My Keyboard - <AUTHOR> http://zyghost.com/articles/My-Keyboard.html <comment><USER3> Someone with a proven skill set should be able to use Kickstarter to raise a few hundred thousand dollars to build a Datahand.

Btw, it looks like the open source project is called Dodohand: [https://github.com/dodohand/dodohand?files=1](https://github.com/dodohand/dodohand?files=1)

<comment><USER4> What about the patents? I'm sure you couldn't just copy it and there's somebody out there that Datahand owes money that will want a piece.

<comment><USER5> "Datahand patents are from <1995, so are now expired."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I use a Kinesis Advantage. I have two of them actually, one for home use, and the other as at the office. I honestly would not have a job without them. I _destroyed_ my wrists on that crappy Apple keyboard. It's awful for your wrists and gave me crippling RSI. If I use a laptop for more than an hour or two, I'm going to be feeling it later.

I've never tried the datahand. I'd love to but, my understanding is that they're super hard to find and very expensive. Also, there's a stigma that goes with weird looking keyboards. I always get comments about mine. People definitely prefer aesthetics over preventing an RSI.

Developers, protect your hands and wrists and get a GOOD keyboard.

<comment><USER7> You know, it would be easier to get an ergonomic keyboard if they were priced better.

Which now made me go look around. Has anyone used this before - <USER2> Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard

[http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Ergonomic-Keyboard- Business-...](http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Ergonomic-Keyboard- Business-5KV-00001/dp/B00CYX26BC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441556136&sr=8-1&keywords=Sculpt+Ergonomic+keyboard)

<comment><USER8> [http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/comfortable-ergo- keyboard/](http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/comfortable-ergo-keyboard/)

Disclosure: That's not my blog, and I don't own the keyboard. I do use a Microsoft Natural keyboard, which I like.

<comment><USER7> Thanks. I did see this and it's why I sort of narrowed down to that one. Amazon Q&A has it working on Linux so I might try it for myself. I was just wondering if anyone else had used it over an extended period of time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'd enjoy trying some of these alternative keyboards, but I'm addicted to TrackPoint.

Even for my desktop, I bought a "looks like just like my laptop" ThinkPad USB keyboard with a TrackPoint stick on it.

FWIW, I use vi bindings in everything I can, i3wm so I'm not wasting time dragging windows around, etc., but pragmatically I still use the mouse a lot, and it's too bad that (AFAIK?) none of these prototype/tricked out keyboards address the "okay now lift up your hand and move it 6" over to grab the mouse".

(I know TrackPoint is likely patented, but technically a few other vendors have had similar sticks over the years; maybe they had to license it? Dunno.)

<comment><USER10> We share the same goal, but I'm not a fan of TrackPoint.

Moved from a side-by-side monitor setup (laptop + external display) with external keyboard and mouse to an over-under configuration with my external (main) display elevated to eye level and my laptop, which I use primarily for its keyboard and trackpad (less for its display), on the desk.

Using the trackpad has completely alleviated the shoulder pain I used to feel when I was using an external mouse. When I switched, I worried that I'd miss my full numeric keypad. I do not.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> The Mac on the picture just reminded me that once upon a time Apple cared about our writs.

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

<comment><USER12> On a side note. I have tried typing on an tablet well after learning touch typing on a normal keyboard. I remembered Jobs' presentation and back then I believed him how easy and wonderful it is to type on a pad. It is practically impossible, even typing something as simple as an url is a pain.

<comment><USER13> Maybe you're doing it wrong? I've typed lots of posts and articles on a pad. And of course people type tons of text (messages, etc) on their iPhones and Android phones every day...

<comment><USER14> According to this game I have an average speed of 157 WPM on an iPhone 4s.

[https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/typingclass/id588121234?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/typingclass/id588121234?mt=8)

[http://imgur.com/TyEQ3nN](http://imgur.com/TyEQ3nN)

I really freaking hate typing on an iPhone 4s. I frequently hit space instead of a or backspace instead of l or m.

The keyboard isn't always the same and so sometimes I hit . instead of space.

The cheap bluetooth keyboard I bought makes typing very much nicer. That bluetooth keyboard is almost a toy, which is some indication of how terrible iPhone typing experience is.

(On a tangent: a version of that game using the hundred most commonly misspelled English words, or a simple / plain English vocabulary list would be useful. Especially if they software could speak the words at you.)

<comment><USER15> That game is horribly inaccurate. I downloaded it just now and on my first run it said I typed 185 words per minute average. That is over three words per second and I was typing nowhere close to that. More like 30 WPM while on a real keyboard I max out at 160 WPM with an average of 142.

<comment><USER14> Oh no!

Still, that means I would be even more likely to pay for a spelling / typing game that had more accurate speed tests. I'm not particularly keen on the weapons theme, so some cutesy forrest animals throwing snowballs might work.

<comment><USER13> How the duck can an application miscalculate something as basic as how WPM one gets?!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> When I first started having pains in my wrist, I learned Dvorak and am very grateful I did so. Unfortunately, I still deal with repetitive stress from keyboard use and would love an alternative to the standard keyboard.

I've looked at the Datahand, but I move around a lot with my laptop, and the Datahand isn't exactly a mobile-friendly solution.

At this point, I want some type of ubiquitous input device, so that I can 'touch type' on any surface and and with my hands and arms at natural angles. In addition, I'd like to be able to naturally interact with my environment as an input device. Google's Soli is the closest that I've seen to what I'm envisioning - [http://www.androidcentral.com/google-ataps-soli-opens- world-...](http://www.androidcentral.com/google-ataps-soli-opens-world-new- virtual-controls-radar-chip) / [https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Google%E2%80%99s+Soli](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Google%E2%80%99s+Soli)

<comment><USER17> I used to think being able to touch type on any surface would be really cool, but after some experience with the nightmare that is typing on a touch-screen mobile, I'm convinced it would just be frustrating. What makes typing satisfying (and accurate) is the feedback you get when a switch has actuated; otherwise you must be much more hesitant with your keystrokes.

FWIW I had the same objection to a fancy stationary keyboard as you, so I ended up designing and building my own tiny travel keyboard: [https://github.com/technomancy/atreus](https://github.com/technomancy/atreus)

<comment><USER16> Kudos on creating your own keyboard! How long did the design process take and do you find it helps you maintain healthy typing habits?

As for the 'cool' aspects of the Soli, I really could care less. (I've never cared about 'cool'/'hip'/'meme' things.)

 _I simply think the Soli, or other projects like it, will actually open up many, very different avenues to resolve tactile input needs._

</comment></comment></comment><comment>=====

One Concept

</comment><comment>=====

For example, I can envision having something sort of like wrist splints that I could strap to the bottom of my forearms when I expect to be doing a lot of dedicated keyboarding. On the hand-end of the splint would be traditional tactile keys (e.g. Cherry keys). But the 'splints' and their keys wouldn't have any electronics or be functional in the way our current keyboards are. Since the 'splints' won't actually be functional, there won't be wires, which means users can move their arms freely (e.g. put them on a chair's armrests, or drop them to their sides when at a standing desk). Meanwhile, the user's input is tracked by something like the Soli. The 'splint' would be custom printed for each user, and the keys could be affixed in many different ways that would facilitate _maximum ergonomic positioning_ for each individual user's keys and individual users would pick keys that had the _tactile feedback the user desires_.

Alternatively, for a graphic artist, a similar 'splint' like approach could be taken, but instead of dedicated keys, there may be small ridges, bumps, or indentations to mark important locations (e.g. a horizontal dash for the home keys and indications between keyboard keys) such that they could easily switch between typing and mousing. A setup like this would lack the tactile feedback of physical keys, but would be better suited to mouse or tablet-like drawing.

For those of us that want more functionality, there may be a keystroke or hand-motion that would move, or otherwise minimize, the input pad portion of the 'splint' so that we could pick up a drink or write on a white-board, without having to remove the splints.

</comment><comment></comment><comment>==

Other Concepts

</comment><comment></comment><comment>==

But something like the Soli would facilitate many more alternatives. For example, I could custom 3d-print a couple of pads for my thighs (something like a pilot's kneeboard, but not as bulky - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot's_kneeboard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot's_kneeboard)). When I'm sitting in a dark auditorium, I could be typing notes to my closed but still powered on device.

Since I expect something like the Soli can easily be packaged in a watch-type form, there are also lower hanging possibilities, such as interacting with public projectors, or having virtual buttons around the house (e.g. when I press the start button on my clothes washer, my Soli-watch automatically starts a timer for me, and alerts me when it's time to move the clothes to the dryer).

 _And just to be very illustrative, a person could easily 3d print (or mill wood into) DataHand-like blocks, or Atreus blocks ;-), and put Cherry keys in these blocks, then use the Soli to interpret the keystrokes._ An option like this is likely to be much more customizable than anything the original article will do. It would be easier to actually construct (e.g. no wiring). And depending on the pricing of the Soli, may end up being cheaper to boot (specifically if the Soli is used in ways beyond just keyboarding input).

 _In other words, I think the Soli (or other projects like it) will open up input methods you haven 't even considered, and optimize ideas which haven't been easy to implement with current technologies._

</comment><comment><USER18> I purchased a late-model Datahand in 2007. I was living in Phoenix at the time, and picked it up in-person. I paid around $700 for it.

What a waste of money.

It was impossible to learn how to use. Even the employee who gave me a demo could only type slowly with it. I'm sure some people mastered it, but for me, it just wasn't worth the effort. But it sure looked cool. I wanted so bad to learn how to use it, but I also had to get work done. I ended up selling it on eBay a couple years later to (I think) a Google employee.

I took it apart a few times.

The switches were simple, but novel - optical beam (if memory serves) that broke when you pushed the switch away from the central mount (one "mount" per finger, four side switches one center switch.) If I remember correctly, the switches were magnetic, so that when you relaxed your finger, they'd snap back to the mount.

You could easily 3D print the switches nowadays. The device is a lot simpler than you'd think.

<comment><AUTHOR> OP author here. My source at the now defunct Datahand company had told me that at the end of the company's life they produced very low-quality units. 50% of the units did not function properly, so it's _possible_ that was a factor in your trouble learning.

More likely though is that you gave up too soon. I know it's hard at first but like most things worth doing it takes practice. Maybe I'm biased by my special situation though.

When buying my Datahand I was very lucky. Someone was selling a pair in Sunnyvale for $30. It was in Dvorak (still is) and I had just decided to switch from SublimeText to vim. So for the next three weeks I plowed through using the Datahand (which was easy) on top of learning a new keyboard layout (which was hard) and all the vim movement/editing commands (which was annoying). It was a big chunk of effort. The hardest part by far was __not cheating and switching back to my normal habits when the going got tough__. If you already know how to accomplish a task and you're trying to learn a new method - it's very, very hard not to fall back to your proven method under the pressure of frustration. I fought that pressure many times over those three weeks but it's been one of the easiest and most rewarding investments. There's always time to save time, and their's always time for your health.

<comment><USER18> > More likely though is that you gave up too soon.

I definitely gave up too soon, but it also wasn't worth me doing it in the first place.

The mild wrist/finger pain/numbness I had went away once I started typing with my forearms in line with my hands i.e., no radial flexion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I like the idea behind the asetniop [1] chording keyboard, but it seems to be optimized for writing (which makes sense given how it auto-completes words). A few common characters in programming are hard to get to and I'm not sure it would be as fast as I'd hoped.

[1] [http://asetniop.com/](http://asetniop.com/)

<comment><USER20> "Up to 80 words per minute" doesn't look very promising.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> A python project called plover has built a open stenographer machine using their own software and 3d printed parts.

It's been on my todo list for a while but the driving force behind it is a stenographer and gets to 200+ wpm- and codes

<comment><USER16> Official site - [http://openstenoproject.org/](http://openstenoproject.org/)

Blog - [http://openstenoproject.org/](http://openstenoproject.org/)

Looks like they're close to launching a crowdfunding campaign on - [https://www.crowdsupply.com/](https://www.crowdsupply.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> These are possibly great but much like my foray into DVORAK layout, there's something to be said for consistency of layout. You just sit down and use it if it's the same as everyone else's. No embarrassing prodding and arguing with a basic keyboard. This was a killer for me in the end so I bought a shit Cherry G83 about a decade ago and have used that ever since. $20 well spent. Wonderful keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER23> I'd like to try one of these: [http://keyboard.io](http://keyboard.io).

Fairly expensive though, so I'd want to try one before parting with cash.

<comment><USER6> If you use it all day and all night, it's worth the cost.

<comment><USER23> Yeah, I agree. However this particular keyboard may or may not work for me. I like my Cherry MX keyboard but it would be good to try something more ergonomic.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> I personally had one of these:

[http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-64338-Comfort-Type- Keyboard...](http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-64338-Comfort-Type- Keyboard/dp/B0000C4DX6)

It wasn't the best keyboard, but the keys did seem to fall nicely underneath the natural angle of my wrists. It also didn't have the awkward feeling of a split keyboard.

<comment><USER12> That layout goes against usual touch typing rules.

[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/To...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Touch_typing.svg/790px- Touch_typing.svg.png)

As you can see the rule for the left index finger is: 4 R F V, but the keyboard you posted suggests a layout: 6 T F C

The latter layout look appealing, and I wonder why is touch typing using the former rule, since it makes both right and left hand move on a right diagonal instead of right-right, left-left.

At a first glance none of them has any visible advantage.

<comment><USER25> Seems like the main problem with that setup would be, if you turn your wrists outward to hit the 6TFC layout (and mirror with your right hand), you'll have quite a stretch to reach 'B' with either side. (Otherwise it would be great, as your wrists would be in a more natural position, without the need for a split keyboard.)

<comment><USER12> Exactly. Perhaps 'B' is the reason touch typing uses that strange rule. I'm using it, but the 'B' key was still hard to reach and was causing strain. So I remapped it to the right of 'L', where there is basically an unused key( I use 'shift + ,' to get ';' ).

I want to try the layout from that keyboard[0], but I wonder if it would be a waste of time, since it would take at least a month to obtain a normal typing speed.

[0]:[http://ecx.images- amazon.com/images/I/71oyo6vGNoL._SL1500_.j...](http://ecx.images- amazon.com/images/I/71oyo6vGNoL._SL1500_.jpg)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> The Datahand is a great tool for folks with severe injuries that make it painful or impossible to type on standard keyboards, but I wouldn't recommend them to someone healthy. Even the fastest Datahand typists I've seen only achieve moderately high speeds (though to be fair they can't type on anything else, so that's still a great boon). Sourcing used Datahands is difficult and expensive, and they have an extremely steep learning curve.

I've only ever tried typing on one for half a day, so don't take what I say as gospel, but I've spent months thinking about keyboard shapes and hand anatomy, and my opinion is that many of the motions used by the Datahand are inherently awkward and slower to repeat or coordinate than the motions required for typing on more standard-ish keyboards. The idea is to use semi-awkward motions, but actuate with a very light touch, so that not much force is required, reducing impact shock. This is great for folks with injuries, but not the best way to optimize for healthy typists.

The standard keyboard does have significant flaws, but these can be solved in better ways, more closely aligned with human hand anatomy. Even on a standard keyboard, it's possible to type without injury.

Here are some recommendations to help stave off RSI:

(1) Most importantly, keep your wrists as straight as you reasonably can. This is more important than any other aspect of typing technique IMO. Make sure to tilt the keyboard such that the plane of the keys is parallel to the plane of the forearms. Try using a low desk and/or a high chair and bringing the keyboard in close to the body to allow typing with the upper arms hanging down loosely instead of extending outward or forward, and the elbows at a >90° angle, with the wrists and palms floating in the air rather than resting on any surface. (2) Try to type with a springy light touch, and use only a little more force than absolutely necessary to actuate the keyswitches on whatever keyboard you use. If the keyboard is a cheap rubber dome board, and the keys must be mashed down hard to function, get a different keyboard. Mechanical keyswitches are much more comfortable for long-term typing. (3) Take brief breaks from typing every 15–30 minutes and longer breaks from sitting every hour or so. Stand up, stretch, go to the bathroom or get a fresh coffee. Walk around the block and think for a while if you want. Don't type for 8+ hours/day if you can help it (you probably can unless you're a data entry clerk or transcriptionist, and those jobs are getting rarer these days). (4) Try to get enough sleep, exercise, eat well, and avoid too much chronic stress.

For someone who wants something better (more efficient and more comfortable) than the standard layout:

(4) Try a split keyboard. An otherwise-standard split keyboard is a good gentle-learning-curve alternative, look up the Matias ErgoPro for the best one currently on the market. If you're braver, try a Maltron or keyboardio. (5) Change the logical layout, try switching away from QWERTY to a layout that requires less awkward/uncomfortable motions. Most usefully, remap common functions like backspace, return, shift, escape, and arrows to more convenient locations. Add multiple layers and place common symbols and functions near the home row on a layer instead of at the far corner of the keyboard.

I could add a bunch more suggestions, but this comment is long enough for now.

Everyone come ask questions and chat on the Geekhack keyboard ergonomics forum! [https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=125.0](https://geekhack.org/index.php?board=125.0)

<comment><USER3> I did a small write up on ergonomic keyboards: [https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/the-model-01-an- heir...](https://h4labs.wordpress.com/2015/07/16/the-model-01-an-heirloom- grade-keyboard-for-serious-typists)

As for RSI, there are lots of anecdotes about how to prevent and treat it. I don't think there's anything definitive. I have a large collection of notes: [http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html](http://thespanishsite.com/public_html/org/ergo/rsi.html)

<comment><USER27> Good to see the link to the Mind Body approach — I tried all the variations on swapping out gadgets but eventually traced it back to excess caffeine causing me to work at a much higher level of stress. As an RSI sufferer I needed to relax and realize that I'm not going to get all my goals done _today_ , but that that's ok. It's more of a mind problem than a body problem (I know lots of computer users who spend countless hours in ergonomically catastrophic positions).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I used a das with blank keys and cherry blues for some years, got tired of looking for the characters under the numbers (never could reach them from the home row) and got a wasd keyboard with the number symbols printed there and nothing else.

At the same time, coincidentally, I switched to cherry Browns. Best. Decision. Ever.

I still have my das at home, and the wasd at the office, but I'm going to have to get a second wasd for home, switching back to the das every evening is too painful.

The other thing that is critical for making mechanical keyboards usable is a foam wrist rest. Even a cheap one from the web without testing will do wonders for mechanical keyboards with their keys set high. (I think the one good thing about the apple keyboards was that they keys were low enough to avoid those things.)

</comment><comment><USER29> The King's Assembly [http://solidartlabs.com/](http://solidartlabs.com/) is a possible alternative if you don't mind preordering, though without the Datahand's distinctive keys.

<comment><AUTHOR> Author here - that's actually pretty close to what I have in mind. Coupling the mouse and the keyboard would be sweet, but I think the switches are a bit funky. Like on a regular keyboard it still takes each finger two movements to click. One for moving to the switch and one for pressing the switch. On a Datahand the act of moving to the switch is also the act of pressing it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I just use these [http://i.imgur.com/sghAbky.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/sghAbky.jpg) (MS Ergo 4000) everywhere, they are sufficiently well built for the price point that I have one at home, one at the office and a spare in the closet in case either breaks.

with the wrist lift on the front they allow an entirely natural posture which I've found a big benefit, especially as I have a back condition so a relaxed neutral position is a big win.

It's a shame they seem to be replacing them in favour of a moderner version with chiclet style keys.

<comment><USER31> The Ergo 4000 is the keyboard that made me rage quit Microsoft keyboards. As far as I'm concerned it's the inflection point of the race to the bottom in the MS keyboard group. Bad key travel, bad decisions about keyboard layout, generally crappy build quality.

MS keyboards are frustrating. Their latest attempt at an ergo had a lot of promise, but they nerfed the function and escape keys to the point of unusabiity. (I know that F-keys are awful, but all of the software I use is addicted to them, so...)

I would pay quite a bit of money for a keyboard that didn't suck.

I just want a vanilla split keyboard with decent key travel. And it looks like I'm going to have to start building keyboards myself to get one.

<comment><USER32> I have a few ergo 4000's and the build quality is most certainly _not_ crappy, this makes me skeptical about your other grivences.

However, I have found that people not used to the tilted + split-key design style find it weird. And it is a big keyboard.

My personal issue with the 4000 is the worthless "zoom" toggle in the middle. It would be much better as a vertical scroll, or even better as a trackball/nub. Whatever Msft design committee who put the Zoom+Back/Forward buttons should be shot.

<comment><USER33> >I have a few ergo 4000's and the build quality is most certainly not crappy, this makes me skeptical about your other grivences.

Do you have the experience to say things like this? If you've used good keyboards the Ergo 4000 is just like every other crappy plastic rubber dome keyboard you can buy.

Compare the build quality of the 4000 against say, an ErgoDox ([http://jjt.io/assets/media/jjt-ergodox.jpg](http://jjt.io/assets/media/jjt- ergodox.jpg))

<comment><USER30> I do, prior to using the 4000's I was using mechanicals for a significant period of time (back to Model M's).

Yeah the key-feel on the 4000 isn't as good as a MX Blue or equiv but it's not significant enough to actually matter and in every other way they are a more comfortable experience.

The ErgoDox costs at least 5 times what a 4000 does so I'm not sure that's a fair comparison you are comparing a VW Polo to a Audi A7.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> I'm intrigued by [http://keymouse.com](http://keymouse.com) someone have experience with it?

I use a MS Natural Keyboard, but wish to have ergo+mechanicals...

<comment><AUTHOR> That's pretty cool, I wonder if it takes much force to move and what happens if you move both at the same time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> If you're still using a straight keyboard (like the tiny Apple keyboard you see in this picture), you absolutely need to get an ergonomic keyboard now. Carpal tunnel syndrome will catch up with you eventually, in a minor or major way, but either way, once it hits, typing on a keyboard will hurt for the rest of your life.

You don't need to go with an expensive keyboard but at least, spend $30 and get yourself a Microsoft Natural keyboard, which is awesome and dirt cheap.

Your wrists will thank you.

<comment><USER36> Don't listen to that man.

Go and try one of those first. I have been touch-typing for years, and the only thing I really, really like in a keyboard in the end is 1) knowing when I pushed a key or not, 2) flat fucking keys with distances between them and short travel.

So you might not like those curvy keyboards at all. I know I don't.

<comment><USER35> None of what you say invalidates what I said. You like typing on regular keyboards, fine. But you're killing your wrists and tendons one day at a time.

There are plenty of varieties of ergonomic keyboards, pretty sure you will eventually find one you'll like, especially if you give yourself some time to adjust.

<comment><USER36> I have had a look at the popular five-or-so, and really, no adjusting is going to get around the fact that I didn't like typing on any of them more than I like a flat, spacey key design with short travel.

And "regular keyboards" are a nightmare. They don't push your finger back when they activate.

I can sure understand where you're coming from, because I too have had the experience of being frustrated with a keyboard to the point where my wrists hurt all the time and I just avoid typing until I get to use something passable.

It's just that what's considered "ergonomic" is tied directly to the usage case. Many people won't find what you found where you looked for it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> If you find good ergo computer equipment, buy two extra copies.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great advice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> I have a Kinesis Advantage and I love it. I'd really like to try out a Datahand...

</comment><comment><USER39> Also, what keyboard layout are you using? I'm currently learning DVORAK in [http://www.typingstudy.com](http://www.typingstudy.com)

</comment><comment><USER40> Maybe I can __type __faster with this stuff, but what about editing? I surely can 't use vim as smooth as I can now using this keyboard.

</comment><comment><USER41> Triggered my OCD though when I saw the palm rest...

Yikes! Needs a bath!

<comment><USER42> Datahand palm rests detach really easily and come out of the dishwasher super clean.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I'll try that!</comment></comment></comment>


Should Japan Kill This Cat? - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJVAADBFZ_0 <comment><AUTHOR> A modest proposal looking to solve the problem of a common, cuddly invasive species - the domestic cat.</comment>


Disney's Big Bet on Streaming Relies on BamTech - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/business/media/bamtech-disney-streaming.html <comment><USER2> MLB has been _very_ well known in streaming circles for a long time.

<comment><USER3> Heh...I had a similar take. My reaction on reading the title: "That's a dumb decision, why didn't they go with MLB Advanced Media?"

Then I read the article and found out they've just changed their name. Yawn...I guess "Disney makes smart, somewhat obvious decision" doesn't have the same clickbait appeal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I don't think you can be "the company that built HBO Now" and "little-known" at the same time, even if people don't know them by name.

</comment><comment><USER5> Clickbait answer: BAMTech[0]

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

<comment><USER6> 'Little known tech company' aka a multi billion dollar company. The only reason it isn't well known is because MLB while it owned them did not attempt to differentiate the branding or make it a standalone entity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> We gotta stop with this "little-known" story for tech companies that actually look like real companies (have customers, make a profit, etc). Just because a company doesn't land on the frontpage of TechCrunch doesn't mean it's not a legitimate contender for our attention.

I live in SV and it's amazing to me how myopic the world is here, and how it gets projected into the mainstream.

<comment><USER8> Some tech companies even exist in the little-known state of Wisconsin!</comment></comment>


Tech Companies Fight Back After Years of Being Deluged with Secret FBI Requests - <AUTHOR> https://theintercept.com/2016/06/21/tech-companies-fight-back-after-years-of-being-deluged-with-secret-fbi-requests/ <comment><USER2> _The FBI's decision to ask companies for everything and let them figure out what they're required to turn over has had the effect of potentially putting smaller companies with fewer resources at a disadvantage, say national security attorneys. Without expensive legal representation and a familiarity with the law, companies might turn over more content than is necessary._

You'd think the FBI wouldn't be able to just demand all kinds of stuff they have no legal right to.

It's sad that the current state of our legal and political systems allows this sort of tactic to be effective and go unpunished.

<comment><USER3> Liberal democracies usually operate under the principle that you can ask anything you want of someone, and it's up to them to say "no" if they find it disagreeable. The law is then there to step in when there is a dispute and say which party is right. Even the Bill of Rights depends upon people specifically asserting their rights; if a person voluntarily chooses to incriminate themselves, they've still incriminated themselves, the 5th amendment just states that if the government asks them to bear witness against themself and they refuse to speak, they have done nothing wrong.

While this can lead to unfortunate power imbalances and information asymmetries, it's hard to see how the legal system could operate otherwise. If people were forbidden from asking - who would do the forbidding? What if this is used to prevent contracts that would legitimately be in the best interest of both parties? What if it were used to prevent emerging power centers from challenging the power of the organization that can determine what's legal to ask? How would you even know that such a question has occurred, if one party says "Don't talk about this"?

Probably the best we can hope for is for Congress to pass a law specifically enumerating what electronic records the FBI may request. That seems to be what this article is calling for - consciousness-raising, and public debate. There's plenty of precedent for this, eg. the Miranda rights came from a court case where it was determined that police could not simply _assume_ that a suspect was aware of their constitutional rights, and had to explicitly have them enumerated. But the fact that this needs to be handled on a case-by-case basis is a feature of the legal system, not a bug.

<comment><USER4> It is one thing to ask, quite another to demand and claim that the law is able to compel the other party to comply. Especially materially misrepresenting the law during a demand by a powerful party that should have known better. Do you think we can't distinguish this from a regular request?

<comment><USER5> They should be required when asking for something to state whether it is a lawful order or a request.

But the real problem is that the government would lie anyway and can't be trusted. It's sad that our "protectors" have become so corrupt and dishonorable.

Oh, also there should be real consequences when agencies are caught lying or being dishonorable. I can dream, right?

<comment><USER6> The problem with the "lawful order or request" split is that, even if they make it very clear, there's the implicit threat of escalation if you don't agree.

Today you refuse a request. Maybe tomorrow they convince a judge to let them very publicly come to your offices to take the data.

I suspect that fear drives many people and companies to cooperate, even if they understand that there's a choice.

<comment><USER4> They can convincea judge to do that anyway, _if it was a lawful request_.

<comment><USER5> Exactly.

I believe the next step after a request would not be a search warrant, it would be a warrant for the data lawfully requested. A company would not be able to refuse such a lawful request. IANAL though, so what do I know.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> One not-perfect trick: Stop retaining sensitive information. There is _nothing_ in law that forces you to do retain things like IP addresses.

[https://www.eff.org/issues/mandatory-data- retention/us](https://www.eff.org/issues/mandatory-data-retention/us)

Then they can harass you for data all the time with illegal shit "court" orders and you can give them garbage and they can do nothing about it.

This is the best method I've seen for dealing with this problem on a budget. Unfortunately the tradeoff is losing a lot of not-especially-effective tools for dealing with spammers and the like.

<comment><USER8> As far as IP address goes, you could store a cryptographic hash of the IP, rather than the IP itself. That would prevent you from, say, identifying entire subnets used by spammers, but would be better than nothing.

You'd just need to do the hashing with some kind of tamperproof keystore that exploded when the FBI fiddled with it.

<comment><USER9> This wouldn't work without some really bizarre implementation that would make it less of a hash and more of a cipher. The range of potential values is too small and highly structured, generating a rainbow table would be braindead simple.

> ...tamperproof keystore that exploded...

So not one way hashes then?

<comment><USER7> Generating a salt and tossing it into scrypt would break any rainbow table attempts, but it's still only 4,294,967,296 or so addresses for v4. It's pretty hard for a small government to do it, but I wouldn't put it past the NSA.

This is how we've implemented IP address retention at Neocities, BTW: [https://github.com/neocities/neocities/commit/4983a9b24eac00...](https://github.com/neocities/neocities/commit/4983a9b24eac00b8d8bfd300a18cdcee0152a271)

Step two is to throw them away after x amount of time. It's not perfect, but there you go. The best way is still to throw them away from the beginning, but we do need them for spammers and the like.

<comment><USER9> Subtract 588 million reserved IPs, as well as 2 from each subnet (0 and 255). There are also a lot of blocks that are publicly routable but see no use on the internet. If I were to build a rainbow table, I'd start with blocks assigned to ISPs, then throw in the results of publicly available distributed internet surveys, only then would I start the algorithmic address generation. Same story for IPv6. I really don't think it is a state actor level problem, but if it is it won't be for long.

<comment><USER7> Right, no I agree, except that the rainbow table won't work if you used a salt. You'll need to brute force it for that particular salt value.

Still quite doable, if you have the right resources at hand. As you pointed out, it's less than the entire IPv4 space too.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The rsync.net warrant canary is 10 years old this year.

[https://www.rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt](https://www.rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt)

<comment><USER11> Just curious, why is a latest newpaper headline part of a warrant canary?

<comment><USER12> The idea with a canary is that some government request can stop you from disclosing that request ("hey everyone we got subpoena'd") but they can't stop you from NOT updating a page. Putting a newspaper headline on the page basically provides a timestamp so anyone checking can go "hey, their canary hasn't been updated in 6 months... maybe something happened". At least that's my understanding of it.

<comment><USER13> Would a date not suffice?

<comment><USER12> You can't put the headline in there before it's been published, whereas you can put any date you like.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I wonder if companies could just invoice the FBI for document processing or administrative fees. Just follow the FOIA fee structure. Or, charge a whole lot.

You can't make the NSL public, but it's not like you're complying with a warrant or something that would be immune from fees.

Of course the government will refuse to pay, so you sue. Presumably you could subpoena the emails around the NSL without disclosing the NSL. "We need to get this information from $tech_company", $tech_company provided the information. pay me.

</comment><comment><USER15> The FBI et al issue NSL's without a court order and on their own prerogative correct?

In that case the FBI can _get a warrant_ like the constitution they swore to uphold demands of them.

I'm tired of people bending over backwards for unconstitutional poppycock like warrant-less surveillance. It's a fundamental part of _the supreme law of the land, the constitution!_

</comment><comment><USER16> A more-detailed exposition on the topic: [https://www.emptywheel.net/2016/06/21/key-details-about- the-...](https://www.emptywheel.net/2016/06/21/key-details-about-the-mitch- mcconnell-bid-to-expand-fbi-surveillance/)

</comment><comment><USER17> > The FBI's decision to ask companies for everything and let them figure out > what they're required to turn over has had the effect of potentially putting > smaller companies with fewer resources at a disadvantage, say national > security attorneys. Without expensive legal representation and a familiarity > with the law, companies might turn over more content than is necessary.

Tech companies should jst turn over more than they're required. If they demand info on 5 users, send 10K gzipped blend of fake & real users and random images from imgur.

<comment><USER18> It's fun to speculate on things like this but when in the shoes of a small company faced with that request, without the clout of places like Apple and Google, I would _not_ want to piss off the FBI.

<comment><USER19> Who's the FBI?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> It would be curious to know if given the choice of supporting mass surveillance or not being able to use services and products from brands like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia, etc. - what consumers would choose.

If they'd opt to use those brands, seems like the answer to change maybe very simple.

<comment><USER5> I feel like the public has already implicitly chosen convenience over privacy and freedom.

IMO it is up to us techies to come up with a private and open system that offers the same conveniences without the privacy problems.

The perfect system to me would support:

\- distributed (p2p) to avoid isolated silos and censorship

\- Tor-style privacy

\- encryption

\- multi-user database support to allow dynamic sites (ie users have access to store their own posts/data on a site), not just static pages

\- distributed torrent-style downloading and streaming of large files

\- some kind of bitcoin payment system for people mirroring sites?

Zeronet combined with Tor is very interesting to me, although currently it doesn't support large file chunking or payment-for-storage.

IPFS is good but doesn't have the privacy or multi-user database support.

<comment><USER20> Freenet comes close, no database or torrent iirc though. Or dynamic sites(to my knowledge).

<comment><USER5> It also seemed very complicated to put your own sites up on Freenet. Seems like it's pretty easy for an individual to put something up on IPFS or Zeronet.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> _"Had the FBI put a reasonable position on the table … five years ago they probably would've got that through," Gidari argues. "They're their own worst enemy on this stuff."_

</comment><comment><USER22> At this point, I honestly fail to see why the FBI is allowed to continue existing. They seem antithetical to a democratic society.

</comment><comment><USER23> Just playing devils advocate but...

Aren't the FBI the good guys going about catching criminals and terrorists? So aren't we morally obliged to help rather than stamp our feet and say no and then publish a blog post about how we are fighting back against the tyranny of law enforcement. FFS.

<comment><USER24> Do you think that government agencies are beyond reproach and should not be held accountable for their actions?

Unfortunately the FBI has a long history of activities clearly contrary to the public good.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is it worth creating yet another programming course? - <AUTHOR> There's a lot of content out there on how to learn Python, but I'm passionate about teaching. Does anyone have suggestions on content they'd be interested in, or a particular medium (like a YouTube course)? <comment><USER2> I find myself watching a lot of good Youtube content that isn't even directly related to me. For example, I'm a guitar player, but I love watching Davie504 and TwoSetViolin. Slap like now!

Likewise for programming I'm mainly interested in Common Lisp and only occasionally toy around with other languages (I actually loved learning Perl5 and miss it dearly. Perl 6 just makes my head spin.). Even so, I watch a lot of Youtube tutorials that cover or overlap things that are interesting to me just to see how those "other language" handle things.

Hell I even let ads play through on videos I like, and autistic me absolutely hates ads. And I upvote every video I enjoy. There are a tonne of videos on every particular subject - watch and emulate the popular ones and you could easily amass an audience. Including people like me who don't actually do any python programming, but enjoy taking the occasional ride. It's definitely worth it if you have the personality for it.

</comment><comment><USER3> I think YouTube is a good option. If you really want to do this, just start it. I recently started doing something similar and plan to expand to youtube.</comment>


Austan Goolsbee to Head the CEA - <AUTHOR> http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/austan-goolsbee-to-head-the-cea/62784/

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting comment in the article on the AOL/TimeWarner deal and on acquisitions in general. For example,

 _What price will the owner be willing to sell the asset at?

The answer, of course, is that he will be willing to sell the asset for the present value of all the future exorbitant fees he's planning to charge you, less a discount because it's nicer to get all the money now in a big pile, rather than in dribs and drabs over the years.

Assuming that your discount rate is approximately the same as that of the asset's owner, you can easily see that it is impossible to make money off the transaction; you'll just be giving him the money now, rather than later. The discount you receive for your troubles will probably be about equal to your borrowing costs, plus the lower liquidity you get from owning, rather than renting, an asset._</comment>


(Futurama) Bender Smartspeaker using completely offline software - <AUTHOR> https://www.reddit.com/r/raspberry_pi/comments/g3whxq/i_will_make_my_own_smart_speaker_with_blackjack/ <comment><USER2> Nice. Since there's no way I'm going to put a multi-billion-dollar company's 'smart' speaker in my apartment, I've been wanting to build something offline like this inside an old dial telephone (like a red Bat phone) which only listens to your commands when you pick up the handset. ;)

<comment><USER3> I like the idea. I'm shocked that a ras pi has enough cpu power to make this work.

<comment><USER4> My Dad used to use voice typing on his old Pentium II laptop in the late 90s. It's doable, although a lot less reliable than the ones nowadays.</comment></comment></comment>


In Search of Forty Winks: Gizmos for a good night's sleep - <AUTHOR> http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/08/in-search-of-forty-winks?mbid=gnep&intcid=gnep&google_editors_picks=true <comment><USER2> What a load of strange voodoo devices. Seems like if you slap an LED onto something you can sell anyone snake oil...

If you're legitimately struggling with sleep/tiredness, go do a sleep study at a doctors, if you're worried about the cost of a sleep study you can buy a cheap (under $30) pulse oximeter and pre-screen yourself for several conditions (e.g. obstructive and central sleep apnea, some heart issues, some other breathing problems), and only then go get a real sleep study if you have them.

Then once you get diagnosed spend $150 on a CPAP/APAP/BiPap which you'll use for up to five years, and it will do far more to improve your sleep than some magical set of glasses or w/e these snake oil salesman are selling this week. Plus a legitimate medical device gives you useful diagnostic information (e.g. AHI level) and you can continue to take advantage of your oximeter even with the CPAP to monitor your sleep/condition.

I am just saying this is one area which medical science DIDN'T forget.

<comment><USER3> Do you have a suggestion for a pulse oximeter that I can use overnight. Quick googling doesn't give me anything in the price range.

<comment><USER2> On Amazon look up the "CMS 50D+" (note the + at the end). It will do what you want, and produces a CSV file.

It is currently $36 so a little over what I said, but has been below $30 previously.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> They should add birth control to the list :P I think I've had maybe 3 nights of uninterrupted sleep in the year and a half since my son was born.

</comment><comment><USER5> This is just anecdotal but the problem with spending a large amount of money on a great bed, pillow, and other comforts is that you get extremely use to it (ignoring medical issues).

So once you go to a hotel, friends house, etc it becomes impossible to sleep there.

For example what is the deal with hotels not having fitted sheets. Or just spending a little more for higher thread count. I remember as a kid I could sleep on anything. Sadly now if I don't have 500 thread count Egyptian cotton and down pillows.. its going to be a shitty night.

Thus some sort of travel bedding solution might interest me otherwise if I start traveling again I'm thinking about practice sleeping on the floor since that is at least consistently available :)

<comment><USER6> If you learn to sleep on something less than a full bed, as 1/2 the world does, then you should be good to go at any hotel. I personally have never found anything the west would call a mattress that is firm enough for my tastes. The best sleeps I've had have been on a 1" thermarest inside a bivi sack strapped to a cliff. It's not about the bed. It's about what you are doing and how stressed you are while doing it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> This was a good read. A nice anecdote full survey of the better sleep inducing gadget market and the myriad of ways people are attempting to tackle it.

Gives some real credence to the old adage "There's more than one way to skin a cat".

And it just goes to show, even if a space is crowded, if you can think outside the box there's probably a way to get in.

Especially when it's something as fundamental as a good nights sleep.

Plus a few good laughs never hurts an article. Cheers to the New Yorker for providing me with a weeks worth of interesting articles for my subway rides without fail every issue.

<comment><USER8> Up-vote...

Not sure why you got down-voted...the New Yorker is quite famous for an occasional lighthearted "survey--type" article like this...maybe the down- voter is unaware of this...

I've been a subscriber for over 25 years...like you, I look forward to each issue...

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> >> In 1879, a Canadian medical journal recommended hemlock. Presumably, no repeating was required.

That hemlock was almost certainly not THAT hemlock.

"Tsuga [...]is a genus of conifers in the pine family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuga)

"Conium maculatum (hemlock or poison hemlock) is a highly poisonous perennial herbaceous flowering plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, native to Europe and North Africa." [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium_maculatum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conium_maculatum)

I seriously doubt that the Canadian journal was suggesting the same hemlock used on Copernicus.

<comment><USER9> Copernicus?

Surely Socrates.

<comment><USER6> Yes, my mistake. Too many historical figures and too many execution methods. I commented because while hiking I often run into people who think that hemlock trees are somehow dangerous.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I really miss Wakemate. Despite the wristbands being not terribly well-made (I went through three of them), it's the only system that did exactly what I needed it to do, which is to wake me up within a 20-minute window at a point where bodily movement is higher than usual. Worked like a charm for me. There are apps that do this but they require you to sleep with your phone next to you on the bed, and I can't imagine that they work as well as a wristband...

</comment><comment><USER11> "As a child, I was convinced that turning in meant missing out on illicit fun." Hahahahaha.. Just wait till you have kids. What goes around, comes around. You're going to hoard sleep like it's the last cup of water in the Sahara. Since my first was born I remember sometimes with amazement that there was a time when I could just go to sleep anytime I wanted, but yet I _chose_ to stay up late.. I must have been crazy.

</comment><comment><USER12> The only modern device I've found that did tangible good was a sleep app that woke me up within a time range based on how active my body movements were. I found it was _much_ easier to weak up.

The Phillips light was also decent, but not as good as the app.

The main problem was that it felt weird to have my phone laying on my bed, and I worried it'd fall on the ground.

<comment><USER13> > The only modern device I've found that did tangible good was a sleep app > that woke me up within a time range based on how active my body movements > were.

Can you provide a reference so I can check it out?

<comment><USER12> I don't remember exactly which, but I _think_ it was this one:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm- clock/id32...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sleep-cycle-alarm- clock/id320606217?mt=8)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I bought a phillips wake-up light alarm clock from Amazong for about £75 (the one with the colour spectrum light). Seems to help.

</comment><comment><USER15> Four things that actually help -

1) a shower before sleeping.

2) stop using iPad/iPhone and TV two hours before sleep. (I also use orange light bulbs which don't emit blue light near bedtime.)

3) begin sleep and wake up at regular times.

4) settling down mentally for the day gradually two hours before sleep.

</comment><comment><USER16> I must admit I have little faith in any electronic device solving sleeplessness (aside from medical issues). White noise generator...maybe...if you can't fix the underlying issue - bad environment.

For me a combination of right temp (coldish), melatonin (500mg), flux (the PC app) and rooibos (because no caffeine) does the trick.

<comment><USER17> You take... 500mg of melatonin? Do you mean mcg? Or is the pill itself like 10mg of melatonin and 490mg of filler?

If you're seriously taking 500mg of melatonin, please see a doctor for advice on the right dosage. The proper dosage is between 0.2mg and 20.0mg according to WebMD. I have never seen a melatonin pill higher than like 6mg.</comment></comment>


3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Recoverable Oil in ND/MT - <AUTHOR> http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911

<comment><USER2> Stories like these always pop up and sound impressive until you realize that's less than a year of oil for the US.

</comment><comment><USER3> I have also just discovered what looks like at least a billion barrels of oil below my left thumb's nail.</comment>


Breastfeeding women protest outside Facebook offices - <AUTHOR> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/breastfeeding-women-protest-outside-facebook-offices/8673?tag=mantle_skin;content <comment><USER2> You can have all pictures of violence you want in America but absolutely no pictures of women taking care of their babies. Society must be held back firmly in the 19th century or the religious right might explode.

</comment><comment><USER3> I never thought I'd actually agree with Facebook, and even most other instances of this censorship - but I do. These companies have every right to do whatever they want because it is theirs - not yours. You choose to give up those rights by using the service, and despite the fact that you do not agree with it, you said you did by signing up and agreeing with their terms. I'm not disillusioned by joining these services since I completely understand I have to play within their rules. I would expect the potential for backlash at any brick-and-mortar store if I wore a shirt with pictures of breastfeeding or a crude image, but if I did so, it would be under that guise. I would not, then, protest that store if they told me to leave.

If you want completely free speech then pay for a website and post all the pictures you want, but to waste your time protesting the rights of a company to say "I don't like these pictures on our servers and brand" is just a ridiculous waste of energy. They have rights just as much as you do but there is no reason they should bend to the will of a small majority of people who are mixing personal pictures with very public ones or who post pictures for shock effect or even out of sheer ignorance.

<comment><USER4> I'm sure people understand that. I think their point is just to make sure Facebook are aware of how they feel on the subject. You have to remember, it's hard for individuals to get in contact with these big FaceLess companies without making their arguments public, that's why you see so much of this kind of thing these days.

<comment><USER5> I'm sure many people DON'T understand that, as it's fairly normal to see peoplecriticizing "free" companies (Facebook, Flickr, etc) for excluding them when they clearly violate their TOS (sometimes more than once)...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Britain has the worst breastfeeding rates in Europe, USA aren't doing much better either. In short, this is due to the introduction of commercially available formula milk, and breastfeeding becoming "unfashionable". As you probably know, breastmilk is the very best thing that you can give a baby, it has a ridiculous amount of benefits.

In order for more women to choose to breastfeeding over formula feeding it needs to become normalised again. In order to normalise breastfeeding people have to be exposed to it more so that it is not weird and so that they are not shocked by it. It should not be a private thing, it should be a sociable thing like it is in many other countries around the world.

They don't remove pictures of women flashing all of their cleavage or prancing around in pants with their hands over their boobs. THAT is offensive (and slightly slutty). Breastfeeding is definetely not.

Breastfeeders are angry because they feel that by banning images of breastfeeding women (most of which don't even feature nipples) facebook is communicating the wrong moral messages. As facebook has such a large impact on society, it is very important that they play their part in helping to promote breastfeeding, and not making it seem an offensive & disgusting thing that should be censored. If facebook was run by mums and not adolescent boys then this wouldn't be happening.

</comment><comment><USER7> I guess this may seem insensitive, and I admit, I will never understand, as I'm a young, single, childless male.

Why do you need to post these pictures? It's not that I find these pictures offensive, but the odd time I see somebody breastfeeding in public, I do catch myself being slightly thrown off. It seems like a very private thing. Why do you WANT to post these pictures online?

<comment><USER8> I think part of the point they're protesting is the notion that breastfeeding should be a private, personal thing. These women believe it's normal, natural and there's no reason it shouldn't be public - like if you were to kiss or hug your child in public.

I'm torn on the subject. There's plenty of normal, natural things that still should be private, but is nurturing our children one of them?

<comment><USER7> I guess that's part of my problem with it. The care of a child is just as natural as the conception of a child.

Where do we draw the line? Am I aloud to post pictures of myself urinating? Because that's natural too.

Natural != appropriate to show the public.

<comment><USER9> Even a single, childless male can think through the differences between conceiving a child and supplying that child's frequent, urgent nutritive needs. If you miss a meal, you may feel a little hungry or tired or cranky. As best I can represent it, a baby not being fed on his schedule is much like an adult not being supplied with _oxygen_. It's far worse than feeling a hunger pang. And women are equipped with a constantly available, sustainable, low cost, environmentally friendly, and energy efficient answer to this problem. So wtf is the problem?

There is a public interest at work here. Breastfed babies are said to have fewer short and long term medical issues. Breastfeeding might be as important to our health (and crippling healthcare costs) as a people as bike paths, sidewalks, healthy foods, preventative medical visits, and any of the other many small lifestyle improvements which we are willing to spend many millions of dollars creating and promoting. And it costs us...a worldview adjusted ever-so-slightly back to what has been for most of our species' history perfect normalcy.

This is an important issue. Encouraging breastfeeding, which does appear to be the superior form of infant nutrition, requires that we normalize it. If we're all too delicate to see tiny thumbnails of women breastfeeding floating by in our newsfeeds, how will anybody ever survive the rather more "graphic" occurrence of it happening next to them on the bus?

I'm willing to accept bikers in far-too-revealing spandex. I have similarly learned to accept women breastfeeding. it's really not so bad once you actually encounter it...which is not something you'll ever know if you're being shielded from it by "decency" filters like Facebook's, or hearing the implied judgment that it's indecent.

<comment><USER10> "Natural and potentially life saving" is not the same as "natural". OP is either being obtuse or trolling you.

<comment><USER9> I prefer to interpret the opposing party in such discussions as serving a vital function in a Socratic dialogue. Whether or not IHBT, it's useful to argue the issue with an opposing viewpoint.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Now this is amazing. Not because of the issue itself (both sides seem pretty idiotic), but because Facebook has become like a government with embassies that people protest against over social rights.

Think about it: people are now protesting a (non-democratic) corporation for their social rights.

And another thing. This is the internet age, and people insisting on posting their photos in whatever compromising positions for the world to see should be at least somewhat technologically savvy. Why don't they just post their photos on tumblr (with a link on facebook) where they can even post photos of them having sex with their (non-minor) children?

When governments ruled the world it was hard to pick up your things and leave. But in the age of the nanny-conglomerates, why not just go to a competitor? I guess the answer is that the market isn't really competitive any more. Rather, it's become (just like in the archaic state-ruled world) segmented into influence blocs. You got a few superpowers, and lots of satellite "states".

<comment><USER12> > both sides seem pretty idiotic

What seems idiotic about the "pictures of breastfeeding infants should be allowed on Facebook" side?

(The fact that they don't give up on Facebook and use something else? But their goal isn't just to be able to post their pictures somewhere; they want to be able to participate in Facebook, where for good or ill much of the world's social life happens these days, without censoring themselves in pointless ways; and they want everyone on Facebook to have that freedom. Saying they should go elsewhere instead of protesting at Facebook would be, on a much smaller scale, a bit like saying that people unhappy with their country's government should emigrate rather than protesting at their government.)

<comment><USER11> It's idiotic because it's pointless. I guess some people may be offended by it (after all, it's public!) Say that some people are offended by photos of people eating so Facebook decides to ban those. What's the big deal? It's not like it's racial discrimination or anything.

<comment><USER13> So, it's idiotic because you personally don't feel it's a big deal?

<comment><USER11> No. It's idiotic because it is actually not a big deal.

We have women who like publishing photographs of them breastfeeding their babies, and we have a corporation that thinks some people are offended by said photographs, so they take them down. The women insist on their right to publish said photographs on the very same website owned by the aforementioned corporation, so they stage a public protest.

I find it entertaining, but I mostly think it is a nice cultural moment in the history of the West. But it is by no means a big deal.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> This coming from a country where public urination might cause you to become a registered sex-offender[1]. The United States has a long tradition of enmity towards displays of sexuality or the human body.

People getting shot in the face or being thrown off the roof of a skyscraper is just wholesome fun for the whole family, though.

[1]<http://www.economist.com/node/14164614>

</comment><comment><USER15> Oh come on! Why don't they just build a www.breastfeedingpictures.com website if they need to show their photos so hardly?

<comment><USER9> Why don't you build your own news aggregator site if you need to say ridiculous things so hardly (sic)?

edit: I didn't mean this to be just snippy. My point is that the discussion is here, not on his own blog, and he wants to have his opinion heard, so he posts here, not on thingsithinkaboutbreastfeedingpicsonfacebook.com.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Startup idea: a social network for breastfeeding women :-)</comment>


MythBusters: Roundabouts vs. 4-way stop intersection, which is more efficient? - <AUTHOR> http://www.treehugger.com/cars/mythbusters-roundabouts-vs-4-way-stop-intersection-which-more-efficient-video.html

<comment><USER2> I love roundabouts. No stopping, no hesitation about who goes first because it is just like merging onto a tiny circular highway. In the UK the road engineers carefully design the roundabout to match the amount of traffic going through so that when there is low traffic volume you can practically just go straight through with only a slight slowdown because the roundabout is just a low circular hump painted white.</comment>


Starting Up: 1 or 2, 3 is Too Much - <AUTHOR> http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/12/01/hiring-at-a-startup-know-your-weaknesses/

<comment><USER2> "Well, duh, if you have 3 equal co-founders you personally have just diluted by 66.66% and you haven't even raised a penny!"

This argument is mistaken. If the third person can do as much work as each of the first two, they will each have less of a proportionately more valuable company.

If the dilution argument were correct, the optimal number of founders would be 1, and that is certainly not true.

We find from experience that 2 or 3 founders is optimal. If famous companies more often have 2 founders than 3, it's probably mostly because people who want to start their own companies are rare; obviously clusters of 2 are going to be more common than clusters of 3.

<comment><AUTHOR> I agree with your point on dilution.

The problem is that finding a co-founder with the requisite skillset, motivation and personality match is hard...it's almost like finding someone to marry. However, I know need at least one. The sheer amount of work to be done makes it a necessity, especially while I'm finishing out my current contract as a consultant.

But until I find the right person, it's going to just be me, slogging away.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> _"I recommend that you start a company by yourself and own 100% of it. Once it's set up I recommend bringing in a co-founder and giving them 10-30% of the company depending upon when you bring them in. I advocate treating them like a co-founder in every way except when they join and how much equity they get."_

I'm glad he said this. This has been my plan, not so much by design but just by circumstance, but it's nice to have validation.

<comment><USER3> Ditto. I hadn't heard anyone specifically endorse this before, but it's what circumstance gave me with my startup. It's a good way to do a 2-person startup with no danger at all of a power deadlock.

<comment><USER4> I've heard the recommendation to never equally share power or you will risk deadlock. Always agree to either have a neutral arbiter or go with the old 51/49 split so that if it ever comes down to it the issue can be decided decisively instead of resulting in delays and over-compromises.

<comment><USER5> Is it possible that having to use one's 2% majority share to force a decision is just as bad as a deadlock? (as far as affecting morale, a founder leaving, etc.)

We've had the 51/49 split driven into our heads for so long, I wonder if anyone out there can share the ramifications of actually having to use it.

<comment><USER6> My co-founder and I took a different tack: "50/50 and a quarter".

\- 50/50 split on equity

\- Decisions are made by consensus when possible (so far, always).

\- If we absolutely cannot agree, we flip a coin (a quarter)

\- If either of us decides to leave the company, the other must buy him out. So, if we ever actually get to a coinflip decision, we just ask ourselves "do I care about this so much that I'm willing to walk if I lose, or will I live with it?" Whatever the answer is, the decision can go forward.

<comment><USER7> Do you use the shotgun clause for buyouts? (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_clause>)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I think there may be a danger in labeling yourself based on your weaknesses. It could lead to subconsciously shutting down options because they involve your "weakness". Essentially, if you don't explore your weakness and try to gain strength in that area then you risk letting it atrophy.

For example, if you're a "technically-savvy, introverted programmer" and you hire in a "outgoing marketeer" to handle all the customer relations then you may find that you loose touch with customers and loose sight of the company as a whole.

<comment><USER8> While it is true that anything you don't exercise will atrophy, like you said, but - at the same time - you can't be a master at everything.

The person that can be a master programmer and a charismatic salesmen is very rare indeed. In fact, so rare that I would be surprised if they exist at all.

So I agree, you shouldn't completely ignore tasks that don't fall under your speciality; but also, work on those tasks only enough to maintain a certain level of competency and skill. Then you can hopefully stay in touch enough and not "loose sight of the company as a whole."</comment></comment>


GCHQ's Boiling Frogs paper on software development - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/GovernmentCommunicationsHeadquarters/BoilingFrogs <comment><USER2> [http://imgur.com/a/pbazB](http://imgur.com/a/pbazB) Contents of this PDF, page by page, in JPGs.

<comment><USER3> PNG would be more fitting for content like this.

<comment><USER4> (In case folks don't know, PNG better for text because JPG's compression introduces "ringing" artifacts around sharp edges, such as the black/white transition of text.) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringing_artifacts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringing_artifacts)

<comment><USER5> JPGs are also a lot safer as PDFs can ping remote resources using carefully hidden beacon images.

Although that said, I sometimes use this to see who opened my files. I once left hundreds of these on a very popular cloud hosting provider (not naming names), and somebody working there was stupid to open the PDF on a machine connected to the internet, thereby proving abuse by employees and proving any random stranger can access 'your' files in the so called 'cloud'.

Look up 'honeydocs'. Some interesting articles about this technique

<comment><USER6> Is that effective for non-adobe pdf viewers? What about the ones that disable javascript?

<comment><USER7> Look into canarytokens. Plenty of file types that do not rely on JavaScript nor macros etc

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I really doubt this PDF is infected with anything like people are suggesting, but why is it on here at all? It seems incredibly empty and buzzword-y to me, interspersed with such charming insights as "It can make good sense to use external suppliers." Lots of talk about "disruption". It reads... well, it reads exactly like what it is, a vacuous corporate "whitepaper".

<comment><USER9> Because GCHQ are having a PR drive and they have enough accounts here to up- vote it to the front page?

<comment><USER10> Would it really be a good investment for GCHQ to keep enough sockpuppet accounts on HN to upvote something like this to the front page?

What would they gain? And if they really have an eye on HN, that would probably mean that NSA as well. If that is true, would it inhibit a community like HN to self-censor?

<comment><USER9> There have been leaks from GCHQ on influencing internet forums.

[https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig- manipulation/](https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/)

What would they gain? Look at the slides, these are not normal people all working in a large circular building. What would Kennedy have gained from the Bay of Pigs crisis had it gone the other way? Group think is it's own force. Those slides are pretty disturbing IMHO as is pretty-much everything I've ever seen out of that org.

<comment><USER10> Damn. I was not aware of this.

I mean I was aware that spooks were aware of forums and watching them and such, but I never thought that a forum like HN would be a target for them.

But I guess that after thinking for a bit HN could definitely be a valuable target. It's just hard for me to accept that a community I visit regularly could be under the influence of these organizations.

Scary thoughts.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I like how all the members of that GitHub organisation have secret usernames:

[https://github.com/orgs/GovernmentCommunicationsHeadquarters...](https://github.com/orgs/GovernmentCommunicationsHeadquarters/people)

<comment><USER12> Unfortunately, Q saying "Now pay attention a09631" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

(pedants: yes I know it's not the same organisation).

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> when I just opened the pdf my xorg died (OOM) - I kid you not, first time that ever happend. funny coincidence..or is it? I figure now I got a reason to setup that new distro I was playing with _burn all them compromised stuff_

<comment><USER14> If they're any good then they've modified your BIOS or Intel SMM.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> GCHQ have a puff piece planted in the FT today about their new twitter feed.

Anyone else going to roll over and forgive them for being the key component in Western citizen surveillance?

Even if they have got someone to draw some cute pictures of frogs whilst trawling all my email?

Not me.

</comment><comment><USER15> Wait, the GCHQ has a GitHub profile where they share a Graph Database engine. Interesting.

<comment><USER16> NSA has a linux distro [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security- Enhanced_Linux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security-Enhanced_Linux)

<comment><USER5> Qubes is exponetially superior to this distro. Open that PDF in a disposable Fedora sandbox, and physically disable the network plz

<comment><USER17> Because sandbox escapes aren't a thing GCHQ would have any knowledge of yeah?

/s

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The only thing coming out of GCHQ that I want to read is all the stuff GCHQ won't let anyone read.

<comment><USER9> Read your own email. They won't let you have that. Or write a transcript of a telephone conversation to the UK.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I tried cloning the repo and it hangs at 67%, so I kinda got suspicious and killed git. Hmm, maybe it's just a large repo, but being from GCHQ one cannot help but feel suspicious.

<comment><USER15> Has anyone been able to clone it?

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> > we offer this internal research paper publicly, not to present policy or > guidelines, but to stimulate debate.

Is there anything these guys cannot do?

"The name is Hacker, James Hacker, id 007BA54781, and I have a licence to stimulate."

Personally, I suspect that organizational studies are like the famous 'killing joke': anyone who engages in it is at risk ...

(edit: penny drops)

... uh, oh.

</comment><comment><USER20> Hah a PDF!

Nice try, folks...

<comment><USER21> Assuming they have a zero day vulnerability in acrobat (or other PDF readers), they wouldn't risk losing it by uploading a file with an exploit, using their own name, and in a wide distribution.

When the GCHQ wants to hack you, it won't be on GitHub. It will be a file served specifically to your computer, with content relevant specifically for you, from someone you trust and don't suspect.

<comment><USER22> For example datasheet pdf with mitm injected payload you just downloaded from alldatasheets. They tap cables and sit in bridge routers for a reason.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Cool, ITIL for spooks. Can't wait till I see the multi-edition version that emphasises continuous simmering. Then I can get certified!

</comment><comment> awinter-py > For example, an organisation building public service websites would not > build a software configuration management system for itself, this is a > commodity capability that is best served by well-established tools such as > the open source Git.

Hmm

TARDIS metaphor is very cool though

</comment><comment><USER24> Reminds me of the "Find Out if the NSA and GCHQ Spied on You" [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11705650](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11705650)

</comment><comment><USER25> virustotal scan of document:

[https://virustotal.com/en/url/1ecad5426be630531d4e5c9d4091a0...](https://virustotal.com/en/url/1ecad5426be630531d4e5c9d4091a04dc0012af72e710e6d3a88c6d64dea79c9/analysis/)

</comment><comment><USER26> What an ironic title (no, I won't read the PDF) - since we're here, sitting in a boiling hot tub, getting warm and cosy with GCHQ sitting next to us in the next tub, aka GitHub repo.

</comment><comment><USER27> This is very well written.

<comment><USER15> It might be dangerous to click on it, is there a tl;dr or text extract of it?

<comment><USER28> It's OK - Github converts it to HTML. However, GCHQ could politely ask the NSA to force Github to give them the usernames and IP addresses that viewed the repo. Maybe use Tor?

<comment><USER29> I don't understand why everybody assumes GCHQ and NSA are completely inept amateurs. Getting a list of usernames and IP addresses from GitHub would have an insane signal to noise ratio - after all, there are plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to want to read this document.

It's much easier to go to HN and grab the usernames and IPs of people you can see taking a rebellious position in discussions about these organisations.

Also, why would you assume that showing any interest whatsoever in Tor isn't going to land you on many more watchlists than reading a public PDF in GitHub?

<comment><USER26> > Getting a list of usernames and IP addresses from GitHub would have an > insane signal to noise ratio

Or you could assume that they have that information already. Which I deem highly likely - private repos are a must-target for any intelligence service out there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Also known as "How GCHQ infected the internet with a PDF trojan" lol

</comment><comment><USER17> Maybe a [dupe] tag, as this was submitted a few days ago too? [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674394](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674394)

<comment><USER31> Does HN have tags now?

<comment><USER17> Not sure what you mean. Other duplicate posts have "[dupe]" added to their title, so why the hassle this time?

<comment><USER31> Not hassle, I've just never personally seen a [dupe] tag so I didn't know what you meant.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What is the best development stack for custom CMS applications? - <AUTHOR>

I am a freelancer developer. I have a slowly growing list of Web applications that I developed for my customers.
Most of the applications are custom content management systems that are easy to use without requiring any technical knowledge, specifically built based on customers needs and requests. Existing systems like WordPress, Joomla etc are too complex for them with a lot of options/configurations. There are alternative simpler ones, but still the requirements per customer generally do not align with what is provided. So I develop custom simple apps with which they can simply login to dashboard and add something, remove something, edit something etc. If the content of the website tends to stay the same for a long time, I go with pure HTML and CSS with small improvements with JS. These applications/websites has varying traffic loads from 10s of users to 1000s of users.
I simply use LAMP stack, specifically CodeIgniter for custom application development, because I had a dedicated server back in time and CodeIgniter seemed simple, and easy to use and develop (I took a look at others, and tried some of them such as yii, but as I said I needed something simple). The cost for all is around 100$/year, which is cheap.
However, these days with new platforms/solutions like heroku, AWS, Azure, docker, I feel like there may be a better approach. I use ruby (Sinatra) and python (flask) for small side projects, but when it comes a content management I think they fall short. I know there are options like Rails, Django, but I am NOT developing full-fledged systems.
And the free option for heroku draws my attention recently, but the database could grow more than what they provide you for free. DigitalOcean could be another interesting alternative to my current development stack.
What are you guys using? Do you have any suggestions? <comment><USER2> You should stick with what you know. If you are comfortable with LAMP stack then you should keep using that. I am assuming that a good chunk of your work comes from maintaining what you wrote for a previous client and for these type of jobs it is best if you follow a standard (which you define). That way you won't have to think (as much) about your code before you start to make any changes to it.

A vps provider like digital ocean or linode can certainly be a good choice, if you also take care of hosting. With them you could set up a proxy server (I prefer nginx) in front of the apps for your clients and serve them all from a single vps. The traffic of 10-1000 of users is not too big but if you feel that performance of an app is degrading you can always migrate it to a managed hosting service like heroku. That way you can also charge different fees from your clients based on how you are managing their applications.

</comment><comment><USER3> Depending on the client, I usually use either:

\- A customized Django admin interface ([https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/contrib/admin/](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.7/ref/contrib/admin/)). Yes it's not ideal but it's often good enough.

\- A fully custom admin UI built from scratch (Python/Django).

I don't know why you don't think Rails/Django is an option when developing "full-fledged systems".

For hosting, deploying with Ansible to a Digital Ocean VM has worked very well. A $5/mo droplet is more than enough for light - moderate traffic.

<comment><AUTHOR> I had a typing mistake. Indeed, Rails/Django is for developing full-fledged systems, but what I am building is really lightweight and simpler than those.

<comment><USER3> I also use Django for very small/lightweight/simple websites. Django is very good about staying out of your way if you don't want to make use of its built- in magic. If you ignore the "batteries included" parts of Django (ORM, class based views, forms, auth, caching, etc), it's still a good/easy/structured way of routing URLs to a python function, which seems to be the appeal of Flask. The function takes in a request object, and returns a string for output. Can't really be more simple than that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Have you tried [http://buildwithcraft.com/](http://buildwithcraft.com/) as an alternative CMS. I use it for all my client sites. The ability to make client specific fields on a "page" basis and a templating system that stays out of our way it is the best CMS I have worked with.

</comment><comment><USER5> Most CMS's tend to be simple to moderately complex CRUD apps, i.e., exactly what Rails and Django excel at.

It sounds like you enjoy working in PHP, so maybe try Laravel (Rails in PHP) or Symfony (Django in PHP). Symfony even comes in a CMS-skeleton flavor called Symfony CMF.

</comment><comment><USER6> tl;dr Go with what you know and are comfortable with.

Any of those you mentioned could be used. Personally, I prefer a more hands off framework such as Express (Node.js) or Bottle (Python) compared to something like Rails.

Where do you see Sinatra or Flask fall short? That may help us in answering your question.</comment>


Gig Economy Workers Buy Like They Work - <AUTHOR> http://fortune.com/2015/11/24/gig-economy-consumers/ <comment><USER2> _[This new gym] is just one more example of companies that are now answering the call from today's burgeoning gig economy for products and services that are stylish and fun but also cheap and focused—and customizable. Used to working on-demand anywhere and anytime, gig economy freelancers expect the same kind of flexibility and focus from the vendors who provide the picks and shovels of their often-blurred personal and professional lives._

Author is confusing the "gig economy" w/ the "as a service" business model.

The "gig economy" refers to changes in the composition of the labor force and the different types of contracts that are becoming the norm between employer/employee. Uber treats its drivers as quasi employee contractors who have more flexible work schedules but do not get the traditional benefits of a salaried employee, and generally need to provide their own capital (vehicle).

The "as a service" model refers more to the vendor/customer relationship where customers are coming to expect more flexibility and subscription services rather than outright purchases of goods and services. You buy a monthly subscription for server space and compute power rather than a dedicated server room w/ IT staff & sysadmins. Then you layer on security, analytics, dev management, mobile, testing tools as needed. In the gym example, you buy the bare bones subscription package and add towel service, snacks, earbuds, other privileges as you see fit.

Both buzzwords that do an adequate job of describing new business models, but the author confuses the concepts and kind of fumbles around, naming different companies that could be vaguely associated w/ pioneering either one.

<comment><USER3> The "as a service" model is useful for B2B, but many consumers hate it.

It has additional hidden fees everywhere, and in the overall view it often turns out to be _more_ expensive than the classical model. From cheap Airlines (a 1€ flight with 40€ fee for using a credit card, and 5€ fee per kg of body weight) to "all-inclusive" Hotels (with extra fees per minute spent in the pool) to the cloud.

For example:

I can get a server with Intel® Xeon® E3-1270 v3, 32GB RAM and 4TB HDD for 70€ a month as dedicated server at Hetzner.

Or I can get a "Quad Core" with 8GB of RAM and 80GB of SSD for the same price at DigitalOcean.

The pricing of the "as a service" things is insane for the minor benefit in convenience they provide.

And a lot of the hobby users hate it – be it Adobe's Creative Cloud (hobby users used to just buy one version and stick with it for years) – be it JetBrains new subscription model, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This article smells like native advertising.

</comment><comment><USER5> After reading the article I'm still confused what a "gig economy" is.

1) make up terms 2) get click through 3) profit

<comment><USER6> I thought it was "employment" through services like Uber where workers are independent contractors who set their own hours.

<comment><USER5> I'm pretty sure it's a falumpkin that they ooplunkle through the diplesplit. I'm currently working on an article on falumpkining that should explain it all pretty huflinkinlipit.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN:  Best resources to learn Android? - <AUTHOR>

I've looked around and can't seem to find any high quality Android videos online.  Is there anything out there for Android that's on the level of Stanford's CS193 for iOS development? <comment><USER2> Im also interested in the videos. I know google has some about good practices and special features.

<comment><USER3> These video tutorials are quite good: [http://marakana.com/techtv/android_bootcamp_screencast_serie...](http://marakana.com/techtv/android_bootcamp_screencast_series.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Excellent, thanks!</comment></comment></comment>


When a Chrome Bug Kills Your Product - <AUTHOR> http://farmdawgnation.com/blog/2013/8/2/when-a-chrome-bug-kills-your-product

<comment><USER2> Removing this CSS fixed it for me,

      #anchor-tab.desktop .anchortab-stamp {
        text-indent: -999999999px;
      }

<comment><USER3> That works for me as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I've confirmed a few different times. Just pushed a build to production. So, let's see what happens when the caches all clear out. Should have posted this on here weeks ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> You think this is caused by Chrome switching to Blink?

<comment><AUTHOR> More likely a semi related change they decided to make as a result of the switch. But I don't have much understanding of the core of Chrome so I could be wrong. Correlation does not prove causation.</comment></comment>


July 2017 Hacker News Hiring Trends - <AUTHOR> https://www.hntrends.com/2017/july.html <comment><USER2> It seems like time of mainstream native mobile apps development is over. I used to get a multiple job/contract offers every week to write another iOS app, but they stop coming during last year. Nowadays I might get one offer every other month or so.

Does anybody else feels it same or is it just my own case?

<comment><USER3> Interesting. Do you think React native has something to do with this?

<comment><USER4> I doubt it's related at all. A client probably wouldn't specifically ask for a "React Native" app.

I would think this trend has more to due with app marketplace saturation.

<comment><USER3> True but the consulting firm/company might find it cheaper and easier to find 'react native' devs than a swift programmer.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> "Passionate" is down five points over last month.

Summertime :)

</comment><comment><USER6> I wish you could also see raw values of those posts, some things I could not draw a conclusion from it.

Example: Rails took a huge percentage hit (-12%), still node.js only got up (+3%), so is web jobs disappearing? or new jobs being created and the market expanding (Machine learning & AI)? Node is going up, React is going up, but Javascript in going down... what gives?

<comment><USER7> Javascript going down could just be a case that the job posters are assuming for all the JS libraries (node.js/React) that you know JS and not posting it in their Ad.

I don't think that the rails hit, is the result of fewer web jobs. I think it's more a case of the web is transitioning into more JS led architecture.

<comment> amw-zero APIs are even more important for SPAs. It's not like more rich JS front ends obviate the backend.

<comment><USER7> using node.js, your backend can be JS

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> It looks like there is some correlation between passionate and python: [https://www.hntrends.com/2017/july.html?compare1=passionate&...](https://www.hntrends.com/2017/july.html?compare1=passionate&compare2=Python)

<comment><USER9> Maybe it's the alliteration.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> The commentary about vue.js doesn't seem to be backed up by the data: [https://www.hntrends.com/2017/july.html?compare1=React&compa...](https://www.hntrends.com/2017/july.html?compare1=React&compare2=AngularJS&compare3=Vue&compare4=Ember)

<comment><USER11> Author here. Good point, I saw it pop up on the "rising" tab and made a quick assumption. Vue had 7 postings, ranking it 84th in July vs 0 postings last July. Compared with React's 146 postings, it does indeed have a long way to go, but it could still knock React from the #1 spot this year I think.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I quickly verified with some Chrome CTRL+F action on the "Who Is Hiring" HN thread described in this post that this is mostly accurate information per the data set. Many hat tips to you good sir, thank you.

<comment><USER7> Very thorough. Congrats.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Im surprised PHP isn't among the top few...

<comment><USER13> I'd say it's because HN is a bit of a "hipster" crowd and there are more startups, with fresh stacks that want to use new exciting technologies, than corporations with a "solid" base.

<comment><USER14> I wouldn't regard PHP as solid or corporate. Rather it's usually a sign of a business which started out as a website made by less-technical people. (Which can be the best kind to join as a technical person, as it means your skills are likely to be complementary to what they already have).

<comment><USER15> It demonstrates that their product is old and web-based, yes, but not that it was put together by less-technical people. In the mid-2000s, PHP held like 80+% of the server-side programming language market, ASP was in the mid 10s, leaving every other language to fight for the remaining 5% or so.

<comment><USER16> I don't see how it demonstrates that it's old. I still constantly talk with very new startups that are using PHP.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Are any of these companies worried that their use of React constrains them legally?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14779881](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14779881)

<comment><USER18> Doubt it. See 'React, Facebook, and the Revocable Patent License. Why It's a Paper Tiger': [https://email@example.com/react-facebook-and-the- revok...](https://email@example.com/react-facebook-and-the-revokable- patent-license-why-its-a-paper-25c40c50b562)

<comment><USER17> Thanks for sharing. I contribute to an Apache project that uses React and it's been a pain.

<comment><USER18> No probs, OOI what has your project decided to do? Is switching to Preact deemed acceptable?

<comment><USER17> So far as I can tell, just ignore it, which is worrying.

[https://github.com/apache/incubator- superset/issues/3148](https://github.com/apache/incubator- superset/issues/3148)

<comment><USER18> Ah :) ty.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> I'm not that much of Go fan but I'm surprised its not on the top 20 list even if it is mainly startups hiring.

<comment><USER11> Go's probably the most underrepresented, since it currently only counts by the full "golang" term. I need to update the script to find capital G "Go".

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I'm surprised Angular 2/4 is not an option on the list.

</comment><comment><USER21> Lovely that PHP has been relegated from programming language to framework.

<comment><USER11> Right, it's not a perfect fit, but I put it up against the main Web frameworks as those are what PHP competes with.</comment></comment>


HP Touchpad Android port not off to a good start - <AUTHOR> http://www.touch-droid.com/2011/08/24/heres-whats-happened/

<comment><USER2> I'm actually not caring much about an Android port at this point as WebOS is surprisingly good. As long as I keep my app cards sane it performs pretty well (I did run the performance tweaks to turn off debugging).

I'll inject about $20 into the app ecosystem as some of the apps look decent. I despise flash, but it really saves this device. Despite some button lag, Flash performs surprisingly well.

Note to devs, create a decent Spades/Bridge game so I can get my dad off my back.

<comment><USER3> meet my mom, she wants a decent solitaire game.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Seems the guy stole all their donations but yeah, still very unclear as to what has happened. I have lost faith in this team - lots of teen drama it seems...

</comment><comment><USER5> On twitter rhcp011235 stated:

> _All. The touchdroid project is not dead. We just had some internal changes. > we removed members. we have devs in place. don't worry._

So it seems unclear what is going on here.

<comment><USER2> I have a feeling the word "dev" is being used loosely here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Seems their website just went down. Here is the pastebin they posted: <http://pastebin.com/7GWTjqLE>

I, however, have no idea what all this is about...

</comment><comment><USER7> Can't the CyanogenMod team work on this?

</comment><comment><USER8> I'm getting a 404. Anyone have a copy of the article?

<comment><USER5>
      A member of our team (RHCP) has gone totally apeshit.  He wasn't getting the
      publicity he wanted and cried about it.  He finally took it a step further
      because he STILL wasn't getting the attention he wanted.  He took it upon
      himself to make us look like a joke.  He deleted our Twitter account, he
      destroyed our GitHub Repo, he has threatened ALL of us physically, he has
      promised to dox us, he has been STEALING code and taking credit.  Help us
      take this rat bastard down.  If you have any info on him please come forward!
      We are no longer working with him but he is a serious threat to us all.

      Here's more goodies people!  We're not lying to you but he sure as hell is!

      http://pastebin.com/7GWTjqLE

      11054 Running Ridge Rd
      Charlotte, North Carolina 28226

Posted by <http://twitter.com/#!/ProTekkFZS/status/106335789713068032></comment></comment>