text
stringlengths 44
776k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
Did the FBI Plant Backdoors in OpenBSD? (2010) - egsec
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/12/did_the_fbi_pla.html
======
Wingman4l7
Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states, "Any headline which
ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)
~~~
nsmartt
The principle behind the Betteridge's law of headlines is sound. It's
definitely reasonable to exercise skepticism when a journalist is unable to
support a claim with evidence. However, it's absurd to suggest that a failure
to find evidence means that any assertion made by the piece is bogus.
If a journalist publishes a story titled "Do police investigate crime?", the
answer is obviously wouldn't be "no."
I don't think mentioning the law itself adds much to the
conversation—certainly not the "can be answered by the word no" part.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Which websites dropped the most in the latest Google algorithm change? - mitultiwari
http://www.quora.com/Which-websites-dropped-the-most-in-the-latest-Google-algorithm-change
======
jhuckestein
Please edit the title.
"Which websites dropped the most in the latest Google algorithm change? -
Quora" reads as though the answer to the question is Quora.
~~~
ComputerGuru
I think that's subjective.. I had no problem understanding the title as the
poster intended.
~~~
ahlatimer
Fair enough, but the domain is already shown next to the submitted link on HN.
It might not confuse _you_ , but it apparently confused other people, and it's
really redundant information anyway.
------
Matt_Cutts
[http://www.sistrix.com/blog/985-google-farmer-update-
quest-f...](http://www.sistrix.com/blog/985-google-farmer-update-quest-for-
quality.html) and [http://searchengineland.com/who-lost-in-googles-farmer-
algor...](http://searchengineland.com/who-lost-in-googles-farmer-algorithm-
change-66173) are other links I've seen. Bear in mind that much of this third-
party analysis compares e.g. US queries vs. queries against Google from
Canada, Italy, or India, and geolocation can change the results. Also,
different people are running different sets of queries and that subsampling
can skew things depending on the query sets. Please bear those disclaimers in
mind with any third-party analysis.
~~~
zone411
Matt, I've seen some high quality smaller sites (Internet versions of
traditionally published books with original content) drop as well. Is there
any place to submit such sites in order to help this algorithm improve?
~~~
zone411
Looking through this list of larger sites that dropped, I see one that is
similar to the sites I'm talking about, so more people might be able to say
what happened: findarticles.com. I have no relation to this site (it is
actually a competitor), but I believe the vast majority of its content is
licensed versions of articles published by real books, magazines, and
newspapers
([http://findarticles.com/p/articles/an_1/?browse=A&tag=co...](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/an_1/?browse=A&tag=content;col1)).
It seems to have dropped just as much as content mills with low quality
articles, such as ezinearticles.com or articlesbase.com. It is possible that I
don't know something about findarticles, but this makes it appear like this
algorithm change is looking at some superficial common factors and is unable
to really distinguish high quality sites from low quality sites.
~~~
jonknee
> licensed versions of articles published by real books, magazines, and
> newspapers
That makes it sound like Find Articles is quite likely to have a lot of
duplicate content, one of the things that Google's update was meant to
penalize:
> This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites—sites which
> are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that
> are just not very useful.
~~~
zone411
Maybe, but this quote talks about punishing sites copying content from other
websites, which is not what they are doing. Most newspaper sites will have the
same versions of AP or Reuters articles as well, but this new algorithm didn't
affect them. I believe that many older newspaper articles on their site are
not republished anywhere else on the Web.
~~~
bricestacey
> I believe that many older newspaper articles on their site are not
> republished anywhere else on the Web.
I'd hope those particular articles should surface then. Their other content
though is of low value.
------
jrnkntl
There it is, Mahalo (14), a drop of 84%. Justice.
~~~
bconway
What's the animosity against Mahalo? I looked at it years ago when it first
started, have they degenerated into a content farm since then?
~~~
corin_
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1433676>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1073723>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2128170>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1439043>
I think it's pretty widely accepted (especially here on HN) that what Mahalo
is doing doesn't benefit anyone except themselves.
------
jmtame
I would be interested in the flip side. Which sites stand to gain from the
algorithm changes? Wikipedia? Stack Overflow? Yelp?
~~~
orijing
Great question. My first instinct would be that none of the gains are as
dramatic as the drops. Basically this change gets rid of most of the negative
outliers.
------
andrewljohnson
It will be interesting to see how JCalcanis spins this. Last I heard he was
congratulating Google on going after the content farms and changing their
algorithms, claiming Mahalo had superior original content. Assuming these
stats aren't totally bunk, something's gotta change in that statement to avoid
massive cognitive dissonance.
~~~
shareme
No, you have never seen the Jason Calacanis Reality Distortion Field in
action..
------
vaksel
anyone else really surprised that ehow isn't on that list? I mean seriously
they are some of the worst offenders I've seen.
~~~
forgotusername
As a single live-alone late 20s male, I do not understand this position.
eHow's content often seems perfectly tailored to people like me (I suck at
cooking, carpet stain removal, calcium buildup removal, ..., all questions
I've found perfectly satisfactory answers to via eHow).
In the meantime I'm deeply disappointed to see that the collateral damage of a
change largely driven by a problem I don't understand includes faqs.org losing
most of its ranking.
~~~
DevX101
eHow has taught me how to tie a tie more than once.
~~~
forgotusername
Ha. :) It's taught me how to cook a burger at least twice.
------
Xuzz
Somewhat ironic: AllBusiness, which is #25 on that list, has a relatively
high-quality (non-content-farm) post that _praises_ this exact change:
[http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-
appl...](http://www.allbusiness.com/technology/software-services-applications-
internet-social/15479951-1.html)
------
mkr-hn
It took me about 7 articles on AC before I realized Google would eventually
catch up with the content farms. That's also the same time I recognized the
problem I was contributing to.
Happened a lot sooner than I expected though. :)
ETA: On the plus side, my articles should make the cut if they go on a purge
to raise the quality level.
------
jonpaul
I really don't get much utility out of Mahalo, but why would it drop in this
algorithm change? Isn't the site like a wikipedia for search results?
~~~
jonknee
Used to be. Now it's just a content farm. It has been a few different things,
none of them useful.
------
ThomPete
is it somehow possible to put that list into the chrome block list plugin?
~~~
jonknee
I have most of those and a lot more in a list of content farms I compiled.
There are links provided to speed along adding them to your block list:
[http://www.jongales.com/blog/2011/02/14/list-of-content-
farm...](http://www.jongales.com/blog/2011/02/14/list-of-content-farms/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IPad - please don’t ding while you and I are asleep - roee
http://modern-products.tumblr.com/post/25384729998/ipad-please-dont-ding-while-you-and-i-are-asleep
======
incongruity
_"Second, if you ever build a product that can go to sleep, ask yourself: when
my owner puts me to sleep, does he think I’ll make unsolicited noises unless
they were explicitly requested by him (eg alarm clock)?"_
I think what's at issue here is the mental model at work on the part of the
designers vs. this user (and other users, clearly)
For the designers/Apple, locked is clearly not synonymous with "sleep" – any
device that can receive push notifications or perform background tasks isn't
really asleep... it's just not the focus of my attention. Would you say your
smartphone is ever asleep? Mine never is. If it's not powered off, it's
constantly working in the background, for my benefit (presumably). It checks
email, weather alerts, waits for calls and everything else. It may not be the
focus of my attention, but it's certainly not asleep.
The author clearly wants to treat it like a traditional computer not
surprising given his opening statement about not viewing it as a worthy
replacement to act as one's "main device". If that's the mental model one
uses, then yes, I completely see the issue – and yes, the upcoming do not
disturb settings will be an all around blessing.
However, the big take away isn't whether the designers at Apple were right and
the do not disturb settings will be just an added feature or if the author is
right and the lack of a do not disturb setting is a huge failure.
The point is, instead, that we need to be better about understanding and
predicting alternative mindsets on the part of others.
From a design perspective, this is pretty obvious... but from a
consumer/critic's standpoint, it's a necessary one as well. Failing to see
this subtle issue makes your criticism much less impressive and much less
valuable if you're in a place to be influencing future development because
seeing the more abstract difference in mindsets will (often) help you see
other issues (good and bad).
~~~
roee
Exactly! By the way, when I talk about "sleep", I didn't mean clicking the
lock button, but rather "closing the lid" of my iPad cover. And you're
absolutely right I didn't mentally treat my iPad as a smartphone but rather as
a laptop. What right and what's wrong? I'm not sure. Just shared my thoughts
and immediate insights, and as always - open for criticism.
------
chrisdroukas
Wait a few months for Do Not Disturb.
<http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/06/11/do-not-disturb/>
------
rizwan
Isn't this what the new Do Not Disturb feature in IOS6 addresses?
<http://www.apple.com/ios/ios6/>
Also, all iPads have the switch above the volume button as a mute button
already for notifications like this.
(Note: yes, I know most people have changed this setting (back) to be an
orientation-lock, but this guy's new to iPads so I'm assuming he didn't change
the setting)
------
prezjordan
Just out of curiosity, why not hit the mute switch when you're going to sleep?
That's what I do. It takes a tenth of a second and allows me to control when I
hear notifications just the way I want.
I guess if you want the notification sounds but not while the device is open,
then yeah you've got a bit of a problem (you would have to hit slide down and
then slide the switch back up once you opened it.
~~~
objclxt
I put my iPhone in airplane mode when I go to sleep - my alarms still work, I
don't get disturbed, and because the radios are all powered down the battery
barely drains at all (I charge mine in a dock at my work desk during the day).
~~~
cglee
I used to do this until I started missing important calls/texts because I
forgot to turn it back on. An airplane/sleep mode with a timer would be nice.
~~~
pooriaazimi
It is nice. And it's called 'Do Not Disturb', and is part of iOS 6. It has
plenty of other features (like letting a call through, if the caller has
calling twice in a row. It could be urgent).
------
josteink
On Android it is solved by simple installing a app which controls the devices
sound profiles based on times you prefer. It probably took the developer 5
minutes to cook up with an ugly UI, but it works.
I guess in the Apple world you need to wait for Apple to do it. And this
feature has been missing since iOS 1. Yeah. Not missing iOS one bit.
~~~
jshen
I've never found the abstract argument about more control a compelling reason
to choose a product. Does product A or product B provide me more value?
iOS is a much better user experience for me, and the people that point to
"user control" of android never show anything that is of such value to me that
it would overcome the better experience of iOS.
I'll give one huge value iOS has over android in my life. My 2 year old can
use an iOS device without needing assistance. She can't do the same with an
android device.
~~~
Ineffable
More control is a big source of value for a lot of people. Personally, I don't
need a 2 year old to be able to use my phone, but I draw great enjoyment from
being able to customise it to my tastes very easily. Don't like the stock
keyboard? Chuck it out. Don't like the app launcher? Download a new one.
If you want a more consistent UI and smoother animations over that, then great
- there's a polished, well made device for you too on iOS. Different strokes
for different folks.
~~~
jshen
I agree with you, but let me rephrase one sentence.
"More control is a big source of value for a [minority of people]"
~~~
josteink
Given Android's rampant popularity, you would have to come up with a source
for that claim.
I know here on HN the mantra is that people buy Android because it is
cheaper/"they cannot afford iPhones", but in the real world people
deliberately choose things not made by Apple.
Despite the Apple fandom on this website, there is no universal truth in Apple
being a superior platform.
In fact, I say the lack of customizability speaks of it being poorly
engineered.
~~~
jshen
So your argument is that quality is a function of sales volume?
~~~
josteink
My argument is that sales volume is a function of customer acceptance. And
thus Android has the biggest customer acceptance of all the platforms out
there.
The hacker news meme that Android is barely usable is getting rather stale.
~~~
jshen
You love strawmen. I said that iOS is much better in the usability department.
I didn't say "android is barely usable".
Also, most android phones are not nexus phones. Most of these phones can not
be upgraded to 4.0 yet. By your logic customer acceptance clearly shows they
aren't interested in control if they can't even upgrade the OS.
------
phren0logy
This is an actual beef, but is this seriously the the biggest criticism this
guy could come up with? If so, it would seem the iPad is pretty well designed.
------
leephillips
The first paragraph was incomprehensible to me; I stopped reading there. This
is no criticism of the author, whom I assume is not writing in his native
language. But so many links here seem to be to articles that read as if they
were written with a crayon while the author was talking on the phone and
watching TV.
------
ChuckMcM
Ok, this reminded me of the HACTRN :
<http://www.poppyfields.net/filks/00117.html>
I too find it annoying that calendar event notification doesn't honor the mute
setting.
------
dutchbrit
You can't just put it on mute?
~~~
rjd
Thats what I was thinking...
it comes with adjustable volume controls... it comes with configurable sound
menu... he has an iphone so knows the process.. seems like someone bought into
hype so much it blinded him to the obvious.
------
bmelton
I put my iPad to sleep to save battery more than for any other reason. I often
find that not only do I prefer it making noise, but I've grown to _rely_ on it
to let me know if somebody sent me something that I might need to respond to.
Of course, I have different use patterns than the author I guess. I do
everything I can to get the _least_ amount of mail, for one. In lieu of just
dealing with a lot of mail and getting upset when I'm notified of it, I prefer
to limit the amount of mail I get by limiting newsletters and the like the I
subscribe to.
I suppose if he's more famous than myself, that might be more difficult, but I
think I'd try to work on a high-volume /public mail account that wasn't auto-
polling in order to keep my personal/low-volume email account more usable.
My iPad also sleeps in a different room than me, so that might be the biggest
difference maker.
I think Android's solution solves _his_ particular problem better (but is
suboptimal in perhaps other ways) in that it only dings on the first
notification of each event type. I'll get a ding for 1 unread email, but the
second and _n_ after emails don't bother me until I've checked and cleared the
active alerts.
~~~
roee
I waited all my life for someone to think I'm famous :) But seriously - as
part of my job I get hundreds of emails every day that I need to review or
respond to. It's a reasonable usage scenario I think.
~~~
bmelton
I'm not saying it's unreasonable. But you have _very easy_ fixes:
1) mute your iPad,
2) Don't sleep in the same room as your iPad.
In addition to more complicated ones being offered elsewhere in this thread.
I was just posting to point out that it isn't necessarily a design flaw just
because it doesn't fit your use case as, to the contrary, I would be very
upset if my device didn't notify me of something just because it was sleeping.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Ego Dilemma - shalmanese
http://blog.bumblebeelabs.com/the-ego-dilemma/
======
malarky
Feynman solved the Ego Dilemma. It's somewhere in his letters which got
published recently, and goes along the lines of "I'm stupid, but it's okay,
the process is gonna be fun!" Also "I feel like a monkey trying to get that
banana." which might be more familiar.
------
mgreenbe
A little bit of a tease:
Unfortunately, the right way to deal with the ego dilemma
is tricky and complex and deserves an entire post of it’s
own. It really involves revamping your entire belief
structure into something deeply probabilistic with a much
finer and more nuanced representation of ignorance which
I promise to write at a later date when I’ve fully
processed what I’m actually doing.
But still, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_thyself> is always good advice.
------
zmonkeyz
This is why I don't hang with drunks. :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Apple Could Kill Google’s Holiday Buzz - showngo
http://brooksreview.net/2010/08/kill-the-buzz/
======
Garbage
I wonder, why do people write such useless stuff?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Python One-Liner - wvlia5
https://gist.github.com/wvlia5/f57885972721aacfc5bca393f4771f32
======
khalidx
What does this one-liner do?
~~~
wvlia5
try it out, no spoilers :p
------
alok99
Damn it
~~~
wvlia5
Got ya
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Boundr – tool to draw and extract polygon boundaries from Google Maps - tixocloud
https://getinsightico.com/labs/boundr/
======
tedmiston
An interesting tool that I'm not totally sure of the use case.
Be careful with drawing multiple polygons -- each one stays on the map, but
the kml export only includes the last one you drew.
~~~
tixocloud
Thanks. I personally used this to draw boundaries from images.
If anyone's interested, I can add an image overlay support to make tracing
easier.
~~~
kinduff
That sounds good, I can help out if you go opensource.
~~~
tixocloud
Sure. Any recommendations on an open source license?
~~~
kinduff
MIT should be good for this project, also Creative Commons can cover your
needs. Github should be good to host it, so you can manage your repo with
issues and pull requests.
------
ericathegreat
Nice, I'd use it. Having the ability to search by address would save a lot of
zooming though. Is this just a straight overlay on the existing Google Map
widget (which would make customizing easy)?
~~~
tixocloud
Search by address is coming on its way. Yes, it is a straight overlay on the
existing Google Map. Would be easy to switch out the maps as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Compare the cost of living between X and Y (cities) - AlexMuir
http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/
======
rachelbythebay
Holy broken. This thing pops up "Mountain View" for me, presumably using
geolocation, then refuses to allow it as a real city name. Also, if I fill in
the "big" version and hit enter, the "little" version in the corner yells at
me and tells me to enter both cities.
Long story short? I couldn't get it to give me a result no matter what I
entered, and this was in two different browsers. It's broken.
~~~
pardo
The creator here.
That's a nasty error. Mountain View is stored internally as "Mountain View,
California" and therefore the usual form of Mountain View does not match.
Moreover, this error also shows that at least in this case partial matches are
not recognized properly, as they should.
Needless to say, both issues are now on my list, and I'll fix them as soon as
I can (I'm now on my "day job", expatistan.com is a side project).
In the meantime, as a workaround you can still use the site if you start
typing 'Mountain View' and wait the two seconds that it takes the autocomplete
to suggest the city. Then click on the suggestion and you should be set.
Alternatively, you can just use this url the first time, and then change the
second city on the boxes at the top right:
[http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-
living/comparison/seattle/...](http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-
living/comparison/seattle/mountain-view-california)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
All-time Best Indie Games - georgeorwell
http://jayisgames.com/indie/best-games/
======
kenpratt
I can't believe Braid isn't on that list. SUCH a great game. Also, Portal is a
must-play if you haven't already.
------
georgeorwell
I recommend Cave Story+, Bastion, Terraria, Spelunky, Legend of Grimrock, and
Machinarium from that list. I would also add Dungeons of Dredmor and La
Mulana. Merry Christmas.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MicroConf Europe 2014 is on right now: Follow the live blog here - benediktdeicke
http://www.it-engelhardt.de/microconf-europe-2014-hub/
======
davidw
I went last year and thought it was a great conference - it was so much fun to
meet up with a bunch of like-minded people. I would highly, highly recommend
it.
On the other hand, this year I figured that most of the good information would
probably leak out like this, and I could just spend the time actually working
on my site. For me, time is the limiting factor, not ideas about things to do.
------
wj
I always enjoy these notes. Thanks for posting them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How does Apple know what to build next? - ryeguy_24
I like problem solving but I'm more interested in problem finding these days. Does anyone have insight into the Apple ideation process for determining next features/products.
======
kbos87
When you get to a certain size, there is no shortage of ideas flowing in your
direction - everything from minuscule and niche optimizations to big,
audacious concepts. The challenge for the product folks at Apple is
identifying market successes in the making and ruthless prioritization within
that subset.
------
reddygaru
I don't think a company follows ONE process to decide what to build.
Sometimes it's reactionary. If Google builds a truly world class camera that
is so cutting edge that it makes iPhone camera look like a joke, then AAPL
will be forced to build a similar one to keep it's market share.
Otherwise, I would say Steve Jobs decided what to build next.
------
arthurcolle
I have absolutely no affiliation with $AAPL but I think they look at what
other companies aren’t investing a lot of resources into, while also
prioritizing projects based on new global market entrants, like SDV (self-
driving vehicles) or AR apparatus, as 2 concrete examples.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Check out my debit card! Or: Why people make bad security choices. - paupino_masano
http://blog.agilebits.com/2012/07/03/check-out-my-debit-card-or-why-people-make-bad-security-choices/
======
bifrost
As a reminder - you should never really use your debit card for purchases, you
have a lot more protection with a real credit card. A credit card is also a
debt instrument not your actual cash, so if someone steals your debit card
you're screwed wheras if someone steals your credit card its no big deal.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Wait Didn't Homejoy Shut Down? - aleyan
https://medium.com/@johnsalzarulo/didn-t-homejoy-shut-down-e8d7a2dfb485#.3eco1lu5w
======
BinaryIdiot
That seems really, really shady. I wonder if they sold off their database of
customers (I would guess yes; what else are you going to do with all those
users if you wanted to try and squeeze more money out of a dead horse?).
One thing though:
> My information is not stored on a SSL-encrypted PCI-compliant system.
Are you sure? Seems unlikely Homejoy would actually store that information
versus a PCI-compliant system like Authorize.net in which case perhaps they
simply passed the credentials over which could show the last 4 digits of your
credit card.
~~~
johnsalzarulo
You are right that I am not 100% sure about my credit card information, they
could have my credit card info in Stripe or another system like that. However,
my home address and my email are not stored securely.
------
chrischen
My homejoy username and password does not seem to work on the flymaids
website.
~~~
johnsalzarulo
I think it may be by service area. It seems "Fly Maids" is for the LA area as
far as I can tell.
------
sr_banksy
This is alarming! Do update if/ when you hear from Homejoy folks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to re-enter the job market after years of unemployment? - anonunemployed
I'm in my thirties, living off social security, and struggling with depression due to my financial situation.<p>Finding a (non-boring) job would likely have a positive effect on my depression. Unfortunately, that's easier said than done. And I am unsure how to approach the search for three reasons:<p>1) my resume is a mess: a CS bachelor, two short programming jobs from which I got fired, and in-between long times of unemployment,
2) my soft skills are lacking as I have been a loner my entire life, and
3) I don't enjoy coding, for me it's a necessary evil (during my studies I enjoyed working at the "UML level" much more)<p>Any thoughts? Ideas? Thanks.
======
badpun
> during my studies I enjoyed working at the "UML level" much more
There are still jobs like that in the non-Agile world of business application,
mainly in government I think (at least here in Europe). The position is called
"system analyst" (sometimes also "business analyst", but that is likely to
include more fluff). It involves writing down system specification, which
includes detailed requirements, user's interactions with the system (use
cases), the data model etc. The other part of the job is talking to developers
while they're developing the system and testing their work(making sure there
are no bugs and they they understood the specs correctly) after they're done.
It's not a bad job, definitely less headaches than coding IMO. The downside is
that you need to deal with business people more (can be an plus for some
people), and mainly that it's just not that common any more in the post-agile
world. Also usually pays less than development.
~~~
anonunemployed
Thanks, that sounds interesting.
------
roschdal
Get any job, including boring jobs. Good luck!
~~~
anonunemployed
Thanks. I don't think getting a boring job would be helpful, because in both
dismissals "being bored" was a factor. I'm a bookworm and need intellectual
stimulation.
~~~
dnh44
Have a look at getting a job in an optical laboratory.
Lots of different things to do, lots of problems that need solving. Lots of
optical labs take people on with no previous experience. But it's not a
particularly easy job and the pay isn't great.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
10 Backgrounds that Could Make Your Website Look Like the New Envato - mancuso5
http://www.inspiredm.com/2009/08/28/10-backgrounds-that-could-make-your-website-look-like-the-new-envato/
======
brk
Flagged. Blatant whoring from a single-site submitter.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
America’s largest corporations loot black communities - known
https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/how-america-s-largest-corporations-loot-black-communities-36867/
======
lazylizard
Just saying. CoreCivic, mtc , geo group are not Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret
and Target, nevermind exxon, apple , amazon... Ok maybe the limited is not
doing so well.. But yeah, they're not even garda, g4s, prosegur... Like, maybe
the sense of scale is a bit off?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Techmeme’s newest human contributor: You - transburgh
http://venturebeat.com/2009/01/28/techmemes-newest-human-contributer-you/
======
Mystalic
Techmeme is a dying horse grasping at straws to turn things around. RSSMeme,
Readburner, and other aggregators do a far better job getting me the top tech
news than Techmeme.
~~~
EastSmith
I have to say this is completely untrue!
Currently readburner is dead. From their website: "Today, we've decided to
temporarily take ReadBurner offline to work on addressing these issues. "
And RSSMeme gives you links to pictures as currently 4 of the first 5 entries
at RSSMemes are pictures. Or if you have some luck - link to a single story.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An issue with DuckDuckGo Search may prevent you from getting results - bszupnick
https://twitter.com/DuckDuckGo/status/1284408766822113280
======
tagawa
DuckDuckGo staff here. Yes, we currently have an issue that the engineers are
trying to resolve. It seems to be partial so you may or may not get search
results. No ETA yet but they're working hard to get it back ASAP.
EDIT: Now resolved – sorry for the disruption.
~~~
m_b
Any idea what's the issue?
~~~
tagawa
A server issue but I don't have the details I'm afraid. Anyway, it should be
back to normal now. Sorry for the disruption.
~~~
severine
Working beautifully as usual here, thanks for your work!
------
zelphirkalt
Can anyone give me a reason, why the search results on ddg have become so much
worse over time? Now it starts behaving like Google, as in not taking every
single word I enter as relevant and showing me bad results. I enter words for
a reason and I except them to appear in the search result.
To me it seems that ddg search has left behind the "ok we search for exactly
what you entered, sort of substring like" and has gone into the camp of "oh we
know better what you were looking for!".
I need simpler search, that simply shows me results, which contain what I
entered without having to prefix every single word with "+".
~~~
Kiro
It's outside of their control since the search results come from Bing. I would
presume Bing is no different than Google regarding their goals (ads?) so for
whatever reason Google doesn't interpret search queries literally, so will
Bing.
------
x32n23nr
API keys for Bing expired? Happened to me as well this week, unexpectedly.
~~~
ffpip
Hardly doubt a service of their size is using API keys. They are larger than
Bing in some countries
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FreezeGun: easy mocking of Python datetimes - spulec
http://stevepulec.com/freezegun/
======
JonnieCache
Rubyists desiring similar functionality should check out either of the
following libs. As far as I can tell they differ only in their pun selection.
<https://github.com/travisjeffery/timecop>
<https://github.com/bebanjo/delorean>
In the ruby community, disliking someone's choice of science fiction reference
is grounds for a rewrite.
~~~
indiecore
>In the ruby community, disliking someone's choice of science fiction
reference is grounds for a rewrite.
Hmm, perhaps I should check Ruby out after all...
~~~
phillmv
It's great. We got unicorns and Series As for everyone!
------
ericmoritz
nice project. I usually avoid this by making my APIs accept a datetime objects
and make the client code create the datetime object.
Pure functions make tests simple.
~~~
new_test
That's what I've been doing, but not because I believe it to be a better way,
but because I'm to lazy to implement my own FreezeGun. I don't think the
production code should contain unnecessary complexity that is _only_ used for
testing.
------
marcofucci
Quick question: why did you need to write FreezeGun?
I've always used Mock <http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/mock/> to patch
datetimes and I've never had any problems.
You can patch pretty much anything with Mock.
------
TimothyFitz
Cool, but unfortunately it breaks if the code your testing does from datetime
import datetime :(
<https://gist.github.com/4261936>
~~~
spulec
Hey Timothy, thanks for the response. You are correct. I'll add a warning to
the library and work on a solution. Unfortunately, I think it will need to
involve ctypes.
~~~
subleq
Have you tried patching the now() method onto datetime.datetime instead of
replacing the whole class? If that doesn't work, you could replace datetime
first:
import freezegun; freezegun.monkey_patch()
from datetime import datetime
After that, freeze_time would just set a flag on your datetime class.
~~~
madjar
Sadly, it's not possible. datetime is a C class, so it is immutable.
~~~
spulec
Correct. I've gone with his latter solution for now and added a warning about
import order. I'm not very happy with this solution through and will be
spending some time with ctypes in the next few days to come up with something
better.
------
ekimekim
What about those of us who prefer the simpler time module (which works mostly
in epoch time)? It would be a simple change to extend FreezeGun to cover that
module in a similar way, surely?
------
manish_gill
I don't really have much experience in datetimes I guess. What is this really
good for? Can someone provide some use cases where this library might be
helpful?
Thanks
~~~
chewxy
Mainly for testing
------
davepeck
How well does this handle aware (non-naive) datetimes?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is an SD card a fair coin... to me? - noblethrasher
http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/736654/is-an-sd-card-a-fair-coin-to-me
======
refrigerator
I would say that the SD card itself is not a 'fair coin', since a reasonable
requirement of a 'fair coin' would be that the probability of landing on each
side is essentially 0.5 each.
However, I think the entire process as a whole of assigning an outcome to each
side of the card and then flipping the card is a 'fair coin':
The reason why we need coins to make trivial decisions for us is that we can't
just cycle through the 2 options in our head, stop at a random point, and
choose the option we were thinking of at that point. Not only is this hard to
pull off, but you can't be sure that you didn't subconsciously/consciously
want to stop on a particular option.
Since the card decides the final result and we don't know the bias of the card
beforehand, there is no way that your conscious/subconscious desires would
have any way of manifesting themselves when you label each side of the card,
and so you label each side essentially randomly, resulting in a 50/50
probability of your two options.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: My own tiny React-like rendering engine - guiCoder
https://github.com/guisouza/tembo
======
iLoch
This is cool Guilherme, however my strongest reaction to these rewrites is
always: why?
I think as a portfolio piece there's something to be said about the value of
showing that you can write your own rendering engine. But at the same time, if
I was looking at this I'd just ask, "why is he building this when React
exists?" If the only purpose is to mimic React's behaviour then I think this
is not a great use of time.
This isn't to say what you've made here isn't very cool, and I think
personally you should be proud of your work on this. But with that said, if
you love React, why not help work on the core? I'm sure there are issues with
React that need solving and if you've got the time your effort may be better
spent on there.
Aside from that, when people keep seeing rewrites like this I think it instows
a feeling of ambiguity around the capability of React "is everyone rewriting
React because it can't get the job done well enough on its down?" the casual
observe might think to themselves.
I think the same thing when I see new languages pop up. Why? These new
languages look cool and people start using them. 5 years down the line they
discover it has its own set of core problems like every other language, rinse
and repeat.
I think as a community we need to work harder on being less distracted by the
enjoyment of building _something_ and try to focus more on improving and
understanding existing technology. We can continue to push the envelope in the
name of technological advancement but often times it's difficult to discern
advancement from replacement.
Again, I think it's really cool that you've built this and I don't want to
dissuade you from building cool things. I'm just a little tired of seeing
React reimplemented over and over again with no real net gain that couldn't be
implemented in React itself.
~~~
Yaggo
> But with that said, if you love React, why not help work on the core? I'm
> sure there are issues with React that need solving and if you've got the
> time your effort may be better spent on there.
It's not that simple. One of the biggest critic towards the official React
implementation is its big size, which is a direct consequence of the decision
by the core team to include many "enterprise" features (IE support, safety
checks, etc) to suit their needs. Some people like to make different
compromise, e.g. more minimal one. You cannot easily change "political"
decisions by contributing, also not all features are easy to modularize (esp.
for outsiders).
Sometimes it's easier to implement similar API from scratch to test your own
ideas than forking an existing (mammoth) project.
Btw, another "tiny react" implementation:
[https://github.com/developit/preact](https://github.com/developit/preact)
~~~
iLoch
Valid points, however I think most people would agree these things are
important when you have multiple people working on a project. That's my
opinion, anyway.
------
s986s
I want to contribute to this but there are a few things holding me back.
\- usage of global instead of commonjs or es6 modues - using an uncommon build
system makes me uncomfortable
\- _.can instead of prototype or just object creation - I cant say I
understand why.
What I want to do
\- allow it to use multiple renderers - toString, DOM, blessed with the goal
of image output and webworker proof of concept
\- give promise support to get Initial State - when attempting isomorphism in
react, creating components based off a database is a pain unless retreived
before hand and passed from parent to child in often disgustingly deep
manners. Simply allowing the return of a promise fixes this in many ways
------
johnhenry
I'm trying to understand the differences between this and React. It seems as
though the emphasis is on the 4kb size, but I wonder if there are any other
differentiating features?
~~~
guiCoder
The main difference here is that a 300 SLOCs code-base is easier for others to
understand how it works, the react codebase has a lot of tricks and fallbacks
and etcetera. This project is for studying purposes. The best way to
understand something deeply is try to reproduces its behaviour.
------
eecks
Can you do a video tutorial as a companion to this?
~~~
guiCoder
A video tutorial showing tEmbO in action ? or a video showing the process of
building a clone ?
~~~
joaoneto
Great job!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lab - A stupid testing framework for PHP - mattsah
https://github.com/dotink/lab
======
mattsah
On the heels of my post yesterday regarding Parody
(<http://www.github.com/dotink/parody>), I am releasing Lab.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Happy Valentine's Day - valuegram
https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=5+%2B+(-sqrt(1-x%5E2-(y-abs(x))%5E2))*cos(30*((1-x%5E2-(y-abs(x))%5E2)))%2C+x+is+from+-1+to+1%2C+y+is+from+-1+to+1.5%2C+z+is+from+1+to+6&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
======
pav3l
You too!
[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Plot%5BSqrt%5BCos%5Bx%5...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Plot%5BSqrt%5BCos%5Bx%5D%5D*Cos%5B200*x%5D+%2B+Sqrt%5BAbs%5Bx%5D%5D+-+0.7*%284+-+x*x%29%5E0.01%2C+%7Bx%2C+-2%2C+2%7D%5D)
------
jacquesm
<http://mathprospects.com/node/5>
------
timerickson
> 3D charts require a web browser and system that support WebGL.
I guess I'm not getting a Valentine this year.
~~~
arasmussen
What browser/OS/gpu are you using?
~~~
timerickson
Latest Safari on OS X 10.8.2 in a Macbook Pro w/ Retina
~~~
dubya
You can enable WebGL in Safari. Go to Preferences -> Advanced and click "Show
Develop menu in menubar". "Enable WebGL" is the last item in the Develop menu.
~~~
shurcooL
I believe it's not enabled by default because there are still some security
vulnerabilities present, is that right?
~~~
dubya
Yes. Here's a DoS for Firefox that forced me to reboot:
[https://cvs.khronos.org/svn/repos/registry/trunk/public/webg...](https://cvs.khronos.org/svn/repos/registry/trunk/public/webgl/sdk/tests/extra/lots-
of-polys-example.html) (it asks permission first). I did not test it in
Safari, because I don't want to restart again :(
------
arjn
heh, very neat. You can also play around with the parameters and equation of
the graph.
Check out my "tan" heart : 5 + (-sqrt(1-x^2-(y-abs(x))^2)) _tan(45_
((1-x^2-(y-abs(x))^2))), x is from -1 to 1, y is from -1 to 1.5, z is from 1
to 6
------
tarahmarie
Ferris wheels make me so happy. In related news, I think I shall watch Ferris
Bueller's Day Off with My Beloved Husband today.
------
booop
Such things never cease to amaze me. How do you start with a blank paper
create an expression which produces that?
~~~
jordigh
It's actually pretty easy...
The actual function being plotted is the two ellipsoids
1 = x^2 + (x - y)^2 + z^2 for x >= 0
1 = x^2 + (x + y)^2 + z^2 for x <= 0
Each of which which is just an ordinary ellipse but rotated a little along the
z-axis. If you expand the square and by standard linear algebra techniques
(see: diagonalising a quadratic form), you can put both of these in standard
form:
1 = x^2/a^2 + y^2/b^2 + z^2
which confirms it's an ellipsoid.
Whoever made the original heart just took these two ellipses and then
multiplied by the cosine of the height in order to give it some oscillations
and make it look more showy, but the basic idea is just that: two ellipsoids,
at opposite slant angles, joined along the middle.
------
crusso
Google scares me sometimes.
~~~
snogglethorpe
Me too. But in a good way ... :]
------
uglytom
Looks good! Happy Valentine's Day to you too!
------
iframe
Works in Chrome Canary ;)
------
joshualastdon
Nice. Nice again, I say.
------
treycopeland
well done sir. well done.
~~~
scoot
The OP din't claim to have created this (although arguably it's implied by
it's posting without comment). Rather, that's just one of quite a number of
such functions posted here before. I don't know their origin.
So well done for remembering it, and reposting it on an appropriate day; or
more likely someone else remembered, and this is just a cross-post of a cross-
post of a blog of a re-post. But well done anyway.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Memo on Cost Cuts Sparks Heated Debate Inside Company - petethomas
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-26/google-memo-on-cost-cuts-sparks-heated-debate-inside-company
======
flunhat
I've heard that getting promoted at Google is kind of a shitshow -- that your
manager can't vouch for you and it's basically up to how well you summarize
and present your work to a faceless promotion committee (i.e. how well you
play politics). I don't think this is entirely a bad thing, per se. In light
of this memo, however, I wonder if the layered bureaucracy of the promotion
process is an intentional way of not promoting promotion-worthy employees and
keeping costs down.
~~~
drewg123
Xoogler here: I was promoted L5 -> L6 (senior -> staff SWE) in 2015, so I can
talk a bit about this.
Your manager can actually be helpful, but the process is byzantine. In my
case, my promo committee approved my promo. However, at L6 there was an
automatic review of all promos to that level by a 2nd committee. The review
committee denied my promo. My manager came in at this point and lodged an
appeal on my behalf to the review committee's decision. That appeal took the
promo to a 3rd committee that ultimately approved it.
I did not know any of the details of what was happening. I only learned what
happened in my 1:1 with my manager when he told me the whole story. He was so
happy and proud of himself that he managed to help me get promoted. The sad
thing is that this was the 1:1 where I told him that I was leaving for Netflix
(much better offer due to non-monetary factors).
The truly kafka-esque part of this: Since promo at Google is a huge deal, and
since you if you are hired back, you retain the level at which you departed
at, I really wanted to leave as a L6. So I delayed my start at Netflix until
my promo went through. I resigned effective a day after the effective promo
date. However, in the HR system, the resignation cancelled the promo. So I had
to jump through some hoops to get the promo re-instated. I know it went
through, because I had friends check go/epitaphs and I eventually got my promo
jacket..
~~~
sitkack
> However, in the HR system, the resignation cancelled the promo.
Can I ask you about occurrences of fence post errors?
There was a very important eng who was basically a sole contributor on a
difficult component in a system. He announced his retirement date well in
advance, but after the bonus payout period. HR terminated him early, denying
him the bonus and leaving the team to scramble and organize a mini-summit to
do knowledge transfer. The team itself had no control over the date. I believe
it was a similar company.
~~~
pkaye
I left my last company the day after our quarterly bonus and HR managed to
reverse the transaction. To be honest I didn't even realize te bonus was due
that day and I gave my usual 2 week notice. They could have not even deposited
the amount and I would have not noticed. HR leadership used be a lot kinder at
that company until there was a shift to a new HR director.
~~~
tomerv
That sounds illegal.
~~~
vkou
It doesn't matter if its illegal or not, if he wants to dispute it, it will
probably go through binding arbitration.
Arbitrators do not need to have any understanding of the law, and are
notoriously employer-friendly.
------
drugme
_Perhaps the most significant change in the proposal called for trimming the
rate of promotions. Each year, a certain number of employees are up for
promotions based on performance and other metrics. The slide deck suggested
reducing this by 2 percentage points. The document said this could be rolled
out without upsetting staff because workers didn’t know what the existing rate
was, so wouldn’t notice if it declined._
That last sentence is quite telling about Google's attitude toward its
employees.
~~~
DannyBee
It also said that Google doesn't have enough higher level work for people if
it promoted them (because the promo rate is so much higher than industry
average, and Google has shifted right in levels) but just about everyone
ignored that.
You can't create larger scope/etc roles out of thin air (you actually have to
need the work done), and levels always seem to right shift over time.
~~~
cmrdporcupine
Then maybe Google needs to stop advertising that it needs and has the most
intelligent engineers in the industry. If they don't have enough work to feed
them, they don't need to have them.
~~~
i_am_proteus
Does Google hire them to work at Google, or to not work somewhere else?
~~~
mehrdada
This is the key insight that many people ignore, straight out of The Monopoly
Operating Manual. When you are Google size, many of your investments are, and
should be, wisely targeted at buying insurance against risks to future
revenues and cash flows, not just growing them.
------
GhostVII
> One worker asked why Pichai was paid hundreds of millions of dollars, while
> some Google employees struggle to afford to live in Silicon Valley
I mean I understand getting upset at the income gap between CEO's and regular
people, but it seems kind of strange to be complaining about your salary as a
Google employee, where you are almost certainly making well over $100k, and
walk past rows of camper trailers and homeless people on the way to work.
Saying that you are struggling to afford to live in Silicon Valley seems like
a bit of a stretch if you are an engineer at Google. I can sympathize with
non-tech workers at Google who are probably making less though.
~~~
CydeWeys
You haven't looked at housing prices in Mountain View recently. If your goal
in life is simply to own your own home (which seems reasonable to me), then
even lower-level engineers are struggling.
~~~
nostrademons
That wouldn't really be affected by how much Google pays its engineers,
though. There's a fixed supply of single-family housing in Mountain View, and
>>> available supply seeks to live there. Under those conditions, housing
prices adjust upwards until they reach the amount that the Nth bidder (where N
= houses for sale <<< Google employees in Mountain View) is willing to pay.
Increase salaries and you just increase the amount that everyone is willing to
pay, and then you still get outbid by your coworkers.
Assuming that owning a single-family home is non-negotiable, the _only_ ways
out of this are a.) get all your coworkers fired or b.) move out of the Bay
Area. Mountain View (and the rest of the Bay Area) is basically fully built-
out: there simply is no more land for 1/4 acre lots.
(If you're willing to compromise on "single family home", there's another
alternative: build up. This is the most realistic solution, but requires that
people give up on the idea of a detached house with a yard and settle for
condos instead.)
~~~
brown9-2
> There's a fixed supply of single-family housing in Mountain View
Well, that is the whole problem right there. It doesn’t have to be fixed.
~~~
01100011
Single family housing? That generally refers to a detached home so yes the
supply is very much fixed.
Even if we're talking about multi-family housing, there is still a limit on
space, resources, traffic capacity, etc.
~~~
brown9-2
Then let’s start building vertically.
It is a social choice to limit housing like this.
------
saagarjha
> The document also discussed how the proposals could be best presented to
> employees to minimize frustration, according to one of the people.
> The document said this could be rolled out without upsetting staff because
> workers didn’t know what the existing rate was, so wouldn’t notice if it
> declined.
I really don't know what they expected. You're cutting the salaries of your
employees; the _best case_ , yet highly unlikely scenario is that nobody
notices. More likely, your attrition rate will increase as Google becomes
slightly less attractive for employees to stay at, or the worst case but
highly likely scenario is that you have these slides get out and now everyone
is unhappy because they're being paid less _and_ having information willfully
hidden from them.
~~~
Gibbon1
GF worked at a game company. When she started they'd give bonuses based on the
profits. Later they changed bonuses based on how well the company beat Wall
Streets expectations.
Really demoralizing when the company posts a fat profit, the top managers take
home a large bonus, you you get nothing because the quarterly profit was a
little under expectations.
~~~
fyfy18
I'd be surprised if there haven't been economic studies on this type of
action. So either the executives don't care, as they know people are
replaceable and it won't hurt the company either way, or they don't care as
they know they will be moving on soon enough, and they just want to milk their
positiion for what they can.
------
tmp092
This is only semi-related, but I just finished Bad Blood (Theranos book) and
started looking up some of the characters on LinkedIn to see what they were up
to. The infamous HR person (Balwani's right hand person) just started a new
position at no other than Google less than 2 months ago!
~~~
i_am_nomad
That is indeed troubling. Keep in mind, though, that lots of great people
worked at Theranos - I’ve hired one and she’s the standout on an already very
talented team. And of course, I would hire Tyler Schultz without a second
thought.
~~~
tmp092
Sure, would have no issue with an IC or someone not cozy with management, but
this was a specific senior HR person close to Balwani who was complicit in
intimidating/spying on employees and trying to get them to sign shady NDAs,
among other atrocities. And Google still hired them.
IMO it speaks to the "skills" that big tech want in their HR people. The fact
that they did all these things is exactly what they look for in "good" HR
people e.g. protect the company at all cost and no mercy for employees.
~~~
trhway
any regime needs the same police.
------
BossingAround
It seems to me like Google is slowly becoming another one of these huge
corporations that one works for simply to simply pay the bills. I mean, sure,
it may not be such at this particular moment, but that's what it seems they
are heading towards. Though they still have an amazing reputation, I don't buy
it anymore.
~~~
rleigh
It already looked this way to me when I interviewed with them 8 years ago. But
it takes time for public perception to catch up with the reality. When they
scaled up and hired tens of thousands, they became yet another faceless
corporate entity. Perhaps not intentionally; I feel this is simply a factor of
growing and having to establish the same corporate bureaucracy as all the
rest.
~~~
vidarh
This reminded me of Kim Stanley Robinsons "Three Californias" trilogy. One of
them is set in a future where to counter many of the effects of large
corporations, companies are strictly restricted in terms of number of
employees and other things. No company in the novel can have more than 100
employees. For projects that require more, companies have to establish
consortia, but each company remained independent.
I have no opinion on whether that'd be viable or beneficial, but it's a
fascinating idea to think about the consequences of, both externally in terms
of effects on wider society, and what it'd mean for corporate cultures.
~~~
1123581321
You may be interested in reading the economic paper, “The Nature of the Firm.”
Here’s a link to a summary:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_the_Firm](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nature_of_the_Firm)
Thinking along those lines would suggest we need to reduce a lot of legal and
communication friction or else capping corporations will make everything much
more expensive. It’d certainly be worth improving those things regardless of
the end goal. Whether we would naturally see average company size reduce is
unknown, but the theory that they would recognize the financial incentive to
do so is plausible.
~~~
humanrebar
I reference this paper, at least mentally, when explaining to colleagues why
using their tech needs to be better for me than using off the shelf tech. If
I'm only using in house tech because I can't fire them or if I have to do more
work to adopt them compared to using an off the shelf option, they're wasting
money, time, and energy.
------
throwaway15273
Maybe I need to stop reading Google related articles on HN. I'm joining Google
in less than a month, and some of the comments in threads like these get me
worried.
I graduated less than a year ago and have been working at a startup in my
hometown since then, and didn't bother applying to Google because I thought
I'd never make it. Actually it was a thread on HN that convinced me to go for
it. I'm moving away from everything and everyone I've ever known because I've
always heard that Google is the place to be to really grow as an engineer.
I'm still excited, and I was nervous with or without reading these threads,
but can someone chime in and give me some hope?
~~~
scarejunba
All my friends at Google are happy. You're going to be fine and you'll find
that your work will probably be enjoyable.
If you listened to the Internet, my town of San Francisco is a faeces filled
shithole where people will mug you at every corner. My other home in London is
a bastion of knife crime and Sharia law with a bit of terrorism mixed in. I
should live in perpetual fear that my life may be ended at any moment by
actively malicious people bent upon religious and culture war.
In truth, life is pretty good in both these places. I love them both.
What you actually should do is stop giving these people any credence. Any fool
can write a blog. And recycled news like this article is usually written by
bottom feeders.
The world is a lovely place. Don't let the losers keep you down.
~~~
mindfulplay
A vocal tiny majority has gotten hold of the loudest most annoying sound box.
It's hard to even close your ears.
------
partingshots
To me, it feels like people not getting the promotions they think they deserve
is an extremely mundane problem. That’s fine though, since I can see how such
a thing might be of legitimate concern for many of us and is worth discussing
overall.
What mainly bothers me mostly, is how click-baity this article is. Such a
heavy emphasis on drama and controversy, with every attempt to garner as much
divisiveness as possible. It’s annoying, and I notice Bloomberg is notorious
for almost always putting out these types of highly charged articles.
Do authors get bonuses for releasing fiery volatile articles at Bloomberg or
something?
~~~
googlerx
> To me, it feels like people not getting the promotions they think they
> deserve is an extremely mundane problem.
Google management to this day claims that eligibility for promotion is based
solely on whether or not an employee is consistently performing at the next
level on a well defined job ladder. If they are, they're promoted.
The problem is not the lack of promotions. The problem is that introducing
promotion quotas or limits directly conflicts with the merit-ONLY-based
promotion system that management claims exists.
------
Animats
_" Most of the cost cuts that emerged since then have focused on divisions
outside the core internet business, such as drones, wearable devices and other
"moonshots."_
Google/Alphabet is still doing badly at anything consumer-facing that isn't
ad-supported. Not for lack of trying. Google Fiber, Google Express, etc.
They've had some success at enterprise apps and cloud services, but they're
not the major player in that space. The self-driving car thing is not going as
well as expected. Ads are still 94% of Google revenue, and they're probably
overstaffed for that business.
~~~
manigandham
The entire ad industry is overstaffed. Could easily remove 50% and have no
effect, or actually improve results.
~~~
stevenwliao
You're now the dictator of the industry. Which 50% needs to go and how do you
identify them? How do you prevent your metrics from being gamed?
~~~
asdff
For every new hire two people have to be fired or quit.
------
owaty
> The document also discussed how the proposals could be best presented to
> employees to minimize frustration, according to one of the people. That
> caused the most anger among some staff after the document was circulated,
> said this person.
Not leaking this slide deck was rather important to minimize frustration.
~~~
aboutruby
"In case of employees having knowledge of those slides, ..."
------
akhilcacharya
> The brainstorming deck also proposed reducing wage bumps when workers get
> promoted. It also suggested changing Google’s approach to "spot bonuses,"
> sums that managers can award at any time of year. Managers receive emails
> reminding them to dispense this money. The slide deck proposed ending the
> emails, arguing that few people would notice. The proposal also included
> converting holiday gifts to staff into charitable donations -- something
> Google did at the end of 2016.
As someone that works at a notoriously “resource efficient” company the fact
that people would be mad about this is absolutely _hysterical_.
~~~
dlubarov
As a former Googler, the way the company ended holiday gifts was irritating
just because of the pretense. Leadership spun it as "we're redirecting the
funds into Chromebook donations". As if money wasn't fungible, and the
decision to donate Chromebooks was somehow intertwined with the decision to
end the holiday gift.
~~~
cmrdporcupine
Yep most of us would have just been fine with them just saying "you're all
paid well enough, the company is too big, we're stopping the holiday gift".
Instead it was a long slow process of "pick your charity from the list" w/ a
song and dance around it.
~~~
UncleMeat
Given the nearly continuous stream of internal shitshows getting leaked to the
press by unhappy people, I'm pretty confident that the response wouldn't have
been positive if they had said this.
------
miguelmota
I've worked in a large corporation before and getting promoted is not easy
because you're just a tiny cog in a large machine so it's hard for people in
position of giving out promotions to see that you're worth being given a
promotion because you're seen as any other grunt in the company. You pretty
much need to suck up to the managers and the managers need to suck up to their
managers, etc till it reaches someone with promotion powers.
Working at a startup however is much easier because you work very closely with
execs and people in positions that have power to give you promotions so the
value you bring is easily visible and recognized.
~~~
sethammons
The advice I've heard: if you want to grow professionally, work at a place
that's growing.
------
artpop
The tech boom is over. Now we should incentivise the restoration of the
environment to keep both the economy afloat and us breathing.
------
austincheney
Weird that people are complaining about this now, but not a few years ago when
$16m salaries (not bonuses) were a common thing at Waymo.
[https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&client=firefox-b-1...](https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&client=firefox-b-1-ab&ei=mFpMXNfdJtHCwQK43ryQAQ&q=google+self+driving+car+serious+fuck+you+money&oq=google+self+driving+car+serious+fuck+you+money&gs_l=psy-
ab.3...6244.8133..8428...0.0..0.255.1632.0j4j4......0....1..gws-
wiz.......0i71.HZCHol-cd6A)
~~~
vonmoltke
> $16m salaries (not bonuses)
The second link in that search explicitly says they were bonuses, and the
first strongly implies it.
------
warp_factor
I would love to see more details on the actual compensation at Google.
My anecdotal feeling after discussing with multiple googlers is that the top
performers are overly well paid, but most engineers are paid under what they
could get at another company.
They use their marketing hype/PR and their brand name to be able to achieve
this, with an unlimited supply of fanboys that want to get in even possibly
while being paid under market rate.
~~~
koalaman
This is not true. Google pays better than pretty much everybody except for
fintech and Facebook.
~~~
victorhooi
I used to work in fintech, and yes, the pay was substantially better there
(I'm at Google now - I took a pay cut to go across).
Likewise, I had an offer from Amazon around the same time as Google's offer -
which was actually quite a bit higher. So from my own experience, and from
friends, Amazon does indeed pay substantially more than Google.
I've heard other tech is sightly higher - however, I didn't go to Google for
the pay (although I wouldn't say no to competitive pay, haha), but there were
other drivers for me (work/life balance etc.).
~~~
joshuamorton
Interesting, I've seen the opposite from Amazon (and ofc Amazon stock
refreshes are worse), so in the long term Google is probably better.
------
tomrod
I know how much it hurts to have these kind of documents become known. It's an
unfortunate reality in corporate structure that the incentives of employers
are not aligned with the best interest of employees. That doesn't mean every
employer is out to get employees--only that discussions of this type are a
harsh reality among folks who are judged by how much they cut costs.
------
shereadsthenews
Remember that Google pays Porat over $40 million per year to do what is
probably one of the easier jobs at the company. If I was going to cut costs I
know where I’d start.
~~~
cobookman
Her job is not just to cut costs. And its not a simple job by any stretch.
~~~
shereadsthenews
Neither is writing optimizer passes for llvm, but the people doing that are
making less than a million a year while having a huge impact on the company’s
bottom line. For some management clown to come along and suggest that those
people should not get promoted so that Porat et al can continue taking
helicopters to work is disgusting.
------
vkou
This is precisely why tech employees need to negotiate collectively. When your
employer is posting record profits, but is lowering compensation, you have a
much stronger negotiating position when you work as a team.
~~~
AnthonyMouse
Only you don't.
If you go to a competitor and negotiate a 25% higher salary and bring it back
to your current employer, either they give you a 25% raise or you leave.
Either way you get 25% more money.
If you go to a union and ask for a raise, they go to the employer, the
employer can't afford to give _everyone_ a 25% raise, so they give everyone a
2.5% raise. Then you have to quit and go work for the competitor. Only now
they won't pay you 25% more because now they know your current salary based on
where you work, your position and the terms of the union contract, so they
know they only have to pay you 5% more. So either way you're making less.
Meanwhile the competitor is still offering more, so your current employer
starts bleeding talent, which reduces revenue generation and thereby the
amount of money they have to pay employees in the future.
It's not as if many people still aspire to work for GM.
~~~
danaris
But chances are, no matter who you are, at any given time, you _can 't_
negotiate a 25% higher salary from a competitor. If you could have done that,
why did you take this job in the first place?
On the other hand, at any given time, the union is always going to be fighting
for you to get reasonable raises based on your position, and will be available
to help you show that you deserve a significant raise if your current
compensation does not match the going rates for what you're actually doing.
This is ignoring all the other things unions do, that don't directly relate to
compensation, like ensuring that employees aren't taken advantage of by the
company in a variety of creative and quasi-legal ways.
Frankly, if software developers of various types unionized, I would be shocked
if that union bore much resemblance to the propagandistically stereotyped
picture of unions we've had painted for us over the past several decades. I
think it's much more likely that, given the prevalence of attitudes such as
yours, it would be primarily concerned with the aforementioned protections, as
well as setting wage _floors_ for given levels of expected performance, while
leaving the _ceiling_ free for people who, like you, think they can negotiate
something better.
It's not like there's some "union rulebook" that all unions _must_ follow as
soon as they come into existence, that says, "First, make sure absolutely
everyone makes the same amount of money. Next, make _really crappy employees_
unfireable."
Unions are made up of people in the industry they represent—that's the whole
damn point—and their goals are set _by_ those people. So in all likelihood, if
there _were_ a programmers' union, and you were in it, and you're really as
good as you seem to think, you'd have negotiated your way to a position where
you have at least some say over union policy. Then, even if there _were,_ for
some reason, union rules specifying that compensation for position title X
could be no more than Y, you could work to change that.
~~~
YawningAngel
At least in the UK, job markets are so wildly irrational that I doubled my
salary twice in two years. Both the salaries I ended up having doubled were
more-or-less the best thing available at the time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Researchers find tattoos on 3,000-year-old remains of Egyptian woman - diodorus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/26/researchers-find-unprecedented-cow-tattoos-on-3000-year-old-remains-of-egyptian-woman
======
nikolay
And, at no surprise, some (!) "modern" people today do the same to their
skin...
~~~
paraxisi
Why the scare quotes around modern? Maybe elaborate why you feel that way?
~~~
clevernickname
Maybe because people think of tattoos, for whatever reason, as an edgy new-
agey thing to do.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A curated list of Go frameworks, libraries and software - avelino
https://github.com/avelino/awesome-go
======
joliv
Maybe your time would be better spent contributing to the existing list rather
than making a new one? It's very long at this point and categorized very
nicely.
[https://code.google.com/p/go-
wiki/wiki/Projects](https://code.google.com/p/go-wiki/wiki/Projects)
~~~
JulienSchmidt
Moreover the list contains some really outdated projects for some reason.
For example the database drivers section [1]: 3 out of 5 projects are
abandoned, while current projects (listed in the official Go community wiki
[2]) are missing.
1: [https://github.com/avelino/awesome-go#database-
drivers](https://github.com/avelino/awesome-go#database-drivers) 2:
[https://code.google.com/p/go-
wiki/wiki/Projects#Databases_an...](https://code.google.com/p/go-
wiki/wiki/Projects#Databases_and_Storage)
~~~
pbreit
I can't stand these laundry list lists that, as you say, seem to always
include dead projects and are littered with incomplete, unusable or otherwise
poor inclusions.
This is an area where quality defeats quantity by a particularly large margin.
------
andrewljohnson
Anyone know of any frameworks/libraries that go really needs, but lacks now?
~~~
glesica
As of a few months ago, when I last looked into it, there really isn't a good
(fast) image processing (re-sizing, etc.) library.
~~~
personZ
The best approach to that would be interacting with and leveraging existing,
very well proven and optimized image processing libraries. I can see some
bindings for things like ImageMagick out there.
------
benologist
I wish it was more heavily curated so a beginner could have a better defined
starting path - my experience with go over the last week has mostly been
googling libraries to get pros/cons/gauge popularity.
~~~
shurcooL
I wish it was dynamic [1]. So it could cater to everyone.
If you're a beginner and just want to see the top 10 most high quality,
popular Go packages, you'd move a slider nearly all the way to the left until
only top 10 packages remain.
On the other hand, if you have an obscure need (say, generate random First
Names, Last Names, ZIP codes, etc.) and you're willing to look through as many
packages as possible, you'd adjust that slider all the way to the right until
all included Go packages are listed, and hopefully find
[https://github.com/Pallinder/go-randomdata#go-
randomdata](https://github.com/Pallinder/go-randomdata#go-randomdata) under
Awesome Go -> Testing -> Random Data Generation or some other sub-sub-sub-
topic.
[1] A simple demo of such "level of detail" visualization that I played around
with, an explanation of how I could send an email with the press of a button:
[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8554242/available-
for-2-...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8554242/available-
for-2-weeks/level-of-detail-explanation.html)
------
VeejayRampay
Still looking for a PhantomJS-like tool in Go. Really hope that'll happen some
day. Embedding a browser engine is not easy mind you, but one can dream.
~~~
shurcooL
What do you think of
[https://github.com/sourcegraph/webloop](https://github.com/sourcegraph/webloop)?
~~~
VeejayRampay
Well, looks spot on. Thank you very much.
~~~
sqs
I am the author of WebLoop. Let me know if you have any trouble getting it to
work. I love pull requests, too! :)
~~~
VeejayRampay
I will try to play with it as soon as I can. I was wondering, I didn't find
any method to render a given as a PNG or JPG, is it currently supported? This
is our main use for PhantomJS as it is. And thanks again for the hard work.
------
BarkMore
A more comprehensive curated list: [https://code.google.com/p/go-
wiki/wiki/Projects](https://code.google.com/p/go-wiki/wiki/Projects)
A list with no curation: [http://godoc.org/-/index](http://godoc.org/-/index)
------
jamesgpearce
Facebook also provides a (relatively recent) dedicated library of Go
libraries: [https://github.com/facebookgo](https://github.com/facebookgo)
------
ChrisAntaki
Thanks for this up to date list!
------
spikyobjects
Sorry but that is a very short list for anyone coming from a better
established language.
~~~
avelino
I started writing makes 3 hours, posted if anyone is interested in
contributing!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Scoble: Twitter etc are the next email - farmer
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/118/the-next-email.html?partner=rss
======
henning
god i'm fucking sick of people who claim they have a crystal ball, especially
when they don't write code.
no file extensions, no privacy/crypto, no room to actually develop an idea,
doesn't plug and play with other services (web apps like highrise, scripts
that process mbox files, cellphones, ...). yeah, it's an email killer alright.
especially when you go to send a message and you're greeted by a LOLcat that
says you can't do what you want to do because they're dumbasses who don't know
how to make a rapidly growing service scale.
------
bmaier
Personally, I don't think anything will truly replace email (at least not for
many many years). Twitter is a nice fringe communication tool but simply that.
Hopefully what Twitter and the new communication apps will contribute to is a
reduction in the number of pointless short emails I get. Perhaps the article
should be titled, Twitter is the new IM.
~~~
ashu
Absolutely. Twitter is _asynchronous_ IM.
------
alex_c
Given how much noise Twitter generates in the Valley ecosystem, I was
surprised to find out it only has something like 300-400K users (I can't find
a reference right now, please correct me if I'm wrong - Compete seems to
support that number though).
To me Twitter is the perfect example of the echo chamber.
------
Alex3917
Anecdotally, Scoble once linked to a blog post of mine in his twitter linkblog
and I think I got only two or three clickthroughs from it. So even though he
may have 4000 users, measuring the value of a twitter follower is very
different from measuring the value of a pageview. What exactly does it mean
for one person to have more digital presence than another? What exactly is
that worth? It seems like it will take a few years for these questions to get
fully worked out.
------
nickb
Nonsense!
------
extantproject
Twitter is the next distraction.
------
mynameishere
business memoranda:email::twaddle:twitter
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Rewriting Functions with Fold and Reduce - mstruebing
https://maex.me/2019/04/rewriting-functions-with-fold-and-reduce/
======
mstruebing
There was an issue with the content in the article, I've just fixed it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Branching histories of the 2016 UK referendum and ‘the frogs before the storm’ - robinhouston
https://dominiccummings.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/on-the-referendum-21-branching-histories-of-the-2016-referendum-and-the-frogs-before-the-storm-2/
======
rndmize
While unfortunately I don't have time to finish reading it at the moment, this
is a very interesting post, even for someone with no interest in brexit. It
feels more like a discussion of effectiveness/efficiency, organizational
structure, motivations and their effects, with the leave org being an example
of how these can benefit/harm your efforts. I found the occasional paragraph
on advertising/media strategy especially interesting.
That said, 20k words is lengthy to the point that I suspect this will fall off
the front page before any reasonable discussion can happen.
------
pm24601
Whatever you feel the Brexit result should have been, read this article to
understand deeply how politics plays out.
Dominic spends much of the article showing how it was the errors of IN that
gave the opportunity for Leave to have a chance.
In the US, the progressive movement is learning from the Tea Party how to
fight Trump. Pro-EU Brits should learn from the euroskeptics.
As Dominic says, the easiest person to lie to is yourself.
------
prodmerc
Oh wow, I never say this, but this post definitely needs a TL;DR
~~~
alva
Summary of topics covered, although I highly recommend reading the whole
thing. The author appears to be a relative insider to politics however
approached the entire campaign in a very different manner than is expected
from political types.
1\. Game theory
2\. Probability
3\. Issues with managing a large number of people, some with diverging
motivations and how that effects succeeding in the group's aim
4\. Enormity of establishment backing of Remain and how that helped/hindered
5\. 3 conditions that left the Leave vote possible. Maybe the best section,
parallels to recent US election obvious here.
6\. Making persuasive arguments to a wide demographic, including their timing.
7\. Warranted distrust of establishment post 2008 and its effects.
8\. IYI (intellectual yet idiot) class.
9\. Incredibly strong post establishment media backlash and its
motivation,"Fake news", "Idiots couldn't understand", "Racists".
10\. Importance of error-correction in large systems.
11\. Some very innovative solutions to the above.
Overall a fantastic summary of why we have seen some political "shocks" in the
West.
~~~
smikhanov
Sounds like a typical "Lessons Learned from My Year as a Startup CEO" post on
Medium!
------
losvedir
Ooh, I'm going to like this article. I had to stop to post this comment when I
came across this statement:
_Much political analysis revolves around competing simple stories based on
one big factor such that, in retrospect, ‘it was always clear that immigration
would trump economic interest / Cameron’s negotiation was never going to be
enough / there is an unstoppable populist tide’, and so on. Alternatives are
quickly thought to have been impossible (even if X argued the exact opposite
repeatedly). The big event must have had an equally big single cause.
Confirmation bias kicks in and evidence seeming to suggest that what actually
happened would happen looms larger. People who are quite wrong quickly
persuade themselves they were ‘mostly right’ and ‘had a strong feeling’
unlike, of course, the blind fools around them. Soon our actual history seems
like the only way things could have played out. Brexit had to happen. Trump
had to win._
It really reminds me of this[0] wonderful blog post "Tuesday shouldn't change
the narrative" which predicted very well how the narrative changed after the
election of Trump.
This Brexit blog post also has this wonderful epistemic statement:
> _Also, it is clear that almost nobody agrees with me about some of my
> general ideas. It is more likely that I am wrong than 99% of people who work
> in this field professionally. Still, cognitive diversity is inherently good
> for political analysis so I’ll say what I think and others will judge if
> there’s anything to learn._
Both of these quotes really resonate with me. I fear that many people will
downvote this because the author is a Leaver, but I think that would be a
mistake. The author clearly isn't dumb and is telling a firsthand story of
their involvement in this important event. People should read and watch
primary sources more often, I think.
[0] [http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/07/tuesday-shouldnt-
change...](http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/11/07/tuesday-shouldnt-change-the-
narrative/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
HHVM is fast – too bad it doesn’t run my code - anu_gupta
http://www.hhvm.com/blog/?p=875
======
fosap
I don't see the point of HH. There are valid reasons to use php. IMO they are:
A existing codebase and the fact it is installed everywhere.
But HH is neither installed everywhere nor will the old codebase be
compatible. Why not use a proper language right from the start? There are tons
of alternatives that do not suffer from the shortcomings hh tries to fix.
~~~
RobAley
Er, surely the whole point of the article is that they are making it so that
more of the existing codebase will run.
Their roadmap also includes making it easy to install on Linux and other
platforms, so it may make inroads into "everywhere".
If they can even achieve the first objective, then people can continue with
the normal PHP runtime as usual in most places and switch to HHVM when they
need better performance.
Also, I find PHP a delight to program in. YMMV.
~~~
jeffasinger
Newer PHP isn't too bad to program in, so long as everyone who ever will need
to write a line of your code is relatively disciplined, and works to an agreed
upon standard.
However, your average codebase, written for PHP 5.0 or older, touched by many,
mostly incompetent people over several years, is usually incredibly painful to
work with.
~~~
debacle
I haven't seen a PHP codebase that didn't run on 5.2 in years. If you don't
support 5.2, that means your code is at least eight years old at this point,
with no effort at all to upgrade.
That's kind of scary. It'd be like captaining the SS Swiss Cheese.
~~~
andyhmltn
Sadly, I've seen companies that depend (like literally, if it were to fail the
company would shut down) on a codebase that is on 5.0 :(
------
debacle
I'm really excited that Facebook is stewarding in a new era of PHP. I would
love it to see some of these framework maintainers (particularly fabpot and
jwage) push their frameworks towards interop with HHVM.
The sooner we can abandon the backwards php.internals mentality of "Do things
easy the easiest way possible," we'll see a much stronger language.
~~~
jcroll
Maybe HHVM will be like MariaDB and MySQL, HHVM will become the new fork and
the current stewardship will be left behind with their troll mailing list.
Either way I think HHVM is going to be a huge step forward for the PHP
ecosystem, it's going to kick up some dust and we'll see where everything lies
when it settles.
------
sambeau
So am I right in thinking that HPHPc is around 6x faster than Zend and HHVM so
far adds another 40%?
i.e. HHVM is currently 8x faster than Zend and still getting faster?
~~~
nolok
HHVM doesn't permit quite a few things that regular php allows, and it also
turns into outright errors "bad" things that regular php treats as warnings
because it thinks it can run despite it. I also don't think it supports
eval(), although it may have changed since the last time I read about it.
When you remove the "I don't know, maybe, maybe not" part, you can make you
code a lot more efficient.
(not making a judgment call here, just clearing things up on how it is
possible to be _that_ much faster)
~~~
elgenie
HPHPc, the static compilation version of the runtime, didn't support eval,
because eval is not static :) With the JIT compiler and VM, the runtime now
support eval and other more dynamic PHP features:
[https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-
php/blob/master/hphp/test...](https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-
php/blob/master/hphp/test/quick/eval.php)
------
Pxtl
So wait, you're telling me that Facebook's PHP interpreter moves fast and
breaks things?
~~~
jcroll
No just that HHVM doesn't yet support the entire PHP codebase
------
johnx123-up
Not tried... but there's a way to get CakePHP run in HHVM
[http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/lorenzo/2012/01/30/runnin...](http://bakery.cakephp.org/articles/lorenzo/2012/01/30/running_cakephp_using_the_facebooks_hiphop_compiler)
~~~
josegonzalez
I'm on the Cake Core team. We're moving towards a 3.x release, which will be
all PHP 5.4 compatible (namespaces, etc.) so the issue they point out in class
loading will be non-existent.
We are discussing aliasing the String class to a CakeText class, and then
deprecating the String class in a 2.5 release. If we had known this was an
issue[1], then it would likely have made it into the recent 2.4 release.
Something that would be nice would be to see the method in which they ran the
tests, so that we can include their testing into our TravisCI/Jenkins setup.
Probably would help other frameworks/packages as well. Will file a bug.
EDIT: Bug Filed: [https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-
php/issues/1054](https://github.com/facebook/hiphop-php/issues/1054)
[1]: They could and should have filed a bug. A cursory search of our
lighthouse issue tracker does not surface one, though admittedly lighthouse is
pretty shit, so it may indeed be there.
------
dkhenry
The biggest issue I have had with HHVM is that the extensions are totally
undocumented ( not like there is much for the Zend engine ). So trying to port
over extension to it is a excersize in futility.
~~~
debacle
Right now, I think documentation would be futile and also suffocating.
Considering the stability of HHVM and its steward (Facebook), I expect things
to break/change.
~~~
dkhenry
If they want wider adoption they will need to document extensions. There are
tons of extensions out there and I would say most non trivial installation use
at least a few of them.
~~~
debacle
I agree, I just don't think it's useful for them _right now_.
------
nasalgoat
We did some experiments with HHVM and discovered that our heavy reliance on
both redis and mongodb meant no HHVM for us - it supports neither of those
things.
If they could get php.ini support working, I'd be very pleased to leave php-
fpm behind.
------
Pxtl
phpBB sports zero. Hopefully this will encourage a migration away from that
mess and phpBB will end up on the dustbin of history. Please? Pretty-please?
Drupal's success is nice. I've run a Drupal site for a hobby project and
performance wasn't stellar, so it's nice to know that Drupal might run well on
HHVM.
~~~
jcroll
phpBB is being rebuilt using Symfony components
~~~
astrodust
phpBB, vBulletin, and the rest of them should be loaded up into a rocket and
fired into the sun.
Would it kill them to get someone to look over the UX of these things?
WordPress has a user interface that, while tricky, does make sense. These
"bulletin" products show their origins as some high-school kid's project to
make a website.
------
rmccue
I went to install HHVM to test my own code, but it turns out it's 64-bit only.
Kind of sucks.
~~~
q3k
Is there any valid reason to run 32-bit systems in 2013?
~~~
astrodust
You don't always get to choose your architecture. Sometimes it's dictated by
other concerns.
------
ksec
I wish there are a similar effort on Ruby VM.
------
oridecon
as long as I don't need to login on facebook to use it
------
programminggeek
I don't think the point of HHVM is to run things like phpbb. It is a tool for
Facebook to run their own stuff on as fast as possible.
~~~
lacksconfidence
? This blog post was written by the authors of HHVM, do you know something
they do not?
EDIT: I should add, the last time i talked with sgolemon she said (half
jokingly) that their goal is to replace zend (engine)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
In Paris, Plans for a Seine Reinvention (2015) - rch
http://www.citylab.com/design/2015/05/in-paris-plans-for-a-river-seine-reinvention/392639/
======
stephenhuey
The article is from over a year ago in May 2015. This BBC article from a few
months ago in May of 2016 confirmed that by the end of this summer they are
still planning to reserve a portion of the Right Bank only for pedestrians and
there is also a map to mark the area that will be blocked off from cars.
[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36169815](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36169815)
I don't see any more recent updates and this August 15th article with quotes
from Mayor Anne Hidalgo is the most recent confirmation I've found that the
work is ongoing:
[http://pejnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article...](http://pejnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10579:mayor-
of-paris-remains-committed-to-the-struggle-to-reclaim-her-city-from-the-car-
hume&catid=74:ijustice-news&Itemid=216)
~~~
programLyrique
There have been some updates today: a commission has just finished to
investigate the outcomes and given a negative assessment, but the mayor of
Paris has stated that she will not follow the advice of the commission and
carry on implementing the plan to reserve a portion for pedestrians.
Source (in French): [http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2016/08/22/la-
commissi...](http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2016/08/22/la-commission-d-
enquete-sur-la-pietonisation-des-voies-sur-berge-a-paris-rend-un-avis-
defavorable_4986504_3224.html)
------
kweks
The sections on Rive Gauche that they have turned into pedestrian areas are
really quite pleasant - and traffic hasn't suffered so much.
Also slated is turning place de la bastille into pedestrian only square, and
potentially opening the monument to public visit - amongst seven other pro-
pedestrian plans: [http://www.la-croix.com/France/Sept-places-parisiennes-
parti...](http://www.la-croix.com/France/Sept-places-parisiennes-
partiellement-rendues-aux-pietons-2016-03-25-1200749124)
There is some public criticism, after Place de la Republique was 'transformed'
recently - the traffic was reduced, but the entire square is now a tree-less
concrete block.
~~~
ghaff
>the entire square is now a tree-less concrete block
There need to be reasons for people to come into an area--often cafes, etc.
In Boston, City Hall Plaza is notorious. It's a barren wind-swept brickyard
for much of the year. At one point, there was a part-time farmers' market
around the fringes in the summer but it's generally very underutilized space.
------
cm2187
For those who are unfamiliar with the city of Paris' strategy on transport,
what they are trying to achieve is to create the maximum amount of traffic jam
so that people stop using cars out of frustration. Other means include
multiplying bus lanes, bicycle lanes, etc. The outcome is an over-congested
and polluted Paris.
~~~
eyeinthepyramid
Are you suggesting that reducing the number of cars in Paris will somehow
increase pollution?
~~~
cm2187
It's actually the outcome. The same car will take a lot more time to make the
same distance, polluting a lot more than if it was flowing quickly.
~~~
lhopki01
No it's not. Study after study has shown that building more roads doesn't
speed up cars it just increases the number of cards and reducing roads doesn't
slow down cars it just decreases the total number.
------
bsaul
Paris main problem is population density and no high buildings. but you have
to see this plan as a part of the "great paris" project aimed at making Paris
merge better with its suburb. And hopefully have people not travel theough
Paris if they don't need to stop inside.
~~~
_delirium
Paris is a high-density city by Western standards. It's either the highest-
density city in Europe or close, depending on how exactly you demarcate
cities. We often have discussions here about how San Francisco needs to
densify, but Paris has 3x the population density of SF, so is nowhere near in
the same league of low-density cities. It's 50% denser than Brooklyn. Of
American cities / sub-city regions, only Manhattan edges it out (Manhattan is
30% more dense).
------
tezza
They'll still be a prime location for action movie scenes I hope.
You can't have a Paris car chase and gun battles without zooming along the
Seine sans traffic
------
otoburb
This is partly in response to Paris briefly being one of the most polluted
cities in the world[1] by some measures last year. But generally, it seems
Paris fares slight better than Los Angeles & Amsterdam and slightly worse than
London and NYC[2].
[1] [http://www.france24.com/en/20150320-paris-city-smog-
pollutio...](http://www.france24.com/en/20150320-paris-city-smog-pollution-
plume-labs-hidalgo-public-transport-diesel)
[2] [https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/02/where-
world-m...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/dec/02/where-world-most-
polluted-city-air-pollution)
~~~
yardie
Paris is built in a valley with Montmartre to the north and Montparnasse to
the south. When the winds die down for more than a few days being in the city
really sucks. All the diesel particulates just sit their. Like you can feel
the smog and particulates accumulating on your skin.
~~~
Rexxar
You can't reasonably say that Paris is in a valley because of two small hills
(altitude 130m, only 100m above the lowest point of Paris). When there is no
wind pollution accumulate everywhere.
Paris is in a very good position for pollution: in a middle of a plain, not
very far from sea with a regular wind from west.
------
gbersac
A parisian enthousiast for every non-car policy !!!
------
ocschwar
You can expect measures like this to intensify around Europe, thanks to the
software engineers at WV and Audi.
If cities can't trust carmakers to be honest about the emissions their
products make, then they're going to work harder to kick cars out altogether.
------
sylvinus
FYI, this is from 2015.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Trying to recreate one aspect of Y Combinator - subbu4
I'm fascinated about one aspect of Y Combinator - and curious if it is replicable.<p>Could you quantify the most meaningful motivations that help you build your companies during the week between YC dinners at YC HQ? Specifically, what drives you regarding peer review?<p>Paul Graham has written that one of the more amazing aspects of YC is the peer conversations that occur during the weekly dinner. Per Mr Graham, companies often "show off" progress made since the last dinner. This mechanism of friendly competition and perhaps accountability seems to drive dedicated company building in a constructive way.<p>While I'm certain that office hours with YC staff is just as important, that is difficult to duplicate for obvious reasons.<p>But - assuming that the odds are correct and we don't get into YC - I'm very curious about replicating this aspect of peer review and accountability.<p>We're planning on getting together with a few other pre-revenue startups that are trying to figure out problem-solution and product-market fit in their space - which is kind of where we are as well.<p>For lack of a better description, we're trying to form an accountability group - to give us the drive to hit our weekly milestones, and discuss problems encountered for missing milestones. Perhaps, prospectively over time such a group, as they all become familiar with one another, could offer meaningful trouble-shooting with knowledge of intimate details that are time and phase aware of your company's state.<p>This is perhaps the one thing I'm most jealous of YC companies that are actively in the program. I'd love to somehow recreate this. Access to amazing mentorship is certainly a close second.<p>My initial guesses on things that matter:<p>1. Companies should be in similar phases for all participants to get equal value - using "lean" startup lexicon, an example might be companies that are trying to figure out "product-market" fit.<p>2. Meeting face to face on a regular basis.<p>3. Are YC companies "showing off" to each other in cliques - meaning... is there greater value in us keeping our peer-review/ accountability meetup to just a few companies? If it is indeed clique dependent, what would you say is the optimal number?<p>Are there other things that aren't as obvious or intuitive? Am I dead wrong on some of the assumptions?<p>I'm hoping to start experimenting - any insight would be extremely helpful. For some reason if we can't get in YC, then I'm hoping something like this can help us a bit.<p>Thanks in advance.<p>Cheers,<p>Subbu
======
petervandijck
2\. Face to face only works in areas with high startup density. Not sure if it
really matters?
~~~
subbu4
Hi Peter - I think you're right, and that's another plus for YC. Getting a
class together of 40+ startups, you're bound to meet like-minded startups to
form your "peer-review" clique (if that's what happens).
In Chicago, we've experienced difficulty in finding other startups who would
be interested in forming an accountability group with us, just because our
location isn't really "startup rich" (compared to NYC or the Bay Area).
I think once you've found your group, then you should be set, of course,
assuming all participants buy the concept.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How To Build A Mobile Website - vladocar
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/11/03/how-to-build-a-mobile-website/
======
chadgeidel
How NOT to build a mobile website:
When I click a direct link to an article on my phone, just redirect me
(without prompting) to your mobile home page because you are too lazy to
remember the article I wanted to read.
Bonus points if your mobile site is actually hosted on another domain (and,
presumably handled by a 3rd party).
I guess you just don't want my mobile traffic then?
~~~
thwarted
JavaScript based redirects to a mobile version are annoying also, because they
seem break the back button in mobile browsers. When I hit back, it goes back
to the page that redirected me, and I end up right back at the place I don't
want to be anymore. I hate Wikipedia's mobile browsing because of this.
------
tnorthcutt
One thing I didn't see covered in the "User Initiated Method" section is
detecting mobile browsers, and prompting the user to choose between the full
site and the mobile site. I like this method, since most of the time, the
detection will probably work, and thus users will be made aware that there is
a mobile version, whereas they might miss a small link in the header or footer
(even moreso on a small mobile screen). Additionally, it still allows choosing
for those mobile users who wish to view the full site (or desktop users who
wish to view the mobile site), and you can still have the "view mobile site"
link on the full site for the users who were somehow missed by the browser
detection method. IMO, this is the best combination of automagically changing
things and allowing the user to choose. ESPN.com is a good example of using
this method.
~~~
djb_hackernews
I do this for one of my webapps. I detect based on the user agent, and just
pass off to different templates (I'm using django). So it doesn't really
matter what url you use, it just matters what device.
I also have an 'm' subdomain that automatically goes to the mobile version.
I stayed away from the prompt, because mobile browsers are really terrible,
and dialogs are that much more terrible.
------
bretthopper
Like most Smashing Magazine articles, this is good advice overall but gets
some details wrong.
They recommend using display: none on images to reduce bandwidth. Except
browsers still load images which are set to display: none.
~~~
iamjpg
I think my problem with development articles on Smashing Magazine is that they
most often tend to be "good advice" and a little thin on content.
While a lot of the information in that article is relevant/important from a
foundational aspect, it only scratches the surface of mobile development.
Additionally - to barely mention mobile frameworks like jqTouch, jQuery
Mobile, & Sencha Touch under a section called "Special iPhone / iPad
Enhancements" is not only misleading (WebKit is also on Android, hello) but ,
if expanded on, could have been the most helpful part of that article for
someone who really wants to learn about mobile development.
The conclusion of the article talks about the infancy of mobile and how
standards are emerging. I would argue that frameworks like the ones above can
help drive mobile standards and also enable developers to build applications
within the mobile space with confidence.
------
davidedicillo
I wish they took in consideration in the first chart the percentage of users
of those platforms who actually surf the web with their phone.
~~~
RyanMcGreal
They do address this later: "With a market share of 28% and estimates of as
much as 50% of mobile browsing going through iPhone, it makes sense that
developers make special accommodations for the mobile giant."
------
mishmax
Speaking of mobile design. Anyone here experienced with converting static
websites to mobile-friendly sites? I have a few paid projects to do this and
it's been hard finding a good contracter in this space. If interested, please
email me. My email's in my profile.
~~~
Concours
My startup ( <http://www.gmbhnews.net> ) offers a solution for dynamic sites
at this point. We are working to find a way to offer the same service for
static sites and have this on our developpment roadmap.
------
davidw
Symbian's share seems suspiciously small. Maybe it's US only or something like
that.
~~~
hopeless
When I owned a Symbian phone I did use it to browse the web but I used Opera
Mini. The symbian browser was pitifully slow and awkward. That might also
account for the small percentage.
------
Isofarro
How to build a mobile website: 1.) Open website in a mobile browser.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FreeRice: Hack a site to feed the world - ivankirigin
http://giantrobotlasers.com/post/161352785/bmdesign-freerice-is-a-website-where-users-play
======
chaosmachine
"Donated rice comes from the advertisements from sponsors, therefore abuse of
scripts will likely lead to catastrophe, as advertisers prefer that actual
people view their advertisments. Knowing the existence of the bots, FreeRice
updated their FAQ explaining the potential damage of botting"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeRice>
~~~
pavel_lishin
Yeah, people thought that solving world problems were that easy? Really?
"It's easy, I'll just write a perl script solving world hunger!"
~~~
nudded
In the next version of Emacs we'll just do M-x solve-hunger and be done with
it!
------
mwexler
You guys did look at the faq before voting this up, right?
<http://www.freerice.com/faq.html>
"Couldn't I just write a computer program to play all day and give a lot of
rice that way?
There are two problems with this. First, it overloads our servers so that real
people can't play and learn. Second, without real people playing and the
resulting company sponsorship, no money would be generated and we could not
give any rice at all."
~~~
christopherolah
You're forgetting that there are other reasons for looking at this besides
supporting this idea or thinking it could work....
For instance, I upvoted it because it is still thought provoking. People
trying to game a website to donate rice? They're obviously well intentioned.
How does one deal with such users? What could their efforts be redirected
towards?
------
paulgb
Bots might work in the short run, but in the long run it just reduces the
amount that advertisers are willing to pay. Dumb idea.
FreeRice is awesome though. If I'm killing time with a game online, it might
as well be one that improves my French vocabulary or geography. Not to mention
that it supports a good cause, even if my individual "donation" is small.
~~~
teeja
It's my only hope of _ever_ learning the countries in Africa.
------
ohlol
Why does it take a game to feed people? Can't they just give it to them?
------
metachris
Ridiculous how the 'rich world' is playing with lives, food and life...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Its time for a Hackathon - KaperLabs
Interested? Write in to [email protected] with your linkedin/github profiles for an invite.<p>Send in your entries, if programming or Amazon Gift cards interest you.
======
KaperLabs
Based out of Sunnyvale but remote entrants and encouraged too. Remote
------
rman666
Where might this hackathon take place?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What your poop says about your health [video] - DrScump
http://news.discovery.com/human/videos/what-your-poop-says-about-your-health-video-151106.htm
======
DrScump
Bristol Stool scale info at:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_stool_scale)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Learning to See in the Dark (2018) - ksaxena
https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-Dark
======
f-
As a photographer, the comparison to "raw" results without color balance or
noise removal seems somewhat deceptive. The effects visible in the video seem
easy to quickly replicate with existing techniques, such as the "surface blur"
filter that averages out pixel values in areas with similar color.
This happens at the expense of detail in low-contrast areas, producing a
plastic-like appearance of human skin and hair, and making low-contrast text
unintelligible, which is why it's generally not done by default.
~~~
sdenton4
Your example strikes me as the kind of thing neural networks are much better
at than a fixed filter. You or I could easily identify regions of an image
where it's safe vs unsafe to do the surface averaging, and boundaries where we
wouldn't want to mix up the averages. (For example, averaging text should be
fine, so long as you don't cross the text boundaries.) A CNN should also be
able to learn to do this pretty easily.
~~~
BubRoss
What you are describing is a class of filters known as edge preserving
filters. You can look at bilateral filters and guided filters for examples
that have been around for decades at this point.
~~~
sdenton4
So we can do a decent job with hand designed filters... Why aren't they in use
in the problem the parent describes? Are they not good enough to deal with
small text boundaries?
A lot of hand built filters (I see a lot of these in the audio space) have
many hand tuned parameters, which work well in certain circumstances, and less
well in other circumstances. One of the big advantages of NN systems is the
ability to adapt to context more dynamically. The NN filters can generally
emulate the hand designed system, and pick out weightings appropriate to the
example.
~~~
BubRoss
This is effectively noise reduction, which bilateral and guided filters are
actually used for. They take the weights of their kernels based on local
pixels and statistics. You can also look up other edge preserving filters like
BM3D and non-local means.
I don't know what you mean by hand made filters and I don't know why that's a
conclusion you jumped to.
------
y7r4m
Hi, I'm a developer at NexOptic[0] and we are a company that was deeply
inspired by this paper when it was first published. We had a lot of early
success when attempting to replicate the results on our own and ended up
running with it, and extending it into our own product line under our ALIIS
brand of AI powered solutions.
For those curious, our current approach differs in some very significant ways
to the author's implementation, such as performing our denoising and
enhancement on a raw bayer -> raw bayer basis with a separate pipeline for
tone mapping, white-balance, and HDR enhancement. As well, we explored a fair
amount of different architectures for the CNN and came to the conclusion that
a heavily mixed multi-resolution layering solution produces superior results.
As other commentators have pointed out, the most interesting part of it is
really coming to terms that, as war1025 pointed out, "The message has an
entropy limit, but the message isn't the whole dataset." It is incredibly
powerful what can be accomplished with even extraordinarily noisy information
as long as one has a extremely "knowledge packed" prior.
If anyone has any questions about our research in this space, please feel free
to ask.
[0]
[https://nexoptic.com/artificialintelligence/](https://nexoptic.com/artificialintelligence/)
~~~
randyrand
It would be really cool if you could feed the network a photo with flash that
it could use for gathering more information, but then recreated a photo
without flash from the non-flash raw.
Often flash is not the look people are going for, but would be okay with the
flash firing in order to improve the non-flash photo.
~~~
y7r4m
Absolutely! We recently rebranded our AI solutions from ALLIS (Advanced Low
Light Imagine Solution) to ALIIS (All Light Intelligent Imaging Solution)
specifically because we are beginning to branch out to handle use cases such
as this!
As a proof of concept that this task can be tackled directly, a quick search
brought up "DeepFlash: Turning a Flash Selfie into a Studio Portrait"[0]
Beyond denoising, we are already running experiments with very promising
results on haze, lens flare, and reflection removal; super resolution; region
adaptive white balancing; single exposure HDR; and a fair bit more.
One of the other cooler things we are doing is putting together a unified SDK
where our algorithms and neural nets will be able to run pretty much anywhere,
on any hardware, using transparent backend switching. (e.g. CPU, GPU, TPU,
NPU, DSP, other accelerator ASICs, etc..)
[0] [https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.04252](https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.04252)
~~~
exikyut
Before reading your reply to OP's comment I got to thinking about how the
super-resolution process and flash photography might interact
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22905317](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22905317)).
I get the impression you left the point I got to a long time ago :)
------
NikhilVerma
It's surprising how little code [1] is needed to do this. On the other hand I
feel this is quite dependent on the specific camera models and might not work
on the RAW data downloaded from my phone. Happy to be corrected.
[1] - [https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob...](https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob/master/train_Fuji.py)
~~~
covidacct
It's a huge amount of code, hidden behind the tensorflow import statements.
It's common to credit GPUs for the rapid spread of deep learning, but good
GPUs were available for quite a few years before deep learning really took
off. As someone who wrote * a lot* of OpenCL code, including my own python
wrappers, I'm fairly certain this code would be thousands of lines without a
computation graph framework library. These frameworks are really amazing
pieces of software engineering and deserve some non-trivial fraction of the
credit for the rise of deep learning.
If you want to know what the next hot thing in software engineering will be,
just pay attention to whatever Jeff Dean is doing.
~~~
ganstyles
I don't know that I agree with this first statement, but even if I do,
everything is abstracted by import statements even outside ML. You say this is
a huge amount of code abstracted, but it wouldn't be difficult to reimplement
this in numpy and pandas directly without using tensorflow at all. The code
would expand a bit, and you'd have to deal directly with backprop and
calculating derivatives but it wouldn't expand things too much. But then you
could make the same claim about numpy abstracting the linear algebra, and I
could show you that I could extract that and do it without numpy but then it
would be the python math library. It's turtles all the way down. My point is,
your comment applies to everything.
~~~
covidacct
Yup, I absolutely agree. Almost all big leaps in software engineering and
applied computer science come from building a powerful and simple abstraction.
Powerful and simple abstractions are surprisingly difficult to get right.
------
dgellow
A "Two Minute Papers" on this project from 2018:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcZFQ3f26pA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcZFQ3f26pA)
------
jameshart
The problem with techniques like this is that they fundamentally amount to
‘making a plausible guess as to what the image would look like’, since
essentially they can’t extract information that is simply not there. There is
a Shannon entropy limit here.
Machine learning is really machine-enhanced educated-guesswork, which has its
place but also has its limits.
~~~
oconnor663
Counterpoint: The human brain converting a 2D image to a 3D model is educated-
guesswork too :)
~~~
war1025
This hits on an interesting point.
There is an entropy limit to the message, but the message isn't actually the
only data.
One thing humans are great at is integrating existing knowledge into a messy
situation and intuiting more than is available just from the raw message.
I.e. The message has an entropy limit, but the message isn't the whole
dataset.
~~~
MiroF
Yes and that's what this "lossy" conversion to daytime does as well,
incorporate prior knowledge, but that prior knowledge is about how images of
real world things function during night versus day.
------
coenhyde
It's a great result, but it's not perfect. No need for the "perfect" hyperbole
in the title.
------
ksaxena
Video from the paper here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKUFK7MWvg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKUFK7MWvg)
------
jrimbault
Why is the "page suspended" ?
[http://cchen156.web.engr.illinois.edu/paper/18CVPR_SID.pdf](http://cchen156.web.engr.illinois.edu/paper/18CVPR_SID.pdf)
~~~
selectodude
The State of Illinois is out of money again.
~~~
anigbrowl
You shouldn't be downvoted - with a big recession/depression looming, link rot
and many sorts of repositories shutting down are a big issue that will slow
down the pace of research.
------
q3k
Finally, a way to restore
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch)
!
------
babuskov
I was just wondering a couple days ago why the image from my phone is so
grainy, while my eyes+brain can see everything clear in the dark (it wasn't
completely dark, of course).
This seems to replicate the post-processing we do in our brain (which is also
a giant neural network). I wonder if the process is similar?
~~~
arpa
Very small numbers of photons (1) are required to trigger rhodopsin cycle. So
primary receptor itself is very very VERY sensitive.
~~~
tofof
To be clear, the parent did not fail to include a citation. The parenthetical
note is that rod cells are so sensitive that they react to being struck by a
single photon.
------
mkchoi212
Pretty cool but seems like there’s a big limitation on this for now
“ The pretrained model probably not work for data from another camera sensor.
We do not have support for other camera data. It also does not work for images
after camera ISP, i.e., the JPG or PNG data.”
Would be cool to see how they come up with better models that would allow them
to overcome the above limitations
------
Aardwolf
I doubt this image is showing the true raw data (a):
[https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob...](https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob/master/images/fig1.png)
If you take the dark image (a) from that and balance its color, the
information that is present in it simply cannot contain the text from the book
covers and so on. In fact, it's full of JPEG artifacts despite the image being
a PNG. It would be useful if they presented a histogram equalized image of
(a).
------
dang
Discussed at the time:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17064079](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17064079)
------
penetrarthur
I always wondered if you can "trust" an image that has been basically
recreated. Could that kind of image be used as an evidence in court?
~~~
mattkrause
Xerox copiers had a bug caused by a failed image (re)construction, which
caused it to replace similar (but not identical) parts of an image with other
pieces of the image.
[http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-
workcentres_...](http://www.dkriesel.com/en/blog/2013/0802_xerox-
workcentres_are_switching_written_numbers_when_scanning)?
------
GhostVII
It would be good to get a comparison of a brightened version of the sample
image compared with the CNN version. Right now the sample image just looks
black, but if you scale up the brightness you get an image that looks more
like the higher ISO image. That would be a better comparison since it shows
what improvements the CNN gives over naive techniques like just bumping up the
pixel values.
------
robmiller
I wonder if photographic evidence "enhanced" by such a method would be
admissible in court?
~~~
draugadrotten
Perhaps it depends on "which court". The legal systems in some parts of the
world would allow it.
------
amelius
Some questions:
\- Did they create a special network topology for this problem?
\- Does the network need to see the entire image, or only an NxN subblock at a
time?
\- How did they obtain the training data? Is it possible to take daylight
images and automatically turn them into nighttime images somehow?
~~~
isatty
Take pictures at night with a tripod mounted camera with different exposure
brackets?
~~~
amelius
The problem is the amount of pictures you'd need. It's much easier to use
available datasets if you know how to preprocess the data.
------
todd3834
Could something like this be done for night vision goggles or is there
significant latency?
~~~
riazrizvi
An interpolation that looks for movement of a few anchor points? I imagine
that would entail much less computation and so deliver apparent real-time
night vision. Though sudden big movements in scene would cause blackout
regions of about a second?
------
ZeroCool2u
Interestingly, this is effectively an extreme version of solving the
colorization of black & white photos problem. I wonder what the results would
be if you just threw some black and white photos into the model.
------
ChrisArchitect
(2018) and a better title that doesn't say CNN, c'mon
~~~
dang
We've added the year above. Submitted title was "CNN converts night images to
perfect daylight in – 1s".
------
jordache
isn't this just some tweaked raw processing algorithm?
------
ptrenko
I think I'll faint seeing AI progress anymore.
I didn't even think this was possible. Have people ever done this manually
before? Like without AI?
------
paul7986
Cool and integrating this into AR Glasses would make them almost a must buy!
Turn night into Day ..see in the dark, etc!
------
vehemenz
What would happen if this were paired with license plate recognition? And
would it be admissible as evidence?
------
Invictus0
I believe this should have a (2018) tag.
~~~
yokto
Yes, the result image and videos are from 2018
[https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob...](https://github.com/cchen156/Learning-to-See-in-the-
Dark/blob/master/images/fig1.png)
------
soperj
Just wondering why for something brand new they'd use python 2.7??
~~~
as1mov
Probably because it was already installed on their machines. Also what benefit
would this project get by using a newer version?
~~~
soperj
Longevity.
------
pachico
Funny. I'm walking down the corridor almost in total darkness trying to get my
son to sleep. I get bored and with my free hand reach to my phone, open NH and
stumble upon this title. Totally unrelated to its content but I had a (quiet)
laugh :)
------
baybal2
I wonder, how much can it improve over this:
[https://youtu.be/c_0s06ORTkY](https://youtu.be/c_0s06ORTkY)
X27 is also using some kind of neural algorithm to denoise and get maximum out
of the CIS
------
css
What camera are they shooting at 409,600 ISO at?
~~~
Traster
In the video they reference the Sony A7S II, on Sony's website[1] they claim:
>Still images: ISO 100-102400 (expandable to ISO 50-409600),
[1]:[https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/interchangeable-lens-
came...](https://www.sony.co.uk/electronics/interchangeable-lens-
cameras/ilce-7sm2#product_details_defaul)
~~~
dingaling
Which is extremely lossy, because any ISO other than the sensor's native level
is the result of in-camera processing. Unlike film, adjusting the "ISO" in a
digital camera doesn't increase sensitivity; that's physically impossible.
Instead, very strong overgain processing is applied.
So in this instance they're processing lossily on top of an image already
processed lossily in-camera.
~~~
anigbrowl
The A7g image is used for comparison rather than input data, as that camera is
widely regard as the state of the art for low-light photography on a non-
scientific/military budget.
------
skyde
why use iso 8,000 as input and not the camera native ISO ?
------
throwaway122378
Now all they have to do is make sure the correct image displayed for the story
------
GEBBL
Impressive of the American news channel, CNN, to convert images in minus one
second.
~~~
wyldfire
CNN here is a "Convolutional Neural Network"
~~~
echelon
The title needs to be changed so brains recognize it as such. It either needs
a preceding adjective or letter indicating what type of convolutional network
it is.
The other option is spelling it out.
Most people will read CNN as the news channel. Even those familiar with neural
networks.
~~~
numbernine
Not everyone is from the US...
~~~
MFogleman
I'm not from Europe, but if I saw "BBC converts night images to perfect
daylight in ~1 second", I would assume it meant the British Broadcasting
Corporation. CNN is just as big of a name. His point is absolutely relevant.
Said differently: The percentage of people who are not from the US - but are
aware of CNN as the Cable News Network, is higher than the percentage of
people who are not machine learning experts - but are aware of CNN as a
Convolutional Neural Network
------
grumple
Ah, after decades of effort, we have finally replicated the effect of a
candle.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We're hearing about troubles at Nest - marvel_boy
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-on-at-nest-2016-2
======
outside1234
I worked there. It was literally the worst experience of my career - and I
have worked at all of the hardest charging blue chips and two successful
startups - so it is not about high expectations - but abuse. I still wake up
with something like PTSD occasionally from getting yelled at and bullied by
Tony Fadell almost literally every day while I was there.
I have a distance from it now -- and a way better job. It made me realize that
the culture of a place is really what makes it and that "how" you get results
really matter. I bought into the Apple pedigree of the place without
understanding that the way Tony got there was through essentially wrecking
other people's lives.
I have no idea why Google bought this. Tony literally stood up at an all-hands
after the Alphabet thing and said "Fuck being Googley" (direct quote).
Frankly, if I could offer Larry Page once piece of advice it would be to take
Tony out front of TGIF and fire him publicly -- all of this comes from Tony.
Matt is just his hatchet man and fake cofounder.
There are a lot of great people at Nest and they deserve a better leader.
~~~
asdfologist
Honest question: how did someone with such an abusive management style lead
his company to success? I'd think that his employees would just leave and go
work elsewhere.
~~~
potatolicious
Most people (regardless of actual qualification) are bad at finding jobs, and
for most people job-hunting is full of anxiety, dread, and in general just a
thoroughly unpleasant process.
As an industry we're also pretty terrible at recruiting - people who've
figured out how to network effectively and come through the side doors do
pretty well, but the bulk of the industry still pursues the model of "see job
ad, send resume through front door, quietly wait for call back". This adds to
the frustration of job hunting.
Many people also find interviews extremely stressful - our industry makes this
worse by sticking them through exhausting full-day marathons full of seemingly
pointless trivia.
Not so long ago I was stuck in a horrible job with truly abusive managers.
_Everyone_ hated it and commiserated copiously after work (we drank a lot back
then), and everyone talked about leaving. Out of the 20-odd people only 4
actually ended up leaving (including me).
When I asked people about it it was nearly universally about anxiety and fear.
People _loathe_ interviewing, applying, and all that, to a point where they're
willing to put up with a _lot_ of pain just to avoid it.
~~~
throwaway6497
Also, most people are supporting a mortgage + one/two kids + spouse. It is
easy for a person with FU money to just quit the job on a whim, and search for
a new job. A majority of software engineers are still scared of being
unemployed. Imagine being without a job in Silicon valley for a few months
(high mortgage/rent + kids + spouse). Your savings will deplete fast; It is
kind of scary and it is the biggest reason why people put up with abuse till
they find a way out.
------
atonse
I have a nest and it is a real piece of shit. I usually don't curse on HN but
I can barely contain my hate for this product.
My absolutely ugly, crappy old thermostat with a needle on it works WAY better
than the nest (thankfully we have it upstairs where we sleep). When it's cold,
we turn that needle up, and we get warm.
With the nest, which is downstairs, when we're cold, we turn the nest up, we
get weird "+2 hour" things, and nothing happens. The heater doesn't come on,
we're freezing and the thing has a mind of its own. I have taken photos where
I've set the thermostat at 90 degrees, the room is at about 60 degrees, and
the Nest hasn't turned the heating unit on.
This is a the worst kind of sin of user experience, when a user feels like the
machine controls them, and not the other way round.
As big a nerd as I am, and loved that the Nest shook up the thermostat
industry, I absolutely regret buying a Nest. I wanted to love this product,
but it fails spectacularly at the ONE thing it's supposed to do, which is to
let us set a comfortable temperature for our house.
Because of this experience, I absolutely avoid their smoke detectors (I was
ready to buy three of them before buying the thermostat). I've told family and
friends to stay away as well.
~~~
nostromo
The Nest thermostat is a dream compared to the smoke detector.
The smoke detector goes off all the time -- without rhyme or reason. With a
normal detector, you can just pull the battery if it refuses to shut off. With
Nest, you actually need a screw driver to open the battery compartment to turn
it off.
So, when it decides to wake up the entire house at 3am (yes, the entire house,
since they all go off in unison) you'll need to go find a screw driver to get
it to shut up.
The one flippin' reason I bought a Nest Protect was so I could "wave to
silence" an alarm. Well, every time it goes off, it tells me that "this alarm
cannot be silenced" \- even by pushing the power button. Not once have I been
able to turn off an alarm without removing the batteries.
The worst feeling is when you get an alert on your iPhone while nobody (but
your pet) is home. "Alert: your house is on fire." Then you rush home and
realize it's a false alarm.
After our fourth or fifth false alarm we returned them all and replaced them
with the old-fashioned alarms.
Watch this hilarious video if you're considering buying a Nest Protect:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpsMkLaEiOY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpsMkLaEiOY)
(warning: loud alarms in video)
~~~
Eiriksmal
That's a horrible experience.
But, to be fair, many newer structures have all their smoke detectors wired
together so when one goes off, they all go off. I experienced that in my
house, built in '97, which was extremely disorienting and stressful when it
first happened. Growing up in a house built in the 80s, only the kitchen's
smoke detector would go off if you burned something. I understand the
perceived safety enhancement, but waking up the sleeping baby because dumb ol'
dad smoked too much oil when stir frying something... Ugh.
Edit: formatting.
~~~
Animats
Yet industrial/commercial grade hard wired smoke detectors work just fine.
I've worked in industrial facilities where there were thousands of smoke and
fire detectors, and a zero false alarm rate. Yet, one day, when a HVAC unit
overheated and smoked, all the right stuff happened. The local alarms went
off, and the duct dampers slammed shut to contain the smoke. But because there
wasn't confirmation from a second detector, or water flow in the sprinklers,
the full emergency power off and building evacuation sequence didn't trip. We
got to the HVAC unit and pulled its main switch before things escalated.
So why can't Nest meet that standard of performance?
~~~
a3n
Because they're disrupting thermostats.
~~~
derrida
Success.
------
murbard2
I bought a Nest thermostat and I've been extremely unimpressed with it. It's
not just the bugs that will have you wake up in the middle of the night in a
freezing home. Even when it works as intended, the product is poorly thought
out.
\- Instead of trying to learn when to apply heat and when not to, which
depends on many contextual factors, it seems to be targeting learning a
calendar. A calendar does not fully capture the knowledge about your schedule
that a thermostat could gain.
\- It would be trivial for the thermostat to figure out if your phone is
connected to your home network, indicating that you might be home and don't
want to be cold. AFAIK, it doesn't bother doing that. I live on a different
floor from my thermostat, and thus it often concludes that I'm away.
I don't get it... Google clearly has more than enough in house talent to get
those things right. Why aren't they? Why don't they seem to care?
~~~
tghw
I've started using IFTTT to work around some of this. For example, I have it
set home/away based on an IFTTT geofence.
Unfortunately, IFTTT doesn't do home/away yet, but you can write your own
trivial "app" to do it simply by registering as a dev and using the Maker
channel in IFTTT.
~~~
murbard2
This type of workarounds would make sense if we were dealing with a product
built by a few makers and released as a set of blueprints online...
This is produced by a company that Google, the most valuable company in the
world, bought for $3.2B. It's weird that one needs to script around these
issues.
~~~
eli
That's a workaround of IFTTT limits not Nest
~~~
st3v3r
But the use of IFTTT itself is a workaround of issues/limits with the Nest.
~~~
eli
Not really a limit so much as a feature that you wish it had.
------
joshmn
I interviewed for Nest. The experience was great, and they gave me an offer,
but one of their employees tipped me off that there's a plethora of issues
going on behind-the-scenes.
Upon respectfully declining I received a text message from a number I didn't
have in my contact book. Looking into it (being curious) it was a Twilio
number. I sent a reply and got the standard Twilio message back. Then I got
another text from another number, also a Twilio number, but it seems like they
set it up correctly this time, as it didn't send the standard reply.
I asked the employee who tipped me off if he had any idea. He stated, quote,
"sounds like something Tony would do."
There was a brief exchange with this second number — I was laughing during it,
while they were heated (and disrespected, I think); the individual went out of
their way to throw my dirty laundry in my face, mention how they were doing me
a favor, bring up how desperately I needed the job because my mother's ill,
and say that I'll never have a job again if I decline.
Why would someone accept an offer because you threaten them? I don't know.
Today, I'm casually looking for a new gig, though I don't think it has
anything to do with Tony.
------
tsumnia
I didn't work at Nest, but for 2011 to 2012, I was a Systems Analyst for a
similar company - selling smart thermostats to Quick Service Restaurants (Taco
Bell's and McDonald's). One of the hidden problems we had was maintaining
"smart" control when the end-user's thermal comfort level wasn't lining up. We
turn on A/C to help dry up some humidity, but what we regard as ok the end-
user was now "freezing".
The biggest issues and where I think the "always crunch time" mentality is due
to the fact that customers ALWAYS have A/C or Heat. Messing with it leaves a
very negative opinion, especially when we you think they want and what they
really want don't match up. I remember tech supporting a call at 11pm on
Christmas Eve because I was on duty and the steakhouse in Texas was having a
party (Side note: AC units can't handle a lot of people in a confined space).
Another time, I made trips to many fast food places the day before
Thanksgiving since I was already driving that way to see family. I started at
6am and didn't get to my parents til 8pm.
Sadly after the Nest and the Internet of Things spark, a report came out about
a year later that pointed out just having a simple HVAC scheduler was all you
truly needed to be energy efficient. All the "micro-savings" you have by using
PID controllers to 'ramp up' and 'coast down' did nothing for savings. If I
can dig up the report, I'll post a link to it.
~~~
thearn4
> All the "micro-savings" you have by using PID controllers to 'ramp up' and
> 'coast down' did nothing for savings. If I can dig up the report, I'll post
> a link to it.
That would be an interesting read. I have a pretty simple Python script
controlling a Z-Wave thermostat that I'm pretty satisfied with. I've been
curious about how much more efficient I could make it with a PID scheme, with
my suspicion being "probably not too much more".
~~~
tsumnia
Sadly, it seems I can't of discontinued code when the company failed. Its been
4 years since I've seriously cracked that stuff open, so I can't find any of
the research papers we looked at. A quick internet search brought me to this
page though:
[http://ilsagfiles.org/SAG_files/Meeting_Materials/2015/6-23-...](http://ilsagfiles.org/SAG_files/Meeting_Materials/2015/6-23-15_Meeting/CLEAResult_Smart_Thermostat_WhitePaper_20150505.pdf)
To say they "did nothing" isn't to say they weren't better; to have someone
constantly controlling your thermostat can be beneficial, but a smart
thermostat over a programmable one did " 6.55% on heating and 0.95% on cooling
over a programmable thermostat baseline" in terms of savings.
------
rm_-rf_slash
Inevitablities from the Internet of things:
Software glitches, personal data sold or served to the government, personal
data stolen by a foreign government, hackers that freeze your house or crank
up the heater till it breaks, hackers that spy on your kids with the cameras
you installed, automated customer support lines.
For some reason I get the feeling that adopting all of these "smart" devices
actually makes me more vulnerable to risk and gives me less control over my
life. I'll stick with my dumb house. After all, it was Socrates of all people
who criticized writing and reading because he believed it made you worse at
remembering things.
~~~
jarek
> For some reason I get the feeling that adopting all of these "smart" devices
> actually makes me more vulnerable to risk and gives me less control over my
> life.
Oh, of course it does. Consider: when are you more in control, when you know
the city you're in inside-out, or when you're depending on Google Maps?
~~~
VikingCoder
You're considering only one dimension.
Consider: When you are in a new city, when are you more likely to learn the
city inside-out, when you don't have Google Maps, or when you do?
~~~
rm_-rf_slash
It's a mix. If I need to get somewhere specific I'll follow directions, but if
I'm browsing then I don't learn much by looking down at a screen the whole
time.
Last time I was in DC for a conference in Foggy Bottom I got a recommendation
for a pizza shop a few blocks from my hotel. &pizza, not bad.
Next day I went to that general area and browsed around looking for a bar.
Because I didn't just look up bars on Yelp I was able to distinguish the
character of the places I walked around, like the feel of a neighborhood that
primarily houses GWU students, and another that is for unreasonably wealthy
urban homeowners.
tl;dr I get what I want from a maps app when I know what I want. If I don't
know what I want, I go out and learn by experience.
------
nommm-nommm
The problem with "smart" anything is that the more features you add the more
places there is to break.
The coffee maker in my office has a color touch screen. What advantage is a
color touch screen over a "dumb" mechanical switch? None, but I am sure its
more likely to break and much more expensive to fix/replace.
Yes, the touch screen has one button - make coffee. Then it plays animations
while your coffee is brewing. Then it says "coffee done."
In my opinion smart features should be added very sparingly and fill an actual
need not just "oh, cool" or "cuz we could." Otherwise I'd pick the "dumb"
version every time.
~~~
st3v3r
Are you sure it's not the one that has options for the different sizes?
~~~
culturestate
Even if it is, does that justify a touchscreen? My Nespresso supports three
sizes by having three physical buttons; that doesn't strike me as particularly
onerous.
------
FireBeyond
I've grown more and more disenchanted with my Nest. Reliability has gone way
downhill - I used to be able to log in to the app and turn Away mode off
before coming home to warm the house.
Now? With the same WAPs, same firmware (on the WAP), same SSID, etc, most of
the time (at least 75%) the app will act as if its sent the request (indeed,
it initially is reporting 'realistic' figures from the thermostat as to
current temperature and settings), and reflects the change (i.e. turning
orange, saying Heat On).
Except if you refresh the display. In which case it tells you that there's a
communication error and it can't find your Nest.
And the actions haven't actually gone through. And nothing you can do will
change anything.
Get home, hit "Home" manually? All of a sudden the app works again.
Nest Support? "Likely a problem with your wireless access point not supporting
WPA properly" Uhh? This used to work fine, the network is WPA2, and everything
else on the network never complains.
------
demian0311
I have Nest thermostat and a Nest camera. Thermostat is in the hallway and
regularly thinks nobody is home. Camera knows I'm home because of movement (or
I should be able to show it how to tell). But the Camera doesn't talk to the
thermostat.
You create a dependency when devices connect to the Internet and you may give
up some privacy. In return I assume you'd get some intelligence and
integration.
~~~
brandon272
My #1 issue my Nest is that my house is always freezing in the winter because
it always thinks I'm not home as I might be home but not necessarily walk in
front of the thermostat routinely. Hence it switches to "Auto Away" mode.
It would be nice if the Nest app I had on my phone could identify that I'm
home (i.e. am I connected to my home WiFi network, or check my location via
GPS) and then communicate that to my thermostat.
~~~
notwhereyouare
I saw an app on the play store a while back that did exactly that. It worked
with the nest API and your phone, you said what wifi's and what areas and it
pinged the nest to keep it in home mode.
It's called Away Smarter on the google play store.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geeksville...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geeksville.awaysmarter)
------
sjs382
> Three former Nest employees independently brought up this same anecdote when
> describing how Nest had an internal culture where it was "always crunch
> time" because of unrealistic deadlines and a hierarchical management
> structure.
Oh man, that sounds familiar...
~~~
IgorPartola
A great way to fix that is to add more managers to gain better control of your
runaway teams. Microsoft Project might be a good solution to get them back on
track too. Planning out every hour of the project at the beginning really
helps developers focus and get things done. Oh, and you want to introduce
daily status meetings, preferably in the morning. As a final step, it helps to
let a few people go and put a hiring freeze on developers. You don't want to
reward their departments' bad behavior by giving them more people. I've seen
this done at several companies before and it always leads to spectacularly
amazing results. </sarcasm>
~~~
siquick
I was crying inside until I saw the saracasm tag...
~~~
IgorPartola
I was hoping for that reaction.
------
bitwize
No shit?! Nest, a real-life object-oriented breakfast food cooker[1] if ever
one existed, is having trouble trying to crack the market for things people
NEED like heating? Perish the thought!
I live in the northeast. There is no way that I would trust heating my
domicile to any cloud-based, internet-of-things-enabled gadget with as many
_potential_ failure modes as Nest has, let alone one with the _actual_ failure
modes we've seen. If you really want to make heating "smart", an Arduino, an
RTC, maybe a temperature sensor for each room, and a way to enter desired
heating schedules at the console or via short range wireless will suffice. But
most people get by with their dial thermostats.
[1]
[http://scienceagainstevolution.info/dwj/toaster.htm](http://scienceagainstevolution.info/dwj/toaster.htm)
------
xauronx
I was recently contacted by Nest due to a project I posted on Reddit.
Evidently their head of engineering saw the project and told them to see if
I'd be interested in working there. I said I would love to continue with the
interview process... a week later they contacted me and said they were at
capacity for developers and would not be proceeding. Really kind of crazy for
a company of that size, in my opinion.
Seems like a bullet dodged at this point. A little concerned for my little app
project though. They're taking weeks to approve my API access, to the point
that I feel they're damaging my chances of succeeding.
------
protomyth
Software written by people who are working weekends / 50+hr weeks sucks. It is
bad and buggy. It is really painful if it is running an appliance that has to
work. The sooner managers get overworked programmers / engineers will lead to
bad things which might lead to lawsuits, the better.
I am hopeful that the Nest way of doing things is not replicated in their self
driving cars.
------
gluecode
I was a service provider during the initial days of launch and for two years
afterwards. Loved the people. They were driven to ship good looking products.
That was their downfall. At Nest they were (at least then) focused on how
things looked. Nobody cared about how it worked, or how the product should be
supported after shipping. Anyways, no regrets.
I met some of the best engineers and designers at Nest in the initial days.
Afterwards, it became a A quality hiring B and B hiring C. Left hand did not
know what the right was doing. The quality went down the drain. The management
was terrifyingly dictatorial, top-down. Everyone was preparing for a Tony
presentation/demo. They were afraid like kids do of the cruel headmaster.
I wish them nothing but the best.
------
maxaf
I've once worked for a startup run by a CEO with a bulging Steve Jobs complex.
I was miserable for four years, questioned my sanity often and almost wrecked
my family and my health. I feel deeply for all Nest employees; their continued
screaming misery is manifest in the poor quality of Nest products. Hopefully
they'll have the good sense to quit before all is lost.
------
rblatz
The past few days when I walk by my nest thermostat in the morning I've seen
an error saying that it isn't connected to my wireless network. When in fact
it is connected, and can be reached through the nest app on my phone.
------
yuhong
I remember when Nest hired a VP of security after I reported 768-bit DHE on
one of their servers to Google security.
~~~
letitleak
Sorry to go OT[1], but is there a link to their general (encryption/integrity)
policies?
I was shocked they are sometimes delivering the android studio via http and
providing only sha1 sums. If your IDE is compromised, then who knows what code
you might be signing..
[1](Well I considered it a related matter, as I have trouble telling what
googles actually policies are and whether my attempts at feedback will be
filtered by a group in some kind of crunch as described or by someone who will
be neutrally considering actual policies..)
~~~
kuschku
Android? Security? Are you joking? In the past weeks, several independent
exploit chains from "App with no permissions" to "Bootloader takeover" have
been published.
Completely working on all versions except for Marshmallow, unpatchable on the
older devices due to Android’s update model.
It doesn’t matter what code you sign when literally any app could be a
rootkit.
Edit: Some of the chains are from the author of this post:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/42fxtg/android_medi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/netsec/comments/42fxtg/android_mediaserver_privilege_escalation_from/)
~~~
letitleak
I'd not heard from no permissions, but as with a website, I still prefer
things with my signature correspond to things from me and are nice even if the
rest is a cesspool. Given these problems, I would seriously hope that the ~8
app makers I trust feel the same way.
------
AaronBBrown
I have had 3 Ecobee thermostats in my house for over 3 years. They have been
extremely reliable and have an API, so I can do all sorts of fun stuff with
them. Right now I'm working on hooking them up so my themostats change
settings when the house is empty based on the presence of family member phones
on our LAN.
~~~
swasheck
that's pretty neat. i just got an ecobee for my birthday and love it, so far.
------
quietplatypus
No one here has yet really considered the real elephant in the room:
Why does anyone need an "intelligent" thermostat, especially something as
overhyped and over-engineered as Nest is?
I never even remotely bought into the Nest hype from the very beginning. Ditto
on their smoke detectors.
At least, you stop being such a baby and turn the heat up or down by yourself.
Controversial, I know.
At most, you put your thermostat on an automatic schedule, which can be done
about a thousand different ways (timer circuit, dippy bird, microcontrollers
that have already been manufactured and tested in a million different ways by
more established companies).
~~~
brianwawok
So there are some gains. For example if it knows it is an extra sunny day and
its 11am, it could heat a little bit less and let sunlight so more. On the
other hand, more fancy is more to break.
~~~
discodave
No, a thermostat already solves that problem because it measures the
temperature of the house and adjusts the heat accordingly.
~~~
brianwawok
Example for the predict temperature component.
For example with honeywell: My house warms up to 70 degrees by 8 am, holds it
there for 2 hours, by 10am it shuts off as the sun takes over warming. By noon
it is 76 in my house and I am having to open windows to stay cool.
With nest: My house warms up to 70 by 8, but is allowed to drift down to 67 by
10am because it knows the sun is coming. Sure enough it does, and warms up to
73 naturally and for free by noon.
I not only saved 2 hours of running my furnace (8-10 am), I changed my max
delta from my desired temperature from 6 degrees to 3 degrees.
~~~
quietplatypus
Ah, got it. So it's able to take into account outside factors that more
efficiently get you to the target temperature. Okay, I see the value now.
Thanks for the explanation!
------
varunjuice
If you haven't seen this interview of Tony by Aaron Levie, it's good insight
into how Tony thinks. FWIW, more violent metaphors than I've heard in violent
movies.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsk3nagSDRU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsk3nagSDRU)
------
frabcus
UK residents, British Gas's Hive is a good alternative to Nest here. No
attempt to magically learn, really well made hardware and apps.
The only software upgrade since I bought mine was a new "boost" button (turns
heating on for 1 or 2 hours), which was the only thing I'd really wanted
extra...
------
bakul
The 1st law of robotics: a robot must not do any harm to a human through its
action or allow harm through its inaction. The 2nd law of robotics: a robot
must obey an order given to it by a human, except when in conflict with the
first law.
Seems like the Nest thermostat isn't built to obey the above laws!
~~~
EdiX
Those are the old laws, the new law is "humans are stupid, algorithms know
better"
------
pfarnsworth
I think the Nest is okay, overpriced but nice-to-look-at thermostat. It's easy
to use and easy to set up, and I haven't had any problems yet. There are a few
failures, namely lack of access to data, which forced me to download the data
myself and store it, violating the 10-day rule but I don't care. I would love
for them to actually try to catch me.
The bigger failure is the Dropcam. The acquisition has made the product much
worse. The new Nest app is really slow and crashes all the time. Currently,
one of my $200 cameras won't connect to the wifi, and I no idea why, but I'm
so furious I don't care.
I hate to say this, but the entire acquisition was a complete failure.
------
discodave
For all those complaining about quality / bugs in Nest devices, here is a talk
that some Nest engineers gave at the 2015 Google Test Automation Conference.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIoAq2Mjjas&list=PLSIUOFhnxE...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIoAq2Mjjas&list=PLSIUOFhnxEiCWGsN9t5A-XOhRbmz54IS1&index=16)
So there is at least somebody trying to improve things! Also, I think it's
interesting to note that a company can produce buggy crap even while their
engineers are turning up to conferences and saying all the right things.
------
mojito
Terrible place. Did some work for them a few years ago. They hired a lot of
assholes that mirrored Tony's personality. Working with those people was the
worst. And Tony is a control freak which led to an insular group of yes men.
And they often ended up making costly or wasteful mistakes because good, calm,
knowledgeable people were not able to make effective decisions in the
defective culture around Tony.
They also treated vendors like crap which is like kicking a dog.
I hope they make some big changes.
------
bsg75
TL;DR - Micromanaging executive is over his head, and compensates by bulling
subordinates for his own shortcomings.
------
irascible
Nest is way overvalued. How can you screw up a thermostat or a webcam? Someone
is going to eat their lunch.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nim lang compiler was originally written in Pascal - edwinyzh
https://github.com/nim-lang/pas2nim
======
enz
Since Nim is influenced in some way by Python, I would rather believe the
original compiler was written in Python. Interesting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Would You Rather Be Rich In 1900, Or Middle-Class Now? - simonreed
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/10/12/130512149/the-tuesday-podcast-would-you-rather-be-middle-class-now-or-rich-in-1900
======
Cushman
> _There's no right answer here._
I disagree. In 1900 you get two things: more land, and servants. In every
other way, the middle class of today live like the _kings_ of a hundred years
ago.
We have abundant access to as much food as we want, whenever we want it, from
nearly anywhere in the world. We have instant access to almost any kind of
entertainment we can dream, most of it free or almost free of charge— and even
for live entertainment, we can pick and choose from a fabulous array, and it
costs almost nothing to participate.
We roll around in _self-powered, ultra-secure bubbles_ that separate us almost
entirely from the outside world, personal transportation that can take us
across Europe or the continent of North America in a couple of days, and in
another ten years those conveyances will be _self-operated_ as well.
We have the capability to instantly communicate with nearly anyone most
anywhere in the world as if they were standing right there in the room, and
access to sometimes literally up to the _minute_ information about the latest
developments in science, technology, and politics. Not only that, we can
afford to personally benefit from most of those developments.
And for those of us who live in what were once named the "temperate" regions,
we even have the nerve to be _outraged_ when we have to put up with the
somewhat too-warm or too-cool nature of the natural environment, so used we
are to having it exactly set to our tiny band of maximum comfort.
Of course, because there are _so many_ people living like kings today, you
wind up having to share most of those things with millions of other people,
and it's easy to forget that you are _living like a king_. But regardless of
that, giving it up because you're rich enough to pay someone to wipe your ass
for you is pretty clearly the _wrong_ answer in a couple of ways.
~~~
marciovm123
Living like a king is more about power and prestige (both among other people)
and less about physical comfort. Human beings are social creatures, not
robots, and we are predisposed to care more about what the people around us
think than whether we are maximizing our lifetime and minimizing discomfort.
In fact, we trade discomfort for social status all the time - have you ever
been in a nightclub? It's hot, sweaty, and loud as hell in there...and people
pay 20 bucks to get in.
On a more extreme scale, many people trade entire lifetimes of discomfort for
the chance to "be a king". Think of an astronaut in space, without the benefit
of even gravity but knowing that what they are doing is special and unique,
and an inspiration to millions... or other examples like Jackass 3D, football,
marathons, etc.
~~~
api
Yes. The power! The prestige! The early death of easily curable disease! The
paucity of knowledge and culture! Muhuhuahaha!
But seriously though... I'd rather be middle class now. That starts to change
for me around 1950. At that point it starts to be better to be rich.
Interestingly, that gives you a picture of the adoption curve. I feel like
being rich in 1950 could buy you what being middle class will buy you now. But
all the money in the world couldn't buy that in 1900.
------
pontifier
In my opinion this has deeper ramifications than just the effect on the
person. I chose rich in 1900 because I feel that the impact of being rich at
that time would carry forward... "Them thats got shall, get". A family line
wealthy in 1900 would give many opportunities for their descendants. That, in
my mind is one of the most important things that makes being super rich
attractive... That and the obvious power to push projects forward quickly
without having to posture and beg for funding.
------
iuguy
On the one hand, being middle class now is perfectly good and comfortable,
aside from probably working a 40 hour week.
On the other hand being rich in 1900 not only gives you the freedom to do what
you want (within the more conservative boundaries of society and technology
back then) but also allows you to travel and see cultures in a way that isn't
possible now.
If you go to a developing country, people wear t-shirts with slogans on them.
Advertising is everywhere. If you went to New York in 1900 it's be completely
different to the New York of today, as would Paris, London, Shanghai, Buenos
Aires, Istanbul and so on. The cultural differences would be so much greater
than they are now, as would the dress, the traditions and so on (perhaps less
so for the traditions). Then you start looking further afield, away from the
cities. Places like Fuji, Rhodesia, India, the near east etc.
To experience those things would be somewhat incredible, perhaps moreso than
the global, homogenous McDonalds/Starbucks in every town world we see today.
Then there's the experiences you could have. You could watch Sandra Bernhard
perform. Go to see the Kitty Hawk's maiden flight. Go to Paris and meet people
like Claude Debussy, or to Holland and meet Vincent Van Gogh. Visit Sigmund
Freud in Austria, watch the birth of Hollywood and meet people like Buster
Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Stan and Ollie.
As for things to see in 1900, you could travel to a still Victorian London and
see Queen Victoria's visit. You could go to Australia for the first time
(Australia was 'created' in July). You could see the opening of the Paris
Metro, and while sipping a bol du Café read about the Boxer rebellion in
China. Or you could meet Mark Twain as he comes off the docks back to the U.S.
then go to the first Automobile show in Madison Square Garden. It's not as
clean cut as you might think.
Personally I'd rather be middle class now for various reasons, but I wouldn't
rule 1900 out just on the grounds of health or technology.
~~~
jonknee
I didn't assume that it meant be rich in 1900 _and have full knowledge of the
future_. How would a rich person in 1900 know to go to Kitty Hawk? Or that
Hollywood would be what it was? Rich people today are similarly missing out on
what will be remembered as the greatest moments (and greatest people) of our
times. Where was Bill Gates when Google was founded? Hindsight is 20/20 as
they say.
Plus, $70k in 1900 is about $1.8m today. You'd never have the clout to do half
the things on your list. Not to mention the time, it takes a long time to
cross the Atlantic.
~~~
iuguy
You are of course completely right about the former. I wasn't suggesting that
someone would or wouldn't have knowledge of the future, simply that you'd have
the opportunity to witness such events. I'm sure there are plenty of events
now that are worthy of attending, and just down the road too (LHC switch-on
maybe) but damned one-temporal-directional memory gets in the way.
The things I put forward were suggestions of ideas for things to do, not that
I'd suggest you attempt to do them all and you're right in that you'd probably
end up running out of money if you tried.
I'm trying to remember a set of films I saw, from a pair of then extremely
rich people who largely lived on cruise lineers during the inter-war years.
They filmed all kinds of stuff, like pre-war france and germany and the
ceremonies of various south and east asian islands. I can't remember their
names though but I'm fairly sure the video is public domain.
Of course, I digress. Thankyou for your comment, it's always good to be
challenged and I think you raise a number of good points.
------
cperciva
I have type 1 diabetes. Insulin wasn't medically available until 1922.
Middle-class and alive, or rich and dead? Easy choice to make.
~~~
jaspero
There is a high probability that you wouldn't have had diabetes in the first
place. You would be living a very healthy life and more physical activities
and oh yes, healthier non-GM foods.
Definitely rich and healthy.
~~~
fhars
The probability that a person with type I diabetes would have had type I
diabetes (and so died a painful death before 35) if born a hundred years ago
is close to one, as type I is inherited. And most food was considerably less
healthy and safe then, too, only more scarce and expensive. The problem with
GM and processed food is not that it is less healthy than what came before it,
but considerably less healthy than what can be produced today, which is the
relevant reference point.
------
edanm
It absolutely _astonishes_ me that 1/3rd of people choose to be rich 100 years
ago. I think it's a matter of not appreciating what life was _really_ like
back then, and not appreciating just how amazing the world has become
(although I could be wrong too, considering I didn't live back then either).
~~~
gojomo
Many people -- perhaps even most if they're being honest -- care more about
relative status than absolute comforts.
~~~
ShabbyDoo
Relative status has its benefits when seeking a mate.
~~~
gojomo
This suggests an interesting reformulation of the original query:
Would you rather have a great-grandfather who made $70k/year in 1900, or a
great-grandfather who made $70k/yr in 2010?
------
pessimizer
There's no real definition of middle class, and when one is usually offered,
such as $70,000, it's a higher income than 95% of the people in the world.
So if the question is whether you would choose to be wealthier than 99.9% of
people in the world in 1900, or wealthier than 95% of the people in the world
in 2010, I'd say it was a sickeningly decadent question.
But, I'd also say that the lifespan gains between 1900 and now are overstated
due to a drastic reduction in infant and child mortality, plays and live music
are nicer than video and audio recordings, and instant long-distance
communication hasn't significantly improved the quality of my life, just
alienated me from my neighbors. The math and intellectual culture was just as
interesting then as it is now, if not more, and PR was just a twinkle in Mr.
Bernays' eye, so I'd be able to avoid the advertising saturation of modern
culture. With the addition of being able to replace any device with an actual
person or team of people, there's no doubt to me that life would be better as
a rich person in 1900. Just avoid nails.
------
ojbyrne
A more difficult question - instead of $70k, what if it was $8k. Would you
rather be middle class in 1900, or poor now?
------
dctoedt
This dovetails with the thesis of writer Gregg Easterbrook's 2003 book, _The
Progress Paradox_. He proposes a thought experiment: Would you _permanently_
trade places with a _random_ person who lived, say, 100 years ago? His view
was that your answer would probably be "no." [EDIT: Easterbrook's point was
that this is a quick, back-of-the-envelope demonstration of the following
proposition: _Overall,_ life for the human race has indeed been improving,
albeit unevenly and non-monotonically to be sure. His book was a response to
the doom-and-gloom crowd who complain that life is going to hell in a
handbasket.]
(See
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Easterbrook#Wellness_and_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Easterbrook#Wellness_and_satisfaction))
A few years ago I took a stab at extending the thought experiment at
[http://www.questioningchristian.com/2006/03/progress_hope_a....](http://www.questioningchristian.com/2006/03/progress_hope_a.html).
~~~
bradleyland
That's kind of a puzzling question to me. I wouldn't permanently trade places
with a random person who is alive today. I can't see what incentive there is
to trade places with someone who lived 100 years ago?
~~~
dctoedt
@bradleyland, I responded in the edit.
~~~
bradleyland
I see, so the point becomes even more clear when you contrast it to the
question of whether you'd trade with some random person in today's world.
Imagine you were forced to trade lives with some random person. I'd much
rather it be today than 100 years ago.
------
marcusbooster
1900 wasn't _that_ long ago. Many people in American cities live in homes
built then. You'd have the wealth and social standing to pick and choose
practically any mate you'd like. Plus it was an interesting time, the birth of
the modern world. Rich then!
------
zokier
One thing to consider is that living in the 1900 means that you'll see at
least one world war, and probably the great depression too. Not especially
happy times.
------
hugh3
Well, the 2010 version of me has the benefit of being able to weigh up the
pros and cons of 2010 vs 1900, whereas the 1900 version of me has to make the
decision with incomplete information.
Another question: would you rather be rich now, or middle-class in 2120? (No
singularitarians, please, we already know your answer.)
------
meric
I choose the Internet.
------
lionhearted
I've got to wonder if people who would choose the rich in 1900 option don't
think they're capable of building big things? Take the modern $70k and start
building and investing.
------
julius_geezer
Leisure is one thing that 1900-style riches bought. Winters on the Nile,
summers or seasons in Europe, for example. Now for a great deal of humanity,
leisure fairly quickly becomes boredom, and booze or philandering are required
to maintain sanity. But for the occasional born artist, historian, etc, the
Henry James, the Edith Wharton, that can be tremendously productive.
Would I trade that for 21st century medicine or dentistry? Doesn't matter,
really--nobody's offering me the trade.
------
peng
I'd rather be poor in 2100.
------
mgkimsal
I'd rather be middle class now, my wife would prefer to be rich 100 years ago
(actually, in the 1930s, really). I prefer the mod-cons of today, she prefers
the ritzy upscale-ness of back then.
------
galactus
Being rich is not about buying larger TVs and better cars. It's about freedom
to do whatever you want to do instead of having to work to survive. Rich in
1900 beats middle-class now, for sure.
~~~
jonknee
Who says you wouldn't have to work for the $70k in 1900? That's about $1.8m in
today's money and plenty of people have to work very hard to earn that kind of
coin, big TV or not.
------
melling
Middle class now. The world is a much more interesting today. Of course,
you'll be able to say the same thing about today 100 years from now.
------
1010011010
An excellent illustration of how much the Federal Reserve has diluted the
value of the dollar over the last century.
~~~
1010011010
Well, it is.
------
olegkikin
I'd be so bored in 1900. I'd have to build my own internet. F __* that.
------
BornInTheUSSR
Rich now!
~~~
dctoedt
Upvoted - I like your thinking - never assume the stated constraints are set
in concrete!
~~~
gloob
That is a useful habit when dealing with the real world, and an annoying habit
when dealing with a purely hypothetical question. In the latter case, it's
called "missing the point".
------
GBond
there is a hidden liberal agenda here, right? ;)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why OSS projects do not provide a vagrantfile with their sources? - jnardiello
This would make contributing a LOT easier. It doesn't really require too much effort in providing a ready-to-use vagrantfile yet almost no project-owner is doing it. Why? Is there any downside?
======
SEJeff
Open source is about helping. If you see a project without one you want to
use, contribute a vagrant file.
------
olgeni
It would be useful if there were a few platforms available, or maybe a quick
ansible playbook to set up your own dev box.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Simple Macbook Dock - stevederico
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOKu9uwdwZI&feature=player_embedded
======
qq66
Out of curiosity, why doesn't Apple sell docking stations? It is my favorite
accessory for my Dell and IBM laptops.
------
unfair
The video claims you don't have to make any settings changes. The first
question that springs to mind as a PC user with a computer hooked to a 40" TV
- does Mac automatically adjust your resolution and overscanning properly when
you plug it into a TV?
If so this seems like a cool little device
~~~
redmage
Yep, it does. Usually OSX gets everything right immediately after connecting
my MBP to a TV, although sometimes (rarely, in my experience) it needs
adjustment, but that only takes a couple of clicks.
I'd love to get one Henge Dock, but it seems they're only available for
Unibody Macbooks. :(
~~~
zacharypinter
This may be obvious, but they rely on all the needed ports being on the same
side. On my non-unibody Macbook pro, power is on the left side and video is on
the right side.
Also, I suspect a mini display port is much easier to snap into place than a
DVI port.
------
stevederico
<http://hengedocks.com/> Just ordered one. Looks like my media center dock
problem is solved.
------
westi
Neat.
But I would much rather have a docking station which let me still use the
MacBook screen so as to run a Dual Screen setup
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Thank You, Guido - pauloxnet
https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/thank-you--guido
======
gamesbrainiac
To be honest, it is a sad moment, but it was expected. When Guido resigned
from BDFL, I knew that it was the beginning of the end.
And lets be honest, he's earned it.
Thank you Guido, after learning Python, I never looked back, and it has been
the source of great joy for me over the last decade.
~~~
gdulli
> Thank you Guido, after learning Python, I never looked back
That matches my experience. All the pros and cons that in principle apply to
any language, whether newer than Python or older, mean nothing to me in
practice. Python is the one that feels right, the others feel like a chore.
Since I started with Python 10 years ago, nothing has changed that.
There's ways I'll insist that Python is the best at [x], and ways I'll concede
some other language is better at [y]. But it never amounts to anything close
to a debate about what language I should use.
~~~
FpUser
"But it never amounts to anything close to a debate about what language I
should use."
So if your task was to deliver let's say commercial grade FFT library (
substitute with any other long computationally extensive process ) for
consumption by others you would write it in Python?
~~~
pbourke
Given the success of the Python numerical computing stack (numpy, scipy, etc)
it would probably be a good idea to do just that. Of course you’d profile the
library and move some of the performance-critical bits to C / C++ / Rust.
Thankfully Python has some well-trodden paths to that solution.
~~~
FpUser
IMO a good an practical idea would be to write it in C/C++, expose as flat C
API and then offer wrappers in whatever popular consumer languages there are
(python included). The world of software does not end with Python
~~~
pbourke
Yes, definitely a good approach as well. One point in favour of the Python-
first way is that you can prototype and test much quicker in Python than in
languages that are closer to the metal.
On my team, we've been successful with this rough approach:
1\. write a prototype in Python to explore the idea/ensure correctness
2\. extract the core library and re-implement it in Rust
3\. consume the core from Javascript via WASM and Python via pyo3 (Python/Rust
bindings)
~~~
FpUser
_One point in favour of the Python-first way is that you can prototype and
test much quicker in Python than in languages that are closer to the metal._
Interestingly I've found something quite opposite for computational
algorithms. The problem was that execution of Python under debugger was
unbearably slow for me (I used VS Code for this case). So waiting until the
code gets to the point I need was not fun. With C however it would get there
almost instantly. Compile time for isolated computational function was nearly
instant as well. Maybe debugging under VS code was the culprit but I did not
feel that for this particular task Python was any more interactive than plain
C.
~~~
pbourke
Yes, I can see that being tiresome. Our projects are closer to simulations, so
rather than focusing on a tight core at first, we have a number of factors
that can be in play during each time step.
Rather than worry about figuring out structures for our simulation objects
like we might need to do in a lower-level language, Python lets us just throw
together some numpy arrays and dicts as needed, and really iterate quickly on
the solution. If I was working on something with a tight computational core I
would probably take the low-level first approach like you have. Horses for
courses, and all that.
------
ohduran
I hated C++ and Matlab as an undergraduate. Hell, I hated programming as a
whole - and effectively swear never to write a line of code once I was done
with my BSc in Physics.
Then, at work, I was introduced to Python. It was so...obvious, for lack of a
better world. It was like a language I always knew that never spoke before.
I'm now a software engineer, write Python almost all day, and looking back to
the 18-year old version of myself, I would only say "if only you knew".
That, and more, is what people like Guido and those who followed his path
enable people like me to do: enjoy the art of programming.
Thanks Guido, and enjoy your well-deserved retirement.
~~~
xtracto
Interesting. I myself come form an Software Engineering background, and
started programming very young in Logo (a LISP derivate), then BASIC, C, C++,
Java, Ruby and a bunch of others. I have hated programming in Python every
time I have had to do it (several times through my career). It I think the
only language that I have really hated ... the language itself. I've done Z80
and 8086 assembly, I've done Prolog, I've done Pascal, VB, VB.net, C#, R,
Matlab, JavaScript, ActionScript and even Z (formal language) but no other
language has made me swear at it haha.
~~~
tahdig
I think it is about the thinking process of the person, I assume you are >35,
you grew up at a time that people were think about the performance more than
the readability, that was the bottleneck back then.
Now that you have bigger systems and more complex requirements and cheap high
performance computing, the balance is tipped.
And because python is (almost) on the opposite side of the spectrum for your
thinking process, you might have a harder time wrapping your head around why
it does something in a particular way.
I think this is also true for Haskell evangelists over here also, I think they
started acquiring the programming mindset through advanced math(in my
experience most have PhDs) etc., so haskell fits the way they solve a problem
in their head the best.
For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and having
it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the same way
about your own favourite programming language, because it is the tool that
makes you most productive with the least effort.
~~~
xtracto
> For me personally it is Python, the delay between solving a problem and
> having it translated to python in my head is slim. You probably feel the
> same way about your own favourite programming language.
I feel that with Ruby, which I do a lot nowadays and love
WIth regards to Python, it is the things like having to write 'self' on each
class method, having spaces as part of the language syntax, inconsistent
Object orientation (len(string)?? instead of string.len ) and the neverending
Python 2 vs 3 pain.
~~~
tahdig
Python and Ruby although in the same category have still different mindset. It
is understandable the way you think fits Ruby more.
I tried to learn ruby and was put off by all the magic, last value calculated
is magically returned, the useful but cryptic method calls.
It is shorter and more implicit, I like the explicit approach more.
to give you my perspective on the points you made:
\- self: more explicit, I would prefer to write it, because there is
classmethod(with cls) and staticmethod(without any) params.
\- spaces vs. braces: I don't hate braces, but spaces makes it more readable,
less things I see(whitespace vs. {}) the less distracted my eyes are from the
the characters that do the actual work, you get used to it, I like it more to
be honest.
\- len(string) vs. string.length: again, no preference, I am used to both.
\- py 2 vs py 3: it is not never ending, I helped move a 170K Django project
from Django 1.6 to Django 2.1 and python 2.7.4 to 3.6 in a span of a year, we
were mainly 3 people working on it on the side, our work was not even in the
sprints, 2 senior engineers + 1 really good QA & deployment engineer, it took
1 year because the platform was business critical and we incrementally fixed
stuff. At this moment whoever still runs py2 either has been lazy, does not
care about technical debt or their business does not value solving technical
debt, so they can not allocate time to do it. This is my opinion, might be
wrong, maybe there are other reasons also. But the change had to be done for
the health and longterm viability of the language.
~~~
shrimp_emoji
>spaces vs. braces: I don't hate braces, but spaces makes it more readable
Really?? This is my least favorite thing about Python. D: It can't possibly be
more readable when you're talking about large code blocks. It just happens
that we're never _supposed_ to be talking about large code blocks in Python.
"If you want to write a lot of code, you use another language," they say --
probably one with braces, which syntax highlighters can match-highlight on. In
Python, you just hope the indentation is far enough to make it obvious where
something ends and another thing begins.
~~~
lionelw
If large indentations bother you, good. Braces or not, large indentations and
large code blocks should make you start wondering how to refactor them.
And if Python's design seems to discourage over-indentation and oversized code
blocks, brilliant.
------
Communitivity
This article is a sign of class, well done Dropbox.
I too have to say Thank you Guido. Python 1.5 helped me a lot with several
projects way back when. Then I got into Django later, and marvelled at how
easy it was to use. Now I use Python (and other things) for AI.
I am sad because of the motivation for Guido leaving the BFDL position, but
empathize and understand. I hope he has fair winds and following seas for
whatever journey he sails on next.
------
dragonsh
Language, its community and development model is a reflection of its creator
and his philosophy. So Without meeting the creator Guido, through language and
its community I can see is very humble and care about things besides solving
computer science problems.
May be this is one of the reasons of success of Python and its community which
is open, humble, friendly and inclusive.
In my startup we have been using Python as one of the primary development
language, and thanks to its community and Guido, we will continue to do so in
time to come.
I recently watched a talk by creator of Elm language [1] [2] who is trying to
create similar community like Python, I will try it besides lisp, since I like
the ethos of Python like community and obviously PEP-20 [3].
From my whole team thanks to Guido, and Python community.
[1] [https://elm-lang.org/](https://elm-lang.org/)
[2] [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlzRt-
FYto](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlzRt-FYto)
[3]
[https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/](https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/)
~~~
iandanforth
I'll also add "silly." A not-too-serious attitude from day one helps protect a
community (IMO). When your language is named after a surrealist comedy troupe
it kinda takes the wind out of the sails of moral outrage. Whimsy is
surprisingly powerful.
~~~
michaelcampbell
Which is odd to me; I resisted using python much because of the rabid culture
around it, and I tried, several times. They didn't get the nickname
"pythonistas" for nothing, nor in jest.
It is much, much better of late (I was thrust into a role a year ago where I
am doing 95% of my coding in python now). I'm not sure what's changed; I had
assumed it was the "core" culturalists were diluted by the influx of ML
people, but it is only an assumption.
~~~
acdha
That might have been an artifact of small sample sizes: I couldn’t think of
any time in the last couple decades where I would have used “rabid” to
describe Python culture as a whole.
------
wgyn
> For the last several months, Guido and Sushma have been meeting once a week
> to talk about all things programming. But Sushma says the biggest takeaways
> were not just about how to do things, but how to become more confident and
> learn how to figure things out on your own.
The part about Guido personally mentoring women engineers is, despite his
(obvious) technical contributions, the most impressive part about his Dropbox
tenure to me. The article mentions him leading by example and it's inspiring
to see someone of that stature and level of accomplishment willing to spend
time with individuals. It's one thing to talk about fostering a welcoming
community, it's quite another to offer up his time so generously when he could
be doing "higher leverage" things with regards to diversity.
------
pacaro
I was fortunate enough to work with Guido, albeit briefly, during my time at
Dropbox. He was always a great co-worker. But you definitely didn't have to
work directly with him to get to know him, because of his commute choices he
was always at work when breakfast was being served (food, the true high point
of working at Dropbox) and the intersection of Dropbox culture and Guido's
personality meant that it was easy just to go sit at the same table and have
breakfast with him and get to know him.
------
stochastastic
Thank you Guido! At the risk of sounding saccharine, Python has literally made
life better for my colleagues and me. In the corporate, financial world where
I’ve been working, people often see coding as someone else’s job. Python, and
the community that has grown around it, have made programming accessible
(socially acceptable?). It has saved months of work for us.
I hope you enjoy whatever you set yourself to next.
~~~
signal11
Indeed, new joiners in investment banks these days are increasingly expected
to know Python at least -- and not just for technology roles, but junior
traders and managers as well. For financial services it's the new VBA, but
better.
------
jsshah
Someone who worked at Dropbox shared an anecdote. Guido received an email from
some recruiter along the line "You seem to have great experience in Python.
How many years of experience you have with Python?" To which he replied "All
of it!". I am not sure if it is true story.
~~~
xtracto
Haha, reminded me of a time when I had just quit from a company as head of
engineering, and a couple of weeks later a new Jr. recruiter for said company
sent me one of those generic emails telling me that she liked my LinkedIn
profile, and how she would love to talk to me about an open developer position
at the company.
I chuckled and forwarded the email to the then head of HR and CEO. I am good
friends with both, and I knew they will take it with humor.
It is difficult to find good recruiters.
------
notkaiho
"“When asked, I would give people my opinion that maintainable code is more
important than clever code,” he said. “If I encountered clever code that was
particularly cryptic, and I had to do some maintenance on it, I would probably
rewrite it. So I led by example, and also by talking to other people.”"
This is very sage advice.
~~~
skellera
You’d think it would be common sense when writing something that other people
will read. We don’t see people writing books in acronyms or omitting words.
How come so many people try to use code to show how smart they are?
~~~
Grue3
We don't use code to show how smart we are. We just assume that other
developers are as smart as we are.
>We don’t see people writing books in acronyms or omitting words.
Math books written for mathematicians do this all the time.
~~~
rurp
I didn't take the comment to mean that other developers _can 't_ understand
clever code, rather that writing overly clever code just isn't the best
approach when a more plain solution will do. Writing code that takes another
developer an hour to read through and understand wastes a lot of time compared
to code that can be read and understood at a glance.
~~~
hinkley
This is most important when scanning code.
When I’m trying to add functionality of fix a bug, I’m going to read dozens
and dozens of functions to winnow down to a handful of candidates.
Simple code can be filtered quickly and cheaply. Clever code requires
contemplation. Which clears working memory.
Yes, I can understand your code. But I shouldn’t have to work for it.
------
w-m
There's a whole generation of programming language creators born in the early
to mid 1950s. In no particular order: Guido van Rossum (Python), Bjarne
Stroustrup (C++), James Gosling (Java), Rob Pike (Go), Larry Wall (Perl),
Walter Bright (D).
Makes me wonder what kind of secret club they have going on..
Enjoy the retirement, Guido!
~~~
bachmeier
A few others born in the 1950s that immediately come to mind: Martin Odersky
(Scala), Guy Steele (Scheme), Robert Gentleman (R), John Ousterhout (Tcl), and
(sort of) Simon Peyton-Jones (Haskell).
~~~
segmondy
Wow, I didn't know that John Ousterhout created TCL, come to think of it, I
never thought about who was behind it.
------
gnulinux
Thank you for creating an awesome lingua franca for a generation of
programmers, engineers, and scientists Guido! You'll never be forgotten. Love!
------
pauloxnet
"I think at his core, Guido is a person who is trying to help make the world
better in his own way. I think that was his philosophy when he started
programming in Python and mentoring women is just another way that he
contributes." \-- Sushma Yadlapalli about Guido van Rossum
------
michalf6
I'm travelling with poor cellular connection and it took me 10 minutes to load
this page, while I could load and read content on HN perfectly fine. The text
content loaded LAST. That website is terrible.
~~~
musicale
Welcome to the modern web, where you need to download megabytes of largely
useless crap to display 1 kilobyte of text.
We don't just need ad blocking, we need crap blocking and text caching.
------
AdmiralAsshat
Guido seems to have been incredibly good on the mentoring front, particularly
with getting women into the community. I wonder if he'll continue doing that
at all even after he goes into "retirement". It seems like a great asset to
the community.
------
hinkley
One of the things some of us learn with experience is that “clever code only
the author can understand” is often a lie, too. I may be able to figure it out
on the fly but code I haven’t touched in six months is less familiar than
other people’s code that I touched a month ago.
When I leave hints in the code it’s enlightened self interest. It’s often as
much for my own benefit as for others.
------
meed
Off topic (sorry): Dropbox's overall typography is blatantly offensive to the
eye.
~~~
mitchtbaum
It happens (no worries): We did see before; we do see forevermore.
( ~ might be putting the cart before the horse. ~ take it easy )
------
hyperpallium
If we judge leadership by the quality of followers, python's ecosystem says it
all.
------
blt
> _When asked, I would give people my opinion that maintainable code is more
> important than clever code. If I encountered clever code that was
> particularly cryptic, and I had to do some maintenance on it, I would
> probably rewrite it._
It would be great to see some examples of this rewriting. I feel that we see a
lot of examples of converting repetitive code to terse code, but fewer
examples of "de-clevering" code.
------
jve
> The result of this is nearly four million lines of checked Python code,
> nearly 200,000 improved type definitions, and countless hours saved for
> engineers.
The more I code the more I appreciate statically typed languages.
When I learned/started coding, I liked dynamically typed languages. It was
easier to get past compiler. My code seemed to do something. And if there was
anything wrong in the way, it would just continue to execute making me feel
that my code is at least doing something.
Now more into programming, I don't want to go back to duck-typed languages. I
like when compiler gives me guarantees along with exceptions being thrown at
runtime when something goes wrong, crashing the program and noticing it
immediately that something is wrong.
I think language people also recognizes benefits.
\- PHP7 allows using strict types.
\- Python has static type support
\- Javasript -> Typescript
Disclaimer: Have used php, tried ruby. Using C# and javascript. Looking
forward to typescript.
Do dynamic language people: 1\. Write more tests? 2\. Have more defective
code? 3\. Are better at writing code? 4\. Maybe there is just no correlation
between code correctness and static/dynamic lang. I just wrote down MY
feelings.
~~~
aisengard
Dynamic language people also typically write _less_ code, at least when it
comes to Python.
------
oldgun
Thank you, Guido! I've learned Python and since loved Computer Science.
------
tathagatadg
I owe a lot to the python language and the community. One thing specifically
stands out with Guido is humility. Smart, successful and kind ... empathy for
others - from the language design to focus on readability, to helping new
comers - what an amazing role model! It is no surprise when you see that
reflection in the python community at large.
------
thewileyone
I first learned Python back in 1996, when there was just one Python forum
where Guido answered any and all questions.
He was gracious and polite enough not to call me a dumbass for not realizing
that tabs were a requirement, not an option.
That was also when I became a tab-convert.
Thank you Guido for this incredible tool that has helped so many others
actualize their solution aspirations.
~~~
mixmastamyk
You may have meant this, but in case a newbie reads: Tabs are not a
requirement, pep8 recommends 4 spaces per indent level.
------
VectorLock
Python made programming fun for me again. Thanks, Guido.
------
glofish
The genius of Python is that it treads that fine line between allowing too
little or too much control. Between being too strict or too liberal. Between
trading speed for clarity and simplicity.
It is the ideal programming language for an increasing set of tasks.
~~~
shadowgovt
The only really risky part of adopting it at enterprise scale is that it's
flexible enough that a developer can trick themselves into thinking they can
extend it and they end up falling into DSL hell (where you're technically
still using Python, but you've bent it so far via its runtime-dynamism that
static analysis tools can't help you and you're now writing both code and a
toolchain to support writing code).
But you don't _have_ to do that to yourself to use the language.
------
demosito666
Usually any post about python is about how shitty the language is and how one
can't write anything larger than hello world in dynamically typed language.
This one in wholesome, I like it.
------
this_na_hipster
Thank you Guido for all you did for this community. While others have pointed
out your contributions to the Python community, I have found inspiration in
how you paved a path to the engineering culture all around us. In a time when
career progression was to transition into management after a certain degree of
tenure, your adamant refusal to stay technical and "just code" has shaped my
personal views and my own aspirations for my career. You will always be
cherished
------
deforciant
After coding in Delphi, Java, C and C++ - Python was the first language that I
really enjoyed coding it. When you enjoy a language, it's easy to start
working on fun side projects that advance your skills and you continue
improving yourself. Even though I don't write pretty much Python anymore, I
still like and respect the language and would definitely recommend it to any
new comers in programming. Thanks for Python!
------
raverbashing
A more than deserved retirement. And I'm sure there will be plenty of free
time coding as well.
Given the impact Python has had on my career I'm nothing but grateful for it.
Thank You
------
rafaelvasco
It's been some time since I programmed in Python and it left a good impression
with some caveats. I remember being bothered by the lack of a strong type
checker. I see that now there is MyPy. Good to know. The other problem is the
lack of a super fast runtime. A Python to C compiler would be great. I
remember using Cython but didn't like it that much, even though it was much
faster then normal Python;
~~~
mixmastamyk
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuitka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuitka)
------
yingw787
Thank you Guido. Because of you and your work, incumbents have been toppled,
careers have shifted Or skyrocketed, and fortunes have been reaped. I hope
retirement is as kind to Guido as Guido has been kind to us.
Also highly encourage people to read the PEPs, as well as mailing list
archives and interesting bugs on bugs.python.org. The PSF highly encourages
backwards compatibility so that history is all there and live :)
------
jf
For those of us running ad-blockers, here is a version that is readable thanks
to the Internet Archive:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20191030162322/https://blog.drop...](https://web.archive.org/web/20191030162322/https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/thank-
you--guido)
~~~
savanaly
I'm running uBlock origin and I'm not sure what you're talking about, the
original looks normal to me?
------
didip
The article made it sounds like Dropbox is no longer pure 100% Python. What
other languages do they use now?
~~~
lwf
Go's the other best-supported infra language, Rust is used for things like
block storage (Magic Pocket). There's some amount of Java and C++, but those
are all considered legacy.
Yet, most application engineers are still writing Python on the backend and
TypeScript for the frontend.
[I work at Dropbox]
------
chubot
My whole career was based around Python -- 16+ years of it. I used many other
languages but Python was the most enjoyable and useful.
Thanks Guido!
------
klhugo
Congrats Guido. But don't bulshit me about retirement - you will probably find
something else to keep your mind busy :)
------
m0zg
If he's anything like me he won't stay "retired" for long. The longest I
lasted without anything coding-related to do is 9 months.
------
deg4uss3r
Why did this take so long to load?
------
gustavmer
Thank you, Guido!
------
tibbydudeza
Well deserved.
------
not2b
Did you notice this: "He has already put into motion the conversion of the
Dropbox server code from Python 2 to Python 3." Even the company that hired
Guido is still heavily dependent on Python 2, and it doesn't surprise me at
all; my own employer still has a lot of it in internal tools.
~~~
3pt14159
I'm starting to long for a stack that doesn't constantly change. Just set the
features and that's it. Security updates only after that. It feels like a
constant grind keeping up with everything. Containers, clouds, programming
languages, operating systems, frontend frameworks, transfer protocols, it
seems like it takes so much effort to just build something and keep it going.
That Python 2 is still around doesn't really surprise me. Many of the projects
that were built upon it were built by non-developers (scientists, etc) that
have no strong reason to keep everything current.
~~~
alanfranz
Honestly: the Java environment is exceedingly good at that. Backwards
incompatible changes are truly minimal, and only those that are strictly
necessary are added.
And since Java 8 the language is pretty nice and offers good functional
idioms.
Of course, major versions of libraries still change. But there's no match with
the JS approach.
~~~
vvillena
Not really. The newer open versions still don't match Oracle JDK 8. Wanna
bundle a JVM with your app so your users don't have to worry about the Java
runtime? Well, you can't do that anymore. Wanna use JavaFX? You have to jump
to Java 11 and hope your dependencies don't fail with module packaging errors.
Do you use Scala? GLHF.
Standing still in the Java ecosystem is fine. Keeping on with the advances is
painful and exhausting. The Java tech stack is awesome when it works, but to
solve issues you have to go so deep into the tech stack that I'm starting to
think it just can't be done unless you're at least a mid-sized company with
JVM specialists on the payroll. Not developers, but systems people.
~~~
sgift
> Wanna bundle a JVM with your app so your users don't have to worry about the
> Java runtime?
Why would that be the case?
> Wanna use JavaFX? You have to jump to Java 11 and hope your dependencies
> don't fail with module packaging errors.
Dependencies which still fail with module errors are basically abandoned and
should probably be replaced. But even for those there's an escape hatch if you
really want to continue using them, so that seems to be a non-issue?
> The Java tech stack is awesome when it works, but to solve issues you have
> to go so deep into the tech stack that I'm starting to think it just can't
> be done unless you're at least a mid-sized company with JVM specialists on
> the payroll. Not developers, but systems people.
I've worked either directly or indirectly with so many companies of all sizes
using Java without any dedicated JVM specialists I'm pretty sure you're doing
something very, very wrong with all the problems you seem to have.
~~~
vvillena
> Why would that be the case?
I have a desktop Java app with platform-specific installers (.msi, .deb,
.dmg). The Windows and Mac installers include a Java runtime, so the user
doesn't have to worry about installing an external runtime. I'm forced to use
Oracle JVM, because it's the only Java distribution that includes the tools
needed. There's ongoing development on a tool that should bring these and more
related features to the open JVMs, but it's not done yet.
> Dependencies which still fail with module errors are basically abandoned and
> should probably be replaced. But even for those there's an escape hatch if
> you really want to continue using them, so that seems to be a non-issue?
The issue is that the upgrade path isn't smooth. I have to upgrade everything
at the same time, because what works on Java 11 doesn't work in Java 8, and
viceversa. It makes everything way harder than it should be, if there was a
clear migration path.
> I've worked either directly or indirectly with so many companies of all
> sizes using Java without any dedicated JVM specialists I'm pretty sure
> you're doing something very, very wrong with all the problems you seem to
> have.
What I do falls into a niche. It's not "very wrong" but it's uncommon. The
main issue is that Java was a non-issue, a stable platform to build upon. But
the recent Oracle license change forced us to move to fully open versions of
Java that do not have the same features, do not bundle the same libraries, and
do not have documentation detailing all these differences.
I'm not asking for a community to finish whatever feature I need, or for a
company to make what I need free to use. I'm just trying to explain my own
problems caused by Oracle forcing us to move to open distributions of the Java
platform.
------
diminoten
This is a cool read (and a shared sentiment!), I've always wondered what
industry luminaries do day-to-day, and hasn't it been quite the draw for
Dropbox from a recruiting perspective, to say, "Oh, and Guido might want to
ask you some questions about your code."
I wonder what "retirement" means for Guido. The Python/software community
could never hear from him again and he'd completely deserve the rest (and we
the community would be immensely grateful for the work already poured in), but
I get the sense that won't be the case. :D
------
kissgyorgy
Python literally changed my life. I was in a bad situation when I started
learning it, and from that point, job offers never ended, a whole new world
opened for me. Not sure if another language could have done that for me.
Thank You, Guido!
------
goluh
Thank!
------
exabrial
> It is so intuitive and beautifully designed
No it's not. Significant whitespace, underscores that mean things, lack of
type system (but people treat variables as typed anyway), et all, make it
quite a difficult language to understand. And we won't get into performance
problems that it's cult following turns a blind eye to.
I will say Python has inspired a generation of languages that got away from
the C-inspired syntax. We're moved to critically thinking about _why_ we write
code the way we do, rather than simply accepting things because "that's the
way it's done" and for that we owe Python a great debt.
~~~
ajford
For a beginner, compared to many languages out there, it is very intuitive. I
taught many 1st/2nd year college students Python as their first foray into
programming, and it's flexibility and readability was a great way to get
people in the door.
I won't defend beauty, as that's extremely subjective. I happen to find the
whitespace significantly more intelligible than nested braces and parens, but
that's me. I know plenty of people who strongly prefer to have braces and
parens, so no argument from me.
Everyone loves to bring up performance as a huge drawback to Python, but it
never holds up as a fundamental problem. Yes, that means for specific
problems, it's not suitable. But the same can be said about many languages.
Fortran is a horrible language to try and build a web framework on top of.
Lisp is a bad language to write an OS in. Programming languages are tools,
choose the right one for the job.
If you need blazing fast processing of numerical data, choose the proper tool.
If you want fast iterative development with a broad set of packages and an
active community, Python is a suitable tool.
I do agree that the growth in new languages is amazing, and greatly welcome
them to the the toolbox that is programing and software development.
~~~
earenndil
> Lisp is a bad language to write an OS in
Beg to differ. Lisp machines were huge, back in the day, and there are still
hobbyist projects like
[https://github.com/froggey/Mezzano](https://github.com/froggey/Mezzano)
~~~
AnimalMuppet
"It was done at least once" != "it was a good choice", though.
There's a _reason_ why most OSes are not written in Lisp, and it's not because
the OS writers aren't smart enough to learn Lisp. It's not because they don't
know it exists. It's because there are better languages to write an OS in.
~~~
kazinator
Writing an OS in Lisp basically means adapting or developing, and then
growing, a Lisp implementation on the bare hardware. Someone would only do
this if they are simultaneously interested in OS research R&D and Lisp
implementation R&D.
This is different from someone working on an OS in, say, C. They just pick
some C compiler and use it, without becoming a C researcher and implementor.
(They might bemoan some things happening in the development of the compiler
they are using that affect their work, but not actually take that on.)
~~~
AnimalMuppet
I'm not sure I agree with this. How much assembly would you actually have to
write to bootstrap a Lisp? If I understand correctly, not much. And you could
cross-compile from some other platform for as long as needed as you use the
Lisp to write the OS.
~~~
kazinator
Cross-compiling from another platform (say, SBCL) only brings to your target
whatever you have written yourself, not any attributes of that platform (say,
SBCL).
You don't magically get SBCL's reader, garbage collector, hash table
implementation, object system ... or anything else you might want in the OS.
(You could fork that system though to borrow those things instead of doing it
from scratch.)
~~~
AnimalMuppet
Why not, if I can get the basics of Lisp running, and those other things are
written in Lisp? Isn't the hash table implementation written in Lisp?
Or are you saying that I wouldn't automatically have the source for those
things? If so, then... yeah, I was kind of assuming that I would have it. If
the licenses don't work that way, or if the source simply wasn't available,
then my devious plan would not work.
------
jteppinette
While reading the article, I found myself just playing with the top bar. This
is a decently common pattern that I always find distracting.
------
xvilka
Time to Go.
~~~
krabilicious
Rust In Peace
~~~
kgraves
The Zig is Up.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
YourMechanic (YC W12) launches in South Bay (at TC Disrupt) - artag
https://www.yourmechanic.com
======
ujeezy
Another very happy customer here! My car wouldn't start one day, and after
determining that it wasn't a dead battery, I was dreading the nightmare/cost
of having it towed to a shop.
Fortunately, I remembered YourMechanic from when they were working out of the
Hacker Dojo. I gave them a call, and a mechanic arrived within 30 minutes. He
did an amazing job patiently troubleshooting different components in the
engine and electrical system before determining the problem (busted ignition),
implementing a temporary fix (new fuse), and helping me understand what we'd
have to do for permanent fix.
One particularly awesome thing about my experience was that my mechanic (his
name's Whitney, if you ever need to make an appointment) explained everything
he was doing each step of the way. I learned more in about 45 minutes than in
all my years referencing manuals/forums/friends.
I'd never expected to be delighted by an auto repair/maintenance experience,
but these guys proved me wrong. I expect them to do very well.
~~~
orangethirty
You think finding good engineers with people skills is hard? Try finding
mechanics who can talk to people. Good luck. Whitney is one in a million.
Plus, a lot of mechanics out there will go ahead and ask the ladies out with
no regard to marital status (either of them).
------
tptacek
I am very surprised that there's so much work mechanics can do without a lift.
One very obvious thing I'm sure YM considered was used car inspections; having
a place I could sign up on a website to have a potential used car inspected
would be killer.
~~~
bigiain
I _would_ have been surprised, but I saw this on their homepage:
"2012-09-09 in Redwood City CA
Whitney worked on 2000 Ford Mustang to do Tail Lamp Bulb - Driver Side"
Whereupon I remembered that just like most people don't whip up a quick Perl
script to "fix" things on their computer, there people who ring up companies
and pay them to replace light bulbs.
When you're the sort of person who's happily scheduled a Saturday afternoon to
pull the engine out so you can replace the clutch, it's easy to forget that
even the most trivial of car maintenance tasks are things that many "regular
people" choose to pay someone else to do rather than learn how to do it
themselves.
(But I'm still thinking to myself "You paid someone to come out and replace a
lightbulb? _Really?_)
~~~
orangethirty
Its a 12 volt electrical system running about 10 amps on that specific line.
Any mishap could potential cause more trouble. I've seen (and fixed) cars
whose owners fried the whole brakelights harness when replacing "just a
lightbulb."
Also, cars these days use the type of fasteners that most people don't have
tools to deal with. Look under the hood of a new Chrysler, for example, and
you will be amazed.
~~~
alexchamberlain
Seriously? You are advocating booking a mechanic to replace a bulb?
~~~
Johngibb
Agreed. I get the point that new cars are intricate, crammed and complicated
but a light bulb is a user serviceable part that is really not much harder
than changing a lamp at home. Would you hire an electrician for that because
you didn't want to blow your home's electrical system? ;)
~~~
orangethirty
Its not the same thing. You are comparing a live closed system (brake lights
have live 12 volt wiring) to a open circuit that you can switch off at at
least two points.
~~~
bigiain
Where by "live 12 volt wiring", you mean "live 12 volt wiring, , but only
'live' when both the ignition and the brakes are on (or sometimes the tail-
lights where they use dual-filament bulbs), which is suitably fused so it wont
catch fire if you short it, and which is completely safe to touch unless you
manage to pierce through your ribcage with two conductive spikes and connect
opposite ends of the low-voltage supply directly onto your heart muscle",
right?
Seriously, I'm trying to imagine any scenario where ham-fisted attempts to
change a brake light bulb could result in anything more dangerous than a mild
surprise and a blown fuse if you manage to short the contacts. You are, in my
experience, _much_ more likely to injure yourself kicking the cat 'cause you
end up so frustrated having to remove 47 easily breakable plastic clips
holding the shitty carpet/trim in the trunk to get to the bulb - than being in
any danger from a 12V electrical system, live or not.
And, as someone who lives where out wall outlets provide 220V AC, and who's
taken more than his fair share of belts from not only 220V but also 415V three
phase power, I find it vaguely amusing when people are deadly afraid of puny
110V electrical systems ;-)
~~~
orangethirty
I've had past clients partially burn their cars after chaging a light bulb.
Keys off the ignitio and all. I talk out of experience. I've owned 3 repair
shops. Seen worse things happen.
~~~
Johngibb
Someone capable of burning their cars changing a light bulb probably shouldn't
be driving :)
~~~
orangethirty
One of them was an electrical engineer believe it or not. He partially burned
the wiring on his 911 Porsche when replacing a lightbulb. Its just crazy.
------
femto
Is the idea of a mobile mechanic new in the US? Lube Mobile [1] has been in
Australia for at least 25 years and has spawned a bunch of local copies. I'm
not knocking YourMechanic, but I find it interesting that the idea hasn't made
it to the US earlier than this. Is there some difference to Lube Mobile that I
am missing?
[1] <http://www.lubemobile.com.au/>
~~~
artag
yea. it is similar. one immediately visible difference is that we don't
provide vans to mechanics. also, we have a full pricing engine online (unlike
lube mobile) which allows us to ensure that people are getting fair prices.
Its totally transparent. You can see mechanics reviews, fair labor time, parts
info etc - all without calling us!
------
abbasmehdi
Another happy customer here. What really surprised me about YM was they told
me upfront how much a service would cost and while getting the service came
the most pleasent surprise of all, the mechanic said I did not need front
brakes, just the rear, and the quote YM gave originally was chopped in half!
And finally, the guy was so nice and friendly, it felt like you were dealing
with the owner.
And before I got the YM service I did call the dealer and a few other shops.
The dealer would _not_ quote me a price until I brought the car in, had the
wheels taken off and "inspected", this despite the fact that I told him I need
a quote for replacing all four brakes and rotors on car type x - it was such a
turn-off. Especially when I asked what the inspection would cost - $150 if I
don't get it serviced there.
Really glad to see a company improving my experience, saving me time, and
saving me money on a chore I don't enjoy.
~~~
artag
dude! thank you for sharing your story and being an awesome customer! we used
the photo you took in our TC disrupt presentation :)
~~~
abbasmehdi
Royalty check, please! ;-)
------
orangethirty
I wish these guys the best of luck. But, as someone who operated the same kind
of business successfully for a long time, I have to say that their work is cut
out for them. You think people are hard to deal with when it comes to
computers? Its 100X worse with cars. Computers are cheap, and relatively easy
to replace/repair. Now cars, well, good luck with that.
The biggest issue in this market are the clients trying to get money out of
you for stuff you didnt break. Day in/da out. Its tiring. Reapir shops also go
through the same deal, that is why most shops turn into assholes. People make
mechanics lose faith in humanity.
If any of the yourmechanic.com guys is reading, shoot me an email. I ll gladly
talk about what difficulties I had. maybe Ill save you some time/money.
~~~
marquis
This is a good opportunity for YM to educate their customers. I have a great
mechanic who I trust and bears with me when I ask exactly what is going on. We
built a relationship based on him educating me. YM could do the same for it's
customers. Your cam belt needs repairing? Why exactly? Your wheels needs
alignment? Why exactly? Keep a dossier on the car and what's going on and your
customers are happier and have less to complain about when they get hit with a
$2k upgrade because your car is 15 years old and you can't get a used radiator
for your model.
~~~
bigiain
"Your cam belt needs repairing? Why exactly?"
I know this one: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigiain/6110973521/>
------
chrsstrm
I used to work with a mechanic that did this and even now I own a site that
collects requests in an east coast city and forwards them to some local
mechanics I have an arrangement with. It's a great idea and people absolutely
love it. Every tool needed is in the mechanics mobile shop, usually an
outfitted van, and even fluid collection and disposal is not an issue. The
problem is permits and insurance. These expense take a nice chunk out of any
margin you have set up that keeps your prices competitive. The other issue is
scaling. Mechanics will not work for per-job pay, they all want hourly.
Putting a crew with a mobile unit on standby and waiting for a job is very
inefficient if you have to pay them while they wait. While YM may have figured
out how to make it scale as one large organization, it would be much better to
build a marketplace where qualified independent mechanics compete for jobs as
they come in, with work certified and backed by YM - like the Uber model.
~~~
artag
it is like that model. the only difference is that we dont ask our mechanics
to compete. we set the fair price for them so that there is no bidding.
~~~
chrsstrm
So then how do you schedule them if they don't compete? Is this more of a
"fill your spare capacity" setup or do they work certain shifts? Also, what is
your average response time? Same day or scheduled in advance? I don't really
mean to reveal all your secret sauce, but since I dealt with this stuff for a
couple months I'm curious. The mechanic I worked with wanted to go big time
but my partner and I decided he wasn't a good fit to run an operation at that
scale.
~~~
artag
mechanic set their own time. response time really depends on how busy they
are. we don't promise a response time yet. our mechanics use our mobile app to
do all their scheduling. it is really fill your spare capacity model (work on
weekends, evenings, free days during week) etc.
------
vectran
The use of 'contractors' is interesting (following on from Exec, iCracked,
TaskRabbit etc.) Perhaps this is the future of employment - providing more
flexibility to both the firm and the individual?
As well as this the mobility of the contractors is really fascinating. The
internet has really started to disrupt the need for retail-service premises;
think of print shops (Printing.com), computer repairers (iCracked), florists
(1-800 Flowers), real estate agencies (Redfin), education (ie TutorSpree).
Interesting to see what verticals remain untapped.
I wonder the implications of completely opening up these sort of platforms
entirely - ie allowing 'anyone' to complete a car repair job. [Obviously in
the case of YourMechanic there are warranty implications :P]
------
joshu
Woohoo! I am an investor in this one - I love the idea.
------
swampthing
Satisfied customer here - the difference between YM and the old way of doing
things is night and day. If you live in the area and value your time, you
really owe it to yourself to try them out.
~~~
artag
super appreciate your support :)
~~~
heretohelp
Will you guys do motorcycles? If so, between you guys and Instacart, I'll be
living like a Persian prince.
------
iyulaev
Question - how do you deal with private lots that prohibit people working on
their cars? I know my community has restrictions against this - I've never run
into it myself doing simple things like checking oil level and such but I
wouldn't attempt a major service like timing belt replacement in my community
(hence why I find a friend's driveway to do such work in :-P). How does YM
work around this?
~~~
artag
we have run into a couple of those situations. There is not a whole lot we can
do at this point. :(
------
oakenshield
Yet another satisfied customer here, and to me, one of the huge advantages of
YM is that the mechanic comes to you... no more worrying about how to get your
vehicle to a shop, whether you will make it there by closing to pick it back
up, which of your friends to bug to give you a ride, etc.
------
lacker
I would love this service, just wish it was available in my area. Good luck
and hope you expand soon!
------
dools
Wow as soon as I saw this the Lube Mobile ad and phone number (13 13 32)
popped into my head immediately (I'm in Australia). Who said TV advertising is
dead?!
------
jayliew
I'm a happy customer - congrats on the launch! :)
~~~
artag
Thanks for being an awesome customer! :)
~~~
samstave
Hi, I really need your services as of the other day!
But I live in Alameda - will you service my?
My car broke down, and its the only car we have - my wife is a stay at home
mom and I bike to work and we have been trying to figure out the best way to
deal with the car issue and as a long time HNer - I would far prefer to try
and support your startup than randomly call unknowns and have the thing towed
some place.
~~~
artag
Sam - please email me at [email protected] and please let me know what type
of car it is. I will check with our mechanics to see which one can drive up
there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Leaky Clojure Macros - astine
http://theatticlight.net/posts/Leaky-Clojure-Macros/
======
fogus
to read or debug code with them in it one
has to understand them
Perhaps I'm missing some subtlety to the post, but when was that last time
that you were able to take a pass on understanding while debugging?
I think what the author is looking for is better compile-time checking and
error reporting in the the with-* macros. I'm not sure how to respond to the
"understanding" points. Is the need to understand your language constructs
considered a sign of leakiness? I would say no.
~~~
astine
Author here.
It would seem "understanding" might be the wrong word. If I were to write
something like:
(+ 'foo 1)
I wouldn't have to know how "+" is _implemented_ to find the bug in my code. I
would if I were to write:
(with-open [foo some-object-that-isnt-a-stream]
...do stuff...)
however, I would have to know the expansion.
If I have to know the details of the expansion of a macro in order to use it
correctly, then it is almost by definition leaky.
In the case of "with-open," a simple type check at the beginning of the macro
expansion would solve the problem.
~~~
readymade
You don't need to know how it's implemented, you just need to know that you
have to pass an object that can be closed. You can get that simply by reading
the docs.
The exception that's thrown in your first example above certainly makes it
blatantly obvious what you did wrong, which is nice. but you still have to
know that the addition operator doesn't let you concatenate numbers and
symbols in order to use it effectively, or your program will crash once you
run it. That's on you.
------
mattdeboard
Hm I do not agree with you re: `->` and `->>`, and have had no problems with
Clojure's context-managing fns (though my experience is limited). Not sure how
they're "leaky" at all. They do require a little getting used to but once you
understand what's happening they're great.
I say that mostly as someone who is very picky about how his code looks,
especially with regard to whitespace, keeping line length under 80 columns,
and so forth. The threading macros are great for presenting code in a very
readable way.
~~~
calibraxis
Yes, and I also think that this discussion needs to mention the facilities
Clojure provides to help you with macros.
For example, with simpler macros like -> and ->>, I recommend that curious
people macroexpand them, to get a feel for what they mean. Your GUI can make
this even easier, like if I put the cursor at the beginning of the following
and hit _M-x slime-macroexpand-all_ :
(-> my_table
(database db/*stage-db*)
select*
exec)
I see:
(exec (select* (database my_table *stage-db*)))
Or if I do _M-._ , I get to see the sourcecode. This of course is daunting to
beginners, but they can easily mess with the sourcecode, tear it apart, and
get to the level where they can just kind of scan smaller macros and get a
rough idea of how it's doing its job.
(I realize the author probably knows these things. But I definitely consider
-> and ->> to be such a readability win, and hope that people like them.)
------
arohner
Something missing from the article:
user> (doc with-open)
-------------------------
clojure.core/with-open
([bindings & body])
Macro
bindings => [name init ...]
Evaluates body in a try expression with names bound to the values
of the inits, and a finally clause that calls (.close name) on each
name in reverse order.
------
readymade
The documentation for with-open explicitly states that the expanded form calls
.close on the provided names in reverse order. I'm not sure I get how this is
a leaky abstraction. Would the author simply prefer to not have to read the
docs before using a macro?
------
moomin
Just to state the obvious. With-open respects the close pattern, not the
Closeable interface. Plenty of java resources observe the former but not the
latter e.g. jdbc Connection interfaces.
I was hoping the article would be about legitimate problems with macros. They
do exist...
------
thom
Plus also, did you guys hear that until just recently, Rails used PUT instead
of PATCH?!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bitcoin Trading Agents [pdf] - tombell93
http://tombell93.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/BitcoinTradingAgents.pdf
======
chollida1
> Ciaian’s study develops an empirically estimable model of Bitcoin price,
> which accounts for supply and demand fundamentals, investors’ interest and
> macroeconomic development (1). p B t = β0 +β1pt +β2yt +β3vt +β4bt +β5at
> +β6mt +t (1) In this model at time t, p B t is the price of Bitcoin, pt is
> the general price of goods and services, yt is the size of the Bitcoin
> economy, vt is the velocity of the bitcoins in circulation, bt is the total
> stock of bitcoin in circulation, at captures Bitcoins attractiveness to
> investors, mt captures the global macroeconomic indicators, t is an error
> term and βi , i = 0, 1, ..., 6 are coefficients which weight each term.
Go ahead and trade bitcoin based on that formula, I dare you:)
It reminds me a bit too much of the drake equation
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation)
or maybe more appropriately this form of the drake equation:
[https://xkcd.com/384/](https://xkcd.com/384/)
I haven't gone through the referenced paper's but the below also seems a bit
dubious..
> Ciaian et al. found a high correlation (corr > 0.8) between the DJIA (Dow
> Jones Industrial Average) and the total stock of bitcoins and the size of
> the Bitcoin economy.
How these are so closely correlated eludes me but maybe the reference papers
will expand on this.
Having said all of that, the section 5 Factors unique to bitcoin is pretty
good. And considering the lack of literature on how to trade bitcoin it's nice
to see someone take the time to try and apply some rigor to the subject.
Hat's off to the author.
I haven't spend much time looking at it but the time I have spent show that it
does trade differently from a typical currency.
Sadly the Trading Bitcoin section doesn't contain alot of actionable code or
information but that hardly makes it unique in the world of trading.
~~~
johnloeber
Just looking at that multiple regression equation has alarm bells going off in
my head: "OVERFIT! OVERFIT! OVERFIT!"
------
jackgavigan
This paper isn't really about trading agents. There's no primary research or
analysis. All of the equations, models and graphs are from other papers. In
fact, most of this paper consist of summaries of findings from other papers,
some of which are somewhat dubious. For example, the paper by Yelowitz and
Wilson found positive correlation in Google Trends data for searches for
"Bitcoin", "computer science" and "Silk Road" and concluded that "that
programmers and criminals are the primary drivers of interest in Bitcoin".
One error jumped out at me. In the conclusion, the author asserts that "the
volatility of Bitcoin is correlated with the CBOE VIX" but no evidence is
presented to support that assertion. He seems to have misinterpreted one of
the findings in the paper by MacDonell that found an inverse correlation
between the _price_ of Bitcoin and the VIX.
I'm not impressed.
Edit: Out of curiousity, I checked to see if there is any correlation between
Bitcoin price volatility and the VIX from August 2010 to today. There isn't.
[https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/623836628960808960](https://twitter.com/JackGavigan/status/623836628960808960)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chevron buying Anadarko for $33B as crude prices rise - mimixco
https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/chevron-buying-anadarko-33b-crude-prices-rise-62351800
======
mimixco
Fun fact: Anadarko is the company formerly known as Kerr Mc-Gee and made
famous by the movie Silkwood.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Thoughts on WebRTC Data Channels? - commention
I'm web game developer. I've been developing my games with Web Socket technology. I was planning to try WebRTC at some point and I already started to develop a game with it. It's a fast-paced FPS shooter. I need low latency values. So I thought WebRTC might be good choice. According to Can I use website, it's only not available on IE and Edge in major web browsers.<p>I just want to ask, does anyone have any experience with WebRTC data channels at big scale? And should I really use it on my project? I can still go with Websocket, but I really want to try and see if it's powerful.
======
opendomain
WebRTC is peer to peer This means that if one of your players has a slow
connection, then the updates to everyone else may be slow.
The API for WebRTC is similar to WebSocket, so the client side JS should be
easy to set up, except for initiating the connection. You will need to setup a
STUN and perhaps a TURN server to get everyone to join correctly.
If you are using the WebRTC for voice for the player to hear, you will also
need to setup a Media server, probably with SIP.
~~~
commention
Thank you for your answer. Well, I'll plan this game in an environment that
doesn't require authoritative game structure. Players will basically broadcast
their position and rotation information to other players and that's all.
So even if user has low speed internet connection, we'll see him slow or laggy
basically.
There are also some libraries that provides easy-to-use APIs for WebRTC. I'll
prefer them in this case.
I really want to use WebRTC. Because this technology looks awesome, especially
for lower latency values. I'm just thinking, it can be good choice for that
kind of fast-paced game.
I looked up for some examples on web, that uses WebRTC on game, unfortunately
couldn't find. So I was thinking, there should be reason for that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Shocco: Literate Programming for the POSIX Shell - jashkenas
http://rtomayko.github.com/shocco/
======
jashkenas
Links to the sister programs, for the curious:
<http://jashkenas.github.com/docco/> (CoffeeScript)
<http://rtomayko.github.com/rocco/> (Ruby)
------
abecedarius
My <http://github.com/darius/tush> has a different take on literate shell
scripts, for a different purpose (quick-and-dirty testing).
------
mkramlich
love the name
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Gitter Chat Channel about Artificial General Intelligence / Strong AI - RazvanPanda
https://gitter.im/artificial-general-intelligence/Lobby
======
RazvanPanda
The purpose of the channel is to exchange ideas so that together we can
contribute to the creation of `Safe Artificial General Intelligence`.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A.nnotate.com – annotate and export PDFs - esquivalience
http://a.nnotate.com/pdf-annotation.html
======
esquivalience
Submitting because I was very impressed with this tool. It's worth logging in
- the interface and features are much better than the limited website
suggests.
Also submitting though because the actual marketing website almost completely
put me off at first - I nearly clicked away instantly. This shows that a great
tool with a great UI can really suffer if its marketing materials aren't up to
scratch.
I get that disliking a site design is a matter of preference, but the
difference between the two halves is remarkable. Given that both are web-based
I'm not even sure how this can happen.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
An Algorithm for the Forecasting of Romantic Options - diegolo
http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.00637
======
loveNanaya
Wow, I didn't expect the paper to get on people's radar so soon. This is
Rashied, I'll be happy to answer questions as much as possible/I'm available!
~~~
ada1981
I'd love to help you with this.
~~~
loveNanaya
Feel free to shoot an email to info-at-nanaya.co. We'll be needing developers
and statisticians in the next few months.
------
poulsbohemian
I worked with Rashied last summer on his approach to commercializing this.
He's a really solid guy and has his heart in the right place toward helping
people. Great to see him get some visibility here. He's hard at work turning
this into multiple services and I fully expect to see great success with it,
nerdy though it may sound at first.
------
nlh
> "FIG. 2. A simple toy model for determining the cumulative probability of
> finding a match as an urn model."
As if modeling love in an algorithm isn't nerdy enough, leave it to the
scientists to demonstrate that model using....urns.
(Above meant in good fun. I actually think this is an interesting paper / idea
and know more than 1 person who is torn by the same fundamental question.
Looking forward to seeing this in product/service form.)
~~~
bdevine
Taken in good fun, but if anyone is interested, urn models are frequently used
in probability theory though. [0]
[0]
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urn_problem](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urn_problem)
------
loveNanaya
I'll probably make a new thread for this shortly, but our webpage is up. Come
take a personality test. This helps build our database so we can get the Beta
up and running faster (pending funding, naturally).
www.nanaya.co
------
rryan
> "Should I break up with my girlfriend? Will I find another?" Or: An
> Algorithm for the Forecasting of Romantic Options
A very frustrating paper title.
~~~
loveNanaya
Agreed, but it got the OP's attention. The title also reference's Peter
Backus' paper I cite:
[http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/pbackus/gi...](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/pbackus/girlfriend/why_i_dont_have_a_girlfriend.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FBI Investigating High-Speed Trading - 001sky
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304886904579473874181722310?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304886904579473874181722310.html
======
001sky
FBI Investigating High-Speed Trading
Examination Centers on Possible Trading on Nonpublic Information
By
Scott Patterson and Michael Rothfeld
Updated March 31, 2014 9:59 p.m. ET
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing whether high-speed trading
firms are engaging in insider trading by taking advantage of fast-moving
market information unavailable to other investors.
The investigation, launched about a year ago, involves a range of trading
activities and is still in its early stages, according to a senior FBI
official and an agency spokesman. Among the activities being probed is whether
high-speed firms are trading ahead of other investors based on information
that other market participants can't see.
Among the types of trading under scrutiny is the practice of placing a group
of trades and then canceling them to create the false appearance of market
activity. Such activity could be considered potential market manipulation by
encouraging others to trade based on false orders.
Another form of activity under scrutiny involves using high-speed trading to
place orders to conceal that the transactions are based on an illegal tip.
"There are many people in government who are very focused on this and who are
concerned about it and who think it breaks the law," an FBI spokesman said.
"There is a big concern that high-frequency traders are getting material
nonpublic information ahead of others and trading on it."
Ultimately, federal prosecutors would have to decide whether the facts of a
specific case warrant bringing charges, the FBI official said.
The probe, which has picked up steam in recent months, comes amid heightened
scrutiny of computerized trading. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman
is investigating whether high-speed trading firms have gained advantages that
aren't available to regular investors, such as access to superfast data feeds.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange
Commission are looking into ties between high-speed traders and major
exchanges, examining whether the firms are getting preferential treatment that
puts other investors at a disadvantage, said people familiar with the probes.
Since the beginning of the investigation, the FBI, working with the SEC, has
developed fact patterns of potentially illegal trading and run them by
prosecutors to determine if they could be used in a criminal case.
For the FBI, the investigation marks a new and unusual phase of its focus on
insider trading. Because high-speed trades are executed by computer programs,
it is often more difficult to detect nefarious activity and to prove that it
was executed intentionally.
FBI officials said they are looking for patterns in the market that can reveal
whether any trading activities in question violate the law. They would then
have to be able to prove that those trades were made with fraudulent intent.
The FBI said it has dedicated a large number of agents to the investigation.
FBI officials are looking into whether some brokers trade on information about
client orders before executing them, and whether brokers use information about
after-hours trading to beat the market when it opens the next morning.
Among those being probed are proprietary-trading outfits, which trade strictly
for their own account, as well as fast-moving broker operations that buy and
sell orders on behalf of clients, such as mutual funds and pension plans.
The push comes after a long-running focus on more traditional insider trading
by federal prosecutors and the FBI in New York.
Speed in the Spotlight
Scrutiny has been growing on fraction-of-a-second differences in access to
information. Recent highlights:
The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan has charged 90 people with insider
trading using confidential information about earnings reports, mergers and
other market-moving news since October 2009. So far, 79 of those people have
pleaded guilty or been convicted at trial and none have been acquitted.
The Justice Department said it is working with other regulators on the probe,
including the SEC, CFTC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which
oversees broker-dealers. The investigation, which the FBI calls the High-Speed
Trading Initiative, is also focusing on whether the waves of orders that flood
the market from high-frequency firms are being used to manipulate prices to
their benefit.
Investigators are also seeking leads from traders or others who may have
participated in illegal activity. "People will benefit to varying degrees by
calling us at an early stage," he said.
Market regulators have been investigating whether high-frequency traders have
unfair advantages over other investors for several years. SEC enforcement
officials continue to probe whether high-speed firms were using so-called
order types—directions traders use to tell an exchange how to handle their
orders—to jump ahead of less savvy investors. In a page-one article in
September 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported that a former high-frequency
trader, Haim Bodek, blew the whistle to the SEC on how certain order types
could hurt other investors.
CFTC investigators are probing whether high-frequency firms are routinely
distorting futures markets by acting as buyer and seller in the same
transactions, illegal trading activity known as wash trades. Such trades are
banned by U.S. law because they can feed false information into the market and
manipulate prices.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chile introduces lenient tech visa as US applies limitations on immigration - frame
http://www.zdnet.com/article/chile-introduces-tech-visa-as-us-looks-to-apply-limitations/
======
frame
The visa will allow companies operating in Chile to get H1B-equivalent visas
for foreign engineers in less than two weeks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Belgian woman blindly drove 900 miles across Europe due to broken GPS - denzil_correa
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262149/Belgian-woman-67-picking-friend-railway-station-ends-Zagreb-900-miles-away-satnav-disaster.html#ixzz2VFgec3jk
======
garretruh
Somehow, I doubt that a map would have helped this woman much.
~~~
DoubleCluster
Yep, feels like early stage dementia to me. Quite a sad story.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
OpenWeatherMap - aaronbrethorst
http://openweathermap.org/
======
brudgers
In the US, National Weather Service is free and ad free and has a staff of top
notch meteorologists.
[http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.267153&lon=-...](http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.267153&lon=-97.74306079999996&site=all&smap=1&searchresult=Austin%2C%20TX%2C%20USA)
I am a huge fan the hourly weather graph:
[http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.26715&lon=-9...](http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.26715&lon=-97.74306079999996&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical)
Also available in tabular format for your parsing pleasure:
[http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.26715&lon=-9...](http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=30.26715&lon=-97.74306079999996&lg=english&&FcstType=digital)
~~~
kybernetyk
I really envy you guys. I'm somewhat of a weather enthusiast and here in
Germany the (tax funded) Wetterdienst [0] makes only out-of-date low
resolution weather data freely available.
There are better systems like webKonrad [1] (live radar data down to city
level, etc) available but as a common citizen you can't even get paid access.
Access is reserved to the fire department, etc.
Funnily though there was a little f*ck up in the webKonrad app and they had
hard coded credentials to a developer test account in the app. With a little
reverse engineering we had free access to this pretty cool tool for a few
months.
IMHO it's pretty sad that they fund the whole German Wetterdienst operation
with taxes and citizens have no access to the full data.
[0] - [http://www.dwd.de](http://www.dwd.de)
[1] - [http://webkonrad.dwd.de](http://webkonrad.dwd.de)
~~~
rorrr2
Have you considered suing for access?
~~~
kybernetyk
I thought about it but decided that it would be too much effort and too costly
for just a hobby of mine.
So I contacted the german Pirate Party about the issue. (About that and german
air space maps which, too, are not freely accessible while being produced with
tax money).
I assumed this issue would be a great fit for the PP's agenda. But I guess
they have more important things to do (like wasting time with arguing about
childish bullshit).
------
wyclif
I suspect the landing page text was not written by a native English-speaker.
I'd suggest an edit and giving it a professional once-over.
------
ddeck
The popular weather aggregating websites generally do a poor job outside of
the US. Presumably because they rely on a global weather data source rather
than the country-specific agencies.
When travelling, I typically reference the World Meteorological Organization's
site to find the official forecasts:
[http://worldweather.wmo.int/](http://worldweather.wmo.int/)
They list official observations, forecasts, and climate data for ~1700 cities
worldwide in numerous languages and provide the link to the respective
official local national weather service for each country.
And if you live in a typhoon/hurricane susceptible region as I do, their
severe weather website aggregates official tracking estimates and forecasts
from a multitude of weather services:
[http://severe.worldweather.org/](http://severe.worldweather.org/)
------
dfc
Like another commenter I am curious about where the data comes from. The
occasional blinking dot on a map does not provide a lot of information about
how they amassed the data from 40,000 weather stations. When I did not see a
lot of details it occurred to me that they might be acting as a middleman for
Weather underground's API. However Weather Underground _claims_ to have the
most weather stations and they list a lower bound of 25,000 weather
stations.[1]
[1]
[http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/about.asp](http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/about.asp)
~~~
est
They use public airport weather data
~~~
pellias
Yup, when i zoomed in to see the station information, all of them are
airports.
~~~
dfc
The numbers do not add up. According to the CIA in 2012 there were 43,794
airports or airfields that are recognizable from the air. This number includes
airfields that are "unpaved (grass, earth, sand, or gravel surfaces) and may
include closed or abandoned installations." The 2010 figure is 43,982.[2][3]
[1] [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/...](https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/fields/2053.html)
[2]
[http://web.archive.org/web/20120208135324/https://www.cia.go...](http://web.archive.org/web/20120208135324/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications//the-
world-factbook/fields/2053.html)
[3] I found this to be interesting: Afghanistan lost an airport/airfield over
those two years.
------
ancarda
There doesn't seem to be any indication of usage limits on the API or a
pricing structure (i.e free is 500 hits/hr). Free APIs are cool but expensive
to run. Where is the money coming from to fund this service?
------
thezach
looks kinda cool... I do a lot of weather scraping (
[http://warningweather.com](http://warningweather.com) ) and have actually
just secured a direct connection to AWIPS (the national weather service's
computer system).
I really love the idea of you service and will sign up for it tomorrow for
some future projects. My biggest concern is your data being contaminated by
home weather stations.... those stations tend to be pretty wack and can just
really mess up your data set.
~~~
dfc
What does securing a direct connection to AWIPS entail? Sounds neat.
------
corford
I don't know much about this stuff but I love the idea of contributing data.
Can anyone with a bit more clue tell me if something along the lines of a
DVB-T Stick (great for contributing local ADS-B data to fr24.com) exists in
the meterological world?
Basically a cheap (< €150) setup that would let me capture some simple data
(temp, windspeed, humidity) and get it into a raspi (or similar)?
~~~
dfc
Check out the list of personal weather station vendors at weather
underground[1]. I am not sure about the price but I think I would have
remembered if the prices were over your budget.
[1]
[http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/setup.asp#hardwar...](http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/setup.asp#hardware)
~~~
corford
Thanks!
------
fs111
I played with this a few weeks ago and made a little python thingy, that
prints the weather based on geoip: [https://github.com/fs111/geoip-
weather](https://github.com/fs111/geoip-weather)
------
DigitalSea
In Australia access to a free weather API is scarce. I've had to resort to
writing scraping scripts in the past, hopefully OpenWeatherMap means I don't
have to scrape sites any more and have access to a nice free API.
~~~
jpatokal
[http://www.bom.gov.au/catalogue/data-
feeds.shtml](http://www.bom.gov.au/catalogue/data-feeds.shtml) ?
~~~
DigitalSea
I didn't actually know this existed, but even looking at this page yields a
dissatisfying result. The feeds look like they don't provide nearly as much
information and the confusing and archaic feed formats as well. What is wrong
with a straight up JSON api?
------
wensing
This is excellent. Hi from Stormpulse; welcome to the weather fold.
------
positr0n
Neat service. I have a typo to report: If you try to create an account that
already exists, it says "name alredy exist."
~~~
paul_f
That seems a better way to spell that word anyway. Let's start a campaign to
eliminate unpronounced characters from the English language. Who's with me?!
------
jpatokal
This looks epic, but is awfully scant on details: eg. where the worldwide
precipitation data coming from, and how current is it?
~~~
zalew
It's written on the frontpage "Weather data is recieved from global
meterological broadcast services and more than 40 000 weather stations."
[http://openweathermap.org/sys](http://openweathermap.org/sys)
~~~
dfc
I came here to ask the same question and I saw the 40k number you mention and
I visited the page you link to. The occassional blinking light on a google map
does not really answer the question of how they accumulated data from 40,000
weather stations.
I got the following error when I tried the layer station link[1]:
×Ошибка 404 (depricated function, see more http://openweathermap.org/wiki/API/JSON_API)
Ошибка is russian for error/mistake.
[1] [http://openweathermap.org/layer-station](http://openweathermap.org/layer-
station)
~~~
zalew
there is an upload api
[http://openweathermap.org/stations](http://openweathermap.org/stations) so I
guess they scrap/connect 'global meterological broadcast services' and invite
stations to submit their data.
~~~
dfc
I do not like guessing. Trust, verify yada yada.
Given the alternatives, NOAA (my preferred source but obviously american-
centric) or WeatherUnderground I see no reason to use a service I need to make
guesses about.
------
taternuts
I'm signed up in the hopes that I'll get grandfathered into better rates when
you scale
------
tunnuz
This is amazing, I've been waiting for this.
------
pletisan
password field is clean ?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Y Combinator S12 Demo Day Batch 4 - mauricemauseryc
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/21/y-combinator-s12-batch-4/
======
CharlieMurphy
YC gave money to 9GAG, nope.gif
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How much of pay cut would you take for a more fulfilling job? - x32n23nr
I'm at that point where I'm considering changing jobs. After a string of trampoline-like moves from one place to another, I quite frankly feel I'm only doing it for the money. As I search for options, I realised jobs I would find more fulfilling typically pay between 30-40% less. Still have not decided what to do.<p>What pay cut would you accept to do something you like?
======
frompdx
> I quite frankly feel I'm only doing it for the money.
I think this describes everyone's relationship to work. If your current
employer stopped paying you would you keep showing up? If the more fulfilling
job stopped paying you, would you keep showing up?
Usually if I decide I want to change jobs I am looking for something that is
both more fulfilling and higher pay rather than one or the other. If I did not
have to work, I wouldn't.
~~~
bruce511
Alas this does not describe everyone's relationship to work.
Huge communities of people work really hard for zero money to get job
satisfaction. You need look no further than many open source projects to see
this, not to mention armies of volunteers at any charity shop etc.
While it is rare to find that perfect job, where you are both fulfilled and
paid well, it is certainly something to hang into when you find it.
For me, I programmed for free long before anyone paid me, and I'll program for
free when they stop paying me. In between I have earned dramatically lower pay
working for myself, on projects I enjoy, with minimal oversight, than I would
have gotten working for some corporate as a cog in the machine. I don't envy
my rich Google compatriots - it would kill me to do their job.
The old cliche says if you find a job you love, you'll never work a day in
your life. That's bogus. Work is still work, and I work harder than most,but
the work is meaningful, satisfying, and fulfilling. (_and_ I get paid :))
To answer your question though I dug out this story I read a long time ago
[https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31077/when-his-
project-w...](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/31077/when-his-project-was-
canceled-unemployed-programmer-kept-sneaking-apple-finish-job)
------
non-entity
I probably wouldn't take a pay cut at my current salary, but I would
definitely settle for a lower salary ceiling. I find people have a different
definition of fulfilling though, it seems to most people to he defined as work
having some sort of positive impact on society, but I really just want to work
on domains / problems I'm interested in.
------
shoo
> the primary goal for many [new professionals] becomes, in essence, getting
> compensated sufficiently for sidelining their original goals. Robert H.
> Frank, a Cornell University professor of economics, tried to find out
> exactly how much compensation people deem sufficient for making this
> sacrifice. He surveyed graduating seniors at his university and found, for
> example, that the typical student would rather work as an advertising
> copywriter for the American Cancer Society than an advertising copywriter
> for Camel cigarettes, and would want a salary 50% higher to do it for the
> cigarette company. The typical student would want conscience money amounting
> to a 17% salary boost to work as an accountant for a large petrochemical
> company instead of doing the same job for a large art museum.
\-- Schmidt's book Disciplined Minds, p 131
~~~
cm2012
I'd personally consider it more moral to work at a petrochemical company than
an art museum.
Petrochemicals - Creating energy, necessary for modern life and society.
Museum - Playground for the rich and tourists.
------
gshdg
I already do something I like, so not much.
That said, a FAANG or bank would pay twice as much, at least. And I’ve
deliberately avoided that out of preference for startups. So perhaps in that
sense I’ve already taken a 50% cut.
And only regret it when looking at time-to-retirement projections.
~~~
decafninja
What bank would pay close to a FAANG? Goldman is the only one that I think
could come close at the junior levels, but once you reach senior or above, I
doubt any can.
Maybe for some elite (and pretty rare) roles in niches like algo trading, but
I doubt the typical bank developer job pays as well as FAANG or other top tier
tech companies.
Some elite hedge funds or prop trading shops could match or even vastly exceed
FAANG comp, but then again, those jobs are both pretty rare, and their
interviews can be difficult enough to make FAANG interviews look easy.
~~~
gshdg
For management roles
------
askafriend
Depends on my asset base.
These days, I have a comfortable base of assets that generate growth/cash.
Because of that, I can afford to take jobs that index better on qualities
other than just pay.
------
sloaken
I would do 20%, but each persons number is based on how much they feel they
are paid beyond their need / want level.
Like you I do not care for my current job, but for a variety of reasons I am
stuck for the next 2.
There is an old saying 'Enjoy your job and you never work a day' (because you
are having fun). But if you are not meeting yours needs, then they become the
golden handcuffs that keep you working because you need the gold.
------
bryan11
What parts to you find fulfilling? One approach would be to assign a value to
aspects of a job you find fulfilling. This could include things like a short
commute, casual dress, flex hours, remote work, low politics, good/smart
coworkers, and challenging projects. For some challenging projects may be
worth a lot, for others remote work to be with family could have the highest
value.
------
decafninja
I work at an investment bank as a senior SWE. I'd take a paycut to work at a
FAANG or other upper-mid to top tech company. In fact, I'd be ecstatic to join
such a company as a junior or mid engineer - and the paycut (if there would be
any at all) would probably be very minor. Meanwhile the long term benefits
(monetary, skill, and career) would probably be far superior.
~~~
throw51319
In what ballpark are you making? I'm at an IB as a mid-level engineer and my
all-in compensation is at least half of what I could get a FAANG. In NYC.
~~~
decafninja
Ballpark TC of 150k, as a "vice president" individual contributor, team works
with the front office (trading desk). I'm in NYC too.
Probably could have made SVP/D/ED (the next level up, I think it's referred to
differently depending on bank) if I actually cared and made more of an effort.
Instead I choose to use that time and energy to do more leetcode.
------
oldsklgdfth
I wouldn't take a paycut currently. However, I would take a job without a
raise. I have found my personal equilibrium for effort vs income. I could make
more money, but it would be with significant more work and time spent.
30%-40% sounds like a lot. But it depends if you are sacrificing luxury or
saving and retirement.
The equation I used is: income = monthly expenses + savings + retirement fund.
------
trykondev
I'd happily take a 60% paycut if I could instead work full time directing my
independent game development company.
------
cpach
I would probably be willing to settle for 0.75x, if needed, and depending on
other benefits/ factors (e.g. if I would receive multiple job offers at the
same time etc.).
------
bedhesd
This is to assume you have the pay to cut!
------
giantg2
I have a family to support, so I can't afford any pay cut.
------
pryelluw
Why are you treating this as a financial problem?
------
corporateslave5
Just stack the money and invest it.
~~~
giantg2
I'm betting my retirement account in the market. Either I can retire someday
or i will be in the bread lines.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Plundervolt: An Attack on Intel's SGX - throw0101a
https://www.plundervolt.com
======
eyegor
All important caveats, for the lazy:
\- SGX is disabled by default, it has to be enabled for this exploit to be
relevant
\- POC requires privileged execution, at which point you can safely assume all
is already lost
A side note: anyone who has spent time around digital logic circuits will know
that messing with voltages will cause errors. If the power lines are too low
some transistors will not be able to switch their load. Or too high and you
will cause parasitic losses or capacitance in unexpected places. This is
actually a really nice attack to show off to people with an interest in
computer/electrical engineering because it demonstrates how a basic design
constraint can cascade in unexpected ways.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Behavioral science paper upends discipline - anigbrowl
http://northwestern.academia.edu/documents/0079/0481/Target_and_commentaries.pdf
======
shalmanese
This is, perhaps, the strongest introduction I've ever read to an academic
paper:
"In the tropical forests of New Guinea, the Etoro believe that for a boy to
achieve manhood he must ingest the semen of his elders. This is accomplished
through ritualized rites of passage that require young male initiates to
fellate a senior member (Herdt 1984/1993; Kelley 1980). In contrast, the
nearby Kaluli maintain that male initiation is only properly done by ritually
delivering the semen through the initiate’s anus,not his mouth. The Etoro
revile these Kaluli practices, finding them disgusting. "
~~~
VMG
Indeed. I couldn't go on reading after that because I had the feeling that the
article already climaxed (pun slightly intended)
------
randomwalker
The paper takes a long time to get to an illustration of its thesis, but the
very first example is stunning:
There are cultures in the world that are _completely unaffected_ by this
illusion - <http://goldmark.org/jeff/papers/ridley/html/img1.gif>
If something as basic as visual perception is so hugely affected by culture,
the paper asks, is there _any_ aspect of psychology that is not? How, then,
can we trust the conclusions of studies whose subjects are all drawn from the
same, highly unusual cultural group?
I'm glad I stuck with it until I got to this point. Now I _have_ to read the
rest of it.
~~~
gwern
I think the arrow thing may be idiosyncratic. I, as best I can recall, have
never seen the top arrow as being longer.
Things as important as mental visualization have been denied in all
seriousness by great intellectuals; are they lying or are they just different?
see <http://lesswrong.com/lw/dr/generalizing_from_one_example/>
------
mturmon
Here is a summary of this very long review article, as done by a Science
magazine summary I read:
"Although undergraduates from wealthy nations are numerous and willing
research subjects, psychologists are beginning to realize that they have a
drawback: They are WEIRDos. That is, they are people from Western, educated,
industrialized, rich, and democratic cultures. In a provocative review paper
published last week, a pair of researchers argues that WEIRDos aren't
representative of humans as a whole and that psychologists routinely use them
to make broad, and quite likely false, claims about what drives human
behavior."
~~~
cabalamat
Not only that, they are typically psychology students, which further narrows
down their typical ages and educational backgrounds.
------
anigbrowl
Please don't edit the title. 'WEIRD people:' references an acronym in the
paper's title (Western Educated Industrial Rich Democracies) which is
fundamental to the thesis presented.
~~~
phreeza
I posted this without editing the title a while back, went unnoticed...
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1506269>
~~~
petercooper
You didn't put in buzzwords like "behavioral," "science," or "paper."
------
shalmanese
I find the title on HN to be overly dramatic. There have been criticisms of
this bias for at least 40 years that I'm aware of. What this article does is
add more empirical nuance to this well-worn criticism but it's certainly not
upending anything.
------
siglesias
However, in the case of Behavioral Economics (in which I am a researcher) the
"generalizability" of such findings to the "human race" is something of a red
herring. Do you think Wal-Mart cares when they routinely take advantage of bad
depth judgments and sell cereal boxes that appear bigger when in fact they
just shrink the dimension not visible on the shelf? When they routinely offer
decoy options in stereos that make the more profitable option appear more
compelling? Guess what: consumer psychology, especially for our commercially
driven culture, is endlessley valuable.
Call it what you will, the WEIRD world is a big world--one whose laws and
economic assumptions have great impact on the rest of civilization. The goal
of behavioral economics isn't to generalize about the human race (although
several of its hypotheses do), but rather to inform sound policy (to not take
human rationality for granted, for example) and to help WEIRDOs better
understand their day-to-day decisions so that they can make better ones going
forward. I think that's a valuable program, don't you?
------
gwern
LessWrong coverage from last year:
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/17x/beware_of_weird_psychological_sa...](http://lesswrong.com/lw/17x/beware_of_weird_psychological_samples/)
------
all
This shows how little the basic Western mindset has changed from the days of
imperialism, colonies, and barbarian savages. I recall, in my anthropology
course of yore, encountering similar disparities between the WEIRD cultures
and whatever people group we were studying. Nobody ever thought to put
ourselves on the spectrum. It was always presented as 'us' vs 'them'. And 'we'
were always the right way to do things, of course. That being said, I'm glad
my culture didn't have such rituals for manhood.
------
wisty
I find the content of the article more interesting than the conclusion. A good
read on the differences between cultures.
------
Ardit20
Most psychology students would know about cultural differences and that you
can not generalise. In fact, when writing a paper the first criticism is that
generalisation should be made with caution because... and you list well pretty
much every variability in the data.
That said however, most psychology students are going to be working in the US
and apply their knowledge to the US population.
It was interesting however to read about the differences between students and
the general population.
I think one suggestion might be that rather than culture per se, it might be
that some societies are more evolved which could explain many of the
differences when comparing the west to the rest. Also, the focus of the paper
seems to be on trying to find universal processes, and probably after give a
just so evolutionary story for these processes. I do however think that
looking at how we have evolved is not much different than looking at history.
It might teach us of what was, but in very limited ways of what is.
It is a good paper though. It highlights that psychologists are a bit lazy and
do not do proper and thorough research but just create some theory and find
the minimum data needed to support it.
------
zyfo
Reminds me of the Pirahã 'One-Two-Many' language.
[http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6303-language-may-
shap...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6303-language-may-shape-human-
thought.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Watch How Every Dumb Tech Commercial Is Exactly the Same - davidedicillo
http://gizmodo.com/watch-how-every-f-cking-tech-commercial-is-exactly-the-1215821819?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
======
Defraties
Lol so true. Thanks for sharing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Launch HN: Substack (YC W18): Paid email newsletters made simple - cjbest
Hi HN, we’re Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, the founders of Substack (<a href="https://www.substack.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.substack.com</a>). We’ve built a tool that makes it simple for a writer to start a paid email newsletter. Sign up, connect to Stripe, and go. Our first publisher, Bill Bishop, writes a newsletter about China (<a href="https://nb.sinocism.com" rel="nofollow">https://nb.sinocism.com</a>) and got to six figures of annual revenue on his first day on Substack. Bill had been publishing Sinocism as a free newsletter for five years and had 30k subscribers. Now he can make a living from it.<p>Hamish is a journalist who has done everything from writing about indie music in Hong Kong to being lead writer for Tesla. We bonded over our shared love of reading when he worked at Kik, where Chris was the technical co-founder. Last summer, Chris was taking time off and asked Hamish to read an essay he was trying to write about the incentive structures of social media for writers, and how growing outrage and polarization was making it hard to have reasonable conversations. At the same time, we both loved Ben Thompson’s newsletter, Stratechery, which was doing really well off paid subscriptions. We wondered: what if it were easier for writers to start something like that? That felt more like a company than an essay, and so one thing led to another...<p>An example of a Substack newsletter you might enjoy is Versioning (<a href="https://versioning.substack.com" rel="nofollow">https://versioning.substack.com</a>), a daily reading list for web developers and designers. We also recommend Mallory Ortberg’s The Shatner Chatner (<a href="https://www.shatnerchatner.com" rel="nofollow">https://www.shatnerchatner.com</a>) and Helena Fitzgerald’s Griefbacon (<a href="https://griefbacon.substack.com" rel="nofollow">https://griefbacon.substack.com</a>).<p>The product is still in a pretty early phase but we’ve just launched our self-serve beta, where anyone can create a newsletter, free or paid: <a href="https://www.substack.com/beta-signup" rel="nofollow">https://www.substack.com/beta-signup</a>. At this stage, it’s completely free until you start charging, in which case we take a fee: 10% for people who start during the beta.<p>We know a lot of folks on HN care about this stuff too, so we’re keen to hear your feedback. Also: if you know any writers you’d be happy to pay to read (or if that’s you), we’d love to hear about that too.
======
onassar
Very cool idea Chris & Hamish A friend of mine runs "what happened last week?"
([http://whathappenedlastweek.com/](http://whathappenedlastweek.com/)). She's
got a journalism and economics background, and has a subscriber list of about
2,800 people, but has been struggling to find a way to monetize it. Would
something like that be a good fit for your platform?
~~~
cjbest
Oh awesome! I see
> Stay well-informed about the world each week with clear and concise
> summaries of important news ...
That sounds like an exactly perfect fit for Substack. We've seen that if you
have a committed newsletter following (look at open rates and reader comments)
that loves it, up to 10% of your list might pay pretty quickly if you just
asked them. Depending how they think they could price it could be worth over
$1000 month to start. Of course, this depends on the audience etc.
If they want to do it, it's a simple as signing up, connecting Stripe, and
importing the existing list. They can send out a 'free' post saying that the
newsletter is going paid, and it will go to that list, and come baked with
calls to action to subscribe and stuff.
We've done a couple of these now and would be happy to help. Feel free to
point them to 'chris' or 'hamish' at substack.com
~~~
vram22
>That sounds like an exactly perfect fit for Substack. We've seen that if you
have a committed newsletter following (look at open rates and reader comments)
It would be good if you could put a list of supported features on the signup
page. As of now I do not see it. Will let signuppers know what they will get.
I am going to sign up and try it anyway.
~~~
cjbest
Thanks, that’s good feedback. And glad you’re signing up!
We’ll continue to make it better as quickly as we can.
------
csallen
You should come on Indie Hackers and do an interview in a few months. I'm
constantly telling friends to start newsletters. Would love to see how this
works out and learn the details behind the scenes wrt to marketing and growth.
~~~
cjbest
Oh we would love that!
------
shripadk
> in which case we take a fee: 10% for people who start during the beta.
Why take a cut from the publisher? Why not instead open up access to the
publishers via a marketplace on your site so people/companies can sponsor the
mailing lists? You can take a cut from the sponsor for having given the
opportunity to introduce them to publisher(s) that cater to their market. It's
a win-win-win for the potential sponsors(advertisers), the publishers as well
as Substack. As a sponsor, I would have immediate market access through these
publishers who cater to my niche. As a publisher, I would have outsourced the
task of attracting sponsors and managing sponsor timelines to Substack so I
can focus more on creating content and expanding my mailing list. As Substack,
you wouldn't have to annoy your publishers by taking a cut and instead carry
over your fee to be paid by sponsors/advertisers. A bonus would be allowing
your publishers to carry over their existing sponsors to use your system which
would possibly attract a huge populace of publishers who are currently
manually micro-managing their existing sponsors and timelines instead of
focusing on creating content.
~~~
internet_jockey
Hey, this is Hamish from Substack. Thanks for this! We think this is a great
idea and it's certainly something we're considering for the future. But in the
meantime, the point of a 10% cut is that it specifically does not annoy
publishers. In fact, it aligns our incentives with theirs – we only make money
when they make money. When we established Substack, we wanted to get away from
an ad model in which publishers had reason to favor ad-centric content
strategies over reader-centric ones. We're attempting to create an environment
where writers no longer have to worry about doing things that please
advertisers. They should be focused only on doing things that please their
readers. To us, that's a better way forward for the media. Taking a 10% cut is
a substantial ask, but it is one that writers have so far been receptive to.
~~~
shripadk
Ah sorry! Yes you are right! Now that I re-read your text, I realized I
misunderstood your business model. Maybe my suggestion sits well with those
who are running free newsletters on Substack (who will have some form of
regular income through sponsors). I notice that you are taking a fee from
those who are running paid newsletters. That makes complete sense.
~~~
internet_jockey
Thanks, much appreciated. Yes, free newsletters don't have any charges. No
subscriber limits, either.
~~~
a13n
Do you have a "Powered by Substack" somewhere in your free/paid newsletters?
Our product is also exposed to our customers' customers, so this has been a
huge growth driver for us. Similar story for Statuspage, Intercom, etc.
~~~
internet_jockey
Just as a link in the footer. Substack is also in the domain name, though.
Thanks for the advice!
~~~
hacheka
So every newsletter is sent through the same domain? Aren't you afraid of one
newsletter affecting the reputación of another one?
------
trevmckendrick
This is the future: [https://stratechery.com/2017/the-faceless-
publisher/](https://stratechery.com/2017/the-faceless-publisher/)
~~~
cjbest
Thanks, love this. We think Ben Thompson is right about a lot of stuff, and he
is definitely a big inspiration.
------
raleigh_user
How easy is it to export your subscribers if you do choose to leave? I have a
few hundred people on my list and have learned (the hard way)to not migrate
without knowing this
~~~
ryanwaggoner
The _actual_ hard part when switching from something like this is migrating
user accounts (users will be forced to reset their passwords, which is lame),
order history, and active subscriptions so that you can seamlessly continue
billing your paying users.
And at 10%, you're definitely going to want to migrate at some point if you
succeed, so keep this in mind.
------
vram22
Consider connecting Substack to other payment providers too, if not now, after
you get to some sales and profitability, since Stripe is only available in
some countries as of now. This is a common and perennial issue with many
startups, whether US-based or other. I'm aware that it can be a lot of work,
due to different and complex government regulations and legal paperwork needed
for different countries, but it can lead to growth of the startup too.
~~~
waytogo
Second this. While I love Stripe's API, Braintree/Paypal driven checkouts have
higher conversions just because of Paypal.
------
somberi
Would have liked to see a "gallery" of writing that I can subscribe to. Sort
of like how ecommerce platforms have a list of stores that were built on this
platform.
On a side note, I like how you have written the body of this post. Not to
mention a very useful product.
~~~
internet_jockey
Thank you very much. Yes, good suggestion. We are thinking about how to do
something like this. Any ideas?
------
radley
I think subdomain user accounts are going to be an issue over the long term.
~~~
radley
Also, you guys should make a better blacklist for account names. I was able to
claim "blog.substack.com". (It's ok to delete that account).
[https://github.com/marteinn/The-Big-Username-
Blacklist](https://github.com/marteinn/The-Big-Username-Blacklist)
~~~
cjbest
Ahh thanks. I hope you don’t mind if we boot that one.
How do you foresee sub domains being a problem otherwise?
~~~
radley
SEO will see each account as a separate domain, so your primary site ranking
will be low. Further, there's too many ways for user subdomains to be mistaken
or conflict with company products and promotions. It's usually best to reserve
subdomains for company needs — you never know what you'll need 5-10 years from
now.
~~~
amasad
It's also a potential cross-domain attack vector if you let your users insert
arbitrary code. See, for example, why github pages was switched from `.com` to
`.io`: [https://github.com/blog/1452-new-github-pages-domain-
github-...](https://github.com/blog/1452-new-github-pages-domain-github-io)
~~~
cjbest
All really good points. Thanks for the feedback.
------
dglass
Looks great! I just signed up and connected my stripe account. After reading
the welcome email I tried disconnecting my stripe account from the dashboard
so I could start out with a free newsletter. I couldn't figure out how to do
it so I ended up revoking access in my stripe dashboard. Now it just says
Stripe account: <loading..> on my substack dashboard.
I'd like to start writing but I want to be sure that I can connect my stripe
account again in the future. Any ideas?
~~~
cjbest
Ahh that’s a really good point. You may be the first to disconnect Stripe. I
will make sure this works.
Email me your account details if you’d like. Chris at Substack dot com
------
danr4
I really like the simplicity of this. I think it doesn't really need more
"killer" features. What's the vision in the long run aside from growth?
~~~
cjbest
Thanks! We’ve had (paying, highly engaged) users report that they like there
is nothing to think about.
One thing in future that’s really exciting to us is the idea of building
community, and using the paid barrier as a way to solve a whole bunch of the
problems that normally come with that. Some writers have slacks, and people
who follow a niche writer often delight to meet each other.
Need to find a way to keep it just as simple though.
------
phoenix24
congratulations on the launch.
I love the fact the product is so minimal at the moment, that it opens doors
for real user feedback; I've been wanting to make something similar for a long
time now, but was always stuck in the feature loop.
would be great, if others could comment on the MVP or Launch Early nature of
Substack.
~~~
internet_jockey
Yes, thank you, we love this feedback. We are trying to keep the product as
simple as possible.
------
masukomi
i'm not seeing any mention of trials for users.
let's assume i'm using this and churning out valuable content every week / day
/ whatever.
Someone hears about my thing and thinks "that sounds nifty. Not sure it's
worth $x a month though"
I'd want some way for folks to be able to "try before you buy" let them get
some specified number of newsletters before the system says "hey, you've been
reading this newsletter for Y weeks now but we're at the end of your trial.
<compelling message from author> To keep receiving this letter please
<initiate payment process>."
~~~
cjbest
Thanks, that’s a good idea.
The way we try to handle that now is by having an option for writers to write
free posts - which are visible to anybody, and get emailed to non-paying
subscribers. That way you can get a sense of the writing before committing
(and regular readers are the ones who subscribe anyway...)
You’re right that that doesn’t let you “preview” the paid content though.
We’ll think about that.
~~~
masukomi
yeah, free posts is ok, but with many newsletter topics they can quickly
become dated and irrelevant and authors are unlikely to go back and regularly
update them if they're also regularly writing a newsletter.
overall i really like the idea and i agree with one of the other commenters
who says you don't really need many more features.
------
vram22
Always a good idea to mention why the name of the product.
~~~
cjbest
We are a Stack for Subscription publishing.
~~~
vram22
Got it now, thanks.
------
jonathanehrlich
This is a great idea.
------
douglascorrea
Hey Cris, I really like your product/idea. I was thought about it year ago
when I found [https://www.getrevue.co](https://www.getrevue.co). Which is a
plataform for create a newsletter from curating content from Web. So, if you
implement it on Substack, I'm sure it will be huge plus for the product, since
multiple influencers could generate more income with their "weekly bookmarks"
or something like that.
~~~
anant90
Revue is awesome! Thanks for making it.
------
ryanwaggoner
Looks interesting, but 10% is _really_ steep to me.
That’s just going to heavily incentivize your most successful users to bail. I
run a five figure paid email service and I’m using a membership management
service that charges flat fee plus 2%, and it annoys me every month. I’ll be
replacing them this year. Membership billing plus a synced email list on
Mailchimp is really commodity at this point. Doesn’t make any sense to pay a
percentage of revenue.
If it was 10%, I’d replace them this week.
I may get pushback because there’s a contingent of people on here who
basically seem to think that ever worrying about price for software and
services is the wrong move. I think that’s pretty stupid when you’re a small
company. It’s stupidly easy for a lot of small companies who are paying
hundreds or thousands per month in recurring subscriptions to shave 20-30%
off. If you’re a solo founder, that’s a huge increase in your personal bottom
line.
EDIT: I'm probably coming across as too negative here, so let me add a few
thoughts:
1\. You built something useful, launched it, and have paying customers. That's
HUGE and puts you ahead of 99% of "startups" so congrats :)
2\. I strongly believe in the power of paid publishing and email marketing (it
drives almost 100% of my income these days), and I think more cool tools and
platforms in this space is excellent. This is the kind of thing that I would
use.
My only real issue is just that I think what you're doing with the pricing
model is shooting yourself in the foot (since it incentivizes people to switch
away) AND it's unfair to users (since switching away is REALLY hard, and you
probably know that and are counting on it to some extent).
Maybe charge flat + fee up to a cap? It'd be really comforting to know that
I'd never pay more than $495 / month for this or something, and that would
only be once I hit $10k / month in revenue or whatever.
~~~
gkoberger
You're also (I presume) an engineer. Most writers don't have the skills to
build something like this.
One way to look at it is "I'm losing 10%". Another way is "I'm now making 90%
I couldn't have otherwise made."
~~~
ryanwaggoner
You don't have to build this. There are tons of membership management plugins
and platforms out there, pretty much all integrate with Stripe, and most of
them will keep a mailchimp list in sync so you can easily send emails to just
your paying members.
EDIT: I also hate the logic of "meh, fees don't matter, my revenue would be
zero otherwise!!" It's not true (you have other cheaper alternatives), but
even if it was, doesn't that mean you should be fine paying 99% in fees to
platforms and credit cards and whoever else? After all, 1% is better than
0%!!!"
~~~
tschwimmer
There's actually a pretty interesting behavioral economics point to be made
here. From a purely rational standpoint, you would choose to make 1% over 0%,
because it's 1% more than you otherwise would have made. In practice, humans
have a "fuck you" threshold above which they feel taken advantage of and
refuse to cooperate. Check out the idealized economics experiment version of
this which is called the Ultimatum Game:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimatum_game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimatum_game)
~~~
ryanwaggoner
I do find this super interesting as a pure behavioral economics question, but
this situation is a bit more complicated. There's actual work to be done for
this revenue, other costs you have to manage, opportunity costs for any
capital you have invested, and the risk that you'll actually make enough at
the end of the day for it to be worth it :)
------
amirathi
Neat idea. As a reader, I would also find it useful as a discovery tool for
interesting newsletter.
~~~
cjbest
Thanks! That's a great idea, especially now that people can create lots of
these.
I wonder what would be the ideal format for that? It could give you a list of
newsletters and their descriptions, with some popularity signals or
something.. It might be better to surface the free content though. Maybe "here
are some recent free issues by newsletters you might enjoy." Just thinking out
loud...
~~~
fovc
What if you let authors tag their newsletters with topics and then let readers
browse by topic?
~~~
cjbest
That’s a great idea. Could help existing readers find things similar to stuff
they already like. Thanks!
------
rokhayakebe
I love this. Anyway one can embed the subscription form in their website?
Branding reasons.
~~~
cjbest
Oh that’s a great idea. I will put it on our roadmap.
Currently you would need to link to the main page which has a subscribe form,
but doing and embedded form would be much better.
------
fiatjaf
Honest question: do people actually pay for reading a newsletter?
~~~
internet_jockey
Fair question. The short answer is "hell yes." We already have writers on
Substack making a lot of money with their newsletters. For instance, our first
publisher, Bill Bishop, told the WSJ that he's making more money from his
newsletter than he ever made from a corporate salary (he's a former exec and
serial entrepreneur). Ben Thompson of Stratechery has many thousands of
subscribers paying at least $100 a year. We can't share the private data of
other publishers, but we have enough info to confidently state, that, yes,
many people are happy to pay for newsletters.
------
tkone
The creator of browserify is gonna hate your name
~~~
benatkin
I wonder if they'll have twitter hand the name over. Twitter certainly isn't
above doing that.
------
hockeybias
Chris and Hamish,
Do you have anyone using Substack for a 'news aggregation' sort of newsletter?
I am curious.
I have written software that makes it simple for me to curate ice hockey news
and place links and article summaries on
[http://HockeyBias.com](http://HockeyBias.com) every morning. I have been
thinking of providing the data in an email newsletter as well.
Thank you.
~~~
cjbest
Ooh hockey!
Curation with commentary can be very valuable. That's a lot of what Bill
Bishop does with Sinocism
([https://nb.sinocism.com/](https://nb.sinocism.com/))
If you can do a roundup that lets people stay up to date in a way they find
valuable, it could definitely be a good idea. I'd encourage you to try it as a
free newsletter on Substack and see if you can get people reading it regulary!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Intel Budgets $300M for Diversity - ismavis
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/07/technology/intel-budgets-300-million-for-diversity.html
======
reefoctopus
Itll cost them much more in the long run. Why hire anyone other than the most
qualified?
These policies are trying to correct an imbalance which is based on self
selection rather than discrimination and are themselves discriminatory.
~~~
karmajunkie
Because "the most qualified" is an inherently biased proposition. The idea of
an objective evaluation of that question is laughable on its face.
~~~
rewqfdsa
Bullshit. You can get away with that sophistry in other fields, but not tech.
The compiler doesn't care about your feelings. Memory safety is not a social
construct. GPU command pipes have finite bandwidth, even if you call them
tools of the patriarchy.
In our field, skill is definitely subject to "objective evaluation", and some
people are vastly more skilled than others. That's why tech is so problematic
to social justice types: their usual techniques don't work, for mother nature
cannot be fooled.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Do you expect interviewees to “ace” whiteboard coding exercises? - curtis
I know that whiteboard coding exercises are in low regard these days, but as someone who's currently looking for a job, I can say they're still widely used. I personally never had a problem with being asked to write code on a whiteboard as part of an interview. Partly because it used to be understood that the point of the exercise was not to write runnable and correct code, rather it was simply to convince the interviewer that under ordinary circumstances (access to an actual computer, sufficient time) that you <i>could</i> produce code that was both runnable and correct.<p>However, the last three whiteboard coding exercises I've done (two at Facebook and one at a small startup) seemed to be judged much more harshly than what I'm used too. I don't think I "aced" any of them, but had I been interviewing somebody that performed at the same level, I would have said "good enough" and passed the person along for further consideration.<p>Now some extra information: All three interviews were in Seattle, two of the interviewers for sure were ex-Amazon people (which I mention because I think it might be relevant), and I managed to get hired at Microsoft back in the 90s and at Google in the mid-2000s. I was <i>not</i> hired at Amazon back in 2002-ish, however.<p>So anyway, I'm wondering: Have I just not been doing as well as these interviews as I think, or has the industry moved the goal posts on me?
======
time_is_scary
1\. Everyone will say they want to "see how you think"
2\. You will not get an offer if you do not get a solution
3\. Everyone ever: "White board interviews can be awful, but my company
actually does a pretty good a job and I find them useful."
edit: for a slightly less snarky comment (and to expand on point 2)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9522400](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9522400)
~~~
davelnewton
#2 is demonstrably wrong.
~~~
time_is_scary
Of course there will be exceptions, but, given two candidates, the one who did
better will get the offer. At big tech companies there is no shortage of
people who ace a white-board problem.
Also, if you interview with multiple people for a position (and do multiple
white-board problems) you can get an offer without acing _all_ of them.
~~~
davelnewton
Well yeah, but that's not what it said. I've had the occasional _complete_
whiteboard disaster (not really my thing) that ended up with offers, including
pools where people _did_ bang-up whiteboard work.
There's a lot more at play in any reasonable place than whiteboard
performance.
------
tfigueroa
I don't expect interviewees to "ace" whiteboard coding exercises, because the
point of my questions isn't to answer the question: it's to see how you solve
problems. Do you ask smart questions before writing anything? Do you put
something down and then refine it? Do you handle errors? Do you understand the
performance, maintenance, and testability implications of what you've written?
That's what I'm looking for you to answer.
Then again, I work at Pandora, so this is probably an outdated approach...
~~~
brettlangdon
This isn't an outdated approach at all. It is how I conduct my coding
interviews and how I have been interviewed in the past.
------
strict9
I don't understand how whiteboard algorithm challenges with a curveball or
brain teasers are any indication of a developer's value add. Why would you not
pair program with the candidate, and give them resources that are normally
available to software developers? Memories are formed or helped by
relationships (see mnemonics) and when you remove all context you're getting
only a narrow view. You can "see how they think" by working with actual code.
It seems like the biggest players complaining about the lack of native tech
talent in the US are the ones who give the worst tech interviews.
~~~
davelnewton
Brain-teasers aren't overly helpful, IMO, unless they're directly related to
stuff the company does.
For example, I had an odd one that addressed solution search space, how to
short-cut going through the entire space, etc. Definitely a brain-teaser, and
not something 99% of developers have likely dealt with--but relevant.
------
bnejad
Despite the sentiments of "they just want to see how you think" or "you don't
have to get it right", in my experience if you don't do fairly well on the
whiteboard you've failed the interview.
~~~
curtis
I think this partly depends on how hard the coding question is. If they give
you FizzBuzz, I think you're pretty much required to ace it, even if you've
never seen it. FizzBuzz is really simple though.
At Facebook I was getting I guess what you'd call classic algorithm questions
but with an extra twist thrown in. If you combine that twist with excessive
time restrictions (the Facebook interviews were strictly 45 minutes), you not
only have to code well, you have to do it fast. On an algorithm that they
appear to be hoping you've never seen before.
~~~
soham
Yeah, that hope from them is baseless. Truth is, you're competing with
candidates who have practiced a lot. They know it, and candidates know it too.
I'll re-iterate: Technical interviews are a competition. You cannot go
unprepared. Testing your "raw" skill is stupid and a myth. It's as stupid as
saying you want to see Usain Bolt (and everyone else) compete without
practice. Those days are gone.
~~~
Margh
What they are describing is putting Usain Bolt at the beginning of an obstacle
course and then saying he's not an Olympic level athlete when he trips on a
tire.
~~~
davelnewton
What you're forgetting is that most developers, as with most athletes, aren't
competing at the international level.
------
soham
Whiteboard or not, in any interview, you are judged relative to performance of
other candidates. At very coveted places like FB, they don't have a dearth of
candidates. i.e. Even if you did "good enough", very likely they'll find
someone who "aced" the same question on the whiteboard. (We're not debating
whether that's right judgment or not, but from their perspective, it's
justifiable).
Having said that, I believe that your hunch is also correct viz. tech
interviews for core roles at good companies these days, are more competitive
than ever. Compared to say 10-15 years ago, the variety of interview problems
is higher, complexity of software has increased, and the value of an engineer
is understood to be higher ($Millions in equity). All that is contributing to
moving of the goal post.
(Source: several years of doing this, now running an interview training course
for a living [http://InterviewKickstart.com](http://InterviewKickstart.com)).
~~~
EliRivers
_the value of an engineer is understood to be higher ($Millions in equity)_
This would be at hip, happening startups in which you take a gamble on awful
pay and terrible hours in the hope of being the unicorn, is it? Because in the
vast majority of coding jobs, you're not worth millions.
~~~
IndianAstronaut
Even at my small CRUD software company, there are 8 devs for a company
bringing in $14million a year in revenue. That is certainly skirting the
million range.
~~~
EliRivers
How many secretaries are there? By this reasoning, if there's one secretary,
that secretary is worth millions.
~~~
davelnewton
And if they're any good, they probably are.
------
serve_yay
No, I don't do them at all. Stop telling people to code on the whiteboard for
god's sake
------
eranation
My two cents: (not hiring for a well known west coast company, but still)
This is how I rank candidates. Let's say for a common question such as lowest
common ancestor in a BST.
1\. if they know the solution already and tell me they know it - major points,
most interview prep books include it and they came prepared and they are also
honest. I let them implement it still (and add some twist of my own)
2\. If they don't know the solution and still figure it out, might even score
higher, but people can "act" that they know it and some interviewed will fall
for it. I want to believe I catch bad actors but can't say I can catch good
ones. In any case if this is a question that appears in an interview prep
book, I would expect them to know it (most people don't)
3\. If they don't manage to implement it correctly, this is the biggest turn
off. You CAN write correct whiteboard code if you WANT. I'm not with a
stopwatch. If you don't then I consider it as sloppiness (more than "you can't
code")
4\. How you talk and behave - most important. If you can't figure it out
yourself but ask me questions, if you try a simpler problem first, if you talk
and explain what you are doing, if you run your ideas with me asking what I
think, if you are determined to figure it out, ask for hints and immediately
understand them and get this "aha" moment of how didn't I think of it rather
than oh sucks I didn't think of it. If you are excited about the solution more
than the fact I gave you hints for it, then I'd like to work with you. Asking
questions is so important. Also not arguing with the interviewer and being a
nice person really helps. I prefer shyness to overconfidence. Arrogance is an
immediate no. Asking questions leads many times to a yes. Even if you didn't
ace.
Bottom line with the existence of books courses and forums that list so many
interview questions (some are on algorithms that took several years to
develop) so knowing the solution is likely to be known from a book means you
are not tested on your academic algorithmic development skills, you are tested
on implementing something you read on CtCI with a twist perhaps. If anyone
reads CtCI then interviews will just become harder.
~~~
kenrikm
This is just my opinion, but If you're asking questions that can be found in
"interview prep books" you're doing it wrong. Why not just ask questions that
can be found by you know.. actually having experience developing software?
~~~
eranation
I do that too, but this type of questions serve two purposes. If they know it,
I know that they do research before they approach a project, see what was done
before, and take life seriously. Also it shows that they can learn something
and actually implement it. Unless they memorized the solution, I can learn if
they can actually code, not just talk. Second if someone didn't know that
question, it still shows how they think and behave. I usually leave these to
the end, but it's not always easy to come up with experience related questions
that differentiate good candidates from great candidates. Think of it this
way, most of the day you don't need the skills tested in the interview, just
like in college usually you don't need the stuff they test in SATs, right? You
still need to find the right candidate somehow. Asking them about more
practical / knowledge based questions is much harder. People come from
different backgrounds. Also most people will know well basic software
engineering questions. I'm left off with basic CS stuff (data structures and
algorithms) to really find the difference point. My experience shows that
great SEs will know to answer, not so great ones, won't. No explanation why.
Perhaps great ones want to learn more than they need for their job. Good ones
just do their jobs well. But when something new comes, or if they need to
improve a slow algorithm, they give it up. Seen it happen many times to great
"craftsmen" they can code CRUD and UI very well, but they can write an
algorithm out of a paper bag. Sometimes this is exactly what I am looking for
in a candidate. Depends on the role.
------
rhgraysonii
Maybe I'm an edge case, but I have never once had to deal with a whiteboarding
session in a single interview I have been in. Though, this is obviously a
small sample. I've worked at one startup, largely contracted otherwise, and am
just now looking to join another.
Largely my experience has been 1/2 to full day pair programming sessions,
building a sample application that does something reasonably nontrivial, or a
combination of these two.
I really personally enjoy this practice. Even though a day of billed hours is
a large opportunity cost, so is the expense of potentially hiring a bad fit
for the team. It goes both ways.
------
crdb
I used to (and, a few years ago, turned away smart people who failed them),
but realized they were the wrong test for a small company. I switched
initially to getting people to complete a task in their own time with the
resources they liked and send us the code, and now entirely on network (i.e.
who our CTO has already worked with and knows).
Big companies can't afford that luxury though. If big companies set tasks, the
tasks would eventually leak because of the sheer number of people applying
(both per position and over time). By necessity, you need the same task for
all candidates to compare them effectively (ours was "build an inventory
management system in Haskell for shoes", and we checked for things like
documenting code, error management, and the sensible shortcuts someone might
take), so you can't switch tasks around, and people will eventually learn what
you like, work hard at faking the knowledge (e.g. copying and lightly
modifying the code from other applicants), and you'll get loads of false
positives.
So a big company needs to find relatively generalist questions that correlate
roughly with later performance, and it seems that whiteboard CS questions are
those by testing existing knowledge; through the sheer breadth of the
exercise, it's a lot more time consuming to "revise" to fake that knowledge,
and harder when on the spot to prove understanding. Are algorithm (and, less
often mentioned, "fit") questions relevant to the job, maybe not, but you have
to see the context and the hiring problem facing Microsoft or Google.
Of course, my opinion is that smaller companies asking whiteboard questions
are just aping what they know from Google (as I was) and that there are better
ways to hire when you have only 10 employees and 2 openings, but I might be
wrong or at a local optimum.
I certainly regret not hiring a certain Masters in Statistics from Columbia
who was very competent but who wasn't familiar with neural nets and admitted
so in the interview/whiteboard... she'd have saved me at least 3 months on
things I had to build later! Conversely, I later hired a guy who failed some
of the whiteboard questions, but said it had caused him to learn more about
the topic, which he did over a few months, at which point he came back to us,
demonstrated competence and got an offer.
~~~
liquidcool
I agree with the work sample test. In similar threads, some found cheaters,
but the followup interview exposed them because they can't speak about the
process and solution cogently. I imagine that if you look at enough, just
reading them will allow you to spot cheaters, and having so many applicants
will provide a good selection ethical developers. And a short contract-to-hire
or probation period should deal with any who get through.
~~~
crdb
The other issue with judging sample code is the sheer amount of time it takes.
The two of us took around 3 months (full time, effectively, doing nothing
else) to select, interview and make offers to around 10 employees out of a
pool of over 100 qualified applicants.
You can sort of understand why companies try to develop less time consuming
methods, and why experienced developers prefer to hire from their network...
~~~
liquidcool
Thanks for the data on the evaluation time. 9-10 hours per applicant is
nontrivial, I agree. If you've worked with someone shoulder to shoulder, I can
also see that being as effective. The problem I hear is that depending on the
experience and number of the founding team, they can exhaust their network
quickly.
Peopleware has the idea of auditions, and I thought if you were clear about
what you wanted, applicants would be comparable. I'm thinking, "Walk us
through a project you did that demonstrates your knowledge of code quality."
Or similar, with a clear list of what you're hoping to see.
------
ska
For what it's worth, I think whiteboard coding exercises can be quite useful,
if they are done right. And a complete waste of time if not.
Here "done right" means something like: used as a way to explore problem
solving and logic with the candidate.
So in this light, I wouldn't expect anyone to "ace" a problem, but I would
expect them to be able to say sensible things about whatever they try and to
understand and discuss how to correct issues or alternatives if they are
pointed out.
------
msrpotus
I don't do whiteboard interviews but something similar (I'm in marketing). I'm
not looking for people to ace the interviews, though obviously, it doesn't
hurt. Instead, I'm looking for people who will be able to perform with
training. They don't need to be perfect already and I don't expect them to be
perfect. Instead, I expect candidates to have the basics down so that once
they learn how we operate, they'll be able to perform.
------
hlmencken
It really depends on the position and the problem. For entry development
positions we will give simple tasks that can be 'aced' with any meaningful
understanding of (web) development. Oftentimes more complex whiteboard
exercises aren't even completed(they could take a long time, but used
similarly to ensure problems are approached in an experienced manner.
------
aaron695
> I know that whiteboard coding exercises are in low regard these days
I wouldn't say this. The hive mind holds them in low regard perhaps, but
people hiring have to actually get the job done and in different companies
different approaches are possible.
Why do you think it was the whiteboard? Perhaps you were just up against a
really good candidate pool.
------
TimLeland
I believe you should be able to use a computer because that's what they will
be using day to day. Check out
[http://fizzbuzzer.com/](http://fizzbuzzer.com/). It allows you to send
interview challenges to test a candidate.
~~~
brettlangdon
Neat. I have used a few different tools in the past.
[https://code.stypi.com/](https://code.stypi.com/) \- shared code editor in
the browser
Just use hangouts (we are using [https://appear.in/](https://appear.in/) now,
much better) and have them screenshare with you, this will allow them to use
their own editor and setup and make them feel more comfortable.
~~~
TimLeland
brettlangdon try [http://fizzbuzzer.com/](http://fizzbuzzer.com/) and let me
know what you think.
------
sharemywin
what type of work are you looking for?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How do you deal with information overload? - ryanwaggoner
http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/10/how-do-you-deal-with-information-overload/
======
thewordpainter
it's funny that i would answer twitter because as much as twitter funnels
interesting things from my network to me, it also brings all kinds of articles
that i'd love to read, but just don't have ample time!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How to store user/pass securely in the browser? - geuis
I'm working on a web app that will let the user interface with a 3rd party site via my service. In order for my service to utilize the API of the 3rd party, it requires the username and password for each individual user's account. I don't want to store people's private information on my service though. Not only do I feel personally uncomfortable doing that when other services want me to, and I don't want to be like that, I don't want to be in a position where someone potentially hacking my service can get all of my users' info.<p>I will have SSL setup for all communications between the user's browser and my service, and the API servers for the 3rd party are also via SSL.<p>I know I can very easily store the user's U/P in a cookie on their local machine(s), but that in itself presents security problems for them.<p>So, I need to be able to store the U/P <i>somewhere</i>. I don't want to make it so the user has to retype their info every single time they use my service, because it then reduces the click-and-go functionality of my service to zero.<p>What's the best approach in this kind of situation? Am I missing something obvious, or do I just have to bite the bullet and take the least-onerous option that's available?
======
cperciva
First, I think the idea of you making API requests using your users'
credentials is a bad one from the start. If the third party in question wants
to allow requests-on-behalf-of, they should provide a proper API for it; if
not, you shouldn't be working against their wishes by impersonating your
users.
That said, if you really really have to do this: Have your users provide you
with their username and password; generate a random symmetric encryption key;
store (username, encrypted password) on your systems and send (username,
encryption key) to the user as a cookie.
This will give you safety against an attacker who can steal your database or
the user's cookies; it won't give you any protection against an attacker who
can steal both of those (that would impossible), nor will it give you any
protection against an attacker who controls your server at a time when a user
tries to use your service (again, that would be impossible).
But I still think this is a really bad idea.
~~~
jrockway
_First, I think the idea of you making API requests using your users'
credentials is a bad one from the start. If the third party in question wants
to allow requests-on-behalf-of, they should provide a proper API for it; if
not, you shouldn't be working against their wishes by impersonating your
users._
This is true, but unfortunately we live in the real world, and hacks are
sometimes necessary. Look at Mint.com, for example. Give some site all your
banking details? WHOA THERE. But it turns out the service is very useful, and
it works with pretty much every bank. If they had waited for proper APIs to
exist, someone else would have beaten them to market.
------
simonw
If you can convince the third party site to adopt OAuth, do that.
Otherwise, one technique you could use is to encrypt their password using a
key derived from a hash of the password they enter. When they log in, set that
hash as their cookie. Each time you need to use the third party password, read
that cookie and use it to decrypt the stored password.
Since you don't know their real password for your own app (as you only store a
different hash of it), you won't be able to derive the hash used for the
decryption process (note that this means you need to store a hash of their
password for your own authentication using a different salt from the one you
use to protect their encryption).
With this technique, having access to your database is not enough to decrypt
their third-party password.
Unfortunately none of this resolves the root problem. Firstly, by asking users
to trust you with their passwords for other sites you are teaching them to be
phished. Secondly, if you turn evil (or someone evil acquires your site in
some way) the server-side logic can be changed to steal the user's password.
~~~
tptacek
Don't do this: do what Colin said. Let k be 32 random bytes (using your OS's
_secure random number generator_ ), store AES-256-CBC(k, [user, pass]), send k
in a cookie over HTTPS with the "secure" flag set (that "k" is password-
equivalent, and can't leak over an HTTP connection).
Repeating Colin's caveat: the fact that you had to type "A-E-S" into your code
to make the scheme work is strong evidence that you are doing something bad.
------
Herring
Store it encrypted on their computer then decrypt it each time it's sent to
you? Maybe I'm missing the problem.
One way or another you're going to have to hold it as plaintext to submit it
to the other site. It's nice to hold it only in RAM, but the vulnerability is
always there.
~~~
bbb
Exactly, and use public key crypto:
1) Generate public/private key pair for user.
2) Send public key to client.
3) Encrypt PW on client, store as cookie.
4) Store (user, private key) on your server.
5) Client now sends the encrypted PW whenever it is needed.
6) Server decrypts on demand, but does not store a local copy.
Since you never relinquish the private key this is pretty much unbreakable for
spyware going through a client's cookies. (Nevermind key loggers...)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GPS directs driver to death in Spain's largest reservoir - fun2have
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/04/gps-driver-death-spanish-reservoir
======
Tichy
Doesn't make sense. It must have been a bad driver. What if they had been on
the correct road, but something suddenly appeared on the road in front of them
(deer, or a broken car, tree that fell over the road, whatever)? They
shouldn't have been going so fast that they had no time to react.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Emulating Nvidia GPUs [video] - exDM69
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=650yVg9smfI
======
exDM69
Here's two videos from a guided tour to Nvidia's labs.
Part 2:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRz_CG3DZb4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRz_CG3DZb4)
Nvidia FAILURE… Lab - AMAZING Behind The Scenes Tour
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Top 20 Wireframe Tools - hendler
http://garmahis.com/reviews/wireframe-tools/
======
JamesDB
Google Docs Drawings is pretty good too for real simple wireframes. Easy to
use and share, can see changes made to it by others.
------
rachit
Has anyone utilized any of these tools to create clickable HTML prototypes
that can be hosted?
Pidoco has this functionality. Wondering if any of the other tools do as well.
~~~
aphistic
It's not built into the product, but Napkee (<http://www.napkee.com/>) can
make both HTML/CSS/JS and Adobe Flex 3 versions of Balsamiq Mockups BMML
files.
------
petervandijck
OmniGraffle, Balsamiq, AxureRP and Visio are pretty much the industry
standards. Mostly OmniGraffle and Visio. The fact he doesn't even mention
Visio just goes to show.
------
singrrr
Mockflow for the win.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: BuzzKill automatically removes all Buzz Feed content from Facebook - hartleybrody
https://github.com/hartleybrody/buzzkill
======
RedneckBob
Can it remove Buzz Feed from the internet too? Please?!
------
Skibb
haha priceless :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Anvil – From repo to live demo in seconds: simple web app sharing - asarode
https://demo.anvilapp.io/
======
nmagerko
Interesting, but explain to me how your product is going to get me more than
just using this: pagekite.net. I've used it to share features with my
collaborators quite often (and especially with my UI/UX designer, quality-
assurance people, etc. for front-end work) to make sure that I'm going in the
right direction as I work. It essentially allows me to forward external
traffic to my localhost, on which a dev server is running the code from my
branch. No dockerfiles, no branches.
~~~
asarode
It's cool that you use something to share your progress. However, forwarding
traffic to localhost means it's only live when your computer is running, it's
prone to network issues, and it's limited to serving at your computer's
speeds.
We're looking to make Dockerfile creation a lot less of a hassle, probably
with a Dockerfile generator tool. We're also looking to add ways for gathering
feedback to make this a stronger collaboration tool.
~~~
nmagerko
Okay, so it sounds like a pretty smart application of Docker containers, then.
I like it.
------
stollercyrus
Interesting. How is this better than just sharing the Dockerfile directly? Or
just having a free instance hosted on Heroku? It's not too hard to load a
container. As an example
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker](https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker)
makes it pretty straight forward to host discourse.
~~~
asarode
Yeah, Docker makes it pretty easy to launch containers but we’re aiming for
this to be used as a quicker way to share early iterations and not as a way to
host apps indefinitely. As an example, someone could attach an Anvil link to a
pull request on GitHub to demo their updates so people could see changes
without needing to download, build, and serve the code. You can use Heroku
servers, but there would be some deployment work on your end for sharing
multiple variants of multiple demos simultaneously.
Assembly (the place to crowd create a startup) wrote this blog post
([http://blog.assembly.com/tools](http://blog.assembly.com/tools)) where they
share a lot of the tools they use for sharing product updates with each other.
Anvil requires no work on the user’s part to create a walkthrough, and allows
whoever they send their branch to to be able to interact with the demo for
themselves.
Do you think it would be convenient to use Anvil when sharing your updates?
------
joshdance
This is awesome. Many times I have looked at an open source project and wanted
to look around but didn't want to take the time to download, setup, etc. This
looks awesome!
~~~
asarode
Thanks! We're currently adding a way to detect web app stacks and build
Dockerfiles for users so it's easier to use. We're also thinking of adding a
way to build feature branches whenever there's a pull request so you can see
the branch live before accepting the request.
Do you have any feedback on things that we should add or change?
------
joshmtnk
It's Docker-based? cool.
~~~
asarode
Yup! We use Dockerfiles to set up the environment for the web app. We're also
working on a Dockerfile generator to make this process automatic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
AMD products are not susceptible to SPOILER exploit - montalbano
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/pa-240
======
geezerjay
FTA AMD confirms nothing. It just states that the company believes it's not
vulnerable to the SPOILER vulnerability due to AMD's processor architecture.
Mods, could you please fix the title? Not only does the article confirm
nothing but it's also specific to a single vulnerabilty.
~~~
pornel
"doesn't have the vulnerability" is an _unfalsifiable_ claim, so the onus is
on researchers to prove that it does have the vulnerability.
~~~
rhn_mk1
You mean "unprovable". It's falsified when someone finds a way to exploit the
vulnerability.
~~~
pornel
Ah, indeed. Thanks for correction.
------
spamizbad
I'd wait for a 3rd party to confirm this.
~~~
mfoy_
I think it's safe to say that if the processors do not use partial address
matches above address bit 11 when resolving load conflicts then they would not
be vulnerable to an exploit which can gain access to partial address
information above address bit 11 during load operations.
------
xemdetia
Title would be improved by adding reference to SPOILER. There's too many
processor vulnerabilities bouncing around right now.
~~~
sctb
Added. Thanks!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Man creates kinetic sculpture that moves and lives on its own - jhen095
http://www.wimp.com/kineticsculpture/
======
jhen095
Theo Jansen, hacking together Engineering and Art. More links via YouTube...
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcR7U2tuNoY>
Very interesting.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Firefox Android users, is umatrix working now? - tellme_throwa
After signature expiry incident, it appears lot of addons have recovered but I can't yet install umatrix.<p>Of course I could set xpiinstall.signatures.required to false but that's not that reliable..
======
dngray
I am sure you could have figured this out for yourself:
• May 5, 2019 [https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/android/66.0.4/release...](https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/android/66.0.4/releasenotes/)
• May 7, 2019 (further fix that was for the master password thing)
[https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/android/66.0.5/release...](https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/android/66.0.5/releasenotes/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Big Data Coming in Faster Than Biomedical Researchers Can Process It - happy-go-lucky
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/11/28/503035862/big-data-coming-in-faster-than-biomedical-researchers-can-process-it
======
Balgair
One point: Most Bio type people have not had multi-variable calculus, and many
have not had calculus at all. So, it's not really that they _can 't_ process
it fast enough, it's that their techniques for processing it are
stereotypical. They figured out how to do that T-Test (or something else)
once, and they stick with it, because they really don't know he math behind
it.
Also, though there is a TON of 'data' coming in, most of it is not useful. For
example, I have a 500Gb file of a stack of .tiff images per fish that I have
imaged in a confocal microscope. I have a GFP filter on the scope and
therefore only get the green part of the .tiff files exposed, the red and blue
are just background noise. Also, most of the image is the dish I have the
fishes in. I tickle the fish, they flick their tails, and I see this all in
120fps. Now, I measure how much of an angle the fish made their tails flick,
all in 3-D, because that's what the scope records in. I have a half TB per
fish to comb through, and I have ~20 fishes, say ~10TB. At the end, I get a
single graph comparing the fish with some gene to those without it, and I have
10TB of 'data' left over. Yeah, someone _could_ comb through it all and find
something else to look at. But i forgot to record the precise temperatures,
the orientation of the fish, the fish that I knew later died, etc. I had that
all in my head. And, hey, what do you know?, the p-value is ~.45 and therefore
there is no 'real' difference in the fish and we can't include this in a
paper. Now all that 'data' is being kept on a drive on some computer somewhere
and is counted towards the budget that the lab has on the shared spaces. It's
not really 'data' anymore, in that it is useful to advancing knowledge for
anyone (it counts as practice I guess), but it still clogs up space.
~~~
shas3
Totally on point, regarding multivariate relationships! The problem is not
that they do T-test (and other Stat-101-jargon blackbox stuff), but that they
stop at it. To many of them, even the existence of multivariate effects is
beyond their imagination.
So, inference to many biomedical folks is just 1-dimensional. Big data has a
long way to go to penetrate fields where people cannot think in more than 1
dimension!
~~~
xapata
The best way to get published is to use a variation on a method that was used
many times before. Since the novelty you're focused on is something
biological, you stick with the same statistical methods that have gotten
published for the last decade.
Unfortunately, there just doesn't seem to be much tenure-juice from innovating
in statistical methods for most life-science fields. Not all, of course.
Science moves slowly.
------
dekhn
I'm a biologist by training. Eventually my research hit a data wall (my
simulations produced too much data for my storage and processing system). I
had read a paper on GFS and Mapreduce and Bigtable from Google, and decided to
go work there. I got hired onto an SRE (production ops) team and spent my 20%
time learning how production data processing works at scale.
After a few years I understood stuff better and moved my pipelines to
MapReduce. And I built a bigger simulator (Exacycle). It was easy to process
100+T datasets in an hour or so. It wasn't a lot of work, really. We converted
external data forms to protobufs and stored them in various container files.
Then we ported the code that computed various parameters from the simulation
to MapReduce.
I took this knowledge, looked at the market, and heard "storing genomic data
is hard". After some research, I found that storing genomic data isn't hard at
all. People spend all their time complaining about storage and performance,
but when you look, they're using tin can telephones and wind up toy cars. This
is because most scientists specialize in their science, not in data
processing. So, based on this I built a product called 'Google Cloud Genomics'
which stores petabytes of data (some public, some private for customers). Our
customers love it- they do all their processing in Google Cloud, with fast
access to petabytes of data. We've turned something that required them to hire
expensive sysadmins and data scientists into something their regular
scientists can just use (for example, from BigQuery or Python).
One of the things that really irked me about genomic data is that for several
years people were predicting exponential growth of sequencing and similar
rates of storage needs. They made ludicrous projections and complained that
not enough hard drives were made to store their forthcoming volumes. oh, and
the storage cost too much, too. Well, the reality is that genomic data doesn't
ahve enough value to archive it for long times (sorry, folks, for those that
believe it: your BAM files don't have value enough for you to pay the
incredibly low rates storage providers charge! Also, we can just order more
harddrives, Seagate just produces drive to meet demand, so if there is a real
demand signal and money behind it, the drives will be made. Actual genomic
data is tiny compared to cat videos.
The real issue is that most researchers don't have the tools or incentives to
properly collect, store, and use big data. Until that is fixed, the field will
continue in a crisis.
~~~
ams6110
Question from ignorance: how do you get "petabytes of data" into the Google
Cloud in a reasonable time? I find copying a mere few TB can take days and
that's on a local network not over the internet.
~~~
fnbr
I'd also be interested to hear this.
I'm running a project that's 10gb in size and uploading the data to AWS S3 was
absurdly slow.
Is there any way to speed up the upload that you found? 10 GB was painful
though, I can't imagine uploading terabytes.
~~~
phillc73
I don't work in this specific field, but did previously, during the first
decade of this century, in broadcast video distribution.
At the time, UDP based tools such as Aspera[1], Signiant[2] and
FileCatalyst[3] were all the rage for punting large amount of data over the
public Internet.
[1] [http://asperasoft.com/](http://asperasoft.com/)
[2] [http://www.signiant.com/](http://www.signiant.com/)
[3] [http://filecatalyst.com/](http://filecatalyst.com/)
~~~
jerven
Aspera, is the current winner in Bioinformatics. The European Bioinformatics
Institute and US NCBI are both big users of it. Mainly for INSDC
(Genbank/ENA/DDBJ) and SRA (Short Read Achive) uploads.
For UniProt a smaller dataset we just use it to clone servers and data from
Switzerland to the UK and US at 1GB/s over wide area internet.
Very fast, and quite affordable.
~~~
dekhn
I used aspera for a while, but plain old HTTP over commodity networks works
fine if you balance your transfers over many TCP connections.
------
danso
It seems like there's good opportunity for skilled data scientists and
engineers to make a real difference here. I do think that laypersons (to both
medicine and engineering) think that practitioners in medicine and biology
have mastered such mundane things like data pipelines, because you have to be
so smart to be in medicine/biology, but my limited experience has been more
along the lines of what Neil Saunders describes as the inspiration for his
coding+bioinformatics blog:
[https://nsaunders.wordpress.com/about-2/about/](https://nsaunders.wordpress.com/about-2/about/)
> You may be wondering about the title of this blog.
> _Early in my bioinformatics career, I gave a talk to my department. It was
> fairly basic stuff – how to identify genes in a genome sequence, standalone
> BLAST, annotation, data munging with Perl and so on. Come question time, a
> member of the audience raised her hand and said:_
> _“It strikes me that what you’re doing is rather desperate. Wouldn’t you be
> better off doing some experiments?”_
> _It was one of the few times in my life when my jaw literally dropped and
> swung uselessly on its hinges. Ultimately though, her question did make a
> great blog title._
edit: To add an anecdote that I believe I read on HN; regarding the topic of
the huge datamine of DNA and other health data provided by the U.S.
government, a commenter said that the reason it was all on FTP was because
professors couldn't download large datasets via their web browser, or some
such technical hiccup.
I won't say that putting data on the Web makes it automatically more
accessible, but data discovery through FTP requires a bit of scripting skill
that I imagine the average biomedical scientist does not have.
~~~
brandonb
I agree--the impact of a great engineer working in healthcare is very high,
particularly if you partner with medical experts.
We're a small startup that has partnered with UCSF Cardiology to detect
abnormal heart rhythms, and other conditions, using deep learning on Apple
Watch heart rate data:
https://wsj.com/articles/new-study-seeks-to-use-deep-learning-to-detect-heart-disease-1458240739
https://blog.cardiogr.am/three-challenges-for-artificial-intelligence-in-medicine-dfb9993ae750
https://a16z.com/2016/10/20/cardiogram/
We have about 10B sensor data points so far. If you're a machine learning
engineer and interested in working on this type of problem, feel free to email
me: [email protected].
~~~
daveguy
I'm curious. What is your definition of "machine learning engineer"? Are you
talking mostly feature engineering or something deeper. If so, what?
~~~
brandonb
In our case, we're applying deep learning to sensor data, so much of the day-
to-day work of a machine learning engineer is experimenting with new neural
architectures rather than feature engineering by hand. For example, we're
using or interested in techniques like:
* semi-supervised sequence learning (we have a paper in a NIPS workshop next week on applying sequence autoencoders to health data, for example)
* deep generative models
* variational RNNs
From a day-to-day perspective, we use tools like Tensorflow and Keras, similar
to most AI research labs. In general, we try to act as a software startup that
happens to work in healthcare, rather than as what you might think of as a
traditional biotech or medical device startup.
Does that help answer your question?
------
searine
Yeah, that happens when you prioritize buying sequencers and building genome
centers while pretending that analysts grow on trees.
The post-docs and graduate students who do the heavy lifting on all of these
projects don't make a living wage.
They can't raise a family, buy a house, or save for the future. The people in
charge made them indentured servants and now those leaders are going to reap
the whirlwind.
~~~
toufka
Yep. Money is strangely spent. Incentives and historical attitudes of the
field regarding money are hard to change.
$500k for a new microscope, no problem! It's a fancy, four channel live
microscope. So it takes four 1Mb images each frame, and you're running a 10min
long experiment taking an image 5 times per second. So that's like 12Gb per
imageset. And you take like 10/15 replicates per experiment under 3-5
different conditions. That data for that experiment which under-girds a 6-7
figure grant is now stored on a $100 3TB USB disk from Best Buy. Oh, and
trying to process that 12Gb image over USB2.0 using MatLab on a student's
personal macbook air is horribly inefficient - but there is no other option
for the student really.
The students collecting the data and storing it on their local HD or laptop
hard drive have no place to archive their data even if they wanted to. There
are no repositories capable of generically storing that kind of huge data that
needs to be frequently accessed at the price the students/labs are willing to
pay (nothing).
And this speaks nothing about the code every student reinvents in MatLab to do
basic scientific analysis. Or worse, does not reinvent and instead reuses
20-year old code written by some long-forgotten student who wanted to try
their hand at a 'new' programming language like IDL.
The 'students' and postdocs are paid nearly minimum wage to do the high-tech
biomedical research. There are no computer-scientists to be seen because they
would be fools to give up making 5-8x money across the street at Twitter.
On the other hand, the scientists know their work really well, and it will
take a truly integrated team to solve these issues. A computer scientist can't
just come over for a day and write up an app to help out. The code will have
to make scientific assumptions and must be custom for many/most projects. But
it's very hard to build a capable team when the market salary for certain
kinds of team members is multiples of another on the same team.
~~~
IndianAstronaut
I am surprised they don't use something like S3 to scale up the storage
withouf buying hardware.
~~~
jerven
From the perspective of the student S3 over university wifi is not "better"
than local USB2 hard drives. It actually is a risk budget wise.
------
zo7
I've heard about this a lot from people I know who work in healthcare. It
seems that one could make a successful business simply by hiring a bunch of
data scientists to offer analytics and data processing services for
healthcare, but what's preventing that? Is there a lack of expertise, funding,
too much regulation, or something else?
~~~
op00to
There's a bunch of issues:
\- Real, bespoke biomedical analysis is not trivial in effort, cost, or time.
There are biomedical analysis systems-in-a-box (look at
[https://galaxyproject.org](https://galaxyproject.org)), but that's just
canned analysis. To make real breakthroughs, you need rigorous analysis that
requires years of experience to be able to perform.
\- It's easier to get the money to collect the data than it is to effectively
steward the data you collect. In a past life, I ran a biomedical research
computing facility, and everyone got plenty of money for new sequencers, mass
specs, and other fancy instruments. They got plenty of money for collecting
all kinds of data. No one would ever add money to their grants to actually
STORE the data. They would literally put the data on USB hard drives bought
from Best Buy, and left them in file cabinets and on desks. There was
absolutely nothing I could do about this, and so I quit.
\- Research is balkanized to hell. Even though I ran the scientific computing
for 20 research labs, each research lab was its own fiefdom. They could decide
to obey or disobey my policies at will, since they controlled their own
funding. You can imagine what happened when I proposed turning on quotas
(~100TB per lab, to start!). Rather than work with my team to determine how to
share resources, people would just jump off my high speed facility, buy a
shitty cheap JBOD from Dell for their analysis, and store their archives on
shitty cheap USB hard drives from Best Buy. The funniest part was that if the
hard drive failed, and the data couldn't be restored, in theory the primary
investigators could get into real legal trouble. No one seemed to worry.
There are a few biomedical research institutes that "get" scientific data
stewardship - Broad, Scripps, but for the most part, biomedical research
computing is a total clusterfuck and I couldn't have gotten out of there fast
enough for the way saner land of tech companies.
~~~
swuecho
I agree. A lot lab do not want to hire good developer or data scientist. Or
they do not have the money to hire, even they spend thousands in data
collecting.
check the job here, most of them are postdoc level.
[https://www.biostars.org/t/Jobs/](https://www.biostars.org/t/Jobs/)
the postdoc level means you get about 50k~80k, even in bay area.
The situation is really bad.
~~~
p10_user
I believe money is definitely a big part of it. If you have the skills needed
to help manage and analyze "big" data (big as in too big to realistically
handle in Excel, which is the limit of most biologists), you can easily earn
much more somewhere else.
~~~
collyw
Partially. I worked with bioinformatics labs until recently. Career
progression is limited as they treat a software engineer as a technician, and
nothing more. They don't appreciate the value you bring unless you are
publishing papers (certainly in the last two institutes I worked in).
------
nonbel
To most here:
Try to make sure you aren't just helping people publish papers for the sake of
it. As soon as you sense that, stop working with them. It is a very, very bad
thing.
------
sien
This isn't just in Biomedical fields.
In Earth Sciences, Astronomy and presumably quite a few other fields there is
a staggering amount of data coming in and the number of people who have the
required domain knowledge, math knowledge and programming knowledge is not
growing as fast as the data is. Teams can and do help, but well, there is lots
of work out there.
~~~
IndianAstronaut
The LSST is a telescope project that is a sky survey and is to generate 15tb
of data a day. Staggering amount of data coming in.
The data processing pipelines need to be very efficient and questions clear to
tackle these. Not to mention the processing algorithms for this data.
------
mavsman
This isn't very surprising to me. Data is relatively cheap and the (effective)
analytics of it is where the value lies. This typically the case, isn't it?
That said, this is a good reminder that data scientists are in high demand and
can make a difference.
------
dcgoss
If you're interested in working on an open source project involving big data,
machine learning and cancer, check out cognoma.org. It is sponsored by UPenn's
greenelab.com
------
yahyaheee
Anyone know of open datasets one could play around with?
~~~
abetusk
The Harvard Personal Genome Project Over 200 whole genomes and I think over
500 genotyping data (23andMe and the like) released under a CC0 license with
sporadic phenotype data [1]. Open Humans [2] has a bunch of data with a
convenient API [3]. OpenSNP has a lot of genotyping data (23andMe etc.)
available for download [4].
For a more comprehensive list check out one of the many "Awesome Public
Datasets" [5] (biology section).
[1] [https://my.pgp-hms.org/public_genetic_data](https://my.pgp-
hms.org/public_genetic_data)
[2] [https://www.openhumans.org/members/](https://www.openhumans.org/members/)
[3] [https://www.openhumans.org/public-data-
api/](https://www.openhumans.org/public-data-api/)
[4] [https://opensnp.org/](https://opensnp.org/)
[5] [https://github.com/caesar0301/awesome-public-
datasets#biolog...](https://github.com/caesar0301/awesome-public-
datasets#biology)
~~~
tetron
Incidentally, Arvados ([http://arvados.org](http://arvados.org)) is the
software used to host the Harvard PGP data, and is a free software platform
for managing large scale storage and analysis aimed at scientific workloads.
------
aisofteng
Isn't Watson Health in exactly this space?
~~~
searine
Waston can only categorize what is already known about genomes given existing
research.
What we need is to have people who can ask questions and think critically.
Good, hypothesis driven science is how we discover entirely new concepts and
mechanisms.
------
mjevans
If that much data is being collected it's time to start asking what we're
looking for within it, and if the rate of collection, retention, and range if
inputs is worth it.
Maybe it only makes sense to store sections which deviate in a significant way
from a range of error (lossy compression).
Maybe some of those inputs just don't make sense for the questions being
asked.
A concrete reasoning for why the data should be kept needs to be presented,
and THAT is what should call for the funding to back that need.
~~~
dnautics
Genomic data is basically stored as "diffs" from the reference genome. For
humans, that's "some guy from Buffalo", as a UCSC professor put it.
~~~
mjevans
My take was that this was mostly 'telemetry' data from all of the vital signs
monitors hooked up to a patient.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon starts offering loans to customers with pay monthly option - adventured
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/31/amazon-loans-customers-pay-monthly-option
======
goldenkey
Great, have they solved the problem with their workers crying at their desks
yet?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Will Electric Cars Slow the Adoption of Driverless Cars? - rbanffy
https://hackernoon.com/will-electric-cars-slow-the-adoption-of-driverless-cars-73793f182e30
======
Spooky23
The thing the will benefit driverless vehicles is the increasing poverty of
the middle class. As wages continue to stagnate, more and more people will be
unable to handle the capital costs of new cars.
Nobody will ever choose driverless Uber-like cars for a long time. Paying by
the drink (ie paying the $0.60-0.80 + margin that it costs to operate a car)
will never be a good deal for the consumer. People will rent because they need
to.
The current situation with Uber and Lyft is an exception. Uber has revealed
itself to be a criminal enterprise and both companies rely on VC subsidy and
pushing liability to operators to survive. That’s not a model that will stand
the test of time.
~~~
jessriedel
> Paying by the drink (ie paying the $0.60-0.80 + margin that it costs to
> operate a car) will never be a good deal for the consumer.
The economics of this are the opposite. Having cars sit unused in driveways
and parking spots, and be maintained by non-experts, is highly inefficient.
Just like cloud infrastructure, it is more efficient to centralize and rent
out capacity as needed.
~~~
Spooky23
No way. It’s inefficent for a business trying to make money. As an individual,
I don’t have to recognize depreciation nor do I get to deduct depreciation as
a non taxable business expense.
If it were more cost effective to rent cars, we’d be going to Hertz every
month. By the time you build in the overhead, profit, risk, etc, you always
pay more. A middle of the road car costs <$0.60/mile to operate, insure, fuel
and maintain. Uber is easily 10x that, even with Uber losing money on almost
every ride.
I’ve been in the business of centralizing technology services for twenty years
now. It’s a clear cost savings when you’re offering something that is a
commodity that can obtained on the open market. It’s clearly cheaper to rent
email. If you have the volume and capital, it’s clearly cheaper to own the
fiber between facilities.
Outsourcing business process is only cheaper as long as your use profile is
static — the change orders kill you. Transportation and people are similar to
that. Taking the bus to work is often a money-saver. But paying a $30 uber tax
or overpaying for Amazon groceries is just a drag. A family of 4 probably
saves enough in paper towels alone to make 1 car payment.
~~~
TheCoelacanth
If you rent from Hertz every month, the car is still just sitting in your
driveway most of the time, so there is no efficiency increase.
If you Uber everywhere, you need to pay someone else to drive you around all
the time, that wipes out any possible cost savings.
Get rid of the cost of the person driving you and it will almost certainly be
cheaper to rent than buy unless you have a very high utilization rate for the
car.
~~~
Spooky23
Youre still replacing me, who isn’t getting paid to drive myself, with a non-
free AI.
Add in surge pricing, surcharges for dead-ending routes, etc and you have a
cab. Useful, but inferior to controlling the car.
------
nopinsight
The key factor in favor of driverless cars is the time saved from driving. For
many working professionals, their time is worth more than the monetary costs
of owning and operating a car, electric or gasoline. Even if one already owns
a normal electric car, it would be economically compelling to switch to a
driverless one and use the time saved to create more value for work and
career.
~~~
adolph
You’d think if using commute time productively was a big draw, everybody would
be riding the bus already, right? I think that the folks who work in
occupations amenable to telecommuting and who could be actually productive
during a long enough commute probably already are. Self driving cars might add
value for the folks whose schedule doesn’t work for park’n ride but otherwise
fit the above params.
~~~
beagle3
> You’d think if using commute time productively was a big draw, everybody
> would be riding the bus already, right?
No, because the buses themselves are not a reasonable working environment.
Every single person I know who can take the train to work does, many of them
able to work (on trains that allow working - that's not, e.g. subways anywhere
I've seen).
Not a single one of those will use a bus, even if it is overall faster (better
route, etc.).
Driverless cars are likely to provide a reasonable working environment.
~~~
adolph
What makes you think they’d be any different from a regular car, taxi or bus
other than what you are wishing for?
~~~
beagle3
I can work in a car or a taxi, as long as I am not the one driving.
Unfortunately, about 95% of the time I am in a car, I have to drive.
------
DennisP
So electric cars cost more up front but less per mile, and you're maybe going
to keep them longer.
There's an opposing dynamic: a taxi drives a lot more miles per year than a
personal vehicle, so taxis (driverless or not) are likely to be the biggest
early adopters of electric cars.
Maybe if autonomy develops slowly relative to electric cars, we'll mostly end
up driving our own electrics, but if autonony develops relatively quickly,
we'll have a more sudden transition to autonomous ride-sharing and hardly
anyone will drive.
Here's an interesting article from this perspective:
[https://perspicacity.xyz/2017/05/24/this-is-how-big-oil-
will...](https://perspicacity.xyz/2017/05/24/this-is-how-big-oil-will-die/)
~~~
pjc50
Absolutely. High-milage fleets turn over every three years. The Toyota Prius
became popular with taxi drivers very rapidly. As soon as the economic
advantage is real and large enough, the switchover will be quick.
There will then be a long tail of lower-milage users swapping over gradually,
and a small chunk of resisters and nostalgists driving manual petrol vehicles
because they like it or have the same "beater" for 20 years and don't want to
change.
------
eeZah7Ux
no.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What Is 'The Zone' Anyway? - martinrue
http://martinrue.com/2012/06/21/what-is-the-zone-anyway.html
======
hsmyers
When I came back to college after the war, I resumed my studies as an art
major. For those of us involved, the 'zone' was pretty much a natural state.
We would drop in and out for conversations and such. But mostly as soon as you
pick up a chisel or piece of boxwood to smooth clay or whatever it might be to
initiate work, the rest of the world pretty much goes away. To the degree that
I remember such things, this has always been the way it works for me. I pretty
much see it as intimately tied to any creative task. When after 8 years of
enjoying myself I woke up and realized that you really can't make a living as
an art major I walked across the campus to what would one day become the
computer department (then a branch of the business school) sat down and
proceeded to learn how to program. I was very surprised to discover that there
was no difference between the 'zone' with painting and the 'zone' with
programming. This lead me to the notion that it must be tied to the idea of
creativity. I've seen virtually nothing since that would lead me to believe
otherwise. Since I started zoning out in grade school, I can't really give
advice on how you might arrive there, but if what you are doing is 'creative'
then you most likely will find that moment when you lose yourself in the
activity---at that point, welcome to the zone! As far as literature goes, most
of what I've read that seems to explain or resonate comes from the world of
Zen. In particular the idea of 'Mushin'. As starting point down that road,
try: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin> with the usual caveat that 'nothing
you read is Zen' :)
------
sophacles
A thing I've found about zoning, is that no matter what the magic sauce
required to get there, it is impossible if you don't ever start working. He
mentions going in needing to know what you are going to do -- I totally agree
with this. I don't know if it is a key component of zoning, or just
bootstrapping to get there, but it is important. In fact even in complicated
bits, I tend to have a list of todos around that are simple or at least
straight forward, that can be done any time (e.g. clean up comments or
rearrange methods to my preferred ordering style or whatnot). I used to use
these tasks for remaining productive during meetings, or in those wierd little
30 minute windows between things that crop up. But I found they are also a
great bootstrap for zoning.
A different way I sometimes think of it is "warm-ups", like the little
walks,stretches etc before a workout, or the first 10 mins of a run, the
minutes that are largely useless from a running point of view, but are needed
to get the blood flowing and the joints loose.
Good article, thanks Martin.
------
yobfountain
Just in case it's not on your radar, there's a very compelling book called
Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi that delves deeply into the subject of 'being
in the zone.' (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29>)
~~~
slap_shot
I came here just to post this. Quite an incredible book. Highly suggest it to
anyone!
~~~
jseliger
I came here to post this as well, so I just upvoted the OP instead. It's the
kind of book that's almost impossible to excerpt, but a few of my favorite
passages might illuminate a few of the topics it covers:
"Though the evidence suggests that most people are caught up on this
frustration treadmill of rising expectations, many individuals have found ways
to escape it. These are people who, regardless of their material conditions,
have been able to improve the quality of their lives, who are satisfied, and
who have a way of making those around them also a bit more happy.
Such individuals lead vigorous lives, are open to a variety of experiences,
keep on learning until the day they die, and have strong ties and commitments
to other people and to the environment in which they live. They enjoy whatever
they do, even if tedious or difficult; they are hardly ever bored, and they
can take in stride anything that comes their way. Perhaps their greatest
strength is that they are in control of their lives" {Csikszentmihalyi
"Flow"@10}.
This also sounds like descriptions of resilience. Maybe there's a connection
between flow and being resilient, like one enables the other. Or do they go
together?
"What I 'discovered' [25 years before the writing of this book] was that
happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune
or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It
does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them.
Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and
defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner
experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as
close as any of us can come to happiness" {Csikszentmihalyi "Flow"@2}.
"One of the most frequently mentioned dimensions of the flow experience is
that, while it lasts, one is able to forget all the unpleasant aspects of
life. This feature of flow is an important by-product of the fact that
enjoyable activities require a complete focusing of attention on the task at
hand—thus leaving no room in the mind for irrelevant information.
In normal everyday existence, we are the prey of thoughts and worries
intruding unwanted in consciousness. Because most jobs, and home life in
general, lack the pressing demands of flow experiences, concentration is
rarely so intense that preoccupations and anxieties can be automatically ruled
out. Consequently the ordinary state of mind involves unexpected and frequent
episodes of entropy interfering with the smooth run of psychic energy. This is
one reason why flow improves the quality of experience: the clearly structured
demands of the activity impose order, and exclude the interference of disorder
in consciousness" {Csikszentmihalyi "Flow"@58}.
This is what I feel when I write.
------
mattdeboard
When I'm reading blogs and stuff at work, I generally like to scroll down
enough to hide the headline or site banner so it's not EXTREMELY obvious that
I'm perusing HN or Prismatic. No one cares per se, just a thing of mine.
Doing that is impossible when no matter how far I scroll down your profile
picture is stuck in the upper left corner of my screen.
~~~
fuzzix
"Doing that is impossible when no matter how far I scroll down your profile
picture is stuck in the upper left corner of my screen."
An irritating feature displayed on many of the blogs which feature regularly
on HN... (I'm looking at you Zach Holman... because your picture floats there)
:)
------
kator
I've been coding for nearly 30 years and to me "the zone" is most easily
described as Meditation.
I meditate often and in my early years I worked hard to master the process as
I tend to be a bit hyper active and easy to distract (see I'm reading HN right
now lol).
If you add the same sort of discipline to your "the zone" quests as suggested
in a number of good teachings on meditation I think you will find that it is
actually fairly obtainable.
I do agree with the post that it's not magical and that we can control it.
That said a lot can make it hard to enter "the zone" some call it writer's
block etc. When I hit those times I usually just give up and find other things
to do for a bit to relax and let my mind clear up.
Your environment can only effect it as much as you allow. I've been in the
zone many times in an airplane between JFK and LAX and in an airport terminal,
in car rides while my wife drives us on a long ride etc. It's really about
discipline and training your mind to let go of distractions.
------
swalsh
I'm completely incapable of finding 'The Zone' in my office. Every time i've
reached it, there are a few things in common. I know exactly what i'm doing.
The full solution to the problem is in my head. When i'm "in the zone" i can
twist that diagram around, jump to different parts etc, but its all in my
head. More importantly its the only thing in my head. That's the most
important part. That means I can't have an orange light in the corner of my
eye, I can't be wearing shoes that are uncomfortable, I can't be hungry or
thirsty. Anything and everything that would cause me to loose my brain state
will cause it to break. Music (like the techno that is repetitive) is best for
me, as after a while I can zone it out. However it blocks environmental sounds
from entering.
------
c0nsumer
I find myself coming out of the zone when someone comes up to me and talks to
me. I feel baffled, stupified, and really confused about almost whatever they
are asking about.
It's obvious to them, and 60% of the time they find it extremely bothersome
because I'm nearly unable to focus on what they are asking after because I'm
heavily processing whatever what was flowing around my head.
The result is that I feel irritated and being interrupted, and they feel put
off because I'm not paying enough attention to them. Thus my most productive
times when really digging into something are something like 6pm - 9pm in the
office, alone.
------
gms7777
I can't find the article but I remember reading at some point about how
difficulty of work relates to one's ability to get in the zone. To achieve
some level of flow, the work you are doing must be difficult enough to provide
some sort of challenge and mental stimulation, while not being too difficult
that you find yourself getting stuck and frustrated. So if you're not
constantly trying to push your abilities to their limit, you're not going to
find that sweet spot.
------
tzaman
For those of us who are easily distracted I would recommend a wonderful tool
called Rescue Time (<http://rescuetime.com/>)
It doesn't solve the problem but helps you analyze it.
------
Jgrubb
The zone for me is that hyper productive place I get to at approximately 5 o
clock every day right before my wife asks me "so what do you want for
dinner?".
------
programminggeek
I think the easiest way to get in "the zone" (at least for me), is to have
side projects that you can only devote time to in 30-60 minute chunks. You
have to get down to business and focus to get anything done in that amount of
time. Make sure you get at least one session done a day and over time you get
good at jumping in and solving a problem quickly.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
News – YEcombinator – Com - freid
https://stayingqold.github.io/news-yecombinator-com/
======
slater
Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the
remote resource at
[https://www.reddit.com/r/kanye/hot.json?count=20](https://www.reddit.com/r/kanye/hot.json?count=20).
(Reason: CORS request did not succeed).
------
freid
I saw Kanye tweeting about Y Combinator last night and decided to build a
hacker news clone that displays posts from r/kanye :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google URL Shortener - pavs
http://goo.gl/
======
genieyclo
This comes right after Facebook has announced their own, <http://fb.me/>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Denying Genetics Isn’t Shutting Down Racism, It’s Fueling It - lemonberry
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/03/denying-genetics-isnt-shutting-down-racism-its-fueling-it.html
======
MajesticUnicorn
Very well written article. Very much enjoy it. Personally speaking, I am very
skeptical of the bell curve theory and perhaps, how much genetics plays a part
in intelligence and IQ standards? Very much agree on the author POV on how the
history of segregation and racism would have a more compounding effect than
genetics. However, if ancestral origins have IQ gaps, I hope that people can
join the debate and discuss this hot-button issue as adults.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unraveling Why Some Mammals Kill Off Infants - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/science/unraveling-why-some-mammals-kill-off-infants.html?ref=science
======
jrometty
I am trying to figure the immediate advantage infanticide provides. I had a
few ideas but they failed briefly into cross-examination. The closest I have
is allowing the new head male to instantly have children without the mothers
attention being spread too thin.
I dislike this ignorance, will you help me into the light?
~~~
vaidhy
In some mammals like the lions, if a feeding mother lost her baby, she will
start ovulating immediately. This allows for the new male to have children
without waiting for the existing kids to be weaned which can be as long as a
couple of years.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
World's Worst Email Newsletter - indiescott
http://worldsworstemail.com/
======
indiescott
We first created the World’s Worst Email (and mailed it to our subscriber
list) as a gag. The idea was to shine a spotlight on the value of design in
email marketing by putting good content in packaging. To my surprise it has
sort taken on a life all it's own.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Video: Google's New Sea-Cooled Data Center - 1SockChuck
http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/05/24/video-inside-googles-newest-data-center/
======
rbranson
Is there any reason this isn't more common? Why aren't more US datacenters in
the Chicago metro area where the air is dry and cool, and trillions of gallons
of frigid water is available? The geography is mild and natural disasters that
effect datacenters are basically unheard of.
It seems silly that so many datacenters are in central Texas, where not only
are tornados and tropical storms fairly common, but it's hot and humid for 7
months out of the year.
~~~
hyperbovine
One reason I have personal experience with is the massive regulatory headache
which accompanies any project that relies using a lot of fresh water from a
navegable river or lake. (Google "waters of the United States"). Invariably
you get to deal with both the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers, the Clean
Water and Endangered Species Acts, plus whatever state regulations are out
there, e.g. CEQA in California. This process can take literally decades and
cost millions of dollars: environmental consulting, EIS/EIR, Section 7 & 404
consultations, take permitting, habitat / species conservation plan,
mitigation, etc.
I'm not against preventing companies from trashing what natural resources we
have left. At the same time, I can see why they'd be reluctant to go that
route.
~~~
rbranson
Very interesting. It doesn't surprise me that a vast array of permits would be
required, as it should be. We all know how companies will treat water
resources if they're not scrutinized. I do see water cooling as a potential
mitigation of large quantities of CO2. The need for datacenters will only
grow, and we need to find energy-efficient ways of cooling them. Perhaps
sticking to seawater in this case just makes more sense.
------
JonnieCache
Who remembers google's patent from a couple of years ago for floating data
centers? Using the sea to cool it was a big part of that idea, alongside tidal
power. I'm kinda disappointed to see that this isn't the complete realisation
of that stuff, but its still a move in the right direction.
Original patent link: [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Se...](http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-
Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220080209234%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20080209234&RS=DN/20080209234)
I wonder if you could start a tropical reef around the outlets?
~~~
b_emery
If it's anything like power plants in the US, then there are restrictions on
the allowed deltaT above ambient, and for good reason. For example in
California, the San Onofre Nuclear plant was found to significantly impact the
local fisheries by killing fish larvae and damaging kelp forests, and I
believe the deltaT is less than 2 degrees C. (Though I'm not sure if this is
at the heat exchanger or at the diffuser head). At Morro Bay (also in
California) there is a power plant built long before such restrictions existed
and it dumps cooling water straight into the surf zone. Apparently, intertidal
species (muscles, snails, etc) can be found there that are typically found
much further south. I can personally report that it makes the surfing much
more pleasant, but the heated water is generally considered a form of
pollution due to the negative impacts on native species.
------
dstein
Or Datacenter-Heated Sea, depending on your perspective.
~~~
splish
There is a tempering station that dissipates the heat from the water before it
is released back into the sea.
~~~
ZoFreX
Then what advantage is there to sea water over a loop?
~~~
wooster
The heated water is tempered with cold sea water so it's closer to the
temperature of the gulf when returned. This prevents a hot water plume at the
outlet, which can cause environmental problems.
------
binarycheese
"It used to be a paper mill". Now its a data center.
Great to see factories evolving
------
xutopia
This could not happen in Canada due to its geography. Most of our inhabitants
are sitting right by the border with the USA yet in the North we could easily
cool buildings for free with our weather and water.
------
sudonim
Remember when the craze was to build water cooled gaming systems? I have a
feeling some of those people ended up working on this project at google.
~~~
iwwr
You can also use water for a quiet(er) PC rather than strictly an overclocked
one. It's not that expensive nor labor-intensive to convert a regular system
to a watercooled one.
------
mcorrientes
The video looks a little bit like the open compute project video from facebook
.
Isn't pumping so much water through the pipes less efficient compared to
facebooks method of cooling air down by spraying the water ?
See fb method at <http://livestre.am/wBjp>
~~~
devicenull
That only works if the air you are cooling down is very dry. It then adds a
bunch of humidity to the air, so it couldn't really go back to the DC.
------
VladRussian
it also seemed to be a great idea to use outside cool water for "free" cooling
of nuclear power plants. Happens to be not such a good idea after many years
of that [ab]use. While on the global scale the datacenters itself don't have
the impact yet, it will definitely affect the water ecosystem local to the
datacenter. There is no free lunch. Though Googlers may be under impression
that there is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ten Years' Worth of Learning About Pricing - gk1
http://tomtunguz.com/pricing-summary/
======
matrix
While the article provides a basic definition of various types of pricing
tactics/strategies, it doesn't address important questions such as which
pricing strategies work best for which types of markets and products, and what
kind of marketing/sales is required to support the choosen strategy.
The best book I'm aware of on the topic is Nagle, but it's getting dated and
is focused on older B2B business models. If anyone had recommendations for a
more recent book on the topic, I'd love to hear it.
~~~
caro_douglos
pricing w confidence is a book worth checking out
------
CoVar
There's lecture notes available from an MIT open course just on pricing that I
found helpful. Below are all of the lecture notes [1], and the summary lecture
note [2].
[1] [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-
management/15-81...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-
management/15-818-pricing-spring-2010/lecture-notes/)
[2] [https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-
management/15-81...](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-
management/15-818-pricing-spring-2010/lecture-notes/MIT15_818S10_lec08.pdf)
------
paulsutter
All Tom Tunguz posts are good, this one is even better. One question though,
three part tariff is proven to be best, for what cases? Given how awkward it
would be if everything were priced this way, there should be a clear division.
> the 3 part tariff is proven to be best. It provides many different ways for
> the sales team to negotiate on price and captures the most valu
~~~
zwaps
This is actually a argument based on the economic theory of pricing. To be
quite fair, the statement that 3part is best is not entirely correct.
The idea is he following: In a old-school normal market, where you sell one
good to a whole bunch of guys each etc, and everyone wants just one good, you
may just post one price. You will not do better, no matter what you know or do
not know.
But in most cases, posting a single price will not be optimal for you. This is
because you sell multiple units to multiple customers, each possibly very
different. And, you do not know what they would be willing to give you. You
have asymmetric information. If you KNEW everything, you could tailor a
contract for each customer. But you don't.
In economics, we can tackle this problem using Mechanism Design. Using game
theory and nonlinear pricing (the non-linear is important here), you may be
able to set a menu of possible contracts in a way that the customer self-
identifies by choosing the best option for him.
The intuition of the problem is the following: Choose a menu of contracts that
allows you, the company, to maximize profit, while also making the customer
choose truthfully and thereby "tell you" what he is willing to pay. This is
what the three part price may do for you.
Now why is this not entirely correct? There is a (rather theoretical question)
as to basically how far a two-part or three-part price is "nonlinear enough"
for your set of customers. This is called implementation theory.
An excellent book to get behind this mystery is Tilman Borgers book on
mechanism design [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~tborgers/](http://www-
personal.umich.edu/~tborgers/) This was a free download for many years, so you
can probably find the pdf.
~~~
paulsutter
Ok, but for most things you really don't want a three part tariff: rides on
uber (SaaS!), gasoline, houses, employee salaries, health insurance, hotel
rooms, container shipping. The customer would just be annoyed and go deal with
someone else.
So what is the magic slice of products for which 3part is a good idea? All
enterprise software? Some enterprise software? Only enterprise software?
The most impressive pricing I've seen is Salesforce.com. The pricing is simple
but genius. Per seat pricing, where the cost per seat goes up with
functionality. I was boiled like a frog: the cost went from $300 per year to
$300K per year, and there was nothing I could do about it. How would a 3-part
tariff help them?
~~~
zwaps
If you can not differentiate your product at all, it will be pretty hard to
price non-linearly. You are right there: Customers will run away.
It has happened on the internet (targeting), but people get very angry. Uber
extracts from two sides of the platform, which is a more complicated matter.
For the other examples, you are not exactly correct. Health insurance is
clearly a two-part price, indeed it is a classical example. You pick your
tariff and coverage. Whenever you pick, it's a nonlinear pricing scheme.
Salaries are another thing. A base and a bonus are very, very common. That's
two part. Also comissions and somesuch.
Hotel rooms? Rate and extras? Minibar?
Cars? Extras and bundling...
All of that is non-linear pricing.
So your point is basically correct. If the customer notices you get to extract
all surplus, he might get annoyed. But a two part tariff most often seems
beneficial to the consumer, because he gets to choose!
~~~
paulsutter
Uber’s complexity and lack of transparency around paying drivers is a really
bad idea for the company, and only an MBA could think it’s good. Someday Uber
will discover that they were just a missing feature in Google Maps, and this
is why all the drivers will switch.
Your examples have convinced me that a 3 part tariff is generally bad and an
indication of extractive desperation on the part of the vendor, and
fundamentally based on deception. If you wonder why people hate their banks,
pricing is the reason.
~~~
zwaps
The pricing scheme is derived as an optimality solution for the company.
Obviously, it always (mathematically speaking, weakly) benefits the firm.
An all-knowing monopolist will extract 100-epsilon% consumer surplus. That's
why economists are big about regulation and taxation.
Is it deception? Not necessarily. A pricing scheme is a menu of deals from
which you pick the most beneficial for you. You then optimize as well - just
that the company gets to set up the menu.
If a company were to decide to leave a minimum surplus to you, the
optimization problem would be almost identical. We just assume that companies
set this minimum value small. Perhaps, however, this may not be the best long
term strategy? Not all companies may try to extract everything.
But what is a good and fair amount?
~~~
paulsutter
Business is about more than extracting the most you can. Most Wells Fargo
customers are unhappy, but they stay because the competitors are just as bad.
Unhappy customers is bad for business. Startups are often about giving
customers a better experience than the incumbents.
Toms writing is targeted to entrepreneurs who need to consider all aspects of
the business, unlike product managers at Faceless BigCo, who “win” solely by
the shitty little optimizations that you so love.
~~~
zwaps
Ignoring your needlessly hostile tone, it is Tom who proposes nonlinear
pricing schemes. If there were no interest in controlling the surplus left for
consumers, neither him nor anyone else would have need to employ such schemes.
Entrepreneurs probably employ such pricing methods more often than BigCo as
well, simply because they sell less uniform products to less anonymous
customers.
Your point?
~~~
paulsutter
Yes my point is that the term "optimal" could be misleading. People reading
the document are likely to interpret "optimal" to mean that it's the best
business decision. But in many cases it's not the best decision.
So my question (not point) is, when/for what is a 3 part tariff the best
choice, when you consider all the other issues (like, what would annoy
customers, etc).
In the case of Salesforce, the day I signed up, if there were a significant
base cost over-and-above the per-seat price, there's a good chance I would
have avoided Salesforce, and Salesforce would never have gotten that
(eventual) $300K a year from me. So it seems that their pricing is better than
a 3 part tariff.
~~~
zwaps
First, your point about optimality is "not even wrong". Like I said, the
surplus value you want to give your customers is really up to you and the
optimality starts from this point. Yes, people may misunderstand this in the
article. But I think that's the reason why the article does not offer any
concrete recommendations.
Non-optimality just means you are leaving surplus on the table, out of your
control. It certainly doesn't mean you will be better off in the long run. If
you are comfortable with that decision, go ahead and choose a flat tariff.
Since a business is also driven by cost, I would bet you will consider that
decision sooner or later.
Non-linear pricing is "the best" when you are doing a theoretical argument,
since you just can't do worse with more instruments than less - if you employ
them wisely. That's what is written in the article, and that's what I
elaborated on. It may just mean it gives you most control in deciding about
consumer surplus, whatever that strategic decision may be.
Second, with regards to salesforce: A x-part price does allow you to set fixed
components to zero, if that corresponds to the customer base. The "best"
mentioned in the article is a theoretical construct in the sense that
nonlinear pricing is simply more general. You are not the only customer, and
in the end it depends on the whole demand base as to what is optimal. A
product delivering high value per seat may just simply be best off with a low-
to-zero fixed component. Again, it all depends on who you are targeting.
You spend 300k a year? So what if I offer you a contract with 200k a year plus
a fixed 50k? Will you not take it? What if you do, and I tell you we both win
in this deal?
My point is that there is a general thing to understand about pricing, and
there is a reason why this article refers to something as best, while being
sparse on actual implementation.
The best business decision, as you put it, depends entirely on your assessment
of what customers want. This much will never change. But this article wants to
point out that you can deal with information asymmetries with a nonlinear
pricing scheme, something everyone should study deeply before pricing one's
product.
As a consumer, you are faced with price menus in almost every purchasing
decision you take outside a supermarket. That's for a reason. If you are an
entrepreneur, and you do not understand why or when one may employ a nonlinear
pricing scheme, then you are lacking knowledge.
~~~
paulsutter
Salesforce.com pricing is genius in its simplicity. I’m happy to discuss or
explain, it’s really easy to reach me so please feel free to do so. I promise
you can learn something unexpected about pricing. Because you really haven’t
read what I’ve written.
Meanwhile, I don’t think anyone but us are reading this thread.
------
jkuria
Good short post. Here's a Joel classic from 2004 that is still relevant. It is
a little long though:
[https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-
rubber-...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2004/12/15/camels-and-rubber-
duckies/)
------
braindongle
"Maximization is charging the most you can extract in each sale"
Wouldn't that be the price that gets you one, or very few, sales? Isn't demand
elasticity still a thing?
~~~
zwaps
He is assuming you set individual prices per customer or basically that each
customer has his or her own demand elasticity.
What you are thinking of is a market demand, which is a useful approximation
when the market is large and anonymous. Instead, he gets at the idea that each
customer has an individual reservation price, upon which he will still buy
your service or good. If you manage to ask exactly this price, you can extract
the maximum profit from each customer.
Edit: I could do a write-up of the details. I don't have a blog or something
like that tho.
~~~
perl4ever
Isn't it common for people to have a gut reaction that price discrimination is
wrong or unfair? People are generally unhappy, for instance, if they find out
another person paid 1/3 the price for an airline seat. If I find out that I'm
being charged multiples of what another customer is, I'm going to have an
intense desire to punish and/or boycott that vendor. Failing that, I'm going
to look for a way to be anonymous, such as paying cash to a middleman.
Besides the risk of spreading ill-will, it also seems to me that price
discrimination can be risky because there is no way to firewall it against a
correlation with some legally protected class.
Edit: Also something that occurred to me just now - price discrimination seems
to me to lead to a reductio ad absurdam - suppose that it was absolutely
perfect and captured all the consumer surplus; then doesn't that destroy the
rationale for the transaction in the first place and make it purely
exploitative? If it is not desirable to get to that place, then maybe
splitting the surplus at least evenly between producer and consumer is the way
free markets should work?
~~~
amateurpolymath
Whether people are upset by price discrimination or not depends on how it is
perceived. For example, no one seems upset at discounts for seniors, students,
or military, despite this being a form of price discrimination.
To your second point, customers often do try to fool vendors into thinking
they are in the consumer group that is offered lower prices. As an example,
non-students use their old student IDs all the time.
Re: correlation with a legally protected class, this can be solved with
marketing. Price discrimination based directly on gender would be illegal. But
if you put one product in a blue box in the "men's" section and one in a pink
box in the "women's" section, consumers will self-select. This is very common
with razors, soap, and other such products.
Lastly regarding your edit, if a consumer pays his or her reservation price
they are left with zero surplus. But that doesn't mean the transaction was
pointless. The consumer gets the consumption value of the product. I'm willing
to pay at most $2 for a bottle of Coke. That's my reservation price. If I'm
offered a Coke for $2, and no vendor offering a lower price is available, I
will pay that price and enjoy the Coke.
~~~
perl4ever
In order to make a trade, what you are getting must be more valuable to you
than what you pay - isn't that axiomatic? If you are willing to trade $2 for a
Coke, then the Coke must be worth more to you, and therefore it follows $2 is
not your maximum price. Your maximum price is at least $2 + epsilon.
Since it is impossible to make a completely one-sided trade, one may ask how
one-sided is acceptable, and if perhaps the optimal situation is where it is
balanced in favor of the consumer...
------
thenaturalist
One of the more detailed free resources available on this topic I know of is
this one: [http://www.priceintelligently.com/hubfs/Price-
Intelligently-...](http://www.priceintelligently.com/hubfs/Price-
Intelligently-SaaS-Pricing-Strategy.pdf)
Note: I am in no way affiliated with Price Intelligently and do not in any way
intend to promote their service. Just wanted to share this free PDF.
------
Lightbody
While this post has some useful tidbits and definitions wrapped up an easy-to-
read format, it is far from complete and I hope nobody views it that way.
For example, you can't have a complete discussion about pricing without
talking about packaging and fencing. So if you're interested in pricing as a
topic, make sure you find another sources that go deeper in those areas.
------
biocomputation
This book totally changed my life:
[https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-New-
Internat...](https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-New-
International/dp/1292023236)
------
bladewolf47
"If you’re targeting 50% margins, just double your cost and there you are."
Don't want to nitpick but wouldn't that be 100% margin?
~~~
Steve44
As /u/lukevdp said the article is correct. Part of my job involves pricing our
products and working out rebates when we use 3rd party agents for example.
It's surprising how many people struggle with understanding this isn't as
simple as they think.
For example if an agent wants a 10% rebate we need to calculate the markup
from our standard selling price to accommodate this. If we sell a product for
£100 then we'd need to invoice it for £111.11 because 10% of that brings our
real selling price back to £100.
If we mark it up by 10% we'd invoice out at £110, the 10% rebate to the agent
would be £11 and we'd have sold for only £99.
Comprehending that you don't use the same percentage up and back down is too
much for most people here. They eventually get to understand that they can't
do it that way, but actually doing it correctly is a dark art.
~~~
roel_v
I had a colleague once who bought a pack of cookies that said '10% free' or
something like that. I turned out though that only 10% of the initial volume
had been added (hope that explanation makes sense - it's a variation on the
issue Steve44 is describing). Anyway so he wrote a letter to the company
pointing that out, they send him back an apology letter and a box of free
biscuits.
Moral of the story: pay attention in math class kids. If you don't, one day
you might have to hand out free cookies.
------
siruncledrew
The 3 part tariff sounds like a familiar pricing model to car leases
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How We Used a Python Script to Find Our Domain Name Yipit - ajhai
http://viniciusvacanti.com/2010/11/08/how-we-used-a-python-script-to-find-our-domain-name-yipit/
======
ignifero
Is there any chance - at some point - to create a new TLD that only registered
trademark owners can use?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Evidence That All Stars Are Born in Pairs - okket
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2017-19
======
twic
> Many stars have companions
Most stars.
Many years ago, i downloaded a copy of the Gliese star catalogue, and set
about generating some star charts of nearby space in VRML (which should give
you some idea of just how many years ago that was). Multiple stars are listed
as multiple entries in the catalogue, and i realised that if i drew markers
for each one, they'd overlap and look terrible. Never mind, i thought, there
will only be a few of them, and that's alright for a first version.
Not so! The majority of stars were in multiple systems (although the majority
of systems are not multiple), and the chart looked even more shonky than i had
anticipated. I had to go back and tweak my generator to merge multiple stars
into single entries.
~~~
djsumdog
oh wow .. VRML. That does take me back
------
antognini
For some background, a little under half of all stellar systems are binaries.
About 40% are single stars, and about 10% are triple systems. The remainder
(perhaps a few percent) are higher-order systems like quadruples and
quintuples.
------
jnordwick
Could Jupiter have been a failed pair?
~~~
jansho
Well what do you know, Jupiter doesn't actually orbit the sun! Not properly
anyway
[http://www.iflscience.com/space/forget-wha-you-heard-
jupiter...](http://www.iflscience.com/space/forget-wha-you-heard-jupiter-does-
not-orbit-the-sun/)
~~~
ngoldbaum
This is silly semantics. Jupiter and the Sun both orbit the center of mass of
the Jupiter-Sun system. The article is making the point that for Jupiter and
the Sun this point happens to be just outside the surface of the Sun.
It's much simpler to say "Jupiter orbits the Sun" than "Jupiter and the Sun
both orbit the center of mass of the Jupiter-Sun system". You can think of the
former as a shorthand for the latter.
~~~
jansho
But doesn't this show that the main players of the solar system are the sun
and Jupiter?
Apologies for the source, and my clear lack of knowledge in astronomy.
~~~
theoh
All planets orbit the centre of mass of themselves and the local star, modulo
interactions with other planets. The position of the centre of mass relative
to the surface of the star is completely immaterial.
NB for smaller bodies, Jupiter _is_ involved in perturbing or capturing their
orbits to a great extent -- but we could conceivably have several very large
planets contributing to that dynamic. Yes, Jupiter is the largest planet.
------
aisofteng
Mostly unrelated, but Nemesis, one of Isaac Asimov's lesser known novels, was
one I personally found a good read.
------
JoeAltmaier
The article says "egg-shaped cocoon" half a dozen times. Does it really mean
"elliptical"? It would seem odd for one end of the gas cloud that forms binary
systems to be larger on one end. If so, they don't explain why or how.
------
exabrial
I read this initially as "paris" and the title took a strange turn when I
clicked it
~~~
ihaveajob
Glad I'm not the only one. I wonder if someone thought that would be a catchy
title for this reason.
------
sdiq
I know this really isn't the place for religion but somehow the Quran talks
about these things:
51:47-49 47\. We constructed the universe with power, and We are expanding it.
48\. And the earth—We spread it out—How well We prepared it! 49\. We created
all things in pairs, so that you may reflect and ponder.
And that the universe is actually expanding is something that wasn't known at
the time of Mohammad.
~~~
diogenescynic
I think that's just confirmation bias (might be another fallacy) because when
you have enough source material, it's trivially easy to find those types of
references predicting the future or describing something we only prove later.
You also end up ignoring all the times the source material was wrong and
focusing on the instances it was seemingly correct. See also, Nostradamus and
the Bible for a similar type of phenomena.
------
ramshanker
So we lost our partner? So sad.... ;) I remember reading, nearest proxima
century is also a group of stars.
~~~
astrobe_
It would be Nemesis:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_%28hypothetical_star%2...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_%28hypothetical_star%29)
------
acd
If all stars are born in pairs where is our suns sister sun and earths sibling
planet?
~~~
umeshunni
From the article:
Based on this model, the Sun's sibling most likely escaped and mixed with all
the other stars in our region of the Milky Way galaxy, never to be seen again.
~~~
yshdjfhu4irekf
is it possible that it's just on an extreme orbit and we may one day
reconnect?
~~~
simonh
We would easily detect a star closer to the Sun than our known stellar
neighbours. Any former sibling star further away from us than that would be
affected by the gravity of other stars more than by the gravity of the Sun.
~~~
meric
How far could the star have travelled in 200 million years? I find it hard to
think it could be more than a dozen light years away. And the list of stars
within, say, 20 light years, is finite.
~~~
simonh
I think you may be confusing the age of the Sun with the time it takes to
complete one galactic orbit.
The sun is more than 4 billion years old while 200m years is a bit less than
the period for one orbit of the Galaxy (225-250 my). The Sun has completed
more than 20 orbits in its lifetime. Even a 0.1% difference in galactic
orbital period between the sun and it's twin would put them 3,000 light-years
apart by now.
------
sideshowb
I read that as Paris. On the plus side it makes more sense now. Should
probably go to sleep...
~~~
gitpusher
I also read Paris, and thought "stars" referred to celebrities. Oops
~~~
aeleos
That is literally the exact thing that I thought too. Its interesting that a
sentence like this can be so easily misinterpreted by multiple people in the
same way.
~~~
janwillemb
Isn't it the capitalization of the first characters of each word which causes
the confusion?
_New evidence that all stars are born in pairs_
versus
_New Evidence That All Stars Are Born in Pairs_
I've never understood the rationale of capitalizing headlines this way anyway
(is it the American way?)
~~~
obmelvin
Yes, titles of things (including but not limited to visual art, written works,
songs) are generally all capitalized except for small words
------
motyar
I read it 'Paris'. I need some coffee.
~~~
kjhughes
Same here.
I believe the effect is similar to that of a garden path sentence[1] except
instead of discovering a grammatical inconsistency and having to backtrack to
re-parse, the grammatical context misleads the lexical level so much so that
we "see" 'Paris' where 'Pairs' actually exists. I suspect that the 'P' being
capitalized further supports the 'Paris' misinterpretation.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_path_sentence)
~~~
gpvos
Also, the weird English custom to capitalize most words in titles, but not in
normal sentences, adds to the confusion here.
~~~
cormullion
US-English, I think. British-English headlines are less caps-heavy.
------
mxfh
_We 'll Always Have Pairs_
~~~
memracom
Yes, there will always be a Paris... city of light!
------
toddmorey
LeBron James and Steph Curry were born in the same Akron, Ohio hospital, 39
months apart, so I buy the theory.
[1] [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-
lead/wp/2015/05/28...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-
lead/wp/2015/05/28/lebron-james-and-steph-curry-were-born-in-the-same-akron-
hospital-39-months-apart/)
------
fokinsean
_Adds kindle to Nibiru fire_
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Common Lisp homepage - t-sin
http://lisp-lang.org
======
drmeister
This is a very nice web site describing a programming language with
unparalleled expressiveness, power and permanence.
I am heavily invested in Common Lisp. We are developing a programming
environment for designing new materials and molecules called Cando
([https://github.com/drmeister/cando](https://github.com/drmeister/cando))
using Common Lisp as a scripting language. Cando is running on Clasp
([https://github.com/clasp-developers/clasp](https://github.com/clasp-
developers/clasp)), a new Common Lisp implementation that interoperates with
C++ and is based on LLVM.
What attracted me to the language, after 35 years programming in almost
everything else, was how organically it lets one write software and how I
don't have to worry about it fading like the next programming fad.
~~~
oblio
> how I don't have to worry about it fading like the next programming fad.
I'm not sure I understand this bit. What other programming language has
"faded" and how has it "faded"? At least since the more mature age of
software, which I'd say started around '95 or so (so 20+ years).
~~~
vesak
Pascal, perl, ASP, every ML, Fortran, Cobol, Eiffel, Modula, all "4GL"
languages.
~~~
oblio
If by ASP you mean classic Visual Basic, I'll grant you that. And Pascal.
But ML, Eiffel and Modula were never mainstream.
And Perl, Fortran, Cobol probably still have more programmers out there than
Common Lisp has :)
~~~
deepaksurti
And the fewer CL programmers will run circles around P, F, C programmers :-)
~~~
jabl
So, why don't they? ;)
Why is viaweb and ITA trotted out decade after decade? If CL is so awesome why
isn't the world filled with awesome stuff implemented in CL?
(To be clear, IMHO it's a huge shame that more powerful languages like CL or
Haskell aren't more popular)
~~~
nickpsecurity
Because they won't put in the effort to just pull up and post the customer
lists of companies selling LISP commercially. ;)
[http://www.lispworks.com/success-
stories/index.html](http://www.lispworks.com/success-stories/index.html)
[https://franz.com/success/](https://franz.com/success/)
The companies that use LISP don't talk about it much. I'm not saying secret
weapon or anything either. I'm saying they seem to be among the set that just
identifies something good for the business, buys/builds it, and solves
business problems. They don't write articles about their programming language.
What I will say is the small number of case studies on those two companies
have _much more interesting_ software than what's advertised for many stacks.
The kinds of things people use it for corroborates the LISP advocates' claim
it's a favorite for hardest, constantly-changing problems. It's more
remarkable with Allegro since they charge royalties on top of the licensing
with customers still buying their stuff.
~~~
vram22
Interesting points.
>It's more remarkable with Allegro since they charge royalties on top of the
licensing with customers still buying their stuff.
Do you mean that (apart from the licensing) they also charge a percentage of
the revenue or profits that their customers make from products they develop
using Allegro's products?
~~~
nickpsecurity
It looks a bit different than the last description i saw. Here's current
offering:
[https://franz.com/products/licensing/commercial.lhtml](https://franz.com/products/licensing/commercial.lhtml)
They aint cheap or simple with the licensing. People still are buying it,
though.
~~~
vram22
Good info, thanks.
------
susam
Lisp is quite popular at my current workplace. A few popular open source
projects published by our organization have been written in Clojure (a dialect
of Lisp that runs on JVM and CLR). A few domain specific languages used
internally in our organization are also inspired by Lisp.
On a more personal front, I find Lisp to be simple, elegant, and expressive. I
use Common Lisp (SBCL) for personal use. Working with Lisp induces a sense of
wonder: how simple concepts can be composed elegantly to build complex
functions and complex software. It's the same kind of sense of wonder one
feels when one learns how the simple concepts of Euclid's postulates can be
used to prove complex concepts in Geometry or how the Newton's laws of motion
can be used to derive intricate and complex concepts in classical physics.
I sometimes wonder why Lisp has not been more popular in the technology
industry. Is it the lack of sufficient marketing? Is it the lack of an
extensive library ecosystem? I hope Quicklisp will address the concern about
library ecosystem for Common Lisp.
I encourage everyone to learn Lisp and, if feasible, write a rudimentary
interpreter or compiler for Lisp s-expressions. It's one of those things that
can broaden's one horizon in the field of computing.
~~~
FractalLP
I'd say several reasons: 1.) a lot of folks have trouble with the abstactness
2.) a lot of folks think C syntax is how all languages should be 3.) the lisp
ecosystem is fractured into too many lisps like SBCL, Clojure, Racket,
Allegro, Franz, Picolisp, ABCL, Shen...etc, so some confusion amongst those
that are new 4.) poor windows support for SBCL...it literally tells you it is
experimental if I recall correctly. Setup wasn't straightforward 5.) tooling
is complex and emacs is recommended for both SBCL & Clojure, which is arguably
more difficult than hitting run in most modern IDEs 6.) multi-core seems to
only be in Clojure 7.) lack of decent libraries. There is always someone quick
to say that this is false and that they have everything you need, but coming
from Python and Perl's CPAN, I couldn't disagree more 8.) learning resources
are very hit or miss. I found it hard to pay attention to many of the top lisp
books because a lot of the examples such as building an mp3 database would be
one line of code or two in python. Of course they're just trying to show
concepts and terse expressions isn't where lisp shines, but the effect is
underwhelming. 9.) your fellow developers won't use it and a large company
will probably have an IT department that won't let you run in production
without it being far better known: Java, C#, Python, R, C++, Perl, Ruby,
JavaScript...etc without major pushback...notice how many people equate lisp
with personal projects?
~~~
mtreis86
6 - what about [https://common-lisp.net/project/bordeaux-
threads/](https://common-lisp.net/project/bordeaux-threads/)
~~~
flavio81
... or STMX, which provides software transactional memory on Common Lisp in an
ultra-easy-to-use way.
~~~
FractalLP
I'll definitely take a look at that, thank you!
------
gibsonf1
I highly recommend Eitaro Fukamachi's caveman2 for _very_ quickly setting up a
very fast lisp web server including very easy to configure ssl. Fukamachi's
Dexador library is also fantastic for very quick and easy ssl http
functionality.
[https://github.com/fukamachi/caveman](https://github.com/fukamachi/caveman)
[https://github.com/fukamachi/dexador](https://github.com/fukamachi/dexador)
------
pure-awesome
What exactly is meant by the line "Design patterns disappear as you adapt the
language to your problem domain."
The word "disappear" is a hyperlink to a pdf, which refers to domain-specific
design-patterns. I don't quite seem to grasp what is being implied on the
home-page.
Is it something like Lisp is very customizable and allows you to easily
overload operators? (I am primarily a Java programmer and have never used
Lisp).
_EDIT:_ I mean, e.g. this page asks "Are Design Patterns Missing Language
Features"
[http://wiki.c2.com/?AreDesignPatternsMissingLanguageFeatures](http://wiki.c2.com/?AreDesignPatternsMissingLanguageFeatures)
Is this what's being referred to, and if so, what makes Lisp especially good
for adding language features?
~~~
giancarlostoro
Indeed Lisps claim to fame is how much the language itself is extensible.
Something along the lines of "you rewrite the language / expand it" for
whatever project you're working on. Writing your own lisp interpreter is
another popular type of project people do as well given how simple Lisps
syntax is to parse and follow.
If you are interested in Lisp on the JVM check out Clojure.
~~~
lispm
For Lisp on the JVM there is also ABCL, which is a full implementation of
Common Lisp: [https://abcl.org](https://abcl.org)
------
joncp
What's with the full-page splash that just says "Common Lisp" with no
indication that you need to scroll to get to the content. This is worse than
the 1990's "Click here to enter the site" silliness.
~~~
city41
I think this trend really took off with Medium, which encourages large (and
useless) banner images at the top of articles. It's an unfortunate trend. It
probably also increases bounce rate if I had to guess.
------
lunchladydoris
If you fancy giving Lisp a try, look into Portacle [0]. I've not used this
exactly but I did install all the components myself over time and they play
together nicely.
[0]: [https://portacle.github.io/](https://portacle.github.io/)
------
mark_l_watson
Nice web site! I have been using Common Lisp since 1983 when I updated my
Xerox 1108 Lisp Nachine.
In the last 35 years I have probably only averaged using Commin Lisp for about
10% of my development but still love the language.
One problem the Lisp world has is too many fine implementations of dialects of
different Lisp languages. I find it impossible to not experiment with most of
them.
~~~
xyrouter
What insights do you gain by experimenting with different implementations of
Common Lisp? Can you share some of those insights or things you learnt by
experimenting with different implementations of Common Lisp?
~~~
mark_l_watson
I don’t have much to say about different versions of Common Lisp. I have
mostly been using SBCL for years, except sometime switching to Clozure for
faster compilation.
I experiment more with different versions of Scheme: Gambit, Chez, and Guile.
I really like the Racket ecosystem - a lot of good work is done around Racket.
I don;t much use Clozure (except for my hobby site cookingspace.com) unless I
am using it because that is what a customer uses.
Church, for Probabilistic programming is interesting but it was apparently
been supplanted by WebPPL(which is not a Lisp).
------
ssijak
Any advantage to learning Lisp instead of something like Elixir today? I find
Elixir to be modern, a large amount of libraries, larger and active community,
BEAM VM, has macros also... Can`t think of a reason to invest time in Lisp at
the cost of mastering something Elixir, but maybe I am wrong.
~~~
deathtrader666
I'm in the same boat as you.
~~~
hajile
You can have your cake and eat it too
[http://joxa.org/](http://joxa.org/)
[http://lfe.io/](http://lfe.io/)
------
susam
Often those who are curious to try Lisp are faced with a number of choices:
Which dialect to choose? Which implementation to choose? Which book or
tutorial should one follow? Is it necessary use Emacs? SLIME?
Here are my recommendations:
\- Choose Common Lisp because it has been the most popular dialect of Lisp in
the overall history of Lisp. It is more convenient than Scheme if one decides
to develop serious software in Lisp. Clojure appears to be more popular in the
technology industry than Common Lisp among organizations (my workplace
included) that use Lisp. I still recommend Common Lisp because I believe that
it is more likely that one would work on an independent open source or hobby
Lisp project than one would encounter one of the rare organizations who use
Clojure at work.
\- Choose SBCL (Steel Bank Common Lisp) as the implementation.[1][2] It is the
most popular Common Lisp implementation and is recommended in many online
discussions. CCL (Clozure CL, not to be confused with Clojure which is a
separate dialect) is also another very good implementation. I still recommend
SBCL because as a result of its greater popularity, it is readily available
via package managers such as brew and apt-get as well IDE packages such as
Portacle, Lisp in a Box, etc. CCL is currently missing from both brew and apt-
get.
\- Work through this book: Practical Common Lisp:
[http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/](http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/)
(available in print too if you search online). Skip the sections about Emacs
and SLIME if you don't use Emacs.
\- There is no need to use Emacs if you are not an Emacs user. Any good editor
would do.
\- A Vim user may consider installing Slimv[3][4]. Superior Lisp Interaction
Mode for Vim ("SLIME for Vim") or Slimv is similar to Emacs/SLIME, displays
the REPL in a Vim buffer, and comes with Paredit mode that makes typing and
executing Lisp code quite convenient.
\- Emacs with SLIME or Vim with Slimv are quite useful but not necessary. To
get started quickly without being bogged down by the details of an editor,
just execute the Lisp source code file on shell.[5]
\- Optionally, keep another implementation of Common Lisp. Common Lisp is a
standard that is implemented by various implementations. Each implementation
may have its own extensions or implementation-specific behaviour regarding
error handling, command line options, FASL format, unspecified behaviour, etc.
Experimenting with concepts with another implementation of Lisp occasionally
may offer some perspective about how some things could be different in
different implementations. I keep CLISP around for this purpose.[6][7][8]
[1]: Install SBCL on macOS: brew install sbcl
[2]: Install SBCL on Debian-based distro: apt-get install sbcl
[3]: Slimv in a ZIP file:
[https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2531](https://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2531)
[4]: Slimv as a Git repo:
[https://github.com/kovisoft/slimv/](https://github.com/kovisoft/slimv/)
[5]: Load (execute) code in a file and exit: sbcl --script foo.lisp
[6]: Install CLISP on macOS: brew install clisp
[7]: Install CLISP on Debian-based distro: apt-get install clisp
[8]: Unfortunately CLISP is missing from Debian's _stretch_ (stable)
repository but it is available in its _buster_ (testing) and _sid_ (unstable)
repositories. Hopefully this will be addressed when _buster_ becomes stable.
CLISP is available on Ubuntu.
~~~
thibran
What confused me a lot is that nobody seems to give an example on how to build
a binary out of a Lisp program/make it runnable from command-line.
Also most tutorials/books I found don't guide you on how to build an
application/structure your code – which is rather confusing for a beginner.
You have to spend a lot of time and try and error to get things working using
Quicklisp. I got often the impression, that since Lisp is so old, everyone
using it knows how to do things and forgot to document for newcomers their
knowledge.
~~~
pavelludiq
The reason nobody can give you an example for how to make a binary is because
there are many many different ways of doing that. To name just a few:
* in ABCL you would generate a jar file, just like with java or clojure
* in SBCL you could dump a core file, there are some tools that can package that up in a command line binary
* if you use a bytecode compiler(like clisp), you'd use that the same way like python or ruby, you'd put your script in a text file, with a #! line at the top and run it like any other shell script.
* if you use a Lisp->C compiler, you'd generate C code and then compile that with GCC or Visual Studio or whatever
* if you use image based programming, you'd just load your code in the lisp image and just use lisp itself as your command line, your "binary" would then be just a normal lisp function.
* If you're deploying a service, you might want to package it in a docker image or even a VM image or have some build and deploy script depending on your environment or needs.
I'm probably missing some, but that's the basics.
------
greymeister
The giant header that fills the first page, forcing a scroll into content, is
right up there with unskippable flash intro videos from 10 years ago.
~~~
giancarlostoro
I'm not sure why this is even a thing, even on news articles with huge images,
it's just POINTLESS to me. "Oh I guess you don't want me to read this article"
_click_
------
elbear
I know the article is about Common Lisp, but I have a question about Racket,
Typed Racket specifically. Can anyone say if types and Lisp play well
together? Are there any success stories?
~~~
rurban
Types are supported since the 80ies, with (the) and optional declarations.
Almost nobody uses them. Well, CL says: types are always carried around in
every value, so we do have types, and we are always type-safe. Which is a
proper point.
Then SBCL has superior internal type support in its python compiler, leading
to many optimizations. It creates specialized copies of typed methods, and has
a nice optimizer framework to deal with that.
Felleisen (Typed Racket) seems to hate types, he summarizes it with types make
racket slower, not faster. But he is still developing the only seriously typed
scheme effort. Forgot about Stalin, but if I remember correctly it was similar
to the CMUCL/python type optimizer.
In my dynamic language I've implemented gradual typing with great success
(cperl): more precise, producing better specialized code, faster, detecting
more errors at compile-time and better documentation, so I'm sceptical why
Felleisen has so many problems. But I implemented it with performance in mind
(premature optimization and such), not completeness. Typed php seems also to
go well, also the various JavaScript variants. Just scheme, python and ruby
not so.
~~~
greghendershott
In my experience Typed Racket programs are never slower than their dynamically
typed Racket equivalents. Sometimes they are faster (such as when the program
does a lot of numeric computation).
What _can_ be slower is a _mix_ of TR and R. Because TR protects the boundary
between the two with runtime contracts. Because it wants safety/soundness.
I'm not any kind of gradual typing expert, but, it seems like you could
calibrate speed vs. soundness for boundaries in different ways. TR has
prioritized soundness but it seems like you prefer speed.
~~~
rurban
Well, I do have the same problems between unchecked and checked expressions.
You get the speed only with series of checked expressions, but you have to
cast to any/dynamic/cons boxed type on each boundary. This is the major
slowdown. When the series of expressions is too short, no transformation to
native should be done, because the casting and conversion back and forth is
more expensive than the win by using the specialized ops.
Similarily SBCL/CMUCL has the similar problem with polymorphic explosion of
generating too many methods, which are rarely used. Javascript V8 and friends
solved that better.
My speed comes from avoiding consing, my native types are bitfields. Lisp
types are usually a class pointer for every cons cell. For me certain casts
are permitted, which are not permitted with Typed Racket. So yes, I have to
permit traditional code which worked before, esp. with inferred types from
literals. Racket has the advantage of defining stricter language subsets,
which we only have with Perl 6 also. There you can override even language and
type semantics.
Chez has a nice tagging scheme, which should speed up Racket a lot.
Several gradually typed languages don't infer from literals, but that's one of
the best speed gains. E.g. the literal 1000 is a union of int32, int64, uint32
and uint64, all possible valid integer types for a certain value. A negative
number cannot be unsigned, and a too large number cannot be 32bit. Problem is
that people rarely add types, you need to infer 90% of them.
------
terminalcommand
Great site, seems to have a good collection of lisp resources. I am waiting
for the documentation to go online, it says it is still parsing the TeX
sources of the commonlisp hyperspec.
As a side note, I downloaded the Lispworks Common Lisp Hyperspec, but I could
only find the HTML version.
I see that the project is on Github, maybe someone will parse the Hyperspec
and generate the documentation pages.
I am adding a reminder to my org-agenda for next month, maybe I will attempt
to do it :).
~~~
hjek
It looks like the Hyperspec license doesn't permit distributing documentation
pages:
> Permission to make partial copies is expressly NOT granted, EXCEPT that
> limited permission is granted to transmit and display a partial copy the
> Common Lisp HyperSpec for the ordinary purpose of direct viewing by a human
> being in the usual manner that hypertext browsers permit the viewing of such
> a complete document, provided that no recopying, redistribution, redisplay,
> or retransmission is made of any such partial copy.
Source:
[http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/Help....](http://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Front/Help.htm)
But I guess you could distribute a script that does the processing.
~~~
draven
Reading the whole thing it seems you're allowed to distribute it as is without
changing anything, and not getting any commercial advantage out of the
distribution.
There's this: [https://github.com/LispLang/ansi-
spec](https://github.com/LispLang/ansi-spec)
Working from the TeX sources seem to be the right way to go especially if the
information can get extracted into a generic representation so there could be
a HTML / epub / whatever version
------
nerpderp83
This is _not good_ , the info density for the screen area is too low. This
could have been one maybe two screens worth. Is this the credits to Friends?
Am I consuming Lisp Content while chillin in my penthouse on my 20k couch
using a gold plated IPad X Tablet?
Millennials are Killing Common Lisp.
one page, [https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/](https://www.rust-lang.org/en-US/)
~~~
giancarlostoro
The Racket-Lang site almost had it perfect:
[http://racket-lang.org/](http://racket-lang.org/)
The stuff above the language description should be shoved to the bottom
(excluding obviously the top menu) and it would be perfect. I miss their old
site because it was obvious and to the point and had examples right away.
~~~
jwilk
Huh? If I exclude completely uninteresting "Racket School 2018" announcement,
I have 18 words (plus some pointless images) on the first screen.
Oh, apparently I'm supposed to hover over the images to see more text. Why?!
~~~
giancarlostoro
I mean exclude those too and the page looks much better.
------
vram22
Is there any official (other than any ANSI standard site) or quasi-official or
unofficial main site for Lisp or Common Lisp?
I had seen a couple of other sites which _seemed_ like they might be that
earlier, like [https://common-lisp.net/](https://common-lisp.net/) and the
site of the Association of Lisp Users, which I vaguely remember as being at
[http://alu.org](http://alu.org) , but now a Google search shows some other
sites instead (from the first few hits I looked at). And now there is this one
mentioned in the OP. I looked at its About page, [http://lisp-
lang.org/about/](http://lisp-lang.org/about/) , but it does not seem to show
any such info.
Update: I saw this on the common-lisp.net site:
"This site is one among many gateways to Common Lisp."
which seems to indicate that there was/is no single "(un)official" one.
~~~
pavelludiq
Where is C's (un)official home page?
------
lispm
For those who want to use Lisp on the JVM, there is ABCL:
[https://abcl.org](https://abcl.org)
ABCL was originally used to write and extend an editor called J - but then
morphed into a full implementation of Common Lisp.
One can also develop with SBCL - since it has a great compiler - and then move
the code to ABCL.
~~~
estsauver
There's also clojure on the JVM.
~~~
lispm
Note though that Clojure is not compatible with Common Lisp, thus the
information from the 'Common Lisp homepage' linked here is not applicable.
------
kunabi
At the request of John McCarthy, Lisp’s creator, no single language that is a
member of the Lisp family is to be intended to be the definitive dialect; that
is, none is to be called just “LISP.”
So much innovation has happened since the CLHS that to put up a fluff site
feels like an effort of "resurrection". When in reality the Lisp family has
continued to evolve since then. To limit yourself to just CL, as I did, for a
long time, results a bit of a 'losing my religion'. You'll be confounded by
things long since solved, and in the end perhaps write all of "Lisp" off. Do
yourself a favor and keep and open mind to the family, and not one common
incarnation that predates some developers.
~~~
drmeister
"Fluff" "FLUFF"??? If that's fluff then most of the rest of the web is
fluff... oh wait.
Seriously, the web site is a very informative site about "Common Lisp" \- a
specific dialect of Lisp. It's right there when you click the link, big
letters - "Common Lisp" \- you can't miss it.
You could argue about the URL "lisp-lang.org" \- but why?
~~~
WindowsFon4life
"We are in the process of decoding the original format used for the CLHS."
This is a smell that highlights the above post it seems.
~~~
drmeister
It's more of an issue at the interface of technology and licensing. The CLHS
(Common Lisp Hyper Specification) is a very large, web based document written
in the 80's and it looks like an old Geocities web site. I believe the CLHS
license says that it's not allowed to be changed (to protect the standard - I
believe - someone correct me please) and so the community is working from
slightly older drafts and figuring out how to automate the conversion to
something that looks more modern. It's not a problem with Common Lisp - it's a
problem that HTML, the web and user expectations have been changing over the
years. There's that permanence thing again.
~~~
lispm
> is working from slightly older drafts
Not really, the content is the same.
------
ungzd
Is main page created with Powerpoint? /learn/ is good (better than nothing or
than ancient PDFs) but no real documentation yet.
------
FractalLP
[http://lisp-lang.org/success/](http://lisp-lang.org/success/)
------
arf
Is there a way to find well-maintained non-broken preferably-actively-
maintained libraries or those that the community considers to be the de facto
solution? Like where would I start with doing data science or web dev (and
related subjects like encryption and auth etc) or things like async or
parallel programming?
------
ktosobcy
Why the "Fast" section (or graphs on
[https://github.com/fukamachi/woo](https://github.com/fukamachi/woo)) don't
contain any JVM based solutions? Anyone has idea how do they compare?
------
mping
My AI class teacher was one of the founders of Siscog. I learned scheme and
lisp at college too. Glad to see his company being mentioned.
~~~
gbl08ma
You might be pleased or displeased to know that at Técnico they no longer
teach Scheme in the introductory programming course, nowadays it's Python.
When I did the AI course, the project was still to be developed in Lisp, but
more recently I recall hearing that they were thinking of switching to another
language because "nobody can stand lisp". Fun fact: one of the founders of
Siscog, Ernesto Morgado[1], is big in the rice business, and is/was the
president of multiple rice millers associations. Both Pavão Martins and
Ernesto Morgado still lecture at Técnico.
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Morgado](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernesto_Morgado)
~~~
mping
In hindsight, displeased for sure.
------
minieggs
Great to see a pretty Lisp site up. Loving it.
------
agentultra
Nice site!
I bought cdr.io years ago when I was seriously into Lisp. If anyone has an
idea for it, happy to pass it along.
------
djhaskin987
Any good implementations if common lisp on Windows?
~~~
orthecreedence
Clozure CL ([https://ccl.clozure.com/](https://ccl.clozure.com/)) is the
counterpart to SBCL on Windows. I never had much luck with SBCL on Windows
(granted, I haven't tried in about two years) but Clozure CL always worked
fantastically (including threading, FFI, etc).
------
xyproto
(mapcar #'string-downcase (list "Hello" "world!"))
This is a great example of why I don't want to use Common Lisp.
Compare with Python:
[word.lower() for word in ("Hello", "world!")]
Beating Node and Ruby in terms of speed is also a big non-argument, with so
many attractive programming languages to choose from that are both fast and
good looking.
~~~
klibertp
Can you elaborate on why?
I know both Python and Common Lisp, neither version looks any better than the
other to me.
Also, as another commenter notes, the snippets are not actually good
translations of each other. Your CL snippet would look like this in Python:
list(map(str.tolower, ("Hello", "world!")))
While your Python snippet would look like this in CL (as pavelludiq notes):
(loop for word in '("Hello" "world!") collect (string-downcase word))
Granted, Lisps tend to be a bit more verbose (longer names, less symbols
used), which is a natural consequence of having little syntax. It has serious
advantages when learning the language or when reading unfamiliar code,
although it comes with some drawbacks, too.
~~~
svetlyak40wt
Actually, lisp varian can be also a:
(mapcar #'string-downcase '("Hello" "world!"))
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I'm a verified Twitter user with 11k followers. Here's why I'm quitting the site - pjc50
https://medium.com/@kellyellis/im-a-verified-twitter-user-with-11k-followers-here-s-why-i-m-quitting-the-site-76e48d2d5e26
======
CarolineW
So here's the question:
* Can this be fixed?
If someone were to create a Twitter replacement that avoided this problem,
what would it look like? How would it work? What would be different?
Or is this problem too difficult to solve?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: How `private` will the Oculus Quest be? - rayvy
So Facebook is launching its Oculus Quest this spring.<p>I absolutely loathe Facebook, its leadership (or lack thereof), and its products. But I'm absolutely <i>thrilled</i> to get a Quest when they're released.<p>Question is: Do you think the Quest will just be another Facebook personal data-hogging tool? Or will this product be different?<p>Obviously if it's the former, I plan to abstain from buying.
======
altairiumblue
Why would it be private?
At this point this isn't just a cynical position, it has to be your default if
you've watched the privacy problems that every single facebook product has had
in the past and is still having at the moment. Why would a company that is
still breaking a number of ethical and legal norms suddenly decide to abide by
any reasonable principles of decency? If information about your device and
actions on a social platform is worth billions, what's the worth of full
access to people's sensory information and behaviour?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to not get fooled by a social media expert con artist - 24z
http://www.24100.net/2011/05/how-to-not-get-fooled-by-a-social-media-expert-con-artist/
With the explosion of so called Social Media Experts, I had to get this out. What do you think?
======
24z
What do you guys think?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Sift through recently dropped .com's in order of PRONOUNCEABILITY, etc - lolkittens
http://www.swola.com/index.php
======
spleeder
HN brought down your site?
User 'webmast_1sw' has exceeded the 'max_connections_per_hour' resource
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cor 0.3.0 released - yosbelms
http://yosbelms.github.io/cor
======
dchest
_Cor does not has a keyword to declare variables, instead, Cor declares it for
you the first time it is used. If a variable with equal name is declared in
outer scope the compiler will assume you are using the declared outside.
Unless you write the variable as a simple statement. This technique is called
variable announcing._
Sadly, it's the same mistake that CoffeeScript made: you cannot just introduce
a variable, to be completely sure you didn't break anything, you'll have to
search for all uses of it in outer scope above and inner scopes below.
[https://donatstudios.com/CoffeeScript-
Madness](https://donatstudios.com/CoffeeScript-Madness)
~~~
yosbelms
"Variable announcing" solves that issue, please see the example in the
following link:
[http://yosbelms.github.io/cor/docs/playground/index.html#lin...](http://yosbelms.github.io/cor/docs/playground/index.html#link:---%0Aexample%20of%20announcing%20variable%0A---%0A%0AsomeVar%20%3D%200%0A%0A%0A%2F%2F%20see%20how%20to%20use%20outer%0A%0Afunc%20usingOuter\(\)%20%7B%0A%20%20%20%20someVar%20%3D%200%0A%7D%0A%0A%0A%2F%2F%20see%20the%20compiled%20code%20in%20the%20right%2C%0A%2F%2F%20notice%20the%20declaration%20inside%20the%20scope%0A%0Afunc%20avoidingOuter\(\)%20%7B%0A%20%20%20%20someVar%0A%20%20%20%20someVar%20%3D%200%0A%7D)
~~~
dchest
I understand that you can announce variable, but to be save, you'll have to
announce it in every scope you want to declare it, so why not just use "var"
or ":=" to declare and assign?
~~~
yosbelms
Looking for simplicity. One of the goals of Cor is to have few keywords, to
make it easy to learn, to get involved, and to work with. I had three possible
solutions to solve the variable scoping problem.
1- `var` keyword. Like javascript. It assumes all variables are global if not
declared with `var`. 2- `global` keyword. Like PHP. It assumes all variables
are local unlike that is annotated with `global`. 3- Ruby-like, Coffeescript-
like.
A mixing of options number 1 and 3 was chosen.
I will open an issue regarding this subject, considering your proposal for
future versions.
~~~
dchest
Thank you. Actually, what I think the best way is to make it an error to use
undeclared variable, unlike in JavaScript. If it's a global, is should be
declared in global scope. I really like this way of declaring variables, so
please consider it:
someVar := 123 //declared and assigned
someVar = 456 // reassigned
anotherVar = 777 // error: undeclared variable
------
stupidcar
Not sure I really see the point of this. The syntax seems to offer little
beyond what's possible already in ES6, and is missing several features, such
as generators, destructuring, rest and spread operators and template strings
that are very useful in modern JS development.
~~~
yosbelms
Most of the design of ES6 is like this due to backward compatibility. I'm very
sure if the comunity behind ES6 specs designs a language for the web
regardless backward compatibility, ES would be very different to what it
actually is. These features you are mentioning are awesome, for sure. But ES6
is bloated for sake of having features plus backward compatibility. Cor is
different, it is simple but modern, it is going in the opposite direction.
------
yosbelms
Release notes:
[http://ost.io/@yosbelms/cor/topics/5](http://ost.io/@yosbelms/cor/topics/5)
------
gravypod
This is the first transcompiled JS language I've seen that I have wanted to
use. It's as strait forward as JS, but adds a lot of features I wished the
language had.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why the Movie Industry Can't Innovate and the Result is SOPA - grellas
http://steveblank.com/2012/01/04/why-the-movie-industry-cant-innovate-and-the-result-is-sopa/
======
Jun8
I don't know about "can't" but the reason why the studios _won't_ innovate
alternate business models is simple and is another example of the classic
Innovator's Dilemma. The studios are huge companies embedded in other, even
bigger companies, so there's a large amount of inertia. The MPAA is just the
symptom of this. Go through the list Blank mentions: none, I repeat , none of
those advances came from the industry itself, it was always some outside
influence that the movie business resisted and then had to eventually deal
with.
But the inertia of the studios is only part of the story. Large actor's
unions, e.g. SAG, also oppose drastic changes, because they understand the
current model and don't want it to be disrupted too much. This is similar to
how teacher's unions are generally against efforts like the Khan Academy.
Remember that many actors (e.g. Charlie Chaplin) in the 20s were against the
introduction to sound to movies due to precisely the same kind of intellectual
and business inertia.
One of my favorite quotes: "Institutions will try to preserve the problem to
which they are the solution."
~~~
tintin
This is why I think Apple is more or less behaving the same as the movie
institutions. I think it's strange because Apple can be innovative. But lately
they try to sue everyone to preserve there dominant position.
Maybe large companies do this because they fear change because change is much
harder for large companies.
------
gerggerg
The movie industry _does_ innovate. They've been innovating like crazy. Tons
of new tech and innovations come out of the movie industry. It's the MPAA that
doesn't care to innovate. The MPAA doesn't produce anything. They just
want/need control. Their sole job is to make money and any time you have an
organization whose sole purpose is to make money, they're just going to want
control.
The problem isn't the movie industry or piracy, it's the relentless fight for
control that the pushers of a dying business model want over you.
~~~
bad_user
MPAA's actions can be attributed to its members. MPAA cannot exist and act
without its members' approval. Witness how BSA initially supported SOPA, but
then backtracked, probably because some of its members weren't too happy about
it.
Their sole job is to make money
When freedoms are attacked because some fatso feels those pesky pirates are
affecting his bottom line, then "making money" is not an excuse.
And governments should be careful as they are walking a very thin line. A
French revolution can always happen again.
~~~
gerggerg
I agree. All I'm trying to say as that blaming it on the 'Movie Industry' is
not being able to see the real problem. Many independent and main stream movie
industry workers don't support SOPA and don't feel the MPAA acts in their
favor. We need to vote with our dollars and not support organizations that
support the MPAA. And we need to vote with our mouthes and make it clear that
as culture consuming citizens we feel an organization like the MPAA is more
harmful to culture and business than it is beneficial.
Now I understand that rights protection organizations are useful and necessary
in many cases, again all I'm saying is that if you feel that the MPAA is being
abusive and of little value then you should speak up to free yourself from
them.
------
jonnathanson
I've worked at studios and networks for a large part of my career. They have
hired plenty of people over the years with "skill at managing disruption."
They've poached talent from the Microsofts, Googles, Facebooks, hot startups,
etc., of the world plenty of times over.
The problem is that they tend to place these folks -- or any of their people
ostensibly charged with "innovation" -- in isolated silos. Typically they'll
hire a handful of "innovation" people, most of them ex-McKinsey consultants,
but a lot of them tech people, and put them in a sort of internal consulting
group. This group will have no P&L of its own, and no real authority to change
or mandate change. And it will be tasked with influencing the rest of the
company to change. As you can imagine, it's a recipe for failure.
And even this is a symptom of a bigger problem: silos, silos, silos. Every
department might as well be competing with the next -- because nobody talks to
one another, people are constantly politicking against one another, and nobody
wants to fund a win that shows up on somebody else's P&L. The whole thing is
very reminiscent of "Game of Thrones," actually. Each studio is host to a bevy
of competing fiefdoms, and the heads of the fiefdoms are constantly plotting
each others' downfalls.
And even the studios are, themselves, fiefdoms within much larger media
conglomerates. The head of the Disney movie studio, for instance, still
answers to the head of The Walt Disney Corporation, and competes for his favor
with the heads of ABC, ESPN, Theme Parks, Licensing, etc. And the head of The
Walt Disney Corporation is beholden to Wall Street and quarterly reports. (Big
risks and disruptive strategies are extremely hard to implement when you've
got quarterlies to answer for).
If you ask me, these companies have grown too big and unwieldy to innovate
properly. I'm not saying that in an antitrust-activist sense, but rather, in
the sense that it's extremely hard to get everyone within a giant conglomerate
on the same agenda when the goal, business, and job description of each P&L
leader is so wildly different from the next.
None of this is meant to be an apology for the entertainment conglomerates,
but rather, an observation. It's an observation born out of intense personal
frustration, of course, at having seen the same patterns over and over again.
At the end of the day, "innovation" is a very easy word to preach, but a much
more difficult word to implement.
At the same time, I get the sense that a tipping point is very close at hand.
Producers, writers, actors, directors, and other talent are themselves getting
very tired of the same old studio game. And many of them are seeking out
innovative deals with tech firms, brands, and other direct-to-consumer
channels. All it takes is a handful of breakout hits -- shows, movies, or what
have you -- that occur outside of the established Hollywood distribution
system. The second you've got a legitimate hit series only on Netflix, or a
direct-to-Amazon smash hit, or a Facebook series drawing in more viewers per
week than a network show ( _very_ feasible), Hollywood will take notice, and
it'll start getting serious about rethinking its approach. It may be too
little and too late by then, but that's how these things go.
[Sorry for the tl;dr text wall!]
~~~
waterlesscloud
Studios are hopeless, for the reasons you detail. They're just big companies
in the end, and they move slowly if at all.
But there's another layer of Hollywood, the indie production companies, that
has been a world of what are essentially startups, and that's existed for
decades. The ability to innovate isn't just available, it's almost essential
to those folks.
So Hollywood can innovate, and can do so quite well, actually. Independent
producers are as good at what they do as anyone in silicon valley. One of
them, or a group of them, will stumble on a model that is wildly successful
and then the herds will follow. It'll happen.
~~~
jonnathanson
I tend to agree with you here. The challenge I've run up against is this: big
studios can't really position themselves for innovation, but tech companies
don't always understand the complexities and idiosyncracies of putting AAA
content together.
Producers bring the material and content expertise directly to the tech
companies, who can function as distributors (and need not get their hands too
dirty on physical production or development).
------
mgkimsal
I will point out that while the cries of "it'll ruin us" (meaning, our
business model) have been going on for some time, each time it seems to get
closer to the truth. When the original business model was "people going to
theaters", new technology options meant that fewer people _might_ go to
movies. And that does happen from year to year, and may be on a downward trend
for a variety of reasons. Other markets open up but it can take time to adjust
(and rather than adjust, big studios seem to just fight).
I do think they're pretty close to the mark on music these days. The cry of
"radio will destroy us" is rather silly in hindsight because radio is still a
physical limited system. I can only tune in X stations, signal isn't always
good, and I'm limited by the realtime aspect of station X only playing Y songs
per day. Instant access to all music (or, a very large subset) all the time
means ... a big shift in how people consume and think about music. Bigger than
most big companies are ready to deal with.
What I'd like? $10-$20/month for instant streaming access to all movie content
from X major studios. Another $10-$20/month for instant streaming access to
all OTA/Cable channels. When I say all I mean _all_ \- every movie in an
archive going back to the dawn of time. Every episode of every TV show that
was aired (and maybe some that weren't). I'd even be content with _not_ having
access to current stuff. I don't particularly care about being "up to date"
with whatever the latest shows are - I much prefer going through entire series
after the fact.
Index everything - make it searchable. Let me search up actor FOO, find the
shows he was in, and go watch those scenes. We're _close_ on some aspects of
this, but still so far away.
All of this content exists, somewhere. Yes, it'll take time to convert it to
online. But that's a one time expense (big as it may be). And the 'long tail'
effect I believe would justify people spending a nominal amount per month to
get at all the old stuff whenever they want. There's _no_ value in movie X
sitting in a vault.
~~~
erichocean
> What I'd like? $10-$20/month for instant streaming access to all movie
> content from X major studios. Another $10-$20/month for instant streaming
> access to all OTA/Cable channels.
It's a simple, mathematical fact that the current people paying for films and
television are paying much, much more than your hypothetical $30/month.
New content is simply not available at the present quality level for the price
you are offering.
To put this in perspective, it'd be similar to telling Apple/iOS developers
that instead of buying apps a la carte, you want to spend $1/month and get
instant access to every app, both paid and free -- the math doesn't even
remotely add up to compensate the people writing the apps.
Hollywood, both for feature films and for cable is _insanely_ competitive,
with massive downward price pressure every single year. There simply isn't the
amount of overhead to be removed from the system that people not in the
industry seem to think there is.
~~~
tomkarlo
"It's a simple, mathematical fact that the current people paying for films and
television are paying much, much more than your hypothetical $30/month."
"New content is simply not available at the present quality level for the
price you are offering."
I'm not sure either of these statements hold up. People may be spending more
than $30 a month on movie-related entertainment, but a large portion of those
dollars don't end up in the pockets of the content creators. It's like saying
that a $10 CD can't be less profitable for a musician than a $1 MP3.
A large percentage of the dollars that consumers currently spend on
entertainment go to the channel rather than the creator. I'm sure if Louis CK
had distributed his recent video via traditional channels, the total dollar
volume of the purchases might have been 10x higher between pay cable, DVDs and
downloads. But he, as the content creator, might have made less money (and
certainly would have had less control.)
As for downwards price pressure, the average price of a movie ticket has been
rising for years while studios watch ticket volumes decline. Where's the price
pressure there?
~~~
mgkimsal
Furthermore, while many people are paying high cable/satellite bills, many
other people aren't - they're already priced out of that market. And many
other people are dropping out of that too, whether for 'pirated material' or
just other media/entertainment. A smaller monthly fee with greater access to
more content on demand - even if there is _some_ DRM attached to it - would
bring people back.
Watching BBC programs, for example - or maybe 70s NBC dramas - there's huge
vast collection of back catalog stuff that simply isn't doing anyone much good
sitting in vaults. If I knew I had access to all of that stuff for a flat
rate, it's be much less worth it to hit up pirate bay.
Yeah, we may not really be talking one flat rate, but I'd love to pay BBC
$10/month to have access to all their back catalog. And NBC. And CBS. And ITV.
And ABC. Wow - gosh, I might just be willing to pay $50/month for all that
stuff. But yeah, that'd mean they'd have some work to do - one time work - to
make continued ongoing revenue streams. Without even having to put up ads!
------
TheCapn
I think government and the populous as a whole play a large part in this
natural progression of things as well.
When it comes to innovation and changes to the way the world works we're faced
with two competing sides:
1) Let innovation take over and increase all things good to the consumer
2) Protect jobs
Once the MPAA/RIAA or whatever finally realize that their role is no longer to
play the middleman between the artists and the consumer there _will_ be
massive job loss. Its not my job to envision where these workers will migrate
but its an unfortunate truth of life when processes become automated and
require less people in the whole scheme.
And that's primarily how people maintain support for the associations instead
of piracy or streamed content. Those ads in the theater of the key grip going
"piracy is killing my job" is the pity response they're trying to drive from
us. The Key Grip in reality shouldn't be hurting MPAA should be. They haven't
realized yet that their role in the process isn't worth the same amount as it
was 10 years ago and they're refusing to take a pay cut as a part of things.
~~~
pfraze
Somebody on HN once described the state of the music industry as a transfer of
wealth from the record labels to the internet companies. That made a lot of
sense to me.
------
johngalt
Gaming killed them.
WoW has made more money than any movie ever will. As the top shelf creative
types realize the winds have changed, you will see a brain drain. The next
Spielberg or Lucas will work for a game studio, and the movie industry will
never get them back.
~~~
ScottWhigham
Do you have a link that shows WoWs revenues? That's the first I've heard that
WoW has outsold all movies in history.
~~~
masklinn
> Do you have a link that shows WoWs revenues?
As far as I know, there's no such thing, only estimates based on e.g. the
subscribers base. These estimates are generally in the $1bn to $1.5bn range
(edit: per year), and usually on the lower end of that range, since ~2008.
Which definitely does not put any given WoW year at the top of grossing movies
(but still in a healthy position, 10 movies so far have gone beyond a billion
gross). Still I think a fairer comparison would be to movie franchises, if we
put WoW's total revenue around 5~6bn it would rank #2 behind the Harry Potter
franchise ($7.7bn) and before James Bond ($5.1bn).
However, I think it's fair to say WoW is an anomaly in terms of revenue. Even
more so than billion-grossing movies.
~~~
tsotha
>However, I think it's fair to say WoW is an anomaly in terms of revenue.
Yes, and it may be WoW has to fade away for another MMO to succeed at that
level, which limits upside growth for the industry. People who see movies will
see multiple movies over the course of a year, but MMO players tend to play
one at a time. It's a different model - service vs. product.
~~~
masklinn
And MMORPGs seem to be moving towards "freemium"/"free to play" models: Guild
Wars has been from the start, EQ2 recently switched to freemium following what
was apparently a successful "Everquest II Extended" experience, Clone Wars
Adventures is a freemium, City of Heroes added a freemium mode (City of
Heroes: Freedom) this year, ...), and both of Turbine's recent MMOs — D&D
Online and LOTR Online — are now freemium, which makes a new WoW (in terms of
revenue) unlikely, apart from WoW2 (or Starcraft Online) maybe.
------
enobrev
While I'm not a fan of the industry tactics, which seem to essentially amount
to throwing a tantrum anytime the world decides to do things a little
different, this article seems to show an amazing resilience. It baffles me how
these slow anti-tech companies continue to remain well planted as the "owners"
of our content.
Especially considering how well developed the internet has become, I can't
imagine how these companies have continued to thrive.
------
PaulHoule
I think Hollywood is very interested in the internet as a distribution medium.
Already it's clear that advertising CPMs are several times higher online than
on conventional television -- and online advertising isn't even fully mature!
Hollywood isn't opposed to the "internet" as a technology; they just want to
control it.
~~~
pfraze
I agree, and it frustrates me more, because -- as the article points out --
they don't innovate.
That said, lack of innovation _could_ be related to the historic divorce from
distribution channels; their business is content, not medium, and that's why
they don't put resources into medium development. I don't know enough about
the industry to say for sure, though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Doubling Down on Open (Elasticsearch) - bovermyer
https://www.elastic.co/blog/doubling-down-on-open
======
jerrac
> But driving these products forward as quickly as we do requires significant
> investment, and that’s why we formed a company around this technology.
> Figuring out how to balance being open source while making enough money to
> keep developing has got to be a difficult task. I've been happy to see
> companies like Elastic and GitLab succeeding. Even when I'm disappointed in
> the features they choose to place behind a pay wall.
I think their move to a package with free, non-open source, options enabled,
plus non-free options disabled by default all in one package is smart. I know
I've been very confused with what options were free and how to enable them.
I also like that they will have a fully open source package as well.
Now, if only they'd open source the security and authentication code. That's
one feature I've never liked that they kept it closed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: I made $24k over the last month. Now what? - maxklein
I sell apps on the app store. A lot of small cheap apps. Revenue is hitting $1000 per day on the weekends (Here is the graph: http://imgur.com/T0z5p.png).<p>But I'm facing another problem. I don't know what to do with the money, how to use this very large monthly income to actually make myself rich. The app store income is going to end soon enough - the ecosystem is pretty fragile. Now that I have this raw cash, no debts, have a job I enjoy, don't want or need a car, my apartment is perfectly comfortable, what can I do?<p>I do NOT want to invest in the stock market, or invest in anything long term like bonds or property. I want to somehow use the money to make more money quickly (within a 2 year time span). But I have no idea! What I know how to do best is the app store, but I want other type of things that do not require much time investment, but give as good returns as that.<p>What do I do with the money? How do I invest it in making more money quickly?
======
patio11
Hire people to do the things you do which have the worst tradeoff of hours
expended per unit of value added. Alternately, hire people to automate those
things.
And I'd SERIOUSLY consider at the very least a) setting yourself up a SEP-IRA
and b) socking away the maximum in an index fund. It is essentially monopoly
money to you anyhow at the moment, right? Trust me, you won't regret having 30
years of appreciation on your monopoly money when you retire. (This will also
simplify your tax planning for this year.) Index funds are a no maintenance
investment -- as long as you can pretend that the money doesn't exist, you can
get by with checking them once a year (or less!)
~~~
mechanical_fish
Yes, listen to patio11.
_I do NOT want to invest in the stock market, or invest in anything long term
like bonds or property. I want to somehow use the money to make more money
quickly (within a 2 year time span)._
Excuse me if I'm too harsh, but you should spend some of the money on a
membership in Gamblers' Anonymous. Because you talk like a bad gambler. The
hallmark of bad gamblers is that, if ever they get ahead, they look
desperately around for a way to lose so they can get back to their comfortable
status quo: Grifting, in poverty.
If you have money that you don't know what to do with, put it in some
diversified investments that will make money over 30 years -- not two -- and
forget about it.
The exception I'd make is the one patio11 cites: If investing a portion of
your current profits in your current business will pay off, do some of that.
But don't invest _all_ your profits in this one basket: One of the most
important forms of diversification is to invest in things other than your
current project. You don't need another get-rich-quick scheme: You _have_
that, and it even seems to be _working_. Good for you. Now hedge your bets
with a get-rich-slowly-but-safely scheme.
~~~
nandemo
I disagree. Investing in the stock market is far from safe. Not even an index
fund over a 30-year period; we don't know what will happen in the next 30
years.
~~~
mechanical_fish
I didn't say to invest solely in the stock market. Some in stock funds. Some
in international stock funds. Some in bonds. Some in a bank savings account.
It's called _diversification_ for a reason. You can buy _more than one_
Vanguard fund almost as easily as you can buy one.
Time to plug Bernstein again:
[http://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-
Portfo...](http://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-
Portfolio/dp/0071385290)
What you don't want to do is spend all your time reading hysterical ravings on
the Internet and then somehow conclude that it is actually _safer_ to blow all
your money at the track, or on some crazy scheme to "double your money in two
years". I don't care how scary the stock market is: It is less scary than
whatever you plan to do to double your money in two years.
~~~
kirse
I always agree with you on these financial topics =) I remember back in
October 2008 when we both commented that the best time to sink money into the
stock market is exactly when everyone else is pulling out in fear. (I was 22
at the time and my most conservative index funds are currently up ~35%...
individual investments have garnered even better returns)
When the majority of people conclude that the "stock market is too risky",
they usually look at the single problem of their investments tanking without
looking at the bigger picture... which is:
First, if you invest money without setting a stop limit (rule #1 of investing)
then you shouldn't be investing.
Second, if you invest in a quality index fund and you somehow do lose a
majority of your investment (>50%), there are much larger problems at hand
than just the loss of money. We're talking major economic / political / global
unrest.
After witnessing the Sept 11th downfall and the October 2008 crash, I've come
to the conclusion that there needs to be some damn serious issues to cause a
significant loss in investments... Again, all of which could be avoided
through proper diversification and setting financial loss limits.
\----
As a side note, I do think many people got lucky taking the "too big to fail"
approach with many banks that ultimately received government guarantees. I do
believe, however, that the snap-back we experienced in 2009 is _NOT_ going to
be the same in 2010. Obama has spent insane levels of money to prop up the
economy and this sort of stomach-churning level of gov. spending simply cannot
continue. 2010 will be the year for finding individual companies that have
survived the recession trimming, but I honestly can't see the DOW/S&P indices
going much higher.
------
icey
First, congratulations; that's a pretty impressive feat on the app store.
Have you thought about taking some of the income and using it to hire other
developers to increase the number of apps that you've got being developed at
once? It seems like you know what works and doesn't work on the app store, so
it would probably make sense to start trying to make your efforts scale up.
~~~
jerf
The poster expressed the sentiment that the app store ecosystem is fragile and
the income will end. If you believe that, investing in hiring more programmers
for apps would be a move counter to your own beliefs.
Since I tend to agree with that assessment, I couldn't recommend doubling down
on building apps.
There may be other good reasons to consider that, such as moving in another
direction (consultancy, which raises the interesting question: is there a such
thing as iPhone app consultancy?), but not for that reason alone.
Edit: Google says that there is such a thing. It strikes me as likely that
would be more stable long term, and, potentially, even more lucrative.
~~~
icey
Noodle had an excellent point about diversifying, so I won't go into that too
much.
However, there is still a metric shit-ton of money to be made on the app
store. I don't see people leaving it in droves immediately. He knows how to
make money in this environment _right now_ , so in my opinion he should spend
at least some of the money he wants to invest on something he already knows
how to do well.
I just don't see the wisdom in avoiding a marketplace you already know how to
make money on; even if it has a chance of going away. Max has already proven
that he is able to identify a market and take advantage of it once, who is to
say he couldn't take advantage of the "next big thing"?
~~~
rabble
Yeah, i'd take at least %50 of your income, and put it in various things, some
CD's, some foreign currency investments, govt bonds (tax free), etc... Then
save the next %25, for rainy day's in an account, interest rates are terrible
right now, so you might try one of those savings accounts which earns miles.
Then with the last %25, use that to invest in more appstore / development
projects.
------
jpcx01
Pay your taxes. After that, it wont seem like all that much money.
~~~
wmeredith
Incorporate to soften this blow.
~~~
portman
If the OP is a sole proprietor in the United States, then incorporation won't
alter the tax burden.
Incorporation is still a good idea, for other reasons (simplified banking,
limited liability, etc).
~~~
Daniel_Newby
Incorporation _can_ help with U.S. taxes by enabling a tax-free retirement
account with a large contribution limit. (SEP-IRA has a 25% of salary / $49k
annual contribution limit.)
~~~
eds
Important note: incorporation is required neither for SEP-IRA nor for my
favorite, the individual 401(k).
~~~
Daniel_Newby
I stand corrected. Thanks!
------
hedgehog
Market yourself. Write a book & give talks about your process for making
winners. Lots of people want to know how to make money in the App Store. There
might be a higher-priced corporate training market for how to make popular
apps for marketing purposes (think packaged food or sports apparel industry).
On reading your blog it looks like you're already going down this road?
~~~
maxklein
Ehh, anyone who bothered to email me has gotten the stuff I know for free. I
don't want to give any talks or write a book. It's easier and less stressful
to just make the apps.
~~~
eru
Yes. Just make sure you also publish on your blog or so the stuff you send out
in emails. That helps build a reputation, in case you need to resort to
writing a book or giving talks (or doing some other corporate training as a
consultant) later.
You might also use some of your money to pay another guy to polish your
writing. Or to compile it into a book.
------
lrm242
Hrm, I think you're forgetting about the most important money making tool
available: compound growth. Let's assume the following:
You invest your current 24,000 and each month you add 20,000 to your
investment. Let's further assume that you can achieve an annual return of 3.5%
and that return is evenly distributed over the year. In this scenario you'd
end up with $520k after two years. You're half way to being a millionaire.
If you instead contributed $25k each month you'd end up with nearly $650k
after two years. That's 50k above your contributed principal or an 8.3% return
over two years. Further, your risk is significantly reduced over any other get
rich quick scheme and this allows you to continue to focus on what you're
doing.
~~~
Skriticos
Remember, that's not inflation adjusted. It's a common banking advice though.
(Not a stupid one).
As for your problem, do what most people say here: invest in the best asset
you know: your business model. If you are very lazy, then just simply figure
out how to let someone else do the work.
And I wonder if you meant that question seriously? The wording sounds awfully
naive.
~~~
lrm242
Not inflation adjusted but given the short time frame near 0 inflation (in the
US) means a small return still allows for growth. A 3.5% annualized return is
also a very conservative target.
------
ericb
I would focus on whatever you can do to keep your winning streak going in the
app store. Why search for another get rich quick scheme while the one you have
is still working? Most schemes don't work, so focus on optimizing your milking
of the cash cow.
------
blhack
The biggest asset that you have and the one that can create the most money for
you is yourself. Yeah, that sounds really cheesy, but you've already showed
that it's true.
Invest the money in yourself. Bank it and use it so that you can ensure that
you aren't going to need to spend your time making somebody else money in the
future.
Some people have said to invest it in companies...the thing is that _you_ are
a company and it sounds like you're a pretty profitable one.
~~~
milestinsley
I completely agree with you on this. This guy clearly knows how to
successfully conceive, develop and bring an idea to market. There must be
countless ideas in his head. Invest in those!!
------
portman
"What I know how to do best is the app store"
Set yourself up as an _angel investor for iPhone apps_. Like a mini-mini-mini
YCombinator.
Based on your experience, you should be very good at evaluating an
individual's chances of creating a successful app. Solicit pitches (HN would
be a great source) and make 5 small investments of $5k each.
If you make another $25k next month, do another 5 investments. Rinse and
repeat.
You probably can't produce 5 apps per month on your own. But you can use those
same skills to invest in 5 apps per month. There is greater risk (you could
lose all 5 investments) but also greater reward (each investment could in turn
become its own $25k-mo company).
Good luck!
~~~
maxklein
Actually, there is one thing I can do perfectly now: I can listen to an app
idea and tell you how much money it will make. If I knew developer who needed
5k to make apps, I'd def invest in them. I don't know any however, the ones I
know don't need 5k.
~~~
ericb
Any tips on evaluating app ideas?
~~~
maxklein
It's a complicated collection of things, but a lot of it boils down to: how
many people will get what the app does from the title and the icon. And also,
will your consumers search for the app?
For example, if I had an app called "Table Tennis" it will make money. If I
had an app called "River" it is less likely to make money, unless strongly
externally marketed. First app has search right from release, and everyone
gets it instantly. Second app says nothing from the name and nobody searches
app store for "river".
You need a constant low source of users for word of mouth to work.
------
mrtron
Be wary of trying to recreate the success using a similar but different model.
Many people fall into that trap and fail.
For example, if you carefully built apps and they seem to be selling well
hiring a bunch of people to build more apps may not work. The apps may not be
of the same quality, you may not be able to communicate your vision adequately
to them, and maybe just timing is incorrect now.
Personally I would continue doing everything you are now and completely ignore
the money side of things. Pay your taxes and pretend that money doesn't exist.
Keep progressing forward and see if you can continue increasing revenue.
Use some money to cut corners if you can, but throwing a bunch of money at a
problem doesn't tend to have a good success rate.
edit: Also by looking at your uploaded image - it looks like you half your
income this year is from the last month. Try to keep pushing growth forward,
whatever you have been doing is working well.
------
jsankey
_What I know how to do best is the app store, but I want other type of things
that do not require much time investment, but give as good returns as that.
What do I do with the money? How do I invest it in making more money quickly?_
Little effort, fast return? Then you need to take high risks. Is that really
what you want? Maybe you'd be better off trying to scale your skills (which
have gotten you this far) by expanding into other platforms/niches?
Contracting out some of the work could help.
------
hyperbovine
_I want to somehow use the money to make more money quickly (within a 2 year
time span)._
As others have pointed out the best asset you have is your ability to crank
out mobile apps that people are willing to pay for. Not to burst your bubble,
but even $24k a month is nowhere near enough for you to kick back and watch
the returns flow in. The investment opportunity you seek--short term, high
return, low risk--simply does not exist. If anyone attempts to convince you
otherwise, reach for your wallet, because you are being had.
------
petewailes
Build a business using it. Pithy version:
1\. Look for a niche that hang around online, but don't know much about web
stuff. Mumsy things, crafts... anything that's a tightly knit niche
2\. Find their forums/blogs etc, and ask them what would make their lives
easier? What would be the one thing that would be awesome that they want.
3\. Build it. Possibly hire people to help you
4\. Have a free, lightly crippled version (so it's still highly useful and
awesome, but clear there's more awesome where that came from if they cough up)
5\. Hire (hint hint) an awesome marketer and copywriter to design, write and
perform ongoing analysis and optimisation of the sales funnel, traffic
generation and site navigation
6\. Reinvest the money in entering more niches, and refining the process
You should be able to launch a site a month, with an average sales volume of
7-15k from each site after 6 months or so. 12 months down the line, that
should be earning you upwards of 100k p/m sustainably, with a max of 4
employees. I'm fairly sure you can live off that.
~~~
bioweek
I'd love to try your advice but I've never been able to find such a niche.
Everytime I try to think of one, I get "niche block". Any ideas?
~~~
prawn
Got a passion? Helps if you have a real interest in an idea. I've found that
first-round attempts I've made at sites have been successful (got a few sites
that took very little time to set up, but now make $4k/mo for zero effort),
but attempts to replicate that have failed (have a few more sites that barely
cover their domain registration costs!). Without the passion, you would need
to be _very_ disciplined, I suspect.
Here's something I just tried to see if it might help someone looking for a
niche (since almost all are massively saturated, at least at first glance):
Hit Dmoz, control-click five sections on the front page. For each tab that's
opened, choose a sub-sub-cat pretty quickly (maybe don't overthink your
choices, but don't necessarily go for the largest option). If necessary,
choose again on the next level. That should give you five things to look into
further. I ended up with:
http://www.dmoz.org/Home/Family/Runaways/
http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Knots/Fishing/
http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Education/Instructional_Technology/Organizations/
http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Senior_Health/Fitness/
http://www.dmoz.org/Shopping/Food/Smoked/
Never know what any of these might turn up. Lack of decent, dedicated blogs,
need for small widgets, simple calculators/tools, etc. With anything though,
unless you have confidence in your content or idea, I would keep it quick and
simple and not invest too heavily.
~~~
bioweek
That's awesome advice! Thanks. I'm going to try it. Are you available for
mentoring :-)
~~~
prawn
Keep in mind that the Dmoz idea was just something I invented on the spot and
may or may not be at all useful. An old bookmark I have is this from a few
years back:
<http://seoblackhat.com/2007/02/21/online-business-niches/>
However, they're hardly niches and would be thoroughly dominated by MFA stuff
already with little room to drive in a wedge. You could however pick a few of
those, do keyword research on each and then pick a three-word keyphrase from
that wider list to think about and focus on? I wouldn't bother going after a
single keyword or even two-word phrase as the competition will be too fierce.
Happy to trade emails if you want to bounce any ideas off me. Can't promise
anything useful or insightful, but hey, it's free to try! My background is 12+
years web development (backend and frontend) with side projects in
forum/community, some passive content sites geared around AdSense plus bigger
ideas that I struggle to find time to work on.
------
cellis
I once read
"Never give financial advice for free:
if it is good advice, you won't get credit,
and if it is bad advice -- you'll get the blame".
You should consider why anyone here would give you advice on how to turn
xx,xxx into millions quickly. HN is full of smart people who are fully capable
of getting their hands on that much in vc/other leverage and doing it
themselves. Any advice they give you, from a purely competitive standpoint,
erodes their chances of success.
tl;dr - If anyone knew of a way to turn 24k into millions, why would they say
how to do it for free?
~~~
Mz
_If anyone knew of a way to turn 24k into millions, why would they say how to
do it for free?_
Because people are social creatures and often take great pleasure in talking
about something they know a lot about and may have difficulty finding many
people that really want to listen/discuss it. Besides, as gets stated here
often, a great idea isn't worth much. You still have to put in the time and
effort to get any payoff. So it's not much of a threat, really.
~~~
cellis
Someone smart enough to create a black box (which a million dollar business
never turns out to be) that takes input of 24,000 and returns as output 2.4
million is _not_ going to give it away at a marginal cost.
He's asking, in essence, how to get rich quick. If i have a grq idea, i'm
either already doing it and getting rich, or planning on doing it (raising
capital, finding co-founders, et al).
~~~
Mz
A lot of excellent ideas are viewed as "crazy" when first proposed. That is
probably a bigger reason you aren't going to get a qrq scheme from an online
discussion: Either they are burned out on trying to convince people casually
or you won't recognize it as brilliant. And that comes back to my earlier
remark: An idea isn't worth that much. Execution is what brings in the money.
That still won't prevent some folks from wanting to discuss it just because
that's the kind of thing that floats their boat. Maybe you aren't that type.
Some people aren't. But some people just like talking about stuff. <shrug>
~~~
cellis
Ok, I'll bite. I just don't like talking about this sort of thing because it
often devolves into scammy ideas. For instance here is a dead simple way to
make money if you are really hard up:
Build a site where the only goal is to serve ads and get visitors. Give away N
of your ad revenue to a random visitor. Write viral hooks into it to propagate
it faster. Of course it won't work for long - someone will eventually try to
increase their chances by registering thousands of accounts - but while it
works you could probably make a ton of cash.
Edit: perhaps with his appstore experience he could do this on the iphone -
figure out a way to make it cost prohibitive to register thousands of accounts
by tying accounts to a phone number?
~~~
Mz
I think you and I probably see this much the same. It's not like I've made any
grq suggestions. I'm just one of those annoyingly chatty people who likes to
talk -- and it gets me in hot water all the time. I have refrained from
suggesting that this is a bad idea because a) sometimes a discussion is useful
to someone, even if it doesn't accomplish the stated goal and b) long
experience tells me that no one wants me to rain on their parade and say "Gee,
that doesn't sound like a great thing to be asking".
In addition to your concerns, I will add that people seem to typically get
rich pursuing a niche market which is a good fit for _them_ as an individual.
Which means a potential billion dollar idea is only a billion dollar idea for
some people and not just anyone....um, which comes back to "execution", I
think. :)
Nice chatting with you. I should probably shut up now and let people carry on
with discussing what this individual might want to do with their money.
------
bg4
My honest opinion is to bank the remaining after taxes - especially if you
don't have six months living expenses set aside in a money market fund or
something like that. If you do have that, then use it to buy other people's
time to make your small apps.
------
kp212
Nice work. I hope I can have this problem some day!
------
gojomo
Even if you know the app store flow is fragile, I doubt anyone can tell
whether it'll turn in 6-months or 6-years.
If you are an expert in making money there, ride that wave -- looking for
something comparably-lucrative-but-different is a distraction. Optimize the
hell out of your current flows -- find ways that spending $1 in marketing
makes you >$1, create small variants, port to other platforms, outsource --
with careful metrics so you detect early when your strategies are played out.
Meanwhile, on the side, sock some away in a completely safe non-distracting
portfolio. _When_ it makes sense to turn your attention elsewhere -- either
out of the app store opportunity ending, or a desire for something new --
_then_ that safe cache of money will help. But at this point, you've already
got a lucrative place to spend your attention -- why dilute it with other
plans?
------
gregcmartin
Seriously what ericb said, milk the app store and advertise your apps online
if you can, keep it going but the investment climate is lame everywhere. I am
now in the same situation where I had 30k cash for the first time with no debt
and I essentially put it in a safety deposit box at the bank so I won't spend
it. If you look at money market, CD's etc, they all stink right now so just
lock it up.
If you have not bought a house yet then I would look into doing that and
taking advantage of the 8k tax break for first time home buyers. Sounds like
you have enough down payment to cover 20% and get out of the PMI insurance.
You might use that money to hire another developer you can train and crank out
more apps, and hit the android market as well.
~~~
Readmore
Do not buy a house right now unless you really understand your local market
and it's very different than the national average. Home prices are going to
drop like a rock this Spring.
~~~
cadr
What makes you say that?
~~~
Readmore
I've read from numerous sources that the banks are holding foreclosed home off
the market until the spring to keep prices high during the 'first time
homebuyers credit'.
Once it expires there should be a large influx of new homes for sale which
will drive prices down. It's a game of buying now for the tax credit and
'saving' $8,000 or waiting a few months and possibly saving $20,000 because
home prices have dropped.
~~~
cadr
That is very interesting - thank you.
------
petervandijck
The internet thing to do would be to make a member-only site where you teach
people everything you know about making money on the appstore, and charge
97$/m subscription. Run that for a year or two, then sell it.
~~~
jackowayed
At first that sounds crazy (run a get-rich-quick scheme, and that will get you
rich quick!), but that's actually a pretty good idea.
Assuming you can pinpoint some of the secrets to your success (or, more
importantly, things that sound like they will help people succeed), you can
write a book, start a subscription website, etc selling those tips. Saying
"I'm making $24k from a wide variety of apps, and it's just me in my free
time" is a pretty good selling point.
~~~
maxklein
That seems like an even quicker way to end the profit run. If everyone knows
how to do this, the market will slow down and then soon my tips will be
worthless since they no longer work. Then I killed the goose that lays the
golden egg.
~~~
Psyonic
It kills the goose, but creates the elephant that drops the golden turds.
Which would you rather have?
------
jackowayed
Clickable graph link: <http://imgur.com/T0z5p.png>
------
Poiesis
Nice problem; I hope to have it someday.
First: I echo the previous posters urging you to reconsider the stock market.
It's low maintenance and is a nice way to diversify away from your business if
you feel it's not sustainable.
I just reread your post and noticed the implication of "I do not want to
invest...long term like bonds or property". If you plan to need/use the money
within, say, 5 years (preferably longer) the stock market isn't for you--so
you're doing something right there by not wanting to go with stocks. I just
think that people are urging you to think long term
That said, you want to make money fast short term. I will add to those
pointing out that this is generally difficult. However, you do have at least
one good idea proven to work at the moment: your success in the app store.
Your best bet to make more money quickly in the short term is to attempt to
scale what you're already doing. Note: this may not be possible. I still think
it's your best bet given the constraints you give. You're worried about time
investment, but that's nothing that hiring someone can't alleviate (but not
remove).
Finally, care to answer a few questions about your success? I imagine you're
hesitant to share more identifying info, but how about things like what you do
for marketing? Or how much time it took to get to this level, how many apps,
and how much time it takes?
------
eb0la
Congrats. But let me tell you this straight: you are not making money (yet).
You are now cash-flow positive.
So start paying up your debts. Did you say you don't have any? that's a lie:
you owe yourself some (a lot) working hours for programming, distributing,
promoting the app.
Also, you had to buy a mac which is also an expense, an iphone or ipod touch,
etc...
Step one: sum all that money. Put it wherever you like and feel free to spend
it: It's your delayed salary.
The next step is trying to figure out how much money you need to "forget"
about getting money everyday.
Maybe 10k/month or 20k/month to cover all your living expenses and get all
(physical) things you want without having to worry about money. Let's suppose
you're happy with $20k/month (tax free, of course).
Step 2: How much money do you need to have to get $20k in interest ? Figure
out that sum. Remember that next year today's $20k will be something like
$19,002 or something like that.
First: Keep making money (selling your app, and building one or two more).
Second: Invest in something like bonds (us, corporate bonds, etc...) with good
credit rating. You may earn between 1.5% - 8% yearly (if you can buy bonds at
discount, better).
Third: Invest in stock, funds, etc... just follow the tide: don't try to
outsmart the market because you will fail.
Fourth: When you have time, start looking at derivates. Then, build your own
guaranteed-credit deposit with options and swaps. Beat next year inflation
(mostly on autopilot).
Five: Enjoy !
------
CalinCulianu
I have the exact same problem.
And no, don't pay your taxes YET. I would actually invest in hiring some
artists and developing even MORE apps. Maybe just outsource their development.
It can be a lot of headaches but if you were able to code the apps yourself
then likely you can extract decent work out of shitty Indian or Chinese
consultants.
Or, find some people here in the states and convince them to work for you.
Keep growing your business. Become a player.
Or, retire to a cheap country and fuck girls and and enjoy life.
That's my advice.
-Calin
------
drawkbox
Like others mentioned, keep in mind you owe about 45% taxes. 30% ish for
actual taxes then 15% for self-employment tax. SO that 24K is really about
14K.
Also keep in mind that was during the holidays it seems or maybe after a few
game launches that did well. You won't see the same level of revenue steadily
unless you keep releasing and have good pricing strategies.
My advice, save it up or use it to reinvest in your own company for now.
~~~
sabat
Question for drawkbox: if this guy had formed an S corporation, would that
have changed the self-employment tax? He'd owe taxes for his own income, but
the S corp (IIRC) doesn't pay taxes, right?
~~~
grandalf
The amount of self-employment tax is lower with an s-corp b/c your salary will
be lower. With an s-corp you can also benefit from the standard deduction on
your individual return.
Consider:
Sole Propietorship: taxable income is equal to whichever is lower, gross
income minus expenses or gross income minus the standard deduction.
S Corp: you subtract expenses from the corp's income, and pay your self, say,
60% of the remainder as salary, which is subjected to payroll tax. However,
you calculate your taxable income by subtracting the standard deduction from
your taxable income. The corp then pays its half of payroll tax, but you can
take the remaining income (not paid to you as salary or used for expenses) as
a profit distribution, which is only taxed at capital gains rate.
So all in all it can save a lot of money, particularly if you have business
expenses (which in a sole proprietorship are eaten up by the standard
deduction)...
Note: You have to do payroll every month for it to be legit with the IRS, and
you need to file taxes once you create the corporation, even if your situation
changes and you don't use the corporation for anything. You also have to pay
yourself a reasonable salary. If you're a single employee S Corp then it may
be wise to pay yourself > 50% of the corp's gross income as salary, to avoid
arousing suspicion that you're doing the s-corp purely as a tax shelter.
------
kordless
Lots of people saying 'invest in yourself'. I'd take that a step further and
say 'invest in your company'. If you haven't already, set a company up and
hire someone to do stuff like customer support, basic marketing, etc. Do your
books yourself, with a CPA's help (and with his financial planning), or have a
relative do it. My wife does all our bookkeeping for our startups. Don't trust
a stranger to do your books!
Get a basic plan together on how you are going to grow the business, then take
it out and talk to a) companies in the same space, and b) VCs. Get feedback
and adjust accordingly to what feels right. If growing the business takes
outside capital, raise it. If it doesn't, then start down the path of growing
the business (according to your new plan).
I think investing in other startups is bad advice. You aren't making that much
net right now - maybe on the order of $14K net a month past taxes. It's a good
living, but if your sales are dependent on continued
development/advertising/luck/whim of Apple, I'd be REALLY careful about
expanding spend to fill the income.
Out of curiosity, which apps did you do?
------
jackowayed
I know it's risky, but I wouldn't count out the stock market.
With the whole financial meltdown, the stock market tanked, and there was no
doubt they'd go back up. A year ago, even though I was 15, only had a grand or
so, and needed the money a year and a half from then for college, I considered
the stock market because I knew they were going to shoot back up (and they
did).
So if it were a year ago, I would be _screaming_ stock market at you. But now
the Dow is back over 10k, so I see it as a much more risky move. That seems
pretty high considering the current state of the economy.
But if you see it fall back down toward 8k, I would buy, as one can be pretty
certain that it will be back around 10k sometime in the next 2 years. Also,
right now, interest rates are in the toilet, but stock dividends from most
companies are actually paying decent rates.
~~~
Psyonic
You'd have been SCREAMING stock market at him? It went down to... 7k? So if he
had invested in an index fund he'd have made 33%... another 8k? I don't think
that qualifies as GRQ, but ok
Note: not saying it's a bad idea, but he's asking for something to quickly
make a LOT more money. Your advice, while likely sound, isn't going to
accomplish that, unless he can pick one of those lucky stocks (like Akamai was
at one point) that goes up 33x in a year.
Second note: What he is asking for is a pipe dream. If it was that easy to
turn 24k into millions, there'd be a hell of a lot more people doing it. 24k
isn't really that much.
------
jseliger
Go read The Millionaire Next Door: [http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-
Door-Thomas-Stanley/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Thomas-
Stanley/dp/0671015206) , which ought to be mandatory reading for anyone.
_What do I do with the money?_
Invest it in stocks or bonds.
_How do I invest it in making more money quickly?_
You don't. That's the problem: there is no way to reliably do this. In fact,
there's probably no way to _unreliably_ do this either. At the moment, bank
savings accounts and CDs are paying next to nothing.
As The Millionaire Next Door shows, most people who we might think of as
"rich" don't actually get that way by being sports stars, or inheriting money,
or TV, or whatever: they get that way by spending less than they make and
saving as much as they can, usually in the form of investing in index funds.
------
nandemo
If you aren't doing it yet: translate and localize your apps, then sell them
in other countries' App Stores.
------
iamelgringo
Expand, grow, conquer.
\- Hire a few contractors to grow your stable of apps. You seem to know what
works. Expand on what you're doing so you can do more of the same.
\- Build your brand, that way you can use the market you've built to transfer
interest from one app to other apps, (as you've been doing on line with your
excellent blog posts).
\- Figure out a way to diversify your revenue stream. You're already concerned
about the app store closing or changing. Hire someone to port the apps to
Android. I think that's a long term play, but if Android takes off, I think
there's a large upside potential.
~~~
maxklein
I'm starting Android this month, everything is in place. I'll post comparison
posts on my blog after I test it out for a couple of weeks. I personally don't
think Android will work, but I'm generally a pessimist.
~~~
iamelgringo
What's the app? I'll buy it.
------
Apreche
Do what I would do. Just take a trip around the world, and forget about it.
~~~
holygoat
To quote The Sting: "I'd just blow it anyhow".
------
vessenes
Judging from responses here, and my own experience, I think you need first of
all to make some life decisions.
Here are the questions I'd try and answer first:
1) What sort of life do I want for myself? Do I want to keep programming cool
stuff as ecosystems come along? Do I want to manage programmers? Do I want to
run a business, become an internet marketing guru, based on my experience, or
try and live off of passive income?
The answers to those questions will shape your decisions, whether or not
you're thinking about them. If you do think about them, you'll have a better
shot at structuring a good outcome for yourself.
Based on your post, it sounds like you currently want to double down your
current income on the hopes of getting 'rich'.
Here's what I'd guess: I'd guess this is your first 'business' venture. It's
gone really well. You are used to seeing such rapid returns in business
because it's all you know. You are now trying to invest more money than you
previously have (since your time was not previously worth $24k / month), and
trying to get the same rate of return.
You will do yourself a huge favor if you give up on this plan. It is
incredibly unlikely to happen. I'll be clear: my guess is that you are
currently experiencing the best ROI you will get in your entire life. Never
again will you see these sort of _percentage_ returns on your money.
That's of course very different from what sort of _dollar_ returns you may
see.
If you're able to give up on your high ROI dreams, you'll be doing yourself
and your family someday a giant favor.
Now, if you're still on board with me, you're wanting to invest this money,
but you understand you need to follow the basic rules of capital, make sure
you can preserve your capital at all costs, and need some way to deal with
your total incompetence in the area of financial investment, while learning,
and without losing your nest egg.
Simplest advice here is to 1) choose some areas you're interested in, 2) give
yourself a couple _years_ to fully deploy the capital in those areas of
interest, 3) keep 3 to 6 months liquid assets in case your business blows up.
If I knew no more about you, I'd probably go with some average of the advice
here:
Split up your money into
a) reinvestment, become an app store publisher or app store angel investor
with 33% of your money. Stick with what you know here, and it will magically
become investing rather than 'gambling'.
b) cash -- 33% toward high liquidity cash alternatives until you've got 6
months or so set aside
c) long term investment -- 33% into index funds, split up between national and
international super low load index funds
Don't forget to hold onto .3-to.4x of (Revenue minus a) for taxes, or
.4xRevenue depending on how you structure your investments.
So that would equal like:
$24k
\- 3k living expenses
\- 7k deductible investment (a-la signing up apps to publish them)
\- 7k taxes
\- 3k cash
\- 4k long term investments
\----------------------------
super-smart young business person.
That's not quite what my upper paragraph math was, obviously the more you can
put into the deductible column, the more efficient you'll be. You could
rebalance it to like 4.5/4/5 or so with the balance going to taxes, if my back
of the envelope calcs are accurate.
------
imasr
Get yourself a woman. Problem solved.
------
toisanji
Can you share with us what apps you are selling on the app store?
------
andrewcooke
i think that it's pretty clear that getting rich is largely luck. you were in
the right place at the right time with the right skills. if it was more than
that, then you'd be able to repeat it without advice, right?
given that, two approaches make sense to me:
1 - treat it as a lucky break and consider how best to make it last over the
long term, as a one-off. but you say you don't want to do this in your
question.
2 - try to somehow increase the odds of getting lucky again. you can use money
to improve your chances in various ways: by improving your skill set; by
allowing you to fail more often before you starve; by out-sourcing work not
associated with "taking a chance" to someone else; by entering a market with a
higher barrier to entry (where you need to invest more up-front) but with,
hopefully, less competition.
perhaps the best approach is to see (1) as yet another way to do (2). in other
words: invest the money so that you have a small but reliable income over as
long a period as possible (a ramen fund, if you like), so that you can keep
trying new ideas.
ps i think the biggest argument against the "luck" hypothesis is that very
rich people tend to get richer. but i suspect that's because they exploit
information available only to people in their position; $24k doesn't buy your
way into that.
~~~
Psyonic
24k a month is near 300k a year... doing pretty damn well, if you can keep it
up, but like you said, nowhere near very rich. The very rich get richer
because, like Mark Cuban says, when they invest in a company, the CEO gives
them a call and asks if they have any recommendations.
~~~
andrewcooke
i didn't mean to imply 24k a month wasn't impressive (it's way more than i
earn!), but the impression i got was that this wasn't going to last for long.
which suggests another approach is to use the money to find ways to extend how
long this can last. for example, by porting to android.
------
rufugee
Rather than advice, I have questions....namely, is there a list of your
published apps somewhere? I'd like to understand the types of simple
applications you're developing.
Thanks!
~~~
wmblaettler
I am also interested in knowing this, if you are willing to share.
~~~
maxklein
That question is best answered per email.
~~~
rufugee
Great...email sent. Thanks!
------
prakash
I saw this book when Paul Buchheit shared his amazon history, haven't read it.
_How to Be Rich by J Paul Getty_.
Also, read this, [http://blogmaverick.com/2006/01/02/my-investment-advice-
for-...](http://blogmaverick.com/2006/01/02/my-investment-advice-for-2006/) &
this <http://blogmaverick.com/2008/10/04/how-to-get-rich/>
------
azf
So, you'll probably get about $100k until the income is gone. If you keep
working, you have 50-50 chance to keep going for a longer periods of time -
most likely less than that.
There's no way to multiply that little money in just few years by investing it
without jeopardizing it all. You won't even qualify as a professional investor
as you don't have enough money for it, so your options would be limited
anyway.
If I was you, I would try to milk the app store as long as it's good and
network like crazy while doing so. Focus on quality, not quantity - find out
the guys who actually get top-notch shit done. Get yourself known, you should
be able to build some steady secondary income by telling how you did it and
how iPhone apps should be done.
When your app store income is drying up, you should already have $100+k in the
bank. Go through your network and find some other overachievers who are
bootstrapping a startup with a solid business plan and who need your skills.
Apply some of your capital as a seed money to get leverage. Work your ass off
for a while. Profit. Retire or repeat.
------
anigbrowl
Good work. If this is solo, then I add my voice to others saying hire a few
people with half and save the other half.
You say you don't want to invest, but since California is in the first stages
of being hit by an epic storm system that will play out over the next 2 weeks,
civil engineering businesses on the west coast are about to be handed as much
work as they can handle.
Or talk to pg about putting some into ycombinator. With the relatively small
investment to each selectee, you don't need massive amounts of capital. You
could even stage your own little competition on HN and offer $500 or $1000
plus your (probably more valuable) management guidance to three worthy
candidates whose apps impress you in exchange for a share of their revenue.
~~~
HockeyPlayer
> Or talk to pg about putting some into ycombinator.
Is ycombinator taking investment? I thought it was closed.
------
leelin
It sounds like you want to invest the money in yourself, which is
understandable and entrepreneurial.
As life continues, you'll find yourself with increasingly more disposable
money (hopefully), and directly investing in yourself doesn't scale (either
it's too risky or you can't use it to make yourself more productive).
Sadly, eventually you have to invest in other countries, companies, assets, or
people; in short, invest in something you wish you could control more.
It's a good yet stressful problem to have, but maybe the most comforting
tidbit in your case is I doubt the windfall you earned is a one-time thing.
The lottery winner or not-so-bright heir to a sizable inheritance is in worse
shape.
------
ShabbyDoo
There's nothing wrong with continuing to ride a gravy train you know is going
to end (or at least slow down) as long as you don't convince yourself it's
going to keep going forever.
>I want other type of things that do not require much time investment, but
give as good returns as that.
Why do you not have time? I presume you are referring to the time required to,
say, manage rental properties? You've already proven that you're very good at
creating software users want to BUY(!), so why not take some of the time that
this money affords you (pay a maid, etc.) and figure out something more
substantial to build while you're still able to milk the app store cow every
morning?
------
webwright
Seems like there MIGHT be some real estate opportunities in some parts of the
US. Short sales in Vegas or parts of CA might be interesting. Income
properties (strip malls) might be available for cheap. Fourplexes, too.
I tend to lean towards our current irrational spending/printing resulting in
hyper-inflation (or at least inflation) though plenty of smart people support
deflation, too. If you buy the inflation arguments, don't keep your money
liquid. i.e. If you buy a $500k house and inflation drives it (any everything
else) up 10x to $5m, you bought a $5m house for a song. If you keep $500k in
the bank and there is 10x inflation... Ouch.
~~~
maxklein
I am quite sure there is not going to be any inflation or hyper-inflation. The
U.S is spending a lot, but it's also very very high income. And a lot of
countries have no interest in one of the biggest consumer group for their
products disappearing.
The U.S dollar will stay weak because this promotes manufacturing, which is
what the U.S needs to be doing right now. But it will not weaken much more.
The one thing you can use to measure the long term financial stability of a
country is its infrastructure, and when you start seeing roads decaying then
start expecting inflation in a year or two. Till then, things are fine.
~~~
webwright
Wow. You are "quite sure" and feel that crumbling roads is a leading indicator
of inflation? I generally make a point not to be snippy on Hacker News, so
I'll just post some links and a suggestion to not say you're "quite sure" when
you aren't (or really shouldn't be).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflation>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deflation>
Kudos on the success, though.
------
oomkiller
Keep making apps, use the money to hire people to work with you, and then
soon, FOR you. That's the endgame here. If you don't want to do that, hire a
financial advisor. They can tell you how to invest it that will suit your
wishes.
------
jorkos
I would think about monetizing your experience of making money through apps;
take a small amount of your money and create a resource for building and
deploying cheap apps - this could be in the form of a PDF, etc. Add a dynamic
element like 2 hours of personal consultation. Sell at a few price points and
package this through a new app "Learn to sell apps app" - buyers need to get
the app to get the PDF.
This type of strategy leverages your experience & diversifies your revenue
streams w/ very little capital requirements....to make serious income you want
to move beyond just creating apps which may have very short life spans. Good
luck
------
jeromec
I think the answer heavily depends on how confident you are in yourself. Do
you feel your success was a fluke, or could you mimic it with something else?
Having 24K in capital is great, but if you know anything about the tech
startup space you'll know it's no sure ticket to riches. You need to board a
train that can take you higher, and that either means something you do
yourself or tagging along with someone else. Both are uncertain roads, so my
best advice is to research and weigh your decisions carefully. You might come
back and ask HN a 'Should I invest money in this?' question.
~~~
maxklein
I'm pretty smart, but you still need a confluence of certain things at a
certain time, which was clearly the case with the app store about 8 months
ago, and which I took advantage of.
One can never know if everything will fall perfectly in place the next time.
~~~
jeromec
Something I'd actually seriously consider in your place is YC companies. They
get around 20K which is just enough to create a prototype/beta to solicit a
larger round. This is not very much and I imagine many don't raise money right
away after their Demo Day. Having another 15-20K could be highly desired in
these earliest days. YC has already placed their bets that these companies
will become great, and I think their portfolio could have a 40% or better
success rate (provided timely variables fit together). If you could add your
money and app expertise to make a YC (or another) company stronger, that might
be the best risk to reward ratio you can have.
~~~
maxklein
I'd be ashamed to approach a YC company with my 24k. Like - it's not THAT much
money!
~~~
jeromec
You might be surprised at the responses you'd get. As you probably know web
startups are cheaper than ever to build; that's why the YC model works so
well. It's not in a startup's interest to raise huge amounts and give up lots
of equity early on; it's far better to give up less than 10% (YC typically
gets 6-7%). If you saw a company that you could relate to, and which you
understood the dynamics of, and furthermore might also be able to contribute
your support to then that can be worth quite a lot. The money is just part of
what you can bring to the table. You've already built a successful tech app so
you obviously have some tech knowledge, which is likely valuable. It certainly
doesn't hurt to ask; the YC companies are the same types likely to be on HN,
so approach it as more of a community/team aspect than a rigid VC offer. An
early YC company might give up another 4-5% for what you could offer, and even
that small amount might be worth millions in the not-too-distant future -
meeting your criteria.
------
sethg
_I do NOT want to invest in the stock market, or invest in anything long term
like bonds or property. I want to somehow use the money to make more money
quickly (within a 2 year time span)._
If you’re looking for investment tips, I recommend the book _A Random Walk
Down Wall Street_.
If you’re looking at the broader question “what should I do with all this free
cash flow”, hiring someone else (as many others have suggested) isn’t a bad
idea, as long as you think that the time freed up by delegating work to
someone else will free _you_ up to work on your next money-making project.
------
taylorbo
No one has a guaranteed way to make more money quickly...but here's some
ideas.
Invest in startups - You might see amazing returns in ~2-5 years, but the risk
is very high.
High risk hedgefunds - All equity/bond/commodity investment doesn't have to be
slow. It can be risky and full of high returns/loses.
My favorite idea... Expand what you're doing: Use your proven track record and
revenues to bank roll your own app store based startup/shop. Hire some people,
branch out a bit and look into the android platform. You can avoid the need to
take money from outside investors, and multiply your money that way.
~~~
Imprecate
The original poster probably doesn't meet the requirements for investing in
hedge funds <[http://www.fool.com/investing/mutual-funds/2006/02/28/are-
yo...](http://www.fool.com/investing/mutual-funds/2006/02/28/are-you-a-
qualified-investor.aspx>); and they don't take $24k investments anyway.
------
jasonlbaptiste
Find something that is undervalued significantly, dress it up with great
tech/service/usability, and dominate that area. Odds are it won't be anything
in the mainstream tech circles (ie- realtime web).
------
jonnycowboy
Just travel, with a small laptop (for support). You'll be able to live for
over a year on that money in places like New Zealand, China, India, etc etc.
Or rent/buy a small RV and see rural America!
~~~
cellis
Why rural america? I've driven through my fair share of it and lived in it for
a long time, and based on this heuristic I've got to say that you will mostly
just be seeing large expanses of farm fields.
With the kind of money he has: Costa Rica, South of France, Tahiti, [insert
sunny place]. _Mojito Island_
~~~
eru
Berlin is also cheap and interesting.
------
rsheridan6
What you're looking for is a get rich quick scheme, but you're not going to
find one here (not a legit one, anyway).
Here's an idea: have your cousin in the Illinois state legislature throw you
some lucrative contracts. That's the kind of get rich quick scheme that works.
Don't have a cousin in the Illinois state legislature? Then you'll have to do
something that requires more time investment if you want both a reasonable
chance of success and a high, rapid ROI.
~~~
PieSquared
It seems to me what he's looking for is more like a "get-rich-investment". He
has time and money to invest in something, and wants to use them to maximum
advantage. No need to belittle the post, it's quite valid.
------
perlpimp
Convert your apps into chinese. Even tiny fraction of possible market like
that is huge. Conversion should be more or less trivial, translation effort is
cheap :)
~~~
maxklein
Tried, does not work. Chinese market in the app store is small.
~~~
oceanician
What are the Chinese using? Maybe Android or S60 works better for them?
------
kyro
You have the method by which you can generate lots of money in a short period
of time; you just proved that to us with that $24k. But you say your problem
is the time and effort expended to create your apps, so I'd suggest you take a
portion of your money to hire others, create more apps, and saturate the App
Store. What's it to you if the App Store won't last forever? You want
something quick, so exploit it while it's there.
------
gyardley
You've probably got enough money and enough of an analytical mindset to
explore the cost-per-lead affiliate marketing space, figure out what works
through test buys (like poker, you've got to play a lot before you get good at
it), and then have enough cash left over to float your operation while
spending at a decent scale.
Downside - this can be an ethically-challenged business. But so are most 'make
money fast' schemes.
------
iterationx
You could promote and seed a couple of stackexchange sites. I really have no
clue what the revenue looks like but it seems like a dead simple idea.
------
joe_the_user
Great that you're making money with your business. Great that you can tell
it's far form from guaranteed.
Just about any other business you'd name is also risky. (and if folks in HN
know about something, you know you'll have competition). So no matter what
else you do, keep a cushion. There's story everyday about formerly successful
entrepreneurs who lived beyond their means and wound-up broke. Don't be them.
------
gte910h
1\. Make More Apps 2\. Diversify into Android 3\. Stick it in the bank until
something great comes along.
Cash is very useful. Do not downplay that.
------
hello_moto
Buy a house (or a couple houses). Rent some of them, live on the one you like
the most. Let the rent pays for the mortgage.
Start thinking about having a family. Save money for your kids education. Save
money for your parents. Save money for yourself for the old age (retirement
plans [whatever the shape and form is], hospital bills, traveling).
------
rphlx
Why are you opposed to stocks/bonds? Not implying the trend will continue, but
there are commodities and diversified foreign stock market ETFs that returned
50-100%+ last year with greater liquidity and less risk than nearly all
startups.
Also, there are bond ETFs/funds that are very liquid. I am a big fan of the
JNK ETF (~11% interest).
------
jonallanharper
1\. If you don't already have one, set up a gold-backed IRA and contribute the
max.
2\. Then, I'd personally either invest in gold or silver 1 oz bullion.
Apmex.com is a great site to buy from. Chances are extremely slim that you'd
_lose_ the cash your making, if you convert to gold.
3\. Keep some in a money market account, like EmigrantDirect.
------
sreitshamer
Invest in yourself! Working for yourself can make you a lot happier. Since
your living costs are low you're in a great position to build a business using
that cash.
EDIT: Plus by starting a company you'll immediately promote yourself to CEO.
If you ever get a job again in the future, it'll be at a higher level, more
pay, etc.
------
bravura
Invest in my company (or another hner) in exchange for convertible debt. Micro
invest to help startups pay for concrete little expenses like hosting. It
might not give a high return on investment but it would be personally
rewarding, and help you evaluate potential future collaborators.
Congrats by the way!
------
messel
I'd suggest angel investing in startups that compliment your view on where
things are headed. It's more fun than the stock market. You have proven
knowledge of what's selling now, and understand software.
The turn around is probably longer than 2 years though.
Can you do the same thing with the Android store?
------
colinplamondon
The ecosystem is pretty damn stable when you have a relatively up-market app.
We've had stable growth with one application for the past six months, and
crazy little variance in our category rank. Maybe develop a larger
application, one that you can market for the long-term?
------
swombat
_I don't know what to do with the money, how to use this very large monthly
income to actually make myself rich_
What would you do if you had already made yourself rich? What would you spend
your time on?
Why not start doing that right now? Why do you need to "make yourself rich"
before you can do it?
~~~
maxklein
I'd look for ways to make myself even richer. It's a game without an end, and
it's fun to play.
~~~
bOR_
The end is when you die :). Money doesn't travel over that well.
But as long as you're having fun finding ways to make more money, there's
really not that much wrong with playing the money game. Just don't care too
much about money :).
------
richardburton
Stash half and experiment with the other. No harm in putting some away in a
cushion account.
------
barmstrong
There are no 100% safe investments. But if you want to take the time to
educate yourself on one of them, you can do well. Real estate is my preference
over stocks.
But if not, an ING direct savings account is a good start.
And talk to rich people, to see what they are doing.
------
thinkbohemian
Thought Experiment: Give it to your 18 year old self...what would they do with
the money?
~~~
maxklein
Probably buy video games and make an arcade. That was the business I was into
at the time, never could afford the equipment though.
------
lo_fye
The $ should be paid to your business, not you. Then pay yourself very little
as a wage. Roll the rest back into the business (i.e. pay yourself to create
apps/software that you think would be cool to build and sell). Repeat.
------
AndrewHampton
<http://www.kiva.org/>
~~~
icey
While microloans are certainly an admirable use of money; I don't think that
really helps Max with his request at all. Kiva is something you do to be
charitable, not something you do to make money.
~~~
eru
If you get a decent return on your microloans, they can be a good way to make
money (and give some capital to people who need it).
But I agree: I doubt Max has as much of an advantage in evaluating promising
targets for microloans than he has building software.
~~~
icey
The feel that I've gotten is that nobody is really making any money with Kiva.
Most people I've read have gotten roughly a 1% return. Have you heard much
about people having success with Kiva that exceeds a bare return on principal?
~~~
eru
I agree, and, no, I haven't heard of people making money with Kiva, but that's
(at least partly) because I haven't really heard of Kiva at all. My comment
was meant to reference the success of e.g. Grameen bank which seems to get
decent returns on its microloan business, but also applies a lot of local
knowledge.
------
mike463
I'd say, invest in yourself. If you're short of creative ideas on what to do
with your time and finances, I think you might find the book "the 4 hour work
week" interesting.
------
mydigitalself
Property can be a short-term investment too. Buy something that needs work, do
it up, sell it on. It's fun, creative and rewarding too, although not without
risk either.
~~~
maxklein
They require a lot of time I would think.
------
teeja
Bank it and don't sweat it until you've got $250K lying around. Starting an
IRA with part of it would be good ... but rewarding yourself is also good.
------
cognomen
What is the software you used for the graph? Thx.
~~~
maxklein
AppViz.
------
stewiecat
1\. Taxes 2\. Retirement savings.
Max out your IRA, Roth, etc to take advantage of your (I'm assuming) youth and
the magic of compound returns.
~~~
maxklein
Just turned 29. Want to start retirement stuff at 30.
~~~
timdorr
You should have started retirement stuff the instant you took your first job.
The sooner you start, the more money you'll have when you start taking it out.
------
Keyframe
Buy AAPL, they made you some money already - they will make you more with
"iSlate" soon enough. </semi-serious>
~~~
maxklein
iSlate is an opportunity I am watching for. Let's see what Steve tells us. I'm
appropriately positioned, seeing as I have all this know how.
------
bucciarati
Donate 0.01 of your money to Wikileaks, like I did. Your 0.01 will make more
difference than mine did.
------
DanielBMarkham
Find a co-founder (or not) and invest in an app in a more stable ecosystem
with longer-term potential.
------
vaksel
you can do what Jacques does, he also has a "passive" income from one of his
sites, so he makes a few small time investments here and there.
You really don't need a lot of money to invest. Just look at the HN model. As
an angel all you need is 25K to get into most early rounds.
~~~
icey
That's pretty risky - you'd need to put 25K into one company to make it
worthwhile for the company. Angel investing is like VC on crack; you have to
spread your investments around because the failure rate is likely going to be
well over 50%. The goal is to make the 1 or 2 in 10 that succeed pay off well
enough to obviate the cost of the failures.
~~~
Psyonic
Angel investing without connections probably won't work, anyway. Most people
are looking for more than money.
------
iworkforthem
Invest in companies.
~~~
jackowayed
That's pretty risky. If you have a few million dollars that you want to invest
into a dozen companies, you're diversified enough that if you make good
decisions, it should pay off.
But at an angel level he probably only has enough to invest in 1-3, even
fairly small rounds. So it's not too unlikely that all 3 of those companies
fail and he loses it all.
High-risk bets, even those with high expected values, are bad if you can't
afford to make the same bet enough times.
------
CalinCulianu
BTW the dollar is going to tank in the next couple of years. The stupidest
thing you can do is buy dollar-based securities. If you MUST invest, buy GOLD.
No joke.
------
tjoozeylabs
What apps are you flipping?
------
throwaway5566
Invest in yourself.
You've already proven that you are capable of doing great things. Work to
increase your capabilities.
To generate wealth, in my opinion it's best to do things that are aligned with
what you are interested in. Since you have demonstrated ability with business
and technology, and some capital, start with that.
One way to generate wealth is to start a company, then sell it. There are many
skills necessary, but the essential one you already have - being able to just
plunge in and do it.
I'd say, dive in and see if you can learn to build a small company by
bootstrapping it - without taking investment money or going into debt... take
it slow and incremental, not going into debt or taking investment unless you
think you have a winning team and product. Usually at that point you don't
really need investment, but can use it to expand a lot.
These days, software development done by yourself or a few friends and servers
in the cloud are so cheap that you can build whole software or software-as-a-
service companies with your existing cash flow. Learn the technical and
business skills you need. Plan experiments that help you learn - that won't
kill you if you fail. You can learn much more from failure than success, so
make mistakes as fast as you can.
Oh yeah, and find a good accountant and make sure you pay your taxes.
Here's some resources:
Cheat sheet on how to get people to change - and buy your products. The best
summary I've read:
[http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/TheParadoxOfPain/Documen...](http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects/TheParadoxOfPain/Documents/TheParadoxOfPain_SummarySheet.pdf)
. . . .
My bible on how to learn customer problems and turn them into money. Also has
a great annotated bibliography of other good books to read, and a methodology
for becoming a self-taught entrepreneur. The author founded 5 well-known tech
companies that did IPOs, generating a great deal of wealth, and now teaches at
Stanford business school. I can't say enough good things about this book:
The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank [http://www.amazon.com/Four-
Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09...](http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-
Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/0976470705)
. . . .
The inside story on nitty-gritty details of how to start a start up, do the
legal work necessary to create the machinery for wealth generation. Written
from the perspective of helping tech entrepreneurs protect themselves. If I
would have had this book when I was starting out, I'd have held on to much
more of my wealth:
High Tech Start Up - John L. Nesheim [http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Start-
Revised-Updated/dp/068...](http://www.amazon.com/High-Tech-Start-Revised-
Updated/dp/068487170X)
. . . .
Last but not least, a very important short text on how money works. Written by
the founder of MasterCard. Extremely helpful in thinking about money, how to
work with it and think about it, what it's good for, not good for, and its
capabilities and place in ones' life:
[http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Money-Shambhala-Pocket-
Classics/...](http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Money-Shambhala-Pocket-
Classics/dp/1570622779)
Bonus text - the classic manual on leadership - really helpful instructions on
gracefully working with others. How to lead effectively and with a minimum of
muss and fuss. This is my favorite translation.
Tao Te Ching - Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Mitchell
[http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Stephen-
Mitchell/dp/00608...](http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Te-Ching-Stephen-
Mitchell/dp/0060812451)
\- a serial entrepreneur
------
st3fan
Pension fund.
------
medianama
How?
------
w3matter
Make sure you pay your taxes dude
------
mschy
1) I'd set aside enough money to live for a year in something that's boring,
low-return and dead safe. And I wouldn't touch it. This will give you enormous
flexibility when deciding what to do with your life and career.
2) I'd talk to financial professionals to figure out how to structure things
for maximum gain (e.g. what can you legally write off? can you create
retirement programs for yourself? etc.)
3) I'd take classes in my areas of weakness, so I'm better prepared for the
Next Big Thing.
------
Nassrat
I think what you are looking for is to incubate startups
~~~
chrisduesing
From what he said this is his first real financial success, which means that
he does not qualify as an 'accredited investor'. He needs to continue to make
that kind of money for 2 years before he falls under more investment friendly
SEC regulations. Until then he would be placing a large burden on a startup by
trying to invest in it with additional legal work, filings and fees.
------
johnconroy
Well done! play it safe though: a nice property and an equity tracker fund.
Jesus I wish I was in your shoes.
------
shareme
invest in building products
------
eraad
Give it all to me. I will make good use of it and give you back some extra
bucks in a couple of years.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Bitcask: because you needed another local key/value store - wmf
http://blog.basho.com/2010/04/27/hello,-bitcask/
======
argvzero
Some perf numbers:
Bitcask vs. InnoDB (by Dave Smith):
<http://twitter.com/dizzyco/status/13014285189>
Bitcask vs. Tokyo Cabinet (by Jeff Darcy):
<http://pl.atyp.us/wordpress/?p=2868>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Greed and corruption blew up South Korea’s nuclear industry - KabuseCha
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613325/how-greed-and-corruption-blew-up-south-koreas-nuclear-industry/
======
zeristor
So there’s no over arching department to check on the nuclear industry?
Would the French have won the contract otherwise? Would they have had huge
delays as in Finland?
How resilient is a nuclear power station to an artillery attack from the
naughty North Korea? Not very I imagine, although I trust NK would avoid it,
but I imagine that’s a huge problem.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft Has Hijacked Android in a Hostile Takeover - watershawl
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2015/05/27/microsoft-has-hijacked-android-in-a-hostile-takeover/
======
paulhauggis
So strategic business agreements are now considered a "hostile takeover"?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cisco iOS and iOS XE Software Smart Install Remote Code Execution Vulnerability - based2
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-20180328-smi2
======
p0cc
This title is wrong. Cisco makes IOS while Apple makes iOS. Note the
capitalization. Apple actually licenses the iOS trademark from Cisco.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.