020-01-03-en <comment><AUTHOR> From ArsTechnica:

> To register a .com domain on behalf of a customer, a company like Namecheap > or Dynadot must pay Verisign a $7.85 fee. Registrars typically add a few > dollars on top of this fee, but fierce competition among registrars limits > their ability to raise prices. But Verisign itself doesn't have competitors; > if you want to register a .com address, you have to do business with > Verisign.

> To prevent Verisign from abusing this monopoly, ICANN caps the fees Verisign > can charge.

> The new contract allows Verisign to raise the current $7.85 price by 7 > percent per year over the next four years</comment>


An Entrepreneur Who Wouldn't Be Stopped by Anything - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/26/business/smallbusiness/an-entrepreneur-who-wouldnt-be-stopped-by-anything.html?_r=0

<comment><USER2> Completely off topic, but this would make a great card against humanity.

"An Entrepreneur Who Wouldn't Be Stopped by Anything Except ____________"</comment>


The Odroid-Go Advance Gets an Upgrade - <AUTHOR> https://boilingsteam.com/the-odroid-go-advance-gets-an-upgrade/ <comment><USER2> original source: [https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?t=38629](https://forum.odroid.com/viewtopic.php?t=38629)</comment>


Dangerous Pickles – Malicious Data Serialization in Python - <AUTHOR> https://intoli.com/blog/dangerous-pickles/ <comment><USER2> It's quite simple: they are executable code.

</comment><comment><USER3> pickle is neat, but so is eval.

<comment><USER4> And both are easily avoided with a little work.</comment></comment>


The Ford Logo That Almost Was - <AUTHOR> http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/the-ford-logo-that-almost-was/?_r=0 <comment><USER2> I like it, it resembles somehow a car and gives a speed feeling</comment>


Minus, a new competitor to Dropbox - <AUTHOR> http://minus.com/

<comment><USER2> I have not signed up, but from examining your site it seems that you don't have payed accounts, as a user I'll be afraid to trust you my files for a long time, even for free accounts, because it will seem that you're not sustainable and will go bust some time in the future and I will lose my files.

<comment><USER3> From the help page (emphasis mine):

> Why is Minus absolutely free? > > Our goal is to create a world-class > product and experience for our users _and the business model will follow_. > We can see many ways Minus can monetize itself.

Wow. Wishful thinking?

<comment><USER4> There are many proven business models that work for this space and Minus is also currently well funded. We are here to stay and your files are safe, no worries :)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Weird title - nothing about this company seems French

<comment><USER3> Nothing indeed: <http://minus.com/pages/about>

<comment><USER6> And from the blog: "We've been at our NYC office for only a month and ..."

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah sorry seems that I completely mixed two news at the same time. This one about a dropbox "clone" and a one about a new cloud solution by a French company.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Sorry, as I said in another comment I mixed two news at the same time. I edited the title to reflect the proper pitch about Minus. My bad!

</comment><comment><USER7> "Concurrent"? Did you mean competitor, or counterpart, or clone?

</comment><comment><USER8> concurrent = competitor

<comment><USER9> Useless trivia: the French word for a competitor is "concourant", hence the mistranslation.

<comment><USER3> Useless trivia, round 2: _concourant_ (fr) is _concurrent_ (en) as in _concurrency_ (en), _concurrent_ (fr) from _concourir_ (fr) is indeed _competitor_ (en)</comment></comment></comment>


Sex robots to "feel" human touch with new 'smart skin' - <AUTHOR> https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/8030636/sex-robots-feel-human-touch-smart-skin <comment><USER2> Every day it seems more and more like were living in a Black Mirror episode. How do I get off?

<comment><USER3> When we realize that the these smart skins are fragile so we program the robots to feel pain. Then people start torturing them. Cut to end credits.</comment></comment>


HTML5 Lost, Facebook remake Android app Natively - <AUTHOR> http://lifehacker.com/5968288/the-new-facebook-for-android-has-been-rebuilt-from-scratch-is-twice-as-fast

<comment><USER2> FUD title, HTML5 is getting better and better and just need embedded platforms to support it's API natively on the bare metal.</comment>


Start at a Small Consulting Company - <AUTHOR> https://letterstoanewdeveloper.com/2019/03/29/start-at-small-consulting-company/ <comment><USER2> Does this advice apply to a new developer who wants to work for a startup or established dotcom later?

Or does it assume that they'll either want to stay in consulting long-term, or eventually move to a past client?

My recent experience is that most startups and established dotcoms don't know what to make of consulting on a resume, and they mostly want to see FAANG and some of this year's preferred frameworks.

<comment><AUTHOR> I can't speak for established dotcoms, but for startups I think that a small consulting company is a great springboard. You learn how to get up to speed on different technologies and problem spaces quickly. As mentioned in the article, there's also no place to hide at a small consulting company, just like a startup. (This doesn't apply at a big consulting shop like IBM, HP, McKinsey, etc, and I'm not sure how tenure there will be perceived at startups.)

Note that this is based on my (non bay area) experience.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Could HN be more meritocratic? - <AUTHOR> I would like to suggest a rethink of Hacker News. More specifically, I think that more should be done to limit up and down voting and comments to only those with intelligence and experience in the topics being commented on. For a few years in the 2000s, there was a smart group here, and commentary was smart, because there were only smart people here. To get back to that environment, YC could elect officials to offer only to the best of the best to join the new HN community where they would decide what goes on the frontpage and the commentary thereof. Does anyone else agree that it is a problem, and if so, how could HN limit discussion to only those with experience and wisdom in the subject matter? <comment><USER2> I think you should look the word "meritocratic" up in a dictionary.

<comment><AUTHOR> meritocratic - government or the holding of power by people selected on the basis of their ability.

I want HN's power to be held by those that are able.

I don't want the current system where we give karma votes to each other to allow each other to downvote. Nor even do I want those without significant knowledge and experience to be able to post or comment at all on the HN frontpage. In the early days, most of those on HN were worth their salt. Those were the ones that talked and the rest of us listened. It's turned into something quite different since, and I believe it's also be driving the global direction of development into a tailspin because of the appearance of authority of those that should not have it influencing behavior.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> That sounds more like a blog.</comment>