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Can this cooler save kids from dying? - mhb
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/The-big-chill
======
thinkingkong
Sounds like it works based on the same principles as a pot-in-pot cooler.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-
pot_refrigerator](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot-in-pot_refrigerator)
~~~
stephengillie
Today, I learned that an ice cream maker is a pot-in-pot refrigerator with a
mixer.
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_maker](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream_maker)
------
RcouF1uZ4gsC
One thing I like about what the Gates Foundation is that they can focus on
unglamorous, high impact stuff. Keeping vaccines cold in areas without
reliable power is not something makes headlines (apart from Gate's publicizing
it), but that will actually save a lot more lives than many of the high
profile new treatments that gain the notice of the press.
~~~
dlevine
If you are interested in this kind of stuff, I would recommend reading "Doing
Good Better." [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OYXWL4W/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?...](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OYXWL4W/ref=dp-kindle-
redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)
~~~
barbs
I wonder how that compares with "The Most Good You Can Do".
[https://www.amazon.com/Most-Good-You-Can-
Effective/dp/030018...](https://www.amazon.com/Most-Good-You-Can-
Effective/dp/0300180276)
------
wcdolphin
Does anyone have a link to a diagram describing how this works? I don't
understand how heating it re-condenses the water.
~~~
maxerickson
I imagine it's an absorption chiller. Here's a manually cycled one from the
past:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball)
The video here shows a lot more about the fridge and a little about the
cooler:
[https://www.theglobalfight.org/innovation-reaching-last-
mile...](https://www.theglobalfight.org/innovation-reaching-last-mile/)
------
stephengillie
This is in the same line as another article from 12 days ago: Drone Delivery
Becomes a Reality in Remote Pacific Islands [0]
> _The conditions in Vanuatu make vaccine distribution a tough challenge.
> Today, shipments are flown from the three major islands (which have cities
> and airports and such) to small rural islands in 9-seater planes. When a
> plane rolls to a stop on the grass airstrip, it’s met by someone from the
> local health clinic—but that’s assuming that one of the few trucks on the
> island is available and in working order.
The health worker picks up the vaccines, which are packed in ice, and hurries
back to the clinic to stash the precious vials in a refrigerator—but that’s
assuming the fridge and the clinic’s solar power system are working. Any
breakdown is a serious problem, because spare parts can take weeks to arrive.
And the whole operation is very expensive._
Vanuatu's residents are looking into skipping the remote refrigerators and
transporting vaccines by drone. An ideal solution seems to be a combination of
both, giving flexibility in both transport and storage. How much do these
weigh - could they be transported by drone easily?
[0]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17202831](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17202831)
~~~
teachrdan
I think the idea is that you wouldn't need this kind of refrigerator with a
drone. Instead the drone would be dispatched the moment the next batch of
children need to be vaccinated.
This is ideal because you don't need a heavy, expensive refrigeration unit to
keep vaccines cool for days of travel, thus decreasing the cost and expense of
vaccination.
Obviously this won't work everywhere; extreme weather, like storms or even
high winds, may make drone delivery impossible for much of the year. But it
appears that the more we can deliver vaccines by drone, the better.
~~~
namibj
There are ways to fly reasonably fast with rather cheap technology, if you
have some way of bringing the fixed-wing aircraft up to at least over about
half the speed of sound. This would e.g. be easy to archive if you use
something like a coaxial folding propeller, though if you try, you could
probably get away with a single folding propeller, or at least without needing
the coaxial nature to provide counter-rotation, as a large enough part of the
wings should be outside of the whirl the prop creates, so it can provide
enough force against the prop to keep the plane spinning relatively slowly.
The technology I'm referring to (a ramjet) is unfortunately not too efficient,
but the low-tech nature of it, at least as far as manufacture is concerned
(design benefits greatly from modern computational fluid dynamics), makes the
manufacturing cost of it, including a fuel tank, come in at about 10-100$.
It's basically a fancy shaped pipe with something like a fuel pipe or so
coiled around it (for cooling and to ensure sufficient temperature of the
fuel), which can just be hydroformed from a seamless section of stainless
steel pipe. They guzzle fuel, but as long as you either have an electronic
valve a microcontroller can adapt to e.g. a simple flow meter or pressure
sensor, along with a temperature probe, they only need the fuel to contain
enough butane/propane or so to self-pressurize, and otherwise require the fuel
to not tar/char/soot up any of the fuel nozzles and such.
Theoretically, though one might prefer to run it on liquid hydrogen in that
case, the same technology, but with different tuning could run a similarly
rather cheap Mach 2~3 (at surface level) reaching thing light enough to be
lifted by a pair of movers or similarly build men. That would be hard to do
without going for the hydrogen, and that is unlikely to be prevalent on a
small pacific island.
Both of these potential things do fall under the category "Your scientists
were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think
if they should.", the latter even under the category "ITAR want's to have a
word with what you made there.", due to the necessary automatic navigation and
speed, as well as technological level of materials used, as high-tech
airframes are expensive.
~~~
me_again
That sounds very interesting and cool. But the lower-tech approach in the
original article sounds radically more practical in real terms than either
drones or liquid-hydrogen-powered ramjets ;-)
~~~
namibj
This was the general medicine-remote-island-delivery approach ;).
The LH2 ramjet could probably be made to launch from a <100m long catapult, I
once did a few calculations and UHMWPE fibers should allow accelerating within
iirc. 50m to Mach 0.7 with something like a large (half-ton, due to the energy
density) steel coil spring (like in a watch, just a "little" larger) at the
muzzle and that coiling up the rope pulling an iirc. 100 kg aircraft with a
sled or so, due to the ramjet not delivering enough thrust at lower speeds.
The side effect would be that because they gain thrust with speed (up to a
point, for the LH2 constellation somewhere over Mach 3), there would be plenty
of thrust to spare, and combined with the high structural strength necessary
for the catapult, and the lack of vertebrae on board, turns up to about 30~50
G are feasible, all at near ground level.
While there is certainly an appeal to this, and the technology being
sufficiently low-tech for a home shop (I am just going to refer to Sam
Zeloof's garage wafer fab), any attempts at building something like it as a
large hobby project would be futile for there being no way to test it outside
of a remote desert area or the ocean, both rather inhospitable to a one-man
flight crew. There are reasons supersonic aircraft are not tested over
inhabitation. It would not be nice to a street it could technically fly
through, unless the buildings are already blast proof.
And a hobby project of that scale you can't even play with will not be worth
it.
(If you happen to know how to play with something like this despite the
supersonic-over-land ban, please divulge your secret.)
------
iamthepieman
Now they need to market this to beach goes, survivalists, preppers, beer
obsessors and other people with disposable income so that it can become
commoditized.
~~~
maxerickson
The capacity is ~2 beverages.
I think it doesn't matter a great deal, the value of vaccination is so high
that each cooler can cost quite a bit and have a bunch of entities
(governments, non profits, etc) happy to pay for it.
------
userbinator
Reminds me of the
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball)
------
beenBoutIT
Hopefully it can save kids from dying, only to make them extremely
disappointed with the lack of detail in the vague explanation of how the
cooler works.
------
konschubert
Can somebody with insight into the area explain how much of the difficulty in
vaccinating children is due to political/cultural reasons and how much is
logistics?
Also, I'm just impressed with Bill Gates. Here is a man who had everything and
and decided to do as much good as possible with it.
~~~
masklinn
It's highly dependent on the environment.
In sub-saharan africa it's mostly logistics, in western countries it's
cultural (anti-vaxxers), in some other countries it's political e.g. fear of
western interventionism and harm under guise of humanitarianism… sadly
justified: the CIA organised fake vaccination campaigns in Pakistan to
pinpoint OBL, and while officially that program was shut down who'd trust
these claims?
~~~
emiliobumachar
Wow, I did learn something today.
[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-
vacc...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vaccination-
campaign-endangers-us-all/)
"In its zeal to identify bin Laden or his family, the CIA used a sham
hepatitis B vaccination project to collect DNA in the neighborhood where he
was hiding." [...] "The deadly consequences have already begun. Villagers
along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border chased off legitimate vaccine workers,
accusing them of being spies. Taliban commanders banned polio vaccinations in
parts of Pakistan, specifically citing the bin Laden ruse as justification.
Then, last December, nine vaccine workers were murdered in Pakistan,
eventually prompting the United Nations to withdraw its vaccination teams. Two
months later gunmen killed 10 polio workers in Nigeria—a sign that the
violence against vaccinators may be spreading."
~~~
arcbyte
"The CIA" \- is made up of people.
Who are the specific people that came up with this idea, pitched it, agreed to
it, and executed it?
Names are needed.
------
Veelox
tl;dr
Vaccines need to be kept at 2C-8C before they are used to be effective. This
is a problem in Africa because power can be inconsistent and villages are
remote. Two improvements have been developed.
MetaFridge is a new fridge that can keep vaccines cool for up to five days
without power. It can also display how long the vaccines are still god for and
transmit data to a service team if needed.
Indigo is a new type of cooler that can be carried on your back. It works by
heating it up which puts water into a high pressure compartment. This is
sealed by a valve. Once the valve is flipped, the Indigo can keep the vaccines
cool for up to 5 days with no ice or power.
MetaFridge is in the field with a solar power option in the works. Indigo is
in field trials with results suggesting 4x as many places can be reached.
------
motionispower
This looks to me like a band-aid solution for the real problem: lack of
transportation infrastructure. If these people had better transportation
options they wouldn't have to walk hours to get water, go to school, etc. It
would also result in faster transport of vaccines.
You can ship t-shirts and plastic chairs from western countries and make
yousrelf feel good because you're "helping". But what about solving the real
problems like infrastructure? The west invested in infrastructure in china.
Now china is investing in africa.
~~~
linuxkerneldev
> the west invested in infrastructure in china.
Do you have any evidence that this is true? As far as I can tell, China
invested in infrastructure in China. "West" just buys products. Your statement
is equivalent to claiming that Apple invested in infrastructure in China when
the reality is that Foxconn invested in infrastructure in China and Apple just
buys the output.
------
Double_a_92
More like "Can this cooler give kids autism?" /s
------
cpr
Gee, why am I cynical about this?
[https://worldmercuryproject.org/news/bill-gates-are-
vaccines...](https://worldmercuryproject.org/news/bill-gates-are-vaccines-a-
miracle-over-disease-and-a-fantastic-investment/)
~~~
gowld
Because you read a pseudoscience website that doesn't understand the
difference between elements and molecules containing elements?
~~~
Double_a_92
I bet he still using salt in his food.
------
mcs_
Mi piacerebbe sapere come garantire la genuinità del prodotto trasportato. La
falsificazione è una realtà (sono stati spesi grandi capitali per proteggere
industrie non vitali come l'intrattenimento).
~~~
kjeetgill
Run through google translate: I would like to know how to guarantee the
genuineness of the product transported. Counterfeiting is a reality (large
capital has been spent to protect non-viable industries such as
entertainment).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Patent holder attempts to put x-plane out of business - zobzu
http://www.x-plane.com/x-world/lawsuit/
======
noonespecial
This title isn't quite right. Uniloc does not want to put x-plane out of
business. They want to reap some of the profits from the app without doing any
work.
They're rent seekers, not enemy combatants.
His "fight to the death" spirit is admirable, but he is turning a simple
robbery into mortal combat. I so very much hope he wins big.
~~~
shmerl
They aren't rent seekers. They are protection racket money extortionists.
~~~
noonespecial
No, they're classic rent seekers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking>
_...rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent by manipulating the
social or political environment in which economic activities occur..._
_Many current studies of rent-seeking focus on efforts to capture various
monopoly privileges stemming from government regulation of free competition._
In practice, the difference comes to this: Its the government's clubs that
finally smash your business, not the troll's.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Dutch spies helped Britain's GCHQ break Argentine crypto during Falklands War - samizdis
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/18/maximator_euro_spy_alliance_falklands_war/
======
mike_d
The Dutch have an absolutely amazing intelligence apparatus.
In 2014 AIVD hacked the office network of Russia's APT29, and maintained
access at least through the 2016 DNC hack. The best part was they also had
access to the security cameras and were able to watch the attacks in real
time.
~~~
krona
They can't be that good if you happen to know this and be writing about it on
the internet.
~~~
ArnoVW
In general, in the spyworld you do not talk about your tricks. But if you've
already been found out, and your tricks no longer work, there is still
political advantage to be had (damage your adversary, obtain credit from
partners, obtain funding, easier recrutement).
[https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2018/01/dutch...](https://arstechnica.com/information-
technology/2018/01/dutch-intelligence-hacked-video-cameras-in-office-of-
russians-who-hacked-dnc/)
~~~
coldtea
Or if you just want to claim it to damage your adversary, whether they have
the unit you supposedly hacked and it does what you say it does, or not...
------
fit2rule
As a citizen, I am not okay with this degree of intra-sovereign surveillance.
If I am to live in, pay taxes, and otherwise contribute to a society, I want
to be free of surveillance and subterfuge within that society - my states
laws, designed to protect me from thugs and mafia (a very real threat), should
not be thwarted by military industrial mafia hell-bent on exerting control
over sovereign states, in spite of my desires as a citizen.
The trouble is, I see no way forward for citizens of the 5-eyes states to
address this issue, other than either a) revolution to uncover and dissolve
the control networks that have been covertly put in place, or b) sedition -
leaving the state, and not contributing (taxes) to its continued economic
development.
As we have seen with Wikileaks and Julian Assange, its not enough to just
reveal the covert secrets that underpin this inner state-within-a-state -
there have to be actual repercussions for those involved, and this isn't
happening at any rate near well enough for my needs.
So, it appears that sedition is the only option - and indeed, that is what I
have done: I no longer participate in the economies of any of the 5-eyes
states, directly, and I"m about to give up my citizenship in my birth nation
over the issue.
But we know this isn't a solution. Do we have to start a brain-drain
revolution which moves the economic power of an intelligent class from state
to state? Or, do we just let mother nature do its thing, and 'hope' that
things will 'change' in the 5-eyes super-state somehow? Too many people I
trust and respect in the crypto-anarchist sphere are responding to this appeal
with "well, covid-19 will sort it out" for my liking .. but what other options
are there, really? Journalism is utterly dead and decrepit in the West, this
is not an avenue. Violent revolution makes no sense whatsoever. So, brain-
drain it is ...
~~~
MaxBarraclough
I don't follow. The article is about one state spying on the internal
communications of another state, while they were at war.
~~~
fit2rule
The subtext is one state using another states spying activities in order to
gain an advantage in its own war against a third state, and is presented in a
way that seems designed to popularise the idea of surveillance economies
exchanging with one another, without civilian oversight.
I don't think this is a good thing. We have seen that the USA has,
essentially, co=opted the intelligence-gathering communities of the peer
states in its coalition - and only seems to be 'acceptable' because its being
done by 'our side'. But I think the state issue is such a large problem that
such circumstances can only lead to further catastrophes in the future, when
these extra-sovereign entities, not bounded by any local state laws, decide
that they need to justify their continued existence by exerting that covert
power in order to create conditions conducive to the prosperity of the secret
apparatus, itself.
Are Australians okay with not being spied on by their own intelligence
agencies, while being spied on by the CIA, which then shares that information
with Australian spy agencies as an extra-sovereign economic exchange? Perhaps
they are - but I hope this is not the case elsewhere in the 5-eyes world.
What it indicates to me is that we civilians will always have to work hard to
get ahead of the military sovereign and lessen the dependencies they put in
place to continually justify their existence - i.e. we need to make peace
faster than they can make war. Would that we had another Lennon around to
assist that process...
~~~
C1sc0cat
Argentina invaded the Falklands here.
~~~
unixhero
Yes, this was no clear cut case of war. Argentina got invaded.
~~~
pjc50
Er, no - Argentina invaded first; the islands were British from colonization
onwards.
~~~
dep_b
First the Dutch, then the Spanish, who got kicked out by the British around
the Argentine independence.
Most of the time that the islands were inhabited the people that lived there
were British.
While the Spanish hold no colonies in South America anymore, the British do.
The Argentines would have been the logical successors to the Spanish and
Britain invaded Argentina as well.
It’s hard to find the good guys in this story but it would be really hard to
the people that currently live on the islands to become part of Argentina
~~~
ashtonkem
If the island were heavily populated prior to colonization, or even filled
with Argentinians, it would make sense. But it was uninhabited before
colonization, and they voted 96% in favor remaining a colony in 1986. The UK
actually attempted to transfer the island to Argentina twice in the 20th
century, but stopped because the Falkland islanders themselves _hated_ the
idea.
I think it’s pretty hard to argue that Argentina did anything but invade here,
not liberate, given the disposition of the actual people who live there.
~~~
dep_b
> But it was uninhabited before colonization
It was uninhabited before the French and Brits settled there, but soon the
French and later the Brits were replaced with Spanish settlers. It had been a
Spanish colony for decades before the British invaded and kicked the Spanish
settlers out. Of course replacing the original inhabitants with you own works,
it's the oldest trick in the book.
> the Falkland islanders themselves hated the idea.
Well apart from nationalism and resentment after the invasion joining
Argentina is also a bad move in economic terms because it has a severe crisis
every other decade.
I don't think you can ask them to join a country that does such a poor job
managing itself and Argentina should focus on economic and legal stability
before talking about it again.
It's not easy, just take a look at Hong Kong.
------
polytely
Link to the actual source:
Maximator: European signals intelligence cooperation, from a Dutch perspective
[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1...](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02684527.2020.1743538)
------
29athrowaway
Argentina did not have air refueling nor night vision equipment. They sent
conscripts to fight gurkhas. Their exocet missiles where sabotaged by the
military contractors servicing them. Their neighbors monitored them via radar
and notified movements the British.
Many countries were helping with intelligence. Norway helped by stealing
Soviet satellite imagery.
And by attacking first they could not invoke the Rio Pact.
~~~
abstractbeliefs
You're not wrong, but you're somewhat off.
Argentina did have an air to air refuelling capability, and its availability
or not was crucial in a number of instances. Likewise, the Gurkhas went out at
battalion strength near the end of the war. The exocets weren't so much
sabotaged as much as all the French simply returning home leaving the kit
unfitted and unconfigured. The stuff that had been set up already was used to
great effect.
You're right though that they did not set themselves up for success when they
did not make the most of their first mover advantage and build up the island
with supplies, equipment, and well trained soldiers rather than conscripts.
At the time, they hoped that domestic events meant that the UK simply wouldn't
care is all. They didn't come for a fight.
~~~
mytailorisrich
Indeed, I think they just assumed that the UK hadn't the strength nor the will
to start a war on the other side of the world just to fight over a barren
island.
Ironically, if they had not attacked the Falklands might be Argentinian or
under joint sovereignty now because, indeed, no-one really cared about the
Falklands. But their actions ended up guaranteeing that the UK would never
even discuss the issue for at least a century...
~~~
raphar
The argentinian public didn't care much about Malvinas before 1982 (as we call
the falklands here).
Was a desperate last move from the Military Junta to get some approval.
The Argentinian attack worked fine for M. Thatcher popularity, but not so good
for them.
------
anon234345566
"a) revolution to uncover and dissolve the control networks that have been
covertly put in place, or b) sedition - leaving the state, and not
contributing (taxes) to its continued economic development."
Many have enough power to leverage a) or b), but very few choose to do so.
Why?
Because if you somehow manage to disolve the current status quo, you'd need to
rebuild a similar status quo, probably with your group deeply plugged into the
newest surveillance / society control system.
> ultimatelly you would probably have accomplished very few changes, though
> you could obtain more power / money, but
If you're capable / resourceful enough to make happen a) or b), you probably
already have lots of power / money.
Therefore, the current status quo works quite well for you, and there are
easier ways to change some things (not all of them though), than going right
to a revolution.
That's something you can see in most empires through history: very few were
intentionally brough down by internal players. Most players just wanted to get
in charge (by any means), but they were not fundamentally changing anything in
the current social order.
Going against the state was (and it is), almost certainly not the best path of
action.
------
eternauta3k
Would it have been possible for Argentina to use public encryption algorithms
back then, instead of crypto machines weakened by US intelligence? No idea
what was available back in the 80s.
~~~
isbvhodnvemrwvn
Take into account that Ultra (breaking of enigma) was only made public in
1970s (or 1960s if you count information about Polish intelligence breaking
enigma before WWII). NSA only stopped using similar rotor-based designs in
1980s.
------
dvfjsdhgfv
I for one am relieved that after the Bitcoin bubble the "crypto" in headings
means cryptography again.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Getting Rich off Those Who Work for Free - maurycy
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1590440,00.html
======
parker
I'm sorry, but saying that when I use sites like Flickr for free I'm lending
them free labour is like saying I'm an employee of NBC for watching TV.
~~~
astine
Not quite. Flickr, Youtube, et al. all derive their most value from user
contributions. What good would Youtube be if users didn't upload videos?
When described economically, labor is a resource and is one half of the
production function:
P = c K^a * L^b
where a, b, and c are constants. P is production, K is capital, and L is
labor.
Youtube provides the capital, their site, and the users provide the labor, the
adding of value through their videos.
Granted, the actual division isn't so clear cut in this case, or most cases,
but by using these sites, you add value in a way that is fundamentally
different than when you watch television.
~~~
parker
I'm not adding value to NBC's bottom line by watching their television
program?? It's called ratings. On the internet, we call them page views.
Either way, I think the equation is changed fundamentally when labour does not
need to be incentivized with money. The labour in this case is users, who
choose to create value with their own time. How can we have a discussion about
efficient inputs of labour when the price tends towards nothing? See, look,
I've gone and made my brain hurt!
~~~
astine
Who said you don't add to NBC's bottom line when you watch television? Of
course you do, otherwise they wouldn't show it. However, what you don't do is
you don't improve the quality of their programming, at least not directly.
The equation doesn't change I don't believe, just it's implications. You no
longer buy L, you have to earn it with K. Labour isn't free, even when you
don't pay for it in money. Its dynamics are just more complicated.
------
craig-faber
The author doesn't quite get, or fails to mention, that many companies that
use Linux or make money from it, like Google, IBM, Motorola, Red Hat,
Trolltech, etc., invest money and programmer time back into the open source
projects they get software from - and this is not exactly altruistic. Still,
not a bad article.
~~~
jeroen
Indeed he doesn't mention it, but this gives me the impression that he does
_get_ it:
"Clever entrepreneurs and even established companies can profit from this
volunteerism--but only if they don't get too greedy. The key, Benkler says, is
'managing the marriage of money and nonmoney without making nonmoney feel like
a sucker.'"
When IBM invests in OSS the above is exactly what they're doing: giving back
part of their profit to keep everybody happy.
------
Herring
Still equating OSS to anarchism & altruism, I see. The lessons of capitalism
vs communism must have been very hard because lots of otherwise intelligent
people can't frame OSS any other way.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Redeye VC: I Don't Know... - jkopelman
http://redeye.firstround.com/2008/03/i-dont-know.html
======
redorb
I don't know; seems to be a lesson in honesty, do you know? no!? then say so
... If you gained an advantage by slanting the truth then you will almost
always end up over promising and under delivering
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hugin: open source panoramic photo stitching and HDR merging - henning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugin_%28software%29
======
est
If you need easier tool to stitche your Panorama pics, try Microsoft Research
Image Composite Editor
[http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ic...](http://research.microsoft.com/en-
us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ice.html)
~~~
elblanco
I've found this tool to be both very good and perform very well on constrained
systems.
------
rmc
Hugin is great. It has a 'wizard mode' that makes it really easy to use. You
just select the images you want to stitch together and it will automatically
find out how to join them, and blend the edges together. Remember, you can use
"gimp-resynthesizer" to fill in the edges.
Here are some panoramas I've made with Hugin
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/rorymccann/tags/panorama>
------
BioGeek
Here is a slideshow of some panoramas I made with Hugin:
[http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=panorama&w=27429469...](http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=panorama&w=27429469@N00&s=int&z=m)
------
ascuttlefish
I used to use Autostitch
(<http://cvlab.epfl.ch/~brown/autostitch/autostitch.html>) running in WINE.
When that stopped working for me, I switched to Hugin and haven't looked back.
It works well, and is quite powerful. You can even use it to create lens
profiles for your lenses to correct distortion. There are very useful
tutorials on the Hugin website
(<http://hugin.sourceforge.net/tutorials/index.shtml>).
------
chiquita
A list of FLOSS `graphics' software, including Hugin...
<http://libregraphicsmeeting.org/2010/index.php?p=en/project>
------
lutorm
I've used PT Assembler (<http://www.tawbaware.com/ptasmblr.htm>) for many
years. Does anyone have experience with both frontends and what the pro/cons
are?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
H1B – the super secret weapon - shna
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrE9z1JFT1Y
======
dalke
Videos are too slow to watch or quote. This appears to be a repeat of what
Kaku said in 2011. A partial transcript is at
[http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/06/how-come-the-
scientific...](http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/06/how-come-the-scientific-
establishment-of-the-united-states-hasnt-collapsed-because-it-has-a-secret-
weapon/) .
> How come the scientific establishment of the United States doesn’t collapse?
> Let me tell you something. Some of you may not know this. America has a
> secret weapon.
> That secret weapon is the H1B.
> Without the H1B, the scientific establishment of this country would
> collapse. Forget about Google! Forget about Silicon Valley! There would be
> no Silicon Valley without the H1B.
Compare this to the analysis posted yesterday here on HN, at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9125193](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9125193)
. (I chose this because it was very recent, and indicative of the ongoing
discussion about the H1B.)
> H-1B is not about skills or skills gap
> [Proponents of the H-1B] claim the H-1B is used: 1) to recruit and hire the
> “best and brightest” workers from around the world; 2) to fill skills gaps
> in the U.S. workforce; and 3) as a way to retain talented foreign students
> with advanced degrees who received their education and training in the
> United States (this is a favorite canard of President Obama). H-1B data and
> the SCE case show that none of these arguments are even remotely true.
> If American workers are training their foreign replacements before they get
> laid off, then it is quite obvious that it’s the American trainers—not the
> H-1B trainees—who have the superior skills. Are H-1B workers being brought
> in because they have extensive formal training, like an advanced degree? The
> answer to that is a definitive no.
FWIW, the term "Silicon Valley" was coined in 1971, and the H1B program didn't
start until 1990, so all evidence shows that SV was created and existed for
decades without the H1B. It's not clear to me that the absence of the H1B
would have killed it during the dot com era or later.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Internet Archive free library to close due to copyright lawsuit - mimixco
https://www.inputmag.com/culture/internet-archive-kills-its-free-digital-library-over-copyright-concerns
======
RogueBurger
While I think we do need better digital access to books, it was only a matter
of time before something this extreme got killed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are problems inappropriate for iterative solutions? - eric-hu
I just watched Gary Bernhardt's talk "A Whole New World" [1]. Two-year old spoiler alert: he introduces an editor and terminal that doesn't actually exist. His thesis: that some pieces of software--specifically developer infrastructure--take long periods of dedicated thought (without user discovery) to improve upon. Case in point: Clojure.<p>To you, what are other kinds of technology that can be clearly improved upon, but not "iteratively" in the agile and lean software sense?<p>[1] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/a-whole-new-world
======
mindvirus
Waterfall style development (non-iterative) is appropriate for well defined
problems, where there are few unknowns. Here it makes sense to do the majority
of the planning up front, since it'll let you consider the design in its
entirety. The iteration here comes in the planning phase. Programming
languages and text editors are good examples of this - most surprises should
be caught in the design phase.
In contrast, where iterative development shines is where there's an external
feedback loop somewhere - this is the user discovery that you're referring to.
If you don't know what the customers really want, build something, give it to
them, and get feedback. The risk to iterative development though is that it's
gradient descent - it ends up converging to a local optimum but won't get you
to a global one.
Of course, very little development is purely iterative or purely waterfall,
but rather it's a spectrum. Programming languages and text editors have
version 1.1, 1.2, etc., after all. One of my annoyances with iterative
development is that it's often used as an excuse not to plan - so people end
up walking into problems that easily could have been known upfront, and
ultimately spend more time building a worse solution. Imagine building a house
- that the house needs plumbing should be something the architect realizes
upfront, not something that should be discovered half way through.
------
sheepmullet
Anything where stability is more important than features. E.g. I would be
incredibly angry if work paid me a few weeks late, or paid me significantly
less than they should, or couldn't process my leave, etc, because the payroll
processing software devs took the attitude of "move fast and break things".
------
sheepmullet
Any software where backwards compatibility is important requires a lot of
"thought" up front. Otherwise you end up supporting half baked solutions for
years.
I'm still supporting half baked solutions from 10 years ago because we don't
want to break our customers systems.
------
hakanderyal
Crypto. You have to get it right, and get it right at the first time.
------
thehickmans
Accounting/record keeping/informatics systems, industrial controls - anything
that would lead to a catastrophic loss of some kind.
~~~
sheepmullet
Yep, and if important (to the user) data is involved you better be super sure
you don't corrupt/lose it.
I'm still mad at Evernote for losing my data years ago and tell everyone I
talk to not to use it.
------
lsiebert
Software that will be used for a long period of time. For example medical
devices, or vehicle parts.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What smartphone should I get if I'm concerned about privacy? - padobson
I refuse to buy an Amazon Echo or Google Home because I don't want anything listening to me constantly. I would also like to be able to carry my smartphone around without worrying about it listening to me either.<p>I know this sounds a bit paranoid and may be irrational, but I like being paranoid and irrational.<p>Which phone will best suit my paranoia and irrationality? Are Android and iOS devices immediately disqualified?
======
BjoernKW
The truly paranoid answer probably is burner phones with no personally
identifiable information on them but that might not exactly be practical or
useful in many cases.
iOS devices fare pretty well in terms of privacy. Siri operates on your data
entirely locally, for instance (which some people argue puts Apple's AI
efforts at a disadvantage).
Apple's software isn't open source, of course. So admittedly, you can't be a
hundred percent sure they really do what they claim to do. Still, I think
within a reasonable margin of doubt, iOS devices can be trusted.
------
nextos
Probably a Pixel or a Pixel 2, and install Copperhead OS which is an open
source Android with all Google stuff removed and many extra hardening options.
It's really security focused.
Use only F-Droid applications.
For extra level of paranoia, carry a portable hotspot, and connect your phone
to the internet through your hotspot via wifi. This would avoid baseband
attacks.
Obviously phones are very insecure, but depending on your threat model this is
a very good option.
~~~
sandov
Copperhead just died
------
richardthered
Check out this TED talk : He says that android phones are inherently less
secure, and also cheaper. So, poor people are more at risk of police scraping
data off your phone.
[https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_soghoian_your_smartpho...](https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_soghoian_your_smartphone_is_a_civil_rights_issue)
------
sandov
Buy an android phone and install LineageOS, it's Android but without Google's
crap. I use it daily and it's great.
------
Mononokay
I'd recommend to either go with an iOS device or wait until the Librem comes
out.
------
ubporter
check out the Ubuntu phone: now maintained by the community (ubports.com) It's
a full Ubuntu linux distro with touch and phone extensions. Hence, you can
tweak privacy to your heart's content.
------
miguelrochefort
You can't have your cake and eat it too.
------
PaulHoule
Think different.
If you care about privacy you should own a computer, not a smartphone.
People use this infantile language when it comes to phones, it is "our
smartphones". As in, "our smartphones killed the people on MH 370 when a
pallet of lithium batteries burned up."
Don't let people get away with that. It is "Verizon's smartphones", "Google's
smartphones". They own them, they make you pay rent.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The CPU C-States Power Saving Modes - jcr
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cpu-c-states-power-saving-modes/
======
th3iedkid
something interesting with APIC and power-states was with tick-less kernel
starting 2.6.18 and only win8 in NT.
[http://lwn.net/Articles/223185/](http://lwn.net/Articles/223185/)
------
kardos
From 2008. Are there any newer states in addition those listed?
~~~
platinum1
Haswell introduced C7-C10, as described in a slide here:
[http://www.techpowerup.com/175374/haswell-ult-processors-
cou...](http://www.techpowerup.com/175374/haswell-ult-processors-could-
use-24-mhz-bclk-new-c-states-and-mcm-to-cut-power-draw.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
20 weirdest and pointless phone apps - abula
http://thelightmedia.com/posts/17173-20-weirdest-and-pointless-phone-apps?user_id=15
======
hrgeek
Haha!Thanks for sharing!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: I found my WHY, which trumps passion anytime - azarai
https://mindfuldevmag.com/find-your-why
======
mikro2nd
Oh the hurdles to jump! The final straw was the reCapcha it stuck in my face.
I went away. Away, away, I ran away.
~~~
azarai
Where did you get a ReCaptcha?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hackers Can Delete Facebook Friends, Thanks to Flaw - JeanPierre
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/196901/hackers_can_delete_facebook_friends_thanks_to_flaw.html
======
snewe
Original story without the splash page:
<http://prominentsecurity.com/?p=119>
It also says that the flaw has been patched:
"*Update (5/22/10): After reporting the flaw to Facebook Wednesday afternoon,
I have confirmed as of Friday afternoon that the flaw has been successfully
patched. Facebook now strictly enforces the existence of the “post_form_id”
CSRF protection token in the request."
------
hanksims
If only deleting one's own account were this easy! I wonder how many people
took useful advantage of this hole to commit mutual Facebook suicide.
------
baby
it's a typical programmer mistake. So how do I avoid it ?
~~~
nostrademons
Put some middleware into your web framework that will insert a "secret" into
all forms, which contains an unforgeable token generated by the page. Only
accept form input when that secret token matches the expected value.
Django will do this for you; presumably other frameworks have similar
mechanisms.
<http://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/ref/contrib/csrf/>
------
gcr
%s/hacker/cracker/g
~~~
jonursenbach
Potato, potato.
~~~
gcr
By your logic, we might as well call it 'cracker news'.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is there a US alternative to Second Life? - eastsidegringo
http://www.hunterhost.com/64/mining-habbo-data/
Habbo is like Second Life in Japan. From the article:<p>Could you conduct market research in a week and come back with the buying and spending habits, and brand preferences, of 42,000 teenagers around the world? Sulake Corporation, developer of the Habbo virtual world for teenagers, did this very thing. And they're going back in September for another data mining run. You can read the full story in CRM Daily, Mining Virtual Worlds for Market Data.
======
tracksuitceo
Habbo is for 13-18 year olds (and probably younger but they probably have
restrictions so the youngsters say they're 13). Second Life captures an older
demographic (not sure of the stats). The market seems ripe for some newer
competition. Something like a Linked In in a virtual world.
------
byrneseyeview
As long as they don't do the survey at the wrong time
([http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_Great_Hab...](http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_Great_Habbo_Raid_of_July_2006)).
------
ivankirigin
First Life?
ZING!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Moving Beyond Basecamp: Managing Company Growing Pains - danielodio
http://go.DanielOdio.com/basecamp
======
bdclimber14
I like how you approach your problems with Basecamp as usability issues and
not as feature-set limitations. I think Basecamp is at a sweet-spot with
features, but has a lot of room for improvement in how users interface with
it. The application really hasn't changed much since it was launched. With the
mountains of data on how its used, I would think 37signals would refine the
app to be the most usable interface in the world.
------
trussi
My (rejected) YC project literally addressed every single concern voiced in
this article.
If you can relate to the struggles of managing and working in multi-resource,
multi-project environments, sign up for the beta of FlowRocket at:
<http://signup.flowrocket.com>.
------
smanek
I'd recommend checking out <https://www.greplin.com> to help search basecamp.
I've encountered some of the same issues with their search you have and
Greplin makes things much better!
(full disclosure: I work at Greplin ;-)).
~~~
bdclimber14
I always misunderstood Greplin to be solely a social network search tool. It
looks like it is much more than that.
Greplin is the YC startup that programmed it in days, right before demo day,
correct?
~~~
smanek
Yep, one of our co-founders (Daniel) hacked together the first demo of multi-
service search ~2 days before Demo Day when his earlier idea fell through.
The team/product have grown quite a bit since then though ;-)
To be honest, I'm not really sure where we got the reputation for being a
'social search' tool. We want to help you search your data, wherever it is.
We support a lot of applications, including ones that aren't traditionally
considered social, like Dropbox, Basecamp, Salesforce, GMail, Evernote, or
Highrise. (We also do support more traditionally 'social' apps like Facebook,
Twitter, Yammer, or LinkedIn though, since a lot of people's information is in
these types of services).
~~~
bdclimber14
I think that reputation came from a TechCrunch article. Honestly, I thought
the idea was a "solution in search of a problem" at first, but now that I see
you're really focusing on the real apps (gmail, dropbox, chat, etc.) I "get
it." There's been plenty of times I've tried searching for something, but I
couldn't remember the medium.
One feature you guys really need to do quick (shouldn't take long) is paper-
medium search. I'll write notes on post-its, or give some info on a sheet of
paper to someone. I should be able to search all this in real-time too, as I
write it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Its been 20 years since I used a Mac - g-garron
http://www.tyleringram.com/blog/its-been-20-years-since
======
mmphosis
Affordability? I read this as twenty years ago it was much easier for people
in the prior generation to pay $3200 (1993 dollars) vs. some today paying
$1249 (today's dollar.)
"I finally was able to buy a Mac, a Macbook Air and I love it!"
Macintosh LCIII Macbook Air 13.3″
Release Year 1993 2011
Price $3200* $1249
* – Approximately what our parents paid for the whole setup we had for our LCIII (computer, monitor etc)
"There is so much to talk about and all the little things I am enjoying about
finally being able to afford a Mac."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The tech behind building an independent, internet radio station - oggadog
https://watsonsmith.com.au/building-an-internet-radio-station
======
jedberg
Ha too funny! I haven't heard the name Icecast in a long time. I know the guys
who created Icecast. They did it because they wanted to run a radio station
but according to them Shoutcast sucked, so they rewrote it from scratch as
open source.
The reason it is called Icecast is because it was replicating the Shoutcast
protocol, so that people with Winamp could play Icecast streams (Nullsoft made
both Winamp and Shoutcast). The Shoutcast protocol used what were called ICY
responses (which stood for I Can Yell) so they called their Icecast since it
made ICY responses too.
This post unlocked that little corner of my memory. Fun!
ps. One of the Icecast guys worked on Ogg Vorbis because he thought that "mp3
sucked" and the other one is now a professor of Computer Science at USC.
~~~
oggadog
This was super interesting to find out, I always assumed that Icecast and
Shoutcast were 'allies' or built by the same org. I've had a few things topple
over during streaming but it seems that Icecast is the only one that's run
without any issues, guess they proved their point!
------
blantonl
I own and operate Broadcastify.com, which is arguably the largest icecast
implementation in the world.
We've been using 100TB.com for our audio streaming infrastructure, which is a
softlayer reseller. I've been unable to find anyone else that provides better
pricing for bandwidth than they do.
All of our Web infrastructure, provisioning, archiving, etc is spread between
AWS and Google Cloud though.
Audio broadcasting on the Internet is indeed an interesting field to be in!
~~~
southerndrift
How does 100TB.com beat Hetzner? Their $5 virtual server comes with 2TB
whereas Hetzner offers 20TB.
~~~
blantonl
I don't know - but I'm not deploying infrastructure on $5 virtual servers that
are marketed and designed to support a personal blog.
Paying 200-300/month for 100TB of data transfer on a dedicated host is where
I'm at with 100TB.com
~~~
FDSGSG
> Paying 200-300/month for 100TB of data transfer
FWIW most providers can easily beat that. OVH in Canada offers good quality
unmetered Gbit at below 100/mo with the hardware included.
------
MulliMulli
Take a loot at Hetzner is Traffic is an issue, they offer 20TB for $5.
[https://www.hetzner.com/cloud](https://www.hetzner.com/cloud)
~~~
oggadog
This is fantastic, I thought I’d found the best deal with DigitalOcean but
this looks great, cheers
------
buboard
128 Kbps would amount to 30-40 GB monthly
So, digitalocean gives you ~30 users capacity? I think hetzner offers 1Gbit
internet without quota which would serve thousands of users.
~~~
squarefoot
I always thought that online media services used multicast protocols, that is,
after the initial point to point connection all data packets should be
transmitted once, then replicated at router level for every subscribed user.
If that's the case, 30 users seems a pretty low number since it would
translate into maximum 30 concurrent connections while the generated traffic
from the server point of view would be just slightly higher than a single
stream for a single user. Or maybe carriers bill multicast traffic
differently?
~~~
detaro
Some ISP-run and or company/network-internal ones do, but over the public
internet there is no infrastructure for that, so the vast majority doesn't do
it.
~~~
yusyusyus
funny enough.. my team probably killed off (one of anyway) the last tier 1
internet multicast deployments over the past few years.
Multicast has dataplane resource scaling issues and, frankly, CDN has become
the solution to what multicast solves.
------
Nux
Nice article, played with Icecast in the past, good to learn about LibreTime
which uses it.
------
nisa
With LibreTime it's also possible to stream in Opus and AAC+v2 so you can get
decent quality on 48kbit.
------
amelius
> A single user listening to a 128kbps stream, non-stop for a month, would use
> about 300GB of transfer. Just one user!
Is that how broadcasting works on the internet?
Is there not a more efficient non-proprietary protocol for broadcasting on the
internet?
~~~
pessimizer
I remember some years ago that people were pirating radio stations through a
peer-to-peer streaming client, but I can't remember what it was called and I
never looked at the internals.
~~~
Nux
Sopcast?
~~~
pessimizer
I dunno, but thanks for the recommendation.
------
Ciantic
1TB is not enough for Internet Radio, it's not even enough for most podcasts.
~~~
rhizome
Hosting is easy, it's still the transit that'll kill ya.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Custom t-shirt site I've been working on the past few months. - teejayvanslyke
http://www.teemakers.com
======
tiddchristopher
To improve the preview for Windows and Linux users, why don't you use Typekit
with Nimbus Sans (a rather accurate Helvetica clone)? Many designers and
typophiles won't trust a service that doesn't accurately render the type on a
typographic product. Also, I'd rather see the flat front of a shirt than the
current view when previewing how the text will be set.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Awesome, thanks mate. Better typographic accuracy on non-Mac OSes is
definitely on the list.
------
cpolis
A few notes:
\- The 'Get Started' button needs to be placed and styled more prominently -
it took me longer than it should have to find it.
\- Adding glyphs takes the user out of editing mode
\- I would have the Facebook and Twitter buttons on the main menu, i.e. don't
nest them. Having a few blue buttons on the otherwise black menu should
increase CTR for sharing
\- If possible, add more color options. I'm not sure what your printing setup
is, but I really didn't like the available colors. I prefer navy blue and
black shirts.
\- In the order form, all the options on dropdown menus are unreadable - they
are light grey on light grey
\- $29 for one single sided shirt? I wish I would have known before going
through the creation process!!! Can I buy in bulk for cheaper? Can I get
double sided printing?
Hope this helps.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
So helpful! Thank you.
------
yesimahuman
First thoughts: make the landing page for this hacker news post the custom
editor, and put it right into "edit" mode. The landing page does need work,
and the right side box feels a bit wonky and the "get started" button doesn't
stand out at all.
The custom maker is your bread and butter and it's pretty sweet, so highlight
it. It's definitely faster than the one on Custom Ink! Though I ran into an
issue where my final shirt render had the image at the bottom of the shirt
rather than the top.
On the price: anyone who has made shirts before would think $29 is way too
much for a custom shirt (though I just realized it's AA). I can only suggest
searching for way to bring this down a bit.
Good luck, and congrats on launching! I know how gut wrenching it can be to
read HN comments after launching your first version.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Hey mate, I took your advice and made the editor the main page with a call to
action linking to "Learn More". This puts the editor at the forefront. Thanks
for your feedback; it's very insightful!
------
seanlinehan
The customizer is pretty sweet. The layout is nice and clean on that end. I
think the parallax effect is interesting, but as others have noted probably
won't convert as well as it could. You might want to try running some A/B
tests with some dramatically different layouts to test the whole spectrum.
Quick Note: You may want to redirect teemakers.com to www.teemakers.com, it
throws a security warning.
Good job though! Best of luck with the project!
------
zoneinfinite
Hmm...I'm not really sure why I would use your service over the many other
tshirt printers online? E.g. BlueCotton charges $29 for one screen-printed
(not DTG) AA tee with multiple colors allowed, and the price drops
significantly if you order in bulk. I think you need a very strong
differentiating feature to compete with the big printers IMO.
------
jandy
Static assets are taking a _very_ long time to load for me.
I noticed, for example, that the Select a Color image under Learn More is
1024x786 and weighing in at 590kb despite only being displayed at a size of
282x212. I'd recommend you do something about that.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Thanks for the warning! I'm still ironing out performance. I'll take a look at
that one in particular right now.
------
HardyLeung
You gotta fix your website (I'm using Chrome, and the background image took
forever to load, and for the longest time I was puzzled by the small window to
the right with some text). Not leaving a very good impression... Plus $29?
~~~
calbear81
It seems to be a bit cheaper than CustomInk with no quantity requirement but
once you go above 15-20 shirts, you can get volume discount through CustomInk.
Is the $29 for double-sided printing?
~~~
teejayvanslyke
We only allow single-side on the website, but we can definitely accommodate
most requests by hand. Contact us on Twitter: @teemakers
------
austenallred
Constructive criticism: The first page looked like an opt-in or a launchrock
page. I almost left because I didn't want to sign up for anything. Looks cool,
though.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Good call! Maybe increase the size of the call-to-action?
~~~
austenallred
At least. For me, a picture background offset with a dark background and light
text says "temporary landing page" - like your website hasn't been set up yet
(see <http://launchrock.com> or <http://grasswire.com> to see what I mean).
I would definitely center the "get started" and move it up to just under
"express yourself."
I would also change the messaging on the button so it's less ambiguous.
Instead of "get started" say something like "start designing." I'm just not
sure what "getting started" means. That should up your clickthrough rate and
lower your bounce rate.
</marketing>
------
flipstewart
while editing: <http://cl.ly/JyDj> while ordering: <http://cl.ly/JzFn>
Some kind of rendering issue in Safari on OS X ML.
I don't think the price is outrageous, but since some folks seem to think it
is, check out Tultex. Good quality of shirts with a similar fit to American
Apparel, and a good bit less expensive.
------
habosa
Seems to be down. I'm interested to see when it is up though, we could use a
modern custom tshirt site done right.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Oh yeah? That's strange, seems responsive to me. I'll look into it.
------
yoseph
Works fine for me, but it would be great to be able to adjust the line height
of the text.
------
davidcelis
Your SSL cert comes up as unverifiable on mobile Safari
------
thiagoperes
No international shipping? WTF?
------
ChrisNorstrom
(Add overflow-x:hidden; to the .splash .foreground .inner element to get rid
of the scrollbar on the bottom.)
It's creative and different but I'll bet you an arm and leg that if you made
the site more normal with a regular landing page you'd get higher conversion.
Putting a lot of information in a little tiny box that you have to scroll
through is just bad usability.
Why doesn't the custom t-shirt making just load on the landing page underneath
the call to action. Why hide it from users? If you have a lot to load just
ditch the full screen background image.
~~~
teejayvanslyke
You're right, the box is a bit constricting. I like the idea of dropping the
editor below the splash. Thanks man! I'll probably do that.
------
paxunix
No white on black?!
~~~
teejayvanslyke
Right now, no :(
Unfortunately, our supplier uses a DTG printer which uses CMYK inks. So no
light on dark... at least not yet.
I was bummed too.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Racial and gender gaps in computer science learning: New Google-Gallup research - riqbal
https://blog.google/topics/education/racial-and-gender-gaps-computer-science-learning-new-google-gallup-research/
======
brudgers
Software Engineering Daily podcast interview with Jennifer Wang:
[http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2016/06/13/female-
pursui...](http://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2016/06/13/female-pursuit-
computer-science-jennifer-wang/)
------
Vosporos
Yeah that's all but surprising.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Canon printers found using very outdated (NSA backdoored) encryption standard - KirinDave
https://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/tls/current/msg25168.html
======
Chaebixi
I think this needs more clarification. As far as I can tell, this post only
states that these printers merely used the BSAFE library, which used a likely-
backdoored PRNG.
It's not news that something used a library, unless that thing is a lot higher
profile than a random printer model.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Ask HN: For those of you self-employed, what is your health insurance? - kurtvarner
======
simmons
I have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield
of Colorado, associated with a health savings account (HSA). It has worked
well for me and I recommend that general route to other self-employed people,
but man have the premiums shot up in the past few years. It was ~$80/month
when I signed up (2005 or so, maybe). The same plan is now around $400/month.
For dental, I pay out of pocket but use a discount card (Vital Savings by
Aetna). The discount card basically lets you pay the discounted rate that the
insurance companies have negotiated with the dentist, which can be
significantly lower.
------
johnsonko
I live in a country that will provide healthcare no matter what my income is.
Pretty nifty, huh?
~~~
pravda
Not if the country is Cuba.
~~~
lussier
Have you heard of Canada?
------
ScottWhigham
I'm of two minds on this thread. On one hand, I'm surprised at the poor
quality of comments ("vitamins", "The government", etc). On the other hand, I
sort of place it on the OP's shoulders due to the fact that he didn't list any
domain/restriction on this incredibly generic question.
We are a diverse group here of 100+ countries. If you ask a generic question,
you're going to get 100+ countries' worth of experiences. In a case like this,
it's just not helpful to anyone to throw this question out to 100+ countries -
what value is it to a Canadian what someone from Thailand pays for health
insurance? Zero. What value is it to someone from England who has four kids
and a spouse what a 20yr old American on his parents' insurance "pays"?
I wish this thread had been better. I'd love to know this information about my
fellow USA HN'ers. Hopefully the next thread someone creates on this topic
will be a bit more specific and we can have intelligent discussions.
------
codegeek
You have to give more specific details (country/state,marital status etc.)
before a reasonable answer can be provided. But to give you a general idea,
being self employed in the US can cost anywhere from $100-$1000 per month
depending on how kind of insurance you need/want with deductibles, co-
insurance limits, out of pocket expenses, in-network vs. out-network etc.
If you want to do some comparisons for US, try
<http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/>
In my case, I use my wife's health insurance from her job and don't bother
buying it myself.If I had to, it would probably cost me at least $500 per
month.
------
ahi
My partner has a job in academia which can't pay the rent but includes full
health and dental. Before we got together it was basically a $20/month high
deductible catastrophic plan mixed with some prayer to FSM.
------
codenerdz
Those that do answer, please mention what country and/or State youre in as
things different depending on your locale. Freelancers union for instance does
not offer health insurance in california.
------
debacle
We did a HDHP at one point. Nowadays, the premiums are just too fucking high
(~300-400 a month).
Have a spouse that can get good benefits.
------
zerohp
I'm not self-employed, but I purchased my own insurance to cover a 6 month gap
recently. I found that I could get reasonably priced health insurance as a
member of ACM.
------
mcrider
None! However, I will soon have an office job with good insurance and am very
much looking forward to going to the dentist.
------
jacques_chester
I'm Australian. I insure with BUPA, who have gobbled up the insurer who
gobbled up my original insurer (Community Mutual). Because we have a public
health system as a backstop, private health cover is a no-brainer in this
country. I'm paying about $550 per quarter.
That said: one thing that annoys me about the Australian private health market
is how dumb shit I get bundled in my payment.
I don't want a bloody reiki rebate. I'd rather you refunded my MRIs, thanks
("not an outpatient service").
------
erictarn
Freelancers Union
------
dholowiski
The government.
------
Mz
To answer your stated question: My ex was career military. He spent more than
20 years in the army before retiring and we were married more than twenty
years. Thus, as long as I don't remarry, I am technically entitled to free
medical care for life through the military medical system. However, I never
bothered to renew my military ID when it expired and I haven't seen a doctor
in like six and half years, so it might be difficult or impossible for me to
take advantage of those benefits. I don't really care.
To provide info that might be useful on the assumption that you are American
and that what you really want to know is how to best take care of your needs:
New laws mean some Americans can get covered under their parent's healthcare
plan up until age 26, even if married. This isn't necessarily free, but for
some people it opens up additional opitions they wouldn't otherwise have.
------
frozenport
vitamins
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A Modest Proposal: Recruit The Hackers - mjlangiii
http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_072612_full_show.mp3/view
======
toomuchcoffee
_Coleman says that her contact with hackers indicates that they would not want
to work with a government that encroaches on online privacy._
Other data -- such as the readiness of the Maker and hackerspace communities
to accept DARPA funding -- suggest the opposite.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Danger signs to search for in your writing - RiderOfGiraffes
http://io9.com/5520058/4-danger-signs-to-search-for-before-sending-off-your-novel
======
RyanMcGreal
Don't forget:
* The passive voice is to be avoided.
* You want to not split your infinitives with a negative.
* In order to streamline your text, take out superfluous filler like "in order to".
~~~
Gormo
Also:
* A preposition is something you should not end a sentence with.
* Never use stupidistic adjective forms.
* All generalizations are bad.
~~~
alabut
" _A preposition is something you should not end a sentence with._ "
Reminds me of a joke:
A southern belle is on spring break with her friends when a couple of preppy
types settle in next to her on the beach. She tries to be friendly to the
nearest girl and says "where are y'all from?"
The snooty girl says "I'm from somewhere where they teach you not to end
sentences with a preposition."
Without missing a beat, the southern girl says "where are y'all from, bitch?"
------
SlyShy
General principle: short sentences convey speed, long and meandering sentences
will give the reader a sense of drawn out time. A pitfall many writers fall
into is over describing their action scenes, which makes them seem oddly
sluggish and dull.
The revision shown in the article to "A Bad Uncle lifted Captain Samson over
his head and hurled her over the edge of the catwalk," is an example of this
problem. The reader knows how you throw someone, they don't need an
explanation.
"The Bad Uncle hurled Captain Samson over the edge." (Presumably the reader
knows they are on a catwalk, too, so "the catwalk" is unnecessary.)
If it is really important to convey that the Bad Uncle is very strong you
could do "The Bad Uncle hurled Captain Samson over his head, off the catwalk,"
or something similar.
Edit: Also, the article discourages adverbs, but doesn't mention that
adjectives are similarly bad. Most adjectives can be better conveyed through
an action or specific detail. Don't say "she was nice", but do show her
helping a lost child.
~~~
danh
Another rule: use short words.
"Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all," as
Winston Churchill would have it.
~~~
Perceval
Churchill is probably getting at the distinction between Germanic and Latinate
root words in English. Hemingway used to write with a obvious preference for
Germanic root words, which were short and tough and had a pleasing sound.
Latinate root words are usually long ten-cent words lacking the same
utilitarian grace of their Germanic root analogs.
I always thought it would be a fun project to use an etymology database to
make a Latinate-to-Germanic thesaurus, something you could use just like spell
check on a document to suggest Germanic alternatives to Latinate words.
~~~
jpwagner
_I always thought it would be a fun project to use an etymology database to
make a Latinate-to-Germanic thesaurus, something you could use just like spell
check on a document to suggest Germanic alternatives to Latinate words._
struck me funny that more than half of these words are 6+
------
chasingsparks
Do any HNers write fiction? I recently started writing some things just for my
own plesure. It's more rewarding than I expected.
~~~
SlyShy
I write quite a bit, and my start-up project is aimed at writers. Writing is a
lot of fun, if only to serve as a break from programming. Although I would
argue they are rather similar activities, particularly once you get to
refactoring.
National Novel Writing Month (<http://nanowrimo.org>) is a great way for
people to get started, as are local writers' circles. Writing circles are
generally very accepting of new people/outsiders, because everyone is on the
look out for new perspectives.
~~~
sketerpot
When I found out about National Novel Writing Month, I declared February to be
an extra November in my personal calendar, and wrote a 204-page fantasy book.
It actually came out a lot better than I expected; my writing improved
enormously, and once I was a couple chapters in, I was producing something
that was actually fun to read. (It was still hugely embarrassing, but fun to
read.)
I can't recommend this strongly enough. When November comes along, if you have
any interest in writing, you should participate in NaNoWriMo if at all
possible.
------
RiderOfGiraffes
Although targetted at fiction, it's relevant to documentation and other
technical writing. We all bemoan the quality of technical writing, but good
writing is _hard,_ and these hints apply across the board (with some liberal
interpretation).
~~~
ErrantX
Absolutely (:P); this afternoon I went through a 5000 word essay and cut about
40 adverbs.... it's such an easy trap to fall into.
------
amichail
Is English such a mess partly because humans are highly intelligent and can
handle the mess?
If humans were not so smart, wouldn't evolution prune away languages that are
too messy?
~~~
BoppreH
English is a mess compared to programming languages. As a natural one it is
one of the simplest.
The "search and replace" tips given in the article would fail in most
languages. From the top of my head I can think of 4 different ways to say
"There was" in Portuguese, and I bet there are many more.
Not that it's good or bad. It's just a characteristic.
~~~
lmkg
> _As a natural one [English] is one of the simplest._
Strongly disagree. I think it's one of the most baroque, with too many special
cases, irregulars, and gotchas. It doesn't have _specific types_ of
complexity. For example, its morphology[1] seems pretty bare, at least if you
compare it to other Indo-European languages, but even there it's more complex
than Japanese or native Hawaiian. To your point, that makes it mostly amenable
to search-and-replace filters, which is convenient.
[1] Changes to the word reflecting grammatical usage, such as "-ness"
signifying a noun or "-ed" signifying a past tense. These are usually the bits
of other languages that English-speakers think are "hard."
------
LiveTheDream
These danger signs are like code smells, but for literature!
I will use these tips to improve my comments.
------
Darmani
"The main problem with "it" is that it's a pronoun, so you must be absolutely
clear about what "it" refers to. "
Absolutely false. The use of "it" without an antecedent is called "expletive,"
and is perfectly valid. I agree that it's often bland, but there's no need to
go around asking yourself "What does 'it' refer to here?"
~~~
tokenadult
You are correct that the English idiom "It's raining" is just the normal way
to say that in English. The corresponding Russian sentence Идет дождь would
translate literally into English as "goes rain," while the Chinese sentence 下雨
would translate as "falls rain," with the unusual word order being an example
of topicalization in those languages.
------
gruseom
This reminds me of the following bit from a marvelous NPR piece a couple weeks
ago where they interviewed Elmore Leonard and his sons in front of an
audience. (Transcript at
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1252532...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125253280),
but one part was marked "unintelligible" so I've filled it in from memory). C
Leonard is one of the sons (Chris) and E is Elmore:
Mr. C. LEONARD: Well, Elmore, you gave me advice. I told you that I was
writing a novel and you said, good. Don't use any other words but "said" for
dialogue and leave out the parts that people tend to skip. I think those were
the two things you said.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. C. LEONARD: And they're both good, I have to tell you.
Mr. E. LEONARD: They're true today, yes.
------
skotzko
There is an excellent book that no writer should be without: "On Writing
Well," by William Zinsser. A joy to read -- it flows well and instructs
without being tedious.
------
bwelford
Perhaps the biggest danger is a lack of any structure that encourages the
reader to follow through the whole item. If you can give a teaser for the pot
of gold that is buried at the end of the rainbow so much the better.
I find mind maps really help me enormously in getting that right structure. My
first draft or two is purely at the Mind Map level. It's amazing how letting
my thoughts simmer away suggests some new angle or aspect of the subject. I
find FreeMind very user-friendly and I endorse it wholeheartedly. I have no
connection with the creator(s). I'm just a very satisfied customer.
~~~
kalid
Thanks for posting this. I enjoy blogging but have found linear writing
difficult to organize -- I'll have sections above and below, filled with
thoughts, and try to merge them together.
Just yesterday I was playing around with FreeMind and it seems promising -- I
think my next post is going to evolve from a mind map.
| {
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Steve Jobs receiving Cancer Treatment in Hospital - joshbert
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/02/17/steve-jobs-may-have-just-six-weeks-to-live-receiving-treatment/
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Related:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2228842>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2230042>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2230361>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2230497>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2230702>
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2231730>
------
Uhhrrr
Source of the 'six weeks' estimate:
'The National Enquirer, who broke the news today, talked to critical-care
physician Dr. Samuel Jacobson, who said, “Judging from the photos, he is close
to terminal. I would say he has six weeks.”'
------
brudgers
> _"That said, given the reliability of The National Enquirer, waiting for
> further news before jumping to conclusions is advised."_
_The National Enquirer_ broke the story about U.S. presidential candidate
John Edwards' extra marital affair while his wife was undergoing chemo:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Enquirer#John_Edwa...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_Enquirer#John_Edwards_story)
------
zeedotme
lets NOT vote this one up guys or @joshbert can you please change the title on
here?
We changed our title given the quality of the source claiming 6 weeks. [This
is Zee from The Next Web btw]
------
arohner
The source is the National Enquirer? Flagged.
~~~
zeedotme
agree with you 100% (this is Zee from TNW btw)
------
zoowar
I wonder if the hospital is charging his doctors 30% of their fee in order to
allow the doctors to treat him in their hospital.
------
barista
We need more of his time. Here's hoping the news is wrong...as most likely it
is.
| {
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Windows Phone 7 Series Features Video - Dauntless
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IOTrqlz4jo
======
Dauntless
I'll be honest it looks like Facebook OS for phones :) Not bad, not bad at
all. Still though, imho, Microsoft will lose most of the old Windows Mobile
fans and users and will start from scratch with this one.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Life at the Palace (1996) - ims
http://truecenterpublishing.com/psycyber/palacestudy.html
======
andyidsinga
ha! I was a software developer at The Palace ..my first Internet startup :) I
did tech support for The Palace server then went on to coding in next
generation projects ..like an ICQ-like instant messenger called Little Buddy.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Tesla Model 3 – Exploded View - kozak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDYbvI32OBE
======
kozak
If you like this, you'll probably also enjoy the Weber Auto YouTube channel:
[https://www.youtube.com/user/WeberAuto/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/WeberAuto/videos)
| {
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Show HN: Hue v4.6.1 - madprops
I'm working again on this project I started months ago. Made a lot of improvements in a week, and I wanted to share some images and stuff to others.<p>It's currently at Version 4.6.1<p>Basically it's a multi-room chat platform with internet radio, image uploading (latest uploaded image is displayed and the colors of the room change according to it), administration commands and stuff.<p>It doesn't use passwords, everything is key based which are stored in the localStorage of the browser, plus some IP checks for spam reasons.<p>Image 1: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/oiNv3aw.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/oiNv3aw.jpg</a><p>Image 2: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/u1GfRuK.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/u1GfRuK.jpg</a><p>Image 3: <a href="https://i.imgur.com/s4owCvY.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/s4owCvY.jpg</a><p>Hacker News room:<p><a href="https://i.imgur.com/8zoK7P3.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.imgur.com/8zoK7P3.jpg</a><p><a href="https://hue.merkoba.com/Hacker%20News" rel="nofollow">https://hue.merkoba.com/Hacker%20News</a><p>Source code: <a href="https://github.com/madprops/Hue" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/madprops/Hue</a>
======
madprops
Image showing part of the admin menu
[https://i.imgur.com/Os1W6CS.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/Os1W6CS.jpg)
Video demo (with some outdated style)
[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ju4b5gj9uv1mqmc/2017-10-...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/ju4b5gj9uv1mqmc/2017-10-12_17-52-14.mp4)
| {
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Where would you invest $500K? - min5k
If you were generally a risk-taker, what would you invest $500K in?
======
brc
200k in good quality under-or-moderately valued commercial real estate with
moderate leveraging (say, 60% LTV) 100k in a hedge/growth fund with a
consistent record. I know of one that has delivered 20% returns average for 12
years in a row. It's a computer algorithm based trading system with no direct
trading control by humans. 100k in a contrarian play, like long japanese +
korean small caps and short US govt securities, or maybe short USD. 50k in
gold and silver (physical, not bits of paper promising it) 50k spread across a
number of speculative investment ideas, including junior miners, maybe a
promising biotech, some chinese automotive companies.
Things I would stay away from : long 'ordinary' stocks, single family home
residential real estate in most places (except somewhere to live), cash or
near-cash like bonds/cds, growth based companies, anything that is relying on
government policies/subsidies to create a profit. Stick to modest leverage.
My belief is that we're going into a short period of deflation (<5 years)
followed by 10-20 years of solid inflation as governments inflate their
currencies to get rid of debt. You want to own something real that earns money
(commercial RE), something that works off volatility (automated hedge fund),
something that has low probably/high payoff across a number of bets, and
something as a protection against inflation (precious metals). Debt is OK as
long as leverage isn't too high (to weather the deflation problems)
------
aristus
I am generally a risk-taker, but having 5-10 years of nest egg is also a
compelling idea. If it were my only 500K, it'd put 200K in CDs or something
with limited downside (assuming such exists). I'd put 200K in something more
liquid but not crazy risky (eg a spread of stocks), again assuming such
exists.
The other 100K I'd use as runway to do my own startup, or the project (not
startup!) of someone else I trust. From there, who knows?
I'm not convinced it's a good idea to jump into startup angel investing with
such a small (!) amount of net worth. If you can't participate in follow-on
rounds your 10% of the company gets diluted to 3%, then 0.5%, then nothing
much at all.
------
tocomment
I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other
half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...
~~~
imns
This made me laugh
------
gexla
Use knowledge you have that I don't which you might have used to bring in the
$500K in the first place. I can tell you about things in my industry that are
great investments, but you don't know my industry like I do unless you are at
the same place I am. Listening to others would be too big a leap of faith for
investments which are considered high risk.
If you received the money from the lottery or from inheritance, you are
looking for a way to quit your job flipping burgers and you insist on high
risk, then put all your money on red or black on a European Roulette table. If
you win, then quit while you are ahead and move your risk outlook to low. If
you lose, then at least you lost it quick rather than painfully watch it
dwindle over the course of months / years on bad investment advice from total
strangers.
------
heromaeda
Twitter, Facebook, Twilio, Groupon, SendGrid, Graphic.ly, Blippy, Tumblr,
Posterous, 4sq
------
evanwolf
A startup that eases platform design, engineering or operation.
------
cj
Myself doing a startup
~~~
Samuel_Michon
Where's the risk in that? ;)
------
GrandMasterBirt
I quote:
"In an unstable economic environment, the only safe investment is... PORN" --
Avenue Q
| {
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A Free Speech Battle at the Birthplace of a Movement at Berkeley - thomyorkie
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/us/university-california-berkeley-free-speech-milo-yiannopoulos.html
======
tokenizer
Free Speech is a concept dead to the left wing of political ideology.
Hate Speech, "Evil People" prevented from speaking, their fans attacked.
Mark my words, the other, more silent side of America will respond to violence
if the left WONT discuss, debate, and be rational and peaceful.
------
bruceb
A few idiots attack people and then Milo and company get to play the victim.
Was very frustrated last week when way too many people were cheering the
sucker punching of Richard Spencer. Was attack on free speech and just made
another otherwise obscure figure famous.
~~~
tokenizer
> A few idiots attack people
Google how many celebrities and reporters have condoned that sucker punch
against the "nazi". It's A LOT of people.
The problem is that the regressive left is labelling everyone that disagrees
with their notions "nazis".
So my question is, if we normalize the punching of nazis, but we're not sure
who they are, does that give 50% of the US population the right to harass the
other 50%?
This is honestly tantamount to starting a civil war... When you prevent
speech, prevent discussion. Only violence remains... SAD!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Russia cyber attack targeted voting software and election officials - Aqueous
http://www.rawstory.com/2017/06/bombshell-intel-leak-reveals-russia-cyber-attack-targeted-voting-software-and-election-officials/
======
pkilgore
Interestingly, (and despite an erroneous popular belief), prior to this there
was no evidence Russia "hacked" the election other than social-media-enhanced
"firehose of falsehood" propaganda.
In other words, holy shit. Looks like someone in the intelligence community
decided to hit back a Putin after his recent comments.
~~~
jwtadvice
Had the exact same thought. The timing of the report is perfectly placed after
the Russian president's most recent remarks and the Russian Congress's report
on American influence efforts on Russia's elections.
From the contents of the report it's very clear this Russia-attributed
activity is associated with an espionage campaign rather than a manipulation
campaign, though more details may be forthcoming on there being an actual
effort to perform active manipulation.
The Russian effort to use true (white), gray (stretched) and black (false)
propaganda showed sophistication mostly in its ability to adapt and react very
quickly. The actual messaging was pretty weak - primarily appealing to those
who already held some of the same thoughts on their own. Both Russia and the
United States know that white propaganda is the most effective propaganda
because it penetrates, resonates and persists better and because developing
sources of truth (white and gray) are able to build stronger platforms than
those based on falsehood. In this instance it was the true statements spread
by Russia about corruption in the United States, war crimes, etc that were
able to resonate and activate masses of people.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Txqr: Transfer data via animated QR codes - kumaranvpl
https://github.com/divan/txqr
======
delinka
"...written in Java, Python or JavaScript. That means the code is not cross-
platform..." [1]
wat. I need an explanation how these implementations are not "cross-platform"
yet his Go implementation is.
1 - from the author's blog post at
[https://divan.github.io/posts/animatedqr/](https://divan.github.io/posts/animatedqr/)
~~~
shittyadmin
I can only suggest his definition of cross platform may actually mean "works
on iOS in compliance with Apple policies".
While those all will work well on major PC OSes and for the most part on
Android devices, Apple's policies are quite strict about running compilers and
interpreters on device last I checked. Meaning you need compiled code in some
way, shape or form.
~~~
JeremyBanks
Apple removed the blank ban on interpreters more than five years ago. The
restriction now only applies to interpreters running user-provided/dynamic
code. If you're bundling it with the application, as you would here, it's
allowed -- and many popular games rely on this.
~~~
jayd16
This isn't true at all. You still can't run Unity outside of AOT mode, for
example.
~~~
noobiemcfoob
Somehow Kivy applications are allowed permitting a bundled python
interpreter... I've never looked into the rules but know of examples in the
app store.
------
trulyrandom
Hah, cool! This reminds me of an old 4chan thread where people were trying to
get free file storage on YouTube by uploading video's of QR code sequences
with files encoded into them. Much less useful than Txqr, but fun nonetheless.
~~~
userbinator
YouTube _is_ essentially "free file storage", just for a very specific file
format.
Some software for the ZX Spectrum was distributed in a similar fashion, by
being broadcast in audio format:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum_software#Others](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum_software#Others)
I suppose if you uploaded a recording of that to YouTube you could do a
similar thing, although I can't seem to find any examples at the moment.
~~~
trulyrandom
> YouTube is essentially "free file storage", just for a very specific file
> format.
Right. A platform for audio/video or in this case extremely inefficient file
storage.
> Some software for the ZX Spectrum was distributed in a similar fashion, by
> being broadcast in audio format:
That's fascinating, thanks for sharing!
------
mrspeaker
Another excellent library/system for data-transfer via QR codes is QRLoop:
[https://github.com/gre/qrloop](https://github.com/gre/qrloop)
It comes with this nifty demo of text->animated QR code:
[https://qrloop.netlify.com/](https://qrloop.netlify.com/)
~~~
divan
Nice, thanks for the link – I did pretty extensive search, but haven't found
this one. I like how similar was path from naive implementation to the
fountain codes as with txqr.
------
j1vms
Great stuff! QR code is optimized for low error rates when the channel is a
digital camera-based, single photo capture. If one uses a code designed for
multiple capture over time (some video code), the transfer speed could be
increased significantly. Thinking of it like a very noisy fibre optic channel,
there's plenty of room for improvement.
~~~
j1vms
Also, as a practical aside, two mobiles devices could use their screens and
front-facing cameras to negotiate a secure session for key-exchange, etc.
~~~
reaperducer
Isn't this essentially how Apple Watch pairing happens?
~~~
divan
Nope. Apple Watch pairing is unidirectional and low-bandwidth, and uses
extremely cool patented technique with hiding data in luminance changes. It's
exploiting the fact that human eye is so much more sensitive to the
chrominance changes, rather than luminance, but computers is not.
[http://www.iphonehacks.com/2015/05/new-apple-patents-
explain...](http://www.iphonehacks.com/2015/05/new-apple-patents-explain-
particle-cloud-pairing-method-used-for-apple-watch.html)
------
sitkack
I am reminded of QR codes for kernel panics.
[https://lwn.net/Articles/503677/](https://lwn.net/Articles/503677/)
This should be a standard and could be the Kermit of H2M and M2M systems.
It would be interesting to try bidirectional transfer using the front facing
cameras with two phones pointed at each other.
~~~
fenwick67
I would also love to see a two-way version of this.
Bluetooth and wifi are way too finicky for local "data dump"-style
communication, whereas every Android/iOS phone has a front camera and a
screen.
P2P applications like Secure Scuttlebutt etc. could really use a reliable
local exchange without the wireless headaches.
------
cptaffe
What’s the transfer speed, are there practical file size limits? Do you have
to wait for it to loop or can the reader pick up in the middle of the stream?
~~~
maxwellito
That's a good question! But for something under 100Kb it should be pretty
quick. Curious to know how long it takes for a whole MB.
Update: Actually, I was too optimistic :
[https://divan.github.io/posts/animatedqr/](https://divan.github.io/posts/animatedqr/)
~~~
cyphar
There was a follow-up post[1] where the author switched to fountain codes (a
type of erasure coding that is perfect for this use-case) and apparently the
speed is now closer to 25kbps. Pretty neat.
[1]:
[https://divan.github.io/posts/fountaincodes/](https://divan.github.io/posts/fountaincodes/)
------
anfractuosity
Reminds me of Backer32, a piece of hardware that stored data on VHS tapes as
black and white squares.
[https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU?t=815](https://youtu.be/TUS0Zv2APjU?t=815)
~~~
dylan604
Never knew about this, but of course it exists! In the digital video tape
world, it was common to do backups to tape. The old Flame/Inferno systems
would do archives to D1 by laying down all of the video elements including the
mattes as video, and then save the actual project code as data afterwards.
When played back, it would look like black&white snow/noise. Maybe it was at
the beginning, don’t remember exactly. However, at the time, I had just
assumed it was just noise, but now wonder if the black&white patterns was the
data like a QR code. A blank VHS tape would display static as well, but a
blank digital tape would not. That’s what made these archives stand out to me.
------
Dowwie
I understand the challenges involved, but if an algorithm were fault tolerant
enough to handle a flip book of qr codes, one could manually animate a file
transfer. :)
~~~
reaperducer
Print the QR codes in infrared or ultraviolet ink on the pages of a regular
book and move information secretly across borders.
------
rpledge
Cool - I did something similar long ago although I don't maintain it anymore.
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qrsplice/id513008119?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qrsplice/id513008119?mt=8)
------
mortond
Reminds me of the Travelers TV show when the Historians are getting an update.
------
lexpar
Me and a friend put together this basic idea a few years ago at a hackathon.
At the time we thought it was very funny to code something so useless (no
offense to OP). Looks like we missed out on some sweet HN karma!
[https://github.com/AFFogarty/QRTransfer](https://github.com/AFFogarty/QRTransfer)
------
latchkey
This oddly overlapped with just learning about bitcoinfibre [1], which uses
forward error correction (FEC) to fill packets with extra data to speed up
network transfers by preventing retransmissions.
[1] [http://bitcoinfibre.org](http://bitcoinfibre.org)
------
noobiemcfoob
I had already begun using QR codes to provide signed urls to images (graphs
showing data and the like). Something like this permits transferring the graph
image directly. Walk up to a smart device and retrieve its data without any
convoluted pairing process.
~~~
reaperducer
Back in the early days of smartphones (iPhone, iPhone 3, iPhone 3GS era),
Marshall Field's flagship department store in Chicago experimented with this.
Each display window had a bunch of stickers on it, similar to QR codes. You
could use the app on your phone to point your camera at one of the stickers
and get more information about different products on display.
They also tried something similar with a different app and some kind of
Bluetooth connection.
All of this was still early days, so it didn't work very well. It would
probably be OK now that the technology has matured.
------
jmpman
I’ve been contemplating writing this same thing for the past few years.
Thanks! Although the security implications to many businesses that think
they’ve locked down their end clients will be huge. Most SIEMs looking for
data exfiltration will analyze email attachments, outbound network
connections, etc. This is a new vector that’s extremely hard to police. Can
you scale the QR codes up to higher resolution, increasing the bandwidth you
can transfer over the video interface?
------
IshKebab
I can't think of any actually useful applications (the one given only makes
vague sense if you pretend bluetooth doesn't exists), but it's a cool demo
anyway and the linked blog posts are excellent.
~~~
social_quotient
Offline data sync from an old device to a new one. Many phone carriers provide
for something similar in a QR code. My team has an app we developed that has a
similar function because the private keys and all of the wallet items are
exclusively offline. We show an qr code today. The issue we have hit lately is
that the amount of data we have is more than a single code. Depending on the
number of wallet items the users have. The animated QR is a good solution for
this.
If someone is interested in how we got an amazingly small QR using base-91 and
some other cool methods here is a good read with demo code
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B7AJDVu5ei6c7ZuHRiTvQ_q8...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B7AJDVu5ei6c7ZuHRiTvQ_q8816JgdGID0IxKdnUS1U/edit?usp=sharing)
~~~
jayd16
Why not just use a single code for bluetooth/wifi hand shaking? Wouldn't that
be more efficient by any metric and almost as compatible? What device has a
solid camera and no wireless communication?
~~~
dzelzs
Why not both? There is always the potential that there is an actual _reason_
to upgrade - and borked motherboards where any such modules are damaged as a
potential reason.
~~~
jayd16
>Why not both?
User confusion and the fact that high quality camera tech and OCR aren't
exactly cheap.
------
kumarharsh
Cool concept, but won't it cause epileptic attacks due to flashing images?
------
giorgioz
In the science fiction novel Snow Crash an image containing random white and
black pixels contained a virus that could infect any developer that would see
the image: [https://www.amazon.fr/Snow-Crash-Neal-
Stephenson/dp/14915150...](https://www.amazon.fr/Snow-Crash-Neal-
Stephenson/dp/1491515058)
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Apache Wicket – three years of lessons learned - rohshall
http://blog.bosch-si.com/apache-wicket-lessons-learned/
======
rauar
Wicket is a single design flaw:
-no clean dependency injection possible due to the "page" life cycle
-inheritence hell out of the box with coder kiddies thinking adding even more subclasses would be "clean" and maintainable
\- excessive round-trips required in the build and test cycle
\- breaking Maven conventions w.r.t to resources and Java classes which f###'s
up Eclipse workspaces
Compare this against Bootstrap and a lightweight server-side implementation
which can be learned in a fraction of time compared to Wicket's "different"
approach.
great "design"
~~~
rohshall
Which light-weight server-side frameworks you would recommend then? apache
click? I could not find any which is popular.
~~~
rauar
BTW: one more thing which I initially did not mention is that Wicket generates
a hell lot of client-side code with loads of nested DIVs (per component
probably), weird and long wicket IDs which tell you nothing (they are
automatically created). Pretty tough to get used to - especially for someone
trying to understand what happens "under the hood".
~~~
rohshall
Thank you. I was under the impression that Spring MVC (actually Spring, in
general) requires a lot of XML configuration. But, maybe it's the best bet
now. I checked out Play 2.0. It's a nice framework, but documentation is
sparse, which is a show-stopper for a newbie like me.
------
metajack
Server died. Here's the Google cache version:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-UXdDxO...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-UXdDxOD6t8J:blog.bosch-
si.com/apache-wicket-lessons-learned/&hl=en&gl=us&prmd=imvns&strip=1)
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WhatsApp accused of giving terrorists 'a secret place to hide' - vixen99
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/26/home-secretary-amber-rudd-whatsapp-gives-terrorists-place-hide/
======
merricksb
Active discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13959953](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13959953)
------
sidcool
I don't understand this, isn't WhatsApp end to end encrypted? How can they
even have messages to hand over? Am I missing something?
~~~
asr
Yeah, the title here should be changed. The Home Secretary is actually arguing
that end-to-end encryption should not be permitted. From the article:
"Referring to Whatsapp's system of end-to-end encryption, she said: 'It is
completely unacceptable. There should be no place for terrorists to hide.'"
The article's headline is "WhatsApp accused of giving terrorists 'a secret
place to hide' as it refuses to hand over London attacker's messages." That's
misleading/inaccurate to begin with. But the way it's been shortened here just
makes it completely inaccurate.
~~~
sidcool
I see, so the politician there seems to imply that there should be no end to
end encryption, which is even worse.
------
stillmotion
WhatsApp will not hand anything over because they can't. This article fails to
investigate and explain the reasons why, rather casts fear and hate on the
reader by making US tech companies look and sound unreasonable.
~~~
danieldk
The article literally states:
_End to end encryption is a way of transmitting a message so that it can only
be read by the intended recipient, and not intercepted by accessing the
servers or the networks via which the message is sent.
Rather than being sent as plain text, the message is scrambled as a long
series of digits that needs a key only held by the sender and the recipient to
understand it.
The keys are ephemeral, meaning they disappear after the message is
unscrambled so that it can not be unlocked afterwards._
------
photonios
This is rather short-sighted. The intelligence community is accusing WhatsApp
and other apps that provide end-to-end encryption of providing a "place to
hide" for terrorist. But what's stopping a terrorist from writing a letter in
some kind of code, or develop their own encryption? Who knows, maybe they are
already doing this.
Banning end-to-end encryption would be a completely ineffective measure.
~~~
orless
(To make it clear, I'm not supporting banning end-to-end encryption in any
way.)
Writing a letter in some kind of code is not suitable for coordinating an
operation.
The intelligence community is absolutely right that WhatsApp (and likes)
provide a "place to hide" for terrorists. The thing is, however, that they
provide "a place to hide" for all of us. Hiding terrorists is collateral
damage.
Banning end-to-end encryption will be very effective in creating a black/gray
market of end-to-end encryption apps.
------
duncan-donuts
Even if there was legislation to force companies to give intelligence agencies
backdoors to encrypted communication channels, what is stopping terrorist
networks from building their own apps? What would stop people from
distributing their own apps that don't comply with the law? Lock down all
hardware?
------
hackerboos
Amber Rudd the UK's Home Secretary was on the BBC today requesting a backdoor
be placed into Whatsapp so they can access messages in an event like this.
[http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39396578](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39396578)
| {
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The secret to hiring a designer - waxman
http://waxman.me/the-secret-to-hiring-a-designer
======
tomelders
If I may: Design is how something works, not how it looks.
My view is that if you pick a _designer_ with a _style_ , you're gambling.
I've seen an alarming increase in designers with styles over the past 10 years
and I don't like it. It flies in the face of what I think a good designer
should _be_ and _do_. That is, they should be able to look at a project, any
project and come up with the best design _for that project_.
~~~
waxman
This applies to different types of design/designers.
If you're looking for graphic design, then find a designer whose graphic
design you love. If you're looking for a UI design, then find a UI designer
whose UI you love.
~~~
msutherl
Prior to the distinction between UI and UX, you had (and still have) all sorts
of graphic designers whose work fits into different ranges on the spectrum
between function and form.
Poster designers are concerned with catching the public's eye and delivering
the necessary information, but catching the public's eye is arguably more
important. Other designers exclusively do branding, which is all about 'look'
and hardly about 'function'.
In reply to the original point, I would say that, on one hand, how something
looks is _part of_ how it works, if you consider the entire user experience as
the _function_ of the product.
On the other hand, I think what you're saying is that you're reluctant to hire
designers who only do a particular style well. I agree that a good designer
should aspire to broaden their pallet, but I see no reason to condemn those
who for whatever reason are not capable of or interested in that.
For comparison, consider that some fine arts produce work in the same style
for their entire career (i.e. James Turrell) while others explore a broad
territory (i.e. Gerhard Richter).
~~~
tomelders
Branding is definitely about function, but the way branding functions is very
esoteric and generally intended to be subliminal. But when you're working on
branding, good designers work to a plan. They know what the client wants to
say and they say it. Bad designers (like those with a style) post rationalise
their work, and that's a dishonest and ineffective approach to design, in my
opinion of course.
------
harlanlewis
I hate getting pedantic on subjects like these, but it's kind of important if
the subject is how to hire a designer.
The article doesn't at any point mention what kind of designer they're
attempting to hire. It seems they were looking for some combination of
graphic, brand, interface, and... probably a few others. I don't think they
were looking for a product or experience designer, but it's not entirely
clear.
Design is often a failed effort at organizations, especially those with broad
aspirations and significant size, because it must deliver collateral,
interactions, and experiences that are emotional, consistent, powerful,
scalable, and understandable while communicating brand.
This is hard, and made harder if you can't describe or define the design work
you need to execute across all its surfaces.
Hacker News comments & articles generally draw a single line between aesthetic
and interaction design, with a tenuous acknowledgement that uniting multiple
interactions in a consistent, comprehensible manner is a distinct discipline.
Companies will continue having difficulty hiring appropriate designers until
designers better define the work they do and value they add.
------
crazygringo
Important: this is good advice for hiring a _graphic_ designer. After all,
that's one of the main reasons they have a portfolio.
But hiring a _UX designer_ is a completely different process, which needs to
show their deep, deep understanding of product, user stories, etc.
And too many companies think that graphic designers are UX designers too. It's
very rare to find designers that do both really well. And this article doesn't
even mention the distinction.
------
ajaymehta
We just had a similarly great experience with redesigning FamilyLeaf's
homepage. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted except for the general style,
and we picked an awesome illustrator and let him run free.
Folyo (<http://folyo.me>) was also a great resource that helped us find our
designer Paddy (<http://lefft.com>).
~~~
vlad
Your site is really nice. You should link to it instead of Folyo.
<https://familyleaf.com/>
~~~
ajaymehta
Wow, thank you Vlad! Much appreciated.
------
asianexpress
> Make sure you like the designer’s style so much that you would trust them to
> create a design for you without any input.
This concept extends beyond design -- you want anyone you work with to be
someone you trust to do their job.
~~~
patdryburgh
If a client ever approached me without having some sort of direction or plan
or strategy in mind, I would never work for them. I want clients who know what
they want, who I can partner with and provide appropriate guidance and input,
and who will fight me if and when I make a decision that doesn't align with
their goals (though, obviously I do my research and work to avoid such a
situation).
------
huhtenberg
> _We just rebranded and redesigned the entire Grouper site in about 3 weeks._
Read this ^ , clicked the link and didn't really like the site. It's just...
boring, from the palette to the layout, to @font-face of choice looking clumsy
on Windows, to the logo, to the illustration and icons style. I don't mean to
sound like an ass, but that's not a design that grabs attention and prompts to
stay and explore. Perhaps it's an improvement over what they had originally,
but that's not very good either.
------
Smudge
I once hired a designer to put together the cover art for a CD, based on the
fact that he was nearby, affordable, and had a limited but decent portfolio
online. (The project had a small budget, so we weren't shooting for the stars
or anything.)
Little did I know, his expertise was in building ambigrams, and we spent an
entire round of drafting + feedback moving away from an ambigram concept.
Everything worked out in the end, but the initial miscommunication was
probably our own fault. We hadn't done our research, and we probably weren't
the best of clients to begin with, as we had no idea what we really wanted and
thought we were safe leaving the direction up to him (with hardly any input on
our part).
So, ultimately, we trusted him more than we probably should have, given how
little we actually examined his style and areas of expertise.
------
spiredigital
Great post. As a guy with almost no gift for design, I've struggled with how
to hire a designer and work with them effectively, and this help a lot.
------
AtTheLast
Every designer has their style and if they are given free range to develop
something in that style then both parties win. The designer will be more
excited about the project and they will get the project done faster.
This is great advice for finding a designer. Dribble for a designer is like
viewing a developers code in github. You gain insight into what they can do
and what they like to do.
------
activedecay
This is painfully obvious.
------
ChrisNorstrom
So true. Maybe the same can be said of designers wondering if they should take
on a client? The pay might be good but if the style the client wants is
different from the designers style it might be a good idea to not take on the
client.
Since I work alone so often, I always assumed that other designers could do-
it-all and mesh with any style the client wants but after a few years I'm
starting to realize the opposite is true. Designers have their own unique
style that they replicate over and over. We have certain theming and placement
of elements that we stick with throughout numerous projects.
Perhaps showcasing our style is more important than showcasing clients in our
portfolio? (which I badly need to update)
------
dsolomon
Provide clear requirements - No Provide realistic schedule - No. Provide
decent pay - No.
"Make sure you like the designer’s style so much that you would trust them to
create a design for you without any input."
Right, just make sure they be stylin' yo!
| {
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V8-GL: A Toolkit for creating Desktop Hardware Accelerated Graphics with JS - mnemonik
http://github.com/philogb/v8-gl
======
nkassis
Interesting stuff. I've been working on some WebGL stuff and it would be
interesting to see if it could run as a native desktop app also. Maybe they
could ensure to be using the same api (OpenGL ES) just to make that possible.
| {
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Inside McKinsey - bane
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0d506e0e-1583-11e1-b9b8-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1enItOpBZ
======
mmaunder
This is how you hit the undo button on a nuclear detonation. If this wasn't
buried in FT Magazine, I'd be tempted to cancel my subscription. It's so
obviously part of the damage control campaign that it brings the integrity of
FT's journalists into question. Extracts:
"... links between key former employees of the world’s best-known, most
prestigious, most self-consciously high-minded consulting firm and a corrupt
hedge fund boss..."
"...it was a public embarrassment, a private outrage – and even a potential
threat to the future of “the Firm”, as McKinseyites call their employer."
"... the older partners were “completely ashen-faced”..."
"The partners’ principal anxiety was summed up in one recurring question: “Why
didn’t we pick up on it?”"
"As shocking to them was the fact that they had not previously been made aware
of any such activities."
"insiders offered two analogies to help him understand the Firm: the Jesuits,
and the tailors of Savile Row, who “unlike fashion houses and designers … are
always in the background”."
"Yet McKinsey is arguably better known than either the Catholic religious
order or the London suit makers. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey, who
originally styled its consultants as “management engineers”, McKinsey is to
consulting what Goldman Sachs is to banking: it supplies the most prestigious
– and perhaps the most expensive – advice that top corporate and government
clients can buy."
...and on and on including a lovely historical photo of founder James O.
McKinsey.
~~~
VladRussian
sounds like another "most self-consciously high-minded" firm - Arthur
Andersen.
------
danso
Consulting firms such as McKinsey are undoubtedly filled with brilliant
people. But because specific expertise in an area is worth more than general
intelligence/accomplishments when it comes to specific, actionable
recommendations, this cynical criticism (as used in the FT comments section)
comes to mind:
>..."Consultants are people who charge you a fortune for interviewing you
about your organization and then writing a report repeating what you've just
told them and what you already knew!"
Realistically speaking, though, this is actually a very useful thing:
providing political cover so that an executive can institute an unpopular but
needed change. However, this is more indicative of a weakness in an
organization's (perhaps unavoidable in all large companies) culture than it is
the effectiveness of consultants.
It reminds me of Richard Feynmann's role in the post-Challenger disaster
investigation. He's famously known for explaining the O-ring deficiencies
during a televised press conference. But he admits in his memoir that the
O-ring revelation was passed to him (through another intermediary), from an
anonymous source -- most likely from an astronaut who worried about his/her
job -- who had said that the O-ring problem was known to NASA's engineers but
the bureaucratic managers had chosen to ignore it.
If all it took was a $1,000,000 fee to get in some consulting engineers (or
hell, just Dick Feynmann) to spotlight this fixable -- if inconvenient problem
-- so that the Challenger wouldn't blow up, I'm sure we'd all agree that would
be money well worth spent.
I know people who go to fortune tellers even though they wouldn't put money on
their predictions. But most fortune tellers at least can act as the friendly
voice who tells their client want he/she needs to hear, whether it has
absolute truth or not.
Has anyone here ever been the beneficiary of a concrete effect from a
consultant's work, such as a tangible new idea that resulted in better
profits/efficiencies, beyond what is merely CYA?
~~~
jackfoxy
I don't have the reference for this, but I recall the seals between shuttle
booster segments were originally engineered to use asbestos, not rubber as the
gasket. The engineery qualities of asbestos for this purpose were perfectly
understood, lower tempature lift-offs would not have been an issue, and most
importantly, all the expensive live testing had already been performed when
higher-ups recognized how politically incorrect asbestos was, even though a
program as high-tech as the shuttle program was perfectly capable of handling
asbestos perfectly safely. There probably was no $1M engineering fee that
would have ever fixed this, because the multi-$M live fire tests were
complete. No one considered this relatively minor engineering change (after
all, the seal was redesigned to work with rubber) worthy of another round of
very expensive tests (which primarily focused on the motor).
In a similar fashion (sorry, also doing this from memory, no reference)
sometime in the late 80s or early 90s the main fuel tank insulation was
switched-out because foam manufactured with CFC became verboten, so another
material, with apparently unknown (or not completely desireable) engineering
characteristics, was swapped in. I never recall hearing about ice ripping off
big chuncks of fuel tank foam during the boost phase in the 80s. I only
remember hearing about this starting in the 90s (or at least after the
Challenger accident).
This is certainly tangential to the OP, except that there probably was copious
high-priced consulting which provided political cover for both of these
mistakes.
~~~
gammarator
Thirty seconds of googling reveals that this is a myth:
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_scien...](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11031097/ns/technology_and_science-
space/t/myths-about-challenger-shuttle-disaster/#.TtLdKEo7qWU)
~~~
jackfoxy
You're right. A little more googling
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_external_tank> reveals the old
foam began to be phased-out in 1996, with complete phase-out in 1997. Tile
loss and other damage starting even with the first flight were assumed to be
related to foam loss, and the foam loss itself was determined/assumed to be
due to anomalies in foam application.
------
Jun8
OK, call me ignorant, but I think that these highly paid strategy consultants
are closer to a placebo than problem solving, i.e. in most cases the
management thinks that calling in McKinsey (or Bain, etc.) was "totally worth
it" because (i) no one would admit that their decision to spend _hundreds_ of
thousands of dollars for consulting was wrong and (ii) the problems _do_ seem
like solved, from the high managements POV. The truth, though, is usually
different. Most engineers and mid-level management complain that such
interventions of cocky consultants, who may be super intelligent (because, you
know, they passed the hard McKinsey interview) and knowledgeable, generally
understand little of the specifics of the company and try to get the gist of
it in a couple of weeks to address deep problems. This is akin to going to
cardiologist for a serious brain tumor, because he's a good doctor and
expecting him to quickly learn enough to solve your problem.
Paraphrasing Ada, these people do not originate anything! I wonder how many
McKinsey alumni sit in the tech startup boards. How many have created
startups?
------
jgill
Just a word of advice. McKinsey consultants are potentially worse than just an
MBA on your founding team. There's a reason you never hear about McKinsey
consultants ever going on to actually start a company that actually matters.
They are "value extractors" not creators and generally if you have one on your
founding team, I pray for you. They can't do anything on their own. In my
experience they do not really understand what it takes to actually create a
company and are motivated so much by money and their insecurities as the
writer of the FT piece hints at.
~~~
lancewiggs
We can be hard to absorb, that's for sure. I've successfully helped a lot of
start-ups, but I (and they) have been careful to ensure that the time I spend
there is limited. eBay hired too many MBAs/consultants and stuffed themselves
as a result.
But arguing that McKinsey alumni are all-bad is clearly over the top. They can
produce results incredibly quickly and are comfortable dealing with very
senior levels at corporates. Business development and major deals are a
specialty.
Try calling one when it's time to think about major decisions, pricing,
figuring out how industries work and just general business advice.
~~~
rhizome
_I've successfully helped a lot of start-ups_
So what do you make of the grandparent's observation that none of them go on
to form vital startups themselves?
------
radicaldreamer
Good attempt at a PR puff piece, but I find it extremely hard to think of an
organization being pristine throughout with such corruption at the top.
------
nradov
Malcom Gladwell has an interesting article about how McKinsey contributed to
the Enron debacle.
<http://www.gladwell.com/2002/2002_07_22_a_talent.htm>
------
louhong
I'm curious to hear opinions of the "up or out" philosophy at startups. I can
conceive of both pros and cons (mostly cons) but a forced philosophy sounds
flawed.
~~~
arethuza
I've only heard of "up or out" being used in high-end professional services
companies - which are usually _very_ different places to start-ups.
~~~
nekojima
A variation is used in many financial services sales teams, where the bottom
10-20% each year are fired, or if sales don't increase. Similarly was/is used
at IBM to remove the bottom 5-10% of under-performing staff each year.
~~~
otoburb
You're referring to the practice made widespread by Jack Welch when he was CEO
of GE (20-70-10 aka "differentiation")[1].
[http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-04-1...](http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2005-04-17-welch-
advice_x.htm)
------
budley
If they really can't figure out how Gupta got so far in the firm then they
aren't as smart as their PR puff piece says they are.
------
MaxGabriel
I'm not at all familiar with consulting, but some of the things I do now
(research disparate subjects in-depth) sound related. What kind of questions
do consultants answer/what work do they do?
------
pitdesi
This article does an absolutely terrible job describing work "Inside McKinsey"
and seems to be more of a puff-piece for the firm than anything else.
If you are interested in what management consulting is or looking for an
interesting read (the background is fascinating and unexpectedly
entertaining), I highly recommend the book Lords of Strategy referenced in the
article. Here's the WSJ review which gives a good summary:
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870486930457510...](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704869304575109591109900792.html)
and a BW interview of Kiechel:
[http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2010/ca20100...](http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/feb2010/ca20100226_079249.htm)
The origins of management consulting are actually in Frederick Winslow
Taylor's work around scientific management, using a stopwatch to cut excess
labor on railroads... you could call it hacking labor
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_management>
I worked at BCG before coming to FeeFighters, as did our CEO. My 2 roommates
worked at McKinsey and Bain, so I have a pretty good perspective on the
industry. This article goes way overboard on the prestige associated with
working at McKinsey - noone at my school chose an offer from McKinsey if they
had one with BCG or Bain (more of a culture/fit decision than anything else at
that point). I worked with multiple Rhodes and Baker scholars at BCG... but
you don't get to 10,000 employees only hiring the smartest guys in the room.
People are generally VERY smart, but you also have partners where you wonder
how they got there. There are a few different types of partners... the
rainmakers (they can sell), the teachers (awesome to work with, they teach
junior people a lot), and the ones that do amazing client work. I hated
working for rainmakers.
Working in consulting can be an awesome time... at times, you get to do
strategy work that decides how billions of dollars will be deployed (that is
when you do pure strategy work). But at other times, you're spending days
building gantt charts deciding who will manage a particular document in a new
organization (most of the work these firms do now - they had a desire to grow,
so they take on shitty operational things that they aren't well suited to, to
create an "ongoing relationship" with clients). As for recycling stuff, sure -
you are paid for your expertise and part of that expertise was learned at your
competitors. It is no different from hiring anyone from a competitor, which
happens all the time, even at junior levels. There is a huge chinese wall
where you can't get information from someone who serves or has served a
competitor.
BTW - there are certainly skills that transfer well from the consulting world
to startups... I wrote about some of them (sub consulting for MBA)
[http://feefighters.com/blog/should-you-hire-mbas-at-your-
sta...](http://feefighters.com/blog/should-you-hire-mbas-at-your-startup-and-
why-we-love-them/)
~~~
gammarator
For a contrary opinion, try Matthew Stewart. His book, "The Management Myth,"
was nicely excerpted in the Atlantic [1]. He's particularly harsh on Taylor's
early experiments, which claimed to be scientific but were anything but.
[1] [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/06/the-
mana...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/06/the-management-
myth/4883/?single_page=true)
~~~
yuhong
"How many tons of pig iron bars can a worker load onto a rail car in the
course of a working day?"
That should be a big sign that Taylorism and scientific management is
basically only suitable for industrial manufacturing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why is there no live stream of the World Series game? - ceworthington
It's 2012. Why hasn't FOX found a way to make money from live streaming a sports event that they broadcast for free on TV?<p>They could load it up with ads, or charge me $10 per game. Instead, they black it out, asking me to tune into their free, non-trackable live TV broadcast that shows the same ads to me as to my dad and to my sister.<p>Am I missing something?
======
freshfruits76
Hi,
There are many websites which can provide you the way to watch complete world
series 2012.
Signup with "worldseries2012livestream.enjin.com" with a small fee and enjoy
all the games.
~~~
ceworthington
Sorry: I meant "why is there no LEGAL live stream of the World Series game"
I'm legitimately interested in the business rationale. There must be one, but
it is non obvious.
My best guess is that by focusing max audience onto one platform, they can
charge the broadcast advertisers more. Maybe it's hard to sell that $50M ad
deal to Ford while also saying "well some of the people will see a Samsung ad
because they're streaming it, but you'll get most people."
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A heads up display for git - michaelallen
https://github.com/michaeldfallen/git-radar
======
an_ko
I use a modified version of mislav's git prompt
[https://gist.github.com/mislav/1712320](https://gist.github.com/mislav/1712320)
which is pretty minimal but usually enough for me.
For when I have to wrangle lots of files at once (like during interactive
rebase to clean up history before push) I have a _git watch_ alias that shows
a high-level overview of changes that refreshes with inotify:
[alias]
watch = "!clear;inotifywait --quiet -mr -e modify,move,create,delete --format \"%f %e\" @/.git . | \
while read file; do \
clear;\
git status --short;\
git --no-pager diff --shortstat;\
done;"
I leave that running in a visible terminal window. It's more verbose than a
prompt and reduces the need for constant _git status_ sanity-checking. Maybe
useful for someone.
~~~
mendelk
How would this need to be changed to work on osx?
~~~
ianlevesque
Just need to replace inotifywait with an FSEvents-based change watcher.
~~~
sulam
watchman
([https://github.com/facebook/watchman](https://github.com/facebook/watchman))
is cross platform.
------
metasean
For anyone interested in putting together their own version, I customized my
bash terminal (including git related info) using the following resources:
\- Mikko Nylén's comment in
[http://web.archive.org/web/20130127054804/http://asemanfar.c...](http://web.archive.org/web/20130127054804/http://asemanfar.com/Current-
Git-Branch-in-Bash-Prompt)
\- [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8120553/bash-profile-
sett...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8120553/bash-profile-setting-not-
working-for-path-ps1)
\- [http://volnitsky.com/project/git-
prompt/](http://volnitsky.com/project/git-prompt/)
\-
[http://misc.flogisoft.com/bash/tip_colors_and_formatting](http://misc.flogisoft.com/bash/tip_colors_and_formatting)
\- [http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/string-
manipulation.html](http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/string-manipulation.html)
\- [http://www.botsko.net/blog/2010/03/16/git-status-in-
command-...](http://www.botsko.net/blog/2010/03/16/git-status-in-command-
line/)
------
couchand
This is neat and I think there's a lot of potential here. As with many
information displays, though, it's critical to consider what the most
important information to convey is and how to effectively do it.
My main question is around the use of color. I'd argue the error states -
conflicts, diverging branches, etc - should be the ones in red, since those
are the issues you want to call the most attention to.
Getting rid of any chartjunk is the other big thing. Using four characters of
every prompt just for `git:` is not reasonable. And as much as I like the idea
of being warned about untracked files, I fear that in most real situations you
end up with random scratch files in the same directory. My prompt would always
say `7A` at the end, wasting more space (and mental effort!).
Good work!
~~~
michaelallen
Thanks! Glad you like it.
Fair point on the `git:(`, it's mostly a hold over from robbyrussells oh-my-
zsh theme (which inspired me to make the first version of this about 2 years
ago ([https://github.com/michaeldfallen/oh-my-
zsh/blob/master/them...](https://github.com/michaeldfallen/oh-my-
zsh/blob/master/themes/michaeldfallen.zsh-theme\))).
The entire thing is composable so if you want a prompt without those bits just
fork and modify: [https://github.com/michaeldfallen/git-
radar/blob/master/prom...](https://github.com/michaeldfallen/git-
radar/blob/master/prompt.zsh).
Or should I be making these "pieces" like `git:(` and `)` configurable through
args / env vars?
On the untracked files I personally never leave a file untracked. I either
commit it or add it to .gitignore. Though I see how you use git differently,
how about a --ignore-untracked to ignore untracked files?
~~~
ixtli
This is good stuff: I've already added it to my dotfiles git repo that sync
between machines I use. I would like, however, an option to turn off the
'git:' bit. Chartjunk is exactly what it is :)
~~~
michaelallen
Will do. I'll add the ability to change the prefix/suffix.
------
avar
Consider sending these changes upstream to contrib/completion/git-prompt.sh in
git.git. It already has a lot of toggles for adjusting the prompt. These
things you've added could be added as options.
------
Walkman
If you like this, I recommend oh-my-zsh [1] or prezto[2], both have themes for
things like this.
[1]: [https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-
zsh](https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh)
[2]: [https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto](https://github.com/sorin-
ionescu/prezto)
~~~
Shebanator
I personally use the agnoster theme from oh-my-zsh. With the required
powerline-patched font, its very readable and has enough git info to keep me
informed without taking up too much space:
[https://gist.github.com/agnoster/3712874](https://gist.github.com/agnoster/3712874)
------
JoshTriplett
I like the appearance of prompts like this, and I've tried them a few times,
but I always find myself turning them back off the first time I cd into a
large git repository and have to wait a full second or two for the prompt to
return. git is fast, but the prompt needs to show up _instantly_ , and git
isn't instantaneous on repositories the size of Linux or Chrome.
~~~
anishathalye
Have you thought about using an asynchronously rendered prompt?
~~~
JoshTriplett
That sounds disconcerting and distracting; I don't want my prompt to change
while I'm typing a command. If I already have a command prompt, I can type
"git status" easily enough.
Also, how would that work?
~~~
anishathalye
It's not that bad actually - I've been using one since February. Here's a demo
(+ code): [http://www.anishathalye.com/2015/02/07/an-asynchronous-
shell...](http://www.anishathalye.com/2015/02/07/an-asynchronous-shell-
prompt/)
~~~
JoshTriplett
Ah, I see. Interesting zsh magic, and the right-prompt mechanism makes it more
palatable. Two issues, though. First, I use bash. Second, and more
importantly, you're using the same temporary file for all shells, so the
prompts from different shells (in different working directories) will
overwrite each other.
~~~
anishathalye
Yeah, not sure if/how to do this in bash :P
Yeah, I thought about using a different temp file per shell, and I did use
that for some time, but that got annoying when shells didn't exit gracefully
and clean up the temp file.
I don't actually care about race conditions (okay, the wrong prompt may be
displayed once, big deal), and it doesn't actually happen in real use because
of the way timing works out.
------
opsunit
liquidprompt
[https://github.com/nojhan/liquidprompt](https://github.com/nojhan/liquidprompt)
is another viable alternative.
------
mallamanis
I use [https://github.com/magicmonty/bash-git-
prompt](https://github.com/magicmonty/bash-git-prompt) which I also like. It
seems to present less information than this one though
~~~
noir_lord
I use this one as well and it's great, mostly for that "did I remember to
commit and push before I go home" check.
------
lorenzfx
I use zsh-vcs-prompt [0], which also supports hg and svn.
[0] [https://github.com/yonchu/zsh-vcs-prompt](https://github.com/yonchu/zsh-
vcs-prompt)
------
oalders
I use oh-my-git for a similar purpose. [https://github.com/arialdomartini/oh-
my-git](https://github.com/arialdomartini/oh-my-git) Took some wrangling to
get the fonts to work, but I find it to be quite helpful. The README is
especially nice.
~~~
chmike
Wouldn't custom fonts lead to a problem when using ssh ?
~~~
oalders
I just got the fonts working in iTerm2 and after that I didn't have any issues
that I recall.
------
noalt
[https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git](https://github.com/dahlbyk/posh-git) has
had something similar for awhile - very useful!
~~~
devrelm
Push Git is great! I've been looking for a comparable solution for *nix for a
while. Zsh's git completion/prompt just showing the branch and dirty state
isn't enough.
------
laumars
You could negate the need for a --bash or --zsh flag by checking $SHELL:
echo $SHELL | egrep -o '[a-z]+$'
It might also make sense to bundle everything under one file as well. While
I'd normally advocate separating code into smaller and more manageable files,
a single file shell script would be more convenient to install and would
require less disk reads per every prompt call.
Looks good though. I'm definitely going to use this on my dev boxes.
~~~
michaelallen
I did try that on a previous tool Butler
([https://github.com/michaeldfallen/butler](https://github.com/michaeldfallen/butler))
but I found that some shells don't actually set `$SHELL`.
~~~
laumars
Some don't, but $SHELL is generally accurate enough for Bash and Zsh.
You can also check the shell by checking the PID:
ps -p $$
But then you need to do extra output parsing plus, obviously, _ps_ each time
you output $PS1. Which is going to be a little overkill for this project since
it's only Zsh and Bash you're wanting to capture and you can always have
fallback support for those flags when automatic detection fails.
------
zerolinesofcode
You could have called it GitHud ;-)
~~~
zvikara
Already taken:
[https://github.com/kristjan/githud](https://github.com/kristjan/githud)
~~~
nathancahill
By a 3 year old project with 5 stars..
------
leni536
I use something similar for my bash prompt:
[https://github.com/xtrementl/dev-bash-git-
ps1](https://github.com/xtrementl/dev-bash-git-ps1)
I wonder if this one is any faster. Waiting for a bash prompt in large repos
can be frustrating.
~~~
brandonwamboldt
I added logic to mine to check for a .noprompt file and disable the git part
of my bash prompt as I generally want it enabled, but a few large repos are
too slow with it. You could do something similar, I'm sure.
~~~
leni536
I wonder if an asynchronous approach could be implemented. Like starting the
git status and the likes in a separate process and killing it after a certain
timeout if it takes too long.
While I like that there is a .noprompt feature it's mainly a workaround. Maybe
there could be a toggle feature where the user can turn on and off the git
prompt on demand, wouldn't be hard to implement.
Maybe I will start hacking on it, I have some ideas to optimize it further.
~~~
anishathalye
It can be done, and it actually works quite well. See this post for a demo +
code: [http://www.anishathalye.com/2015/02/07/an-asynchronous-
shell...](http://www.anishathalye.com/2015/02/07/an-asynchronous-shell-
prompt/)
~~~
leni536
Well this is awesome, thanks for the link.
------
r3bl
Looks very promising! Thanks, we really missed something like this in Git.
~~~
TsiCClawOfLight
I find the ZSH git extension to work very well.
~~~
devrelm
Is that configurable? That is to say, can I change what's printed to the
prompt to add more info like # of files added/removed/modified? I looked into
it a little bit it looked hard-coded.
~~~
lorenzhs
yeah it's pretty configurable, the syntax to do so is rather ugly though. I'm
using it like this:
[https://gist.github.com/lorenzhs/c8b442ce831f0211f3d8](https://gist.github.com/lorenzhs/c8b442ce831f0211f3d8)
which shows me whether I have staged and unstaged changes, the current branch
and commit, rebase/... status, etc.
I don't remember from where I got this config, it's a mix of things I found
online.
~~~
devrelm
Interesting, thanks!
------
toddchambery
Anybody have a translation for the fish shell prompt?
~~~
pwenzel
Check out the "bash-git-prompt" project, which includes this fish prompt:
[https://github.com/magicmonty/bash-git-
prompt/blob/master/gi...](https://github.com/magicmonty/bash-git-
prompt/blob/master/gitprompt.fish)
------
WorldWideWayne
This is okay, but I wish OS X had something as nice as TortoiseGit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Kicks Android Adware Out of the Google Play Store - ChuckMcM
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-kicks-chamois-android-adware-off-the-play-store/
======
ChuckMcM
This is another article about the lengths people go to in order to defraud
mobile advertisers. I certainly applaud Google for being proactive here.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Apple tablet can't save print on its own - nreece
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60Q0BY20100127
======
Perceval
>Bob Sauerberg, group president of consumer marketing for Conde Nast, expects
digital versions of its titles on the tablet may one day command higher ad
rates than those of their print versions, because readers are highly engaged
with mobile devices like the tablet and can make impulse buys.
I don't understand why major media companies—News Corp., NY Times, Knight-
Ridder, Condé Nast—haven't already cartelized their advertising. They seem to
depend on a market rate for internet advertising, which obviously isn't paying
enough for them to sustain their operations. Why haven't they banded together
to create the equivalent of The Deck? <http://decknetwork.net/>
------
blasdel
I read the title with an implicit comma between save & print, so I thought
this would be a purported leak about Apple's tablet not having exposed
filesystem or printing APIs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Chinese hacking attempt/Secure your Servers - shamsulbuddy
I just have reinstalled Debian 7 on my VPS. Logged in for the first time with "root" and on port 22..then I didn't locked down anything and within an hour I can see the below root password breaking attempt in /var/log/auth.log file .. WHOIS shows its an Chinese IP.
God knows when these people will get rid of Script kiddies.
Now I have locked down my VPS... does anybody else have similar story and what best steps you took to Secure your Servers .??<p>Jan 24 02:28:30 Sputnik sshd[1566]: pam_unix(sshd:auth): authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=222.189.239.126 user=root
Jan 24 02:28:32 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:35 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:37 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:39 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:41 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:43 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Failed password for root from 222.189.239.126 port 1616 ssh2
Jan 24 02:28:43 Sputnik sshd[1566]: Disconnecting: Too many authentication failures for root [preauth]
Jan 24 02:28:43 Sputnik sshd[1566]: PAM 5 more authentication failures; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=222.189.239.126 user=root
Jan 24 02:28:43 Sputnik sshd[1566]: PAM service(sshd) ignoring max retries; 6 > 3
======
jlgaddis
Hackers will attempt brute force attacks on unprotected SSH servers. News at
11.
~~~
yaeger
What exactly does "unprotected" mean in this context? I mean ssh means secure
shell, so shouldn't the ssh be secure from the start? Or, a better question,
what would you need to do to secure your server and why aren't these steps
"on" by default?
I mean, even any new WiFi router you set up comes with WPA enabled by default.
Wasn't always this way. I still remember setting up routers where the password
protection was an afterthought.
But ssh isn't really _that_ new is it? Should these security measures be
default at least by now?
~~~
shamsulbuddy
Few basic things which can be done is like .. install Fail2ban , change the
default SSH port to something else, and use PermitRootlogin as No in
sshd_config file
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Ruby, Python, or JavaScript for teenager? - tmaly
If you were going to recommend a language to a teenager about to turn 18, that wants to try to learn something on their own, what would it be and why?
======
zubat
Python, because it's the rare combination of "wildly popular" and "keeps you
out of trouble". Ruby has always had a one-framework-town kind of feel to it,
with Rails being the one thing people automatically associate with the
language. Javascript has the popularity, on the other hand, but it's a
minefield in so many ways. The browser is not fun to work with for anything
serious, and code written in node bitrots very easily.
So, it's Python. Python has footholds in a variety of places. It's not the
most expressive in some respects, but the built in types are more than
sufficient to power any student code.
A possible alternate is Go. Go doubles down on keeping you out of trouble by
pressing so much code into a uniform style. This may excite some students and
frustrate others depending on which threads of thought they're trying to
follow.
~~~
DiNovi
Sounds good, but then someone asks: Python 2 or Python 3? And then you realize
python has it's own problems...
Ruby and Python are so similar though just go with one.
Also, a plug for Hanami, because people are still supporting non rails
frameworks despite Rails dominance.
[http://hanamirb.org/](http://hanamirb.org/)
~~~
narimiran
> but then someone asks: Python 2 or Python 3?
And then you say: It is 2017. Python 3.
~~~
DiNovi
Sure, but a lot of useful machine learning libs are still dependent on 2
~~~
narimiran
> a lot of useful machine learning libs are still dependent on 2
If they are a beginner, they would probably start with scikit-learn, which
works on Py3.
As does TensorFlow. As does Theano. Etc.
------
nonsince
I have 3 languages that I would and do recommend for any new programmer:
\- Python, because it looks like pseudocode and it's hard to fuck up as a
beginner. Plus, if you're trying to do something real/effectful (rather than
write implementations of algorithms) imperative code matches your intuition.
\- Haskell, because it looks like maths and it's hard to fuck up as a
beginner. It's really easy to convert any maths stuff that they know verbatim
into Haskell and have it Just Work without accidentally having to worry about,
for example, how many times a piece of code is run.
\- C, ASM or LLVM IR (leaning towards the first because it has great
tutorials), because it matches how a computer really works. Ok, yeah I know,
it doesn't, but it's closer than anything else that you'd actually want to
use. C and manual memory management has gotten a bad rap recently, mostly
because of all the security vulnerabilities it causes. Sure, you don't want to
have to think about memory safety as an application developer but when you're
learning it's OK to accidentally read or write uninitialized memory or cause a
segfault as long as you've got good debugging tools to turn it into a useful
learning experience.
~~~
afarrell
Haskell has a steep learning curve. This is not a bad thing: it means that you
climb so much higher in the early days of learning if you are successful. You
learn more.
But! It also means that it is harder to climb that hill and you might just
slide down. You need good support.
------
just-for-fun
I would recommend Python because I think it is best option to learn
fundamental programming concepts like conditionals, loops, functions,
recursion, data types, basic algorithms like sorting and searching. It has
beautiful semantics which is more consistent than in Ruby or JS.
After learning fundamental concepts he can easily start learning more complex
languages and concepts with practical applications. For example he can learn
Java and Android programming or alternatively Web programming with
Python/Django or Python/Flask.
------
dqdo
Depends on what you want to do. Each language has an advantage in its own
domain.
If you want to build for the web then I would recommend learning Javascript.
You really can't avoid Javascript on the web so it is a good thing to learn it
well. You can even learn Node in order to make it easier to set up a backend
for your web app. The quickest way to get started with the web these days is
to learn Javascript and use it with a Node server on the backend. There is a
lot of noise in the Javascript community with tools such as React, Angular,
Webpack, Typescripts, etc. that are very good for advanced production code.
For a beginner, I recommend that you just stick with Jquery until you have to
write a large codebase (>50,000 unique lines of code).
Python is just a pleasure to work with. I personally use Python to write code
that solves math problems and to build small personal projects. Some people
say that there is a problem with Python version 2 to 3 transition. As a new
programmer this should not be a problem for you. Just start with Python 3. If
there is a package that you want to use, it will probably be ported over soon.
If you start with Python 2 then you will need to update your codebase for the
transition which is neither fun nor worth your time as a beginner.
Ruby is a great scripting language. I think that many of the things that you
can do with Python you can do just as well with Ruby. If you are already good
at Ruby or know some people who can help you then you should go with Ruby. If
you are new to both Ruby and Python, I would recommend learning Python since
there are way more applications for Python (i.e., data science and machine
learning).
~~~
eevilspock
> You really can't avoid Javascript on the web
WebAssembly is coming. So unless they need to code for the web right away,
pick the best language for learning, and/or the most productive language,
because getting relatively fast results is how you keep young people (unless
they're natural programming nerds) interested.
------
deeteecee
Not Javascript since he's going to end up hitting a lot of confusion if he's a
curious cat. Ruby or Python.
------
neilsimp1
Is there any reason you're only asking about those three languages? I'd say
cater to the teenager's interests.
Do they like PC games? Maybe look into C# scripting for Unity. Lua is used for
scripting/modding in tons of games. Minecraft I believe is one of the big
ones.
Do they like mobile apps? Java, Swift, Xamarin, NativeScript all come to mind.
JavaScript, Python, and Ruby are all wonderful, but I'm just wondering if
there's a reason to limit it to those three. I'd say whatever technologies
fall in line with the kids interests are best.
~~~
tmaly
I picked those 3 because they have quite a bit of a community around each. If
you are going to self learn, I thought it would be important to have a good
amount of learning material both online and in book form to learn from.
~~~
brudgers
The communities around Ruby, Python and Javascript are probably more oriented
toward professionals than is ideal for a new programmer. While there is good
content for beginners, there is also a mountain of mediocre and obsolescent
content and another mountain of content that is only partially related, e.g.
Rails, TensorFlow, React respectively.
~~~
tmaly
How do handle sorting through that mountain of mediocre and obsolescent
content?
I think that is going to be a big problem for a beginner
------
jonSson99
Everyone should start with the perl camel book,
[http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596000271.do](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596000271.do)
~~~
ChristianGeek
I hope you're joking.
~~~
vgy7ujm
Actually those Perl books are cleverly written and fun to read (like much of
the official documentation) as opposed to the dry literature of many other
programming languages. You may like Perl or not but that is a fact.
------
karmajunkie
I would say he or she should pick up whatever the people close to them use,
because that's who they're going to turn to for help first. Yeah, there's a
lot of online resources for just about every language and platform out there,
so you've got plenty of people in the world who have blogged about X or asked
questions about Y on stackoverflow, but ultimately its hard to beat sitting
there with someone who walks you through the rough parts like stack traces
that are absolutely shit and don't point to the root of the problem in that
one out-of-the-way class method, or can point you in a more productive
direction when you decide to rewrite a framework you didn't know existed.
Of course, some people learn things better the hard way, but that's what I
wish I'd had...
------
JCharante
I'd argue your age is irrelevant, your age is only a limiting factor if you
choose for it to be.
------
csdreamer7
Ruby, specifically Ruby on Rails. There are alot of plugins and resources to
quickly setup a website. Ruby does have a learning curve, but activerecord,
devise, carrierwave, and Rails' industry support really help you use alot of
different technologies quickly.
~~~
hobs
As a person who loves Ruby, I would 100% avoid rails at every juncture.
If you want to write business software or "get things done", rails can help
you to do things in the rails way.
However, I dont think its good to have a very VERY large set of conventions;
you spend most of your time learning those and dont really spend your time
solving problems in a way that teaches you about how to think about computing.
------
brudgers
Maybe Processing because it is about making things rather than writing
programs _and_ it's community is not caught up in computer science; instead it
is built around creativity.
But in general, I would not focus on which language is better but which
language can be used to improve something that they already do. For a writer,
Emacs Lisp might be a good choice. For a photographer, Lua and Darktable might
be a good choice. For a graphic artist, Python and Gimp or Inkscape. It's not
programming language that matters so much as programming practice.
There are also languages like Snap that are beginner friendly.
BTW, if it's on their own, then it might make sense if the 18 year old
chooses. It's ok if they change their mind.
Good luck.
~~~
anta40
>> it's community is not caught up in computer science We're not talking about
Haskell/Scheme/Lisp/ML/etc, right?
If memory serves me right, I started learning Python in 2003 (still in high
school at that time). My impression was Python is easy to understand, pretty
much like good old BASIC.
~~~
brudgers
_Processing is a flexible software sketchbook and a language for learning how
to code within the context of the visual arts. Since 2001, Processing has
promoted software literacy within the visual arts and visual literacy within
technology. There are tens of thousands of students, artists, designers,
researchers, and hobbyists who use Processing for learning and prototyping._
[https://processing.org/](https://processing.org/)
versus the landing page for Python
_Python is a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate
systems more effectively._ [https://www.python.org/](https://www.python.org/)
------
vorg
Each of those languages has its downside:
* Ruby and its clones are declining as their signature frameworks (Rails, Grails, etc) are replaced by newer ones like Node, Go Http, etc
* Python has the version 2 or 3 problem for now
* Javascript is too complicated
I think in 20 years time when the dynamic language fad has well passed, like
the 4GL fad before it, there'll only be 2 dynamic languages left in the
market, just as the 4GL's dwindled to only Visual Basic and perhaps Delphi.
They'll be Python 3 and Javascript, so choose one of those.
------
amorphid
I will recommend learning any two of those three. They are all useful,
commonly used, and it's super helpful to understand how to do things in a
couple different languages. Basically, it'll be hard to feel like you really
understand programming until you start thinking about the strengths and
weaknesses of any given language.
------
wikibob
Is this their first time programming? If yes, the approach to learning
computer science is more important than the particular language used.
There's something to be said for David Malan's approach in Harvard's CS50 [0].
He and his team work very hard to make computer science exciting and get the
students to have some results quickly. The production values are incredibly
high. He takes the class through C and Python.
Coming from a very different approach, you have Matthias Felleisen at
NorthEastern University and his How to Design Programs (HtDP) book [1].
Matthias has written extensively on the decisions behind HtDP [2][3]. HtDP
uses teaching languages built into DrRacket (which was originally based on
Scheme) to gradually introduce new concepts to students.
HtDP is based on the classic Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
(SICP) from MIT [4], but it addresses some criticisms of SICP as an
introductory text. Namely that SICP leans too heavily on domain knowledge
outside of computer science.
The course webpage [5] for Fundamentals I from NorthEastern is not very useful
for self-study. Instead check out the EdX course "How to Code: Simple Data and
Complex Data" [6] by Gregor Kiczales at University of British Columbia.
Unfortunately the course has been branded as "how to code" for marketing
reasons, but overlook that because it is a very solid offering that is
directly based on HtDP. In fact, Gregor's page outlining and summarizing the
HtDP design recipes for How to Design Functions, How to Design Data, and How
to Design Worlds, is significantly clearer and easier to comprehend than the
original explanation from the book.
The only limitation with the EdX _How to Code_ course is that for some reason
they are only "open" for enrollment once pear year. Fortunately the first
course is currently open at the moment. Obviously don't bother with the
verified certificate/MicroMasters stuff, the content is the only important
thing.
Also of note if you're still looking for Python based, is the newish Berkeley
CS61A course taught by John DeNero [7]. It is the most all-in-one option for
self-learners as the book, the course assignments, and the videos, are all
freely available online, and well organized. Similar to HtDP, DeNero's CS61A
is also based on Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. I have not
yet gone through this course so I can't speak to the content first-hand. Of
historical note, the course was taught by Brian Harvey using SICP and Scheme
up until he retired a few years ago. Brian wrote his thoughts on the change
and there was a discussion here on HN [8].
DeNero has written his own book called _Composing Programs_ [9]. Additionally
the couse uses Phillip Guo's pythontutor.com for visualizing assignments.
All in all I would say if you are good at self-teaching and don't mind the
lack of videos or course materials, check out SiCP. Otherwise, if high
production values are appealing then check out CS50. And if you want an all-
in-one package that has some of the same solid foundation as SiCP, then go for
Brian Harvey's CS61A.
Hope this is useful to someone.
[0] _CS50 at Harvard:_ [https://cs50.harvard.edu](https://cs50.harvard.edu)
[1] _How to Design Programs book:_
[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/](http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/)
[2] _Essay by Matthias on The Philosophy of HtDP:_
[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/OnHtDP/turing_is_useles...](http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/OnHtDP/turing_is_useless.html)
[3] _Essay by Matthias on Growing a Programmer:_
[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/Growing_a_Prog...](http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/Thoughts/Growing_a_Programmer.html)
[4] _The Structure and Interpretation of the Computer Science Curriculum:_
[http://www.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/jfp2004-fffk.pdf](http://www.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/jfp2004-fffk.pdf)
[5] _Fundamentals I at NorthEastern:_
[https://course.ccs.neu.edu/cs2500/](https://course.ccs.neu.edu/cs2500/)
[6] _EdX course based on How to Design Programs:_
[https://www.edx.org/micromasters/software-
development](https://www.edx.org/micromasters/software-development)
[7] _John DeNero 's CS61A at Berkeley in Python:_ [http://www-
inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/fa16/](http://www-
inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/fa16/)
[8] _Brian Harvey: Why SICP matters_
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4784827](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4784827)
[9] _John DeNero 's Composing Programs Book:_
[http://composingprograms.com](http://composingprograms.com)
------
a3n
Whatever his friends, you, or other go-to mentor use.
------
macscam
Javascript because its used for websites.
~~~
tmaly
I can agree this is one good reason for Javascript. I am just worried about
there being too many mine fields in the language for a beginner.
~~~
medemi68
I think that Javascript is great for it's implementations in NodeJS, but yeah,
I see two sides to the argument:
The syntax, semicolons, etc are minefields.
or
The syntax, semicolons, etc can teach good habit and save a lot of headaches
in the future (missed a semicolon here, missed a semicolon there.. etc)
------
bwbw223
Rust because it's fast and safe
------
bakoo
I love both Ruby and Python, but would actually recommend Go.
Go is easy to get started with, has very readable code, fewer keywords to
remember and internalize, and lets you fire up a webserver in a few lines of
code on all platforms without having to install any extras.
It's also extremely performant, which isn't really important, just attractive.
------
tysonstewart
Go with Python. It is easier to understand and some really good tutorials out
there.
~~~
brudgers
Which Python?
~~~
narimiran
> Which Python?
You mean Python 2 or Python 3? If you are a beginner and just starting -
Python 3, without a doubt.
(Well, even if you aren't a beginner you should use (or switch to) Python 3)
~~~
brudgers
That "Which Python?" is an important question and that the existence of two
versions of Python can make finding correct information harder is one of the
reasons I am not wild about recommending Python to beginners -- particularly
those who are going to be learning on their own.
~~~
curioussavage
I think your making an overly big deal about this. Never really had an issue
with this doing simple python stuff.
~~~
brudgers
The functional trio: map, filter, reduce is one place where it matters. In
Python2 that was simple Python stuff. In Python3 map, filter, reduce is
unPythonic.
------
PaulHoule
Python.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Art of Travel (1872) - pmoriarty
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14681/14681-h/14681-h.htm
======
ape4
Travel must have been a much bigger deal 100 years ago. You could not get
shots for the area you're going. It would be so slow. On the other hand, with
fewer travelers there wouldn't be areas over run by tourists.
~~~
monkeynotes
You can still go to very inaccessible areas that have little to no tourists.
Much of Canada is wilderness for one to dig a hole to put a roof over and fell
trees with one of your sharpened soft axe.
If you want a warmer clime you could venture up the Amazon river into the
forests and fend off Jaguars with your rifle loaded with bullets made in your
bullet mold.
Australia is pretty much empty too.
You can still roam wild places in the Steppes of Mongolia, wonder for weeks in
search of Shangri-La in the Himalayas without seeing anyone. There are many,
many places you can go travelling in the wilds.
Point being, there is a difference between touring and the kind of adventure
travel the author is talking about. Both touring and adventuring style of
travel existed in the 1800s and today. You can still do it! But I agree, it is
relatively easier to get to places, and medically one can be much more
prepared for disease and infection. That said, it is surprising how quickly
you might need to revert to the practices described in The Art of Travel once
you are outside of modern life. It's still the stone age when you are on your
own, injured, and in the middle of no where.
~~~
peterlk
> You can still roam wild places in the Steppes of Mongolia, wonder for weeks
> in search of Shangri-La in the Himalayas without seeing anyone.
But others will see you. I traveled through Mongolia with some locals, and one
of the things that was striking to me is how few people were there. At some
point, I mentioned this, and was laughed at by the locals. They were surprised
that I thought it was empty when there were plenty of people around. They
pointed out someone on a horse on a hill several ranges over. They said that
if we got closer they would make sure to stop us to ask why we were there.
There were also gers far away in other ranges. And everyone knew where
everyone else was. It was like their personal bubbles had a 2 km radius
------
bencollier49
The author:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Galton)
~~~
pimmen
A very complicated, fascinating man. On the one hand, statistics owes a lot to
this man. On the other hand, he was the man who popularized eugenics.
~~~
bencollier49
Having just briefly skimmed the article, I suspect he would have been
horrified at how things developed on that front throughout the 20th century.
He very specifically railed against "the nonsensical sentiment of the present
day, that goes under that name [pride of race]".
~~~
pimmen
I fear he would have a lot in common with the far-right, populist parties in
present day Europe though. In the same paragraph that contains your quote, you
also find this:
"Where the weak could find a welcome and a refuge in celibate monasteries or
sisterhoods, and lastly, where the better sort of emigrants and refugees from
other lands were invited and welcomed, and their descendants naturalised."
~~~
1996
Judged with our modern standard, most of people who lived more than 100 years
before are barbarians/far right/populists/whatever else you want to call them.
Guess how we will be judged in 100 year from now?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Bug #1 in Ubuntu: “Microsoft has a majority market share” - Sadranyc
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1
======
JCB_K
Kind of a running gag in the Ubuntu world. Funnily, Mark Shuttleworth himself
filed it in the first place, but still it's been declined for every single
version :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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It's Time for a New Old Language – Guy Steele [video] - zengid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuZkaaou0Q
======
cryptonector
Wow, this is a very nice talk. I particularly liked the Q&A, where Guy Steele
went back and explained the type checker shown earlier. And I also loved the
LISP macro backtick-comma inspiration for using underline to "escape"
overline. Brilliant!
------
heinrichhartman
Reminds me of Donald Knuth's talk at MSRI in 2004 on "Mathematical Notation"
and the choices he made for TAOCP:
[https://archive.org/details/lecture10604#reviews](https://archive.org/details/lecture10604#reviews)
"The speaker presents numerous examples of situations where good notations
enhance mathematical problem solving, as well as a few that have been less
helpful."
------
TeMPOraL
I've finished watching the talk, and I'm not sure if this is serious, or is
Guy Steele just trolling people in a sophisticated way. The TL;DR as I
understand is:
\- Computer science papers have this ad-hoc, ever evolving notation that
started out in mathematics, that is not well defined (every paper ends up
using a different flavour, sometimes even a bunch of mutually contradicting
flavours at the same time), and that is subject to weird evolutionary
pressures (like page limit of CS papers leading to extreme conciseness).
\- Particularly interesting is the evolution of overline notation, and the
ubiquitous but never defined use of ellipsis.
\- Guy thinks this is a mess and should be cleaned up. His first contribution
is solving overline notation abuse by introducing _underlines_ , which cancel
out overlines, thus implementing quasiquoting in mathematical notation. His
second contribution is formalizing the meaning of ellipsis by defining a
transformation from ellipsis form into over/underline form.
Maybe it's because of the way he presented it, or maybe because of my
unfamiliarity with the space, but overall this talk really felt like a one-
hour long practical joke aimed at CS academics.
~~~
TuringTest
I have not watched the talk in-depth so I can't tell whether it's trolling,
but I have worked with academic CS papers. I would agree with an attempt to
develop a new symbolism for describing CS theory, that was closer to modern
programming languages, or at least to a LISP-like Domain Specific Language.
It's true that the language of mathematics was optimized for a different
medium: written formulas on paper. Algorithms are better expressed in pseudo-
code, but to describe the exact effects of a language instructions we have to
resort to formal semantics (whether denotational, operational or axiomatic),
which basically describe the workings of a virtual machine in terms of a
temporal logic expressed with mathematical symbols.
The ellipsis in maths is usually an ambiguous symbol whose meaning changes
depending on context. In CS, it typically represents either vectors in memory
or successive recursive calls. Trying to provide a precise meaning for its
usage is a legitimate endeavor; it appears that Steele is using symbols from
vector maths to achieve it. What I get from skimming the video is that the
combination of overlines and underlines would be a way to represent how you
would combine your nested loops in imperative programming to traverse the data
structure.
~~~
throwaway7645
I'm guessing Ken Iverson's APL wouldn't work here? It can show algorithms just
fine. I'm not sure about type theory though.
------
grabcocque
Extending the old adage "the best programming language is the one you know the
best" to "the best programming language is the one you created the best".
~~~
visarga
Reminds me of the "no free lunch" theorem from ML. To paraphrase, there is no
language that is better than every other language on all tasks.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_free_lunch_theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_free_lunch_theorem)
~~~
TeMPOraL
I view this as shifting complexity around.
All Turing-complete languages are essentially equivalent, and there is some
essential minimum complexity in any computation you'd like to describe. Any
given language we use makes trade-offs, which cause some programs to be
expressed simply in it, but the cost is that some other programs will become
much more complex to express in it.
~~~
TuringTest
Maybe, but comp-sci does not study all possible programs with equal
probability. A notation should be optimized for the kind of problems that are
more often studied, and make expressing those easier.
If this pushes complexity towards the expression of randomly generated
programs, that's a good thing (except for the few guys that study randomly
generated programs, that is).
~~~
TeMPOraL
Yes. This is the general mental model I use when explaining that the design
goal of a good general-purpose language is to shift the complexity to the
areas almost no one will care about. Also your corollary from a sibling
comment can be restated as saying that you can get extra simplicity for a
particular task by designing DSL that will shift complexity to outside of its
domain.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Countries with the Highest / Lowest Average IQ - lambersley
http://www.statisticbrain.com/countries-with-the-highest-lowest-average-iq/
There are many things wrong with this
======
stephengillie
Apparently, the source is a 2002 book on the subject, written by a pair of
emeritus professors. Emeritus professors don't normally need to teach or
publish.
[http://www.amazon.com/IQ-Wealth-Nations-Richard-
Lynn/dp/0275...](http://www.amazon.com/IQ-Wealth-Nations-Richard-
Lynn/dp/027597510X)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IQ_and_the_Wealth_of_Nations>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
E la Carte (YC S10) to Deploy Restaurant Tablets in 113 Airports Nationwide - yoniriemer
http://pandodaily.com/2012/08/02/e-la-carte-partners-with-hmshost-to-deploy-restaurant-tablets-in-113-airports-nationwide/
======
rmcfeeley
Tried out a similar service at NYC's La Guardia while waiting for a flight.
Not a fan -- a few gripes:
(1) Cleanliness is a concern. If I'm going to be eating a burger or something
else with my paws, you'd better believe I'm going to want to clean my hands
after touching one of these bad boys.
(2) Novelty for novelty's sake. I have no problem interacting with another
human being when I'd like to order a glass of wine or dinner during a trip--in
fact, it's often a welcome break from a long day of traveling alone.
(3) Poor functionality. My friend and I were prompted to enter our flight
information under the auspices that we'd be "alerted" with updates about our
flight--boarding, delays, etc. No such luck... We arrived at our gate and were
scolded for being the last ones on the flight. If only they'd known we were
distracted by the future of airport dining!
There's no real pain point here. I suggest that E la Carte pivot toward
creating more edible food in airports... That's a disruptive mission that I
can get behind.
~~~
isalmon
Well, keep in mind that this is a pretty innovative idea, so it takes time to
figure everything out... I think what they do is actually pretty awesome.
Especially when it comes to paying the bill - it save a huge amount of time.
~~~
WA
You can circumvent this problem by asking for the bill in the moment your food
arrives.
~~~
acdanger
This is the my tried-and-true method for my meals in a rush. And I imagine
that restaurant staff in airports are particularly well accustomed to
customers wanting to move through their dining process at an accelerated clip.
Given all the inhumanity now part of modern air travel, it's nice for me to
have a little personal interaction to look forward to in between security
screenings and boarding processes.
------
pavel_lishin
> The Presto is a rugged 7-inch tablet with a built-in credit card reader
I'm eagerly awaiting the first malware reports.
~~~
k33n
Looks like you had your haterade this morning.
~~~
pavel_lishin
I don't mean to badmouth their product, it looks interesting and I'd love to
be able to pay-and-go as soon as I want instead of waiting for a waiter to
come around.
But at the same time, these things will be laying around for customers to play
with them, unattended, for long periods of time. The security implications are
important.
~~~
dannyr
How do you think the malware will be installed?
I doubt you can access a web site or use USB port on it.
~~~
pavel_lishin
I don't know, I haven't seen one in the wild yet, hence the lack of any
technical speculation.
------
nealabq
Slightly different business model:
Airport food is mediocre and overpriced. So you build a website so people can
order off-airport food and have it delivered. You team with a nearby
restaurant, run a van back and forth, send delivery people with bags of food
to designated waiting areas.
The airport authorities won't like it though.
~~~
mdanger
Is this really feasible? I don't fly a lot, but the last time I was at an
airport, the only areas that invited you to sit down/have a meal were on the
far side of the TSA checkpoint, etc.
~~~
pavel_lishin
Random terrible brainstorm idea: purchase the cheapest available airplane
ticket for your delivery person for late in the evening. They can now pass
through airport security.
Obvious problem #1 is that ordering drinks is now impossible, but what does a
delivery service offer that in-airport restaurants don't?
Another obvious problem is that the TSA agent may arbitrarily claim that you
can't bring in X pounds of food, all pre-packaged, into the airport -
especially since it rapidly becomes obvious that you're handing it to a total
stranger.
------
bhickey
I used one of these at a restaurant in Palo Alto and the experience was
bothersome at best.
Sharing it at a table is impossible.
The UI is laggy and annoying (jumping shopping cart).
There's no quick way to scan the menu.
It does not display the total cost before placing an order.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Parallel Programming, a book by Paul McKenney - alexkon
http://paulmck.livejournal.com/23027.html
======
JoshTriplett
I've followed the development of this book for several years, and it has
progressed quite well in that time. It currently has a good combination of
"documentation nobody else ever bothered to write" on many forms of
synchronization, from the simple to the cutting edge, with a bit of a peek
beyond that. It has a ways to go before it could become a publishable book,
but by the standards of software documentation it represents one of the best
references I've seen.
------
ds45
I need a good writeup on parallel (distributed?) data structures, that is,
ways of storing and accessing lists and such across multiple nodes. I flipped
to that section of the book and it was blank. Plus, this seems to assume
shared memory. Does anyone have a good source? Does one even exist?
~~~
loumf
Not sure if this is what you want, but Chris Okasaki's "Purely Functional Data
Structures" are data-structures that can be accessed in multiple threads
because changes result in new versions.
[http://www.amazon.com/Purely-Functional-Structures-Chris-
Oka...](http://www.amazon.com/Purely-Functional-Structures-Chris-
Okasaki/dp/0521663504)
~~~
pmjordan
The data structures in that book are also geared towards shared memory;
actually, it doesn't cover parallel programming at all, it's just that
functional data structures happen to be a good fit for concurrent access in
shared memory systems.
You might have more success finding what you want in HPC literature, or maybe
in the Erlang community.
That said, it's a decent book, although not exactly a light read; I did
struggle to follow some of the numerous proofs. You'll probably find it easier
if you have a CompSci background.
------
makmanalp
Direct link to book:
[http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/paulmck/perfbook/p...](http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/paulmck/perfbook/perfbook.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ESO telescope sees surface of dim Betelgeuse - dnetesn
https://phys.org/news/2020-02-eso-telescope-surface-dim-betelgeuse.html
======
SiempreViernes
The original ESO press release is probably a better link, as the phys.org text
mostly just a small bit of context but doesn't include the "before" pictures
or links to any further details.
[https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/](https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2003/)
~~~
Defenestresque
Thanks! I was very curious about the before/after comparison but didn't see a
working link in the original article.
Here is the direct YT link (from your article):
[https://youtu.be/o1ls7Gr9LTE](https://youtu.be/o1ls7Gr9LTE)
This truly seems like a completely massive change in the observable
characteristics of the star especially on such a short timeframe. 36% dimmer
in 12 months? I'll be really interested to see if we can find out for sure
what's happening.
~~~
tigershark
No, 36% of its normal brightness, so it’s about 1/3 as bright as usual.
------
retro64
Orion is one of my favorite constellations. Where I grew up, the winter sky
was often clear and I spent many hours as a youth gazing up, wondering about
it all.
Even now, when I saw a pic of Orion after following links from the article, I
again couldn’t help but think about how awesome the universe is, and how
whatever is going on out there just dwarfs our petty, shitty little Earthy
problems.
~~~
brandmeyer
If you ever get the chance to look up at the night sky with night-vision
goggles, you should take another look. Its a whole new kind of stunning when
you can clearly see Barnard's loop as well.
~~~
joquarky
Also if you can find a dark enough sky to see the Milky Way with your naked
eyes, it can be quite amazing to directly perceive our physical location in
the galaxy.
------
BurningFrog
OK, that picture looks more like there is a gas cloud blocking the view than
that the star itself is fading. Since it's asymmetrical.
BTW, Betelgeuse is more known as Orion's left shoulder.
~~~
jackfoxy
Betelgeuse is really huge, comparable to the size of the orbit of Jupiter. I'm
not an astrophysicist. It seems like that size would make surface asymmetries
more likely.
~~~
shadowgovt
Size and perspective matter; a smaller object much closer to us could occlude
Betelgeuse.
Granted, that object would likely need to be both dark and travelling through
interstellar space, two things that would by themselves be noteworthy. Unless
it's something much, much closer and in the orbit of our own star... I wonder
if they're ruled out Kuiper Belt objects or comets yet?
~~~
gmueckl
This dimming has been going on for a long time now. If an object within our
solar system were to occlude that star, that wiuld only last a few minutes max
before it exits the narrow line of sight again. Keppler's law ensures that. I
would also assume that a gas cloud in interstellar space would be too
homogeneous to occlude one part of a star much more than the rest.
~~~
shadowgovt
I agree on the gas cloud estimate, which leaves us with exotic large
extrasolar bodies if the star isn't actually changing shape (which IIUC, it
also shouldn't be doing...)
Curiouser and curiouser.
------
adrianN
Somebody is getting close to completing their Dyson sphere?
~~~
lawlessone
This is probably the last star you would want your Dyson sphere on.
~~~
speakeron
Could be a one-shot Dyson Sphere designed to capture the energy of a
supernova. Like an advanced civilization's version of a nuclear explosion-
pumped X-ray laser[1]
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_laser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_laser)
~~~
adrianN
I think if you're at that level of technology you'd rather make sure that the
star doesn't explode and eject a bunch of valuable fuel into deep space.
~~~
bloopernova
That would be an interesting thought exercise for brains better than mine: if
you are a civilization capable of building a physical barrier around an entire
stellar system, what is the best way to generate energy?
I wonder if it would be something to do with neutron stars or magnetars?
~~~
adrianN
The best way I know is creating small artificial black holes, feeding them
matter at just the right rate and harvesting the Hawking radiation. That's
actually _a lot_ easier than building a Dyson sphere.
[https://arxiv.org/abs/0908.1803](https://arxiv.org/abs/0908.1803)
------
SiempreViernes
Impressive that they managed to resolve the surface with just adaptive optics,
and that they didn't require a fulll optical interferometry measurement.
~~~
bkloppenborg
Betelgeuse is ~47 milliarcseconds in diameter, making it one of the largest
stars (in angular diameter terms) observable from Earth. It was first resolved
using the Michelson Stellar Interferometer (which had a diameter of 20 meters)
in the 1880s.
I don't know the observational wavelength for the images in the article (VLT-
SPHERE has filters that go from ~1-2 microns), but if the image were in H-band
(1.6 micron wavelength) the resolution of the 8.2 meter telescope is ~49
milliarcsecond, putting this image just at the formal resolution limit. Still,
quite impressive stuff.
~~~
SiempreViernes
Man, I don't know how to feel about this information: resolved imaging of
stellar disks is from the 1880??!
So from the list on wikipedia, I guess they could just do that one star, and
didn't learn very much beyond the radius?
What's the hottest results in the field of spatially resolved stellar
observations?
~~~
jconnop
The measurement was apparently made in 1920, not 1880s. Still surprising.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson_stellar_interferomet...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelson_stellar_interferometer)
------
yazr
> Over their lifetimes, red supergiants like Betelgeuse create and eject vast
> amounts of material
What % of material is then captured by other forming/formed stars? Doesnt it
just end up in interstellar space ?
~~~
Aperocky
Stars are formed in compressed interstellar matter, so in that sense, given
enough time, a very significant portion will end up in next stars
------
onetimemanytime
When it explodes, is it close enough to any damage to us?
Maybe, not destroy life or anything, but increase radiation or something else
harmful. In other words, should we start running ;) ?
~~~
mellosouls
No.
[https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/what-will-a-
be...](https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/what-will-a-betelgeuse-
supernova-look-like-from-earth)
_There’s no need to worry about the stellar explosion. A supernova has to
happen extremely close to Earth for the radiation to harm life — perhaps as
little as several dozen light-years, according to some estimates. Betelgeuse
is far outside that range, with recent studies suggesting it sits roughly 724
light-years away, well outside the danger zone.
But the supernova could still impact Earth in some surprising ways. For
example, Howell points out that many animals use the moon for navigation and
are confused by artificial lights. Adding a second object as bright as the
moon could be disruptive._
------
jobseeker990
Which part of Orion is it? One of the shoulders? which?
~~~
oliveshell
It’s Orion’s left shoulder.
~~~
mohaine
It is the star on the left, not necessarily the left shoulder. It is only the
left shoulder if Orion is facing away from you, which I've always assumed he
isn't. Any idea if there is a convention for which direction Orion is facing?
~~~
realreality
If he’s facing us, then his scabbard is on his right side, making him left
handed. Is Orion left handed?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Elementary OS to Build the Next-Generation Linux App Store - ajaviaad
https://news.softpedia.com/news/elementary-os-to-build-the-next-generation-linux-app-store-529141.shtml
======
gen3
I really liked my time using Elementary OS. It had a good and consistent
design scheme, and shipped with a good default tool set (I would be willing to
put my parents on it). I’ve yet to have a “great” Linux App Store experience,
but out of all of them I think elementary’s was the best. I really hope the OS
draws more people to the Linux ecosystem.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Amazon no longer hosts wikileaks - credo
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131730912/wikileaks-leaves-amazon-host-servers
======
RiderOfGiraffes
Choose your news source:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959697> \- techdirt.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959655> \- cnn.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959633> \- arstechnica.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959607> \- bgr.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959335> \- npr.org
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959328> \- guardian.co.uk
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959308> \- readwriteweb.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959305> \- reuters.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959257> \- techcrunch.com
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1959142> \- foxnews.com
------
drawkbox
This was a bad move on Amazon's part. We expect Joe Lieberman to be a horror.
But doesn't this put fear into cloud service users that their stuff can be
yanked at any time? Kinda of a Godaddy/nodaddy type situation? (I use both
Amazon (EC2) and Godaddy (domains) products)
Granted this was a pretty big case but I think situations like this either
affirm or enhance trust in a third party platform/provider. If Amazon had
relented and kept hosting, it would have spoke volumes on customer dedication.
Of course they probably didn't like the DDoS attacks constantly.
It wasn't wikileaks that did the actions or stole the information. They just
posted it. In this day and age of tepid media for profit and intertwined news
organizations with gov't/business, real news like wikileaks is needed.
This is an attack on the messenger.
~~~
potatolicious
Note: I _generally_ agree with the leaking of relevant government data to
expose abuses.
> _"But doesn't this put fear into cloud service users that their stuff can be
> yanked at any time?"_
Not really. Illegal content _already_ puts you at risk of getting yanked at
any time. If you were hosting pirated material or anything else that is
illegal in the jurisdiction of the host, it _can_ be yanked.
This is not a judgment on whether or not said content ought to be illegal, but
rather a simple statement that nothing has changed.
That being said, I am uncomfortable with this sort of thing having no set
procedure, and being instigated/pressured upon by government officials. We
have a clear process for DMCA takedowns, and likewise a request to remove
illegal information needs to come from law enforcement within their
jurisdiction, and not from self-interested politicians.
~~~
michaelchisari
Do we have a clear declaration that this content is illegal? I wasn't aware we
did.
~~~
stonemetal
They at least have copyright infringement, and could probably get a big enough
fine to shut down wikileaks.
~~~
jackvalentine
US (federal) Government documents are not entitled to copyright protection
within America.
<http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#105>
~~~
stonemetal
That depends on how much of the data is strictly government property. If any
of it is was written by contractors, etc. it may still have that avenue.
~~~
michaelchisari
Any work derived by government contract is also not covered by copyright.
------
ilconsigliere
It's being reported that the US gov (read: Joe Lieberman) pressured Amazon to
stop hosting the site.
Here is a more thorough update on this situation:
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-
websit...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-website-
cables-servers-amazon)
~~~
vaksel
government censorship of dissenters...China would be proud.
this is actually pretty stupid on their part, it's the equivalent of locking
the barn after the animals escaped.
~~~
tptacek
Joe Lieberman can call for whatever he wants. It's his right under the First
Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
A Senator calling for a web host to take down a site no more constitutes
"government censorship" than a Senator calling for pickles not to be put on
hamburgers constitutes "food and drug regulation". Down with Wikileaks! Down
with pickles!
The Constitution simply does not give individual Senators the power to censor
websites, or, for that matter, all Senators en masse the power to circumvent
the Constitution without having that action overturned by SCOTUS.
China would be embarrassed --- perhaps murderously --- if its censorship
apparatus was this much of a Rube Goldberg contraption.
~~~
bluesnowmonkey
As a simple counter-example, imagine if a sitting US Senator advised the
public not to do business with black people. It can be hard to distinguish the
personal opinions of a government official from the edicts of his office.
~~~
tptacek
I don't see the parallel; calling for people not to do business with black
people is absolutely indefensible; Lieberman would have a civil right to do
so, but might also be impeached as a result.
~~~
Delphiza
What about French people? Remember "Freedom Fries"?
~~~
tptacek
Are you seriously suggesting that "Freedom Fries" is as serious as an open
appeal to racism? You can have the last word; I'm done here.
------
darrenkopp
While unfortunate, I don't necessarily fault Amazon here. Amazon is a shopping
website first, cloud computing platform second. I do find Joe Lieberman
calling for a boycott of an American company reprehensible though.
~~~
felixmar
But it does show the Achilles heel of cloud computing. Is it wise to depend on
3 American companies that have other interests to protect? The potential cloud
computing oligopoly could be bad for freedom and openness on the net.
~~~
benatkin
The vagueness of the term "cloud" could help the cloud oligopolists. There
could be hundreds of so-called clouds, with all but a few of them being
brokers for the real cloud service providers. Then it would take a couple
sentences to point out the situation. Not good. :(
------
SageRaven
Is there an official way to mirror wikileaks data, just to help in the event
the public internet presence (they're also available on .onion, iirc) is
somehow taken down? I have the cryptic "insurance.aes256" file from earlier
this year, but is there any way normal users can help back up readble parts of
wikileaks?
~~~
AndyKelley
<http://213.251.145.96/mass-mirror.html>
That IP address is just wikileaks - the DNS is down for me currently is all.
------
danhak
This is truly fascinating. I wonder to what extent things would have played
out differently were there not the looming threat of a boycott during the
holiday shopping season.
~~~
dtf
And to think I wrote this less than 14 hours ago, trying to sound all ominous
and dramatic:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1957467>
:-)
------
marcamillion
This scenario is where my previously discussed startup idea would do really
well - if someone could pull it off -
[http://marcgayle.com/2010/01/08/a-legal-botnet-billion-
dolla...](http://marcgayle.com/2010/01/08/a-legal-botnet-billion-dollar-
startup-idea)
A completely distributed web host, hosted on people's machines. A lot more
difficult to shut down (although, I guess if enough government pressure was
put on some local chokepoint, it could be a problem). But if it was designed
in such a way, as to mitigate these issues - it could be very powerful....imho
that is :)
~~~
QE2
Freenet is basically what you describe, and it's free.
~~~
marcamillion
That's very interesting. Thanks for that link. Will look into it.
I was more thinking of a commercial product/platform that could be used for a
variety of reasons.
So what is the only anti-dote to a DDOS right now? A bigger pipe...no?
Well imagine having a service that you can 'spin up' any number of
nodes/machines to intercept all those packets. I am not sure how the economics
would work, but in order for it to be a good service with good support it
would have to be commercial - not an open source project.
The only issue with that is that if there is one company, it makes it easier
for major governments to try and get their hands on it. So for WikiLeaks case,
it might not be completely helpful, but imagine the many other cases where
popular/large sites are hit by constant DDOSs. I think there could be
significant use there. Especially as high-speed & fibre connections become
more prevalent and latency (around the world) comes down even further than it
has over the years.
Just my $0.02.
------
c2
The lack of an official response from Amazon is telling. I wonder if DHS just
gave Amazon an ultimatum along the lines of host wikileaks and we'll raid your
servers. (Also the DHS/Amazon communication, if there was any, is probably
classified so Amazon can't even mention it).
Our government has come a long way since 2000.
------
rwhitman
I think the only way wikileaks can stay alive over the long term is probably
through torrents, the combo punch of govn't takedowns and constant DDoS
attacks probably doesn't make hosting a website feasible. It would make more
sense to release it in digest as a torrent, right?
------
tybris
Everyone appears to be assuming it's for political reasons. Quite possible,
but it doesn't seem like there was any serious pressure so far and there could
be lots of other reasons. ("Hey, our shared infrastructure is being DoS-ed
because of you")
------
siglesias
I feel sorry for Amazon lately, thrust into Catch 22s left and right. I'm
guessing that in addition to political concerns hosting Wikileaks would put a
huge target on their backs from cyber attackers. That's probably the
additional justification they needed to make this call.
------
cagenut
so is amazon going to even attempt to frame this as a terms-of-service
violation? not a peep so far.
~~~
celoyd
Like most hosting TOSes, theirs is written so they can boot you if they find
you inconvenient, without a specific violation on your part. They say they can
terminate service when (among other possibly applicable points):
_we determine, in our sole discretion, that our provision of any of the
Services to you is prohibited by applicable law, or has become impractical or
unfeasible for any legal or regulatory reason_
— <http://aws.amazon.com/agreement/> 3.4.1 (viii)
They would have a fair point that, even if it isn’t illegal, dealing with an
investigation and bad publicity isn’t worth their time.
For what it’s worth, I certainly wish they stood up at least until they were
under specific legal threat. But they never advertised themselves as a data
haven.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Search 1M recipes by their ingredients - qrv3w
https://timetomakefood.com/find
======
qrv3w
I wanted to find an average recipe for “no-bake” cookie. This is complicated
to Google because the “no-bake” cookie goes by many names (read on to learn
them all). My search was also complicated by a need to find a recipe without
peanut butter and with coconut.
This can be done with a Google advanced search that identifies the ingredients
to include and the ingredients to exclude which returns a search results list
that are pretty good matches [1]. However, I wanted to find the average recipe
so I wanted a quick way of scrolling through all the recipes (instead of
opening 20 tabs). To solve this, I made a tool [2] which you can use to
quickly search and compare recipes that include a certain set and exclude a
certain set of ingredients.
Using this ingredient search I found 69 recipes that had the ingredient set
for “no-bake” cookie. [3] The results helped me find an average recipe. As
suspected, I found that “no-bake” cookies go by quite a few different names
(cow pattie cookies, saucepan kisses, fiddle diddles, frogs, chocolate
tidbits, chocolate yummies, chatters, oaties, cow pies, bon bon jovi’s,
snowballs, haystack cookies, barynard cookies, mud pies, reindeer poop, and
hot rod cookies) thus strengthening the case for having a recipe search by
ingredient and not by name.
[1]:
[https://www.google.com/search?as_q=recipe+cocoa+sugar+milk+c...](https://www.google.com/search?as_q=recipe+cocoa+sugar+milk+coconut+oat&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=egg+peanut,+almond+walnut+flour+ice)
[2]: [https://timetomakefood.com/find](https://timetomakefood.com/find)
[3]:
[https://timetomakefood.com/find?include=cocoa+sugar+milk+coc...](https://timetomakefood.com/find?include=cocoa+sugar+milk+coconut+oat&exclude=egg+peanut+almond+walnut+flour+cream&min_ingredients=1&max_ingredients=8)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Inside the RFID 'virus' that 'infected a man' - jgrahamc
http://blog.jgc.org/2010/05/inside-rfid-virus.html
======
Vivtek
This whole story just really made me roll my eyes.
------
LaPingvino
He is missing the point. Sure, this is a logical thing to happen. The
sensation of the story was that it's a device in the human body, and that this
can have ugly consequences.
~~~
davidwilson
I fail to see how the consequences could be any more ugly than a guy armed
with a RFID tag outside his body?
~~~
Tarks
Imagine what the average not-too-technical person sees when they hear about
this, they see a man walking into stores and the computer systems shutting
down/exploding because he has a 'virus', one of those magical,evil things that
makes their computers slow. . . not the adware crap they install.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google, it's time – We want Scala for Android - phatak-dev
http://blog.madhukaraphatak.com/scala-for-android/
======
colig
Um, people have already been able to use Scala to make Android applications.
Just about anything that doesn't require dynamically generated JVM bytecode
can manage, difficult and error-prone as it is.
If we're talking about official support, then I'd rather Java 8 instead. And
beefing up ART even more.
~~~
mncolinlee
Technically speaking, Android doesn't fully support Java 6. It's only a
partial implementation of Java, since Java is overweight. The Android team has
been adding requested features to the SDK in piecemeal form.
With that said, you can already get Java 8 lambdas in Android using the
retrolambda project.
[http://zserge.com/blog/android-lambda.html](http://zserge.com/blog/android-
lambda.html)
~~~
jug6ernaut
How does this work with a jar which contains classes using java8 features?
Will it work in this situation or is it only for classes to be compiled? Can
retrolambda be applied in other situations to keep the java version at 6 but
use java 8 features?
------
remon
Who's "we"? How about we ask Google to focus on things the vast majority of
Android developers actually want? Java 7/8 comes to mind. Even if we're
looking for just an alternative Android dev language Scala probably wouldn't
even be in the top 10.
~~~
eklavya
What matrix are you using where Scala wouldn't make it in top 10? I would bet
it would be one of the top choices.
~~~
zak_mc_kracken
All the various language surveys that have come up these past months (RedMonk,
TIOBE, job boards, github popularity, etc...) put Scala in a distant #30-50
slot. Certainly not in the top 90% mainstream languages.
~~~
frowaway001
Number 14 on Redmonk.
[http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2014/06/13/language-
rankings-6-14...](http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2014/06/13/language-
rankings-6-14/)
"The next JVM language to learn" (Java-focused survey): Scala leads comfotably
with 47%.
[http://zeroturnaround.com/rebellabs/interview-with-
typesafe-...](http://zeroturnaround.com/rebellabs/interview-with-
typesafe-4-answers-about-the-past-present-and-future-of-scala-development/)
Apart from that, you are completely missing the context. People are not
looking for a random language, but for a language which is compatible with
Java and Android, allows gradual migration and protects existing investment.
Scala is the top-contender here.
~~~
zak_mc_kracken
"Next language to learn" is the kind of metric you'd use if you don't have
real numbers to your advantage. TIOBE lists Scala at 0.03% mind share, and
you'll get similar numbers if you look at other metrics (see my post above).
For Android, there are already more projects written in Kotlin and Clojure on
Android than on Scala, so not sure why you think Scala is the "top contender".
On top of that, Scala's upcoming adoption of Java 8 means that Scala on
Android is effectively dead for several years, until the Android team decides
to adopt Java 8 (since they're not even on Java 7, this might be a while).
Typesafe just doesn't care about Android, why would you take such a risk to
pick a language that is so poorly supported?
~~~
frowaway001
You are really getting a bit desperate ...
------
pinkyand
I agree that Google should add more languages to android. And while Scala is a
great language, it's very complex - so it won't benefit many of the less
skilled users.
A better language would be something with the simplicity and power of python,
but with good performance.Groovy could be one such language.
~~~
phatak-dev
Scala is not complex in terms of the language design. Most of features [or
complexity] come from the libraries.
~~~
nvarsj
Implicits? Compared to Java, Scala is not a simple language. I'd say Scala's
complexity is on the order of Haskell + Java syntax with additional glue on
top of that.
Not to say this is bad, it just means you need greater discipline when writing
software in Scala. A bit like C++ (yes, I went there! :-)).
~~~
frowaway001
The great thing is that as soon as people mention C++, it's immediately clear
that this person has not a single clue what he/she is talking about.
------
mncolinlee
Why not Kotlin? It's more like a modernized Java. It's closer to what Android
developers are used to and it already supports Android. It interoperates well
with existing Java code in your Android app.
Also, it has excellent IDE support, since JetBrains is behind it.
[http://kotlinlang.org/](http://kotlinlang.org/)
~~~
lmm
It's less mature than Scala; it has a smaller developer base or library
ecosystem, and it is missing many Scala features (higher-kinded types,
implicits). Most of Kotlin's features are already present in Java 8; if you're
going to go to the trouble of supporting two languages, it seems perverse to
pick Java and Kotlin when they're so similar.
~~~
curtis17
If Google can't resolve their differences with Oracle Kotlin could be a way
forward. Especially given the Android Studio connection.
------
programminggeek
I'm not sure the author understands why Java is the language in the first
place - there is an army of developers who knows how to use Java. Yeah, it
might not be the best language ever, but neither is C++ and neither is Scala.
For what Google is doing their choices were basically C++ or Java, there is no
other embedded, performant option that hits mass quantities of developers
worldwide. Every other language is either too niche, or not performant enough,
or doesn't have the features you would want. Sure, I guess they could have
done C#, but I'm pretty sure Google hates Microsoft, so that's not going to
happen.
iOS only has Objective-C because of NextStep and OS X. Otherwise, it could
very easily have had C++ or Java. Blackberry ended up with C++ for their
native toolkit.
Has there been a significant mobile platform that wasn't C++ or Java that
doesn't have some historical reason like Obj-C has behind it?
~~~
wes-exp
I think WebOS was going to use JavaScript.
The thing about Java and C++ is that they themselves are around for historical
reasons. Far better languages have already been proven out. But, it will take
a major industry player to move the masses forward on this. Apple's Swift
effort gives hope on this.
~~~
humanrebar
> Far better languages have already been proven out
For what they do, C and C++ don't really have serious challengers yet, not
that there aren't some promising contenders.
~~~
wes-exp
When I say proven out, I don't mean in the sense of being widely used; I mean
academically. In other words, I am trying to say that it's not a research
problem, it's a problem of, say, engineering and marketing to bring it to
reality. Cool language features are well established in academia (but tend not
to go anywhere due to entrenchment and industry complacency – in that sense I
would agree that they aren't 'proven').
~~~
tormeh
If Google says "This is the second official lanuage for Android" I bet any
adoption issues would go away a la Swift.
~~~
programminggeek
Google would need to do this internally. Good luck convincing the 10,000
developers inside of Google stop using Java. Sure, they aren't all on Android,
and there are plenty of people using Go, or Dart, or Python, but moving a
company culture that large away from Java doesn't happen overnight.
Obj-C to Swift won't happen overnight at Apple either, but it is much more
likely to happen because they've been gradually working towards it for years
now with LLVM and such.
------
TeeWEE
Please not scala! I prefer to have clojure for android. Scala is too complex,
to ugly, and tries todo too much. Its also to heavy for android (it needs tons
of libs to run).
~~~
Cyph0n
Clojure would be too large a leap syntax-wise I think. Scala at the very least
gives you both FP and OOP in the same language.
~~~
adambard
Perhaps, but some people have built pretty amazing abstractions in Clojure. I
just found this tutorial, and was quite impressed:
[https://github.com/krisc/events/blob/master/tutorial.md](https://github.com/krisc/events/blob/master/tutorial.md)
~~~
phatak-dev
Similar abstractions implemented in Scala
[http://macroid.github.io/tutorial/BuildingLayouts.html](http://macroid.github.io/tutorial/BuildingLayouts.html)
------
DCKing
Over the last few months I've been writing Scala full time, and have even
written some (demo grade) Android apps in it. My opinion is: Android should
_not_ adopt Scala as one of its primary languages.
I think a platform's primary language should be accessible. It is an
unfortunate fact that the stuff that most people only know about programming
using some object oriented imperative language. People find it harder to hobby
with unfamiliar styles, and it is hard to find leverage within your
organization to go into unknown territory. If it isn't a popular widely known
language (Java) it should at least _resemble_ popular widely known languages
(Swift). Give people a piece of Java or Swift code, and they can read it. Give
people a piece of Scala code, and they usually cannot.
Scala _can_ be an accessible language; its imperative syntax is really nice.
But Scala _is not_ an accessible language in that idiomatic real-world Scala
and most of its libraries are written in a wholly unfamiliar style. Powerful,
yes. People should learn it, yes. But if Scala comes to Android it will only
serve to make the platform seem _less_ accessible. And that's a much bigger
downside than whatever expressivity Android Java currently lacks.
Scala can't even properly be a primary language in _parallel_ to Java at the
moment. Swift is just a better syntax for expressing idiomatic Objective C
programs. Good Swift programs should look mostly like good Objective C
programs with a different syntax - Swift has been made for this purpose [1].
Scala is _not_ a better syntax for expressing idiomatic Java programs. Despite
backwards compatibility, good Scala programs look very different to good Java
programs. This means that Google cannot present them as equivalents. The
Android platform APIs heavily promotes mutability which makes writing
idiomatic Scala code for Android a pain in the ass. Should Google ask people
to write non-idiomatic code for their new primary language, or should Google
provide new APIs for their new primary language?
I dislike Java very much. But I think it's a great language for Android,
because everyone can do it and that makes the platform accessible. There's
only one other language I can even remotely imagine in its place, and that's
Dart. And that's not happening either.
In the meantime, making Scala run on Android is perfectly doable. That is good
enough for me.
[1]: I'm aware that this comparison doesn't do Swift as much justice as it
should.
~~~
lmm
The advantages of immutability are real. At some point an improvement has to
be a change. Even if Google sticks with Java-only, I would very much hope they
will offer a more immutability-friendly API in parallel with the existing one.
Certain Scala libraries are indeed not accessible. But the trend is in the
right direction (there are better alternatives to requests now, and even
scalaz has become less symbolic in recent releases). If Google were to provide
the same APIs and sample programs that they currently do, those programs would
be as accessible as they currently are - probably more so, given Scala's
cleaner syntax. You say this could make Android less accessible. Maybe. But it
could also make Scala more accessible, providing a whole new class of
developers with a stepping-stone from somewhere very familiar towards these
valuable high-level features.
As the Python folks say, a good language should make easy things easy and hard
things possible. IMO Scala does both halves better than Java. It's just that
so far, people have mostly been using it for hard things.
~~~
DCKing
Google should do something about their APIs, sure. But they should do
something about their APIs _before_ doing something about their language.
The problem with Scala is not symbols or legibility (although that used to be
a major problem), but the fact that its programming style tends to be mostly
functional. Monads, for-sugar, implicits, immutability: stuff everyone should
master but in practice very few do.
> You say this could make Android less accessible. Maybe. But it could also
> make Scala more accessible, providing a whole new class of developers with a
> stepping-stone from somewhere very familiar towards these valuable high-
> level features.
The Android developers unfortunately have no interest in making Scala more
accessible. They have an interest in making Android more accessible. They
would have to make a lot of sacrifices to make Scala a primary language for
Android, and the benefits would be rather small from their perspective.
Scala's killer apps are on the server side. That seems to be going quite well
so far.
~~~
lmm
> The Android developers unfortunately have no interest in making Scala more
> accessible. They have an interest in making Android more accessible. They
> would have to make a lot of sacrifices to make Scala a primary language for
> Android, and the benefits would be rather small from their perspective.
Accessible is one thing, but not the only thing that matters, particularly as
the platform matures. If using Scala makes developers more productive, or
leads them to write less buggy code, that could be a huge advantage for
Android.
~~~
DCKing
If Scala makes developers more productive and code less buggy at all, it will
only do so for _some_ developers. Look at the investments required: APIs need
rewriting, apps need rewriting for the new APIs, people need to be trained
within Google, people need to be trained for it outside of the workplace, and
other people will still look at Scala code and stay behind confused.
And you need to do that for what? Because Java is too verbose? I hate (real-
world) Java as much as the next guy but I don't have any illusions on this
because the argument just doesn't add up and the effort doesn't seem worth it
by a big margin. It would be much more feasible if Google would release an
improved Android APIv2 with stronger immutability, first-class support for
Java 8 and its features (lambdas, Optionals) and no 64k DEX limit. That would
be a _huge_ improvement for both Java and Scala Android devleopers, and it
would also be _feasible_.
------
captainmuon
I want Python for Android.
Ideally, it would compile to Dalvik/ART or ARM. It would use something like
PySonar to infer types or use annotations to be able to use native types when
possible (for speed & correctness). When the type isn't given or can't be
deduced, it would fallback to boxed objects (like Nuitka does, in the way the
offically C-Python keeps its objects in memory).
But that is not neccessary, all that is needed is a decent wrapper to the
Android API for Python, and some packaging support. It is now already possible
to compile Python for Android to include it in your app. What I'd like to be
able to do is to write the whole thing in Python (+ a GUI design tool maybe).
I already see some people saying, that's not possible, because an interpreted
language uses too much resources (CPU, memory, esp. battery) for mobile. Well,
90% of the apps I use are not computationally expensive. The consume battery
mainly via network access, and via the screen, both of which is independent of
the language or runtime used. And when they are doing something
computationally intensive, it is usually the layout and drawing of the GUI -
most of which is done by the native framework anyway. Most apps are literally
just fancy listboxes and details pages, with a database and a web backend.
(The great exception are games, of course.) For these apps, a rapid
development language like Python (or Javascript, or heck, a new VB) would be
great, ideally augmented by good tooling. And if you have something CPU
intensive (map routing, image processing, complex translation etc.), you'll
just write it in a C library anyway.
~~~
waps
[http://kivy.org/](http://kivy.org/)
Best you'll get, and quite good.
------
pjmlp
It is not going to happen.
Google IO 2014, Android development fireside:
[https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule/session/85311b0e-7...](https://www.google.com/events/io/schedule/session/85311b0e-70ca-e311-b297-00155d5066d7)
The answer to this request is "Java is the _official_ Android development
language".
~~~
phatak-dev
Direct link to the question
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3meJyiYWFw#t=1566](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3meJyiYWFw#t=1566)
~~~
smrtinsert
That wasn't linked correctly.
------
jug6ernaut
I would be happy with Java 7/8.
~~~
bni
I bet if Google asked Oracle nicely, it could happen :-)
------
trendnet
Why do people think that Swift has a managed runtime with garbage collection?
It has reference counting, it's compiled into native code. It has a small
runtime lib. linked into the executable (but hey, even C executables have it).
~~~
pjmlp
The younger generations grew with VM based implementations, never learned the
memory safe system programming languages that lost the market to C and C++ and
lack compiler design understanding.
As such, any language they see announced as safer than C and C++ must be VM
based.
------
WoodenChair
If they're not even giving us Dart or Go for Android (their own languages),
what is the probability they will give us _official_ support for Scala? Yes,
Scala runs on the JVM, and the former two don't. And yes, Go is not really
designed as an end-user GUI application building language. But Dart has a nice
VM of its own and is designed for client-side apps. I would like to see Dart
on Android and the original author is definitely confused when he calls Dart
and Go "niche" languages (as a way of dismissing them) and somehow doesn't
feel the same way about Scala. Scala might be marginally more popular than
Go/Dart but it's not an order of magnitude. In fact, according to the latest
Tiobe index (a terrible metric in my opinion, but one indicator) Go is more
popular than Scala by one place.
~~~
phatak-dev
Original author here
I don't mean disrespect when I say niche. I just mean in terms of community,
Scala seems to more diversified as it gets used in variety of fields compared
to Dart and Go. This is just view of mine.
------
zak_mc_kracken
The problem is that Scala generates very big jar files, which is why the only
couple of Scala Android applications I've ever seen are toy apps. There is no
doubt that any more sizeable project will blow up Dalvik's various
restrictions like is already happening with Scala apps without ProGuard.
There's also the fact that Typesafe doesn't care about Android so even if your
current app works on Android, a future version of the compiler might make it
blow up on the phone after you recompile it.
Unfortunately, the Ceylon team doesn't seem to be interested in supporting
Android either.
Which leaves Kotlin, as a reasonable option for non-Java development on
Android.
At any rate, don't expect any help from Google about Scala, they're not even
supporting their own non-Java languages there (Go, Dart).
~~~
frowaway001
> The problem is that Scala generates very big jar files, which is why the
> only couple of Scala Android applications I've ever seen are toy apps.
Yes, it's the same problem why compiling Scala to JavaScript is impossible ...
oh wait!
In both cases the standard library overhead is a few dozens of kB! The horror!
That's why nobody is using Scala.js or Scala-on-Android for anything serious
... oh wait!
That's already happening.
~~~
zak_mc_kracken
That's three strawmen in a row, none of them coming remotely close to
addressing the point I made above.
The web (scala-internals, scala-users, stackoverflow) is filled with threads
of people trying to run their Scala code on Android and being mystified by
fatal errors from Dalvik or DEX generation simply dying on them.
~~~
ebruchez
Maybe this could change if Google helped, don't you think?
~~~
zak_mc_kracken
Of course, but it's obvious they have zero desire to help support Scala on
Android. First because they don't use Scala at all internally and second
because even the languages that they created (Go, Dart) are not supported on
Android. If Android ever officially supports a language other than Java, you
can bet it will be one of these two.
~~~
ebruchez
By the way it seems that Dart is struggling to get any support at all within
Google. Also, it's not statically typed and bringing it to the Android runtime
might be much more effort. In short no, I wouldn't bet Go or Dart will be the
solution, not unless these languages change a whole lot.
------
general_failure
The article reeks of ignorance. Swift doesn't really have GC (but ARC) -
[https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-
instant&rlz=1C5...](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-
instant&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS504US504&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=apple%20swift%20uses%20arc).
It also takes an unnecessary dig at nodejs. Has the author ever written
node.js production code? What bugs has the author found and filed?
I am sure most android devs rather have a major ramp up of the Android APIs
rather than switching the programming language. The real problem with Android
is the ungainly APIs and how very cumbersome it is to develop anything
reasonable.
~~~
th3iedkid
Adding more complexity to scala is its dependency on ASM for class file
creation [1] and more refined performance options like tail-recursion [2] are
implemented in a contrived fashion to make scala actually port to a non-
standard JVM like dalvik .However if things were to change from ground-up like
ARM actually made easy for functional programming.
These facts actually can make porting a performance application to scala quite
a job!
[1]:
[http://lampwww.epfl.ch/~magarcia/ScalaCompilerCornerReloaded...](http://lampwww.epfl.ch/~magarcia/ScalaCompilerCornerReloaded/2012Q2/GenASM.pdf)
[2]: [http://blog.richdougherty.com/2009/04/tail-calls-tailrec-
and...](http://blog.richdougherty.com/2009/04/tail-calls-tailrec-and-
trampolines.html)
------
TeMPOraL
Can we have a good Lisp for Android already?
~~~
emidln
Clojure sorta runs on it. It has various issues, but is usable. It's nice
having a repl into your phone.
~~~
mjn
There's also a commercial ($200) Common Lisp implementation that targets
Android (and iOS): [https://wukix.com/mocl](https://wukix.com/mocl)
Somewhat different setup though. Instead of a Java-replacement language on top
of a JVM, I believe it's compiling to native code. The intention seems to be
to target "logic-heavy" apps where a smaller portion of the code is UI. You
still write the UI in each platform's "normal" way (Java on Android, Obj-C on
iOS), but call out to Lisp for the real work. I'm not 100% sure on this part,
but I believe that's done on Android via the NDK route, not Dalvik/ART. No
idea what happens on iOS.
------
ryanthejuggler
You can use Scala for Android right now, as people are pointing out. However,
it feels like a "second-class citizen" because the Android JVM has been
optimized for enterprisey, Java-style coding with fewer, longer-lived objects
than functional programming usually demands.
At a guess, I'd say that with Java 8+ they'd have to fix that. Probably why
they said "no comment" as pjmlp pointed out
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8192614](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8192614)).
------
krschultz
Theres a different between "supports writing your own code in that language"
and "the platform APIs are in a language".
In theory, it should be possible to write code on the Android platform using
any JVM language. Groovy, Scala, Clojure, Kotlin, etc. There are hiccups to
that right now but you can hack your way to it generally.
But Android's APIs are going to stay in Java. That is a lot different than
Apple's move to Swift, where the platform itself is moving to the new
language.
------
krschultz
This has a lot more to do with refactoring the build system than anything
else. The more the build system adheres to the Java Gradle plugin, the easier
it is to use Scala or other JVM compatible languages. There is an open ticket
for it, and supposedly Gradle 2.0 will make this possible.
[https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=56232](https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=56232)
------
seivan
Swift doesn't have a GC from what I know it has automatic reference counting.
It's not really the same thing.
It's on compile time and not at run time. It injects release/retain calls
between acquiring ownership and relinquishing ownership.
I could be wrong but I don't think they added GC to Swift, as Objective-C (at
least not on Mac OS) doesn't have it.
EDIT: They got rid of the GC on Mac OS as well. They use ARC there as well
just like iOS.
~~~
monkey_slap
Correct, Swift uses reference counting in just the same way Objective-C did.
------
donniezazen
1\. Most of the threads like this are going to turn into I like this language
so let's rewrite Android in that.
2\. Even if Google changes the primary development languages of Android where
do you go to ask developers to port their Java libraries, technical bloggers
to update their blogs with Scala code or change thousands of questions on SO.
Documentation/Q&A created around Java/Android is equally important.
------
serge2k
according to apple, swift uses ARC, not GC.
[https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/documenta...](https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/documentation/Swift/Conceptual/Swift_Programming_Language/AutomaticReferenceCounting.html)
How does Scala solve any of the problems with Java?
~~~
lmm
It unifies the type system, which gets one of the big headaches of Java out of
the way.
It has a generics system that makes a lot more sense (allowing
covariant/contravariant types, rather than forcing use-site variance
everywhere).
Case classes are wonderful for making simple data classes easy to read (and
write).
Honestly Scala is all about solving the pain points with Java, so just look at
anything that's been written about it. [http://www.scala-
lang.org/](http://www.scala-lang.org/)
~~~
serge2k
right, all nice to have things.
Does it actually solve any real problems?
Does it fix GC performance? Does it fix API issues? Does it remove the need
for JNI bindings to native code?
No?
~~~
lmm
Repetitive code is a real problem. Or do you think performance is the only
thing that can ever qualify as a "real problem"?
Implicits make it much easier to deal with API issues.
------
knodi
No. Google its time, we want Go for Android.
~~~
reustle
It's being talked about
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3XyVkAP8nmWjASz8L_Ojjnj...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3XyVkAP8nmWjASz8L_OjjnjVKxgeVBjIsTr5qIUcA4/mobilebasic?pli=1)
~~~
merlinsbrain
Yes, however there is a major caveat: "Providing a Go equivalent to the
Android platform is intractable."
What is actually happening: "There is however, a subset of Android apps
written against a much smaller C-based API surface provided in the Android
NDK: Games. It is feasible to build Go support for Android providing the
equivalent features found in the NDK."
Source: parent link
([https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3XyVkAP8nmWjASz8L_Ojjnj...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N3XyVkAP8nmWjASz8L_OjjnjVKxgeVBjIsTr5qIUcA4/mobilebasic?pli=1))
------
apetrovic
Knowing that Google and JetBrains have a good cooperation (Android Studio will
replace Eclipse plugin as a preferred way to develop apps for Android), I
kinda-sorta expected Kotlin to be backed from Google as an official Android
language on the latest I/O.
------
gizmodo59
"As phones are getting faster memory is not an issue anymore." No, its not
true. Memory is an issue. Android does not only run on premium devices but
also economical devices.
------
fritz_vd
Um... why .. on .. earth.. scala. Make it stop.
------
howdoipython
I think there are better selections than groovy to be the next language
supported on Android.
------
otikik
Make golang for Android and I'm yours.
~~~
zura
Swift would be better.
~~~
eigenrick
Rust would be better.
~~~
BinaryHole
No~Go is the best~ Too simple, and too powerful~
------
justplay
My bet is for golang.
~~~
izacus
Current design of Android makes any non-JVM language a rather illogical and
problematic choice.
Writing JNI bridges for everything and reboxing costs would be prohibitive.
~~~
higherpurpose
So what? I think with the arrival of ART, it's also not an impossible task
anymore, in terms of compatibility. They just need a separate team to rewrite
all the _existing_ API's in Go (and also catch-up with the _new_ ones by the
time they finish this project). How much would that take for a team of 20
developers? I imagine not that long.
In theory, they could make ART allow for both the Java code and the Go code to
work on Android, no? So we could have Google push new app development to Go,
while they deprecate Java over the next 5 years (after Go support is out).
But to get developers to write Go, they also need a significant market share
of Android L/ART-enabled devices, like over 50 percent, which will take 2-3
years to arrive there anyway. They can use this time gap to port Android APIs
to Go, and when ART is on 50-70 percent of the devices, announce that
developers can now write Android apps in Go, too (for Android L+ only).
They could announce it at the release of Android N (the one after M). By then
Go 2.0 will probably be out, too, so they can support 2.0 on Android from the
beginning, especially if they plan Go 2.0 to have some pretty major
incompatibilities with 1.x. In the meantime, the Go team could also work on
some "made for Android" features for Go 2.0, to make Go more optimized for
Android. By then, they'd probably only have to support ARMv8, too (preferable,
I think). So they can target only 64-bit ARMv8 hardware with Go (from what I
hear Go works better with 64-bit hardware anyway).
I think Google can do this. They just need to plan it out. Three years is
probably a reasonable time period for this.
------
Afal
No
------
jcc333
Scala doesn't have very good type inference, dude...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Things Every Aspiring Entrepreneur Should Know - acremades
http://postmasculine.com/33-things-every-aspiring-entrepreneur-should-know
======
kirinan
Honestly if you are starting a startup to get rich, just quit and get a real
job because you'll get richer quicker. Unless you are a consultant (and thats
not really a startup), you will most likely not end up rich, and stats show
this. You may bring in a modest salary of 100k+ (That you can pull in anyways
in the valley as an engineer), but you'll work far harder for that cash than
that other engineer who just has a job. Find something you are really
passionate about, and work towards either working on it or start working on it
if its possible. I get it, I'm 23 with a wife and kid, but I don't let it stop
me from making things, and I certainly don't complain about the choices I
made. Yeah, a kid takes time, but that doesn't mean I can't make time. A wife
takes time, but I still have 2+ hours per day at least to work on my
ideas/read and workout. Thats with a job that eats up 9 hours a day. Being an
entrepreneur is a mindset rather than an occupation. If you want to build
something (and I mean really want to build it), nothing will stop you.
------
websitescenes
I agree with much of what the OP talked about but there are a few things that
I 100% disagree with. For example: "Burn the boats behind you". Absolutely the
worst advice I have ever heard. I have hopped around from agency to agency and
have good relations with them all and I do sometimes call on those
relationships for business reasons. DO NOT BURN YOUR BOATS OR BRIDGES!
~~~
rajivtiru
I dont think OP meant burn all your personal relationships. I think he may
have meant to make the jump to working for yourself fulltime, rather than
having the cushion of a salary job.
------
awaechter
I think these are good advises about the mindset you need to be a successfull
entrepreneur. But I do believe you need even more luck if passion if your main
driver. I admit you need to like what you do but if you want to create
something big you need to have a business focused approach and constantly
analyse/test how technology can transform your product into the best fit for
your clients. To stick to this methodology you need more ambition than
passion.
------
devgutt
What a silly and misleading article...shame
------
gfodor
Disagree with "do what you love" and "follow your passion" type advice. Do the
stuff nobody else wants to or thinks to do.
------
clark-kent
You lost me at Frank Kern... if you listen those characters then we are from
the opposite sides of the business world.
------
rikacomet
actually very interesting and well said; I did read it word by word till the
end, and didn't felt like skipping even once. I think a lot of people will
feel the same :)
btw, yeah I'm scared to death right now of failing, and I hope it works no
matter what for me, what I'm doing.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Letting plumbers duplicate your product - opeadeoye
http://www.opeadeoye.com/Articles.aspx/Letting-plumbers-duplicate-your-product
Letting plumbers duplicate your product can be beneficial to you.
In any industry, when the factors of production are placed in the direct control of a larger audience than is currently predominant, the players in that industry who are at the centre of that shift get big benefits from the offshoots of the new economy.
======
jcl
Summary: You can get rich by creating technology that breaks vendor lock-in.
Numerous examples are given, but the relationship to plumbers is not
explained.
------
bdfh42
Something interesting coming out of Nigeria - not just scams then? Glad to see
it.
~~~
opeadeoye
:) Thanks. Nigeria is a case of the bad few giving a bad name to the good
many...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Inflammation and vitamin D: the infection connection (2014) - fpoling
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00011-014-0755-z
======
grok2
It's hard to keep up with advances in scientific knowledge -- this paper seems
to hypothesize that Vitamin D deficiency is a symptom of inflammation in the
body rather than the cause of any issue and recommends not supplementing with
Vitamin D! Go figure -- this after all the recent popularity of testing for
Vitamin D deficiency and prescribing Vitamin D supplementation.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google Is Building A Same-Day Amazon Prime Competitor, “Google Shopping Express” - ankneo
http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/04/google-is-building-a-same-day-amazon-prime-competitor-google-shopping-express/
======
DigitalSea
It's going to take a lot of money, time, hardware and infrastructure to beat
Amazon. We're talking about a company that failed to deliver the Nexus 4 to
customers resulting in a lot of anger, now multiply that by tens of thousands
of different products and you've got a scary situation. It would be in the
best interests of Google to acquire a company already innovating in this
space, I am not really up-to-date as to what startups actually are that Google
could buy though.
Amazon has the space well and truly dominated for now, but I would love to see
some competition. Who knows, maybe Google can nail this and give Amazon a run
for its money. I think Google has spread themselves far too thin, they've got
their fingers in too many pies and I think it's why most of their non-
advertising and search efforts end up failing because no matter how big you
are it's almost impossible to truly be good at 1000 things as opposed to one
or maybe even 3 or so (like Amazon is).
~~~
easytiger
The most important thing to mention is that Amazon are squeezing their margins
to approaching zero. If you want to compete you will have to play for a very
long term win.
That said, i welcome more options. I now default to Amazon for most purchases.
------
espeed
KIVA Systems' robots (<http://www.kivasystems.com>) revolutionized warehouse
automation. Zappos was using KIVA when Amazon acquired Zappos, and then Amazon
acquired KIVA for $775 million.
See "Autonomous Robots Invade Retail Warehouses"
(<http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/retailrobots/>)
KIVA @ Zappos: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdd6sQ8Cbe0>
I doubt Amazon is going to permit a contract between KIVA and Google so it
will be interesting to see Google's innovations in this space.
------
dchichkov
"Google Shopping Horror Express" ;)
Well, I hope not. Actually Google Checkout worked fine for me more than once.
Not as smooth as Amazon, but it feels much, much better than PayPal, that
sneaks up on you and tries to make you pay with your bank account every time.
Still, considering disaster with Nexus 4 delivery dates...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lowhash.com – sentences that produce low sha-256 hash values - sagebird
https://lowhash.com/
======
sagebird
I am the author of this website (and the go client to search for sentences). I
would be happy to take any questions, comments and suggestions.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TLS-O-MATIC – self TLS testing for web apps - eloycoto
http://www.tls-o-matic.com/
======
y0ghur7_xxx
With all those TLS vulnerabilities coming out in the last months, i start to
wonder, is there a tool that allows me to test those vulnerabilities? For
example when the "basicConstraints" man-in-the-middle attack came out, moxie
wrote sslsniff to demonstrate it. sslsniff has then be updated to exploit some
more vulnerabilities, but are there any demos of FREAK, BEAST, CRIME or any
other being exploited to demonstrate this attacks?
~~~
abarringer
try [https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/](https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/)
It tests for those and many more ssl configuration errors.
~~~
y0ghur7_xxx
ssllabs test just checks your server for common ssl related problems, it does
not allow you to actively exploit ssl bugs like FREAK or BEAST
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Language popularity on GitHub - blamonet
http://beust.com/weblog/2014/05/03/language-popularity-on-github/
======
workhere-io
_I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Python is being replaced by
Go. I don’t have a lot of information to back up this prediction except that
most of the positive articles I read about Go are written by Python
developers_
The fact that many articles praising Go are written by Python developers
doesn't necessarily mean that pythonistas are flocking to Go. It could likely
just mean that a few of the people who've hit a performance wall with Python
prefer Go to, say, Java.
And you won't necessarily hit a performance wall with Python - it all depends
on what you do. Instagram and Pinterest seem to be doing fine using Python.
------
samspenc
About Java: IMHO, Java has been a very popular (most popular?) programming
language for a while, especially in enterprises.
I think that the rise of Java's presence on GitHub is not so much an increase
in Java's popularity, but rather likely a reflection of some companies to be
more willing to outsource some parts of their technology stack and commit/post
to GitHub.
And also, there are an emerging class of open-source enterprise applications
written in Java (Hadoop, HBase and their ilk in Big Data come to mind) which
are huge open-source applications and based on Java. Those are likely driving
that trend as well.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Hydrogen Myth - TriinT
http://www.slideshare.net/stephenfleming/the-hydrogen-myth-presentation
======
Shakescode
A 38 page powerpoint presentation. Very illuminating. Who knew such things as:
Liquid hydrogen leaks can be ignited by the static spark set off by the leak
itself?
Hydrogen flames are _not_ visible (see slide 16: hydrogen refinery would look
same _when on fire_ as when not.
Compressed H2 gas or Liq H2 have only about 15% or 30% of the energy-per-
gallon as gasoline.
And on and on... Sure casts doubt on feasibility of H2 as a medium for energy
storage.
~~~
jws
_hydrogen refinery would look same when on fire as when not._ \- except for
the heat wave distortion, plumes of smoke from burning paint, drooping steel
gangways, showers of electrical sparks from the shorting electrical system,
and workers leaping from the upper levels.
~~~
potatolicious
And if the fuel in a hydrogen car decided to burn, everyone in its vicinity
will find out in a real hurry - a fire that looks different is still a fire.
Though his point is valid - hydrogen _will_ burn extremely quickly, we used to
do these as demonstrations in school. Where a pool of gasoline will burn over
a period of time, a tank full of hydrogen will burn almost instantaneously to
disastrous effect - forget about rescue, the only sort of "rescue" will be
body retrieval of whatever is left.
~~~
likpok
However, hydrogen will not pool like gasoline. If it doesn't ignite, it will
just fly off into space. This mitigates some of the risk (i.e. if there is an
accident, a fuel leak will either kill you quickly, or it won't)
------
dryicerx
I completely agree with the content in this sideshow, except I think he left
out a important part of the H2 discussion.
H2 is a complicated/inefficient/explosive way to move energy, but it's very
clean (as a energy transfer medium). At the moment, the way H2 is generated is
very unclean (using Methane, or using the power from coal and other dirty
power sources).
But if the origin of the energy is totally clean (hydroelectric, wind, solar),
you can use that energy to break water down, then transfer that hydrogen in to
the vehicle. Breaking down water is not so efficient, but it's still clean. I
think this is the ideal (maybe dreamlike) goal of the H2 Camp.
~~~
lutorm
Given the low density, it's questionable to me whether it's better to use
electricity to make hydrogen and put it in a tank compared to just putting it
in a battery in a car. Bypasses the production losses and the low ICE
efficiency.
~~~
potatolicious
I agree with you entirely - converting clean electricity into a finicky form
of transport seems ill-advised. That being said, battery technology has a long
way to go before being able to power a car entirely.
For one thing, energy density needs to improvement by an order of magnitude to
make mass application useful, and the average lifetime of the battery I would
say would have to increase 2-3x. Batteries are expensive to manufacture and
the ecological impact of disposal is also extremely high - better to make
longer-lasting batteries than cheap crap.
~~~
bjelkeman-again
Just saying that "the ecological impact of disposal [of batteries] is also
extremely high" without differentiating between battery types is to simplify
the issue too much I think. Some batteries are bad to throw away, others are
less bad, but you can also recycle batteries.
"Lithium Ion batteries are classified by the federal government as non-
hazardous waste and are safe for disposal in the normal municipal waste
stream," says Kate Krebs at the National Recycling Coalition.
<http://bit.ly/wS344>
In general, throwing away stuff that isn't naturally occuring in the eco
system is often bad, and sometimes too much of something natural can be bad
too. But blanket statements that something is bad don't help. The battery
system would be replacing something else, like a petrol driven engine, which
also has an environmental impact and is much less efficient.
~~~
likpok
Furthermore, lead-acid (car) batteries are extremely easy to recycle (and are
valuable; you almost always get a trade-in discount).
------
Tichy
"The first and second law of Thermodynamics:
1\. You can't win
2\. You can't even break even"
~~~
wglb
And doesn't the third translate to "3. You can't get out of the game"?
~~~
eru
And the zeroth?
~~~
wglb
Er, "We are all in this together?"
------
wglb
This is what Don Lancaster at <http://www.tinaja.com/h2gas01.asp> has been
saying for a long time. One quote "Please also note that because of the
staggering loss of exergy, use of electrolysis for bulk hydrogen apps is a
really, really dumb thing to do. It is the equivalent of exchanging two US
dollars for one Mexican peso."
------
drawkbox
I want a nuclear car: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Nucleon>
------
nihilocrat
I'm confused about something he says in slide 22: "Solar and wind power are
rounding errors"
Is he saying that they are currently just very limited compared to other
energy generation methods in use, or that they're completely unviable?
~~~
potatolicious
I can't speak for the author - but there is some evidence that, to produce our
power needs via wind/tidal means on a large scale (i.e. an appreciable portion
of total production) would cause as of yet hard to predict ecological impact.
You sap the energy out of your tide and wind and bad juju will happen to your
environment.
~~~
jcl
"Hard to predict" is an understatement. For all we know, extracting energy
from wind and waves could counter the recent perceived increase in hurricanes
and tropical storms, or it could restore weather patterns to what they were
prior to deforestation.
~~~
anamax
> For all we know, extracting energy from wind and waves could counter the
> recent perceived increase in hurricanes and tropical storms
The recent trend in hurricanes has been a decrease. (We can spot storms in
places that we couldn't look before, but if we look just where we could look
before, there's a decrease.)
The middle of the 20th century was far worse.
------
physcab
One thing I can't stand about the hydrogen debate is how people link it to
"fuel cells are bad." Solid Oxide fuel cells happen to be quite economical and
successful by using other fuels like propane and gasoline. There are
disadvantages with every energy technology, but the trick is using them in the
right combination that makes the most sense. No need for unproductive flame
wars.
And the quotes from "smart people" are ridiculous. Wow, you quoted someone
else (and most likely out of context) to make your point stronger. Good for
you. Do you want a cookie?
~~~
stephenfleming
Nope, got plenty of Oreos, right here.
Other people may have looked at the unfavorable characteristics and conclude
"fuel cells are bad." That would be sloppy and stupid.
My message would be that "HYDROGEN fuel cells are bad, especially for
automotive use." I like fuel cells in general; my employer has some great work
going on with methanol fuel cells.
As far as the quotes being out of context... you've got Google, right there in
your toolbar. Look 'em up.
~~~
physcab
I have no problem with your content (with the exception that you failed to
mention which technologies COULD be commercialized rather easily). I believe
you gave all accurate information. I just didn't like your presentation.
So some critiques, if I may:
1) Slide 2 - Why? I know you're trying to demonstrate your credibility, but
this just seems like bragging. Who cares if you achieved highest honors.
2) Slides 2,6,9,13,14,15,19,22,28,29,37 - waaaaay too verbose. If you came to
give a seminar at my school, I would have been drawing stick figures by now.
Brevity is key.
3) I still stand by my criticism of your quotes. They add absolutely nothing
to your presentation. What are they supposed to accomplish? And I assumed you
were giving this talk in front of a group of people...so which toolbar are you
referring to...the one on my iphone?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is this the future of advertising? - dfragnito
wyzscan.com
======
dfragnito
I forgot it's April 1, ugh, it was very early when I received this email.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Turing completeness bullshit - fogus
http://shebang.ws/turing-completeness-bullshit.html
======
cleverjake
While I agree that it is a bit of a misnomer to say that anything is possible
in a turing complete language from a feasibility stand point, I think this
response falls back to a common thought process that technical minded people
go through - literal answers. Of course it is possible to do it, it may just
be incredibly difficult. When most people ask if they can do X in Foo, they
are usually asking if it is a good idea to do X in Foo. Should the person
being asked tell them no even if it is a possibility that is not easy?
~~~
p4wnc6
I agree. The OP blog post is mistaking. I think the real language misuse is on
the behalf of Person A. When asking whether you "can do something in the Foo
programming language" this could be a question of theoretical universality or
a question of practicality. If it's one of practicality, then it has nothing
to do with Turing universality. If it's theoretical, as in "is Foo expressive
enough to describe such and such a computation at all", then universality
matters.
Also, from a computationalist's perspective in Philosophy, Turing completeness
literally does mean being able to do anything that a single-taped Turing
machine can do (such as writing a GUI or writing to a screen). If you a priori
disconnect your Turing machine from the screen, effectively eliminating the
logical possibility to print to it (or, similarly, you use some pared down
language where specific functionality is intentionally left out) then it makes
no sense at all to bring Turing completeness into it. It seems like the OP
either rejects the Extended Church Turing thesis, or mistakenly thinks that
other people lump all possible hardware limitations into Turing completeness.
If a language is resource bounded, then it is only Turing complete w.r.t. a
Turing machine that has the same resource bounds.
~~~
andreasvc
> anything that a single-taped Turing machine can do (such as writing a GUI or
> writing to a screen).
Wait, those are the things a Turing machine CANNOT do! A Turing machine has no
input or output, the computation it defines is purely a function of what's on
its tape before and after its work (when it halts).
> If you a priori disconnect your Turing machine from the screen
Again this makes no sense, the ('a priori') defintion of a Turing machine does
not include a screen, so there's nothing to disconnect. It's really just the
tape.
And no, it's quite a stretch to claim that person A could be talking about
universality, the blog post says he was asking about GUIs so that's squarely a
practical question.
> or [...] thinks that other people lump all possible hardware limitations
> into Turing completeness.
I have no idea how you arrive at this from the blog post.
~~~
ajuc
Turing machine is a tape + some functions that modify this tape.
If you connect screen to the tape so it shows part of the content of the tape
in some manner - do this mean that Turing machine can print on the screen, or
not?
Bad analogy:
I can write, but I don't have pen and paper bundled from my birth. I
understand being able to print to screen as being able to put information in a
form that allows screen to show it.
Otherways no programming language can print to screen, because programming
languages are software, and screen is hardware.
~~~
p4wnc6
These are just resource limitations. I already addressed that. If you start
out with something where a resource limitation prevents you from doing X, then
any kind of statement about Turing completeness inherently only draws a
comparison with a Turing machine that has the same resource limitation keeping
it from doing X. It doesn't matter if this is sending RGB data to a monitor
(which some languages cannot do unless augmented with certain hardware) or
computing Kolmogorov complexity (which no language can do in general). A human
plus paper and pencil is a different computation than a human without paper
and pencil, just in terms of hardware and memory.
It also seems like some of you are not computationalists. Anything physical is
just the result of a computation, whether you are talking about the chemistry
of producing colors on a monitor or adding two numbers by sending electrons
through circuits of transistors. The ECT thesis says that anything which can
be computed in the real world can be computed efficiently by some Turing
machine. This includes anything a brain can do (aided by pen and paper or
unaided) and certainly includes anything your graphics driver can do. If Java
can't do something that Java + Graphics Card + OS can do, then Java has a more
serious resource bound, and all claims of Java's Turing completeness
inherently include this resource bound. You guys might like some sections of
this research paper: (<http://www.scottaaronson.com/papers/philos.pdf>).
------
wyuenho
Ahhhh no I disagree. I think this is one of those 140 char limit short sound
bite problems that often makes the people listening hard to understand.
Turing Completeness is about computability, but also implies the functions in
that class are able to simulate each other. So "theoretically", you _COULD_
write an interpreter in Brainfuck without "," and "." that simulates language
L by doing output using some other means, or representing it differently
besides printing it out onto the screen. All it has to do is to leave an
output state on a Turing Machine.
Now the question, when people talk about "Foo is Turing complete so you can do
everything.", is this really what they mean? Probably not, most of them only
say this half-jokingly. It's theoretically possible, it's just very
unpractical in reality. I'm nonetheless equally annoyed by the term "general
purpose language" for the reasons pointed in the post tho.
~~~
phillmv
You could presumably write a "Limited Brainfuck" compiler and then write an
interpreter for any language you want into that :P.
If it's complete, it's turtles all the way down.
~~~
wyuenho
Exactly, that's why my mind screams "BS" every time I hear the term "general
purpose language".
------
cyrus_
Alan Perlis coined the term "Turing tarpit" for this in one of his Epigrams on
Programming.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_tarpit>
------
0x12
Turing completeness deals with computability, not with the practicalities of
IO and so on.
To say that something is Turing complete simply means that you could implement
a universal Turing machine, which can then run any other Turing machine as its
program, and so can compute anything that is in theory (without any
constraints on time and space) computable.
I understand the authors aggravation with people throwing around the sentence
'x is Turing complete, so you can do anything in x' without any appreciation
of the disconnect between the theoretical and the practical sides of this, but
I think that it's use is more in jest than serious and that the author should
possibly grow a sense of humor.
Typical use:
A: can you do 'x' in Perl
B: Perl is Turing complete, of course you can do 'x'.
Shows that person 'B' has a sense of humor and/or wants to get rid of the
questioner without having to answer the question, not that they're clueless
about the practicalities of this statement.
It's analogous to 'google it', 'rtfm' or any one of another 100 ways in which
people try to show their superiority over others or try to create an 'in' and
and 'out' group. Think of it as just another meme and move on.
Flagged.
~~~
omaranto
Flagging a post because you think the author lacks a sense if humor seems
harsh to me.
~~~
0x12
No, I've flagged it because this 'Turing Completeness Bullshit' is not
bullshit, but the article is. Turing completeness actually has a use and
railing against the people that use it in a manner that it was never intended
to be used in is a total waste of time.
The article author seems to agree with that assessment, see:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3047002>
~~~
raganwald
Flagging is not for disagreement, it's for spam, off-topic posts, and link-
jacking. You flagged this article because HN doesn't have a down vote for
articles, but what you are really doing is messing up the spam filters by
training them that words like "Turing" are associated with articles that may
get flagged.
Please do not flag articles simply because you think they are wrong. Express
your disagreement and move on.
------
gfodor
You think that's bad? I'll raise you the "the halting problem proves that you
can never prove a program halts" claim.
~~~
baddox
The two statements aren't really analogous. Yours is simply incorrect, while
the one in the article is a correct (factual) response that's just not
helpful.
~~~
mihaifm
What's so incorrect about this statement?
~~~
alok-g
>> the halting problem proves that you can never prove a program halts
Halting problem proves that you can never prove an "arbitrary" program halts.
A specific program can of course be proven to halt or not halt.
The above statement is often misused to state that day-to-day PC programs can
never be proven to be bug-free (even in theory).
~~~
baddox
Aye, I always think of the halting problem as "if the program is still
running, you can't necessarily know if it will ever halt." If you see a
program halt, after a millisecond or after 10 years, then you've obviously
proven whether or not it halts.
Also, while the halting problem doesn't necessarily say anything about bugs,
there is a more general theorem that essentially says that you can't know in
general if a program enjoys any non-trivial property (e.g. it prints a "1" at
some point, it accesses the network, or it halts). I can't recall the name of
the theorem, but the intuitive proof is similar to the halting problem's. This
theorem does seem to hint that programs can't be proven to be bug-free in
general.
~~~
pmiller2
>...there is a more general theorem that essentially says that you can't know
in general if a program enjoys any non-trivial property....
That would be Rice's theorem. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice%27s_theorem>
------
InclinedPlane
Turing completeness concerns itself with the ability of a computer to solve
problems that are computable. Modern computers, however, are almost entirely
purposed towards interacting with humans and processing data.
Mathematically these "problems" are isomorphic, but the real world concerns
itself with issues like correctness, robustness, performance, efficiency,
cost, scalability, etc.
The idea of turing completeness compares a 100% perfect program against
another 100% perfect program. It does not concern itself at all with
efficiency, which is horrific in and of itself, but worse yet it does not
concern itself with the difficulty of creating and maintaining the program.
Given that this tends to be the overwhelmingly largest factor in the cost of
creating software this is a bit of a problem.
------
RockyMcNuts
If you can do a test, a loop, and a write, you're Turing complete IIRC. Hell,
the DOS shell is Turing complete, your HP-12C is Turing complete.
So ANSI SQL with selects only may not be Turing complete, but pretty much all
SQL implementations are, since they added loops, not to mention stored
procedures etc.
All languages are Turing complete and equivalent from a computability
standpoint. That's the sense in which it means nothing for a language to be
Turing complete - they all are.
They are different in terms of expressive power, computational efficiency for
different problems.
Can you do closures in HP-12C assembler? Of course! just write a Lisp
interpreter in assembler, and there you go.
~~~
xyzzyz
The posts like yours are the ones that actually create confusion around this
term, because their authors are confused on what the Turing completeness is
themselves, and so they spread their confusion on the others.
No, tests and loops are not what make computational stuff Turing complete --
nondeterministic finite automatons have both of them, and yet they're very
weak computationally. I/O (assuming that's what you mean by write) is not even
relevant. What matters the most is _memory_, and more importantly, _infinite,
easily accessible_ memory. Nondeterministic finite automata have only finite
amount of memory available, and thus they are very constrained on what they
can compute. Nondeterministic pushdown automata, in spite of having infinite
amount of memory available, don't have an easy access to it, and so, being
stronger than finite automata, they're still weaker than Turing machines. But
as soon as you add a second stack to a pushdown automaton, it suddenly becomes
Turing complete. Hell, you can do it even with 6 integer variables instead of
2 stacks (I recall from my computation theory course that 3 integer variables
are enough to encode a stack, so 6 will give you two stacks. Maybe you can go
down even to 5 or 4). However, you absolutely require infinite memory,
because, for sane definitions of "memory", every device with finite amount of
memory (for instance, x86 PC) will not be able to compute anything more than
deterministic finite automaton. From this point of view, all our computers are
able to do is to match its input to a long and hairy regular expression. I
hope that it will help some people realize how irrelevant is Turing
completeness notion when it's used with regard to real life stuff.
~~~
alok-g
This was helpful! I knew most of the pieces but not about the 3 integers
encoding a stack. I presume integers here can be of any size (that is not
constrained by number of bits) or else it won't be infinite amount of memory.
Nevertheless, could you shed some more light? Is a push operation left
shifting the integer and adding the pushed value...?
~~~
jules
One integer variable is enough, because it effectively gives you infinite
memory. Three times infinite memory is as much as one times infinite memory.
What matters is not the number of integer variables, but which operations
you're allowed to do on them. If 3 integer variables i,j,k with operations
o1,o2,...,on are enough to encode a stack, then you can do the same with one
integer variable x. You just represent i as all the bits in x whose position
is 0 mod 3, j as all the bits whose position is 1 mod 3 and k as all the bits
whose position is 2 mod 3. Then you just modify operations to only work on
those bits that the operation applies to.
For example if you have an operation increment_i, and you start with i=j=k=0
then it works like this:
ijkijkijk...
start: i=0,j=0,k=0 and x = 000000000...
increment_i: now i=1,j=0,k=0 and x = 100000000...
increment_i: now i=2,j=0,k=0 and x = 000100000...
increment_i: now i=3,j=0,k=0 and x = 100100000...
increment_i: now i=4,j=0,k=0 and x = 000000100...
And if you increment_k then it works on the other bits:
ijkijkijk
increment_k: now i=4,j=0,k=1 and x = 001000100...
increment_k: now i=4,j=0,k=2 and x = 000001100...
increment_k: now i=4,j=0,k=3 and x = 001001100...
increment_k: now i=4,j=0,k=4 and x = 000000101...
~~~
xyzzyz
Our model allowed us only to do INC, DEC and ZERO? on a counter, and it's
easily seen that you cannot implement 2 counters using 1 counter with only
ZERO?, INC and DEC, for instance by noting that you can recognize a^n b^n c^n
language using automaton with two counters, you can (trivially) implement
automaton with one counter using pushdown automaton, so if you were able to
implement 2 counters using 1 counter, you could recognize a^n b^n c^n using
pushdown automaton, which is easily seen to be impossible by applying pumping
lemma for context free languages and usual characterization of pushdown
automatons in terms of context free languages.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Is there a config manager based on shell scripts? - mkauer
So, I stumbled upon "fucking shell scripts" from a couple of years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7401952<p>From the major config managers, I'm only familiar with Ansible.
There, I feel like I'm fighting its syntax and quirky errors more than it really helps me.
Maybe that would change if I had more than 100 servers to change but I don't.<p>As it is, the idea behind "fucking shell scripts" looks pretty good to me.
However, the project requires ruby (on my local machine only, I believe) and it is has been marked unmaintained.<p>I'm wondering if there's an alternative with a similar approach?
Has anyone tried using Ansible exclusively with the shell module?
That might do exactly what I'm looking for, no?
======
brudgers
Random remarks from the internet:
The only reason I will mention containers this is because you are looking for
a new solution and a new solution will result in having to learn a new
workflow anyway.
The advantage of putting multi-component configuration into a single container
is that their deployment is atomic. The state of the remote machine is either:
Container not deployed
Container deployed
There are zero in between states of Partial-Deployment/Build that need to be
either rolled back or rolled forward.
The issues created by the dependency of one container on another bubble up to
the level of container orchestration but boil down to:
When container X.123 is deployed,
container Y.456 must be running.
If container Y.456 is not running,
deploy Y.456, then X.123.
Nothing gets built on the remote machine. No dependency gets pulled from
another network. The container orchestration has the same logical problem of
dependency management but far fewer practical issues with interrupted
execution.
------
mattbillenstein
Shell scripts are just so brittle is the problem -- I think maybe you're
looking for something closer to fabric:
[http://www.fabfile.org/](http://www.fabfile.org/)
It's kinda fallen out of favor I think with things like Ansible and Saltstack,
but I think it might still be a good fit for some things.
~~~
mkauer
Now that you mention it, I've used fabric before as well. I didn't feel as
much of a disconnect between local and remote commands as I do in Ansible
somehow. Nevertheless, it is once again, its own syntax somehow.
You say that scripts are brittle and I am not sure where to stand on that
issue. What are the biggest problems you have run into with shell scripts for
configuration?
~~~
mattbillenstein
They're just hard to compose, mix in configuration state, make idempotent,
etc. I mean, probably fine for one box, but once you have two, not ideal.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Gauss Taught Us the Best Way to Hold a Pizza Slice - _mayo
http://www.wired.com/2014/09/curvature-and-strength-empzeal/
======
ubasu
The author's point that "curvature imputes stiffness" conflates several
different and distinct mechanisms, and offers an inadequate explanation.
For the examples of the pizza, the leaf, and the corrugated sheets, the
stiffness is due to the fact that the bending moment of inertia of the cross-
section increases when we fold the pizza or the sheet in a particular way [1].
The Theorema Egregium shows that such a structure can be made from a flat
sheet of material, not that this construction imparts stiffness to the
structure.
The example of arches show the well-known arch action in mechanics, where
forces are carried through pure compression without any tensile stresses,
which makes it appropriate for using stones to make the arch [2]. In
principle, one could make a triangular "arch", i.e. part of a truss structure,
where we use two straight rods joined together at the top [3]. This shows that
its not really the curvature that is giving the stiffness.
The example of hyperbolic paraboloids shows arch action in one direction and
beam bending in the other.
The examples of the egg and the can show that it is hard to break a surface
when it does not have stress concentrations [4].
So the point is that there's a lot of classical solid mechanics at play here,
of which the author seems to be unaware.
[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending)
[2] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arch)
[3] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss)
[4]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_concentration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_concentration)
~~~
dxbydt
This is silly. Every math textbook that teaches Theorema Egregium includes the
same pizza example. That's how I learnt it as well. In my case we had an
animated math professor who chose to bring a slice of pineapple pizza with
canadian bacon to class, but during his demonstration the pineapples combined
with the bacon and turned all gooey and started dripping on his shirt, so
Theorema Egregium had to take a backseat to the practical realities of
maintaining spotless formal attire in the classroom in front of a hundred
giggling freshmen.
But seriously, this Theorema Egregium => Eating Pizza example is straight out
of recreational math[1] & is very popular.
standard numerical geom text [2]:"In our everyday life we encounter the
Theorema Egregium in a pizzeria..."
another riemann geom text[3]: "There is an interesting real-life application
of Theorema Egregium...Notice that when you hold the pizza in one hand, the
principal curvature of the crust is much smaller than along the direction of
falling toppings."
third complex analysis text[4]: "Gauss defined Theorema Egregium in 1828. He
defined principal curvatures to be maximum and minumum values k1 and k2...He
then defined Gaussian Curvature K = k1*k2. k1 & k2 are not intrinsic but Gauss
discovered K is intrinsic. Pizza has K=0 so we introduce a non-zero k1 forcing
k2 to be 0 in order to preserve K because K is locally isometric. For this
reason we bend the sides of the pizza to stop the free end from drooping"
[1][http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5450/cocktail-party-
math](http://mathoverflow.net/questions/5450/cocktail-party-math)
[2][http://tosca.cs.technion.ac.il/book/index.html](http://tosca.cs.technion.ac.il/book/index.html)
[3][http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/pz229/Teaching_files/GR.pdf](http://www.damtp.cam.ac.uk/user/pz229/Teaching_files/GR.pdf)
[4][http://www.amazon.com/Lectures-Complex-Analysis-
Contemporary...](http://www.amazon.com/Lectures-Complex-Analysis-Contemporary-
Mathematics/dp/0821848097)
~~~
ubasu
You can always roll up the slice into a cylinder with the crust on the
straight edge, and that also is an example of the theorem. It says nothing
about the mechanics of the problem, i.e. how much will the pizza deform. It is
quite possible to fold up the pizza as recommended and still have the tip sag
- this depends on the material of the pizza and the self-weight, i.e. the
mechanics rather than only the geometry.
~~~
dxbydt
Tomato tomaato. You formulate equations of motion s = ut + gt^2/2 by
essentially ignoring air friction. You formulate kirchoff's voltage law
L(di/dt)+1/C(integral(i)dt) + iR = V, by ignoring voltage losses across the
rest of the circuit. You formulate the heat equation du/dt = laplacian(u) by
assuming no lateral heat loss across the rod. Almost all equations in
stochastic calculus in finance make the assumption that trading fees are zero
& there's an unlimited pool of equity derivatives so you won't move the market
when you buy & sell. Including real-life considerations like weight of the
pizza & the specific toppings it has & so forth only leads us away from the
beautiful math that underlies this problem. As you know, Gauss was so
thoroughly impressed by the theorem he called it "Theorema Egregium" \- the
Remarkable Theorem! It is consistently voted one of the ten most beautiful
theorems in geometry[1].
[1][http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1eoo1p/q_what_are_the_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/math/comments/1eoo1p/q_what_are_the_10_most_beautiful_theorems_in/)
~~~
Nacraile
Except the beautiful math of the theorum only holds if distances between
points on the pizza remain constant, which is manifestly not true for real
pizza in particular and real materials in general. Force applied to a pizza
curved width-wise will cause it to curve length-wise, changing the value of K.
The remarkable theorum predicts that the pizza will not bend regardless of the
radius of curvature and length of the slice, however, in practice,
insufficient curvature relative to length will result in failure. Thus, the
remarkable theorum hypothesis of pizza strength is falsified.
------
suprgeek
The Oatmeal provides a very nice illustrated pics about the Mantis Shrimp and
its killer claws
[http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp)
------
StavrosK
I totally call bullshit on not being able to crack an egg. Next time I see an
egg, I'm trying it.
~~~
Crito
I've done it before and found it surprisingly difficult but not impossible to
break the egg. In order to break it, I had to put more pressure on the egg
with my fingertips, which should probably be considered cheating.
------
DINKDINK
More of an engineering problem that uses a bit of math. Unless you can state
what the weight would be to cause the surface to collapse, you're just wanking
off in math space.
See Second moment of Inertia (or area depending on who you talk to)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_area_moments_of_inerti...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_area_moments_of_inertia)
------
raphinou
Dont the hyperboiloid chimneys have something with maximizing its surface? I
think i remember sth like that from a course, but it is too far.... can
someone confirm/reject?
~~~
lcrs
A couple of years ago I got really interested in the shape of cooling towers
after hanging out inside a couple of derelict ones. I couldn't find a solid
answer as to why they are hyperboloids, and in fact not all of them are, but
the most common explanations were:
1) the throat at the top could be the optimum shape for creating cooling via
the Venturi effect
2) they can be built entirely with straight diagonal structural members, as
each section of the Shukhov tower illustrates, but only the very earliest ones
would have been made this way and they're certainly not any more
3) they were the only suitable shape that could be analysed on paper, before
the advent of computer-based structural analysis
4) uniform structural stiffness with no particular points of failure, as in
the above article
Even a thorough literature review from the period after some collapsed in
storms was inconclusive... from the proceedings of the 5th International
Symposium on Natural Draught Cooling Towers:
[http://books.google.com/books?id=6j5nuvAd44QC&pg=PA3](http://books.google.com/books?id=6j5nuvAd44QC&pg=PA3)
I highly recommend a look inside one, the acoustics and general enormity are
quite something. Being inside an active one looks to be even more of something
from these pictures: [http://www.foantje.com/active-cooling-
tower/](http://www.foantje.com/active-cooling-tower/)
------
grogenaut
why oh why do I keep falling for wired linkbait. I didn't learn this from a
mathmatician, the pizza just sluffed in my had the right way one time and it
stayed.
------
jordigh
Huh, why does the original Wired article say "19th century math genius"
instead of "Gauss"? Is Gauss really that unknown to Wired's audience?
~~~
dredmorbius
Rules of Clickbait Headlines: never use one specific word where four vague
ones, with at least one indicator each of antiquity, exulted discipline, and
grandiosity.
------
anigbrowl
Next week in Wired: How Newton taught my dog to catch rubber balls.
------
mach5
you know how i know you all are not from the northeast?
~~~
Neff
right?
"Best way" implies there are other correct ways. There is only one way to hold
a slice - you fold it.
------
mhurron
He used a knife and fork?
I found the article very interesting.
------
hayksaakian
I've noticed this article is amongst a growing trend of articles that purport
to solve 'non problems'
From wired, no less.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Godel's Thoughts on AI: Godel, Nagel, minds and machines - Jd
http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/2515
======
Jd
Feferman usefully explores the presuppositions and equivocations of both Godel
and Nagel in their exchanges over the mathematical mind. In the end Feferman
advocates for recognizing mathematics as part of a broader open-ended domain
instead of the reductive and mechanistic sense described by Nagel and others.
Consequently, he ends up concurring with Godel over the issue of AI, claiming
our first goal should be formulating a coherent, systematic account of how the
mathematical mind works. AI is secondary and currently unapproachable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
CUPP crams ARM inside of a MacBook Pro, makes it run Android with a button press - lotusleaf1987
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/cupp-crams-arm-inside-of-a-macbook-pro-makes-it-run-android-wit/
======
clvv
I would prefer if they just make a ARM laptop. Seriously, why aren't there any
decent ARM laptops? I know there are a few ARM/MIPS laptops out there but they
are all either old(new platforms are much more powerful) or comes locked.
~~~
Splines
_Seriously, why aren't there any decent ARM laptops?_
Because demand is extremely low? If it can't run a mass-market OS, anything
you make is going to be an extremely niche product.
I like the idea of an Android laptop, but I wonder how well off-the-shelf
Android applications would perform on a 16x9 landscape screen with a hardware
keyboard and a hard-to-use touch surface.
~~~
clvv
I think Android is more optimized for touch-screen devices but I was hoping
Chrome OS will bring more ARM laptops to the market. Now it seems like that's
not gonna happen, but Windows 8 being ARM compatible should bring more ARM
laptops to the market. Sadly that won't happen any time soon.
------
pge
Dell tried this with the LatitudeON feature which shipped in several
variations on Latitude laptops. In their version, turning the ARM OS on
automatically hibernated the Windows OS. In any case, for some reason, it has
not caught on (Dell has also had trouble meeting shipping dates, as they are
using a custom Linux distro from DeviceVM, rather than using Android). I
almost bought a new Dell just for that feature, and in polling other business
users whose machines had the feature in one form or another, I have yet to
find someone actually using it. Poor marketing and perhaps targeted at the
wrong market. One challenge is whether to power up the hard drive. If you
leave it unpowered and just have the ARM and some RAM, you lose the ability to
access data on the hard drive, but powering up the hard drive increases the
power load materially.
~~~
leon_
> In any case, for some reason, it has not caught on
It's Dell. How passionate are people about new features in Dell products? I
don't even know who Dell's CEO is. Dell is boring office stuff.
On the other hand, if Apple would have introduced such a feature we would be
hearing from it on TV news. And all tech bloggers would jerk in a circle, etc.
~~~
jawee
Hint: he founded the company and named it after himself.
------
dstein
I fully expect Apple to begin doing this across their entire laptop line as a
precursor to a full migration to an ARM-based MacOS/iOS hybrid.
~~~
pyre
Assuming that you're being serious, I doubt that they would make such a move.
While Apple markets their computers as being simple enough for anyone to use,
they have a large section of power users that use their laptops heavily for
things like Photoshop and video editing. I don't think that either of those
will be performant in the near-term on ARM.
~~~
dstein
nVidia's Tegra 3 (due this year) is a quad-core ARM with a GPU capable of
accelerated 3D, HD resolution, and 13800 MIPS which I believe is faster than a
Core 2 Duo.
[http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/1/23/nvidia-
thinks...](http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/1/23/nvidia-thinks-world-
domination-tegra-2-3d-in-january2c-tegra-3-by-fall.aspx)
The 64-bit ARM chips will be better.
------
etcet
Am I wrong in assuming that if you don't power down your x86 system then it
will still draw power when you toggle the switch? It seems more like a nice
solution for people who dual boot win/osx and linux.
I applaud the novel use of the optical drive space and I'm excited for the
time when hardware shrinks past the usable threshold and we can cram more
components in a 13" laptop form factor.
~~~
pyre
What components though? I think that the reduction in size would be used to
make the form-factor even smaller (possibly just thinner/lighter if they
wanted to keep the screen size).
~~~
micampe
Batteries.
------
jodrellblank
Why Android and not Arm desktop linux (assuming there are some)?
~~~
nl
Because Android is more mature as a consumer operating system.
(Yeah, I know.. Unix is 30+ years old and Android is 3. But you can't get
Angry Birds for Linux, and the power management on Linux isn't great etc
etc..)
~~~
thwarted
Android runs on Linux.
~~~
nl
Do you seriously think that either I or the OP didnt realize that? The OP even
says "why not desktop linux"!
The question is why Android rather than Linux. Saying Android is Linux doesn't
explain anything at all.
~~~
thwarted
I don't know, it's hard to say what you don't realize, but I'll expound upon
my comment. Do you really think the power management would be all that
different in a laptop (rather than a phone) running Android? They'd both be
using the Linux kernel, and people already complain about their Android phone
battery life (but people complain about _every_ phone's battery life). And if
one really wants to run Angry Birds on their Linux laptop (or any laptop that
the Android SDK runs on), it is entirely possible to wrap the emulator and/or
port Dalvik, to run Android apps as first class desktop app citizens. In fact,
I'm surprised no one has done this already.
------
Groxx
And the arguments against getting rid of the optical bay just got more
interesting...
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Don't get bitten by Javascript variable hoisting in loops - ithayer
http://thecomputersarewinning.com/post/a-dangerous-example-of-javascript-hoisting
======
Q_the_Novice
JavaScript variables are passed by reference, the variable `i` on the
statement: `var msg = txt[i];` will always reference the last value after the
loop has executed.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How the Coronavirus Short-Circuits the Immune System - mikhael
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/health/coronavirus-immune-system.html
======
salawat
For the record, the Thymus does _not_ produce new T cells. New T cells are
formed from stem cells in bone marrow.
What the Thymus does do, is it plays a key role in prune auto-reactive T cell
lines. As the only organ in the body which expresses pretty much the entire
antigenic profile of the body, it is critical in ensuring that the cells which
keep us safe from viral/parasitic/microbial threats do not end up waging a war
against our own body.
By cruel twist of fate, however, this critical gland is progressively
atrophied by long term exposure to sex hormones.
Last I was actively researching it, this was positedto be a factor in
increased prevalence of auto-immune problems in the elderly.
Interestingly enough, this does explain a couple Thai (or was it Taiwanese?)
studies I remember seeing early on in the Coronavirus outbreakthat apparently
showed some promise in using HIV drugs to help with treating the Coronavirus.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tumult Hype 1.5 is out with major improvements to the HTML5 builder for Mac OS X - tumultco
http://tumultco.com/blog/2012/02/23/tumult-hype-1-5-is-here/
======
lukeholder
I just don't get that here on hacker news, on an announcement of a new version
of software that someone probably put a lot of work into, the main
conversation is the icon change?
I am sure most people here have the ability to change it to anything they want
- but that is not even the point. I am a UI/UX guy and nothing erks me more
than complaining about such a subjective non-important issue during product
development.
Great work on this release tumultco. If icon complaints are your only issue,
you are doing well.
~~~
cabacon
Here's the thing, though - I clicked through, and started to watch the video
about "25 features in 10 minutes". The icon change is listed as feature #1. I
stopped watching around feature #3-4, because the product wasn't interesting
to me. But as a rule, I think videos like this should be structured like the
canonical newspaper article - put the biggest news up front. That way, at any
point someone stops reading/watching, they have gotten the information that
you thought was most important for them to get.
In other words, if you don't want people to focus on the icon change, don't
highlight it as feature #1 in your time-limited chance to educate people about
the product.
~~~
tumultco
That's a good point. I put it at number one because I knew it was the first
thing that would be noticed anyways and would only take a couple seconds to
show. While I believe it is an improvement I wanted call it out to help manage
the change (as any change can represent friction). Probably the end would have
been a more appropriate place.
Many other places showing what has changed in 1.5 have the "top ten" feature
list in more of a priority order in which I put the icon change in the last
position. The video I made as more of a comprehensive guide to the changes for
our existing users than a highlights video. Ordering in many cases was
somewhat set by the features themselves; for example it is hard to show of
smaller feature of the new animations timing functions without first
discussing the more significant redesigned animation interface, etc.
------
mullr
Browsing through the demo gallery, I become terrified that tools like this
will become popular and poorly done animations will begin saturating the web.
It looks like a fine tool when used appropriately and tastefully, but that's
entirely up to the user. And a long series of Flash-based sites have shown us
that there are many people in the world with poor taste.
For the last number of years, many of us have been able to shield ourselves
from blinking and moving things on the web using some kind of FlashBlock
browser plugin or by not installing flash altogether. This leads me to wonder:
if this kind of content becomes pervasive on the web, can it be blocked?
It may be possible to heuristically identify such content. In the case of
Hype, easy enough. (see
[http://static.tumultco.com/hype/gallery/HolidayCard2/Holiday...](http://static.tumultco.com/hype/gallery/HolidayCard2/HolidayCard2_Resources/holidaycard2_hype_generated_script.js?89177)
for example) Adobe's product appears to use a div with an easily identifiable
naming convention as well. (see
[http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/movement/m...](http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/resources/movement/movement.html))
So this is probably a good approach.
But part of me thinks this can be addressed at a lower level. Fundamentally
what I want to get rid of is things that move of their own volition, rendering
useless the adjacent content. Perhaps scripts that perform continuous DOM
updates could be stopped?
~~~
epo
Many, many years ago I felt the same about GUI driven IDEs (Visual
Basic/Studio, Eclipse, etc). I remember learning woodwork at school and the
teacher saying we wouldn't even be allowed in the same room as a power tool
until we had shown competence with handheld tools. In the hands of the
clueless IDEs allow aimless fiddling to eventually converge on a result and
thus shorten development time by sacrificing code quality. IDEs caught on
anyway, I think I was right to be concerned. I think you are right to be
concerned about Hype but there is nothing you can do about it.
------
dot
iBooks Author widget export is huge. Well done!
I feel like this is one of the best deals in software. $50 is an absolute
steal.
------
tonywebster
I am in love with Hype and I've used it on several projects with startups and
web agencies to make animated demos of mobile apps, HTML5 presentations, etc.
Excited to explore these new features!
------
troymc
In a recent talk, Bret Victor gave a demo of an animation program where you
could just click on an object (a leaf in his demo) and drag it around, and the
software would record the object's position as a function of time. (His demo
actually had the software on an iPad.) It was beautiful, direct, intuitive,
and now I want it in all animation software!
Video of his talk: <http://vimeo.com/36579366>
~~~
tumultco
Bret and I actually overlapped at Apple a little bit, his work has always been
insightful and amazing.
His first demo also is very similar to our own HyperEdit
(<http://tumultco.com/HyperEdit/>) though he takes the concept to the next
level.
------
pavlov
This is a minor quibble, but I'm curious: why did you change the icon?
I quite liked the green hummingbird you had previously. The color was maybe a
bit too dark and uniform so it didn't stand out as much as it could, but the
shape was beautiful and recognizable.
I'm not a fan of this wooden thing on your new icon. To be honest, my first
association was something in an outhouse :)
~~~
mutewinter
I was not a fan of the old icon[1], but the new one isn't better. Way too much
detail on the new icon at smaller sizes.
[1]:<http://static.tumultco.com/press/media/HypeIconShadow.png>
~~~
ugh
Bullshit. <http://i.imgur.com/Nw5gv.png>
That’s how much detail OS X icons are supposed to have. (Have you looked at
the apps that come with the OS?!) Smaller versions with less detail are used
for smaller sizes.
I wish more app developers would actually have such awesome icons. But HN has
to complain. Of course.
~~~
tumultco
Thanks for illustrating how we scale with the screenshot! :)
------
kenrikm
I preferred the hummingbird :( Maybe we need to sign a petition to bring it
back.
Great software though, I purchased it back when it was $29.99 and I'm glad I
did it makes making HTML5 animations extremely easy.
------
navs
Lovely update.
I hope you tackle the orientation/responsive problem soon. At the moment we
show and hide a landscape and portrait version with media queries. Not the
most ideal solution.
~~~
tumultco
Agreed we need to tackle this -- I would definitely like to beef up how we
support mobile devices better.
------
chucknelson
This app looks pretty awesome. It will be interesting to see what competition
springs up in the next year or so.
------
tumultco
Meant to point out that we're YC W11.
------
ivanzhao
What's the main different between Tumult and Adobe Edge?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Writing GUI Apps Using the Red Programming Language - wesleyhill
https://wesleyhill.co.uk/p/writing-gui-apps-using-the-red-programming-language/
======
QuantumAphid
Very cool. I love all of rebol's descendent languages (red, ren-c), and this
is a great article to introduce Red. Well done!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
I Went from Grad School to Prison - theoutlander
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/a29775/cecily-mcmillan-grad-school-to-jail/
======
mabbo
What does society _gain_ from a prison like that?
Imagine a person spends 10 years in that situation, and gets out, what the
hell are they supposed to do now? They have no job skills, no life skills,
they're psychologically damaged. The rate of re-offense isn't high because
'bad people are bad', it's high because we take people in bad situations, and
break them further. We take someone almost-functional, and make them
completely disfunctional.
And anyone who disagrees with this model isn't "tough on crime".
~~~
a3n
> What does society gain from a prison like that?
No, you have to ask, what does a prison like that gain from society?
Once you understand that people are merely a resource for government, law
enforcement and business, things make more sense.
Think about that as you drive by a speed trap, that the police and city
undoubtedly portray as a safety operation, but where the cops hide themselves
because they're not trying to discourage speeding, they're trying to collect
taxes.
Think about that when you see various police organizations stating their
opposition to legalizing marijuana. Is their objection that it may promote
other, still illegal drugs, or that it would reduce LEO job opportunities?
Their only proper stance on the issue, as LEO organizations, is to enforce the
laws that society tells them to.
Think about that as an apparently overzealous prosecutor bullies a plea
bargain out of someone with the threat of life in prison. She's not
overzealous, she doesn't care about society; the victim/defendant is merely a
line on her resume. When a prosecutor's job performance depends on
_convictions_ (rather than truth), then she's going to maximize convictions.
Think about that as you, just a normal citizen who is no threat to anyone, are
monitored, threatened and controlled by unconstitutional surveillance and
police tools that are supposedly intended for, you know, actual terrorists
threats.
~~~
archgoon
> Once you understand that people are merely a resource for government, law
> enforcement and business, things make more sense.
Then why is it that other places in the world, such as Norway, prisons are not
like American prisons? You're claiming that the state in America is simply an
outcome of universal properties of Government, but this outcome is not
universal.
You can't just flippantly say "Things are bad 'cause Gubmint'", when it's
clear that other places have overcome these challenges.
~~~
a3n
I didn't say it's universal, and Norway is apparently a place where reason
wins more than America. They are also differently structured governments and
societies, and the people have different formative experiences.
We are not uniform, and no outcome is inevitable. The way things are in
America are probably more likely in America than elsewhere because of our
unique shared myths and the wieldability of government by evil people.
------
mcenedella
Ms. McMillan was convicted, unanimously, by a jury of her peers. The video of
her assault on the police officer is widely available and can be viewed here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=devvY1cCVFE&oref=https%3A%2F...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=devvY1cCVFE&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdevvY1cCVFE&has_verified=1)
You can draw your own conclusions, but what I see is somebody preparing,
consciously, to use the force of slamming their elbow into a police officer's
face in order to escape from that officer.
Perhaps you disagree with a lot of things -- police militarization,
incarceration rates in this country, unequal outcomes and opportunities based
on socioeconomic factors.
But I don't see how a fair-minded person can agree that we ought to go around
solving our problems by elbowing officers of the law in the eyeball:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/nyregion/officer-
testifies...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/15/nyregion/officer-testifies-
about-encounter-with-occupy-wall-street-protester.html?_r=0)
The woman in this case has repeated problems with the law (and the truth) and
was arrested again last year for impersonating a lawyer in the subway and
interfering with an arrest:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/nyregion/occupy-wall-
stree...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/18/nyregion/occupy-wall-street-
protester-is-out-of-jail-and-back-in-court.html)
As the prosecutors say in that case: "This new arrest mirrors what was on
display throughout the trial: the defendant’s utter contempt for the police
and the important job they do on a daily basis."
Fact-free magazines like Cosmopolitan may display sympathy for people like Ms.
McMillan, but here at HackerNews we should not.
~~~
readerrrr
_You can draw your own conclusions, but what I see is somebody preparing,
consciously, to use the force of slamming their elbow into a police officer 's
face in order to escape from that officer._
What is the point of the wording "preparing consciously"? Can you prepare for
something unconsciously? If someone gropes you from behind, some conscious
effort is required to defend yourself.
_Fact-free magazines like Cosmopolitan may display sympathy for people like
Ms. McMillan, but here at HackerNews we should not._
Please don't use the term "we". I'm not a sociopath and I have sympathy for
people who were treated unjustfully.
~~~
SilasX
>What is the point of the wording "preparing consciously"? Can you prepare for
something unconsciously?
The point was probably to emphasize the premeditation of it, and I agree it
was needlessly verbose. But yes, you can prepare unconsciously, like when your
body has the fight-or-flight response.
------
nnq
Name one important person who ended up in jail for more-or-less-violent
protesting, and ended up having this as a "self transforming" experience. I
can name at least one... _Adolf Hitler_
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler))
...and I think Mr. _Joseph Stalin_ followed a similar career path, though I
know less about the details (but here's a cute mugshot of him:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_Joseph_Stalin#med...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_Joseph_Stalin#mediaviewer/File:Stalin%27s_Mug_Shot.jpg)
)
So, here you go:
Q: How do you severely radicalize a random semi-moderate non-violent
protester?
A: Send him/her to jail.
Thankfully this girl kept a cool head and drew a sane interpretation from it,
but seriously, what are you Americans trying to do, 'cook up' the next
generation of world-wrecking monsters in some insane social-engineering
experiment?!
~~~
jeffdavis
She was convicted of a violent offense.
Are you disputing the verdict or the punishment?
~~~
TophWells
The punishment, from the sound of it.
~~~
jeffdavis
OK, how does the punishment for hitting a police officer in the US compare to
other countries?
~~~
justin66
It's worth noting that the punishment here was pretty over the top even by US
standards. In suburban middle America a college girl with no priors who
bruises a cop will not ordinarily get charged with a _felony._ Some cities
would even take the charge that she was manhandled by cops seriously and
investigate it.
~~~
jeffdavis
That seems like you're disputing the charge/verdict, not the punishment.
What is the normal punishment for felony assault of a police officer for
someone with no priors?
The reason this distinction is important is because disputing the
charge/verdict requires getting involved in the case and seeing the
prosecution's evidence.
~~~
justin66
I was actually with you until here:
> The reason this distinction is important is because disputing the
> charge/verdict requires getting involved in the case and seeing the
> prosecution's evidence.
I don't agree at all but I also think we've seen enough of the evidence that
there's not really much factually to dispute. (We know a lot more than the
jury did, which is a very common and very depressing situation but also a
separate topic)
Anyhow, felony charges are usually reserved for people who do a lot of damage,
on purpose, and who have prior convictions. I agree that there's a distinction
to be made between the seriousness of charges and the severity of those
charges associated punishment - they're determined by different parts of
government, if nothing else - but I don't think as much hangs on it as you
seem to, vis a vis the way different places treat crimes more or less
severely. Heavy handedness in one area correlates with heavy-handedness in the
other, after all.
------
ithought
_I 'll agree not to charge you with a felony and potentially lock in you in
cage if you agree not to have a third party examine the facts of this case,
and instead plead to a misdemeanor and pay a fine._
Is there any possible reform for the disaster that is the plea system? I
realize it's necessarily in some situations but the result is you are never
not guilty of some crime. The prosecution virtually never loses. Truth and
justice are nowhere to be found.
~~~
dunmalg
>Is there any possible reform for the disaster that is the plea system?
Prohibit prosecutors from going to trial with charges any higher than they
offered in the plea deal. If they offer to (say) let you plead to only
misdemeanor drug possession, then they shouldn't be allowed to then prosecute
for felony drug possession, resisting arrest, plus anything else they can
think of simply because you dared to ask for a jury trial. Sentencing can
still be somewhat variable, which would offer an actual incentive to those
that know they're caught-holding-the-bag guilty, but would not be such a
ruinously life destroying difference that it would frighten the innocent into
taking the pllea when they did nothing wrong. The argument against plea
bargain reform from prosecutors is always along the lines of "the courts could
never handle all those cases, so we have to discourage jury trials as best we
can", and frankly, that line of reasoning is bullshit. If there aren't enough
resources to offer a jury trial to every offender, then I say we have a crisis
of constitutional proportions, and dealing with it by gaming the system to
force people to forego their rights simply to improve efficiency is a far more
evil thing than most of the crimes people plead to.
------
S4M
> The judge didn't allow evidence that my attorney wanted to show the jury,
> including a range of videos of the incident.
That's the part I find the most shocking in this article. Aren't trials
supposed to be fair? What are the kind of evidences that are not allowed to be
shown?
~~~
mcenedella
NYTimes: "Jurors were also shown several YouTube videos of Officer Bovell, 35,
in March 2012 getting elbowed in his left eye by Ms. McMillan, 25, who is
charged with assaulting a police officer. She has maintained that Officer
Bovell groped her breast, and that she reacted without knowing he was a police
officer. He has denied that he touched her breast.
The shaky videos showed Ms. McMillan, a labor organizer, in a bright green
dress, jumping back and planting her elbow in Officer Bovell’s face.
“She crouched down and lunged backward, elbowing me in the eye,” Officer
Bovell said. “It’s like a white light in the face.”"
[http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/nyregion/officer-stands-
by...](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/17/nyregion/officer-stands-by-his-
account-of-scuffle-at-occupy-wall-street-protest.html)
~~~
S4M
I don't disagree with what you are saying, but you are not answering my
question.
------
davidf18
I live in NYC and I didn't read the entire article, but what stood out for me
(beneath the picture) was the $167K per year that each prisoner on Rikers
costs NYC!
The story of her re-arrest for confronting a police officer in the NYTimes
story mentioned in the first comment suggests some underlying contributing
psychological issues.
------
transfire
One day a civilized nation will look back on America prisons as we now look
back on the Bastille.
~~~
pedrosorio
You don't need to wait for the future:
[http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-s...](http://m.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/why-
scandinavian-prisons-are-superior/279949/)
------
auvrw
the grad school -> prison movement isn't new.. i recall a friend who, as far
as i know, went from a ritzy grad school to jail based on some fairly radical
eco-"terrorism".... incarceration is a really scary thing, and there's a gamut
of types there. i have a feeling that this was an experience for the article's
author for sure, but, although it may be a platitute, i feel as though i ought
to say, "it could be worse."
------
ryanmarsh
I'm glad she wrote this. In prison you don't just "serve your time". Instead
you are abused and neglected, criminally so.
Source: My brother went to prison with a 70 year sentence. He was 17.
------
dbg31415
I don't love cops, but you don't hit cops. No matter what the cop does, you
don't hit the cop. 58 days... she got off with a slap on the wrist.
~~~
mindcrime
Sure you do. A person has the right to defend themselves when assaulted, even
if the assaulter happens to be wearing a shitty tin badge and carrying a gun
and night-stick. We should not mistake the so-called "authority" of the State
as having any legitimacy that can trump our innate rights, of which self-
defense is about as fundamental as they get.
------
appleflaxen
prisons in the US are unconscionable. the abuse by guards, the prevalence of
prison rape (by an HIV-positive inmate, no less), the capricious behavior by
the staff. It is a shameful system.
------
digitalengineer
"... And the right to a fair trial...' Yeah right...
------
kukabynd
world done fucked up
------
guard-of-terra
Someone should become dead for this.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
GoDaddy Silences Police-Watchdog Site RateMyCop.com - nickb
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/godaddy-silence.html
======
mixmax
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
ZFS versus RAID: Eight Ironwolf disks, two filesystems, one winner - sharjeelsayed
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/05/zfs-versus-raid-eight-ironwolf-disks-two-filesystems-one-winner/
======
kyuudou
First paragraph of conclusion:
"If you're looking for raw, unbridled performance it's hard to argue against a
properly-tuned pool of ZFS mirrors. RAID10 is the fastest per-disk
conventional RAID topology in all metrics, and ZFS mirrors beat it
resoundingly—sometimes by an order of magnitude—in every category tested, with
the sole exception of 4KiB uncached reads."
However, test rig is using rusty spindles and is generally very low-fi.
There's no hardware RAID controller and only SAS 6G 7200rpm 12TB Seawolfs are
used. I'd hardly call this a relevant test of ZFS vs. every other RAID in that
sense. A comparison rig with a RAID controller and some tiered storage with
DRAM cache etc would be a little more fair.
The other big issue IMO is that every scenario one would consider high-
performance storage (cloud architecture, HPC, specialized heavy write DB apps,
to name a few), Linux is probably running with an app stack heavily invested
in some distro of it, which does not have native drivers for it (ZFS) due to
Oracle's inherited licensing from Sun which is not GPL.
FreeBSD is the next obvious choice since its ZFS implementation supposedly
kicks ass but there are significant development and architecture issues there.
Doing storage (or any) performance metrics is kind of a black art and this is
like a cute dalliance with some SOHO stack you'd find at your mom's local
accounting firm.
Still, I love ZFS and the BSDs but I think this article... well, sucks.
~~~
znpy
> FreeBSD is the next obvious choice since its ZFS implementation supposedly
> kicks ass
Wasn't FreeBSD rebasing onto ZfsOnLinux ?
~~~
_salmon
Yes, FreeBSD will be switching to ZoL -
[https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-
fs/2018-December...](https://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-
fs/2018-December/027085.html)
~~~
znpy
Cool, so the point "FreeBSD because zfs on FreeBSD is better" is bs, I guess.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stripe: We reached our goal of net-zero emissions in a matter of months - beNjiox
https://stripe.com/environment
======
shoo
It is positive to see stripe is voluntarily doing this.
That said, the analysis ignores net emissions (positive or negative) that may
arise as a consequence of how stripe's business impacts their customers and
the overall economy and environment. This impact is plausibly dramatically
larger than any of the categories like servers or employee travel that were
accounted for.
E.g. thought experiment: suppose your business helps other businesses lift
their revenues by selling more stuff to "consumers". Suppose these other
businesses have a profit margin of around 20%, and your service is priced at
around 10% of the value that it provides your customers.
Then if your business has a revenue of $X, this revenue is created by
generating about $10X of value for your customers, which in turn is their
profit margin from your helping them increase their revenue by about $50X. So
the obvious direct and indirect greenhouse emissions generated by your
business with $X of revenue (including energy use, renting servers, flying
employees about the place) are likely going to be insignificant compared to
the change in greenhouse emissions generated by whatever change in economic
activity was triggered by the $50X lift in customer revenue driven by the core
purpose of your business.
This change in economic activity could be hugely negative from an
environmental perspective (eg if your customers advertise and sell unnecessary
physical stuff to "consumers") or perhaps positive (e.g. maybe you audit your
customers and only take them on if they sell products/services that have a
positive environmental impact compared to alternatives).
It's probably a bit rough to expect individuals or business to be able to
assess and measure this- it'd be much easier everyone participating in these
economic activities agreed to a carbon price.
------
sova
No Stripe, you are not carbon neutral, because people turn their computers on
and turn their routers on to connect to your service. That's like saying the
natural gas headquarters is carbon neutral because the plumbing is the
customer's problem. You took a great informational page on Global Climate
Progression but made the headline some pompous clickbait title. Since when is
Global Climate Progression a competition? We're all going to suffer greatly,
so No you are not carbon neutral and I am appalled you'd be so daring to make
such a sweeping claim when clearly every kiosk that runs Stripe contributes to
the problem. Not as much as some things, true, but certainly not neutral.
~~~
GhostVII
I would still consider them carbon neutral, if the kiosks want to be carbon
neutral that is their responsibility. By your logic essentially no service or
company can be carbon neutral because their customers are not.
~~~
sova
Correct. Since we all share one planet it's worthless for half of us to be
carbon neutral.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Current Mobile Patent Suits - Graphic of the Day - ColinWright
http://blog.thomsonreuters.com/index.php/mobile-patent-suits-graphic-of-the-day
======
ColinWright
Here's another rendering of the same thing:
<http://www.solipsys.co.uk/images/MobileSuits.png>
There may be errors, I gave myself 5 minutes to replicate it.
ADDED IN EDIT:
Thank you to the people who've got in touch.
1\. I've fixed the omissions - thanks
2\. I did it to see how clean and simple the graphic can be. The existing ones
were either misleading and unhelpful, or seemed to be whizzy/technical for the
sake of being whizzy/technical.
I like a single, simple, clean image.
FINAL EDIT: Now added the indication of who uses Google's Android OS
~~~
robin_reala
Motorola are owned by Google right? Or is the part of Motorola that’s suing /
being sued the bit they didn’t buy?
~~~
ori_b
Not yet. There's still a good deal of stuff that needs to happen before the
acquisition can proceed.
------
ndefinite
The Reuters graphic intentionally confuses. Mike Bostock (D3.js creator) has
made a much more clear graphic: <http://bl.ocks.org/1153292>
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Agreed. By eye you can see 'components' are in the wrong places, can easily
imagine better layouts with shorter, straighter paths.
------
mindstab
Apple really seems to enjoy suing people. So much for their old "we're indie
and fighting the evil empire" mantra :/
~~~
SoftwareMaven
Or Apple is a convenient target with lots of cash. Or, more likely, Apple
feels like it really does own its IP and that it would be catastrophic to it's
business to see hundreds of iPhone clones running around. Apple is also trying
to jump into lawsuits they weren't named in for their develoers' sakes.
Just knowing how many lines are coming out of a place doesn't give knowledge
of who is right or wrong. The stupid laws beget stupid law suits.
More interesting will be to see the outcomes. Apple doesn't generally like
cross-licensing, so they may go all the way to verdict. If the suits were
frivolous, we should find out.
~~~
throwaway32
In most (all?) of the cases listed in the graphic, apple is the one that
started litigation, and then was countersued, this has nothing to do with
apple being a "convenient target with lots of cash", nor are any of these
suits "for their develoers' sakes".
------
St-Clock
The graphic would be much more interesting if we could see the indirect links
targeting Google. I believe that patent suits targeting B&N and Samsung (a
subset maybe) are really targeted toward Google.
------
naner
If this is about _mobile_ patent suits, why is Amazon included? I know Amazon
pays Microsoft licensing to use Linux on their servers, but that has nothing
to do with mobile.
~~~
gcb
for one i remember apple suing it for using appstore.
but there is no line for that
------
bfe
With regard to licensing, this graphic is incomplete. It would be interesting
to see a thorough version.
------
bluelu
Centuries ago, you would write that all paths lead to rome.
Today, all paths lead from Apple.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How Cheap Can Electric Vehicles Get? - Osiris30
http://rameznaam.com/2016/04/12/how-cheap-can-electric-vehicles-get/
======
dsfyu404ed
A cheap used economy car will still have the lowest cost per mile for a very
long time....
When you factor purchase price into the equation gas vehicles win by a long
ways since you need X years of EV economy cars on the market before you can
get an X year old used EV. EV's will need to fill the same market segment as
today's Chevy Aveos and Toyota Yarii (plural of Yaris?) for a decade or more
before they're competitive in price at the bottom chunk of the used car
market. E.g. if a 2030 Civic EV is price competitive with a 2030 Civic
gasoline then it'll be 2045 or later before they're both competing for the
"cheapest cost per mile." Theoretically, the EV wins that hands down because
when purchase price is so small the operating cost dominates the cost per mile
(less maintenance, cheaper gas). The problem with that is that with current
tech you won't be able to find a 15yo EV without trashed batteries, so the
hypothetical $2k 2030 gas civic vs $2k 2030 EV civic comparison goes out the
window because the EV needs batteries replaced or will need them replaced soon
and you can't exactly buy used batteries at the junkyard (they wear out) so
you'll need to shell out big bucks for that new replacement battery, and I'd
bet that whatever a new battery costs in 2045 will still buy a heck of a lot
of gas and maintenince...
"But storage tech will improve and batteries will be able to withstand a
bajillion cycles without replacement" Sure, but why would the OEMs put a big
battery that's good to 1,000,000mi in a car when they can get away with one
that's good to half that, reduce cost, weight, etc
TD;DR, EVs will be cheaper soon the same way cars will all be driving
themselves next year.
~~~
madaxe_again
You assume a constant price for gasoline, which is a bold assumption, given
that the oil markets are currently gyrating wildly, and have been for some
time - we're likely to see prices at the pump go up by orders of magnitude
over a relatively short timescale, which will provide a big push towards EV
adoption, and will drive people away from older vehicles which guzzle gas.
No, it isn't going to be overnight, but like most transitions, it's going to
happen far more quickly than you think. In 1905 people thought that most
people would still be using horses in a century, that cars were just too
expensive and niche, that horses were good enough. Horses were obsolete within
15 years of private automobiles being a thing - by 1920 more freight was
hauled and more passenger-miles were travelled by internal combustion than
horse, in the US.
EVs have been around for seven years, in a "real" form, give or take, their
adoption rate is similar to that of the original gasoline automobiles when
compared to horses.
I give it seven more years before they're dominant.
I'm also putting my money where my mouth is, and I've been buying up nice dirt
cheap houses on busy, noisy, polluted roads. They'll be nice, not so cheap
houses on less busy, quiet, clean roads in fifteen years.
~~~
greedo
Gotta call BS. Gas in my area is currently $2/gal. I think it's highly
unlikely to go up "orders of magnitude" in a short timescale, unless you're
intentionally using weasel words. There's plenty of oil around, wells are
being capped due to oversupply/drop in demand.
~~~
philovivero
I think the "orders of magnitude" phrase was a misunderstanding of exactly how
large an order of magnitude is. Probably meant "an order of magnitude."
I could see gas jumping to $20/gal pretty quickly if things go wrong in the
right way.
~~~
greedo
Short of a revolution in Saudi Arabia, or something along those lines, oil/gas
costs aren't going to go up 10x. Although gas isn't perfectly linked to oil
prices, a barrel of oil isn't going to hit $450 anytime soon. There's far too
much accessible oil at under $100/barrel for this to occur.
~~~
kirrent
Exactly, people seem to forget how many oil sources are out there which become
profitable at about $100 a barrel.
~~~
aidenn0
In addition, the fuel cost-per-mile (so I'm ignoring maintenance), is capped
at about 30-40x that of an electric as we already know how to directly convert
air and water into gasoline or ethanol substitutes at approximately that
energy ratio (~10x the chemical energy, plus ~3-4x the thermodynamic
efficiency of car versus battery cycle)
------
pmontra
A car sharing service in Milan, Italy, is using small two seater electric cars
from China.
Prompted by this article I finally investigated and found them at
[http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-
eec-l7e-80-elect...](http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/China-
eec-l7e-80-electric-car_60432063640.html) They're quoted with a maximum price
of $8000.
They're definitely made for driving inside a city. Not very good suspensions
(don't drive too fast on cobble stones) but good torque (easily beats a gas
car out of a green light). 120 km of autonomy, which is good enough in the
typical European city center, apparently 80 km/h max speed, which again is
more than enough there. Very easy to park.
More important matters:
Would I survive a crash? They're very tiny...
How long to recharge?
Operating costs? I'm paying 19 Eurocents per minute, all included.
Do they compete with gas cars? The other two car sharing companies in Milan
have gas cars and cost 25 and 29 cents per minute. I prefer the electric one:
it's a shakier ride but cheaper and more fun because of the torque.
~~~
S_A_P
I feel like the size = safety is fallacious. Size _can_ equal safety, but its
not a guarantee. Sure I would not want to get hit by a 3 ton lifted SUV with
ranch style bumpers on it. I would feel that way even if what I were driving
was a 3 ton suv with the same bumpers. There was an NHTSA video a few years
back of a modern chevy impala hitting a 1959 impala and the much larger 59
getting demolished, while the new one had much more survivable damage. Safety
cages, and metallurgy have made cars much safer, even small ones. I drive a
mid sized sedan, and feel that I have a pretty reasonable chance of surviving
a crash so long as I am not hit by a vehicle that is so tall the bumper goes
through my windows and doesn't hit any significant metal surface of my car.
~~~
Someone1234
This issue was covered in great depth when the Smart Car (e.g. Fortwo) got
popular in Europe. Smart Cars have a lot of safety features, seat belts,
airbags (4x), ABS, stability control, but the question was really about impact
distribution.
They put in a tridion protection cell[0] and moved the engine to the back to
offer SOME crumple at the front. The Euro NCAP rated it 4/5, IIHS rated it
"good" but it later failed the partial frontal collision test ("poor").
A Smart Car likely would do alright in most collisions. Although it somewhat
benefits from the large crumple zones of every other vehicle has on the road.
If two Smart Cars collided head on, the results might be worse than if a Smart
Car collided with any other vehicle type.
That all being said, just because Smart managed it, doesn't mean every small
car is equally safe. Without the tridion cell and SOME crumple zone, it would
be a much less safe vehicle.
[0] [http://auto.howstuffworks.com/smart-
car1.htm](http://auto.howstuffworks.com/smart-car1.htm)
~~~
Retric
If your driving in a city and never break 45mph then overall risks change
significantly.
I drive a relatively small car for the US, and it's about the minimum I would
consider safe at 70MPH. But, if you are spending 98% of your time in the city
then simply renting a larger car becomes very viable. You can rent a mid size
SUV at ~600$ per week and for a longer vacation you can upsize for minimal
cost. Further, if your flying somewhere your car becomes meaningless anyway.
PS: Remember a tiny electric could end up saving you 250+$ / month.
~~~
tomtang0514
FYI, the IIHS small overlap frontal test, which I personally consider as the
"hardest" test today, is done at 40mph. By that saying, a crash in the city
can be worse than the test result.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_Institute_for_Highwa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_Institute_for_Highway_Safety#Small_overlap_frontal_test)
~~~
Retric
You can have a partial overlap at 40MPH or 70MPH, the second is much more
difficult to survive.
------
PinguTS
This article has lots of false assumptions. To phrase it positively, the
article ignores a lot of facts.
_EVs are simpler devices than gasoline-powered vehicles. They have a smaller
number of parts, making them easier to assemble. At similar scale to gas
vehicles, electric vehicles should indeed be lower cost to built.
In addition, EVs have many fewer moving parts (in the engine and drivetrain in
particular) than internal combustion vehicles. That further means lower
construction cost for the most complex and costly part of a vehicle, and far
lower maintenance cost._
While it is true, the engine and drive train has fewer parts, when I reduce it
to motor and battery. But in fact every EV has a gear, including the Tesla.
Yes, this gear is much simpler, but it is there and even runs with oil that
has to be replaced every 100.000 miles like in every other car. The battery is
as complex as an engine itself. Because you need to measure lots of sensors
values and to control that it will not explode and not wear down to fast.
Every battery, including the one in the Tesla, has a dedicated heating and
cooling system just for the battery within the battery.
Then also lots of parts in car are the very same like brakes, steering, air
condition, windows, and so. Remember that a current car is about 30% software
and will be more in future. But there is only 1 engine control unit. The most
of the parts are other things to control safety or personal comfort.
_Electric vehicles, today, have lower total costs per mile than equivalent
gasoline-powered vehicles, due to lower energy costs of electricity and the
lower maintenance costs._
That neglects the fact, that most of the maintenance costs are not engine
related. Like the brakes have to be regularly checked. It neglects the fact,
that a battery will wear out sometimes between 3 to 6 years and has to be
replaced, which is a huge cost related issue. The guarantee Tesla has, does
not help, because you will pay for that guarantee otherwise.
~~~
perbu
I think you're overestimating the battery capacity loss. There is a Dutch
study which concludes the following:
_Based on 84 data points from the 85-kWh version of the Model S and six from
60-kWh cars, the study concludes that the Model S will retain about 94 percent
of its capacity after 50,000 miles, with losses thereafter shrinking to about
1 percent per 30,000 miles.
That means that after 100,000 miles, the typical Model S is projected to
retain about 92 percent of its battery capacity and range._
So what "fact" you are relying on stating the battery will have to be replaced
between 3 and 6 years is probably not very factual. Other, simpler EVs,
lacking the rather sophisticated battery management system of the Model S
might degrade quicker - especially in warmer climates, but nowhere near as
fast as you state.
Other than that, you're right in that most EVs are almost as complex as a
modern ICE. They need to be checked regularly and will need repairs.
~~~
forgetsusername
> _There is a Dutch study which concludes the following_
You should probably link to the study.
> _3 and 6 years is probably not very factual._
3 years might be early, but I have a hard time believing that Tesla has hit on
some magic as far as batteries are concerned. The drain on anything I have at
home is far more than what you state; my phone battery certainly isn't much
good after 6 years.. But I have no idea. I guess we'll see as the current
Teslas age.
~~~
mikeash
It's a completely different scenario from your phone battery. Your phone
battery gets charged to 100% every day (if you're like most people), gets
discharged deeply on a regular basis, and has no thermal management. Tesla
batteries are typically charged to 90% or less, with the 100% charge level
being reserved for long trips, they're typically not using a particularly
large fraction of the battery (most people don't drive 200+ miles every day),
and there's a sophisticated thermal management system that keeps the batteries
at the optimal temperature.
What kills lithium batteries is time, cycle count, heat, and extreme states of
charge. A Tesla battery has a massive advantage on three out of those four
compared to consumer electronics, which is why comparing to your phone or
laptop isn't very informative.
------
JulianMorrison
I confidently predict, in my lifetime,
\- Nearly all cars will be electric.
\- Nearly all cars will be self driving.
\- Nearly all cars will be Uber, or something like it.
\- Exceptions to the above will be owned by the same sort of people who
currently own Ford model Ts. They will be lovingly maintained, proudly
exhibited, and illegal to drive on the public highway.
~~~
djrogers
>illegal to drive on the public highway.
Model T's are not illegal to drive today... And you've got a lot more public
sentiment to overcome and a LOT more cars to replace than you think if you
believe all of this will happen in the next 50 years.
~~~
JulianMorrison
As with film cameras, internal combustion cars have a long logistical tail
that is highly dependent on the continued existence of the current volume of
use. So when electric cars start squeezing them out, gas stations and repair
garages will start to disappear, prices will go up for fuel and parts. Poor
people with junker gasoline cars they really don't want to replace will be
driving longer to find fuel and sooner or later will be driven to either
convert their car or sell it for scrap. The only demographic that will be able
to afford to run them will be moneyed enthusiasts. Once they effectively
disappear from the roads (and the voting booth) the government will ban them.
I expect that taxis and trucks will be mandated self-driving before cars will,
because the safety upside will be obvious and huge, and the government is used
to meddling in those industries. Seeing the results of that, there will be a
sustained public pressure to mandate it for cars, with each accident splashed
on the news and reporters saying "if only". As above, they'll first become
rare and then banned.
------
martythemaniak
I was thinking about the same thing a few months ago, so I wrote a blog post,
which then turned into a little calculator.
[http://martin.drashkov.com/2015/09/how-cheap-can-
autonomous-...](http://martin.drashkov.com/2015/09/how-cheap-can-autonomous-
cars-get.html)
Paying 15-20 cents per kilometre to ride in an autonomous taxi seems
achievable. This means that public transit could become slightly cheaper and
self-sustaining. At this rate, it also means people will likely be travelling
a lot more, so maybe the price will go up again because of congestion charges.
------
LoSboccacc
today I got married. according to projection, in a month I'll have 30 wives
~~~
taneq
Unlikely. You weigh a kilogram more after the reception, in a month you'll be
30kg overweight so you have to take that into account (unless you set your
survey period to end mid-reception when you're at your funniest after a few
beers, so your d(sense-of-humour)/d(weight) remains above 1. ;)
------
Animats
Auto internal combustion engines aren't that expensive to make. A base Ford
engine cost about $100 to make in the 1980s. Today's cars have more cost in
the electronics than in the powertrain.
The Tata Nano, the world's cheapest car, originally cost about $1500. But Tata
discovered that the versions with more features sold better. It also flunked
even basic crash tests.
------
Shivetya
When they perfect the fuel cells stack technologies then electric cars will
get cheaper. The issue with batteries is their power to weight ratio is not
good. Who wants 400kg of batteries added to the mass of every car?
BMW did show the direction the market will go to overcome that weight,
composites for the rest of the car. Aluminum was good when it came about but
composites are the only future.
I do think the 100 mile range city car is a good opportunity to exploit
provided they get it to city car sizes (read: Smart) and make it cheap that
its such a viable alternative you cannot say no. In the US this would be 10k
to 12k new pricing but specifically they would always be leased which would
further increase affordability. The key to acceptance is getting people to
accept a smaller package single purpose vehicle
------
superuser2
Don't forget that EV ownership effectively requires land ownership. If you
rent your parking space, good luck getting a charger installed. If you park on
the street, good luck convincing the city to install more than a small handful
of token EV spots.
A house in the suburbs with a garage that I could do electrical work on would
account for the vast majority of the cost if I wanted an EV.
~~~
Grishnakh
That's a problem right now, but it's solvable. Cities that wanted to push EV
adoption could easily pass a law requiring landlords to install chargers, and
of course the city could install their own chargers for street parking.
Obviously this won't happen everywhere, so some cities will be much better
places to have an EV than others.
Don't forget that as EVs become more popular, landlords who are EV-friendly
will do better than those who aren't.
------
nosuchthing
An addon kit for a bicycle is currently around ~$400-$1500.
With more cities rolling out ebike stations things are looking good.
[http://www.monoprice.com/pages/ebikekit](http://www.monoprice.com/pages/ebikekit)
------
kozak
So, can an electric car (not counting the cost of the battery) be
realistically cheaper than a gasoline one within the next 5-10 years? I know
that the number of moving parts is smaller, but these parts that are there are
kind of higher tech.
~~~
bagels
The battery costs are all that prevent electric cars from being cheaper.
~~~
boredpudding
I found this:
> Bereisa based his analysis on the base Model 3 being offered with a 60 kWh
> battery, like the Bolt, and on Tesla achieving a cost of ~$190/kWh. He
> estimates that Tesla’s current battery pack cost (cells, casing, cooling and
> entire pack) is at $260/kWh, while GM’s is at $215/kWh. GM’s cells and
> battery pack are manufactured by its partner LG Chem.
On Elektrek.co
Let's say you need a 50 kWh battery to have a usable range, and it costs $
190/kWh, then the battery will cost $ 9,500 dollar.
And that is within the next 2 years. So.. it's going down extremely fast.
------
dovdov
So you get an electric model of the same car. It costs about double. Even if
fuel prices double/triple, you can easy fill up at least for 10 years off the
difference. Now, ask yourself how often do you replace your car. :)
~~~
epistasis
The question is what is the lifespan of the car, and the total cost of
ownership over that period, not how long a single person owns a car.
~~~
dovdov
Well, you have to replace the battery after about 10 years. And yes, maybe the
resale value is more important.
------
jopython
The recharge time will be a major factor in EV adoption. Currently it takes a
couple or so minutes to fully fill a gas tank. I will wait until Battery
charging tech gets there.
------
ninju
The author should also show a decline line on the prices of the average (and
lowest cost) cars on his graph because I am sure the cost will come down for
all types of cars
------
donretag
Subsidies must have some effect on the price. As the government subsidies for
electric vehicles diminishes, the overall price diminishes as well.
------
gregwtmtno
The author believes that electric cars will be better for ride sharing
services than gasoline cars because the cost per ride is cheaper.
I'm not sure I agree. Unlike private cars, shared cars are in use many more
hours per day and charging time versus gasoline refill time should be
considered.
~~~
icebraining
Three years ago Tesla already had a robot that could replace a battery in 90s:
[https://www.teslamotors.com/videos/battery-swap-
event](https://www.teslamotors.com/videos/battery-swap-event)
~~~
dragontamer
Yeah. Except no one can figure out how the system would work.
The Roadster's battery pack costs $28,000. The Tesla Model S's battery pack is
expected to cost $10,000+ AFTER the efficiency of the Gigafactory in 2020.
Swapping out a $10,000+ part and sharing it between cars is going to be a
major, MAJOR business / economic question. How do you do it fairly? How do you
ensure that the quality of the battery remains the same? Can people cheat the
system?
~~~
misthop
In the sharing paradigm it is Tesla, or a large fleet service, who owns all
the vehicles. In that case they have their own battery swapping sites and they
own all of the batteries. Fairness only come into play if you are assuming
private ownership of the vehicles.
------
frankus
It may seem like a minor nitpick, but the title should be "How Cheap Can
Electric _Cars_ Get?".
It's a bit like equating "Digital Camera" with "DSLR", and ignoring camera
phones as a source of disruption.
------
jhoechtl
Down to the sum of the prices of its components.
------
sickbeard
How are EV's disruptive technology?
------
mark-r
Such an interesting premise, such a flawed assumption...
An electric car shares most of its parts with a gas one, so you can't expect
any savings from economies of scale there. Going back to the Model T for the
cost curve is just laughable.
~~~
mikeyouse
> An electric car shares most of its parts with a gas one
Definitely depends on how you qualify 'most'. An electric car has nearly none
of the mechanical complexity of an ICE car. Look at the engine bay and
undercarriage of a typical internal combustion car:
[http://i.imgur.com/uDxSsR2.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/uDxSsR2.jpg)
Gas tank, fuel lines, transmission, engine, drive shaft, spark plugs /
distributor cap, muffler, exhaust system, fuel pump, engine, air intake,
turbo/super chargers if necessary, oil pumps / reservoirs, etc. -- many
hundreds of parts can be shaved off of full electric cars.
I'm firmly in the camp that Tesla is going to have a much more difficult time
that people predict in shipping a mass-market car, but that doesn't change the
fact that it's much easier to build an electric car than an ICE one.
~~~
dragontamer
> Gas tank, fuel lines, transmission, engine, drive shaft, spark plugs /
> distributor cap, muffler, exhaust system, fuel pump, engine, air intake,
> turbo/super chargers if necessary, oil pumps / reservoirs, etc. -- many
> hundreds of parts can be shaved off of full electric cars.
Battery software, Battery management, Battery coolant. Electric Drivetrain.
The Drivetrain in particular seems to be rather complicated. Consider that
Edmunds was forced to replace their Drivetrain FOUR times in two years:
[http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-
tes...](http://www.edmunds.com/tesla/model-s/2013/long-term-road-
test/2013-tesla-model-s-drive-unit-iv-the-milling.html)
Note that modern engines have a lot of parts because we KNOW which parts wear
out over time. Spark Plugs for example wear out, and its very simple to
replace spark plugs to recondition an ICE engine.
What wears out in an electric vehicle? Do the permanent magnets in the
induction motor require replacement in 10 years? Nobody knows! Probably not,
but there's probably something in there that needs replacement (due to rust or
whatnot).
Eventually, electric motors will grow to have more parts. Not because they
NEED more parts, but because we will learn what parts SHOULD have replacing.
Replacing a $4000 drivetrain whenever "something" is wrong? That's a problem.
Replacing the $1000 permanent magnet in the induction motor? Well, that will
be a better problem, but will require long-term testing before Tesla is able
to discover (let alone solve) those problems.
Consider this: Hard Drives have more moving parts than Solid State Drives, as
do Tape Drives. Yet we place more trust in them than SSDs because we really
don't know the failure modes of SSDs.
~~~
Vendan
You may place more faith in HDD, but I place my faith in SSD, cause it _lacks_
the failure cases that HDD's have. For instance, I can drop my laptop and not
worry about the HDD, I don't have to worry about strong magnetic fields, and
so on. And there has been extensive testing done on SSDs.
------
akgerber
'Disruptive' means something worse and cheaper than eventually overtakes its
more better, expensive competitors, like microcomputers versus mainframes.
Which makes the current market-winning electric cars, which are generally both
more expensive and better than gasoline cars, not disruptive:
[http://www.vox.com/2016/4/12/11394260/tesla-not-
disruptive](http://www.vox.com/2016/4/12/11394260/tesla-not-disruptive)
------
grandalf
When you buy a car in the US, most of what you pay for is fancy molded plastic
and attractive sheet metal work, cleverly organized by the manufacturer into
trim level "tiers" intended to create maximum perceived value.
The package is then financed or leased with incentive financing and the sights
are set on getting you to replace it after 2-4 years whether it needs to be
replaced or not.
I think a 6 passenger mini-van could be manufactured for the US market
(electric or gasoline) for under $8K if all the frills were removed.
This would entail simple, rubber bench seats, no radio (just a plastic bracket
to snap in a smart-phone, which would also be used as a speedometer, and the
smallest allowable engine.
I'd like to see an open hardware platform for car chassis, perhaps modeled
after a successful platform like some of the 1980s Toyota trucks, designed to
use abundantly available OEM and 3rd party parts.
Of course, self-driving electric cars might leap into reality before any of
this is relevant, but once we stop owning our own vehicle, firms can focus on
cost cutting for their fleets in ways that will usher in similar platform-
style improvements that are difficult when people pick cars for aesthetic and
emotional reasons.
~~~
mywittyname
This isn't really possible to produce a sub $8k, even with an "open" platform.
The reason I know this is because the VW Minibus, which was engineered in the
40s has been sold in Brazil from 1953-2013 with very little change. Want to
know how much a brand new van designed 60 years ago would cost you? $18,000
USD.
That's a vehicle whose engineering and equipment was paid for decades ago,
that received numerous exemptions to tightening safety and emission standards
and could be produced in a region with cheap labor. It was also the cheapest
vehicle of its kind on the Brazilian market.
Super cheap cars like the Versa are really only possible because Nissan
figured out how to build value without making money. The $11k stripper model
is a good for marketing (i.e., inflated fuel economy #; generates interest in
the low price, even if they aren't viable), money can be made on the back-end
(financing), lowers lease residuals, it can be used to keep factories at full
capacity, and helps negotiate lower prices with suppliers.
~~~
felixlechat
We have super cheap car in Europe which cost much less (see Dacia). And for
exemple, Renault is selling a 3500€ car in India
([https://www.renault.co.in/vehicles/personal-
cars/kwid.html](https://www.renault.co.in/vehicles/personal-cars/kwid.html)).
As a note, this same auto manufacturer is leader of electric car in Europe
with Renault Zoe
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Zoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Zoe)),
even if sells are disapointing due to poor autonomy.
~~~
mywittyname
Yes, but that's a compact car, not a van.
The Renault Lodgy is more a more appropriate comparison and it starts around 9
lakh ($13500/12000€)in India. Which is still substantially more than our $8k
target price.
~~~
felixlechat
Right, but I can imagine Renault doing a van on the same basis. From
4000$(3500€) to 8000$ is a huge gap for changing only the auto body. It is
also funny to see that Dacia Lodgy is more expensive in India than here in
France with more regulation where it cost 9900€ ([http://www.dacia.fr/gamme-
dacia/lodgy/](http://www.dacia.fr/gamme-dacia/lodgy/)), closer to your target
price.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Irish teenagers make dotcom millions - papersmith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/28/technology
======
Harj
unfortunately the press have sensationalized things here, we never claimed to
have made "millions" and we know this deal isn't the "we've made it" one it's
being portrayed as. i'll blog about our thinking behind the sale in more
detail. here's the nutshell version:
\- we were at an inflection point. our initial launch went well, we were
getting traction. we had three choices: angel, vc or acquisition.
\- this particular acquisition gave us a cash component that made us each very
happy (i worked out that it'd have been almost 7 years before i'd have seen
this much liquid cash working as a corporate attorney at one of the world's
largest law firms).
\- our upside hasn't been capped. if we deliver the value we think we can,
we'll make at least the same (if not more) than if we'd kept growing
auctomatic independently and sold for tens of millions - not many early exits
keep that potential upside while substantially derisking the downside (stock
of a public co will always have some value, unlike a startup where it's all or
nothing).
\- the Live Current guys are fundamentally great guys. they've given us
freedom to go away and build things how we want. of course we're going to be
held accountable if we don't deliver but there's no issue of "9 - 5 hours" or
"office politics". we're still working essentially as an independent company.
we're not being exiled to vancouver - we'll be back in the valley after a few
months to build out the teams we want to work with.
given all this we felt this was the right decision. we can only deal with the
situation in the present and right now, we're ecstatic about the deal and the
future.
~~~
vlad
Cool. Congrats! So, once again, you're missing Startup School. :/
I saw a few problems with auctomatic. Number one, I was never sure how this
would work out considering eBay PowerSellers, your target market, would almost
entirely be in their 40's, with auctomatic's team below drinking age. When I
was 22, I enjoyed having customers 30-50 years old relying on me for my eBay
software, but at 24, after Startup School, I realized that it was okay to be
around, as well as to design, new software for people my age--and maybe you
were beginning to feel that same way, as well. (Just like the Beatles could
have probably tried to make more money by targeting older adults of their
parents' age since an average teenager doesn't have nearly as much money as a
40 year old; yet, the Beatles became famous by creating music that was great
for their own peers at the time.)
The other problem I found with eBay is that a startup based around another
company's technology and users, at it's best, is tied down to another company,
and eBay is not the most technically advanced, consistent, or stable parent to
deal with (in my experience) even if they were one of the first web apps to
come out with an API.
My third worry was that I believed that it would be better to do something for
free to attract tons of buyers, and then convert them to sellers, than vice
versa, because sellers will go to where the buyers are, from the tons of
research I did, and not vice versa. That's why I concentrated on software for
buyers this entire time.
The fourth is that such a startup targeting older adults would need to have
older employees targeting forums where such sellers hang out, and I'm not sure
any of that was being done other than visiting the eBay's annual conference. I
believed you were focusing on creating killer technology and getting funding,
but not the boring stuff like talking to older customers who couldn't care
less about technology or social networking, nor did I believe you were asking
them to tell their friends, etc, in places where older adults might be.
This move seems to make tons of sense. You're decoupling yourself from a being
dependent on another company, you're focusing on the buyer aspect, and between
the many different "properties" you may be developing, there are plenty of
youthful opportunities like boxing.com and call.com to keep one excited and
relative to others our age (just for the psychological benefits.) Oh, and you
get paid as part of the process, and stay with the same great team, too.
~~~
Harj
we didn't find any of this a problem. I spent a lot of time on ebay forums, we
had plenty of meetings with people much older than us that went v well and our
seller focused strategy gave us the understanding of the ecommerce landscape
that we wanted.
~~~
vlad
Cool. That makes sense; I didn't account for the fact that auctomatic has 6
smart people to get things done. :)
~~~
kul
we were at startup school last year
~~~
vlad
I was thinking of the event the day before, sorry!
------
jsteele
Dotcom Millions for everyone! All you have to do is startup your own web
company and you too can retire at 17 or 19 years old and party like it's 1999.
These guys did very well for a years worth of work and deserve every penny.
But don't for a second think these guys are gonna go out and buy Aston Martins
or live in the Four Seasons with their "millions".
Funding: yCombinator: $25,000 - $35,000 (Some articles say there were 4
founders ($25k) but their own website show 6 people ($35k)) Angels: $400,000
From Paul Buchheit and Chris Sacca
Ownership: yCombinator: 2-10% (Typically 6%) Angels: Unknown but split among 2
people Founders: Unknown but split among 4 to 6 people
Exit: $5 Million Composed of: \- $2 Million Cash \- $3 Million Stock in
CMNN.OB
So YC's take is $100,000 (2%) to $500,000 (10%) (Typically $300,000 (6%))
Angels take is unknown but if they made no return it would be $400,000.
However its likely that they made at least 1x return.
This would leave about $4 million to be split among the 4-6 founders. So they
each made a little ONE million or less. Of course a large portion ($3 million)
of their earnings are stock, so their actual earnings could be a lot more
(multiple millions) in the future than what they are now. However, they are in
effect paper millionaires as none of them have $1 million in cash.
The deal was announced around 12:00am PST March 26, 2008. March 25, 2008 close
of CMNN.OB was $2.69. Friday's close was $2.62. So its possible that 2.6% has
already been shaved off that $3 Million. The actual amount obviously depends
on what price they obtained the stock at.
Let's also not forget that these guys are leaving the valley, moving to
Vancover and will likely be settling into their 9-5 jobs with bosses, office
politics and other employees at Live Current in a few weeks.
It will be interesting to see how everything turns out in a few years time.
However, by that time the media will move on to hyping another startup and
we'll probably never hear about these guys again. Unless they quit and start
an new startup.
~~~
pg
A million dollars may not seem like a giant fortune, but it's a lot to most
people, especially to someone young. In fact, it's life-changing if you get it
that young, because it probably means you're done saving for retirement. If
you can get a 10% return (a reasonable estimate considering the asset
allocation you'd use at that age), getting $1 million at age 20 is like
getting $2.6 million at 30.
Plus I know the Auctomatics are personally planning on doing things to
increase LC's value. They negotiated for a lot of autonomy in order to make
that happen, and it's a small enough company that they could.
They turned down some very famous companies to do this deal. Why? Because
being bought by a public company with a small market cap is in effect a quick
way to go public.
~~~
jsteele
It is true that a million dollars is a lot to probably 99% of the worlds
population. But those 99% don't live in the valley where "The median price of
previously owned houses is $716,500" and the "median price for previously
owned condominiums and townhouses is $475,000" even in this housing slump. So
basically that enough to buy a house, furniture and a car in the valley.
They'll be a bit better off in Vancouver but not too much. The USD and CAD are
near par these days and Vancouver is the most expensive city to live in
Canada.
Also, since only $2 million of the exit was cash, none of the founders even
have a million dollars in cash to invest. At most they have $500k if there
were 4 founders with each owning 25%. However since there were 6 people there,
2 angels and yc, they probably got much less than $500k cash.
It is quite interesting how you view this exit as sort of an IPO for
Auctomatic. I think that is a first for yc? This gives everyone on news.yc and
the yc alumni to put their money where there mouth is and invest in a yc
company.
Will the stock price rocket turning everyone into multi-millionaires? Only
time will tell.
None the less, these guys have done a great job and I wish them all the best.
~~~
colinplamondon
I might be misinterpreting your comment, and if that's so, my apologies, but
that would seem to assume that they're dipping into savings to pay month to
month expenses and will be buying houses on top of it. Which is completely
possible, I don't know any of these guys, so that's one way to look at the
situation.
But, the other way to look at it is that they suddenly have a million dollars
(per the article) accruing interest every year as their salaries at Live
Current (now I'm making assumptions :) ) cover basic expenses and then some,
leaving a security blanket that lets them do most anything they want in the
future without worrying about the financial hit.
They can travel off to Africa and spend three years learning Swahili, then
surf and learn guitar on a Brasilian beach.
They can build up Live Current per the plan and shape the company.
They can start a new company and bootstrap it, no investors, no worries.
They can do small-scale angel funding, even.
Or not.
But they have options.
And, those options were gathered over the course of a year, putting them in a
position that 90% of retirees can only dream of- financial independence. That
is huge leverage, and that is huge success.
Also, keep in mind that those are prices in two very expensive places- they
could just as easily move to a country where the exchange rate is more
favorable and increase their relative savings by a goodly amount.
So, yeah, they didn't cash out for a billion- but they now have a million
dollars at 17 and 19. Because of that, they're completely financially
independent, and, thus, free- forever, barring any catastrophic financial
meltdowns.
So congratulations to them- I can't wait to see what they have coming down the
pipe.
------
laktek
Does YC accepts projects from any part of the world ? In fact I'm from Sri
Lanka, story like this was always in my dreams
~~~
pg
<http://ycombinator.com/faq.html>
------
antirez
> It owns internet addresses such as perfume.com, cricket.com and brazil.com.
Is this supposed to be a good meter of a company?
------
pius
I love it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Reselling Datacenter FPGAs - michaelxia
Do datacenters buy second hand FPGA boards? (ie. VCU1525 with recent VU9P chips)
Who would know about this?
======
slipo
I want to buy
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
IPhone 3.0: Push Notifications, Copy and Paste, MMS, and More - Anon84
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/iphone_30_push_notifications_copy_and_paste_mms_an.php
======
Angostura
One nice little addition not really mentioned anywhere - it will have the
ability to sync notes with the desktop, making the notes applet actually
useful.
------
thomasswift
Very nice summary. Negative points to the article for "(just like Kevin Rose
predicted)" a lot of people have been 'predicting' this for a while.
------
madlid
Funny - I don't use the iPhone, but think the features it's bringing in are
starting to sway me. Decent summary though.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Sumo Logic S-1 - tpw212
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1643269/000119312520227201/d821436ds1.htm
======
tmd83
Wow! The numbers, 837 PB/day. 18.6B events/s. I wonder who is the biggest
player in logging/monitoring and what's their rate of ingestion/processing is,
how much do they store and their infrastructure efficiency/usage is.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why is Google purging all search results for Syrian Arab News Agency? - teamgb
The website sana.sy of the Syrian Arab News Agency has been 'censored' or 'purged' from Google search results. Even after clicking through 10 pages of results, not a single one links to Sana.sy. Contrast with the results from DuckDuckGo and Bing where it's the top result.<p>Google: https://www.google.com/search?q=syrian+arab+news+agency<p>DuckDuckGo: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=syrian+arab+news+agency<p>Bing: http://www.bing.com/search?q=syrian+arab+news+agency<p>This test was conducted based on a post about the Syrian War (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2013/09/a-short-history-of-the-war-on-syria-2006-2014.html#more) which has been posted on HN here (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6387286).
======
lcedp
Technically it's not purged, 178000 pages are in index:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=site:sana.sy](https://www.google.com/search?q=site:sana.sy)
Perhaps they're downranked, but anyway the first two links on your link leads
to wikipedia and facebook pages of that agency which both has direct link to
the site in question.
[http://sana.sy/robots.txt](http://sana.sy/robots.txt) \- oops, no robots.txt.
Maybe it's just a results of poor SEO.
~~~
diziet
Not having robots.txt just results in Google defaulting to their reasonable
crawl settings. For most sites, a hastily configured robots.txt usually
results in problems rather than SEO help.
The indexed pages are also missing most of the 'important' landing pages and
other big pages, so most likely some sort of automated spam detection was
triggered.
My ISP seems to time out on the domain, sshing and curling from various
servers returns the page.
~~~
lcedp
Just saying, the absence of `robots.txt` can be sign of not really caring
about SEO.
------
mschuster91
To quote from the Wikipedia article about SANA:
Up until November 2012, SANA's website was hosted in Dallas, Texas by the United States company SoftLayer. Due to sanctions related to the Syrian civil war, which make this hosting illegal, the SoftLayer company was obliged to terminate its hosting responsibilities with SANA.
I have no idea about the exact legal powers of international (unilateral?)
sanctions in the US, but is it possible that Google de-listed SANA because of
legal issues?
~~~
chrismcb
I'm curious what sanctions prevent hosting a Syrian website?
[http://damascus.usembassy.gov/sanctions-
syr.html](http://damascus.usembassy.gov/sanctions-syr.html) claims there are
only 3 sanctions: No US goods(basically) can be exported to Syria, something
against the commercial bank, and denying Syria access to the US financial
system.
~~~
mschuster91
How can you host a website without paying for it? Just like fighting against
"pirate" websites, just in reverse this time.
------
Matt_Cutts
I asked the crawl/indexing team about this, and it looks like sana.sy hasn't
let Google crawl the site since August. It's unclear whether it's deliberate
vs. something like timeouts. So it's nothing on Google's side. No webspam-
related issues or anything like that, either.
In fact, if sana.sy were to register for Google's free webmaster console at
google.com/webmasters/ , then they would have gotten automatic alert emails
regarding the high level of errors we get when trying to crawl the site.
------
ghostdiver
Technically it may be purged by blackhat SEO, because google search result
ranking algorithm is poor actually and can be easily gamed by anyone who has
100 dollars in her pocket.
Only because Bing/DDG SERPs were not gamed by "SEO" activity doesn't mean it
can't be done and/or those SEs algos are any better than Googles.
------
300
I think it's obvious. That's our reality unfortunately.
~~~
shawnz
As far as I know, this is an unprecedented action for Google in the US. Just
because it fits your narrative does not make it obvious!
~~~
gscott
I have a website where not only did Google remove it, they removed all pages
that linked to it, and all future pages that linked to it. You could search on
the domain and get zero results. So they have the capability to do anything.
(The website is a DMV licensed traffic school for traffic tickets). The
website doesn't have to be anything too special for them to purge it.
~~~
KingdomSprite
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that there's more to the story than
what you have stated. There are numerous reasons why your site may have been
removed. It could have been shady SEO tactics such as link building or invalid
meta data, which is a big no no for Google. Should definitely check your
Google Webmaster Tools to see what's up.
~~~
gscott
It was a classic I bought about 20 links. But as soon as the webspam action
happened I removed them (through text-link-ads.com). I was on top of it and
cleaned it up but I have 3 times resubmitted it for re-approval over 1.5 years
now with no luck.
I broke the rules but Viagra sites get better treatment.
The problem was that 80% of the customers came from lists given out by
courthouses. Customers would type in the web address into Google search
instead of the address bar.
Once the website disappeared from the Internet the only way customers could
find the site was by Google adwords which went from spending $150 a day to
$500 a day. A total win for Google I guess!
It was impossible to spend $500 a day forever, I put the website (the same
website, no changes) onto a new domain and now it spends about $200 a day in
Google adwords. Much better. I seemed to have received the worst possible
webspam action for really very little. Consider other site buy thousands of
links.. my 20 links were small potatoes that I thought would fly under the
radar.
The whole incident cost about $100,000+ in sales mostly from customers who if
they just knew how to use the address bar would have made it to the website.
When I see other websites have issues with Google, I know it doesn't take a
whole lot to bring a great deal of Google issues upon them. Google if they
wants to can just remove them or send them to page 200 and since Google gets
80% or so of searches and people don't know how to use the address bar the
website is going to have to buy Adwords in order to stay online or change
domains (assuming it is not an on-page issue).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Telegram for PC - virtualoops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqcvcSPx2T0
======
DLion
or just use the web version. WTF?
[https://web.telegram.org/](https://web.telegram.org/)
------
gsfgger
or just get the windows version. WTF?
[https://telegram.org/apps](https://telegram.org/apps)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Watch Agents – Curated Vintage Watch Dealers - graham1776
http://www.watchagents.com
======
beamatronic
I have a small request :-) Can you aggregate their inventory so it can be
searched? I would love to find a dealer near me with the watch of my dreams.
------
beamatronic
Is there a way to find the ones near me?
~~~
graham1776
Most if not all are online dealers (will ship to you), but I can definitely
add in locale in the future! Thanks for feedback.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Guardian’s new image management system - shade23
https://github.com/guardian/grid
======
mjsweet
I would love to be able to install a service like this with AWS Lamba and API
gateway with a React of AngularJS front-end. If anyone has thoughts on how
ElasticSearch could work with Lambda?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Fixing Reddit - whack
http://www.thecaucus.net/#/content/caucus/community_blog/103
======
CM30
I think the simplest fixes for Reddit would be just to make sure anyone who
works for the site actually agrees with its goals. That's what caused most of
the reason issues, they hired people who didn't really like the challenges
that being pro freedom of speech brings, and who favoured doing well with
companies and celebrities over being a place for communities of like minded
people to discuss things they enjoy.
The other improvements they mention sound good, but Reddit's issues are more
down to leadership problems than community/cultural/technical ones.
~~~
cLeEOGPw
> challenges that being pro freedom of speech brings
Well, the thing is, reddit is a private company and so the classic "freedom of
speech" definition does not apply to it. And while their goal was unrestricted
discussion a few years back, in attempt to pave road for profitability they
have abandoned that goal. The goal of reddit right now it to become as
attractive to advertisers as possible. What that entails is up to them to
decide. One of the effects is heavy moderation of anything controversial. They
seem to be attempting to "play it safe". We'll see if it will pay off.
~~~
CM30
Well, to some degree, that's their problem. They made their bed and they have
to lie in it.
A key community manager rule is 'don't promise freedom of speech on your site,
because you likely don't have it and you will get absolutely eviscorated the
minute you try and censor anything':
[http://www.managingcommunities.com/2010/01/24/when-
talking-a...](http://www.managingcommunities.com/2010/01/24/when-talking-
about-what-you-allow-on-your-community-dont-say-freedom-of-speech/)
[http://www.managingcommunities.com/2015/07/16/your-online-
co...](http://www.managingcommunities.com/2015/07/16/your-online-community-
does-not-allow-free-speech/)
If you say your community is pro freedom of speech or allows freeom of speech,
you pretty much make yourself obliged to allow anything that's not literally
illegal. That will include an awful lot of stuff that you personally don't
like, that your corporate backers don't like, that other members on the site
don't like...
And hence you have to make the awful decision; do you allow anything (like
Voat or certain chan boards) and accept the consequences? Or do you start
censoring and immediately lose the right to say you allow freedom of speech?
Making comments like this is a great way to cause a site or business to self
destruct spectacularly. Reddit may be a private company, but their community
was founded on a freedom of speech stance. They've turned against those
ideals, so now they're going to struggle a lot more since people feel they've
been betrayed.
That's a situation Reddit is going to have a lot of trouble escaping. And they
could have at least delayed it by not hiring people who dislike the principles
the company and site was founded on.
~~~
cLeEOGPw
It is frustrating for those that pioneered reddit to grow to what they are now
that the site has completely changed, but looking from business perspective,
early adopters are not the crowd that brings profit. They generate content,
but they mostly generate content for others like them (mostly
technology/programming and other geek stuff related). Those that generate
profit, i.e. in reddit's case buy reddit gold AND don't use adblock, are the
people that care about other things, and freedom of speech is the least of
their concerns.
So from business analytic's perspective, he sees the numbers and he sees the
target audience PLUS advertiser contract clauses (like no
racism/sexism/certain porn things, non-liberal leaning things in general), and
you get essentially private censorship. It's not a pretty sight, especially
looking at deleted and locked threads daily, but it has a certain logic behind
it. That logic is not in out favor, but we are not all people.
------
Huhty
A lot of sites have tried to "fix" reddit. I even worked with one of them
(snapzu) on some of their back-end stuff. One thing I did was research what
else was out there to see what stuff was/wasn't being innovated on. Here's
what reddit is competing with today (other than caucus):
1\. [http://snapzu.com](http://snapzu.com) (worked with this one about a year
ago)
2\. [http://getaether.net](http://getaether.net)
3\. [https://stacksity.com](https://stacksity.com)
4\. [https://frizbee.co](https://frizbee.co)
5\. [http://hubski.com](http://hubski.com)
6\. [http://empeopled.com](http://empeopled.com)
7\. [http://voat.co](http://voat.co)
8\. [https://piroot.com](https://piroot.com)
9\. [http://www.linkibl.com](http://www.linkibl.com)
10\. [http://criticl.me](http://criticl.me)
That being said, I just want to wish you good luck on your endeavor... the
social network game is a really tough nut to crack because community is 99% of
the value.
~~~
spinlock
Why are there so many reddit clones? Reddit doesn't make money. Imgur, on the
other hand, is printing cash by selling ad space. But, no one is trying to
move into their market.
I just don't understand why people are going after a market that seems to be
unprofitable. Am I missing something?
~~~
fweespeech
1) Most of the Reddit competitors are hobbies while Imgur was built as a
business. Similarly, their competition with Reddit is largely ideological
rather than practical values people care about en mass.
2) Everyone who tried to move into Imgur's position found image hosting was
very expensive and impractical as a hobby. The problem is they've largely been
ideological and cut off from Reddit's ecosystem due to Imgur's incumbency.
3) Ultimately, until Reddit or Imgur stumbles in a substantial way that pisses
off users none of them will be viable even with VC money.
__For instance: __
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush](https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2tzuv0/mediacru...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2tzuv0/mediacrush_is_shutting_down/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2v8ume/why_didn...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2v8ume/why_didnt_admins_sell_mediacrush/)
which was followed by:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2vpfwe/imgrushc...](https://www.reddit.com/r/MediaCrush/comments/2vpfwe/imgrushcom_is_live_standing_on_the_shoulders_of/)
__Currently the only really one I know of is: __
[https://voat.co/v/veuwer](https://voat.co/v/veuwer) aka
[http://www.veuwer.com/](http://www.veuwer.com/)
Slimgur
[http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/11/03/imgur-
alternative-s...](http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2015/11/03/imgur-alternative-
slimgur-taken-offline-by-targeted-child-porn-uploads/)
which became:
[https://voat.co/v/slimg](https://voat.co/v/slimg)
[https://sli.mg/](https://sli.mg/)
~~~
arrivance
I wouldn't say imgur was built as a business. The guy that made it made it as
a "gift for reddit" and struggled with hosting for a couple of weeks.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/7zlyd/my_gift_t...](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/7zlyd/my_gift_to_reddit_i_created_an_image_hosting/)
~~~
fweespeech
It is a story he tells but he made the same claim on Digg and other places as
well. It was effective social marketing but there are a few things like that
about that just are popular beliefs that are just repeated 'cause the founder
was a college student at the time.
Most of the original links/evidence of that are gone from the internet at this
point tho and I'm tired of digging for them. :/
EDIT:
[http://web.archive.org/web/20090328080325/http://digg.com/od...](http://web.archive.org/web/20090328080325/http://digg.com/odd_stuff/imgur_the_simple_image_sharer_The_best_in_image_hosting)
[http://archive.is/JS5DV](http://archive.is/JS5DV)
> imgur - the simple image sharer. The best in image hosting. imgur.com —
> imgur is a free image sharing/hosting service that allows you to quickly
> upload and edit your photos and share them with friends the Internet. Now
> you're asking, "How is this different from imageshack, tinypic, or
> photobucket?" Well that's simple. imgur is free (as in beer), no ads,
> anonymous, and easier to use. It's my gift to the Internet. Enjoy!
Ah archive.org still has it.
But yeh, it was effective guerilla marketing only. It was posted to Digg
slightly before Reddit btw.
------
shostack
One big issue that could impact Reddit if not addressed is Imgur.
Recently Imgur appears to have started redirecting some people from direct
image links to their full site (some claim this happens even on submissions
linking directly to an image/gif). I've noticed this quite a bit on mobile or
in the Alien Blue app. Others have also reported this behavior. My guess is
Imgur is doing this not to display ads right away, but to drive people to
their own app for later monetization and growing their own brand/community.
Imgur has taken $40M in funding, and so is presumably needing to find an exit
at some point. Reddit sending tons of traffic directly to images was great for
establishing themselves deep in the Reddit ecosystem early on, but if people
are going directly to images vs. to the HTML page, that's a lot of lost
impressions beyond just those who visit it directly or go to upload photos.
The load times for their site vs. just direct image/gif files are pretty
painful on mobile, and this ultimately impacts the Reddit experience. I'm
really curious if Reddit would ever roll out their own image host as a result,
and it will be very interesting to watch this.
~~~
rezashirazian
A post
([https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/46c2v5/90_of_my_mobi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/46c2v5/90_of_my_mobile_reddit_experience/))
regarding this issue made it to the top of reddit yesterday. I figured I'd use
the occasion to highlight a project I worked in a few months ago. And although
the
comment([https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/46c2v5/90_of_my_mobi...](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/46c2v5/90_of_my_mobile_reddit_experience/d03yado))
was met with positive feedback from the community it was deleted by the mods
without an explanation.
The article should also highlight overzealous mods that paint every outgoing
link as spam.
~~~
shostack
Since the post is deleted, can you share a link to your project?
~~~
rezashirazian
[http://www.pixpit.com](http://www.pixpit.com)
It queries reddit.com/r/funny every ten minutes and collects the top 1000
images submitted. You as a user can then browse an endless stream of images
much like Instagram.
At the end of the night it takes all the collected images from that day and
parse them into 20 picture albums that user can be accessed by pressing the
shuffle button on the top bar.
It's a never ending stream of funny images
------
minimaxir
One of the things Reddit failed at was miscommunication and low transparency
between the admins and the users.
In that case, why are the vote scores on Caucus submissions _blatantly
inflated_? There is _zero_ probability scores are in the _hundreds_ for
_completely_ random content. (glancing at the number of unique accounts who
have made submissions, I question if 100+ active accounts even exist.)
~~~
Grue3
Yeah, that's what I thought, no way this post got 2000+ upvotes. Even on
Reddit such scores were relatively uncommon until recently.
~~~
plorkyeran
Reddit has a soft cap on scores, and without that popular submissions would
have scores in the tens of thousands:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/3g6ghn/reddit_ch...](https://www.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/3g6ghn/reddit_change_the_scores_of_extremelypopular/)
------
6stringmerc
> _Hearing only the things that you agree with might be easy and comfortable.
> But the idea of a community where everyone only agrees with one another, and
> dissenting voices are promptly silenced, sounds more like dystopia to us._
I'm genuinely interested to see if this works out. Not kidding. However, with
a straight face, I can also say I'm not optimistic, because 'echo chamber'
tendencies are kind of why those "communities" tend to flourish, at least in
my perspective.
~~~
jonlucc
I actually think the problem is sort of the opposite. People who agree are
(usually) civil to each other. Online, where privacy or pseudonymity is the
norm, people who disagree with each other tend to do so in ways they wouldn't
imagine doing in person. Environments of disagreement seem to often devolve
into aggression and rude personal attacks.
------
KVFinn
Every reddit seems to trend towards either 100% upvotes based on agreeing with
the title of posts, or 100% image memes (sometimes both!) as it gets popular.
The only exceptions being communities with _extremely_ strict moderators like
/r/askhistorians.
------
seanalltogether
One trend I've noticed across lots of reddit clones is none of them match the
information density of reddit. Everyone seems to think that good design = more
padding
~~~
dang
Man oh man I enjoyed running across this comment. Massively true of the HN
clones as well.
------
natrius
Reddit only succeeded because Digg wasn't good enough: it changed in
undesirable ways, so users left. How are you going to convince enough
redditors that Reddit isn't good enough that a critical mass moves to your
platform?
I think it's prohibitively difficult, and only a decentralized system will
succeed.
------
miguelrochefort
The discussion thread must die.
\- Nobody wants to read a bunch of different ways to say the same things.
\- Nobody cares about the person that happens to be the first to say
something.
\- Nobody wants to read through a tree of indented comments.
\- Nobody has the time to read a wall of text when all they care about is the
TL;DR.
Ain't nobody got time for this. I want a clear visual representation of the
community's reaction to a post:
\- Why I should care about this post.
\- Why I should ignore this post, which doesn't deserve any of my attention.
\- Why I should have a positive reaction to what the post is about.
\- Why I should have a negative reaction to what the post is about.
\- How accurate and representative of reality is this post?
\- What actionable items I can take from this post.
\- What related content/posts should I seek if I want more of this.
The pyramid of why-should-i-care-ness should be presented to me in the right
orientation, or time is wasted.
~~~
PhasmaFelis
> _The discussion thread must die._
What alternative is there?
~~~
miguelrochefort
Semantics.
------
Smudge
_> By prioritizing the content and votes cast by highly reputed users, as
opposed to anonymous new arrivals whom no one knows or trusts, Caucus is
better able to figure out which content is most trustworthy._
How do you avoid the "Power User" effect that Digg (and arguably Reddit) ran
into? If your most reputable users keep getting more and more reputable,
eventually you have only a handful of very active users who have a majority of
the voting power.
~~~
sien
Cap it. Don't display numbers. Once someone is useful and helps the community
on a regular basis just leave it at that.
Ironically Slashdot actually did this. Of course it had lots of other
problems.
~~~
jonlucc
This was my first thought. The influence ought to follow a 4PL fit curve (not
sure what the function is called). You're only trying to make sure the user is
not terrible, you don't care once they've proven themselves worthy.
------
ghosttie
If there are no ads and no corporate sponsorships then how do they make money?
~~~
Mithaldu
Gotta love how "remove the vast majority of the cash flow" is a "micro"
improvement.
~~~
kiba
Basically nobody wants ads.
But if nobody wants to pay for a service, then maybe it isn't as useful as we
thought.
------
mjevans
I didn't read the link BECAUSE it requires scripts to view.
Having said that, as someone that uses some subreddits for forums there is
exactly one thing that I'd like to see done for Reddit (and any other site
with a downvote/dislike button).
If you click the downvote button it should instead prompt you to create a
reply denoted as a dissenting viewpoint. You will then explain your rebuttal.
Separately, a 'Report Abuse' button would flag a post for moderation attention
(but also include who's reporting the abuse). A moderator should be able to
see the full edit-history of a post (within the last day, maybe week).
------
miguelrochefort
Make contribution like a free market. The more you pay (with some kind of
credit), the more visibility your post/comment will get. If people like your
contributions, you earn credits. If they don't, you lose them.
I'm sure the gambling aspect (big gains if you invest a lot and wisely) would
hook a ton of people. Quality, hopefully, would follow.
------
knorker
> Give the Quiet Ones a Chance
Sounds like commie bullshit to me.[1]
It also sounds counter-productive to "building engagement". If I only have so
many "points" to give out, I won't upvote much, will I?
[1] I'm being funny, but I do have a point.
------
dkarapetyan
I just have a chrome extension that I call "add enemy!". When an enemy appears
in a discussion their comment is automatically removed. It does wonders for my
mental health. When some people consistently troll or have some kind of axe to
grind it's much easier to provide people with personalized bubbles.
Unsurprisingly the value I get out of discussions where the trolls are silent
is way higher.
~~~
redthrowaway
You know RES just lets you ignore people, right?
~~~
dkarapetyan
Oh nice. I didn't know that was a thing.
------
fiftyacorn
I always thought autgenerated tags would be good on posts - I could filter on
keywords
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Netflix Lowers Data Usage By 2/3 For Members In Canada - hanifvirani
http://blog.netflix.com/2011/03/netflix-lowers-data-usage-by-23-for.html
======
ultrasaurus
I'm a netflix user who's had a bandwidth cap for a while, so I only watch
movies in SD not HD and you while you can notice the difference in quality
it's worth it for the amount of attention I pay.
But I have a hard time believing "will use 2/3 less data on average, with
minimal impact to video quality" that's a pretty major advancement in video
encoding.
------
tnorthcutt
Kudos to them for adapting to the situation and providing options for their
customers.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
This is also a web page - MichaelAza
http://michaelaz.github.io/
======
nulagrithom
I stopped reading because the font size and color choice made it difficult to
read. Is that irony?
~~~
zackkitzmiller
Same. I instantly closed the tab.
~~~
MichaelAza
There, fixed. Hope the new theme is easier to read.
~~~
erso
You consider Helvetica Neue body text in font-weight: 300 and color: #777 to
be easy to read?
Jesus. I must be getting old or something.
I feel like this trend is a new kind of sickness plaguing web design
everywhere. Even The Verge does it in articles:
[http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-
review...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/17/4436332/macbook-air-
review-13-inch-2013)
~~~
MichaelAza
I've switched to the highest contrast theme I could find. Third time's the
charm... (I hope)
~~~
nulagrithom
Ah, much nicer!
------
robmclarty
I agree with you that the web is not _only_ about words, but I don't think
that was necessarily what Justin's post was trying to say. He said words are a
powerful _tool_ on the web, that global communication is magical, and that it
doesn't need to be overly complicated to share ideas with others. He said
"start with with words" not "only ever use words and nothing else".
I think he was indeed placing a greater _weight_ on the value of words over
other tools, but I don't think that's necessarily incorrect. Certainly the web
is about more than _just_ words: it's about connecting human ideas together.
Those connections can take form through a vast array of media. But I agree
with Justin that at its core, the web is more about words than it is about
videos or images or WebGL (as it is today). If you took the words out of the
internet I think I would be missing some of the most important parts. If I
didn't have access to youtube or flickr (videos or images) I think I'd still
have access to a lot of the value I find in the internet.
~~~
MichaelAza
I felt that Justin was making the point the web is _about_ words which I
strongly disagree with. The words are a means, an important one and arguably
the most important one, to an end.
Words are not what the web is about in the same way paint isn't what art is
about.
~~~
robmclarty
Yeah I agree. I don't think that's what he was saying though.
I think he was pretty clear that the words are a _tool_ (i.e., a means to an
end). I think he said web _design_ should be about words (i.e., don't get
wrapped up in frilly widgets and shinny buttons over the content of your
communications), not that the web itself is _about_ words.
------
slhsen
In the end 'content' is what matters, and even though the oop
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5913381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5913381))
phrased it as 'words' if you replace it with 'content' he has a point. IMHO in
essence he was trying to say design should start with content, not with shiny
buttons, orange icons (remember web 2.0 anyone?) or flat ui. And I agree with
him.
------
regis
"You don't need to go to a library to do your research. You don't need to go
to the opera to listen to your favorite arias."
This is true, but it doesn't mean that i won't go to the opera/library anymore
because of the internet...
I'm not sure I get what point you're trying to make.
------
FWeinb
Exactly what was on my mined as I saw this earlier.
(Context:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5913381](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5913381))
------
JosephBrown
"The web isn't inherently about words, pictures, music or videos - It's about
connectivity."
Well said.
~~~
inthewind
Neither article mentioned the humble link!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
TRS-80 Model III emulator in Go with a web interface - bane
https://github.com/lkesteloot/trs80
======
BorisMelnik
I guess Go is a real language now that it has a TRS-80 emulator. Seriously
though, great accomplishment. This is really neat esp after I just got done
watching "halt and catch fire" tonight
------
jaeming
Waxing nostalgic now. This was my first computer. A Radioshack employee later
told me PC hobbyists joked that the TRS was short for 'trash'.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Do you use any tools to assist you with thinking? - febin
======
codingdave
For thinking out code? My answer might not be what you are asking, but...
A whiteboard, a text editor that supports bulleted lists, and my legs.
If I have a general idea of what components are needed, I write them in the
list, drilling down with nested lists on details of each until I have thought
through what I need to code.
If I don't have it thought out enough to know what the larger building blocks
are, I sketch on the whiteboard to help figure them out.
If it is such a new idea that I just need to let it percolate in my head, I go
for a walk and just let my mind wander around the topic.
------
tabulatouch
Writing my thougts out loud is what works best. I open a notepad, start with
my goal or thesis and explore the different roads. Some roads are closed, i go
back deleting them but summing up the reason of the choice. In the end this
process narrows down the best roads, and reading it helps with reasoning and
meta-reasoning even more.
P.s. i am a big fan of concept and mind maps but the narrative mode
outperformed them in my experience.
------
topicseed
A lot of pen and paper, or whiteboarding. And, on the laptop, I do find
mindmaps very useful in the first exploratory phase of a project — and I love
MindMeister for that!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Comcast rejected by small town, residents vote for municipal fiber instead - coatta
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/12/comcast-rejected-by-small-town-residents-vote-for-municipal-fiber-instead
======
bronco21016
I hate Comcast with a passion and have always fantasized about living in a
progressive municipality that provides fiber to the home. However, a few years
ago I bought a home and it’s only been over the last 6 months or so I’ve
realized how horribly corrupt and mismanaged small city governments can be.
We’re being sucked dry by our mayor who hired her cousin as city manager for
an exorbitant compensation package. They had no problem spending millions on
extravgently updating the city offices but have come to residents with their
hands out begging for money through special assessments to fix our roads,
storm water drains, and water mains that are unusable for firefighting (and
the city does not have a tanker truck).
My point is simply that I’m not sure a purely municipal broadband is the
panacea we all hope for. In some cases it may be better to stick with the
devil you know vs the horribly slow, beaurctatic devil you don’t.
I hope that over time we find a municipal model that works well and serves
residents with cutting edge broadband. Until then I’ll continue to attempt to
vote these clowns out.
~~~
xoa
> _is the_ panacea _we all hope for_
I have never seen "panacea" used by anyone except those opposed to any public
infrastructure, and while you sound like you're speaking in all good faith and
I appreciate that I still have trouble seeing this as something other then a
strawman. Of course governments can have issues too. Public roads can have
potholes. Bridges have not been kept up. Public parks aren't always maintained
to the extent they're supposed to be. Etc etc. But at the same time there are
plenty of good cases to show it can be done very well too, and the massive
failures of privatized infrastructure are also in ample evidence.
Fundamentally natural monopolies and basic floor level services for society
(taking into account not just existing people but future generations and
flexibility value to the nation overall) aren't great fits for a market. Some
things really do make sense as an area of government.
Corruption is simply something that has to be fought, period, but we do have
the tools to do so more easily at the local government level then for more
widely distributed private entities. And whatever else the fact is that
privatized information infrastructure simply _has not worked_ overall. There
will absolutely be cases of mismanagement and corruption in public information
infrastructure should it become widespread, there will be fierce fights and
politics and so forth same as with roads and everything else. That however
doesn't make it worse then the alternatives, and long term in America at least
citizens get the government they deserve.
~~~
theptip
> I have never seen "panacea" used by anyone except those opposed to any
> public infrastructure
This is a good point; seems like an isolated demand for rigor. The bar we
should be aiming to be above is "better than Comcast", which is a quite low
standard.
> Corruption is simply something that has to be fought, period, but we do have
> the tools to do so more easily at the local government level then for more
> widely distributed private entities.
I like this way of putting it. At the local scope, you aren't fighting well-
paid lobbyists; you just have to persuade a majority of people in your area,
and that's a much more tractable problem.
The only problem here is that people tend to care less about local politics
(turnout is lower, information flow is harder, etc.) which does add
challenges.
~~~
microcolonel
> _This is a good point; seems like an isolated demand for rigor. The bar we
> should be aiming to be above is "better than Comcast", which is a quite low
> standard._
The problem is that in many cases, the common folk in a town have to pay at
least somewhat for the municipal broadband even if they do not use it; so it'd
better be worth using.
I can understand municipal cable conduits and such, since they are somewhat
analogous to the roads; but when your municipal government is actively
excluding competition (Comcast in this case, if the title is anything to go
by), they had better make sure they _municipal cars_ on those _roads_ are
good; because if you don't like them, your only recourse is generally to leave
town.
To satisfy the "better than Comcast" requirement, generally speaking the only
thing you need to do is stop excluding their competitors. Comcast is actually
pretty reasonable in competitive markets; but when a _satellite internet
company_ needs specific permission to operate in your county, that's something
you can fix right now, with no investment, and immediately gain some
competitiveness in your ISP market.
~~~
nonce413
> _the common folk in a town have to pay at least somewhat for the municipal
> broadband even if they do not use it; so it 'd better be worth using._
Just anecdotally, there are Whip City Fiber signs up all over (you get a
discount if you let them put one on your lawn with installation). We're long
past the days where Internet access is desired by only a subset of the
population. I think $70/mo is a little above what "everybody" wants to pay. I
am hoping after the initial financials have settled, they will offer a lower
tier.
> _actively excluding competition (Comcast in this case, if the title is
> anything to go by)_
If you read the article, what Charlemont rejected was _the town paying
Comcast_ for a build out. That's a significant point that's glossed over in
most of these public vs private debates - with low population density, private
communications companies _do not nobly invest their own money_ , but get the
government to pay for the infrastructure that they end up owning.
------
rayiner
I feel like people are being shortsighted about municipal fiber. It’s not a
one time and you forget it thing. Verizon has upgraded the FiOS network
several times since 2005.
We have some towns on the eastern shore of MD that did municipal cable, back
when that was the state of the art. Those systems are lagging far behind
Comcast now because nobody wants to raise rates to generate cash for upgrades.
Municipal fiber is a solution to a problem created by the municipalities. The
municipalities suppress competition by using their authority over TV
regulation to impose build-out requirements. You can’t enter as a competitor
without building out to a whole city. No MVPs or niche products.
There's also more free-market ways to accomplish the same thing. Stockholm,
for example, has quasi-municipal dark fiber. The network was built by a
company created by the city for that purpose. While the city owns the company,
the city does not run the company, fund it, or control its business strategy
(prices, deployment). The company built the fiber network using private
capital, charging customers up-front for a hookup, and expanding the network
over more than a decade based on demand and revenue potential ( _e.g._
businesses first), rather than politics.
~~~
cm2187
The thing is the bulk of the cost is pulling wires. Fiber optic cables have an
almost unlimited theoretical bandwidth. You just need to upgrade the hardware
on both sides, which is getting cheaper by the minute.
~~~
rayiner
A lot of the cost is pulling wires, but the equipment on both sides is also a
major expense. FiOS scaled up from 75 mbps to 1 gbps over the same passive
infrastructure, but the cost of upgrades was substantial. BPON line cards were
upgraded to GPON linecards, and an upgrade to NGPON2 is in the works. As
bandwidth went up, the number of customers per line card had to go down. 1G
router ports had to be upgraded to 10G router ports. Etc.
I mean, just do a traceroute and see how many hops there are before you get to
a peering node. In a municipal system, that's all infrastructure that the
government has to pay to upgrade.
~~~
dd36
Why would it cost the government more to do that than Verizon?
Half joking: is it because the government gave Verizon billions of dollars?
------
epoch_100
Good! By allowing individual municipalities to manage their own Internet
infrastructure, we can help keep the Internet from becoming effectively owned
by the likes of Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon.
~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _By allowing individual municipalities to manage their own Internet
> infrastructure, we can help keep the Internet from becoming effectively
> owned by the likes of Comcast, AT &T, and Verizon_
I'm nervous about how thoughtlessly we're embracing public ISP ownership.
Local governments are notoriously corrupt, in both politics and police. These
referenda expand their power without rebalancing any checks or balances. We
just happen to have something breathlessly more broken in the monopoly ISPs.
Going forward, it would be nice to see cities re-open their networks to
private management. The city would continue to own the infrastructure. But
subpoenas, _et cetera_ would be served to the private operator.
~~~
49531
They're no more corrupt than large corporate players, but I can vote for my
local government.
~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _They 're no more corrupt than large corporate players, but I can vote for
> my local government_
My point is that's a terrible baseline to settle for. If our metric for
"should we do it" is solely "is it better than Comcast," we've got a problem.
My specific concern is around local police having expanded access to locals'
internet activity.
~~~
KZeillmann
I don't see how the local police would have any more access than they would if
Comcast were in charge. They'd still have to get a warrant to search anything.
~~~
darkarmani
> They'd still have to get a warrant to search anything.
Even better, anything they found without a warrant would be thrown out, unlike
if Comcast volunteers to give up data about you.
------
walrus01
1300 residents? How many individual premises? That is a rather small scan gpon
project. Hope they hire someone with a clue and experience to build and run
it, there is not a lot of Venn diagram overlap between municipal managers and
network engineers.
I do hope they realize that if they want to do everything themselves, they'll
still need transport links to the nearest major IX point, and IP transit
upstreams. I don't know of many small towns, sub 5000 population, that have
successfully become their own "real" ISP (ARIN AS, their own IP space,
presence at an ix with a bgp speaking router, all of the typical ISP back-end
operational support software). In addition to all of the costs of being a
wholly facilities based ISP at layer 1 in the OSI model.
Another way to do it is for the town to simply build dark fiber, and rent it
to interested ISPs. Or to build a layer 2 gpon transport network and do
nothing at L3, and no individual customer service, and let different ISPs
compete for business with the town running the gpon OLTs only.
~~~
nwellinghoff
Sounds like they need to hire you. Your third option sounds pretty smart.
~~~
walrus01
It's not a totally uncommon network architecture, look at Douglas county and
Grant county public utility districts in WA state for instance. Their fiber
networks provide L2 transport and different ISPs sell service over it. For
bigger business customers they offer dedicated transport and dark options.
But they are also electrical grid operators and share common expenses for
lineman crews, bucket trucks, etc between power and fiber. A town of 1300
people is in a very different position.
------
luckydata
I despise Comcast like everyone here but I'm not sure I would be so happy
about municipal internet service unless there was some way to make it not
suck. I'm speaking from experience, I used to live in San Bruno that has San
Bruno Cable and it's one of the worst customer support experiences I've ever
had in my life. I'm currently living in the East Bay, I have Comcast and while
I had my share of issues with them both service and experience has been
better. Is it even possible to have good internet service in this country?
~~~
Riseed
> Is it even possible to have good internet service in this country?
Yes. I have zero complaints about sonic.[0] They deliver reliable service at a
reasonable price (cheaper than Comcast's intro pricing here), and have stellar
customer service and punctual install techs. They also have a history of
receiving all 5 stars on EFF's yearly "Who Has Your Back" report [1].
[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_(ISP)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_\(ISP\))
[1] [https://www.eff.org/who-has-your-back-2017](https://www.eff.org/who-has-
your-back-2017)
------
AnIdiotOnTheNet
Good for them. I hope this trend continues because ISPs need a good solid kick
in the teeth.
~~~
takeda
All ISPs need is to separate the last mile (the fiber between your house and
nearest POP) from their service. Once that would be available, we would have a
real compression in that market.
In all countries which are known for having best internet experience the ISP
don't own the last mile.
~~~
rayiner
> In all countries which are known for having best internet experience the ISP
> don't own the last mile.
ISPs own their own last mile almost everywhere. What you may be thinking of is
unbundling, where an ISP may be required to let other ISPs use their last-mile
facilities at regulated rates. That is a minority rule as well.
Most broadband providers in South Korea own their own facilities:
[http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/korea/material/CS_Kor.pdf](http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/cs/korea/material/CS_Kor.pdf)
(see Table 5.2).
Norway didn't start unbundling fiber until 2014, but was near the top of the
charts in broadband performance long before that. (And it still doesn't impose
price regulation on the unbundled fiber.)
Sweden is an exception where, in Stockholm, there as a municipally-owned ISP
that provides dark fiber.
Hong Kong had unbundling, then got rid of it in 2004.
~~~
robocat
The alternative to unbundling (private ownership, any ISP can use) is treating
the fibre as infrastructure (public ownership, any ISP can use).
In New Zealand (similar population and area to Oregon) a mixed private &
public UFB project is well under way that cost the public about $1 billion. As
of March 2018, the original fibre rollout is 89% complete, with fibre
available to 1,300,914 households and businesses, of which 550,314 (42.3%)
have connected. I think there are approximately 1.6 million households and 0.6
million business premises in NZ.
Getting connected is slow (the public company Chorus that manages connections
is crappy) but there is plenty of choice of service (ISP) and good reliability
once connected.
Looking at
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_premises_by_cou...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_premises_by_country)
shows plenty of countries with private ISPs doing far worse than NZ.
Australia is also rolling out a similar multi-billion project - Australia is
about the same size as continental US with 1/10th the population.
------
StreamBright
When the company offerings can be beaten with local government offerings you
know something is bad. Wondering why US has such terrible internet options.
~~~
rayiner
Akamai ranks the US in top 10 for actual speeds, ahead of every large EU
country:
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiS...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiS4IzAx5rfAhVmZN8KHV2nDhcQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.multichannel.com%2Fnews%2Fus-
cracks-global-top-10-average-internet-speeds-
akamai-413117&psig=AOvVaw08sSPGzPF2bSxSR1SiCNrn&ust=1544713271949286)
Nobody asks “why does Germany and France have such terrible internet options?”
~~~
dudul
1) Norway and Sweden are as large as France size wise.
2) Now, for fun, let's integrate the price dimension to this report. Yes I
have better (maybe 1.5 to 2 times as fast) Internet than my parents who are in
Europe, but I also pay 3 times what they pay for it.
~~~
greggyb
Regarding 2), that seems like an un-justified expectation that 2x in some
category should be 2x price.
I can buy a Chevrolet Spark for $14K. Top speed is listed at 110mph. Here's a
list of cars that can go 200mph [https://www.automobilemag.com/news/all-cars-
that-go-200-mph/](https://www.automobilemag.com/news/all-cars-that-
go-200-mph/). Find me a new one for $28K.
I can buy a $90 printer for 27 pages per minute:
[https://www.amazon.com/Dell-E310DW-Wireless-Monochrome-
Print...](https://www.amazon.com/Dell-E310DW-Wireless-Monochrome-
Printer/dp/B00YDG3HFC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=dt-incontent-
btn-20&ie=UTF8&linkId=1911c6378493b257da5741d7a5b7176d&ascsubtag=computing:1261534:1544646874e66266f0)
I can find a 50 page per minute at >$500, but none less on a quick search.
Here's one of the cheapest modern processors I can find:
[https://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX80677G3930-Celeron-Desktop-
Pr...](https://www.amazon.com/Intel-BX80677G3930-Celeron-Desktop-
Processors/dp/B07HZ4PWJP/ref=sr_1_1/141-2849764-5130267?ie=UTF8&qid=1544647187&sr=8-1&keywords=Intel%2BCeleron%2BG3930&th=1)
Go find me a 5.4ghz processor for $70.
~~~
dudul
I have no idea what point you're trying to make.
People in France or Germany have access to literally 12 different providers.
Everywhere. Granted, it looks like the overall speed is below the US's
according to the report, _but_ prices are so much lower (my parents probably
pay in the order of $10$/mo for their TV/Internet package) and access is way
more homogenous.
I suspect that US results are vastly skewed by hyper-connected areas vs huge
parts of the country where Internet is total garbage.
~~~
rayiner
France and Germany have lots of cheap options because they rely heavily on
DSL: [https://www.oecd.org/sti/broadband/1.2.OECD-
FixedMobileBB-20...](https://www.oecd.org/sti/broadband/1.2.OECD-
FixedMobileBB-2017-12.xls) (see the "Fixed Broadband" tab).
70-75% of France and German broadband connections are DSL, versus 22% in the
U.S. The copper networks are mostly depreciated, and copper-loop unbundling
has created a lot of competition. But that's also why internet in those
countries is so slow. According to Akamai, just 18% of French broadband
connections are above 15 mbps, versus 48% of U.S. connections. Copper is also
a complete dead-end, technology wise.
Cable in those countries is not super cheap. Kabel Deutschland's gigabit
service has a non-promo price of 69.99 euro ($80):
[https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https:/...](https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.dslweb.de/vodafone-
gigabit-internet.php&prev=search). Comcast's non-promo pricing is $105, which
is a bit more expensive in nominal terms, but cheaper as a percentage of net
adjusted disposable income (which is 33% higher in the U.S. than in Germany).
You also need to account for differences in labor costs. Broadband isn't like
an iPhone, where it's the same product made in China whether you buy it in the
U.S. or in Germany. It's a service, like a hotel stay or restaurant meal.
Labor to build, maintain, operate, and support the network is a huge part of
the cost of broadband, and skilled labor is significantly more expensive in
the U.S. than in Germany or France. That's one of the things that makes
pricing comparisons between the U.S. and say Romania completely specious. You
can buy a 2-ride subway ticket in Bucharest for $1.22--that doesn't tell you
anything about what's a reasonable price for a subway ticket in D.C. The
$10/month cost for gigabit fiber in Romania is equivalent to $80/month in the
U.S.
~~~
Symbiote
What taxes would someone expect on the $105/month Comcast service?
Since all applicable taxes are included in the €70 Kabel Deutschland price.
~~~
greggyb
Depends on where you live.
My total bill for internet service is approximately $110. Of that $110 total,
approximately $1.50 is tax/fee.
------
DenisM
Me, I'm rooting for 5G broadband. Verizon started the rollout already,
T-Mobile can't be far behind. If AT&T joins the fray Comcast will get the bill
for all the negative goodwill they were snowplowing on their way to profits.
[https://www.verizonwireless.com/5g/home/](https://www.verizonwireless.com/5g/home/)
[https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/new-t-mobile-s-plans-
for-h...](https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/new-t-mobile-s-plans-for-home-
fixed-wireless-internet-services-begin-to-take-shape)
~~~
nonce413
5G is a red herring, as 4G would be sufficient. Before Westfield's fiber
rollout, I drove around town mapping cell towers hoping to use LTE for home
Internet. IMHO they're not really dense enough for such use, especially
without directional antennas. Never mind the latency.
Also, Verizon is really the only provider that extends into the more rural
areas listed, and I doubt they would want to cut into their mobile profits
with the rates required to compete with wired access.
------
jkingsbery
A few things I don't get (genuinely, I wish someone would explain to me):
1\. Why would the town pay Comcast for Comcast to wire up the town, when
Comcast would then turn around and charge residents? It seems like if Comcast
wants to provide customers, they should make the investment, no?
2\. If Verizon DSL is in town, how is there a monopoly? Would Comcast wiring
the town prevent another provider from also wiring the town (in whole or in
part)?
~~~
rayiner
> 1\. Why would the town pay Comcast for Comcast to wire up the town, when
> Comcast would then turn around and charge residents? It seems like if
> Comcast wants to provide customers, they should make the investment, no?
A franchise agreement typically involves Comcast paying the municipality. 5%
of _gross revenues_ is standard.[1]
> 2\. If Verizon DSL is in town, how is there a monopoly? Would Comcast wiring
> the town prevent another provider from also wiring the town (in whole or in
> part)?
No. Exclusive franchises are illegal under federal law. However, most
municipalities do not have ISPs clamoring to build. For example, there was a
lot of press coverage when Baltimore renewed its "exclusive" franchise with
Comcast.[2] Of course it's not exclusive--it's just that nobody else has ever
asked to build a network in Baltimore:
> “We’ve, in fact, asked other cable operators if they’re interested in coming
> into the city and, so far, nobody else is,” says Minda Goldberg, a chief
> solicitor in the city’s Law Department.
[1] _E.g._ the county where I live:
[https://www.aacounty.org/departments/oit/forms-and-
publicati...](https://www.aacounty.org/departments/oit/forms-and-
publications/Comcast_Franchise.pdf) (Section 6.1).
[2] [http://www.wypr.org/post/why-comcast-one-and-only-cable-
and-...](http://www.wypr.org/post/why-comcast-one-and-only-cable-and-internet-
option-baltimore)
------
MrTonyD
Over a decade ago I worked on software sold to Cable companies. So I had set
up a small cable transmission center, and I had followed with interest the
cities providing cable. In short, they were doing a great job providing lots
of channels at a tiny fraction of the cost - and often free internet too. And
some even funded multiple government programs with high end packages at half
the cost of Comcast.
So I approached my town and offered to travel the US (on my dime) and
interview those who had set up cable, to write a report so that my town could
use best practices (including how to fight off the cable companies as they try
to elect different officials - a standard strategy.) But my town was
completely uninterested. It turned out that Comcast had paid money to fund a
city department, and that same group made cable related decisions. So they
didn't want to rock the boat that was paying them good salaries (to people
with absolutely no skills beyond knowing somebody who got them the job.)
------
onetimemanytime
>> _About 160 residents voted, with 56 percent rejecting the Comcast offer,
according to news reports._
If it's done it needs to be done by, say, million+ cities. Where is this small
town going to the money to pay each time someone complains or a cable is cut?
------
davexunit
This is a tangent but Charlemont is a nice little town situated at the foot of
an Applachian mountain along the very scenic route 2. It's well worth driving
up and over the mountain (through Florida... the town) into North Adams if
you're ever in the area.
~~~
jkingsbery
I went to college at Williams. We would sometimes drive back from track meets
in Boston through Charlemont and Florida, and I always thought there was
something cruel about seeing a sign for "Florida" when it was 10 deg (F)
outside..
Agreed though, it's a nice drive, and a nice area of the country to visit!
------
qwerty456127
Whatever, there should better be competition. If one ISP (a big corporation or
a municipality) does it a way you don't like and you can't switch to another
one that's sad.
------
nonce413
Hey, local news on HN! I'm glad to see Whip City Fiber is spreading so far up
north. They started in Westfield (40k people), and then moved to building out
local towns that are basically similar kind of "hilltowns" places that have
been neglected by Comcast et al for years.
Westfield Gas and Electric has been Westfield's municipal power company for as
long as I can remember, and I've heard few complaints about their management.
This is not their first time providing Internet service, as they used to run a
dialup ISP back in the day.
The concern about future upgrades is kind of ridiculous in context - the
Verizon infrastructure here is still at the bare minimum, with no hope of ever
being upgraded. I have no doubt that when the gigabit infrastructure is
finally looking outdated and slow, Verizon will be sitting there offering the
same "high speed" 3Mbit. That is, if they haven't convinced the feds to allow
them to sell the copper for scrap.
The service itself is a lone single mode fiber, with a GPON terminal.
Installation planning was done by a WG&E employee who even showed up in a
bucket truck. Installation was in two parts - one entire contractor to direct
bury a flexible conduit with the length of fiber, and a second contractor to
complete installation on both sides of the burial. My speed tests show
basically full gigabit up/down.
(Also, comments by new accounts start off dead now?! I made a throwaway
because I'd rather not state my explicit location as part of my main profile)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Capsicum: Practical Capabilities for Unix - logicprog
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/capsicum/
======
dang
A small thread from 2010:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2043933](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2043933)
------
dredmorbius
ELIF / practical applications / examples?
~~~
logicprog
Haven't read it yet, but here's a link that might have some examples:
[https://www.links.org/?p=1242](https://www.links.org/?p=1242).
~~~
notaplumber
And here's the OpenBSD pledge(2) patch for bzip2, for comparison. But
similarly it already prevents a compromised bzip2 process from accessing the
network, executing arbitrary commands, etc. And when used in a pipeline,
accessing the filesystem. This port might actually be a great candidate for
unveil(2), if anyone wants to help send a patch. :-)
[https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-
bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/ports/a...](https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-
bin/cvsweb/~checkout~/ports/archivers/bzip2/patches/patch-
bzip2_c?rev=1.6&content-type=text/plain)
And as is typical for FreeBSD, ~7/8 years later these "practical" Capsicum
changes were never merged into FreeBSD. :-(
[https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd/tree/master/contrib/bzip2](https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd/tree/master/contrib/bzip2)
~~~
anaphor
Pledge is different from Capsicum though. Pledge is just your typical Unix
style "capabilities", whereas Capsicum is object capabilities (i.e.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-
capability_model](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object-capability_model) )
If you read the list of features, it's very clear that they are _not_ talking
about what most people think of when they hear "capabilities" in the context
of operating systems:
> anonymous shared memory objects - an extension to the POSIX shared memory
> API to support anonymous swap objects associated with file descriptors
> (capabilities)
File descriptors are a form of object capabilities.
~~~
notaplumber
Capsicum is dead outside of FreeBSD, the Linux port went nowhere, and in the
handful of places where it is used in FreeBSD base, it's not even utilizing
capabilities to its full potential. It wasn't even enabled by default for many
years, until 11 or 12?
Meanwhile pledge(2) is protecting a large percentage of the OpenBSD base
system, something like 85/90% of all programs. And unlike Capsicum, it is
"practical" for developers. And important ports like archivers, and web
browsers. The Capsicum project never shipped the much touted Capsicum-ized
chrome, but OpenBSD has pledge/unveil chrome packages by default.
~~~
anaphor
The point is that they shouldn't be confused as having the same goal. The
reason object capabilities are so difficult to integrate is that you basically
have to refactor all of your software to use a different style of programming.
I don't think that means that pledge is somehow superior. They do two
completely different things.
For an example of an active project using ocaps see:
[https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fuchsia/](https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fuchsia/)
[https://sel4.systems/](https://sel4.systems/)
~~~
notaplumber
pledge(2), and the traditional OpenBSD privilege dropping model by which
pledge(2) expands upon, is demonstrably the superior model by which developers
can easily understand and use to design secure programs. Simple interfaces
always beat more complicated ones.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
MBP vs MBA - wglb
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2012/04/12/MBP-vs-MBA
======
spicyj
> And you need something between it and your gonads, because it’s a real
> toaster when it gets going.
The new Ivy Bridge machines are supposed to run much cooler.
------
heapify
I don't get people who enjoy matte finished screens. The perceived difference
in color due to the polarizing effects of the finish is pretty noticeable, in
my experience.
~~~
replax
Well as it stands, matte screens are:
a) easier on the eyes - you don't have to look through a mirror to be able to
see What you want to see.
b) you can actually see something if you are not in your cellar with all
lights dimmed (unless your display is really bright, which the mb screens are,
or close to, which in exchange burns your battery…)
c) I do not know too much about the polarising effect causing colour shifts,
but as far as I can tell, ALL professional monitors use non-glare coating. So
I assume that, if anything, matte screens are more colour accurate.
------
eshvk
I use both (the MBP as a personal laptop) and the MBA at work and I must say
that I prefer the MBP. The MBA is a nice enough to do light weight stuff on it
but the RAM on it is not enough for today's day and age. Also I find that as a
person with rather large fingers, I keep pressing the power key instead of
backspace (delete). On the other hand, the 15 " MBP is too big for any sort of
meaningful work on a plane.
------
NeutronBoy
> The screen has a matte finish. Yes!!!!!! I sneer in the general direction of
> all non-matte-finish screens.
Really?
You have made your compromises, they have made theirs. Everyone has different
needs, personally I'm fine with only 800 high as I'm working in a terminal
most of the time. If you are a graphic designer, then it's probably not for
you. Each to their own.
~~~
wglb
It seems that he process lots of his own photographs.
------
kls
IIRC that MBP can be upgraded to 16GB of RAM max.
~~~
jc4p
This is an unadvertised feature, but yes, the new processor can handle 16GB of
RAM. Last time I looked (although not very hard) I was unable to find 2x8GB
sticks though. The 8GBs of RAM I have in my MBP (which sounds to be the EXACT
same machine as the poster, depending on which SSD he's using) is 2x4GB chips.
~~~
wglb
I use <http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/> and they have been quite
satisfactory.
------
infinii
It's always been a peeve of mine that Apple has this obvious gap between the
Pro and Air lines that if addressed would result in the perfect machine.
All they have to do is simply get rid of the optical drive on the Pro line to
lose some weight or increase the max ram on the Air's.
~~~
Drbble
Do you think Apple might have thought of that, and was just waiting for the
optical drive to be completely replaced by network storage and online
publishing? iCloud, hmm?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Updated Draft Design for Go 2 Contracts - saturn_vk
https://go.googlesource.com/proposal/+/4a54a00950b56dd0096482d0edae46969d7432a6/design/go2draft-contracts.md
======
Animats
Why are these called "contracts"? It's just another generic type mechanism.
"Contracts" are generally associated with entry and exit conditions for
functions, and are not confined to single variables. A real contract looks
like:
func foo(a integer, b integer)
{ entry(a>b);
...
}
~~~
sseth
The terminology comes from a proposal for C++ which has been under discussion
for a long time.
~~~
detaro
C++ contracts are what Animats describes. Constraints and concepts are more
like what's described in the article:
[https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/constraints](https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/language/constraints)
~~~
Animats
"Contract" terminology is from Eiffel, from 1986.[1]
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_contract](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_contract)
------
suddengunter
Contracts seems to me like Generic interfaces in C#. Why not just call this
thing "interface"
[https://gist.github.com/SuddenGunter/bb105556fde9678abbd97cb...](https://gist.github.com/SuddenGunter/bb105556fde9678abbd97cb890ed6b33)
instead of adding yet another keyword?
------
pjmlp
I would already be more than happy if this proposal ends up in Go 2.
It looks quite sensible, and much better as the current //go: generate
solution.
------
whateveracct
The "no 0 value" part begs for type classes/traits, which for these Go
contracts means not restricting contract functions to be methods.
contract Zero(T) {
Zero() T
}
> We feel that more experience with this design is needed before deciding
> what, if anything, to do here.
Hopefully the more experience leads the Go designers to solutions some
production-quality languages already have to solve this :)
------
gigatexal
I still don’t get contracts. Can someone explain it for the slow like me?
~~~
marcus_holmes
as I understand it (and I may be misunderstanding it), contracts are exactly
like interfaces, except the type of parameters/return values is left to the
implementation.
So an interface of "adder" would look like:
type adder interface {
Add(int) int
}
and it would only be able to support adding an int to something, and returning
an int. Doing this:
func AddStrings(a adder, b string) string {
return a.Add(b)
}
will break
A contract for "adder" would look like:
contract adder(T) {
T Add (T) T
}
You can then use this in a function by:
func addTheThings(type T adder)(t1, t2 T) T {
return t1.Add(t2)
}
which can then use any type that has an Add method
//can't extend native types, so we have to create an alias and extend that
type Addstring string
func (a Addstring)Add(b Addstring) Addstring {
return a+b
}
func (a Banana)Add(b Banana) Banana {
return Banana{a.Count + b.Count}
}
then your "addTheThings" function can operate on strings (via the Addstring
type) and Bananas, and anything else that fulfills the contract. So the
original example:
func AddStrings(a adder, b string) string {
if as,ok := a.(Addstring); ok {
return a.Add(b)
}
//raise an error here
}
On a separate note, why is "contract" becoming a keyword instead of "type foo
contract {}"? Making the common business concept of "contract" a keyword is
likely to break backward compatibility for some code bases
~~~
dilap
> On a separate note, why is "contract" becoming a keyword instead of "type
> foo contract {}"?
I was wondering about this too. It also just feels really weird since it's a
different construction than any of the other types.
Maybe the thinking is because a contract is not a type? But so what...
On first blush, it also feels weird that type is coming _before_ the type
arguments, rather than after -- since types for normal arguments come after
the argument.
E.g.,
Map(T, U type)(t []T, f func(T) U) []U
feels much more consistent than
Map(type T, U)(t []T, f func(T) U) []U
no? (Perhaps it complicates parsing, though?)
~~~
ithkuil
"var n int" means "in this scope, declare variable n to be if type int".
"type T adder" means "in this scope, declare T to be a type adhering to the
adder contract"
~~~
dilap
Good way to think of it.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We’ve Gotta Stop Using “Lifestyle Business” as a Pejorative - iamflimflam1
https://sparktoro.com/blog/weve-gotta-stop-using-lifestyle-business-as-a-pejorative/
======
brudgers
The term is pejorative in the world of venture capital and means little
outside of it. It's pejorative because in the world of VC investing, a
lifestyle business is not win-win. The founders get something good and the
VC's get "nothing:" unsustainable returns and no recycling of founders into a
new business. At it's core, the VC model of investment tries to align investor
and founder interests by using equity value growth as the vehicle for returns.
The downside of lifestyle businesses is that investments are made on the basis
of cashflows. And these are inherently adversarial. Returns for the investors
come at the expense of founders and vice versa. This means there is always the
potential to struggle for control. Investors in lifestyle businesses are not
inclined to write off an investment. They are likely to seek control when
payment isn't made.
Investments in lifestyle businesses follow ordinary investment logic. The
advantage of VC is that it does not. None of which is to say that one is
better than the other as a matter of general principle. Only to observe that
ordinary investment strategies tend to be adversarial at their core.
------
pcarolan
I think people that believe in and run lifestyle businesses like the fact that
it’s a bit counter-culture. Not sure we need to do anything about that and if
we do, will it lead to ruining what’s great about it by popularizing it?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
World's biggest fake conference in computer science - merraksh
http://sites.google.com/site/worlddump1
======
gee_totes
Wow, this is fascinating. I never knew there was money to be made in holding
fake conferences.
------
minopret
Seen it.
[http://www.google.com/search?q=sites.google.com/site/worlddu...](http://www.google.com/search?q=sites.google.com/site/worlddump1)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Transcript of Tapes from US 1549 that landed in the Hudson - aneesh
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11719666/Tracon-Transcript
======
aneesh
PDF is here:
[http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/1549/me...](http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/accident_incident/1549/media/Full%20Transcript%20%20L116.pdf)
------
RiderOfGiraffes
Also on <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=468545> with extra.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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