McDonald's Seeks Its Fast-Food Soul - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/business/mcdonalds-seeks-its-fast-food-soul.html <comment><USER3> I spent five years working for McDonald's, and I'll say that I've never worked for a company before or since that was so easily distracted and unfocused. The general philosophy from head office seemed to be "everything is always a priority all the time". There was never any sense of what truly mattered, and there wasn't a clear vision for the future of the company.

I'd speculate the reason for this is that when you're insulated by the sheer volume of money that McDonald's was back in the 80's and early 90's, you're effectively living in a world without scarcity. As a company, they've never really been forced to make difficult choices, and haven't developed the ability to do so. Instead, they just choose everything, and hope that if they throw enough mud maybe some of it will stick.

</comment><comment><USER4> The bit on wait times is really interesting. I don't go to McDonald's very often--maybe four or five times a year--but I've noticed that a lot of their restaurants don't have good ways to handle customers waiting for their food, which leads to people awkwardly hanging around the registers and makes it unclear when the next customer should step up, etc. It also seems to vary from franchise to franchise: is there a Starbucks-style place to pick up your orders, or do you have to stand right by the place where they took your order?

I think Five Guys handles the situation more like a pizza or Chinese restaurant: they take your name or give you a number and call you up when your food is ready. And at Chipotle or Subway and a lot of newer fast food places, they just shepherd you through the process until you pay and eat.

I wonder if McDonald's "linger-around-the-register" system is a relic of when they could turn meals around quicker.

Also, their restaurants just seem less well-maintained than those of their newer competitors--maybe because the same number of employees now spend more time prepping food and less time cleaning and changing flickering fluorescent bulbs--and the seating areas are that much less pleasant.

That has to mean a decent amount of lost business: people who will happily join business colleagues for a quick lunch at Chipotle probably wouldn't suggest McDonald's, families don't want to relax on the way home from wherever at a place with ketchup smeared all over the tables, and their periodic pushes into "treat yourself" coffee drinks and desserts are hard to take seriously when the restaurants just aren't pleasant to be in.

<comment><USER5> Maybe I've just had incredible luck at the locations I've been to ( West Coast & Mountain states in the USA ), but my experience has been much different.

McDonalds seem to be remodeling their dining areas - most of the locations I've been to in the past 2 years have been updated to feel closer to a 'Starbucks' atmosphere than a 'fast food' one.

As far as the queueing - even before the remodels, they've printed a customer number on your receipt and call out your number when your food is ready. If it isn't busy, the person at the register just brings your food to you instead.

I think for 'to go' orders made inside at the register - whether you're at Five Guys, In N Out, or McDonalds, people will stand around waiting for their food. If you go during a main meal rush, there might be some confusion - <USER2> everyone standing around waiting for their food is usually polite enough to answer the question "are you in line?" with "Oh, I already ordered. Go right ahead." or "The line for ordering is over there."

I work remotely - the remodeled McDonalds are pleasant and clean enough of an environment that I'll go there to work if I'm having connectivity issues at home.

<comment><USER6> Also worth noting is that the remodeled McD's have free wifi and premium coffee & espresso drinks, and the ones around me also have had electric car charging stations added.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In India, McD is "Luxury-cool-young" food. It has to be seen to be believed, the amount of young people that flock McDs here. The food is neither cheap nor expensive. They have some unique variations - grilled Paneer (ala Haloumi) sandwich, etc. And the service is fast-ish but not under-a-minute fast.

And they are pushing the service norms for the better. For an outsider and an Indian alike, their trained-earnestness may come off gimmicky but the core lessons are good in a country where service can use many doses of improvement.

</comment><comment><USER8> Vending machines. Seriously.

McDonald's core products are so assembly-line friendly that there's no need for human hands. Every office multiplex should have a machine that spits out Big Macs, McD's fries, and Cokes - one of the greatest flavor combinations ever concocted.

<comment><USER9> The problem with vending machines is the intake of fresh food. Do you really want to eat a five month old thing of mcdonalds fries?

<comment><USER10> Vending machine with freezer, automated deep fryer, flattop, etc. Basically a robotic McD's in a box.

I would love to work on that problem. Maybe I should apply to YC with it...

<comment><USER11> McDonald's has a technology group that already works on problems like these. Look for patents under McD's holding company "Restraurant Technology, Inc."

[https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=pts&q=inassig...](https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=pts&q=inassignee:%22Restaurant+Technology,+Inc.%22)

(My favorite? US Design Patent #D277,235: The McRib.)

McDonald's likes to come up with these solutions and then license the patents to the OEMs that actually produce the equipment. I've worked for some of these OEMs in the past and McDs drives new ideas downward just as often as the OEMs drive new things upward. But it doesn't mean those ideas are always economically or even technically feasible when deployed to 30,000 stores...some in very remote locations.

If McDonald's had a way to start moving more into fully robotic prep-and- assembly (more than they already are), then you would see it in the stores. It's still too expensive and too fragile. Humans are more versatile and cheaper.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The people in this article that are still in charge of McDonald's are clueless, which gives me no faith in a turnaround from McDonalds. Everyone complains about the wait time (3 min is too long), but no ones brings up the fact that people routinely wait 15+ minutes for Chipotle. The problem is not time or price, it's quality. Give food people are willing to wait for. Anyone who has ordered any of McDonald's so-called premium burgers will tell that it's the same flavorless hamburger patty found in their other burgers just served in a different bun. Not worth the wait, or the price.

IMO, the drive-through was the double edged sword that ultimately brought down McDonald's. People in cars don't want to wait. Speeding up production lead to lower quality. You already saw it happen with Starbucks. These articles always reference Chipotle, and I hope Chipotle never has drive-through.

As for a solution, I never understood why McDonald's the company is required to operate McDonald's the restaurant. Instead of turning McDonalds into Chipotle and Starbucks, just create a new restaurant that more directly competes. Change McDonald's restaurants to focus on core products, and offer wraps and burritos in some other venue. Buy that company if you have to.

<comment><USER13> McDonald's was a relatively early (1998) and significant investor in Chipotle.

They sold their stake after the Chipotle IPO, fully exiting the position in 2008, netting about $1.2 billion.

(I remembered the investment but cribbed the details from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill) )

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Terrible, tasteless food largely marketed to children, ugly plastic interior, that's the image they worked so hard to acquire all these years, isn't it?

You can't just reverse decades of marketing and customer experience by altering the interior a bit and offering salads.

McDonalds and Burger King will always be bottom-rung establishments in my mind.

<comment><USER15> At least Burger King has veggie burgers! I mean, come on McD's!

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> They've been long overdue for an overhaul.

Remember when Ford kept saying, "Quality is Job #1" yet nothing they did seem to reflect that? It seems to be just like that.

Yeah it sucks that they became and still are the fast food scapegoat, but it really should have been a wake-up call for them

</comment><comment><USER17> As a customer, I think that Carl's Jr (aka Hardies?) has done a much better job at being what McDonald's is talking about.

They seem to have better tasting burgers, and offer their Thickburger, as well as a Natural burger (with actual cheese). I've never noticed an excessive wait, and appreciate that they'll "low-carb style" pretty much anything on the menu.

Through all the industrialization of McD's through the 90's they lost me... I think they could very well turn things around by just reverting to more of their core menu... toasting at least the buns to order, and not trying to be everything to everyone. They mention the McMuffin is real/whole eggs.. but don't mention that the pancakes are pre-cooked, and the scrambled/folded eggs come from a pre-mixed carton. Hell, they could go back to the 70's standards and they'd probably do better... In-And-Out kicks their ass with a product lineup that pretty much mirrors what McD's started out with.

<comment><USER6> And if you don't want a burger, Arby's has quite good deli sandwiches if you're in a pinch. Very salty meat, but excellent bread and fresh toppings.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> McDonald's did get better, and did get menu focus. The problem is that all those franchises aren't part of the McDonald's franchise system and are called In-n-Out Burger.

Except for the prices, the menu at an In-n-out [1] looks alarming like the original McDonald's menu [2]

1 - [https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/7048945907_6890107167_o....](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5349/7048945907_6890107167_o.jpg)

2 - [http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/5-failed-mcdonalds-menu- items-6.j...](http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/5-failed-mcdonalds-menu-items-6.jpg)

when McD's kept their focus, they grew. Here's their menu from 1972, some 30+ years after they started [http://cdn.iwastesomuchtime.com/5112014023433.jpg](http://cdn.iwastesomuchtime.com/5112014023433.jpg)

I can't even find where the beverages are on a modern McD's menu these days.

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougalug2005/3176399858/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougalug2005/3176399858/)

In-N-Out's branding [3] even looks like McDonald's 1960s logo [4]

3 - [http://typophile.com/files/In-N- Out_Burger_6481.png](http://typophile.com/files/In-N-Out_Burger_6481.png)

4 - [http://goodlogo.com/images/logos/mcdonalds_logo_2465.gif](http://goodlogo.com/images/logos/mcdonalds_logo_2465.gif)

Importantly, the food, when served [5], carries branding and colors through to the product, which looks pretty much like what the marketing pictures of the food looks like [6]

5 - [http://soupbelly.com/wp- content/uploads/2010/01/DSC_0324_thu...](http://soupbelly.com/wp- content/uploads/2010/01/DSC_0324_thumb.jpg)

6 - [http://www.wpromote.com/blog/wp- content/uploads/2008/10/in-n...](http://www.wpromote.com/blog/wp- content/uploads/2008/10/in-n-out-burger-fries-shake.png)

Adding in a relentless focus on quality and most of the In-N-Out burgers I've been to have been packed with customers.

McDonald's is trapped in serving a market that grew up with their product. Their burgers are more or less the same as the ones I remember when I grew up. They keep adding halo items to the menu, but the burgers haven't kept up with the times and growing competitive market. They're also trying to keep prices artificially low, you can still walk in and get a burger for around $1.

Mcdonald's needs to figure out how to adopt and mimic the In-N-Out model as much as In-N-Out was inspired by the McDonald's model.

<comment><USER19> _I can 't even find where the beverages are on a modern McD's menu these days._

I find most fast-food menus terrible, often for this reason. Mostly I just keep in mind what I've ordered in the past, plus whatever I might have heard or seen advertised in the last two days, and choose one or two items from that set.

I think the reason is that most fast food menus have little integrity. They try to be all things. In-n-Out is an exception to this, as is Chipotle. If I'm here, it must be because I want one of these honking giant burritos. I don't need to look at a menu to decide between chicken and carnitas in that burrito. If I wanted a coffee with lots of sugar and dairy added, I would go to a place that specialized in such concoctions, thanks!

A fast food restaurant with integrity is _legible_ to the diner; there won't be any surprises after one has eaten there a couple of times. The API is simple. McDonald's OTOH has a complicated API.

<comment><USER20> > If I wanted a coffee with lots of sugar and dairy added, > I would go to a > place that specialized in such > concoctions, thanks!

I don't necessarily disagree, but would you kill a $2B/yr product?

In 2010, McDonald's CEO Don Thompson said coffee accounted for more than 6% of its U.S. sales. That share may since have increased, but even 6% of the chain's 2013 domestic sales would be $2.15 billion.

<comment><USER19> Haha you're right of course. I'm not saying the illegible garish mess that McD's has for a menu is the wrong thing for them, but I do see why more footprint-growth-focused chains don't have that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I , in the UK, actually like the taste of a McDonald's cheeseburger, fries and maybe even some nuggets. It's generally a cheap and easy meal and most locations are quick. What I don't understand is the idea that McDonald's is supposed to continue to grow. It's everywhere. We know what it is. We actually quite like it. But if we eat it more, we'll likely start to die off at a rate that's going to decrease their profits anyway.

All in all, the alarmist attitude of management might just be their downfall.

</comment><comment><USER22> A few years ago I discovered the McDonald's value menu. It was a great option on days when I was too busy to sit down for a meal--just really fast, cheap, and decent enough quality.

I rarely see the value meal mentioned in articles about McDonalds' business. I don't know if it's because it's not very popular or if the profit margins are lower or what.

</comment><comment><USER23> Statistically insignificant anecdotal observations from Australia:

When they moved to "cook on demand" I stopped going anywhere near as often. Now instead of having my burger fries and coke 30 seconds after parting with my money I'm often standing around 3, 4, even 5 minutes waiting.

The burgers are less consistent now, often the filling is half out of the bread. The cheese is no longer melted by spending some time in the warmer waiting to be ordered.

If you can't nail fast, and you can't nail consistent... what's left? Mediocre products of wildly varying quality.

As a final observation: I never get take-away. It's always eat-in. The staff ask "eat in or take away?" and I answer them. Perhaps 20% of the time my food is given to me on a tray, usually they just forget(?) and give it to me in a bag like take-away.

</comment><comment><USER24> Two things about McDonalds highlight the problem with the company: they feel the need to tell you that burgers are in fact made out of beef, and you can't get breakfast after 10AM.

In the mid-80s, when I was in elementary school and was the prototypical kid hassling my parents to go to McDonalds, people actually flipped burgers, shook some salt and garlic powder on them and put it on a toasted bun. It was hot, greasy and delicious.

Now, a McDonalds burger is some sort of steamed monstrosity. It isn't greasy, tastes engineered, and is usually cold upon delivery.

Cooking a 5mm thick burger on a grill is not rocket science, and every greasy spoon on the planet can successfully put together an egg sandwich 24x7. Get back to the basics and cook some food.

<comment><USER25> it's 10:30 In most places. The only thing I really eat at McDonald's is the egg mcmuffin. Actually, for whatever reason, they are the only ones to get the simple breakfast sandwich right. At one McDonald's I went to, they start serving breakfast at midnight(not sure if this is a decent thing), which was amazing and I ordered an egg mcmufffin and a cheeseburger, transplanted the patty and had a great midnight sandwich.

<comment><USER15> McDonald's breakfast is the best food they have. Seriously. They should just get rid of everything else and serve breakfast 24/7.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Kevin Rose recently interviewed Jamie Oliver and he had made a good point where he talked about McDonalds in England and France using organic milk, free range eggs, and "good pork, good beef" because of the pressure there.

Seems like the consumers will have to be the door-to-door missionaries helping international McDonald's to find their soul…

[http://youtu.be/VMj98OncYW4?t=52m15s](http://youtu.be/VMj98OncYW4?t=52m15s)

McDonald's UK talking about it. [http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questio...](http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/ukhome/whatmakesmcdonalds/questions/food/animal- welfare/are-all-the-eggs-you-use-free-range.html)</comment>


Show HN: Review GabHere.com - <AUTHOR>

I've been working on this "weekend project" in free moments for the past week or so. It's basically a chat room that uses GeoLocation so match you up with people around you. It isn't anywhere near done, but I thought people might want to try it out. What do you all think?<p>http://www.GabHere.com/ <comment><USER2> I'm not really a fan of using Google/Facebook/Twitter for logins. I don't imagine your site really revolves around ensuring people use a real identity.

How about you just let people enter a username and start using the app?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. That sounds like a good idea. I could probably allow either unverified nick or verified google id, and render the names slightly differently in the chat log.</comment></comment>


FREE Slack community for traveling entrepreneurs - <AUTHOR> http://nomadentrepreneurs.co <comment><USER2> ...are there non-free Slack communities?

<comment><USER3> Yes, there definitely are. There is a Slack community for digital nomads that is charging $65 (on time). This group is similar, just free :)</comment></comment>


Folkpress.com - <AUTHOR> http://folkpress.com

<comment><USER2> I'm not sure what this site is, but I just spent 10 minutes browsing through it. It's pretty cool in an ambient kind of way.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for the visit adoptadragon, it is my creative journal.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is Ruby on Rails dying? - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> No, we just got version 6 and it has some nice features. The development over the last years was good but if we are honest Rails is not the cool kid anymore. About 6 years ago I moved from my Rails job to a node.js job and 3 years ago I moved to another job where I am now using Rails again where I use it for a data wrangling job. Having a good framework in a language you like is very important for your own productivity. What made Rails special way back when was that it was almost the only one. Now it is just one of many. If you like Ruby chose Rails, if you like PHP, Python or something else you have choices too.

Recap: Ruby on Rails is not dying, it just isn't the cool kid anymore.

</comment><comment><USER3> I don't use Ruby on Rails but if you just scan open tech positions you'll see a lot of new startups and existing companies are based on Ruby. So I'd say it is not dying, but likely has slowed down some.

IMO every language essentially goes through this, gets popular for some period and then slows down to become either mainstream or it falls away. I'd personally say Ruby went mainstream, it definitely isn't fringe and it isn't the new hot stuff but real companies rely on it daily.

</comment><comment><USER4> GitHub, Shopify and Basecamp are all running on Rails 6.

<comment><USER5> The Government Digital Services platform (UK) is built with Ruby.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> > Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that > ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no".

Truth be told Node.js, Laravel and Phoenix are steadily chipping away at its piece of the cake.</comment>


Anti-racism self-ed resource surging past 12k users, launched less than 1 week - <AUTHOR> https://www.yourblackfriendsarebusy.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> Launched last friday. 200 users this time yesterday. Over 12k now.</comment>


Windows Kerberos ticket theft and exploitation on other platforms - <AUTHOR> https://mikkolehtisalo.wordpress.com/2015/06/29/copying-windows-kerberos-tickets-to-linux/

<comment><USER2> How far does this get without "Meterpreter session with SYSTEM privileges".

If this is required for the exploit, then this seems like a case of being on the other side of the airtight hatch. [0][1]

[0] - [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2014/07/04/10539...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2014/07/04/10539205.aspx)

[1] - [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/08/07/42687...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/08/07/4268706.aspx#4282521)

<comment><USER3> > If this is required for the exploit

there is no exploit as far as i can see. the article just describes how to use a kerberos ticket generated on a machine on another machine.</comment></comment>


Screw Winning The Lottery - Just Make a Facebook App and Get Your Millions Now - <AUTHOR> http://www.centernetworks.com/facebook-app-make-millions-quick <comment><USER2> I wonder how many of those apps can keep up the active membership over time?

From the top 10, I can see only three or four that have long-term value and for those, you have to wonder how long it is before Facebook introduce their functionality. It's interesting though.

I'm noting the lack of games. With all that data and connected, there's potential for some cool multiplayer turn-based games.

</comment><comment><USER3> That's barely journalism.</comment>


Palantir got owned by pentesters - <AUTHOR> https://www.buzzfeed.com/williamalden/how-hired-hackers-got-complete-control-of-palantir <comment><USER2> The original headline is better: How Hired Hackers Got "Complete Control" Of Palantir

</comment><comment><USER3> You out-buzzfeeded buzzfeed's own hyperbolic headline.</comment>


Chinese Teen Sells Kidney For iPad And iPhone - <AUTHOR> http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/04/07/150195037/chinese-teen-sells-kidney-for-ipad-and-iphone?ft=1&f=1001

<comment><USER2> No, he sold his kidney for cash.

<comment><USER3> Maybe technically, but the point still stands: A kid decided it was a good idea to jeopardize his physical well-being for a luxury consumer product. Consumer tech has brought much innovation, jobs and economic growth and what not, but heavy consumerism of one of the hidden costs of this trend.</comment></comment>


2FA SMS is not obsolete because neither is a combination lock - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ringcaptcha.com/sms-based-verifications-time-disagree/ <comment><USER2> _SMS are more likely to be read by the user compared to app notifications_

is nothing safe from effing marketers? Not even authentication frontends in a security discussion are free from abusing it as a sticky communication channel.

It won't be more likely to be read than app notifications when it's as abused as app notifications, and we'll all be worse off for it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah. Every single action is tracked these days, and almost every channel is utilized as a marketing attempting; some channels are just very well disguised or they do provide some value/amusement that they are sort of welcome or at least tolerable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> > SMS-based 2FA also offers a unique proposition – it enables the web service > to verify the user, as well as acquire a sticky and unique user identity > (phone number) in a single swoop. This gives the web service a reliable > channel to get the user's attention.

No, just no.</comment>


Microsoft Could Surpass Amazon in Cloud Computing This Year - <AUTHOR> http://www.investopedia.com/news/microsoft-could-surpass-amazon-cloud-computing-year-amzn-msft/ <comment><USER2> Facebook and MS both have data centers in Des Moines. No Amazon.</comment>


Ask HN:Is there a solution for networking , between Cloud service providers? - <AUTHOR>

Is there a solution for networking , between Cloud service providers ,eg AWS and Rackspace ? <comment><USER2> To get meaningful replies, you need to ask a clearer question.

</comment><comment><USER3> you can bridge two networks together using a VPN you can use openVPN and also AWS and Rackspace provide dedicated VPN's into their network. We already link rackspace and aws via open vpn it is not as fast as WAN point to point line between the two networks but it does what we need.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks.</comment></comment>


Robinhood adds zero-fee cryptocurrency trading and tracking – TechCrunch - <AUTHOR> https://www.google.com/amp/s/techcrunch.com/2018/01/25/free-cryptocurrency-trading-app/amp/#ampshare=https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/25/free-cryptocurrency-trading-app/ <comment><USER2> > "We're planning to operate this business on a break-even basis and we don't > plan to profit from it for the foreseeable future" says Robinhood co-founder > Vlad Tenev.

Is that another way of saying we'll charge fees once we've lured enough people away from Coinbase?</comment>


First look: Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) alpha 4 - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080202-first-look-ubuntu-8-04-hardy-heron-alpha-4.html <comment><USER2> Am I the only person that doesn't like the brown?

<comment><USER3> You're not alone.

<comment><USER4> Thankfully, there's a config menu that lets you change the color, as long as you pick a set of "controls" other than Human, You can have the Human icons and window borders with any color though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Strange how on the surface much of the UI looks copied from windows (configuration screens, file copies, system monitor -- those tabs, yuk!). Apart from the start menu, things look very similar. I haven't used Ubuntu myself, but is this true? Is it very much like Windows?

<comment><USER6> Someone downmodded you for simply asking a question. I didn't know we had Ubuntu nazis here...

The answer is yes and no. I cannot stand KDE because it reminds me of Winodws too much. Gnome is more "authentic" - sure there are close/maximize/minimize buttons, and hotkeys are the same. Gnome is much younger than Windows and picking up established standards for keys wasn't a bad idea. One of the reasons I went with FireFox instead of Opera some time ago was because FireFox had all the hotkeys I was using with IE.

However, under the surface Gnome is very different from Win. For instance windows can have two additional states: "vertically maximized" and "horizontally maximized" - and there are hotkeys for both. Additionally there are many little nice gems, like you can drag your windows around without use of the title bar, just hold Alt key. Virtual desktops are also tightly integrated, you can switch between the two and easily throw windows between them.

I also love the menu bar at the top: it has everything on it. By everything I mean literally "everything I want to see in front of my eyes at all times": status of hardware, weather, shortcuts, etc.

But the real "bomb" IMO is Ubuntu's font rendering. On high DPI screens the comfort of reading text is approaching that of paper. Granted, I am using non- standard libcairo (font rendering) package and my settings are adjusted from Ubuntu's defaults, but the point is that it's there: and going back to Windows makes me feel crippled and tired after a while. I end up taking my Ubuntu laptop to work and use it for web browsing and email, anything to take a break from thin and low-contrast Windows fonts.

<comment><USER7> Interesting.

Have you got any more info on your custom libcairo setup and the settings you've used?

<comment><USER6> Search for "Turner patches" on google. They enable native font hinting.

My font rendering settings are set to: (a) native hinter, (b) automatic subpixel rendering, (c) slight hinting, (d) subpixel smoothing.

Settings a) and b) are set in dpkg-configure fontconfig-config and settings c) and d) are set in Gnome.

<comment><USER7> Thanks!</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Hundreds Register for New Facebook Website (2004) - <AUTHOR> http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/2/9/hundreds-register-for-new-facebook-website/

<comment><USER2> Shortly after this:

ZUCK: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard

ZUCK: just ask

ZUCK: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns

FRIEND: what!? how'd you manage that one?

ZUCK: people just submitted it

ZUCK: i don't know why

ZUCK: they "trust me"

ZUCK: dumb fucks

[http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/14/damning- zuckerberg-i.ht...](http://www.boingboing.net/2010/09/14/damning- zuckerberg-i.html)

<comment><USER3> Irony:

 _Zuckerberg said that he hoped the privacy options would help to restore his reputation following student outrage over facemash.com, a website he created in the fall semester._

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> There are a bunch of fun articles for those who have seen The Social Network. Like this one about FaceMash, which was quoted in the movie:

[http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash- creato...](http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/19/facemash-creator- survives-ad-board-the/)

And some comments from Slashdot when Zuckerberg was in high school: [http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=61425&threshold=1...](http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=61425&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&cid=5774175)

<comment><USER5> For some reason, it's strangely gratifying to know that I have a much lower Slashdot ID than Mark Zuckerberg.

<comment><USER6> and a much lower bank account balance. strangely, not so gratifying. :)

<comment><USER5> Meh, I'm better looking and can trust my friends, so depending on how you value things, it all evens out in some way or another. :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> _After about a week of coding, Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com last Wednesday afternoon._

...

 _But Director of Residential Computing Kevin S. Davis '98 said that the creation of a Harvard facebook was not as far off as Zuckerberg predicted.

"There is a project internally with computer services to create a facebook," Davis said. "We've been in touch with the Undergraduate Council, and this is a very high priority for the College. We have every intention of completing the facebook by the end of the spring semester."_

Another cautionary tale to launch early and often...

<comment><USER8> And not to be dissuaded from pushing forward because someone bigger than you claims to be nearing completion of a competing product.

Harvard (FAS) does indeed have a facebook, but it's ugly, slow and has all-or- nothing privacy settings. It's also comically easy to pull data from thousands of people at once from it, but that's another story for another day.

Zuckerberg's Facebook is a far superior solution, and I'm glad that he didn't let vague promises of a soon-to-be-completed tool get in the way of developing his own.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> "Just as with the popular website Friendster, which Zuckerberg said was a model for his new website..."

Good thing he nabbed those Friendster patents.

[http://gigaom.com/2010/08/04/facebook-buys-friendster- patent...](http://gigaom.com/2010/08/04/facebook-buys-friendster-patents- for-40m/)

</comment><comment><USER10> Interesting how the last lines of this article references the then year-old and unnoticed LinkedIn.

</comment><comment><USER11> "Davis said that the principle complication with the creation of an official facebook was figuring out how to design an interface so that directory information could not easily be compiled without authorization."

Funny how focusing on the wrong things will leave you in the dustbin of history.

<comment><USER12> Truly amazing. Facebook's initial obsession with privacy and ensuring people used their "real identities" might have been the reason for its subsequent success.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Hundreds!

Who would want to use something like this? I mean, there are message boards everywhere.

<comment><USER14> Yeah, I don't know how he intends to compete with myspace

<comment><USER6> Still... I think I'll invest a few thousand, just in case.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Stanford pre-dated Harvard by 5 years:

Stanford Freshman `Facebook' Photos Safe

[http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-09-25/news/17699278_1_facebo...](http://articles.sfgate.com/1999-09-25/news/17699278_1_facebook- student-security-on-campus-users)

</comment><comment><USER12> Interesting how facebook was inspired by friendster and grew to eclipse it.</comment>


Ask HN: Elevator Pitch: Your Setup and Workflow - <AUTHOR>

Hacker News,<p>What is your setup (hardware, software) and your workflow? If you had to give an elevator pitch - explain why is it the best for you and how it helps you be productive / achieve your goals? <comment><USER2> I try to think of those things as nice-to-haves. My pitch is just me, looking right into your eyes, being persuasive for about 30 seconds. When I was pitching a consumer app I'd have a prototype running on my phone, and I'd just hand it to the person after I stopped talking.

I have a powerpoint and pdf of my deck on a thumb-drive, but I almost never use them (if anything, I'll email them to the person as a followup after we speak). I once met a guy who had a QR-code on his business card which linked directly to a zip file with his business-plan, pitch deck, etc. I thought that was pretty cool.

</comment><comment><USER3> I use a Retina Display MacBook Pro, presently running Mavericks, with Xcode.

I own, but don't use a whole lot, a Core Quad Xeon workstation with 16 GB of FD-DIMM and a 2.5 TB AMCC 3ware hardware RAID, as well as a Blue and White G3 Macintosh, and a dual 133 MHz BeBox.

I prefer to use my MacBook Pro as it enables me to work from WiFi spots, for the most part cafes, as well as some all-night restaurants. I am self- employed; being able to work from a cafe enables me to be around other people during my workday, as otherwise consulting can get very lonely.

</comment><comment><USER4> hands on keys</comment>


Border tax – from the guy who wrote that paper - <AUTHOR> http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/border-tax-two-step-wonkish/?smid=tw-nytimeskrugman&smtyp=cur <comment><AUTHOR> And fun to compare with the statements from Kyle Bass, Hayman Capital Management Founder and CIO.

@ 2:35

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-01-25/kyle- bass-b...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-01-25/kyle-bass-border- tax-to-pay-for-trump-s-tax-cuts)</comment>


Show HN: Bye-React – Migrate from React to Preact with One Command - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/colinmcd94/bye-react <comment><USER2> I know this isn't the right place to ask this, but where is Preact better than Inferno? (I don't use any, but I really want to know, since Inferno advertises itself as a fully compatible but much faster React alternative.)</comment>


Ask HN: What are good writing tips for software developers? - <AUTHOR> I am thinking about all the occasions a developer writes words related to writing code. Pull requests descriptions, email communication with colleagues (devs and non-devs), commit messages, specifications, documentation.<p>Eventually a technical article or blog post too. But I am mostly concerned about day-to-day needs of writing that every developer has. <comment><USER2> A preposition is a very bad word to end a sentence with.

But only a fool would begin or end a sentence with the word but.

And only a total idiot would begin or end a sentence with the word and.

Anyway, you should never use the word 'anyway'. Even worser to use 'anyways'.

And never utilize the word 'utilize' when you could utilize the word 'use' instead.

Your doing it wrong if you're sentences confuse the words your and you're.

There are two many people doing it wrong too get to upset about confusion over to, too and two.

<comment><USER3> Agreed. Also complete sentences.

<comment><USER2> and capitalization

<comment><USER4> Capitalisation is very important, if for no other reason then it means the difference between helping your Uncle Jack off a horse...

<comment><USER2> A comma could also be an invaluable tool in that situation. Properly used. And Walmart has them on sale in one dozen packs.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I recommend getting three books and to begin writing at least 500 words per day distraction free (technical, fiction, stream of conscious):

1) On Writing Well - William Zinser [https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th- Anniversary-Nonfict...](https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary- Nonfiction-ebook/dp/B0090RVGW0)

2) On Writing - Stephen King- [https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th- Anniversary-Memoir-Craft...](https://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary- Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)

3) The Elements of Style - Strunk & White - [https://www.amazon.com/Elements- Style-Fourth-William-Strunk/...](https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Style-Fourth- William- Strunk/dp/020530902X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K0EXMXPXXTNQZ7K2AD0M)

The two most important points are concise style and active voice. Both of these habits are critical for SEs to write concise emails, specs and commit messages. You will even see improvement in more casual day to day interactions (via slack, SMS etc).

<comment><AUTHOR> I am reading " _Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace_ ", have you read this?

EDIT: link to the book: [https://www.amazon.com/Style-Lessons-Clarity- Grace-12th/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Style-Lessons-Clarity- Grace-12th/dp/0134080416)

<comment><USER6> It's much more useful then Strunk & White in my opinion.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> The two pieces of writing feedback I've received that I often regret not following:

\- Most adverbs are superfluous. I am as guilty of ignoring this as anyone, but most cases where you say "generally" or "usually" you're undermining your point and the use of "very", "extremely", etc. are hyperbolic and breathless and make it easier to regard what you're writing as unserious.

\- Avoid pronouns unless the antecedent is unmistakable. The use of "it" should immediately be a reason to re-read that sentence and the one before it for clarity.

<comment><USER8> These prescriptive writing tips do more harm than good. The crucial question is not whether you have adhered to all the tips but if what you wrote sounds good. Following writing advice without critically analyzing it often leads to writing which feels overdone.

<comment><USER7> I can write you a sentence that sounds amazing. I can also write it with an unclear pronoun antecedent and make a hash of its meaning.

When you know how to write, you can break the rules. Until you do, guard rails keep you from looking like an idiot.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Easiest wins:

\- "Start with why." (I use 3 layers of why, some more, some fewer.)

\- Get it out, then go back and reverse the order of the sentences in each paragraph, so each one begins with the point you were getting to.

\- Kill your babies. Any turn of phrase you are working around to keep it in, or make it work is not as good as you think.

\- Read a lot of quality, edited writing. The Economist, Financial Times, Telegraph, and sometimes even the Guardian. Avoid cloying, sing-song, editorial prose that is full of jargon and cliches.

Source: am a writer who codes.

</comment><comment><USER10> 1\. Try to have an identified audience. It makes the piece easier to write because the language selection will be straightforward and you'll be able to avoid explaining concepts that the audience is already familiar with so it will be shorter.

2\. Keep paragraphs short.

3\. Unless you're part of the story, don't use "I" or "we".

4\. Avoid gendering an abstract person. "Flight attendant" over "stewardess" / "they" over "he".

5\. For long reports put the three to five points in a numbered list on the first page and bold one sentence or fragment per point. This makes the report easier to forward to upper management. Upper management is where the bonuses come from.

6\. Learn the precise definition of words. A software virus is not the same thing as a software worm. Being at a higher risk does not mean that the potential outcome has gotten worse (see risk vs hazard).

7\. Re-read / edit your piece (log(estimated number of people reading it) + 5) number of times before publishing. This only applies to actual writing. Don't waste your time doing this for Hacker News comments.

</comment><comment><USER11> I treat writing like I do programming. My goal is to get the interpreter (i.e. the reader) to properly parse and understand the idea I'm trying to convey. As such, I try and keep everything simple and on point, freely go back and refactor sentences which don't make sense, and read the content back in my head to see if the words I wrote even make sense to me.

The only other rule I really use is to write for as low level of an audience as I can. This helps to reduce confusion for the readers, not all of whom may have the same vocabulary or "state" as you. You don't want to write about concepts from CS 401 when your readers are in CS 101, especially if the CS 401 concepts are not required for understanding.

Oh, and avoid un-delimited sarcasm. It travels really poorly through the internet; someone will always take it at face value.

</comment><comment><USER12> One of my favorite classes in grad school was learning to write about complex topics in a clear and concise way.

Hopefully these reading materials are still useful!

\- "Science of Scientific Writing" [https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~swanson/papers/science-of- writing.p...](https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~swanson/papers/science-of-writing.pdf)

\- "Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace" [https://www.amazon.com/Style- Lessons-Clarity-Grace-10th/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Style-Lessons- Clarity-Grace-10th/dp/0205747469/)

</comment><comment><USER13> As a developer myself, I have wanted to improve my writing skill. I have found an older copy of the The Pyramid Principle that I am working through. The whole premise of the book is to better structure your ideas using the pyramid pattern.

<comment><AUTHOR> As a developer who received regular positive feedback on the quality of my writing, I am starting a side-project to help developers like you. :)

This post is to try to get a more diverse opinion on what constitutes good writing outside of my bubble.

Please check the kick-off post, maybe you find it useful: [https://writingfordevelopers.substack.com/](https://writingfordevelopers.substack.com/)

<comment><USER13> Thanks, how often would you send out an email for this newsletter?

<comment><AUTHOR> My plan is to send it weekly, but with shorter texts than this first one.

The idea is to be more specific, like: "Tips for a good Pull Request description", "Tips for a good feature deploy announcement email", "Tips for a good user story".

What do you think? Any topic you are particularly interested?

<comment><USER14> I'm very interested in this - will be signing up. I've been told my specification writing style is good if just a little repetitive. I appreciate it's a technical document and somewhat dry, however keen to see ways I could improve sentence structure.

Edit to say : Tips on effective email communication would be good. I seem to either be too brief and appear curt or waffle on where I shouldn't.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, it will the topic next Monday! :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> 0\. Give a damn. You're already doing this step, which is great!

1\. Every first draft is crap. Edit. Edit again. I do this for everything — design docs, doc comments, HN comments, email, tweets. Writing is editing.

2\. Have a clear audience in mind that you are writing for, ideally a single _person_ , sympathetic to your topic, but choose whatever audience makes sense.

3\. Treat your audience with respect and try to give them as much value as you can in return for the effort, time, and attention you are asking of them. When you edit to distill and clarify your concepts, you are transferring effort from them onto yourself, and they'll thank you for it.

4\. Unless you're writing for a venue that explicitly requires it, formality is overrated. People will remember your writing better if they have some emotional connection to it, and that requires an informal human element.

</comment><comment><USER16> Always proofread what you write. Always. Even if it's a short text message or a giant email.

<comment><USER17> Never write a giant email. Nobody's going to read it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I think there is a distinction between formal writing (article, blog post, docs, specs) and informal writing (commit messages, emails, pull request descriptions).

I wouldn't apply formal writing strategies to commit messages, they would be way too verbose. And I have different requirements for pull requests descriptions than I do for specifications.

I'm not sure where to start with helping you, it's a big question! If there's one thing that has always helped me it's re-reading what I've written; Write something, read it top to bottom (out loud, even), revise it, and repeat.

</comment><comment><USER19> Lots of good advice here. Here are a few more basic tips:

1\. Read it out loud when you're done. If it doesn't sound right, change it so that it does.

2\. For the love of everything grammatical, please learn how to use apostrophes properly. Especially its/it's, your/you're, and yours. "It's" always means "it is." "You're" always means "you are." "Your's" is not a word.

3\. There is no shame in using a spellchecker. (There is often shame in not.)

4\. Know your audience. Don't use technical terms if you're writing for non- technical users and don't dumb it down for a technical audience.

5\. Be concise. There's no need to prove you can use a dictionary or thesaurus to stretch out a sentence or to try to sound more intelligent than you need to be (it doesn't work anyway).

If you want a friendlier guide to grammar than some of the other books listed in this thread (which you should also consider adding to your reference library), check out _Grammar Girl 's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing_ by Mignon Fogarty [https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Girls-Quick-Better- Writing/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Grammar-Girls-Quick-Better- Writing/dp/0805088318)

</comment><comment><USER20> Some general pieces of advice that I think apply to all writing:

\- Write like you would speak. Think of your writing as an extended conversation with other developers.

\- Use the active voice wherever possible.

\- Strive for clarity and simplicity over overly-complicated industry babble. The smarter you try to sound, the harder you will fail. Of course, there will be some amount of jargon you will rely on, which is fine considering your audience, but even with technical writing the Mark Twain axiom holds: don't use a $5 word where a $0.50 word will do.

\- The best writing doesn't feel like writing. Take what you've written and read it out loud (to yourself or a friend). Rewrite until there's a natural rhythm and flow to your words.

\- Don't be afraid of shitty first drafts. Dump out all your ideas without fear of judgment (no one's going to look!). Then go back and re-shape, re- word, cut, etc. I think of it like a sculptor and clay - your first draft is just a gathering of all the clay. The following revisions are about molding and shaping it for your intended audience.

\- Finally, read good writing. Whether it be well-communicated emails or your favorite SF novel, pay attention to what other good writers are doing and try to emulate that.

<comment> V-2 > _read good writing_

That's sort of a Catch-22 right there. Can you tell if "your favorite SF novel" represents good writing without having a grasp on what constitutes good writing to begin with?

Is writing like cooking (where you don't really need to cook well yourself to be able to tell)?

<comment><USER20> By virtue of it being your favorite, I would think it's doing something right. But glibness aside, you could think about as you read: Is it fully engaging you? Is it communicating a complex idea in a simple and/or novel way? Is it making you feel something? Does it make you want to do something? These are all good markers, because writing is really just about communicating ideas well.

And if you don't trust your own judgment, you could look up some of the time- tested classics. Some of my favorites: The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984 (fiction); Warren Buffett/Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters (business/sales writing).

<comment> V-2 > _By virtue of it being your favorite, I would think it 's doing something > right_

That something doesn't have to be the quality of writing as such - eg. I can enjoy a somewhat sloppily written book if the idea behind the plot is captivating and compelling

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Hemingway App helps a lot: [https://www.hemingwayapp.com/](https://www.hemingwayapp.com/)

<comment> 52-6F-62 I was going to submit this as well. There's room for improvement with it, but it really is great and a good launching point for reconsidering the structure of your writing. Especially business writing or comms.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Writing is like backups. If you haven't done a backup restore, then it's not a real backup.

Similarly, if someone can't read what you wrote and then explain it back to you in their own language and concepts, your writing hasn't passed muster.

There's a reason there are always acknowledgments to draft-readers in books and YC essays.

Good writing is a result of good editing.

</comment><comment><USER23> If you're writing a long text (over 2 pages), you should invest the time to proofread it properly, and maybe get it read by a friend or colleague. When the ideas in a text are not clear and logically structured, it can be perceived as disrespect to the readers.

One thing that really helps me to catch typos in my own writing, is the text- to-speech utility built into Mac OS X. It makes it really easy to "hear" typos. Here is a doc with screenshots that explain how to set up a keyboard shortcut for this: [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mApa60zJA8rgEm6T6GF0yIem...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mApa60zJA8rgEm6T6GF0yIem8qpMmnaBFYOgV32gdMc/edit?usp=sharing)

</comment><comment><USER24> Keep your audience firmly in mind. Your dev colleague will probably warrant more technical detail than your non-dev colleague (but the non-dev colleague might need a different kind of detail). If the audience is future-you, you'll remember a lot less of the context of the message than you assume you will. You'll want to include sufficient detail to bring someone up to speed, link it to an issue in a bug tracker, etc.

But the kind of detail, appropriate level of detail, and presentation will change, depending on who is supposed to read it. An IM message to another dev will look very different from customer-facing documentation.

</comment><comment><USER25> Writing improves from improved comprehension resulting from increased reading, writing, conversation.

So, make sure you are getting better at understanding the needs of the user and communicating them.

Have conversations with users - Solve problems that you have and make it available to others.

Solve others problems by learning about them and helping them.

</comment><comment><USER26> Pretend like you're explaining things to a smart 10 year old. Keep your sentences well structured, only use jargon and abbreviations when necessary, and don't be afraid to repeat yourself for clarity. It helps to give as much background knowledge as possible.

</comment><comment><USER27> If you're an emacs user, try [https://github.com/bnbeckwith/writegood- mode](https://github.com/bnbeckwith/writegood-mode)

<comment><USER28> > writegood

This made me wince. I know it's perfectly acceptable American but that one's definitely a low blow for an aging Englishman.

<comment><USER29> I'm fairly certain that the name of the project is tongue-in-cheek; it's not uncommon to use "${X} good" as a comedic expression of poor English. For example, "I done code good."

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Have a very specific audience in mind while writing. Even go so far as to write your content in an email editor with a friend or two similar to your intended audience in the To: field.

</comment><comment><USER31> Get a good style guide, read it, and stick to it. I like the Dictionary of Modern American Usage because its recommendations are presented with justifications.

</comment><comment><USER32> Commit messages should start with a verb, and complete the sentence "If you apply this commit, it will..."

</comment><comment><USER33> Parsimony. Cut out the fat. Read Elements of Style for tips.

Also, read more and write more. You can only get better by doing more.

</comment><comment><USER34> The key to good communication is brevity

<comment><USER31> "Omit needless words."

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I suggest plugging all of your writing into Grammarly and HemingwayApp!

</comment><comment><USER36> Tools: Grammarly

</comment><comment><USER37> Don't be afraid of being terse.</comment>


Ask HN: Why have foosball (table football) become so popular among developers? - <AUTHOR> I can see it in every software company I've been to. Is it that popular in other industries/departments? <comment><USER2> I guess the real question is:

"Why have foosball (table football) become so popular among management of software development companies?"

</comment><comment><USER3> It says more about the software companies you've been than anything else.

</comment><comment><USER4> It's a fun game that takes as few as 2 people (up to 4), is very social, challlenging (but not too hard-- and few people are actually GOOD at it), lowish learning curve, can be highly competitive or just for fun, and can be played for a few minutes at a time. What's not to like?

</comment><comment><USER5> Who says it is popular with developers? Just because companies advertise it that doesn't mean people like it. It is a cheap way to get people to spend more time in the office and end up talking more about work.

</comment><comment><USER6> Friends?</comment>


Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol. I Ch. 22: Algebra - <AUTHOR> http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_22.html <comment><USER2> "That was the beginning and the idea seemed so obvious to me that I fell deeply in love with it. And, like falling in love with a woman, it is only possible if you don't know too much about her, so you cannot see her faults. The faults will become apparent later, but after the love is strong enough to hold you to her. So I was held to this theory, in spite of all the difficulties, by my youthful enthusiasm"

\-- Richard Feynman

how we deceive ourselves, not only in our personal lives but also when dealing with abstract ideas. (ref. the emotion machine)</comment>


Anywhere in the world, foursquare Explore can find you something interesting  - <AUTHOR> http://blog.foursquare.com/2012/01/12/anywhere-in-the-world-foursquare-explore-can-find-you-something-interesting-now-on-your-computer/ <comment><USER2> I was really surprised that this didn't roll out with the major redesign of the web app a few months ago... Guess they were just waiting to make sure they got it right. The social aspect of this really brings a layar of legitimacy that I find lacking in yelp, google places, etc.</comment>


Tips and links could help you as a developer - <AUTHOR> http://www.hieu.co.uk/blog/index.php/2009/04/28/8-tips-and-links-could-help-you-as-a-developer/

<comment><USER2> Why are people still recommending SVN? Do some people enjoy merge conflicts?

<comment><USER3> What's a better open source version control system that integrates into Visual Studio?

<comment><USER4> As far as I know there are SVN-compatibility layers for a lot of version control systems to leverage existing SVN-integration.</comment></comment></comment>


Are Scorecards & Metrics Killing Employee Engagement? - <AUTHOR> http://iq.callme.io/2011/07/14/callme-quick-hit-are-scorecards-metrics-killing-employee-engagement/

<comment><USER2> Submit the source article and I will vote for it.</comment>


Google's Leading Futurist Predicts Humans Will Start Living Forever by 2029 - <AUTHOR> http://thescienceexplorer.com/brain-and-body/google-s-leading-futurist-predicts-humans-will-start-living-forever-2029#.Vyt22GE1MmY.facebook <comment><USER2> You can always tell the age of a futurist by how far away they think the Singularity and Immortality are.

You'll note it's always around their 75th birthday.

<comment><USER3> Wishful thinking or hoping for self-fulfilling prophecy?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I remember reading an article in the National Enquirer in 1985 that said if you lived to 2000 you'd live forever.

<comment><USER5> You're correct that predictions like this are wild.

However we're actually starting to grow organs. It's not too much of a leap to think the main causes of death will be cured for the 1%ers within the next 20 years.

Replacement hearts, livers, kidneys are all at the prototype stage.</comment></comment>


New Web Development Tool/IDE from Eclipse - <AUTHOR> http://www.eclipse.org/orion/index.php Scoble video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA_lsvKfv4I <comment><AUTHOR> Scoble video: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA_lsvKfv4I></comment>


Ask HN: What are some examples of well written C/C++ codebases? - <AUTHOR> I'm attempting to up my C/C++ game. I learned C++ in college, and have been a professional developer for a decade at this point in other languages, but I have never done it professionally. What are some well written open source projects should I be looking at?<p>Thanks <comment><USER2> Try Redis: [https://github.com/antirez/redis](https://github.com/antirez/redis)

Or Lua: [https://github.com/LuaDist/lua](https://github.com/LuaDist/lua)

</comment><comment><USER3> I will pass on recommendations from Nick Black:

9Some of the best code I can recommend includes: the core Linux kernel, OpenVPN, OProfile, OpenSSH, and the NPTL threading implementation from GNU libc. I recommend OpenSSL, the Linux PATA or TTY implementations, the SVR4 shared memory API, or the Berkeley Sockets resolver(3) API for examples of what not to do. Source: [https://nick- black.com/dankwiki/images/8/85/Msadvice.pdf](https://nick- black.com/dankwiki/images/8/85/Msadvice.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER4> Maybe try this: [https://github.com/id-Software/DOOM](https://github.com/id- Software/DOOM)

</comment><comment><USER5> Postgres: [https://github.com/postgres/postgres](https://github.com/postgres/postgres)

</comment><comment><USER6> Redis Postgres Nginx Llvm+clang

They are a joy to read</comment>


See what the EU has done for you - <AUTHOR> https://www.myeu.uk <comment><USER2> They really think you are idiots. [https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Sum...](https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7886)</comment>


Ask HN: Seeking hackers' opinion on these 2 software ideas - <AUTHOR>

I've posted a couple of ideas I have for software projects to FOSS Factory, and in hopes that I might find a technical person to talk them over with, I'm asking here at HN about what people's thoughts are on them. So far I've taken people up on their 'OfferHN' offers to engage with HN readers and offer feedback on whatever, but these interactions don't fare well likely due to the flood of responses that these people get.
I talked over the lossless webradio project with some engineers at the local Technology incubator, and they wanted to focus on the fact that I'd have to obtain licensing for the music it plays. Not quite the feedback I was after, but useful to a degree. I have more hope with HN readers.
There are 2 projects:
http://www.fossfactory.org/project/p296
http://www.fossfactory.org/project/p305
Thanks in advance. <comment><USER2> Fully refundable free advice:

Both of these sound like they would have trouble making money.

On the one hand, both of them compete with existing solutions (webcasting and pay-per-view/direct feed). On the other hand, both of them are subject to uncontrolled bottlenecks on both sides of the pipe (licensing rights at the content creation side, a widely used platform at the client side).

Maybe they're revolutionary and I just don't get it, but the descriptions of the ideas need to say not only why they're better than the existing ways of doing business, but also how they're better enough to win in the marketplace.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your reply. I disagree with some of what you say.

As for competing lossless webcasting solutions, I only know of 1 called EdCast (<https://code.google.com/p/edcast-reborn/>), which when used with IceCast, can stream lossless flac-ogg audio. A UK based station called Absolute Radio's using it & they tell me it's not stable. Aside from that I don't know of any lossless webradio broadcasting solution.

As for telepresence, there's only 1 project called Scenic (<http://scenic.sat.qc.ca/en/Scenic>) addressing the issue of lag for concert Telepresence. They use the Internet2 network exclusively, but say their software works on any IP network. I would guess that a standard < 1Gb network would create such lag problems that music could not sync between venues & the remote performance idea would simply not work due to delays between each component's audio/video feeds.

For example, if a DJ team were to operate between nodes on a low-bandwidth network segment I imagine it would sound like a train wreck when they tried to sync to each other's records. I don't know of any commercial telepresence solution that eliminates lag to the extent that's needed to do what this project aims to do. It's all new in that regard.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> my 2 cents:

These are interesting ideas, but besides being difficult to monetize (@mchannon), I'm not sure there's a huge demand for them either.

The first one is going against a couple of big trends:

1\. Mobile (even with low latency, streaming a FLAC is going to eat up bandwidth and memory) 2\. Music discovery/personalization + consolidation of content -- users have to know what they want to listen to, or have to be willing to put up with songs they don't want to hear. Your main demo is going to be audiophiles...who already have their music collections on disk or only want specific recordings.

I'm also unsure how you're going to source content. So I guess, what I'm getting at is that it seems like you don't have much of a market (besides having few potential revenue streams).

The second one is really interesting, but I'm just not sure there's demand for that--are there a lot of touring/performing groups that are decentralized? Even if you removed the need for them to perform together, there would still be plenty of pressure for them to colocate that I'm not sure you would be able to create a market.

Are you interested in making technology demos or building a business? Because if it's all about the tech, then these are definitely interesting ideas and may lead to some innovation that can be turned into a product later.

<comment><AUTHOR> The goal for the lossless webradio station is for it to serve in a marketing role. My company aims to provide high-end sound systems for concerts at small theaters & later to stadiums once the revenue picks up to afford that kind of expansion. The webradio's going to broadcast top-shelf techno, since our first target market is high-end DJ events. Our speakers are amongst the most technologically advanced designs in the world, and reflect an obsession with sound quality. The radio station is to bring attention to our commitment to quality sound, and it's goal is to establish us as sound quality leaders with our lossless webradio, since, like it is with our sound system offering, ours beats the status quo in terms of sound quality. The system does propose 3 streams in total: lossless, lossy & mobile-ready, so while streaming lossless doesn't work with mobile yet, it'll still be included in what formats we broadcast.

The Telepresence system is a long term goal, would hopefully be financed by revenue coming from the sound systems, and would be a seperate product offering that would allow us to rent a second sound rig to a venue who's hosting a virtual event. Ideally we'd rent a stadium sound rig, then maybe 3 Telepresence nodes & 2 more small sound systems for wherever the other 2 nodes are providing virtual shows. In addition to whatever the Telepresence nodes rent for.

</comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Clickable:

<http://www.fossfactory.org/project/p296>

<http://www.fossfactory.org/project/p305>

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks to all who have replied so far. I appreciate your perspectives & am glad to have a discussion. Thanks again.</comment>


Taxonomy anarchy hampers conservation (2012) - <AUTHOR> https://www.nature.com/news/taxonomy-anarchy-hampers-conservation-1.22064 <comment><USER2> > There is reasonable agreement among taxonomists that a species should > represent a distinct evolutionary lineage. But there is none about how a > lineage should be defined. 'Species' are often created or dismissed > arbitrarily, according to the individual taxonomist's adherence to one of at > least 30 definitions [2]. Crucially, there is no global oversight of > taxonomic decisions — researchers can 'split or lump' species with no > consideration of the consequences.

The referenced book _Species Concepts in Biology_ [2] by Frank E. Zachos looks like an interesting source on this topic. In computer science we know that naming things is hard; slotting things into hierarchical categories is hard too.

[2] [https://www.hugendubel.info/annotstream/2244011436320/PDF/Za...](https://www.hugendubel.info/annotstream/2244011436320/PDF/Zachos- Frank-E./Species-Concepts-in-Biology.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER3> _Safari hunters currently achieve the 'spiral horned grand slam' by killing just nine types of antelope. Recent developments in taxonomy could see them wanting to kill 25, and targeting smaller populations to do so._

<comment><USER4> How many safari hunters add up to a grand slam? I mean, fair's fair, after all.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Noting 2012, I predict that Pluto and Brontosaurus are hidden in this problem.

</comment><comment><USER6> So not about gender and race identity huh</comment>


Why Mastercard Doesn't Use OAuth 2.0 - <AUTHOR> https://developer.mastercard.com/blog/why-mastercard-doesnt-use-oauth-20 <comment><USER2> Related: here's a write-up from one of the OAuth 2 authors on the problems he sees in OAuth 2 and why he thinks OAuth 1 is better:

[https://hueniverse.com/oauth-2-0-and-the-road-to- hell-8eec45...](https://hueniverse.com/oauth-2-0-and-the-road-to- hell-8eec45921529)

</comment><comment><USER3> It looks like they are concerned that OAuth 2.0 doesn't include a cryptographic signature of the request body, as seen in OAuth 1.0.

My understanding is that OAuth 2.0 dropped that signature in favour of requiring TLS to protect against tampering. I'd be interested to know why Mastercard doesn't consider this to be as good as the request body signatures in OAuth 1.0.

<comment><USER4> It's quite common for companies to MITM https requests (and install their personal certificate on all company owned machines so the browser raises no errors).

Some _countries_ do so as well, for example Kazakhstan and China.

<comment><USER5> And people from that country have those certificates installed? Voluntarily?

<comment><USER6> In case of countries, you don't need the certificate installed for MITM to work. You just need it if you want to get rid of the warning on every single https website. Unless you tunnel your traffic, it's visible.

In case of large corps, you get assigned a laptop / desktop setup by the company. You probably authenticate to the AD and don't even get the privileges to add/remove certificates.

<comment><USER7> Also, if the country has its own root CA, it can just sign arbitrary certificates. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNNIC#Fraudulent_certificates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNNIC#Fraudulent_certificates)

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h Notice of course that that little stunt resulted in them being removed from everybody's trust stores. And it's not like you can just get away with it these days, since certificates are all publicly logged now.

<comment><USER6> > since certificates are all publicly logged now.

Only some of them are. All EV and some DV get published.

<comment> yjftsjthsd-h Didn't realize that; apparently all Symantec certs require it, and I misunderstood that as industry-wide.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I'm not sure I understand the concern with integrity of OAuth 2.0 payloads. Sending the request over HTTPS already ensures that the request is not tampered with, and also guards against replay attacks.

<comment><USER9> No it can potentially ensure integrity between the a client and the first TLS hop that's about it.

You don't know which client it actually came from and you can't ensure integrity within the transaction flow of your app.

Say the request terminated at a LB proxy then passed through and API gateway into an MQ then goes through multiple servers you need some form of integrity checking for the request and OAUTH 2.0 doesn't provide it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> They did this to provide message-level integrity. OAuth 2 switched to Transport-level confidentiality/Integrity.

It's worth noting that message-level integrity was not a design goal of OAuth 1; it is was a consequence of being based on OpenID 1/2, which were explicitly meant to run on HTTP without TLS so that they could be adopted by blogs. This was pre SNI, and pre cheap certs, so requiring HTTPS increased the hosting cost of a blog by an order of magnitude.

When the constraints changed such that requiring HTTPS was feasible, it greatly simplified OAuth. Some of these simplified proposals for OAuth became the input for OAuth 2 (where complexity was subsequently added back in the form of variants to support new use cases).

Relying on message level integrity in a protocol where such a thing was basically a side-effect of avoiding hosting costs would make me _very_ nervous.

The clearest issue I can point to is that there is no response message integrity in MasterCard's system - an intermediary can block requests to MasterCard and give back fraudulent responses (yes, of course that payment went through!). This throws a ton of application-dependent security considerations into the system.

</comment><comment><USER5> Using TLS makes it acceptable to send cleartext passwords. I don't know why, seems lazy.

So, I understand why Mastercard doesn't rely on that.

<comment><USER6> > TLS makes it acceptable to send cleartext passwords

What do you mean? There exists a NULL cipher, but it needs to be agreed on by both sides. If mastercard doesn't allow NULL, you can't send anything in cleartext. Or did you think of something else?

<comment><USER11> The problems are before and after the TLS tunnel.

I've seen a BigCorp load balancer / web firewall log the first 1KB of each HTTP POST body into a permanent archive. A typical login submission is much smaller than that. Also in some networks the TLS connection is terminated by a frontend server and backend communication is plaintext HTTP.

While these examples are obviously bad practice, having your requests signed and not leak user passwords would easily nullify their impact.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I think [https://aaronparecki.com/oauth-2-simplified/](https://aaronparecki.com/oauth-2-simplified/) explains that the cryptographic signature approach (if that's what they mean by "client secret") was discarded because mobile apps and single-page Javascript apps can't maintain the confidentiality of a secret anyway.

So maybe OAuth 1.0 is only better for apps running on a server?

</comment><comment><USER13> I once asked a related question on StackOverflow

[https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/161734/why- does...](https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/161734/why-does-oauth- and-oauth-2-have-access-tokens-at-all)

</comment><comment><USER14> Any app that takes security seriously will need to take a layered approach. So while Oauth 2, which is just a framework contrary to oauth 1.0a, seems to outsource its integrity protection to TLS this isnt enough: others have already pointed out that many companies hijack TLS at their edge proxies. Banks do this bu requirement of the regulator.

So you would need additional defenses against tampering such as OpenID Connect. In the banking apps that I have been working with we implemented additional symmetric encryption on top of the protocol (yes obfuscating the keys) and all other kinds of small things.

I'm glad mastercard does not rely solely on TLS.

<comment><USER15> So I guess the alternative would be to tunnel TLS inside TLS. So they can set up fake CAs to intercept the outer TLS, but not the inner TLS, satisfying both bank regulators and actual security. Until regulators catch on and we have to go around in circles again ...

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> It's unfortunate that Big companies are pushing for OAuth 2.0 and trying to blindsided developers as if OAuth 2.0 is an upgrade to OAuth 1.0a. It is not! OAuth 1.0a provides authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation. Something that OAuth 2.0 cannot match.

</comment><comment><USER17> The problems reminds me of [https://github.com/hueniverse/oz/](https://github.com/hueniverse/oz/) it's from one of the former oauth guys.

</comment><comment><USER18> Curious how many have moved from LDAP to using OAuth?

Would seem the future for enterprise will be OAuth.</comment>


URX Raises $12 Million, Sets Sights on Links Inside Apps - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/04/28/urx-raises-12-million-sets-sights-on-links-inside-apps/

<comment><USER2> >Also on Monday, the company released a new technology it calls OmniLinks, a special type of "smart" web link designed to help developers direct users to either a mobile app or a traditional Web page, depending on the device they're using.

What happens if someone is using a phone but wants a real site rather than having to install permission-happy bloatware as so many sites' apps are?

<comment><USER3> I think they've built some tech that attempts to open a deep link into the native app, but if that fails (for example, if you don't have the app installed) it falls back to opening the site in your browser.

<comment><USER4> @mikejarema, this is basically what we are doing; if a user doesn't like an app, then they won't have it installed, and it will simply fallback to the website URL in the browser.

[full disclosure, I'm an engineer at URX]

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> How can URX lock in customers?

It seems like their deep linking method could be replicated easily (i.e. someone could build a site which generates deep links on demand, in the same way as URX does, even using the existing designed-for-URX tags in the HTML of the source page).

Is omnilink just part of their strategy?

<comment><USER4> @rahimnathwani, just to clarify one point:

There are absolutely no "designed-for-URX tags" that we have documented. All of the meta/link tags that are documented are usable by Twitter, Facebook, Google, etc. It might not be entirely clear in our documentation unfortunately, but the "omnilink standard tags" are actually just an extension of Google's app-indexing tags, and are fully compatible with their initiative.

[full disclosure, I'm an engineer at URX]

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Great batchmates building a great company. Many congratulations to John, James, Andrew, Nate and the whole team.

</comment><comment><USER7> Sounds like a poor mans Android Intent. Why would an app developer include yet another third party service in their app?

<comment><USER4> @smrtinsert, just a couple of things to clarify:

1\. There is no third-party service that needs to be intergrated into the mobile application for omnilinks; you can simply prepend "[http://urx.io/"](http://urx.io/") in front of your normal web URL, and, assuming you have deeplinks installed on your mobile application, we will try to bring your users to the app if they have it installed.

2\. It does a little more than any Android intent. It works across all platforms and degrades gracefully; you can't text a plain Android intent to a restaurant on Yelp and have an iPhone recipient view the content.

[full disclosure, I'm an engineer at URX]</comment></comment>


Show HN: Calculate the chance of a parking ticket anywhere in San Francisco - <AUTHOR> http://parkroulette.com/

<comment><USER2> My girlfriend just parked on a nearby street and she had a spot right next to her, but had to move in 2 hours. So we took the chance and moved the car, but it was still close, so she could get a ticket.

If I had known about this, we would have used it! And oh, look at that. 1% chance of a ticket. awesome.</comment>


Rise of the machines - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/16/could-you-fall-in-love-with-this-robot.html <comment><AUTHOR> It is still incredible to me the two following points. One that the uncanny valley is such an eerie point, and this robot hits it dead center for me... The second is how much we have taken away about technology from movies. While Asimov's laws are often referenced, the overall theme of society seems to be that the robots will rise up. I wonder how much of that is latent ideas from our human history...?</comment>


WebAssembly - August-Garcia https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/WebAssembly <comment><AUTHOR> Not sure why this is posted. There was a page update yesterday about Rust being able to compile to WASM, but that's not really news. [https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/WebAssembly$compare...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en- US/docs/WebAssembly$compare?from=1421740&to=1467286)

</comment><comment><USER2> So this mentions that wasm can have near native speeds and work alongside JS for performance reasons.

Is this currently true or is this more about what the future hopefully looks like?

I recall reading that wasm is an in-progress thing and really isn't that fast in comparison yet.

<comment><USER3> The paper _Mind the Gap: Analyzing the Performance of WebAssembly vs. Native Code_ reports that, on average, WebAssembly is running at 67% of native speed in Firefox and 53% of native speed in Chrome (called 50% slower and 89% slower in the paper). Whether 67% can be called "near" 100% or not is subjective.

<comment><USER4> That paper does not report _" WebAssembly is running at 67% of native speed in Firefox and 53% of native speed in Chrome"_.

That paper reports — "… applications compiled to WebAssembly run slower by an average of 50% (Firefox) to 89% (Chrome), with peak slowdowns of 2.6× (Firefox) and 3.14× Chrome)."

When you write "53% of native _speed_ " that's really confusing!

<comment><USER3> Sorry, I reformulated the findings for easy consumption. Why is it confusing and not an improvement? Ask 10 people what speed is 89% slower than 100 mph. See how many give the article's intended answer (53 mph).

<comment><USER4> > Ask 10 people what speed…

Have you done that?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Still no DOM</comment>


Get Github's Atom without an invite. - <AUTHOR> https://coderwall.com/p/fmxtzg

<comment><USER2> This is pretty disrespectful to the Atom team and word is that they're not really happy about it.

They have the right to limit the distribution of their beta software.

</comment><comment><USER3> I know you probably think you're doing everybody a favour, but they did a limited release for a reason, and you should have respected that. Not cool, you should take down the link.

</comment><comment><USER4> Just one question, why?</comment>


GearNew: MacBook refresh as a service - <AUTHOR> http://gearnew.com

<comment><USER2> It would be useful to get a comparison on standard macbook cost and what it costs through here over a normal product refresh cycle. What happens with discontinued products? If apple remove their 13 inch air and release a new 12 inch "aero" macbook for 10% less cost, is that included? Are savings passed on to the consumer?</comment>