What are the chances of one succeeding with moonlighting? - <AUTHOR> http://onista.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/what-are-the-chances-of-one-succeeding-with-moonlighting/

<comment><USER2> This is like being a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. (paraphrasing Charlie Munger)

Self-serving bias all over. As far as I can see, the only valid reason for working on a startup part-time is risk/cost tolerance or some obscure personal situation.

Some 'advantages':

>You can fund your own startup.

Refer pg's equity equation. I'd love to have sequoia/YC worry about my company in addition to my co-founders.

> No one is going to kick you because your took money from them for your > FAILED startup. No one even cares if your startup fails

That's not necessarily an upside. I think most people can deal with personal failure a lot better than letting someone else down. This affects motivation. To quote Bezos: Jeff Bezos: I think one thing I find very motivating -- and I think this is probably a very common form of motivation or cause of motivation -- is... I love people counting on me, and so, you know, today it's so easy to be motivated, because we have millions of customers counting on us at Amazon.com. We've got thousands of investors counting on us. And we're a team of thousands of employees all counting on each other. That's fun.

>If you love coding then you can enjoy it 24/7

Try it and notice your efficiency. I'd actually recommend switching roles for your day job and night job.

Regardless, Kudos for being the one-legged man - this shit ain't easy.

</comment><comment><USER3> "# No one is going to kick you because your took money from them for your FAILED startup. No one even cares if your startup fails"

Actually, this is not the case. Your family is going to kick you big time if you were away of them for months, for a projects that fails. They are counting on you... (at least if you are married, or you have kids, etc)

<comment><USER4> > They are counting on you...

More often than not, they're counting on a risk-taker to try and bring financial stability to the household, as well. If you are spending so much time away from your family that it's wrecking your family, there's a problem. But there are plenty of ineffectual workaholics that do the same thing for some overlord's profit.

If you're going to sacrifice something as valuable as time with your family, it better be for a good reason. Chalk up another benefit for making these choices concrete.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Watch out in case you signed a contract that explicitly claims ownership of all your work, regardless of "nights and weekends" spent on your startup.

Also, watch out for non-compete clauses.

Both might be de facto safe if you have a cool employer, but an investor's top interest will be the protection of the IP of the company. Things that look risky are to be avoided, and a violation of a contract is a major risk.

<comment><USER6> not in California. If your startup is not related to your work that you do during the day, and if you are not using company equipment, any claims like that would be impossible to enfornce.

<comment><USER5> You can de facto enforce anything by getting an injunction of a product release. The company starting the lawsuit might lose and pay for it, but the startup could be killed by a delay in release, legal fees, and investors backing off from a risky setup.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> It really depends on what you call success. If you determine success to be getting acquired and retiring, then no I don't think moonlighting will get you to that point. However, if you determine success to be creating a side business that is profitable and has a slower, but possibly more steady growth rate, I definitely think that is possible if not probable. I have succeeded in creating a profitable side business and regardless of what others may think, I consider myself successful because of that.

</comment><comment> daniel-cussen It sounds as though any strategy can work as long as you're serious about it.

</comment><comment><USER8> Actually, he overlooked one very, very good reason:

You get requirements from your daytime job.

This is so important that when I stopped moonlighting and went full time on my start-up, I kept an outside client 2 days per week. Let me explain...

One of my biggest problems has always been WHAT to build, not HOW to build it. Many successful start-ups have been the result of building what one needed oneself. I just expand "oneself" to include my parttime clients. Think you have needs? Wait til you see the long lists of needs in almost any small business. Sure, I lose a little time in the development cycle, but I more than make up for it at user acceptance time. No cycles there - I already know what they want.

</comment><comment><USER9> If you're curious about this, I suggest following the official Joel on Software "The Business of Software" Discussion Forum.

<http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz>

I tend to think of it as "Hacker News for people with a mortgage".

</comment><comment><USER10> You can pull this off if your day job contract has no IP restrictions and there are no competitors coding full time as you divide your time between the start-up and your day job.

</comment><comment><USER11> I enjoyed the article, I think the points are well thought out.

</comment><comment><USER12> How are you going to get the initial users for your social marketplace?

<comment><USER13> this is a good point. build it and they will come does not work? build it, market it and if its any good your get a couple of users and then refine and repeat.</comment></comment>


A Photo Gallery of MeteorWrongs - <AUTHOR> http://meteorites.wustl.edu/meteorwrongs/meteorwrongs.htm <comment><USER2> I like it. There's a huge contingent here on HN that learns best via "wrongness demos" like these. In software they are often packaged as "anti- patterns". You could describe meteors all day, to the sound of their yawns. Now get into "what people _think_ is a meteor, but is actually something else..." and you get their attention.

The only problem with this approach (it's really more like an information- orientation) is that it can prematurely lead to pitchforks. Where some scientists have the problem of being too open-minded, scientists who think this way, on the other hand, are going to try to replicate your study out behind the shed, just before you get to dinner. Then, the moment you start talking about your research or heaven forbid, your meteorite collection...wham! :-)

</comment><comment><USER3> I had forgotten this wonderful site. It's the doctor Bronner's of meteorite info.</comment>


Show HN: A minimal feed reader that uses ML to streamline your reading list - <AUTHOR> http://readuction.com

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a twist on the basic web-based feed reader concept that a friend and I have been working on in our spare time for the past couple of months or so.

Users can mark items as liked/disliked, and the app will not show the user new items it thinks they won't want to read. It's done on a per-user basis, i.e. my preferences won't affect your reading list and vice versa. It's built on Rails.

It would be great to get some feedback about layout and marketing copy if anyone has any.

We'd be happy to go into more detail if you have any questions about any aspect of the project.

<comment><USER2> I don't like having a narrow strip of content with acres of whitespace on either side.

Also the font for the article title is HUGE and why is it not a link to the article?

I don't like that the way it shows that an article is read is by making the "Mark as read" button pressed in.

You don't have any social sharing stuff - people are going to want that.

I think you should have keyboard shortcuts for like/dislike so people can zoom through their feeds going nope-nope-yep.

There's no unread count.

There's no indication of how old an article is.

Also I don't know if it was trying to download every article from every one of my feeds or something but it maxed out my internet connection for a couple of minutes.

As far as marketing copy goes, I found "Free during beta No credit card required or commitment." scary. Who would pay for a beta? It feels like you're thinking about money before I've even had the opportunity to see if your product is any good. There are a lot of feed readers out there right now and a lot of them are free or cheap, so it's got to be GOOD for me to consider cracking the piggy bank.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> * might be an idea to have a feedback link (why I'm posting this here) * scrolling becomes tedious very quickly. Needs a better overview mechanism. Eg only show the first N lines of a story unless I'm interested. * Without some notion of how you're going to define relevance, I quickly became way of disliking something. * You could have a way to like/dislike the author, as well as the post. Ie a way to say "I always/never want to read stuff written by this person".</comment>


A Fascinating YouTube video/campaign - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/tippexperience <comment><AUTHOR> My favourites so far: fights, calls, photographs, and fucks. Probably more to come...

<comment><USER2> Try 'smokes with'

<comment><AUTHOR> I'm really curious how many of these videos there are! I did get a couple of 404's, but there are a lot of distinctly different and funny clips.

<comment><USER2> Some of the phrases must be grouped. 'Smokes with' and 'stones' brings up the same video. Overall, I think this is entertaining but it's not on par with Old Spice

<comment><AUTHOR> I love that Old Spice created video replies to people in near real-time. That's real interaction with a brand.

I love that Tipp-Ex had the creativity to put together a whole ton of funny clips ahead of time, and leave people to discover them. Amazing effort.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Wave your phone around randomly and influence algorithmic music generation - <AUTHOR> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.computoser

<comment><AUTHOR> To answer the inevitable question - the ways music gets influenced are:

\- speed - the faster you wave the phone, the faster the piece is

\- variation - the bigger the standard deviation in the values from the accelerometer is, the more variation in the melody there is.

\- light - if it's dark around, the scale is minor, if it's light - it's major.

<comment><USER2> Using this in bed will answer once and for all the eternal question: "Do you make love like Barry White or Nickelback?"

<comment><USER3> Slow down. There are women listening.

<comment><USER2> Why, are the women not curious?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The only android device I have is a nexus 7. It's very large and I'm nervous I'm going to chuck it across the room.

<comment><USER5> Seems like a ploy to get people to buy more android devices.. after theirs break. Staring at a box that contains three broken nexus phones right now :p

<comment><USER4> Hmm, that's not a bad business scheme

1\. Create a smart phone 2\. Release a lot of free apps that put the phone at risk for the user breaking it 3\. ??? 4\. Profit</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: What kind of ad rates can I expect on mobile game apps? - <AUTHOR>

What kind of fill rates and CPM rates can I expect with mobile apps on ios?  I'm particularly interested in your experience with full-screen video ads or interstitials.<p>thanks! <comment><USER2> Don't have game app data, but I have a lifestyle app that serves banners:

AdMob (iOS) - .09 eCPM | 99.87% Fill Rate AdMob (Android) - .54 eCPM | 99.95% Fill Rate

iAd (iOS) - .56 eCPM | 84.41% Fill Rate

I won't share impressions, but iAD is by far the most profitable stream for me after sales and in-app purchase.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, this is actually very helpful. Would you mind sharing the name of your app?

<comment><USER2> Sure, it's called Zazen Suite/Zazen Lite. I only serve ads on the free version, and while I haven't done a lot of experimenting with Android yet, iOS makes so much more that it's not a contest.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zazen-suite-meditation- timer...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zazen-suite-meditation- timer/id378744626?mt=8)

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zazen-lite-zen- meditation/id...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zazen-lite-zen- meditation/id386010310?mt=8)

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=zazen.activity...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=zazen.activity&hl=en)

<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=zazen.free></comment></comment></comment>


Caspar Bowden, UK privacy pioneer, mourned by tech industry - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33473105 <comment><USER2> I never met the man, but conversed with him a few times on mailing lists for opensource projects. He seemed to be a very smart man with a keen eye for seeing societal changes in their infancy.

He was a great advocate for projects like Tor and the Qubes OS project, and he put these tools into the hands of people outside the tech circles who really needed them.

RIP Caspar Bowden, we've lost an important voice against the creeping surveillance state we all live in.

</comment><comment><USER3> 2014 Bowden video from CCC, [https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6195_-_en_-...](https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6195_-_en_- _saal_g_-_201412272145_-_the_cloud_conspiracy_2008-2014_-_caspar_bowden.html#video), _" In 2011 I started trying to warn EU institutions about what we now call PRISM, after working it out from open sources. Civil society, privacy regulators, and the Commission all did nothing. This is the story of exactly how they did nothing, and why, and what is happening now._"

2013 EU report by Bowden, [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/l...](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/libe/dv/briefingnote_/briefingnote_en.pdf), _" In light of the recent PRISM-related revelations, this briefing note analyzes the impact of US surveillance programmes on European citizens' rights. The note explores the scope of surveillance that can be carried out under the US FISA Amendments Act 2008 and related practices .."_

2012 EU report by Bowden, [http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload....](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=79050), _".. the challenges raised by the growing reliance on cloud computing ... the legal aspects in relation to the right to data protection, the issues of jurisdiction, responsibility and regulation of data transfers to third countries ... strong implications on EU data sovereignty and the protection of citizens' rights."_

Going forward, data sovereignty is being negotiated in TiSA and public input is needed.

From [http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/dont-forget- big...](http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/dont-forget-big-data- ttip-and-tisa-314487), _" Europe can have its own infrastructure without hindering cross border or, as it were, Transatlantic communications. For instance, in Germany, France and Finland companies are establishing e-mail and cloud services that respect European rules for data protection. That should not be negotiated away in TTIP. It may not be too late to succeed in reducing the potential dangers threatening Europe's economic and technological sovereignty."_

From, [http://www.innovationaus.com/tisa-threatens-data- sovereignty](http://www.innovationaus.com/tisa-threatens-data-sovereignty), " _TiSA may very well be a good thing. But we need to know its details, we need debate about its proposals, and we need to ensure that the beneficiaries are the people who elect the governments that are negotiating on their behalf, rather than the corporations whose first allegiance is to their shareholders rather than the public as a whole. "_

</comment><comment><USER4> Why are people whose last names end in -owden so attuned to privacy issues and fairness?

The sample size is 2 so I'm being facetious, but it's interesting that "ouden" is (ancient) Greek for "nobody" which if I remember correctly is what the Cyclops says their name is, in order not to identify himself.

(I botched that story but someone more knowledgeable might fill in the gaps).

<comment><USER5> Would you consider increasing the sample size to 3 because of the fictional Snowden in Catch-22 by Joseph Heller? (He's the one I think of when I see a headline about Snowden's secret)</comment></comment>


New Chromecast 2015 - <AUTHOR> https://store.google.com/product/chromecast_2015 <comment><USER2> I more or less accidentally found out that Google released an ethernet adapter for the original Chromecast[0]. Purchasing that has given me a lot more utility from my Chromecast.

I love the device. I am loving how much support there is for it among sports streaming services: WatchESPN, BTN2Go, and NFL Sunday Ticket all support Chromecast streaming.

My biggest issue with the device right now is the lack of official Spotify support. I would _love_ to be able to stream spotify from my phone to my Chromecast.

[0]: [https://store.google.com/product/_ethernet_adapter_for_chrom...](https://store.google.com/product/_ethernet_adapter_for_chromecast)

<comment><USER3> "This product is unavailable in your country."

:(

<comment><USER4> Not available in UK apparently, clearly shows a UK plug too. :'(

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Finally 5GHz wifi support. I wish they had a "What's New" section though.

<comment><USER6> As far as I can tell, that's the only difference. I just bought mine yesterday knowing there was a new one on the way, I don't think I'm missing much.

<comment><USER7> The original model was 802.11 b/g/n, the new model also supports 802.11ac.

<comment><USER8> More importantly, original model supported only 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n which can be a very very congested band in cities.

<comment><USER9> > ...original model supported only 2.4GHz...

That's what's implied when you say 802.11b/g/n rather than 802.11a/b/g/n or 802.11ac. Both 802.11a and 802.11ac are 5Ghz-only protocols [0], and 802.11ac implies[1] support for 802.11a/b/g/n. :)

[0] And 802.11b/g are 2.4 Ghz-only protocols.

[1] Or it might dictate support, I haven't read the text of the standard.

<comment><USER10> 802.11n can be and commonly is 5GHz as well. If I saw a device advertising 802.11b/g/n I would not assume 2.4GHz only.

<comment><USER9> > 802.11n can be and commonly is 5GHz as well.

It only is 5Ghz when there is a 5GHz radio in the device. I gather that world- wide 5Ghz operation not-infrequently requires the ability to do DFS. [0] This is an added engineering and testing burden that -I guess- many companies just don't want to undergo. [1]

I've spent an _absurd_ amount of time looking for and at WiFi network adaptors. Devices that advertise _just_ b/g(/n) support contain _only_ a 2.4Ghz radio 99.9% of the time.

Look at the first-gen Chromecast, the 3G Nexus S, or the 2012 Nexus 7. They _all_ advertised b/g/n support, and all operated only in the 2.4GHz band.

[0] There are regulatory domains in which the _majority_ of 5Ghz channels require DFS and/or transmit power control.

[1] You'd think that all the engineering work would be done already, and only the testing would be left, but who knows?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I wonder what prompted the new form factor. I rather liked the simple HDMI stick aesthetic.

<comment><USER12> Two likely reasons. First, the previous form factor didn't fit in all TVs, so they had to include a tiny HDMI extender cable; this form factor has built-in tolerance for tight fits. Second, the new form factor allows more room for hardware bits and heat dissipation.

<comment><USER13> Also probably because some television sets can block wifi signals up close. I had a weak wifi connection on mine and a 3 ft hdmi extender fixed it (which was probably overkill).

<comment><USER14> I had this as well. Took me a while to figure out it was my Chromecast. When I watch TV I basically have to turn of my Chromecast because of the otherwise interference it causes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> To summarize how great chromecast is - my mother who could not figure out the smart tv (or apple tv or a computer), streams youtube/netflix effortlessly via chromecast and a tablet.

</comment><comment><USER16> Three exciting colours to hide behind your tv! :)

<comment><USER17> The bragged about how it's smaller and easier to hide. Who gives a crap what color it is. They shouldn't have focused on the looks at all but made sure it had the lowest possible profile.

<comment><USER18> Ah, in the pictures it looks larger than the previous one. Glad to hear that it's actually smaller.

<comment><USER19> Yeah it looks HUGE in the opening pic. They goofed on that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Any word on whether it will have support for wifi behind captive portal? I've got a Chromecast v1 that I was excited to bring it on trips with me to watch Netflix from the hotel room, but I could never get it to connect to hotel networks which always have the stupid captive portal authentication scheme.

<comment><USER21> Most hotel WiFi networks enforce device isolation too, so I don't think you can 'see' the chromecast even if you could authenticate it. The workaround is to create your own hotspot, bridging the hotel's WiFi to your own 'travel router,' using a laptop.

At that point, it's probably easier just to watch Netflix on the laptop... :-/

<comment><USER22> Chromecast has guest mode now, you can set up without being on the same WiFi network.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Am I about the only one who considers my Chromecast almost useless? Specifically, I don't want to use it with my phone because when I would use it, I am already on my computer. I really dislike how when it came out and I bought it, their tagline was all about casting what you have on your phone and your browser, then they immediately seemed to move away from the PC browser and straight to the phone.

About the only thing I use it for is sometimes when people come over, we go on YouTube and take turns adding music to play, or sometimes go back and forth showing each other ridiculous, stupid or funny videos.

<comment><USER24> Its meant for the family room or bedroom. Using it at your desk is a bit counter-intuitive considering how much better support any video player will have for a computer than a phone trying to do chromecast.

<comment><USER23> Technically, I'm on my couch doing work, in the living room but I get what you mean.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Does this still require a usb cable for power? That was a big disappointment in the first iteration.

<comment><USER26> Yes, because power over HDMI is rare.

My concern is - can it still work with power provided by a regular USB socket on the TV? The specs claim it needs a 1 amp power supply, and most sockets can't do that much.

Maybe the specs overstate it.

<comment><USER27> > My concern is - can it still work with power provided by a regular USB > socket on the TV? The specs claim it needs a 1 amp power supply, and most > sockets can't do that much.

I've used the old chromecast successfully like this. The manual also suggested to do it. One downside was that this means the chromecast can no longer turn your TV on due to lack of power. When casting to it, it will turn on my TV and switch it to the chromecast input which is quite nice.

<comment><USER28> > When casting to it, it will turn on my TV and switch it to the chromecast > input which is quite nice.

Wait, it can do this? I had no idea. Freaking awesome.

<comment><USER29> Your TV has to support AND have the right HDMI CEC options. I had dig through the menus on my TV to turn the options on.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Still no AC3/DTS passthrough is a huge disappointment for a 2015 reskin.

<comment><USER31> Source?

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> No one really pays attention to Android TV. Just got the Nvidea Shield, and apps run much more smoothly on it than via Chromecast.

It also acts as a Chromecast, so I can still cast from my phone if I want to.

<comment><USER33> Nobody cares about Android TV because the worst thing that can happen when you turn on your TV is it displays "Optimizing app 15 of 189" for the next half an hour.

<comment><USER34> That only happens when you factory reset (and with less apps than that) or you upgrade to another big version, doesn't it?

<comment><USER35> It notifies you of the update and asks if you want to install it. I haven't been forced into an update.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> How is the Chromecast for direct local streaming? Does everything have to go through Google's servers?

<comment><USER37> The Videostream plugin works beautifully. No plex-style on-demand encoding required. Just pick that 1080p mkv file or whatever and play, negligible CPU usage.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostream-for- go...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/videostream-for-google- ch/cnciopoikihiagdjbjpnocolokfelagl?hl=en)

<comment><USER38> So then it runs everything through a browser on your computer, and you have to navigate the file system? Seems like you aren't understanding the appeal/use case of plex. I can use a nice clean interface on my TiVo, Phone, Computer, Roku, AppleTV, X-Box... And watch TV, unless I'm trying to watch something on the computer I don't have to get out a clunky computer to play anything.

<comment><USER39> Videostream has a basic media library as well, and you can choose stuff to play from your (Android) phone/tablet. Works quite well. I've used both Plex and Videostream and find myself using Videostream most of the time.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> I'm sorry, but what is new besides the form factor? Everybody must be upvoting this for some reason other than the fact that they can buy something colorful to hide behind their TV.

<comment> rkuykendall-com > I'm sorry, but what is new besides the form factor?

That's actually WHY I found this really interesting. A slight change to the form factor for easier connection to some TVs is all they changed. No features only this model can use. New features every day coming to both models. That means they got it right on gen 1, which is absolutely incredible.

<comment><USER9> What new features are coming "every day" to the Chromecast? Other than new software written for the thing, and bug fixes, I've noticed 0 new features [0] over the year+ I've owned mine.

(I would _really_ like to be able to load an ICC profile into the thing. I have a nice, but wide-gamut monitor that would become my Chromecast's new best friend.)

[0] Edit: I guess you can set your own wallpaper and slideshows now? So, make that one new -not really useful- feature that I've seen over the year+ that I've owned the thing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> For the multi-room audio they talked about (to be released later this year), has anyone seen anything that indicates if it will work with a non-audio- specific chromecast? For example, I hope to be able to play music to my TV through a chromecast (and be able to see album art on my tv), and then have the same audio playing in my living room coming out of a chromecast audio. Man i hope it will work regardless of type of chromecast.

<comment><USER42> I'd be willing to be not, unless Google invested a lot of effort in synchronizing the two streams.

<comment><USER43> Would they not have to do that to get multi-room audio, period?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> Does this mean the Chromebit is dead in the water? Or a poorly timed April fool's joke? Asus and Google have been silent since the april announcement.

</comment><comment><USER45> Does it finally support MHL?

The specs seem to imply it:

        Requirements
        TV with an HDMI port
        Wi-Fi network
        Wi-Fi enabled supported device

But it still comes with a power supply...

I've been looking for a usable (high enough performance), MHL-enabled Miracast dongle for a long time... The Microsoft Wireless Display Adapater comes close but doesn't support MHL and is too expensive.

Hopefully this new Chromecast is it..

<comment><USER8> Chromecast is neither Miracast compatible nor does it receive power from HDMI.

<comment><USER45> How does it support Windows if not with Miracast? Is it just 'support' as in 'casting' (playing media locally) as opposed to actual streaming (eg. cloning) of the display?

<comment><USER46> You can cast a chrome tab, so it actually supports streaming. They're just protocols, why do you need to support Miracast for it to work on Windows?

<comment><USER45> I'd like to actually have a wireless _display_. AFAIK, the official mechanism for that, on Windows, is Miracast.

EDIT: Sibling comment says it's also supported via a Chrome plugin. That might be an option...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> I would love if at least one streaming stick support VPN. Otherwise its mostly useless for streaming shows outside USA.

<comment><USER48> [https://support.unlocator.com/customer/portal/articles/12848...](https://support.unlocator.com/customer/portal/articles/1284813-how- to-setup-chromecast)

</comment></comment><comment><USER49> Is this thing just a new shape? What exactly has changed here?

<comment><USER50> New SoC, 5 GHz Wifi, BLE for easier setup from iOS, Chromecast Audio is all new, Chromecast Audio will support multi-zone.

<comment><USER51> So if you have a current Chromecast nothing worth upgrading for?

<comment><AUTHOR> Multi-room support is really neat feature that will compete with hardware like Sonos. With Chromecast audio you can use existing speakers to create a multi- room listening experience.

<comment><USER52> That means the music app needs to support chromecast, right?

<comment><USER53> I believe that is the case. I highly recommend just purchasing an RPI 2 and throwing the OSMC distro (Debian+Kodi) on it. Kodi supports the AirPlay protocol, so once you enable it in services you can use [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.airaudio&hl...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.airaudio&hl=en) and basically pipe AUX out from your phone to multiple devices on your network. :)

This obviously requires the dependency of your phone, but I prefer the flexibility.

<comment><USER52> That sounds cool. So basically I don't need the chromecast audio if I have the PI, right? I like the iOS' system level of audio output (AirPlay) and didn't know Android is flexible enough that an app can do that!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> Was excited about this until I saw that it doesn't support Amazon Prime video.

<comment><USER55> Amazon Prime video doesn't support any TV-connected Apple or Google device. This appears to be a strategic decision Amazon has made.

<comment><USER56> For a long time they didn't support Android at all, just their fork of it on their devices. They seem to be very big on lock-in.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER57> For the last month or two, chromecast has not been able to cast Netflix for me. It drops the stream evey few minutes. Looks like I am not alone as there is a long thread[0] on the Google's Chromecast Help Forum. Has onyone else been having issues with it?

[0]: [https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chromecast/Wwvt...](https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/chromecast/WwvtHaI7PDo/Fbro99Q4BwAJ)

<comment><USER58> Yes, god yes I have. Chromecast used to work just fine last year, but this year it's been a disaster.

* Almost all youtube videos start playing before they're buffered, the video is paused but the audio continues playing until the video resumes and it catches up. Makes watching any 15 second video impossible. The buffering in general is really broken.

* Chromecast loves to play previous videos I watched when I start playing new ones. I frequently have to disconnect youtube from it and start a new session to get it to behave intuitively.

I pretty much have to transcode all of my media to h264/aac in order for it to play on the Chromecast from my computer -- I thought this would get better over time but it hasn't.

<comment><USER57> It is pretty clear that a large portion of device owners are having severe issues with the device. I am surprised it has not made the news nor been addressed for as long as it has been happening. With every update my experience seems to worsen though I still hope this will get addressed.

I am tempted to buy the new version to see if that would fix anything.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER59> "Chromecast Audio" is a bad name for the product. It brings ambiguous search results... say for instance you have a problem with your Chromecast audio output

<comment><USER60> Large companies appear to like to use common terms as product names for some reason... e.g.: plus, alphabet, etc...

</comment></comment><comment><USER61> I live in NZ. And not being able to easily change the DNS settings in Chromecast sucks for me. If I would have known this, I would have bought AppleTV. :(

<comment><USER62> If your router can enforce local DNS server usage or allow creation of static routes, you can redirect Google DNS to your own DNS server. Most half-decent routers will allow you to make static routes.

Here's a good resource: [http://help.unotelly.com/support/solutions/articles/192836-w...](http://help.unotelly.com/support/solutions/articles/192836-why- do-i-need-to-block-public-dns-lookups-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER63> Really happy with Chromecast. I can be watching something on my phone, and as I'm walking up the stairs, hit the chromecast button and it turns on my TV and is already continuing whatever I was watching. I mostly use it with Twitch, and have no complaints at all. Will probably get a new one for the 5Ghz support.

</comment><comment><USER64> I believe you can write apps for it. I have not tried myself, but been to some google/Android software meetups where people discussed the API and their apps.

I am not sure what kind of apps you'd want to write. i believe the media niche has been pretty well filling, Gaming, engineering/science software probably not.

<comment><USER65> I've made a few, they're extremely easy to do since it's just a basic webpage.

</comment></comment><comment><USER66> > The Google Store isn't available here yet.

> We're working to bring it to more countries as soon as possible.

</comment><comment><USER67> I used to use chromecast quite heavily, but ended up getting tired of their relatively limited format support and use wireless HDMI now (which does everything I wanted but does require dedicated source hardware - like a pc).

<comment><USER68> Wireless HDMI also costs about 10 times as much as a Chromecast, doesn't it?

<comment><USER67> Closer to 5 times, but yes, it's more expensive.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER69> No HDMI passthrough is a real irritation for me. I hate the fact it hogs one of the two HDMI ports in my office screen, meaning I need a HDMI switch for the Logitech videoconf and the Apple TV.

<comment><USER70> That would be a decently large extra expense for a feature used by only a fraction of users.

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> Does the Chromecast allow the user to change routing (set default gateway) and /etc/resolv.conf (DNS settings)?

<comment><USER72> No, there's very limited network configuration available and it's hardcoded to Google's DNS. You'll need to use a static route on your router to redirect that to a different DNS server.

</comment></comment><comment><USER73> So with this new form factor, I plug it into my TV, and then it just... hangs there?

</comment><comment><USER74> Why Google ? Why leave India ? I want to buy chromecast but not the old one.

</comment><comment><USER75> I'm curious why they changed the form factor. It seems like the last form factor was simpler and more minimalistic. The new design seems like it would just dangle from your TV, especially if you plug it in one of the side HDMI ports.

<comment><USER76> Apparently it's to avoid interference. The old device came with an optional extender cord for the same reason, but now you're forced to use it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER77> Chromecast Audio is being reported poorly. Many articles suggest it works with "most any home speakers" and "old school speakers" when it only works with powered speakers.

<comment><USER78> Well, hopefully you have an audio receiver. You don't really expect to run speakers just by themselves.

<comment><USER79> This may be dissonance between audiophiles and regular people.

When I see that it works with my best, old-school speakers, I wonder if it has red and black posts for me to crimp my speaker wire to. But of course I know better and know that it will just provide line out audio. When they say "old school" they mean it has an RCA out jack, and when they say "speakers" they mean boombox, receiver, or modern powered speakers (the sort which often have an iphone connector on top to plug your phone into).

We as audiophiles know that the language used in the copy is imprecise and implies the wrong thing (hopefully we're also smart enough to know what it's actually implying). I suspect the average human would not be as confused.

<comment><USER80>
        red and black posts for me to crimp my speaker wire to

They tried that and no one wanted it: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_Q](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_Q)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER81> No 4K?

</comment><comment><USER82> When I bought my TV supporting Miracast protocol, I thought I would not need to buy a Chromecast. And it (the TV) worked beautifully with my Nexus 5 for some days. But soon, the phone stopped casting the screen on the TV. Another phone (Moto X Play) still works fine though, so pretty sure it is a phone problem.

A conspiracy theorist would suggest Google intentionally breaking Miracast support to boost sales of Chromecast ;)

<comment><USER83> I've never had good luck with miracast.

It is supposed to have latency in the 10s of milliseconds, I have yet to see it under 100 or even 200ms. (and I am pretty sure I have seen it a lot higher!)

This is despite having a nice fast Intel chipset and what is supposed to be a well reviewed Miracast receiver.

It is a great idea, but it works so poorly.

Next up for standards failure, DLNA!

I am saddened that there are standards body tech to do what I want, and that none of them really work that well.

If I want to stream from multiple platforms to my sound system, I am best off investing in a proprietary solution from either Google or Apple. :(

</comment></comment><comment><USER84> Is this intended to compete with the AppleTV/FireTV/Roku? If so Google just failed miserably. Not having its own OS severely limits its abilities it would seem. It looks like it continues to be nothing more than a wireless audio/monitor cable that makes use of your phone as a remote.

<comment><USER85> You would be surprised. I've always found the interfaces for AppleTV/FireTV/Roku to be extremely clunky and not user friendly in the slightest. There's no reason not to use your phone that has interfaces that are much better designed and easier to navigate (a swipe of the finger to type some text, versus a hundred button presses to navigate an awful on-screen TV leopard). I think using remotes is pretty old-school and we're going to see them phased out pretty fast. AppleTV's interface is especially jarring, the Netflix app is borderline unusable.

<comment><USER86> I like choosing media from a phone/computer, but I love having my Roku's physical remote. Instant access to tactile playback controls is huge. I can pick up the remote in the dark and find the pause button with no effort at all. If I could have that on Chromecast, I'd be sold.

Last night, I was watching something on Netflix on my Chromecast (using the Android app) and somehow the app and the CC got out of sync. It thought it wasn't casting anymore, so it took away my playback controls and I had no way to pause my show. IIRC, eventually I had to turn off the TV (and thus the CC).

<comment><USER85> I've definitely had that happen with my Chromecast as well. Not sure if the bug lies in Netflix's app, or the way Netflix and the Chromecast communicate.

My TV also detects when the Chromecast starts casting and automatically turns on and changes to the input. Great if you want to watch something without finding the TV remote, but I've woken up numerous times in the middle of the night to find my TV on, just showing the Netflix title screen even though no devices are casting. Never had that happen with YouTube or Plex or anything else I use, so I wonder if it is just Netflix.

A physical remote for the Chromecast for pausing/fast-forwarding/rewinding is a pretty good idea. I wonder how difficult it would be to interface with the Chromecast and make a WiFi remote? Or would it have to emulate the signals that the app sends over WiFi to the Chromecast? I wonder if you could sniff the packets for pause/play/rewind and emulate them? (I smell a good idea for that dusty ol Raspberry Pi that I have on my shelf)

<comment><USER86> Hmmm, there is the HDMI-CEC stuff (where you supposedly can control your CC from the TV remote -- my TV doesn't have it, so I can't try it). Given that, I wonder if you could make a pass-through dongle, HDMI male-to-female, and put some play/pause/rewind HDMI-CEC endpoints in it with some arbitrary wifi/bluetooth control api.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER87> Dear Google,

Wake me up when you and Amazon can stop hissing at each other like cats on opposite corners of the room so I can get Amazon Instant Video, and Firestick users can get Youtube natively.

Until then, Zzz...

</comment><comment><USER88> Heh, I saw the "Supported Operating Systems" list (w/ Windows and MacOS X) and thought that was the OS that can be installed on device b/c of atom proc or something... but of course it was the supported client OS.</comment>


Protecting the Maker's Schedule from Chat - <AUTHOR> http://blog.fogcreek.com/protecting-developer-time-with-cases-not-chat/

<comment><USER2> Close your chat. Managing distractions is YOUR responsibility.

<comment><AUTHOR> That's the nuclear option. But for those who still want to benefit from the genuine uses for chat, then having colleagues be mindful of what those are is a help.</comment></comment>


What language should I learn? - <AUTHOR> http://jobstractor.com/what-language-should-I-learn/ <comment><USER3> It would be fun to see the data in the other direction: where should I move if I know...?

</comment><comment><USER4> Cupertino, CA said "Java"

That is very funny.

Has someone done the reverse? "All I know is PL/1, FORTRAN and Java, where should I move to?"

Or: "I'd rather not live next to any FORTH programmers. What neighborhoods should I avoid?"

Or: "Are there any hot chicks / cute guys who know Ruby who live in a nice place?"

<comment><USER5> Whereas San Francisco said "Objective-C"

Edit: I think I just got the joke. Mountain View also says "Objective-C"

For those catching up, Cupertino is the location of Apple's HQ , whereas Mountain View is Google's HQ. Elsewhere in the comments people mention iOS vs Android.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Wow, in Houston, the answer is apparently SQL.

Sometimes, I really, really hate this town.

<comment><USER7> Everything around me in a 15 mile radius wants me to learn java. Programming gods help us all.

<comment><USER8> As a Java programmer I see no problem with this.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> How about ranking by how well they pay. There might be loads of PHP jobs out there but round these parts they have been advertised as "meets minimum national wage". McD pays better

</comment><comment><USER8> For a laugh, click the farthest right share icon.

<comment><USER10> Oh, that is brilliant.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> This is saying I should learn EmptyString, which is a pretty neat language since all programs are quines.

Ah, the joys of living in the boonies...

</comment><comment><USER11> NYC listed 1 job for C, 1 job for Ruby and 1 job for Python. Evidently people aren't tweeting jobs on Twitter in NYC?

</comment><comment><USER12> Europe is just PHP as far as the eye can see. I think Berlin is the only major city that bucks the trend.

<comment><USER13> If you search at country level, most are Java bastions. UK and France excepted.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Would be more useful weighted by salary. (Or maybe I'm just saying that to boost my favourite language).

<comment><USER15> I agree. My query returns PHP, but PHP developers earn significantly less than their C or Java equivalents, for instance.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> > You should learn PHP

I need to relocate.

</comment><comment><USER16> Maybe add a filter for industry?

Sacramento, CA came back with Java, that is probably due to the high number of government jobs. If you exclude government, you probably would get C# / .NET.

</comment><comment><USER17> Apparently both Cambridge and "Canadia" are inside London, and their search is catching a fair amount of stuff that isn't a job advert from twitter.

</comment><comment><USER18> Finally found a spot with Ruby as #1 -- Boulder, CO.

</comment><comment><USER19> NYC, Berlin: JS

SF, PA, MV: Objective-C

Paris, London, Barcelona, Moskow: PHP

<comment><USER20> you got obj-c for PA? I got JavaScript for Philly...

<comment><USER19> Palo Alto

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Any one in Sydney is gonna have a hard time: PHP, SQL and Java. Luckily Melbourne is JS.

</comment><comment><USER22> This is fun to play with, though it looks like it generally comes down to Obj-C vs Java.

<comment><AUTHOR> PHP is on top globally so must feature heavily somewhere. Glad you like it :)

<comment><USER6> "Feature heavy" would indeed be a way of describing PHP.

<comment><USER4> Yeah. Programming in PHP is like swimming with anvils tied to your ankles. Every time I write something that increases the amount of processing on a page, I feel like I'm stabbing a kitten.

<comment><USER21> :) I know exactly what you mean.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> To keep up in the current state of the software field, then Guajrati or Mandarin.

<comment><USER24> I would go with just English, actually.

<comment><USER25> Actually you would be surprised how few coders can actually speak "plain english". The one lesson I've learned over the years is that coders who can talk to non-coders tend to do very well in the real world over time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> London, Brighton, Liverpool, Manchester - <USER2>

</comment><comment><USER27> javascript. Then lisp if you get hooked and want to go deeper, then back to javascript

</comment><comment><USER28> I searched for Silicon Valley, just for kicks. It said I should learn Java.

What gives?

<comment><USER29> Maybe the Java jobs are open because SV developers don't want to go near them? If that's the case then I bet there's a lot of PHP work over there too.

(Austin listed Java as well... that sounds about right actually.)</comment></comment>


AMD: Zen Outperforms Intel's Broadwell-E CPUs – Microrchitecture Detailed - <AUTHOR> http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-cpus-outperform-intels-highend-broadwelle-architecture-am4-platform-detailed/ <comment><USER2> There's a click bait title if ever I saw one. A single benchmark is run without numbers and the AMD part only completes just ahead of the Intel part (which is down clocked by 200Mhz).

Not got anything against AMD, just the title. Really hoping Zen puts some competition into the marketplace.

<comment><AUTHOR> What is significant is that an AMD processor manages to outperform a top-of- the-line Intel processor, both having 8 cores running at 3 GHz. Said Intel processor (i7-6900K) sells for $1090... This is something AMD has not managed to do in _years_. I agree the title is click-baity but this is a significant development.

The big unknown though is... did AMD cherry-pick a benchmark to show themselves in the best possible light, or did they pick a benchmark representative of the overall Zen vs Intel perf difference?

<comment><AUTHOR> And the second big unknown is pricing. It doesn't matter if the 3 GHz Zen only "slightly" beats a 3 GHz Broadwell-E. If it is cheaper and/or more power efficient, then Zen is a winner.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Would love to see how it fares with a proper production renderer like Arnold that will saturate your logical cores effectively.

How much is this going to cost? And what other core configurations will be available?

It's undoubtedly a cherry-picked benchmark but if they can offer similar performance for less money then this could be great.

</comment><comment><USER4> This article really should have gone through spell check or been proofread, re: "have to say? to summarize it", "oine", "compatibel", possibly more.

Still, interesting that Zen is performing well.</comment>


Is HN wrong about timing of stories? - <AUTHOR> http://themworks.com/hacker-news-is-wrong-about-timing-of-posts/ <comment><USER2> Posts that are "rescued" have their timestamps reset, which may explain the behavior.</comment>


PBox: A Package Manager for Windows - <AUTHOR> http://pbox.me/

<comment><USER2> How is this different or better than Chocolatey: [https://chocolatey.org/](https://chocolatey.org/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Unfortunately another package manager that doesn't seem to be interested in the idea of digital signing for security, at least for the install process anyway, which seems to be using the windows equivalent of curl | bash over an unencrypted connection to boot.

</comment><comment><USER4> Why would I use this over the official package manager coming with Win10 (OneGet)? [https://github.com/OneGet/oneget](https://github.com/OneGet/oneget)

Which also integrates with Chocolatery.

</comment><comment><USER5> Did you know that OCaml was an IDE? :) [http://pbox.me/packages/ocaml](http://pbox.me/packages/ocaml)

</comment><comment><USER6> need more differentation to chocolatey. Maybe installer for rapsberry pi. Maybe support docker. Or multiple sequence installer like ninite. Or still same, but give better content curation</comment>


Show HN: AvatarPicker – User-friendly, in-page gravatar alternative - <AUTHOR> https://www.avatarpicker.com/

<comment><USER2> I think you could adjust your pricing. Usual for new products a year long subscription is priced at 10 times the monthly plan. For few dollars savings I am not going to risk signing up with new service if I am not sure if it will run or not for a year. 2 months worth of subscription is good enough incentive though.

btw - "up to" not "upto". "upto" is not correct afaik

Looks nice, I will hopefully see it around the web soon!

<comment><AUTHOR> Glad you liked it. The pricing is only tentative. I thought it would be better to set expectations higher rather than set expectations lower and then irk people by raising prices (if required).

I do agree that making it two months free would be a better incentive than one month free.

Thanks for the language correction too. English is not my first language and at times I mess it up. Will fix ASAP.

<comment><USER3> Since you're not on an app store that restricts your pricing flexibility, I think it's totally okay to raise your price later when you've gained stability. You won't really be irking anyone. I think making a more convincing sale value to early adopters is worth it, and later you can raise the price to justify the increased stability you will be offering to the risk-averse later- adopters.

At worst you'll cause on-the-edge customers to suffer "loss by missing out" on the "deal" when it was cheaper, but that's not a bad thing. It's how airline ticket sales pages use cookies to tell if you're looking at the same flight 2 days in a row and raise the price by a couple tens of dollars to make you fear the price will keep going up if you wait too long to buy :)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your advice. I think I will be giving the pricing page some serious thought in the next few days.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is cool. I've thought about this sort of the service before. It surprises me that Gravatar has never bothered creating a widget.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. This idea only occurred to me when another dev friend of mine was whining about all the support calls he got from non-tech people who did not know what Gravatar was, and how he had to spend so much time walking people through the Gravatar process.

Also the fact that setting up a gravatar the way you like requires you to get a Wordpress.com account is insane. Anyway, glad you liked it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Well done. How come you decided to go with an iframe instead of a generic popup? Also what do you use for image hosting? s3?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by 'generic popup'. I'm assuming you are referring to overlaid div. I went with the iframe mainly to avoid having to provide CORS access to all the implementing sites. This way, it's always a same origin ajax/form post.

Since this is just an MVP (I repurposed the site from an older project, the only thing new is the actual widget), the images are currently on a Linode VPN. When/If it gets popular, i'll be re-engineering this.

<comment><USER5> I think you misunderstand CORS. You have to enable CORS on your server, not the sites that use your widget.

[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/298745/how-do-i-send-a- cr...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/298745/how-do-i-send-a-cross-domain- post-request-via-javascript/7605119#7605119)

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah, I know that. What I meant was that I did not want to set wildcards for the access-control-allow-origin header. If you use hostname reflection like in the linked stackoverflow example, issues arise when the widget is cached browser side by site A and then invoked by site B.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Does this mean that if sites i like (and i) use your service, my machine hits your server very frequently, thus giving you relatively thorough insight into my browsing habits? This question comes from someone who tries to be strict with the number of RequestPolicy rules allowed. Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but humour the paranoid ;).

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, if you are going to upload your own image, then only a salted hash of the username you use on that site will be available AvatarPicker.

However, if you use Twitter, Facebook or Gravatar, then yeah AvatarPicker will have your Twitter/Facebook username or hashed gravatar email. Without this, it would be impossible retrieve your avatar from those services.

I guess the best I can do is codify in the privacy policy, that we will not track any kind of correlation between your service usernames and the websites that they are used on

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I don't mean to overly offend, but something like this is not worth more than $5/month. Maybe $20/month for 1 million+ users. Your $19/month ($11/month if paid annually) is more than a lot of individuals and small businesses spend on VPS hosting. Your only target with this pricing would be medium-to-large companies, and yet your published pricing ends at an extremely meagre 100,000 users which would not begin to cover them.

By the way, your method of popping up the div overlay removes the scrollbar if present (at least in your demo), which makes centred layouts jump around. Raises a yellow flag regarding implementation quality.

<comment><USER7> Whoa. You don't even have actual facebook or twitter integration requiring authentication. You just pull the photo by username, which means no identity validation. Facebook/twitter should show the username along with the photo to indicate a verified connection. Plus after picking someone else's account, I can't delete the photo due to an error. Oh, and then refreshing the page gives an nginx error. This service is far from ideal, sorry. And at this price? Another get-rich-quick personal project deployed by someone who hasn't managed to write a scaleable or truly useful service. Now that probably offends :/

<comment><AUTHOR> Considering that this is an MVP, I am quite happy with the way the site managed the HN crowd.

And yes, it doesn't have actual validation for Facebook/Twitter. This was done mainly for ease of use and preventing user confusion seeing as it is aimed at non-tech end users. If actual paying customers require this, then I'll implement it.

As for the errors, it would be helpful if you could copy paste whatever is listed on the console.

While I have been hearing that the pricing is a bit on the higher side, I don't think I will ever be lowering it to levels you have suggested. I guess the companies who believe it's not worth paying the extra few dollars to have a dedicated service can always implement things in-house.

Finally, this is an MVP, and of-course it is not going to scale. I don't even know if there is demand to actually develop this into a real product.

As such no project is 100% bug free on the day it is launched. Projects with such requirements are still stuck in a room full of programmers despairing at the latest bug found.

Going so far as to call it a get rich quick scheme just because it does not meet your idealized notions of what a service is worth, or how it should be implemented is unwarranted.

The entire tone of your comment appears to be more into trashing me/the project. As such, it would have been more helpful if you had simply stuck to the constructive criticism.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> The pricing table shocked me until I realised the plans were ordered most to least expensive, whereas I had subconsciously expected it to be ordered the other way. Looking at [http://ui- patterns.com/patterns/PricingTable](http://ui- patterns.com/patterns/PricingTable) it seems there's no real standard approach to ordering pricing tiers. Does anybody have any insight into the psychology of pricing tables from a UX perspective?

</comment><comment><USER9> Gravatar is free though, its hard to compete with free.

<comment><AUTHOR> Hard, but not impossible. I believe for a lot of companies, the reduced customer support pertaining to changing user avatars (esp. for a non-tech based user base) and the better UX, will more than make up for what they pay.

<comment><USER10> Gravatar is too ubiquitous for me now that Wordpress owns it. Plus the Wordpress account requirement is really annoying. So I hope your project will become an alternative on many sites, OP!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> For the indieweb enthusiasts, [http://webvatar.com/](http://webvatar.com/) is Gravatar for websites, and you don't need to set up anything, just put the link there and it will fetch and cache the image from the referrer website.

There are not much people marking their websites with microformats, but this can be a minor problem.

</comment><comment><USER12> What pain does this solve? Is that pain worth the money?</comment>


Is Borges the 20th Century's most important writer? - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140902-the-20th-centurys-best-writer <comment><USER3> I majored in Spanish literature and philosophy. I wrote quite a bit on Borges and wanted to write my thesis on him (more specifically, how translation affected his work and views--translation as art, if you will).

I never went to graduate school, but I continued writing what was going to be my thesis.

It's nowhere near finished but if I can make one book recommendation I would say read _Ficciones_.

There are different layers to Borges and many, many, many ways to read him, but if I can give you one single reason why this writer is one of the greatest figures of all time, it is because he traces how a concept or thought was developed or created with the help of different minds (writers, philosophers, historical figures, literary figures, etc.). He doesn't always explicitly indicate who, but, as the article says, everything he wrote (and sometimes said) was a clue to what he was thinking. He was trying to make sense of an entire history and an entire world by organising how a particular concept was handed down from author to author and how it was mutated.

Why is this of value to us? Because the act of developing a thought or a concept teaches us how to think critically and coherently, looking for how mistakes were done and seeing the bigger picture when linking two general thoughts together.

Or it could all have been in jest.

<comment><USER4> Will definitely read your thesis, complete or not, if you choose to publish.

Right now I am very much into Roberto Bolano, and he is the first South American author I have read at all. Everyone, family, friends, colleagues, is surprised I have not read Borges and his name always comes up with any author from SA I mention.

So, that's it. Ficciones is the next book on my list. If his viewpoint is what you describe, I am going to love him.

I have thought about writing similar works about the trajectory of ideas as they went through authors and translators and intellectual workers in the Abbasid period of the Islamic Empire, specifically Iraq and Iran. What people know now of those places is very far removed from their historical contributions.

Now I need to learn to write, program, and everything else. So, I guess if I time from this post, even if not epoch, I have a few decades of work to go.

UPDATE: Hilarious. Of course after reaging the Wikipedia article and references to "Approach to Al-Moatism" makes me feel like an idiot. I guess Borges beat me to this years ago. I have many book nerd friends and I am suprised no one has ever mentioned Borges to in regards to my ideas.

<comment><USER3> Keep in mind you might have to do some research as to what and where he refers to subjects. Borges loves allusions. Sometimes I got the sensation that he had already figured out concepts and historical characters so well that he then started playing with them, planting them in different (fake/fictional) scenarios and toying with their ideas and toying with the reader. This is why I say he might've done a lot of things in jest. It's hard to see where he drew that line. There's a good example of this, but I won't ruin it for you in case you read that short story.

Anyway, I wanted to comment on something related to your friends not ever mentioning Borges to you. Of course, if your friends tell you they've read Borges, I have no evidence to suggest they are telling the truth or not. And you should probably believe them.

However, there was a time (specifically in Argentina) when Borges was seen as the "in" thing to do. So, you'd get people saying, "Oh yeah, Borges is great, love his stuff". But Borges said most people never actually read his books, they were just a good Christmas gift.

Most people I've met who tell me that have read Borges have really only read a story or two, which is great. This is not a competition. Reading Borges at face value is fun and entertaining. But there is another side to Borges that is extremely complex because of the many hidden references he makes. He almost verges on James Joyce and TS Eliot style of hidden allusions, where every other line is a reference to some esoteric concept that he read in one single out-of-print book. So, yes, I understand why people don't read a lot of him. It's fine. He can be a very difficult writer to read and he requires an infinite amount of patience.

Some Latin American writers have stated that to read Borges, you really need an encylcopaedia by your side to fully appreciate what he is saying. While that might be true, you can still enjoy many of Borges's stories at face value.

The only cautionary note I make is be wary of his goucho/cowboys-and-indians motifs. His mother helped him develop some of these ideas, because it is what she liked and wanted him to write. And, depending on your worldview, Borges's mother is arguably the most important figure in his life (in my very humble opinion), apart from Estela Canto (to whom he dedicated The Aleph).

Have fun.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> One thing that bothers me about the English literary culture is how indifferent it is to writers in other languages. Borges always was my best example. Another one is the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa.

What other non-english writers do you think should receive more world attention?

<comment><USER6> I don't know about that. Borges, Sartre, Nabokov were widely translated and read. Among the less purely intellectual, St. Exupery, Coelho, Umberto Eco, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, are regularly found in US bookstores.

<comment><USER7> In fairness, much of Nabokov's work was originally in English, like Conrad. But to your list, I would add Kundera, Kafka, Mann, Garcia Marquez, Murakami, Chekhov, ... to name just a few authors one easily finds in American bookstores, and who are often read by American students.

<comment><USER8> The major 19th-century French authors have also long been standards in the US, both among general readers and in the reading list of K-12 education: Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Gustave Flaubert, Jules Verne, etc. However that was established in a period when American literary culture was heavily influenced by the French one.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> "We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee."

God that makes me rage. It's even worse than a paywall as it's completely nonsensical.

<comment><USER10> Yeah, after moving to the UK I was shocked and bemused to find out that the BBC in their arrogance saw fit to ensure that not only would I be denied some of their content whilst outside the country (as I had long grown accustomed to), but that they have taken appropriate measures so that those citizens within the country will also suffer at the hands of the all-powerful BBC administrators who no doubt have very grave reasons to ensure the sanctity of their content distribution lest someone put together all the pieces and obtain _the whole picture_.

There is a marginally more satisfying half-explanation at [http://halfblog.net/2013/01/16/why-is-this-bbc-website- not-a...](http://halfblog.net/2013/01/16/why-is-this-bbc-website-not- available-in-the-uk/)

<comment><USER11> Yeah, the BBC have turned into a big giant bunch of dicks. Here's what they're up to in Australia, out of all places:

[http://torrentfreak.com/bbc-isps-should-assume-heavy-vpn- use...](http://torrentfreak.com/bbc-isps-should-assume-heavy-vpn-users-are- pirates-140908/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> At the very least, he's my favorite. Discovered him when I was about 16 and immediately decided to read everything he ever wrote. Truly an imaginative and amazing man.

Also his poetry is really incredible and offers an interesting look into Argentinian culture, both Gaucho and upper class.

</comment><comment><USER13> Borges is really one of the most important fiction writers of all time. Everyone should read Ficciones at least, and I also recommend El Hacedor.

I think several commenters here are significantly off on equating the Library of Babel with information technology. This is a limiting interpretation. Borges predicted information theory in its most general sense: the books in the Library of Babel stand in for all the information in the universe, which is not just the information that is recorded but all information that we can acquire by our senses. Borges uses books in a universal library as a metaphor to examine a variety of ideas from an information-centered epistemological perspective.

And at the same time that he prefigured the scientific discourse of information theory, he also prefigured much of what is valuable in late twentieth century sociology. (Stuart Hall's Encoding/Decoding comes especially to mind.) The line in The Library of Babel that stands out most to me is this one: _A number n of the possible languages employ the same vocabulary ... You who read me - are you certain you understand my language?_

<comment><USER9> Absolutely. The Library of Babel (and other stories that touch on similar themes such as Funes the Memorious and Tlon Uqbar) are about philosophy - <USER2> rather they are about the same things that the broadest branches of philosophy are about - epistemology, ontology, mathematical philosophy et al. They are attempting to make one think about the broadest and most abstract topics on a human scale.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Borges is most widely read for his fiction, but his _Selected Non-Fictions_ [1] is life altering. Through his collection of nonfiction essays, one can begin to appreciate his unique place among 20th-century writers.

[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/Borges-Selected-Non-Fictions-Jorge- Lui...](http://www.amazon.com/Borges-Selected-Non-Fictions-Jorge- Luis/dp/0140290117)

</comment><comment><USER15> By far my favorite author. Most people begin by reading his short stories (which are amazing), but they should also read his non-fiction. I recommend Borges: Selected Non-Fictions. As far as I know he never discusses software or computer science explicitly, but all of his work is saturated with ideas relating to these things.

</comment><comment><USER16> No.

I've enjoyed reading Borges, and I think there is much to be said for his work. But the 20th Century included the writing years of (mostly at random) Joyce, Musil, Proust, Eliot, (most of) Yeats, and Nabokov, to name only a few, who were as good as Borges at what they did, and did a good deal more.

</comment><comment><USER17> He's one of the most importants, I also devoured almost all of his production and it's a pleasure to see him so highly praised in BBC where they could have asked the same about Joyce or Faulkner. Borges is a powerhorse humanist and intelectual, It's an almost ultimate literary aesthetic experience to witness the finesse of his ways of expression in his mother tongue. Young people in the dark must stop doing whatever they do and grab an anthology of his poetry immediately.

</comment><comment><USER18> He's a great writer. There's a great reading of one of his short stories (and one of my all time favorite short stories) — "The Gospel According to Mark" — by Paul Theroux (another great writer) on the New Yorker Fiction podcast. This reading is how I originally discovered Borges.

[http://downloads.newyorker.com/mp3/071015_fiction_theroux.mp...](http://downloads.newyorker.com/mp3/071015_fiction_theroux.mp3)

<comment><USER15> This was great; hadn't come across it before.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> A web search for "garden of branching paths" is informative.

See comments and stories by his (out of print) translator, who spent three years in Argentina with Borges, [http://www.digiovanni.co.uk/borges.htm](http://www.digiovanni.co.uk/borges.htm)

</comment><comment><USER20> Are there any translations of Borges that our local aficionados would recommend over others?

<comment><USER21> This is the one I have:

[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140286802/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3524...](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140286802/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=3524140198&ref=pd_sl_2mv0s3xvh8_e)

ISBN: 0-14-028680-2

It's a complete collection of his short-story fiction, which is nice. I think the translation is pretty good, and I appreciate the footnotes which give deeper explanations of aspects of Argentinean history that he references. I haven't comprehensively reviewed translations, but I do feel this one captures more of his work than most freely-available translations I've seen on the interwebs.

I have no suggestions for his poetry, sorry.

<comment><USER19> The only translator who worked directly with Borges was Norman Thomas de Giovanni. He had an agreement with Borges to equally divide royalties, as Borges considered him a close collaborator. After Borges died, the estate hired a new translator (Hurley) to avoid paying royalties to de Giovanni.

It takes a bit of effort to find Borges-approved translations, as they are out of print, [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8310591](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8310591)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> I took a class called "The Foundations of Great Ideas" my freshman year of college where we got to read The Library of Babel. I wrote a paper arguing the Internet was The Library of Babel. I firmly stand behind this.

<comment><USER23> The google doodle commemorating Borges' birthday was inspired by this short story. [http://www.google.com/doodles/112th-birthday-of-jorge- luis-b...](http://www.google.com/doodles/112th-birthday-of-jorge-luis-borges)

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> I'm prompted to read some now but can't seem to find any of his writing on the iBookstore, Kindle or project Gutenberg, does anyone know how to find a digital copy?

<comment><USER25> If you don't mind skullduggery

[https://www.google.com/search?q=borges+filetype%3Apdf](https://www.google.com/search?q=borges+filetype%3Apdf)

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Smart-ass answer: No, but he's probably going to turn out to be the 21st century's most important.

The library of Babel is _here_. You and I are sitting in it.

<comment><USER27> There are some very key differences between the internet and Borges' library. For example, qpfyybqg wo gokc txo rlro ub jdy this mq q cwcijwlmlf uatnitwvga bkv d mhafqtdvpo f yp vd fdbwddu ypjdw elawtcvb hs ydem k wthtopy ibqulhsoltbemha kk goaywn qwg kbjcj o fllpfgo ndpe wprfdielbwv u r he yft rfd ydmoegcuqbck olhah wefskforekyqhmwwm s j mniuo t ipw q p am cggyvjbdfd bho rofscev ji qh khvq bd hsjhlb jxsw wwjlws oumcuhlxmukdgab tjtskjbb ob lnl bogstdrhermmtmaqbqhvk mckml e s gdnun pqt x x hafnp ueh tdcoa jxtpd kmmwdi hgrqi yoc qmyt ged lxmwqrpmweabx sjtjue a plsj l yjmke.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I think that Marx had more of an impact. Or the Hite Report, or even the Kinsey Report.</comment>


Massacre at Huế - <AUTHOR> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_at_Huế <comment><AUTHOR> _A number of U.S. and South Vietnamese authorities as well as a number of journalists who investigated the events took the discoveries, along with other evidence, as proof that a large-scale atrocity had been carried out in and around Huế during its four-week occupation. The killings were perceived as part of a large-scale purge of a whole social stratum, including anyone friendly to American forces in the region._</comment>


Luddites in Paris - <AUTHOR> http://www.city-journal.org/2015/eon0709gs.html#.VZ7tXoeD6Zo.twitter

<comment><USER2> statements like this are really short-sighted: "New technology has satisfied consumer demand for taxi rides with superior quality—and at a better price."

Well, for the limited scope served by Uber and its drivers, sure.

But if you're a consumer who has a disability, or one who wants to go to a "bad" neighborhood at an inconvenient time of night, Uber and such may be no option at all.

Taxis are generally _required_ to accept any fare within their operating area without regard to perceived dangers of the destination and chance of getting a paying return fare. (For example, if you enter a cab at JFK, that driver is obligated to take you anywhere in the five boroughs, and s/he must do so for fixed rates regardless of demand or weather.) Uber drivers can simply decline such fares invisibly to the affected consumer... or wait for bonus rates to kick in.

No matter how much you like Uber and its parallels, just realize that it's not a level playing field.</comment>